Sermon Central
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Hidden… With… Christ… In… God.
Contributed by Howard Strickland on Feb 2, 2024 (message contributor)
Summary: The world system we were raised in taught relative truth. Self-reliance, and only that which can be perceived through the natural is real. 2 Corinthians 4:18, teaches us that the unseen world is more real than the seen world.
Hidden… With… Christ… In… God.
Colossians 3:3KJV ”For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.“
Several years ago, a pastor made appointment
to see me. The pastor told me he had struggled for 13 years in his Christian experience, going through one trial after another.
During his devotions, one day, he read, Colossians 3:3 and he wanted to know how his life could be hidden in Jesus Christ.
I’ll never forget, I ask this pastor to read the passage out loud, and very slowly, which he did. Again, he asked me, that’s what I wanna talk to you about. I think that is the secret. How do I do that? I ask him to read it again, even slower.
For… You… Died… And… Your… Life… Is… Now… Hidden… With… Christ… In… God.
That day, suddenly the light came on, and he realized he had already died 13 years later. This dear Pastor had been desperately trying to become something he already is.
Listen to, Colossians 3:3TPT ”Your crucifixion with Christ has severed the tie to this life, and now your true life is hidden away in God in Christ.“
Over the years, I have had several people try to convince me that this is only a positional truth and that it is not something we can experience in our daily lives.
I rebuttal, is our position in Jesus Christ only theological, just a nice thing to know, but having no practical relevance to our lives?
Nonsense!
Our position in Jesus Christ is the basis for our hope and the sole prerequisite to living by faith.
This evening I want us to discover we are hidden... Let’s look at 10 verses of scriptures to put verse 3 in context:
Colossians 3:1-10NKJV ”If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. 5 Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, 7 in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them. 8 But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, 10 and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him,“
I love verse 10, “As I walk as a new man, I am renewed in knowledge; I begin to see farther as I continue to grow! I see and appreciate my new identity. P.H
Colossians 3:1–10, contain several statements describing the believers position in Jesus Christ.
Colossians 3:1-2 We are dead. Verse 9, We have taken off the old self. Verse 10, we put on the new self. Verse 1 and 3, we have been raised with Christ, and we are hidden with Jesus Christ, who is now seated at the right hand of God.
Ephesians 2:6NIV And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,
Hear me, All of this is already true, because we are in Jesus Christ. We cannot do for ourselves what Jesus has already done for us.
“I am convinced that many Christians are like the pastor who desperately tried to become something he already was.” P.H
In order to live a fruitful Christian life. By faith, we must first believe what Jesus Christ has already done this for us, and then walk accordingly.
Listen, it is not our believing that makes it true –that is new age or magic thinking. P.H
A Christian says, “It is true, because God’s word says it, therefore; I believe it.”
When we begin to do this, the reality of the truth works out in our experience, and we become what we already are, by God‘s grace.
Still, ours is not a passive role. For this truth to workout in our experience, there are things we must do.
Colossians 3 include several imperative statements, indicating what we must do, now that we are in Christ.
Verse 1, set our hearts and minds on the things above. This is an allegory, similar to, Hebrews 12.2, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfected of our faith.
Listen, this is not a pie in the sky unreality.