Well, did you make any New Year's resolutions before 2020 began last week?
Or maybe you didn't make what you call resolutions, maybe you set some goals for the new year.
What's the difference between a resolution and a goal?
Well, here's one.
A resolution can be defined as a firm decision to do or not do something.
You may have made a resolution to get in better shape this year, and you're planning to walk three days a week, every week.
You're going to lose 20 pounds.
You've resolved to do that.
A goal could be defined as the result toward which effort is directed.
You may have not even thought in terms of a resolution, but you have set a goal of getting in better shape this year.
And your goal is to walk or run every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 6 a.m. at the Y on a treadmill.
And you're going to lose 20 pounds by June the 1st.
Now, the way I am using these words, goals are more precise.
They're more result-oriented than resolutions.
On this first Sunday of the new year, I want us to think God has some goals for us.
But God's goals are not just for this new year.
God's goals are for this hour, this day, this month, this year, and on and on.
You see, God will never stop working to accomplish His goals in our lives as His children.
He's going to work throughout our lives to the very, very end until He calls us home in heaven.
Probably the best one-sentence description of God's ultimate goal for everyone who belongs to Him is this.
Look at it from Romans 8.
For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son.
That's really God's ultimate goal for every Christian.
He is conforming us.
He's working in every aspect of our lives.
He's working with people you live with, even the difficult people you live with, people you work with.
He's working in everything, through every kind of thing imaginable,
to shape and mold our character, to develop Christ-likeness in us.
But I want us to look at a more detailed description of God's goal as found in Colossians chapter 3.
If you would turn in your Bible to Colossians chapter 3,
and we're going to begin today what I plan to be a three-part message.
We're looking at God's goals for you this hour, this day, this year, and on and on.
We're going to look at Colossians chapter 3, verses 1 through 17, today, next Sunday, and the following Sunday.
Today I want us to look at what I'm calling the first of the three goals that God has for us.
Goal number one, be mindful of who you are in Christ.
Be aware, have an understanding of who you are right now as God looks at you, as God thinks of you,
by virtue of the fact that you are united to Jesus by faith.
Let's read it.
Colossians 1, verses 1 through 4.
If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.
For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.
What we're going to look at this morning, the first of the three parts, three goals,
is the most difficult part.
But it's also the most important.
What Paul is doing here is describing who we are as Christians in spiritual terms,
from God's perspective,
and everything else, beginning in verse 5 and following,
flows from what we're going to look at this morning.
We'll see, beginning in verse 5,
there are some things that shouldn't be in our lives as Christians
that we need to sort of take off like a dirty coat.
We'll read on in Colossians.
There are some things that God wants us to develop,
to put on like a clean coat in terms of character qualities.
But here's what I want us to understand.
You don't become a Christian by doing this and stop doing that.
You don't make yourself acceptable to God.
You don't put off and put on, put off bad character,
put on good character as the way to make God love you more or accept you.
We're going to look at this morning
who we are in Christ, united to Christ.
Who we are, how God accepts us.
And it's all through our faith and trust in Jesus
and what He's done for us.
And then we're going to look after this week.
Based on who we are right now before God,
we need to grow in our development of Christ's character
by doing certain things.
You follow me.
You're with me.
What we're going to look at today may be hard,
but it is foundational.
Every Christian in this room,
and by the way, this is a message for believers.
We're talking about people who are truly united to Christ in faith.
You have turned from your sin.
You trust Jesus.
You've committed your life to Him.
This is a message for you.
The first thing I want us to see is
God calls us to understand who we are in Christ.
Throughout his letters,
Paul repeatedly describes Christians
in terms of how God sees us.
We are united to Christ in faith.
I want you to look at how Jerry Bridges points this out,
that it was Paul's consistent way of describing Christians.
He says the term in Christ is the Apostle Paul's shorthand expression
for being united to Christ.
It is one of Paul's favorite expressions,
and including similar expressions such as in Him or in the Lord.
Paul uses it more than 160 times in his letters.
Clearly, this is an important concept in Paul's theology,
and it should be an important concept for us
because all the remaining answers to the question,
who am I as a Christian?
Who am I in Christ?
Are based upon the fact that we are in Christ,
or we are united to Christ.
Now, look at where we are in Colossians 3.
Paul describes how we are united to Christ
in three little bit different ways.
Note in verse 1,
you have been raised with Christ.
Verse 3,
you have died and your life is hidden,
hidden with Christ in God.
Something similar is in chapter 2, verse 20.
With Christ, you died.
And then in verse 4,
Christ who is your life.
Here's the idea.
From the moment we put our faith in Jesus as our Savior and Lord,
we were united to Him.
We have been one with Him.
That is how God sees us.
When God looks at you,
He doesn't look at you and think about the flaws,
the sins,
the selfishness.
When He looks at you on your good day,
He doesn't see how much you read the Bible,
or prayed,
or how much you witnessed.
When God looks at you,
He sees that you are united to Christ,
and it's because you are united to Christ
that God accepts you.
Paul describes how we as Christians are united to Christ
in His death and resurrection in these verses.
Think about it.
We have died with Christ
to sin's penalty and power.
The penalty for your sin,
the punishment that you and I deserve because of our sin,
has been paid.
It was paid when Jesus died on the cross.
He suffered for us in our place.
Therefore,
we are now forgiven.
I want you to understand,
God no longer holds your sin against you
if you are united to Christ in faith.
Don't live your life
because of past sin,
because you think,
there's some way I've got to make up for it.
If you're a Christian,
you're trusting Jesus as your Lord and Savior.
The penalty for your sin,
all of it,
has been paid.
It's been paid in full.
The penalty's paid.
That also means we're united to Christ in His death.
The power of sin over us has been broken.
Do you realize
that because you're united to Christ,
His Spirit,
the Holy Spirit lives within you,
you can say no to temptation.
Whatever that temptation may be.
You do not have to give in to the power of sin,
however it comes to you,
because there is greater power in you,
the Spirit of Christ.
You can say no to temptation.
You can resist it all.
In fact,
God so works in us
through His Spirit
to give us not only the desire
to say no to temptation,
but He gives us the desire
and the ability
to actually obey God
and live the kind of life
that will please God,
do God's will.
We've died with Christ.
We're one with Him.
And so we have actually died.
The penalty for our sin
no longer applies to us.
The power of sin has been broken
because of our union with Christ.
He defeated it.
So you can live a faithful Christian life.
I can resist temptation.
And when I don't,
it's because I chose
to give in to the temptation.
Don't blame somebody you live with.
Don't blame your circumstances.
Don't talk about how weak you are.
You are weak.
But if you're a Christian,
you are united to Christ.
The Spirit of God lives in you.
And so you can do
what He calls you to do
because sin does not have the power
over you as a Christian.
Number two,
we've also been raised with Christ
in new resurrected life.
That means we have eternal life.
And eternal life is more than
just living forever.
But that is a part of what it is.
Eternal life is also a quality of life.
What Jesus called in John's gospel
an abundant life.
I want you to think,
if you're a Christian united to Christ,
you have new life.
You are a privileged child of God now
all because of your oneness with Christ.
Paul is telling us
this is how we need to look at ourselves.
Paul is telling us
this is now who we are
by virtue of our union with Christ
in faith.
In faith.
Understand who you are
in Christ right now.
That is something that's very important
for us to do.
God wants us to do that.
And as we'll see in the next couple of weeks,
it is important that we don't try to
think about what we do and don't do
in terms of
earning God's favor
or losing God's favor.
You, if you're a Christian,
trusting Christ,
you have God's favor right now.
And it's in spite of your sin.
And it has nothing to do
with your best efforts
on your best days.
You're accepted by God
because you are in Christ.
But God wants us to do more
than just understand this.
God calls us to live
like who we are
in Christ.
Let's look at that
for a few minutes.
God wants us to live
our lives in this world
in light of
who we are
as His children.
When I was in high school,
I played baseball.
I was
a first baseman.
And sometimes
I pitched.
That tells you something
about my pitching ability,
doesn't it?
I didn't have
any scholarship offers.
I didn't have
any minor league contracts.
I played baseball.
I was a first baseman.
And sometimes
I pitched.
I was not in
our two-man rotation.
And so when I was
going to pitch,
the coach would tell me
the day before,
tomorrow
you're going to pitch.
Be ready.
What that meant was
the coach was telling me,
tomorrow
your position
is to pitch.
And when that day came,
I walked out to the mound
and I pitched.
If you are a Christian,
God has placed you
in Christ
and that is your
position
before God.
But God also
calls you
to live
like a person
who is united
to Christ
and has the power
of the Holy Spirit
within you.
Let's look now
at how Paul describes
how we are to live
like a person
who's in Christ.
He says
in verse one,
we must stay focused
on Christ.
Let's look at it.
If then you've been
raised with Christ,
seek the things
that are above
where Christ is,
seated at the right
hand of God.
Paul is telling us
to seek things,
focus on things
related to
the Lord Jesus Christ
who is
right now
at this moment
at His
exalted
position
of power
and privilege
at the right
hand of God.
I want you to look
at how Matt
Chandler
describes what
Paul is saying
in this verse.
He says
the goal,
the pursuit,
what we are after
is Christ.
To know Him,
to walk with Him,
to have Him
shape us,
to have Him
chisel away
at us,
to have Him
create in us
a joy
of salvation
given to us
by Him.
Matt's saying
that Paul
is saying
the way
to live
like a person
who is united
to Christ
is to focus
on Him,
knowing Him,
loving Him,
serving Him,
seeking to
cooperate
with the Holy Spirit
as He works
in our lives
to make us
more like Christ,
to develop
Christ-like character
in us.
Now I want you
to hear this next
part real carefully.
Here's what
this does not
mean.
We do not
focus on
Jesus Christ
in order to
get something
from Him.
We don't use
Him
to get
something that
we want,
we need,
even something
good.
I don't know
how many people
this would apply
to in this room,
but I've heard,
I know,
and sometimes
I think
I act
maybe this way.
Sometimes
some Christians
have the idea
that if I get
serious about
living a faithful
Christian life,
if I get serious
about being a
committed follower
of Jesus,
then He will
do something
like maybe
restore my
marriage,
if that's my
problem.
He'll save
my rebellious
child if I'll
just get serious
about my
relationship with
Him.
Or He'll turn
my child back.
Or He'll provide
me with a good
job, a better
job, if I just
get serious
about my
relationship with
Him.
Now,
don't misunderstand
what I'm saying.
The Lord is able
to do all those
kinds of things.
God wants us
as His
children
who have a
relationship with
Him, He wants
us to pray and
ask Him to
meet our needs.
And if your
problem is at
home with your
spouse, ask God
to work, change
you, change him
or her.
Ask God to work
in your child's
life, do whatever
needs to be done.
never fail to
ask God.
Sometimes we
don't have because
we do not ask,
the Scripture
says.
But what I'm
saying is we
cannot use
Jesus and a
relationship with
Him to guarantee
ourselves such
things.
I know a man in
another state
pretty well.
He went through a
painful divorce just a
few years ago.
His wife made it a
point to turn their
daughter against
him, her dad.
Now before they had
their issues, before
they separated, this
man and his daughter
had a very good
relationship.
They did all kinds
of things together.
together.
But when the man and
wife separated, the
wife really made it
her goal, I'm going to
turn my daughter against
her dad, and she was
successful.
From the time this girl
was about 14 to 17, she
chose not to have any
contact with her dad.
It was her decision.
Her mother tried to turn
her against him, but her
mother did not forbid her
to go and see him, to do
anything with him.
The girl chose to believe
her mother.
And by the way, there was
no abuse, adultery, nothing
like this involved.
But the girl chose, I'm
going to leave my dad out
of my life.
Well, during her senior
year in high school, it
occurred to her, I want to
go to college, and mama
can't pay for college.
And so what she did, she
started making contact with
her dad again.
And not long after, she
wasn't real smart, not long
after she started making
contact with her dad.
She actually texted him
and said, will you pay for
my college?
He saw it coming.
He knew what she was
doing.
And so he just texted her
back, no.
And as far as I know, he
has not heard from her
since.
He was not going to be
used.
And what I want us to
understand is, our
Heavenly Father and the
Lord Jesus are not going to
be used either.
We need to focus on Jesus
today because of who he is.
He is worthy of our love,
our affection, our
commitment, our
obedience.
We need to think about
what he chose to do for
us in dying for our
sins, living a perfect
life on our behalf.
He did that because he
loves us.
We need to seek to know
him, develop a relationship
with him, become like him
because we find joy in
that.
Because we want that kind
of relationship with him.
And in the context of
having such a loving
relationship with him, with
our Heavenly Father, we are
invited to pray and ask for
things.
You know, the man in the
story I was telling you, he
would give anything to have a
loving, close relationship
with his daughter.
And if he had, if it had
continued, he would have
gladly helped to pay to send
her to college.
But he was not and is not
being used.
We need to remember that.
Paul is calling us to focus
our attention where Christ is,
seated at the right hand of
God.
Set your minds, that's next on
the things that are above.
We need to do that for the
right reasons.
Because we want to know him.
We want to be close to him.
Let's look at how we can stay
focused on Christ.
I jumped the gun a little bit
here.
We must set our minds on the
right things and not the wrong
things, verse 2.
Look at the verse.
Set your minds on things that
are above, not on things that
are on earth.
How do we set our minds on
things that are above?
I think the simplest way to
think of it is we need to go
to the source of truth about
the things that are above, and
that is the Bible.
God is not who you think he is,
what other people think he is.
Jesus is not who you have conjured
up in your mind.
God is who he has revealed himself
to be in the pages of Scripture.
Jesus is how he is revealed in the
pages of Scripture.
So if we want to really know him,
have a relationship with God,
develop Christ-like character,
we need to spend time in God's
word, discovering who he is and
how this can be.
And I want to say this on the first
Sunday of a new year.
If you have resolved or set a goal
to read through the Bible this year,
that is good.
That is something that all of us
could profit from.
But I want to also say this.
We need to do more than just read
through the Bible this year as if
it's just another book we're going
to read.
We need to make sure as we read the
Bible that we take the time to
listen to what God is saying through
those pages and through his Spirit.
We need to take the time as we read
to let it sink in.
To believe it.
To obey it.
On a practical side, you may have as a
goal to read through the Bible this
year, will you take a certain amount
of time every day to do that?
But then I would encourage you to
take another time to read the Bible
like I'm talking about prayerfully,
carefully, and listen to God
with the idea you want to hear Him.
You want to discover what He's saying
in His Word about what you should
believe, why you should believe it,
how you should live.
If you don't have a time set aside
on a regular basis to spend time with
God like this in His Word,
I want to encourage you to ask Him
to help you get started this week.
Establish a time and a place where
you're going to do this.
It may be in the morning, it may be
night, it may be in the middle of the
day.
What works for you, it doesn't matter.
Make an appointment with God.
And don't make it a chore.
Don't think of it as something I gotta do.
Think of it as an opportunity for you
to spend with Almighty God.
Think of it as a time for you to draw
closer to Him.
To draw closer to the Lord Jesus.
To get to know Him better.
To know how to please Him better.
Well, let's look also, how do we avoid
setting our minds on things of the earth?
Now, I want to clarify what Paul is
saying here real quick.
He's not saying that we should not
think about things on the earth.
He's not de-emphasizing in any way
the importance of your home, your
family, your work, your school, or
all the kind of things we need to do
in life.
If you doubt that, read on in chapter
three, Paul's going to start talking
about how we ought to live as
husbands and wives, parents and children,
and other practical things like that.
It matters how we live.
God cares how we live.
We need to think about, be involved in
this world
as Christians,
as distinctly
Christians.
what Paul is talking about here is allowing
things of this world
to distract us
and prevent us
from really focusing on Christ
and developing Christ-like character.
We're going to look at some of the more
obvious things, sinful things
next week,
but I want you to,
this is something only you know.
what kind of things do you find
distracts you
and hinders you
from being focused on the Lord
or even from living a faithful
Christian life?
It doesn't have to be something sinful
or evil.
It could be something that's basically
neutral.
It could be certain people in your life.
They just,
they're a distraction.
They're a stumbling block.
It could be certain types of music
you listen to.
I'll be honest with you.
This college football season,
I know too much
about what's going on
in college football life.
I've spent too much time
on that ESPN app.
ESPN's not sinful.
Football's not sinful.
I like football.
I like to play.
I like to watch it.
It's an entertaining thing for me.
But you can do it too much.
You can think about it too much.
You can be more concerned
to find out the scores of yesterday
first thing in the morning.
So concerned that you spend your time
looking at what happened
in college football
that you don't even think about
your relationship with the Lord.
Spending time with Him.
And I'm not the only pagan
who does things like that
in this room.
What's yours?
What's your ESPN app?
Is it a person?
Is it a thing?
Something that could be good?
Could even be your job.
Certain aspects of your job
you worship
instead of the Lord.
Identify the things of the world
that what we could say
hurt you spiritually
and cause you to take your eyes
off of Christ
and following Him.
Repent of engaging
in such activities.
Ask God to help you
to eliminate them.
If you're a Christian
how does it show?
Do you really have a heart
for the Lord
and the things of God?
Well prove it.
Prove it to yourself.
Point to evidence
in your thoughts
in your desires
in the things you talk about
in the things you do.
What are you doing
to develop
that kind of heart?
What do you need to do?
What are you doing
that's hindering
your relationship
with the Lord?
Those are things
that need to change.
God wants us to know
who we are in Christ.
Final thoughts.
You are accepted by God
if you're a Christian
because you are united
to Jesus Christ
in faith
and that's it.
Let that sink in.
Your acceptance
is based on
who Jesus is
and what He has done
for you.
Now
by God's grace
live like someone
who is united to Christ.
Stay focused on Him.
On knowing Him.
Loving Him.
Serving Him.
By God's grace
becoming more like Him.
Would you pray with me?
Dear God
show us
what our response
should be right now.
Make it clear
and help us to do that.
Father I pray
that you'll
emphasize
help everyone
to
understand
this is a message
directed at people
who are true
Christians.
Trusting in Jesus
and Him alone
for their salvation.
Committed to Him
wholeheartedly.
But if there are people
in this room
who are not Christians
Father I pray
that you'll help them
to see
that what they need
to do
is admit
their need
of Jesus.
Admit their sin.
Humble themselves.
Change their mind
about the way
they're living.
and trust Jesus
as their
Savior and Lord.
Father make it clear
what we should do
how we should respond
to you
and help us
to do it right now.
Let's just pray
and respond to the Lord
as He speaks.
I would love to pray
with you
help you
here at the front
in the next few minutes
if you want to come forward.
thank you very much.