Title: Heaven or Earth Bound?
Text:
NAS Colossians 3:1 If then you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.
3 For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
4 When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.
Introduction
An American Indian tells about a farmer who found an eagle’s egg and put it into the nest of a farm chicken. The eaglet hatched with the brood of chicks and grew up with them.
All its life, the eagle, thinking it was a chicken, did what the chickens did. It scratched in the dirt for seeds and insects to eat. It clucked and cackled. And it flew in a brief thrashing of wings and flurry of feathers no more than a few feet off the ground. After all, that’s how farm chickens were supposed to fly.
Years passed. And the eagle grew very old. One day, it saw a magnificent bird far above in the cloudless sky. Hanging with graceful majesty on the powerful wind currents, it soared with scarcely a beat of its strong golden wings.
"What a beautiful bird!" said the eagle to its neighbour. "What is it?"
"That’s an eagle - the chief of the birds," the neighbour clucked. "But don’t give it a second thought. You could never be like him."
So the eagle never gave it a second thought and it died thinking it was a farm chicken.
The Apostle Paul said to the Colossians in Chapter 3, if you have been raised up with Christ. The word “if” actually means “since”. It is a fact that Christians have been raised up with Christ to a new life.
In Ephesians Chapter 2, it says that we are seated in the heavenlies with Christ Jesus. The same truth is reflected here “If you have been raised up with Christ”
Before you became a believer, you were dead in sins. You were heading towards hell. You were an enemy of God. You belong to the Kingdom of Darkness.
But now, after becoming a believer, you have been given a new status. You are now a child of God. You have been forgiven. You are dead to sin and death and have been given a new life. God has made you a new creation. You should be like an eagle soaring in the heavenly places.
Sadly, many believers are not living life consistent to the new status that we have received. Just like the eagle growing up in a chicken yard, not knowing that it was created for the skies, it remained earth bound.
This morning I like to ask you the question, “Are you heaven or earth bound?”
Are you preparing yourself to meet the Lord Jesus Christ in heaven? Or are you so earth bound, that the majority of your time and energy is expended on earthly concerns which are of no eternal value?
Paul was concern that the Colossians become earth bound believers. In Chapter Three of Colossians, he gave them practical instructions of how they should conduct their life here on earth.
If you are heaven bound,
1. Your heart’s affection must be set fully upon Jesus
The NIV translation says
“set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.”
Paul told the Colossians, that if they are heaven bound, then their heart’s affection must be set fully upon Jesus. It must be set continuously upon Jesus.
The needle of a compass will always point towards North. Like the compass, the believer’s affection must always be pointed to Jesus Christ. He is always preoccupied with the One who reigns in Heaven.
This means that Christ must come first in your life. All other areas of our life must revolve around Jesus. Just as the Sun is the centre of the solar system, the Son, Jesus must be the centre of the believer’s life. Chaos sets in when the Son is displaced from the centre of your life.
When Chinese immigrants came to Singapore, to work they often leave the families in China. While working here, their hearts were still in China with their families. They worked hard with the hope of returning back to their home land with a sufficient amount of money for their family to live in comfort.
It is the same for believers. Though at this moment, our physical bodies are earth bound for the moment; our hearts should be set towards heaven. Our eyes should be fixed continuously on Jesus Christ and our hearts longing for our king.
Matt 6: 33
"But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you.
When you put Christ first in your life, God will provide the rest of the things we need in this earthly life.
Secondly if you are Heaven bound,
2. Your mind must be preoccupied with heavenly matters.
Paul said in verse two
“2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.”
Someone said “Tell me what a man thinks, and I will tell you what he is.”
Your thought life determines who you really are. That is why Paul did not tell the Colossians to change their sinful habits first. He instructed them to change their thought patterns and be preoccupied with heavenly matters.
Our mind must be so focus that it is always preoccupied with heavenly matters.
This is easier said than done.
Many believers’ mind is preoccupied by the things of the earth.
- How to make more money?
- How to make myself younger and more attractive?
- How to carve out a career for myself?
- How to have the best things in life?
Some have their mind consumed by the internet or the television.
Survey in America shows that an average person watch 50 hours of TV a week. I believed that we are close to this figure. Imagine soaking your mind with TV shows which most of the time contain junks like violence and sexual content as well as the ways of the world.
Most teens today are preoccupied with computer games and they play as much as 40-50 hours a week. Their minds are set on moving to the next level.
This is not good and will definitely cause you to be an earth bound believer. A person’s thought life makes up what who he is. If we are heaven bound then our minds have to dwell on heavenly matters.
The thoughts that should occupy our minds were described in Paul’s prayer for the Colossians in Chapter 1.
9 For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,
10 so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;
a. Our mind must be filled with the knowledge of His will.
b. Our mind must be filled with thoughts of whether we are living in accordance to the word of God.
c. Our mind should be thinking about the work He has called us to perform.
For this to happen,
Our mind must be renewed by the word of God.
The word of God contains God’s will. When you spend time reading, meditating and studying God’s word through the help of the Holy Spirit you will start to understand his will.
However knowing His will is not enough. Many believers know the word of God, but their mind is not renewed. Renewal only begins when you learn to recognize and put aside worldly thinking.
When we are tempted to compromise our ethics in the work place, we must remind ourselves that the impact of our action extends to eternity.
When we are tempted to choose pleasure over disobedience, we must remember that we are offending the One who loves us with an everlasting love.
We must resist the belief that true happiness can be found in anything this world has to offer. It is not found in the new car, the latest gadget, a bigger bank account, or even a bigger house.
Paul reminded the Colossians in verse three that as believers they are supposed to be dead to the old life and their sole purpose of living must be for Christ.
In Galatians 2:20 Paul says
"I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
In other words, the old mind bearing worldly and ungodly thoughts must be put to death one by one. It takes deliberate decision and action to so. We have to arrest worldly and unbiblical thoughts from building a fortress in our mind.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I want to ask you this question again. Are you heaven or earth bound?
Is your affection fully set upon Jesus or has it been sold out to the world? Is He occupying the centre of your life or has He been displaced?
Is your mind preoccupied with heavenly matters or are you caught up with earthly cares, burden and pleasures?
Matthew Chapter 6
19 "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
20 "But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal;
21 for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
If you heart is set on earth, you will be terribly disappointed and may end up losing all that heaven offers. One day this transient earth will end and those who live heaven bounded life will receive the glorious reward that God gives to the faithful.
Let us live a heaven bound life
