Colossians 3:1-4 NIVUK
[1] Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. [2] Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. [3] For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. [4] When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. https://bible.com/bible/113/col.3.1.NIVUK
When I was a child, there was one comedy show that we had to watch every Hogmanay (New Years’ Eve in Scotland). It was called ‘Scotch and Wry’, and it was written and performed by, among others, the inimitable comedian Rikki Fulton.
In one of his funniest sketches, the camera pans around a mortuary in a hospital, with a number of gurneys all covered in white blankets, clearly containing dead bodies waiting to be processed. From under one of the blankets, unearthly groans begin to sound. The camera focuses on this gurney, until a man peals back the white sheet and, clearly still inebriated, slurs, ‘It’s the mortuary. I’m in the mortuary. I must be dead.’
Every time that sketch came on TV, my family howled with laughter.
But there is a fantastic spiritual truth hidden behind the raucous humour. There is a reality there that we often miss.
To be risen from the dead, you must first be dead.
I know what you’re thinking: ‘Well, of course, Paul! How could it be any other way?’
Yet there is a profound truth within that simple sentence that we often miss:
For us to live the resurrection life in Christ, for us to be raised, we must first die.
That is the essence of these verses, and of many others in the Bible.
This post is about what it means for us to truly live a resurrection life – a life made new by Jesus. But it has to start with an absolutely necessary first phase, as I've just explained. That is: We Must be Dead.
By dead, I don’t mean physically dead. I mean dead as Paul explains here and elsewhere:
Romans 6:1-2 NIVUK
[1] What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning, so that grace may increase? [2] By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? https://bible.com/bible/113/rom.6.1.NIVUK
Romans 6:6-7 NIVUK
[6] For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin – [7] because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.
Romans 6:11 NIVUK
[11] In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. https://bible.com/bible/113/rom.6.11.NIVUK
And Peter agrees:
1 Peter 2:24-25 NIVUK
[24] ‘He himself bore our sins’ in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; ‘by his wounds you have been healed.’ [25] For ‘you were like sheep going astray,’ but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. https://bible.com/bible/113/1pe.2.24.NIVUK
So what do these verses mean?
They mean that our old way of thinking and doing – our pre-Christian attitudes and actions – have to go, completely and utterly, and a return to them must be considered as impossible. As Paul taught:
Colossians 3:5-8 NIVUK
[5] Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. [6] Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. [7] You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. [8] But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.
Do you see it?
All this way of thinking and acting must be gone, completely and utterly. As gone as a dead person is when we bury them six feet under.
But the challenging question for us is this: is it true? Do we consider our old life truly dead?
There is a hill tribe in the wilds of the Indonesian rainforest that does something we Westerners consider to be of very poor taste. They bury their dead in tombs. Every year, on the anniversary of their death, they bring out the dead, embalmed as they are. They clothe them in their old clothing. They seat them at the dinner table. And there, in the presence of a corpse, they throw a party.
To us, this is downright macabre. Like something out of a horror movie.
But if, after we have repented, we dig up an old sin, invite it back into our life, dine with it, play with it, and fall for it all over again, tell me this:
Is what we have done any different?
We saw earlier that our old way of life was nailed to the cross. No-one nailed to a cross remained alive for too long. Their wounds would be way too grievous. The bleeding too incessant. The pain too much.
They died.
Your sins died. Right there. In Jesus.
So stop digging up the dead!
Apart from being dead, Paul tells us that We Must Be Hidden.
I am astonished how many so-called Christians are taken in with the sham and pretence if get-rich-quick schemes. Have we lost our mind? We cannot serve God and money (Matthew 6:24; Luke 16:13)!
The worst of these is cryptocurrency. It is like the wild west, like the gold rush, but without the guns. Or the wagons. Or the relentless dehumanising xenophobia towards the original occupants of the American continent.
Personally, I have a big problem with Christians who are mixed up in it. The investments are way too risky. We ought not to be encouraging people to gamble with their money like that.
But do you know what the word for ‘hidden’ is here in Greek?
Krypto.
What could Paul mean?
Let me say one thing for sure: he did not mean anything to do with cryptocurrency. That is a recent invention, and the word ‘crypto’ comes from the Greek word, not the other way round.
What it means is ‘to hide’ or ‘to conceal’. And to me, it means something really special.
It is a sign not only that our old lives are dead, but that all the shame and dismay connected to our past sins is gone.
I can relate it to a glorious event at a really shameful time for the human race. Compare these verses:
Genesis 2:25 NIVUK
[25] Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame. https://bible.com/bible/113/gen.2.25.NIVUK
Genesis 3:6-9 NIVUK
[6] When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. [7] Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realised that they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. [8] Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. [9] But the Lord God called to the man, ‘Where are you?’ https://bible.com/bible/113/gen.3.6.NIVUK
Genesis 3:21 NIVUK
[21] The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. https://bible.com/bible/113/gen.3.21.NIVUK
Adam and Eve knew no shame and had nothing to hide from each other because they knew no sin.
Then they sinned, and they were ashamed. They hid themselves from each other. They hid themselves from God.
But God notices this. And in His divine grace, despite the awful and tragic sin they had committed, He makes garments of skin for them – more permanent and enduring than the fig leaf garments they had made for themselves.
The Bible has many other pictures of how God reacts to our past sins whenever we turn to Him and repent:
Psalms 103:11-12 NIVUK
[11] For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; [12] as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
Isaiah 1:18 NIVUK
[18] ‘Come now, let us settle the matter,’ says the Lord. ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. https://bible.com/bible/113/isa.1.18.NIVUK
Isaiah 43:25 NIVUK
[25] ‘I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.
Isaiah 44:22 NIVUK
[22] I have swept away your offences like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist. Return to me, for I have redeemed you.’
Jeremiah 31:33-34 NIVUK
[33] ‘This is the covenant that I will make with the people of Israel after that time,’ declares the Lord. ‘I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. [34] No longer will they teach their neighbour, or say to one another, “Know the Lord,” because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,’ declares the Lord. ‘For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.’ https://bible.com/bible/113/jer.31.33.NIVUK
Ephesians 1:7 NIVUK
[7] In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.
Colossians 2:13-14 NIVUK
[13] When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, [14] having cancelled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.
And there are many, many more.
Nowadays, we can send messages from small devices in our pockets that are encoded and encrypted to such a degree that they can be read by no-one but the recipient.
God goes one step further. He encrypts the record of our sins and the only key that can decrypt it is the cross of Jesus Christ.
Or, to put it in a different, less technological way, the record of every sin we ever committed is destroyed in such a way that no-one will ever be able to recover it.
That is what God does for us when we repent. That is what it means for us to be hidden in Christ.
Hallelujah!
Of course, as part of this, if we have been involved in criminal behaviour, we should face up to our crimes and the just punishment for them. We should not cover them up. That is not living in the light (1 John 1:5-10). We should be willing to face judgement before men.
However, before God, we will be clean.
But as well as dead and hidden, we are also Raised with Christ.
There is a critically important theological fact we need to digest here, and it is this:
Acts 3:15 NIVUK
[15] You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this. https://bible.com/bible/113/act.3.15.NIVUK
Acts 10:39-40 NIVUK
[39] ‘We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a cross, [40] but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen.
Acts 13:29-30 NIVUK
[29] When they had carried out all that was written about him, they took him down from the cross and laid him in a tomb. [30] But God raised him from the dead. https://bible.com/bible/113/act.13.30.NIVUK
Acts 13:37 NIVUK
[37] But the one whom God raised from the dead did not see decay. https://bible.com/bible/113/act.13.37.NIVUK
Romans 10:9 NIVUK
[9] if you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
1 Corinthians 6:14 NIVUK
[14] By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. https://bible.com/bible/113/1co.6.14.NIVUK
Philippians 2:9-11
[9] Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, [10] that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, [11] and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
God raised Jesus from the dead. God exalted Him. It was not Jesus. It was God.
Jesus was not some vanquished hero who busted out of the grave through His own might and power. He was dead. God raised Him up.
Before we move anywhere close to looking into what it means to live a resurrected life, we must recognise this: it does not come about because of us. It is not at our initiative. We do not live it because we are any better than anyone else, and living it does not make us superior beings.
We were dead. God raised us. That is a fact.
When we accept it, our perspective on life changes. It is no longer a right. No, it is a gift, and a gift from God. It is precious.
That is why it should be lived with care, for ourselves, for others and for the glory of the Gospel.
So while others might be free to live as they wish, we are not, as Paul outlines:
Colossians 3:2-14 NIVUK
[2] Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. [3] For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. [4] When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. [5] Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. [6] Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. [7] You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. [8] But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. [9] Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices [10] and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. [11] Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all. [12] Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. [13] Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. [14] And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
And there is more. Much more.
The resurrected life lead to changes in our thoughts, deeds and attitudes.
Our thoughts, because we are no longer focused on material gain: on having or being more than others. That does not matter to us anymore.
Our deeds, because we are no longer focused on simply meeting our every base desire. We are not out for what we can get, by any means. We are not focused on ourselves anymore.
Our attitudes, because we have stopped dehumanising people. We seen them as made in the image of God. We do not see them as ethnic or gender or national labels. As Paul says elsewhere:
Galatians 3:27-28 NIVUK
[27] for all of you who were baptised into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. [28] There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
This makes a difference to every aspect of our life. Everything changes.
Ephesians 4:22-24 NIVUK
[22] You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; [23] to be made new in the attitude of your minds; [24] and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. https://bible.com/bible/113/eph.4.22.NIVUK
And there has to be a change. Not just on the moment we become a Christian, but every single time we become aware of a sin in our lives and repent of it. We must change.
Now, here I am going to make a very controversial point. There us another group, in the Western world at least, who are considered as being diametrically opposite to us, and there is considerable truth to that.
But when it comes to their commitment to their cause, they are far more committed than we are.
They are willing to accept the mutilation of their bodies. We will not cut ourselves off from habitual sin.
They are willing to take experimental drugs and medications. We reject the Scriptures we find too difficult.
They are willing to face misunderstanding, bullying and rejection for their cause. Some of us deny Christ in a heartbeat, as soon as it is convenient.
I’m talking about the transgender lobby.
Now, I am not saying for one second that they are right. There are many things they stand for that I have to disagree with.
But when it comes to commitment to their doctrine and lifestyle, whatever we might think of it, they are much more committed than we are.
And that is the problem. To properly live the resurrected life means allowing God to work (Philippians 2:12-13) in all areas of our life, including in areas where we are uncomfortable. It isn’t easy. Not at all. Living in the light with God and other people (1 John 1:5-10) is often very challenging.
But this is what it takes to live the resurrection life.
And it is an immensely joyful life, and those joys last forever:
Psalms 16:9-11 NIVUK
[9] Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, [10] because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful one see decay. [11] You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand. https://bible.com/bible/113/psa.16.9.NIVUK
There simply is no better life. It is truly life to the fullest (John 10:10).
The story is told of a person with serious health problems caused by obesity. They called their pastor to come and pray for them, to cast out ‘the demon of excessive consumption’ that plagued them.
Their pastor laid hands on them and prayed. He then said, ‘I have a word for you. And that word comes from the Gospel of Mark chapter nine and verse twenty-nine: “This kind can only come out by prayer and fasting”.’
There is considerable humour in that little story, but there is a profound truth.
All of us want to live a full life. We want to live a resurrected life with Jesus.
But to get there, we must be willing to die: to our sins, our selfishness, our basest desires.
We must let God Bury them, and be grateful that He has done so. And then we must seek to move on with a changed life, being willing to let light shine (Matthew 5:14-16) no matter the cost.
Jesus Christ died for us.
Jesus Christ was buried for three days in the tomb.
Jesus Christ was raised from the dead.
We were raised with Him.
It’s time to live like it.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, I am a sinner. But I want to change. I want to die for my sin and live for You. I repent, right here and now. Come into my life. Raise me up. Help me to live the resurrection life with You. Amen.
Questions
1. Why is it important that someone who is raised from the dead must first die? What does this mean for us?
2. What does Jesus do for us when we are willing to die for our sin?
3. How can we live the resurrection life? What will this mean for you?
Opmerkingen