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There's an idea that we'll become many different people in this lifetime
One day you're someone that you despise
That you're ashamed that you turned into
And the next day you're proud of the person who's in the mirror
There's another idea, perhaps a better idea
That we become like what we contemplate
And we fall in love with what we gaze at constantly
So the question becomes what or who are you constantly gazing at
What are you contemplating
Colossians 3 - If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.
Who we are is not dependent on a whim. What we do, what we say, who we are flows from our thoughts.
Matthew McConaughey argues that football is designed to get you to think about food. Turnovers, Pancakes, Refrigerator Perry.
Football is played by people who like to think about food.
Paul understood this
He makes a logic argument
Colossians 3 - If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
Things that are on earth.
Colossians 3:5–10 (ESV)
5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.
Where are your thoughts?
- Our thoughts about ourselves - sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
- Our thoughts about others - anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.
- There’s intention to this - The Greatest Commandment - Love the Lord your God, and Love your neighbor as yourself
What steals your attention? The ways the enemy pulls on your thoughts
- Media - This is easy - music, movies, social media
- Other people
- What influences do we surround ourselves with?
- If you want to be a good football player, surround yourself with good football players. If you want to be a good student, surround yourself with good students. If you want to be a good husband, surround yourself with men who love their wives like Christ loves the Church.
- What do we think about other people?
- Do we see them as the image of God? Or do we focus on their flaws, the things we hate?
- Ourselves
- A whisper in your ear. You’re tired. You work harder than all your coworkers. This one sin will be fine, you deserve it.
- The devil will pull on that one spot in your heart that nothing but God will fill, and we look to anything that we can find to make that feeling go away: we fill it with relationships, with entertainment, with games, with money, popularity.
- Many of these things have their place, but when they fill every aspect of our thoughts, we will be stuck in our old self.
There is another sneaky way the enemy captures our thoughts. Paul does not have many original ideas
Matthew 16:21–23 (ESV)
21 From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. 22 And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” 23 But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
It is possible to believe we are doing things for “the right reasons” and completely miss the mark of God’s plan.
Things that are above
Colossians 3:12–17 (ESV)
12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
List of Attitudes
Put on: Compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, forgiveness
Above all these, put on Love -
- which binds everything together.
- The community of the church is built on love
- John 13 - By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.
- 1 John 4 - Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
And let the peace of Christ dwell in you
- To which you were called
And be thankful
And let the word of Christ dwell in you richly
Results in - wisdom in our interactions
Results in - songs and hymns and spiritual songs
Results in - thankfulness in your heart to God
All of these things come from above
Love, Peace, Thankfulness, and the Word of Christ
- These are not things you can get if you work hard enough at it
- Love and Peace are fruits of the Spirit
- The Word of Christ is only understood through Him
- 1 Corinthians 2:9 But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”— these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.
- These things come from an indwelling of the Holy Spirit, working on your mind and heart making you more fully into the image of Christ.
And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
- Thankfulness - repeated
- True thankfulness can only come from our understanding of who we are, who God is, and what He has done for us
- It is tied hand in hand with worship
- Understanding the reality of the Gospel causes our hearts to leap in joy and thankfulness
- The God of the Universe humbled himself to the point of death so that we can have life and have it abundantly.
How can we accomplish this if not through effort?
Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. And then you will appear with Christ in Glory.
Glory in Romans 8 - We are being made into the image of Christ. Not in our own power, but through the inner workings of the Holy Spirit that is shaping us daily. It is up to us to focus on it and walk in faith.
For this new year, I return to the beginning
There's an idea that we'll become many different people in this lifetime
One day you're someone that you despise
That you're ashamed that you turned into
And the next day you're proud of the person who's in the mirror
There's another idea, perhaps a better idea
That we become like what we contemplate
And we fall in love with what we gaze at constantly
So the question becomes what or who are you constantly gazing at
What are you contemplating?
- Dylan Phillips
