Focus For The Faithful

INTRODUCTION

 When people a persons tells you that they want to become a Christian, we can tell them what the Bible tells us we MUST do in order to be saved. (Hear, Faith, Repent, Confess, Immerse)

 What about after the baptism, we must we do once we are immersed into Christ?

 Does our commitment to the Lord end at the baptistery?

 Once we make the team, what is our responsibility to the team (family of God, the church). What does it mean when the Bible says that once we are in Christ, we rise and walk in a newness of life?

 Over the next three weeks I want us to look at what we MUST do once we belong to Christ.

 Our relationship with Jesus is no different than other relationships we have in our lives. For a relationship to work, it takes work. A good relationship with our spouse does not just happen, it takes effort, the same is true with Jesus. If you want to have a close relationship with Jesus, it will take effort.

 These things that we must do are not things that we do to gain our salvation, but instead they are things that we will do in response to our salvation.

 Today I want us to turn to Colossians 3:1-4.

 What should the focus of a faithful person be? Where should our mind be, what should we be seeking in life as a Christian? What direction should we be setting ourselves toward as a Christian? What is our motivation for a proper focus in our lives? These are the questions that we will answer today as we look at:

The Focus of the Faithful

READ COLOSSIANS 3:1-4

SERMON

I. SEEKING V1

A. What are we seeking? Does it matter? If we are going to have the focus of a faithful person, we have to know what to focus on. We are told that since we have been raised up with Christ, we are to seek the things above.

 Look at 2:12-13, 20. We are dead to the stimulus of the world, alive to Jesus. Once you were dead in sin (Eph. 2:1-3), but now you are dead to sin.

 Since we have been raised with Jesus and we died to sin, why would we seek and set our minds on the world, what does the world have to offer to us? DOES A DEAD PERSON SEEK FOOD AND MONEY? DEAD CAT.

 Since we belong to Christ and have died to the world, we are to seek the things that a person who belongs to God’s kingdom would seek.

 Seeking the things from above is a description of the practical pursuit of the Christian life. What are you seeking in life? What do you want out of life? Is what you want out of life going to reap eternal benefits for you?

 In the context of the book, the people to whom Paul was writing to were considering leaving Jesus for the world. They are being reminded to let their earthly practice be worthy of their heavenly position. Live up to what Christ has done for you!

 When we seek the things from above, we are not chasing phantoms, but the treasures of heaven.

B. “Seeking” to desire and strive for. Our interests and attitudes, ambitions and our whole outlook on life are molded to our relationship with Christ. Our allegiance to Him takes first place over all other things in life.

 “Keep on seeking” Seek with perseverance. Strive for. Not just seeking to discover, but seeking to obtain. If you were looking for gold, you would not just say, there is the gold and leave, you would come to obtain the gold you were looking for. Matt 6:33 13:45. When you seek the treasure of heaven, you do not just look at it and say, “That is nice” and walk away. You take hold of it.

C. When we belong to Christ, our whole life focus changes. Read with Philippians 3:7-10 with me.

 Where Jesus is, is where we want to be. ROAD MAP ILLUSTRATION.

 We are seeking the things from above because that is our home.

 We are citizens of heaven.

Following a campaign speech, a young man rushed up to Senator

Everett Dirksen and said, "Senator, I wouldn’t vote for you if

you were St. Peter!" Dirksen eyed the young man for a moment,

then said: "Son, if I were St. Peter, you couldn’t vote for me,

because you wouldn’t be in my district."

But what would life be like without any hope beyond our time upon this earth?

II. SETTING V2

A. Not only are we to seek the things above, but we need to set our minds on things above. The focus of the faithful person will be on heaven.