The Transforming Power Of Being Heavenly Minded

Read Colossians 3:1-17

“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts
on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand
of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly
things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with
Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears,
then you also will appear with him in glory.”
(Colossians 3:1-3)

Thoughts… What Paul is proposing here is that if we are to walk in radical response to God’s grace by living a holy, God-honoring life, then the what we’ve go to do is to is fix our hearts—the seat of our emotional life, and our minds—our thinking, feeling, perceiving life, on heavenly things.

In other words, we got to live with an eternal perspective. The more we’re consumed with heaven, the more life on earth will change—for the better. C. S. Lewis put it: like this,

Looking forward to the eternal world is not… a form of escapism or wishful thinking, but one of the things a Christian is meant to do… If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were those who thought most of the next. The Apostles themselves, who set on foot the conversion of the Roman Empire, the great men who built up the Middle Ages, the English Evangelicals who abolished the slave trade, all left their mark on earth, precisely because their minds were occupied with heaven. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this.

Ephesians 2:6 calls us citizens of heaven. Hebrews 11:13 says we are strangers and exiles on earth. Hebrews 13:14 says we are seeking the city which is to come. Philippians 3:20 says our citizenship is in heaven, from which we eagerly await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. I Peter 2:11 calls us aliens and strangers.

Get the picture? Our focus is to be on the world we’re destined for. We’re not just to think of heaven, we’re to actively pursue it! It’s when we actively pursue heaven that we change the present one. Someone has said that to reach the present world, a Christian has to first leave it.

What Paul says is that we are to set our minds and our hearts on heaven’s value system. The phrase he uses, “set your hearts…set your minds” means to keep on seeking, to be preoccupied with. Jesus said it this way in Matthew 6:33: “Seek before anything else the kingdom of God and it’s righteousness…”

Here’s what happens when we seek heaven’s values for our lives now: We act differently. We behave in ways that please God, not because we have to and not because we are afraid of God’s disfavor, but because it’s just the natural thing a transformed, heaven-focused person does.

One of my favorite writers, Max Anders, illustrate this truth in the following way: Imagine yourself in the late 1800’s. You are prospecting for diamonds in the remote mountains of South Africa…far from civilization. But somehow a courier finds you and tells you that your rich uncle has died in San Francisco and left you a vast fortune. To collect it, however, you must present yourself to his estate attorney in that city.

Now at that moment you discover you are fabulously wealthy…beyond your wildest dreams. You own a mansion in the city, a summer home in the country; fine clothes, concerts, exhibits, powerful connections…all these and more are suddenly, amazingly yours.

There’s only one problem: you’re not in San Francisco to collect it and enjoy it. And you don’t have much money at present. There’s some joy now in the anticipation, in just knowing it’s true. And the courier has brought enough money for you to book passage for your return trip. But it will take three weeks of hard travel just to get to Cape Town, and three months over rough seas to get to New York. And another several weeks of bone-jarring travel across the U. S.

Are you wealthy at that moment? Beyond measure. But you have to endure months of hard living to get to your inheritance. That’s the way it is with the Christian life. We’re on our way to the riches of heaven…but we’ve got to endure some difficulties before we get there. But on the journey, our minds are fixed on the wonderful wealth and the face to face relationship we’ll have when we get there.

And as we endure the arduous journey, should the knowledge of our inheritance affect how we live? You bet. If we’re thinking about the riches at the end of the destination, we’ll begin to live like we are rich now!

Paul is saying that if we fix our hearts and minds on things above, we’re going act differently here.

“Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: Sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must rid yourself of all such things as these: Anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.” (Verses 5-10)

Notice that Paul says “put to death…” In other word we need to get intentional about ridding our lives of sin. The Puritan preacher Richard Baxter wrote, “Use sin as it will use you. Spare it not, for it will not spare you; it is your murderer…use it, therefore, as a murderer should be used. Kill it before it kills you. And though it brings you to the grave, as it did [Christ], it shall not be able to keep you there.”

Paul gives two sample lists of sins to kill. The lists include some of the most common and troubling sins believers face.

The first list, in verse 5, deals with sexual sins. The second, in verses 8-9, deals with hateful actions. In between the two list, in verses 6-7, Paul gives two reason why we’re to put these sins to death: One, because they anger God and he will punish those who live in them, and two, because they are now inconsistent with who we have become.

Let’s briefly break down these two lists: First of all, sexual immorality takes place because of impurity. Impurity comes from lust, or perverted passion and desire, which in turn, comes from to root sin of greed.

Sexual immorality is translated from the word porneia, and refers to sexual sin. Our English word for pornography comes from this. It refers to any form of illicit sex. Since there seems to be a debate of sorts as to just what actually constitutes adultery in out culture, I think it’s really important get clarity as to what illicit sex is from God’s point of view. The Bible defines adultery as any act of unfaithfulness to your spouse, even the act of lusting after another person. The sin of emotional adultery is just as serious before God as physical adultery. And likewise, the Bible clearly says that two people who are not married who are involved sexually, are committing fornication. And verse 6 tells us that the wrath of God will come upon those who engage in these acts.

Impurity, the second word, goes beyond the act to the evil thoughts and intentions of the mind, which is where the battle for sin is always waged. The third word is lust and the fourth is evil desires. There is no great distinction between these two words-they are specific thoughts and intents of the mind toward sexual sin.

Then Paul mentions the fifth word, greed, last, because it is the evil root from which all the previous sins spring. It is the insatiable desire to have more, to have what is forbidden. And because it places selfish desire above obedience to God, greed amounts to idolatry. When people sin sexually, it is basically doing what they desire, rather than what God desires. And that, in essence, is to worship themselves rather than God, which is idolatry.

Paul says people with a heavenly mindset are going to crucify those sins…they will have no place in the life of an authentic disciple.

Then Paul gives a second list in verse 8-9, which are sins that are not so much personal as social. There is anger, which is a deep, smoldering, resentful bitterness. There is rage, which is a sudden outburst of anger. There is malice, which is the evil intentions one has to bring harm to another…not just physical harm, but verbal and emotional harm. And then there is slander, which refers to insults and dispararing remarks toward another.

Paul mentions two more: Filthy language refers to filthy and abusive speech meant to hurt someone else. Lying is falling into the pattern of Satan himself, who is the father of lies. And lying always hurts, both the one who lies and the one who is lied about.

So Paul says that if you are going to follow Christ, these things have to be put to death. Don’t treat them gently but deal with them harshly. There is no place for them in the life of a true disciple.

But the question is, how do you do that? How do you kill them off?

You can’t put them to death by just trying hard, by living a more disciplined, legalistic life; you can’t do away with them by simply becoming a super-spiritual person; you don’t it by beating your body into submission through asceticism. We’ve all been there, done that, and have fallen back into these very sins.

You do it by developing an eternal perspective. That’s where Paul started this whole teaching: “Set your hearts…set your minds on things above.” And here are three things we can do to help us live with an eternal perspective.

First of all, mark sin in your life for eradication. Resolve to do away with sin in your life. Quit playing around with it! Quit making excuses for it! Quit comparing the degree of your sin with the magnitude of worse sins. Sin—sexual and social sins—will kill you. They dishonor God. They will keep you out of heaven. There is no place for them in your life. Just resolve to do away with them.

Second, monitor your thought life. What are the kinds of things you are letting into your mind…what are the kinds of things that are influencing your ability to live with an eternal perspective? Since sin originates in the mind, the battle has to be waged there.

Put everything you allow into your mind — TV, movies, books, magazines, conversation, etc., — to the test of Philippians 4:8: “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.”

One of the best ways to do this is to begin to journal at the end of each day the kind of things you’ve exposed yourself to. Another way is to become accountable to a small group for these kinds of things. And if you really want to get ruthless with it, go on a media fast.

Finally, meditate on God’s truth. It’s as simple as that. Psalm 1 says blessed is the one who meditates day and night on God’s truth…he’ll be planted in the nourishment of God’s soil.”

Do you want to be a radical Christ-follower, one who lives and breaths grace and puts sin to death in your life? Develop an eternal perspective. Take these three things and just commit to doing them daily.

Romans 12:1 says the same thing another way: “Offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God–this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

Now here’s the encouraging thing about this. You may not feel like you are becoming a disciple, you may not feel like you’re being transformed. It doesn’t matter. Just begin to do it, and God will see to it that you are transformed. You just have to keep offering your body as a sacrifice, and over time and with consistency you’ll get there.

Prayer… Jesus, my sins were put to death when you died on the cross for them. Now with your help, I will bury them so they have no more control over my life. Rather that being submitted to their pull and power, I will be controlled by your Spirit. I will set my mind on the things you have in store for me one day in heaven.

One More Thing… “You’ll be bored with heaven if you’re not ecstatic about it now.”