Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Well, good morning. Good morning, Christ Church. Happy Sunday.
[00:00:05] As Tina said, we are celebrating the kickoff of the Adventure of Faith campaign. So I just want to say a huge thank you to all you who've prayed, who are making a pledge and a commitment. Thank you for those who already have and have been given so generously.
[00:00:22] This is an awesome privilege God is entrusting us with as a church.
[00:00:30] And I wanna give him our best. I wanna walk in faith with him as we've been doing.
[00:00:36] And I believe this is all part of it. So thank you for that. If you still. You're like, man, I still wanna make one. You can still do it. Absolutely. Go home, go online. There's cards back there. But thank you for just your trust in God in this season. But today we're gonna start a new sermon series, and it's called Breathing in the Goodness of God.
[00:00:57] And doesn't that sound nice?
[00:00:59] And I want to just spend these last three weeks, and I want to just try to have a heart of real gratitude for God, of appreciation, of devotion. So that's what this series is about. We're going to look at Colossians 3 as a guide to that. But just before we get into that, let's pray one more time. Father, you have been so good to us.
[00:01:25] Father, in some ways, we can see it crystal clear.
[00:01:30] And some days we appreciate it and we worship you and we trust you and we honor you for it. But at other times in our life, Lord, we don't see it like we should.
[00:01:45] We don't appreciate you like we should. We don't see all you've given to us.
[00:01:50] And, Father, forgive us for those times.
[00:01:53] And help us to see, Lord, that at the very center of what you're doing in our lives, as you are showing us your goodness and love in Jesus Christ, help us to see that today, to take that in, to breathe it in as oxygen for our souls.
[00:02:13] And, Father, I pray it would shape and transform us.
[00:02:17] And I ask this in the great name of Jesus. Amen.
[00:02:23] Well, since Allie and I had kids, many of you in this church have given me a lot of good advice about raising kids. But one of the consistent pieces of advice is it goes really fast.
[00:02:38] Enjoy it.
[00:02:40] And I think that is fantastic advice, like. And I realize that that is very true.
[00:02:48] Our girls just finished school this week. And our oldest, Emory, she now very proudly is going to be a first grader.
[00:02:57] Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
[00:03:01] That's right, man. Yeah. Made it to first grade. I said, I knew you could do it, but she was walking around the house very proudly. Like I'm a first grader now.
[00:03:13] It's so cute. But it's gone fast. Like, man, this is cruising. And what everybody has said to me again and again is it goes really fast. Enjoy it. And I know that's true. I believe it. But yet I have a really hard time doing it.
[00:03:29] Cause what I tend to focus on is everything we've got to do. All the busyness, all the just day after day which rolls in and it's kind of like Groundhog Day. Anybody relate to me or am I just especially broken?
[00:03:46] And I want to enjoy it and I wanna hold that perspective. But most of the time I kinda have a hard time doing that. Any other messed up people with me.
[00:03:59] And what I realize is like, man, God has given me some really good things.
[00:04:07] And the trouble is is that I don't enjoy them like I should.
[00:04:16] I don't live always with a sense of gratitude that his goodness should really call out on me. You with me on this?
[00:04:26] And I find it kind of a hard thing. I find it something I have to keep refocusing myself now. There's some times where it comes just Memorial Day, man, we just. It was just such a. It was a beautiful day. Remember that? That was Monday.
[00:04:41] It wasn't that long ago, but like it was sunny.
[00:04:46] It like had like just the air temp was great. And there was part of the day where we were just sitting on the patio. We kind of had a laid back Memorial Day and the kids were running around and we were grilling out. And I was just like, man, I was just taking it all in.
[00:05:02] And I really was just content and grateful and thankful and humbled and all those good things. But I wanna be able to go to that place when it's not the perfect air temp. You know, when it's not completely sunny, when everything isn't. I wanna be able to do that more in my life. And I think that maybe the thing that gets the. The least appreciation in my life is not just those things, but it's actually God himself that we have a God that is indescribably good.
[00:05:44] And it's so easy to live our life without really taking in the greatness of who he is and enjoying it and enjoying him and receiving from him. And so we're gonna talk about that today, kind of what that looks like and how to do it. And we're gonna look at the book of Colossians. So just these last three weeks, we're gonna be in one chapter of Colossians chapter three.
[00:06:10] And we're gonna look at these first three verses. Now, this is a letter that was written about 2,000 years ago to an ancient church. But it was filled with real people like you and me, normal people like you and me. Yes, their world was different, but guess what? Their struggles were pretty much the same.
[00:06:31] And the great apostle Paul is writing this letter and he's trying to show him. He's saying, hey, I want you to see everything you have in Jesus Christ.
[00:06:44] The whole rust of this letter is I want you to. You have all of God's blessings and gifts and fullness in Jesus Christ. And the Apostle Paul is gonna say, and I want you to take that in, to breathe that in as oxygen for your soul. So let's look at these first four verses. Here's what they say. It says this. If you then have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
[00:07:24] 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.
[00:07:37] When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
[00:07:46] Now, there's a lot in these verses that I wanna unpack, but I want you to see that ultimately the main thing that Paul is calling us to do is he's saying, hey, I want you to look to Christ.
[00:08:00] Seek the things that are above. Set your mind on this. He says, christ, your life is hidden with him. In other words, he's saying, I want you to look at Christ, and I want you to take it all in.
[00:08:11] I want you to breathe in the goodness of God through Christ.
[00:08:18] And I believe what Paul is showing us here is the center of all spiritual transformation.
[00:08:28] The way that we transform from the inside out is by recognizing and taking in what God has done for us.
[00:08:39] See, we're always tempted to think the way we really change is by what we do for God.
[00:08:45] But what the Apostle Paul is gonna show us again and again is that what we do for God is secondary.
[00:08:52] What God does for us is the very central thing, the thing that shapes and transforms the human heart. And so Paul says, set your mind. Seek him. See, your life is with him. Your future is with Him.
[00:09:07] All that you could ever ask for is in him. And he's been. You're united with him. Now, all of this is.
[00:09:18] This whole letter is kind of set up by this deep human problem that we all have.
[00:09:26] And this problem is really explained in the book of Genesis, which is the first book of the Bible.
[00:09:32] And in Genesis, there is the story of Adam and Eve. And God creates them in his image, and they live in just perfect relationship with God.
[00:09:45] And it's interesting, the writer of Genesis, he says this. He says that they're naked and they're unashamed.
[00:09:53] And at first you're like, that's a really weird thing to say. You know, and it's not like this idea of, like, hey, like, we've been working out. We look really good. Like, it's not.
[00:10:03] That's not the idea.
[00:10:06] We haven't eaten a carb in 10 years, you know. No, that's not what he's saying. What he's saying is that there's nothing lacking. Our lives have no concept of shame, no concept of guilt, no concept of any sort of. Like, we are. You can think about it this way, that when we first learn about Adam and Eve, that they are clothed in the goodness and love of God.
[00:10:37] And there is a peace, there is a contentment, there is a completeness to all of that.
[00:10:45] And the story goes on, and they end up rejecting God and turning their back on him.
[00:10:54] And in that moment, the author says, well, now they realize they're naked, but they're afraid, or they're naked and now they're ashamed. So their total sense of what's going on in their life has changed. And why did that change it? Because they were clothed in the goodness of God and his love.
[00:11:21] And in a sense, they took that off. And now they were exposed and shamed, and they were in this completely different spot. And just like, kind of any of us, they're like, we need to cover ourselves.
[00:11:37] And so they try to kind of figure this out, and it doesn't work. Now. Now, what does that story show us? Well, it shows us something really central to what it means to be human.
[00:11:51] That we, all of us, like Adam and Eve, we all have this problem that we're exposed, we're vulnerable.
[00:12:02] There's a sense of shame and guilt.
[00:12:05] And like Adam and Eve, all of us, we. We try to fix it ourselves.
[00:12:11] We try to put something on in place of God's love and goodness, but it never fully works. And essentially, what the Apostle Paul is gonna argue in the Book of Colossians is he's gonna say, that's really the core of religion.
[00:12:31] The core of religion is. Is trying to clothe yourself to solve this problem on your own. Say, well, look, there is things lacking in my life, so I'm going to make up for them by doing these things.
[00:12:47] And one of the things the Apostle Paul will show us is that all of us are always trying to find a way to deal with. With this deep problem in our soul. You with me on this? And every religion is kind of an attempt to do that. In fact, I heard a podcast this week by Tim Ferriss. He's like a very famous podcaster, and he was doing, like, a Q and A deal with his audience. And one of his audience members said, tim, if you had to create a religion, what would the tenants of your religion be? And he kind of was like, this is a funny, odd question. But he went with it. And he said, well, the tenets of my religion would be three things.
[00:13:36] Number one, movement is medicine, get up, move your body, exercise, all that kind of thing.
[00:13:43] Number two, he said, save yourself by helping others.
[00:13:48] Save yourself by getting outside yourself and helping others.
[00:13:52] And number three is ask what you want in life and tell people what you don't want. Just kind of be clear about what you want and what you don't want. He said, that would be the tenets of my religion. And I thought, that's such a. I was like, that's good advice. Like, there's nothing wrong with any of those.
[00:14:12] But just like anything else, any other attempt, none of that will ultimately solve the issue in our souls, you see.
[00:14:22] But what Paul is gonna say is that we all try to make up a religion. We all try to find a way.
[00:14:29] Sometimes we're trying to cover ourselves and our work becomes our religion. We don't think about it that way, but we give and sacrifice everything for it. You with me on this? I've talked to so many people. They say. Yeah, I mean, they don't say it like this, but. But I gave up my health for my work. I gave up my family for my work. And they recognize that in hindsight. But what is that? That's religious devotion.
[00:14:57] Why?
[00:14:58] Because there's shame and nakedness that we have, and we're trying to cover ourselves.
[00:15:06] We're trying to figure it out in all our attempts.
[00:15:12] Don't end up working. You with me on this.
[00:15:15] And this is what was happening in the Book of Colossians, that the church here, they were trying to do all these things. And if you read the chapter before this, Paul talks about it, like, all these different practices, but all of them were a way to try to earn their salvation, their covering, to try to figure it out. In fact, there's this great quote by G. Key Beal. There we go. Sorry, but it says this. This is about the Book of Colossians. He says, the false philosophy, and this is what they were experiencing in the church. The false philosophy starts from an earthly viewpoint from which by their own efforts, they attempt to transcend their own bodily existence and rise in the heavenly dimension. Paul starts from the reverse direction, from the resurrected Christ in heaven and his fullness, which works itself out in the earthly life. And what he was saying is that in this church, they were attempting to get to God.
[00:16:29] They're like, if we do these things, we'll get to God, and in other words, we'll cover ourselves and we'll make this all work. And Paul says, no, no, you're starting in the wrong direction.
[00:16:41] It doesn't start with you getting to God, but realizing God has come to you and that everything your soul needs and longs for, Christ has it and freely gives it to you. And so everything has to start with. With Him.
[00:17:02] Thank you. Who said, yeah, I got one person that's listening to me today.
[00:17:11] It all starts with Christ. And so at the center of Christianity, at the center of all this, is seen what Christ has done. And so Paul says, if you have been raised with Christ, now what does that mean? Paul's saying, when you think about your spiritual life, do you recognize that Christ has done something for you that you could never do for yourself?
[00:17:39] See, is that the beginning point? Religion's beginning point is like, what do I need to do to solve this problem in my life?
[00:17:48] But the beginning point of Christianity is what has Christ done for me that I could never, ever, ever do for myself?
[00:17:58] Paul says, have you been raised with Christ?
[00:18:01] Have you experienced Christ at work in you, literally bringing you from death to life, something you could never do for yourself? Paul says, is that your starting point? Have you seen what he's done for you? And just to kind of go through this a little bit, in the Book of Colossians, he lists a bunch of really cool things that Christ has done for us that we could never do for ourselves and that aren't based on what we do for God. And the first one is from the first chapter. He says that he's qualified us to share in the inheritance.
[00:18:42] Now, what this means is this idea of inheritance means that you have a secure future.
[00:18:50] And Paul says that Christ has qualified you. He's written you into the will.
[00:18:57] And by the way, it's a really good will, and your future is secure. Now just kind of think about this in terms that are more personal. Like, there's something in all of us that wants to hear, everything's gonna be okay, right?
[00:19:16] Like Even in those moments where you know everything isn't okay and life is crazy, don't you just long for someone to say that to you?
[00:19:24] Even though you're like, okay, I know you're lying right now, but it'll just still be helpful to hear those words. Like, there's something in us that, like, wants to know at the end, it's all gonna work out. And what Paul is saying is Christ gives us a future where it's gonna be okay, where we will be taken care of because of the goodness of God. He says this next one that he delivered us from the domain of darkness.
[00:19:56] Now, when I was a teenager and Christ came into my life and changed me and saved me, I always say that it felt like the lights went on in my mind and in my heart.
[00:20:10] Felt like. Like before that. It was like, I'm just kind of, like, wandering around a little bit in the darkness. I'm like, where are things at? What matters? But. But in that. That time in my life, it was like the lights came on. And not that I could see and understand everything, but. But everything made a tremendous amount more sense.
[00:20:30] And all of a sudden it felt like, okay, there. There is a clear path.
[00:20:35] There is a clear way. There is someone who I can fully trust.
[00:20:41] And it was moving out of that domain of darkness into the light.
[00:20:46] And Christ does that in all our lives. The next one, Paul says, is that he transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son. He says, now you're part of an entirely different. Different world and different way of living. And you have different privileges and rights and responsibilities. You are now part of the kingdom of his beloved Son. Here's my favorite one. He says this twice in Colossians. He's forgiven all our sin and all our trespasses.
[00:21:24] I find that to be tremendously good news.
[00:21:28] Cause I make a lot of mistakes.
[00:21:31] I mess up way more. I mean, I drive myself crazy, let alone God and everyone else. And every time I read those words, it's like, it's air to my soul. It's oxygen. He's forgiven all our sins and trespasses. Now, sin and trespasses has a little bit different nuance to it. Sin is when you make miss the mark.
[00:21:55] Sin is when it's like, all right, here's the target. And you're just. You're all over the place. You know, you're swinging and missing. We all do that in life. Trespass is when you step off the path.
[00:22:07] You know, it almost has a sense of maybe a little bit more deliberate, you Know like, hey, don't walk on the grass.
[00:22:15] Daddy just planted some new grass.
[00:22:17] And where do they go?
[00:22:20] That's called a trespass.
[00:22:24] And I'm becoming that old man in the neighborhood. Hey kids, get off this grass.
[00:22:29] Never thought I would. I'm on the fast track there.
[00:22:33] Cause the Bible says you should not trespass.
[00:22:39] But here's the beautiful thing. Christ forgives it all.
[00:22:45] Here's an ugly truth about us in all of our souls.
[00:22:49] There are seeds today of sin and trespasses.
[00:22:53] And those seeds have not fully come to life.
[00:22:57] At some point they will.
[00:22:59] And this is a sad reality of being broken people. At some point they will. But you know what? Christ has forgiven all of those, all of them.
[00:23:11] We can't cover ourselves, we can't give ourself that gift.
[00:23:17] But Christ can.
[00:23:19] And Paul says he's given that to us. And then look at this, he says, and he's reconciled us, he moves near to us and he brings us in for a purpose. To present us holy, blameless and above reproach.
[00:23:42] That Christ, he is going to see everything through in your life to the very end.
[00:23:53] He's gonna fully restore each and every one of us. See, my dad was a car guy, still is growing up and sometimes this might be an unfair mischaracterization here, but sometimes it seems like car guys could get projects and they're a little over ambitious on them. Is that fair?
[00:24:21] I don't want to offend anybody here, but this seemed to happen in our life, you know, where it's like I'm going to restore this thing and it's going to be beautiful and, and great and this thing that is a rust bucket right now. One day it's gonna be this beautiful car and gonna just drag race down the street and all these kinds of things, you know.
[00:24:44] And I believe that ambition would be there, but then some of those cars would sit year after year and they were a rust bucket when they came and they just got worse as they sat because there was no one working on wasn't being transformed. And what Paul is saying is that Christ is never going to leave you sitting there.
[00:25:13] That he is going to be at work in all of us.
[00:25:17] And all the stuff that we carry into this room, all the dysfunction, all the brokenness in you and, and in me there is good news that one day Christ is gonna get rid of it all.
[00:25:34] Christ is not you because you can't do it, but him in you will do that. And I don't know about you, I look forward to that.
[00:25:46] I'VE had enough of me where I'm like, man, this gets old real quick.
[00:25:51] And, I mean, hopefully I got more decades to come, but it gets annoying. Amen.
[00:25:56] I'm the most annoying person to myself, and I'm thankful that Christ has us. And then he says this, and these are just a couple in Colossians that he's filled us with his fullness.
[00:26:12] You know, everything you need, you already have.
[00:26:17] Now, maybe not everything you want, but everything you need.
[00:26:22] And actually even more, we have this in Christ. And so what Paul is saying, he's saying, when you think about it, do you look at Christ and do you see what he's done? Paul says, have you taken that in?
[00:26:42] Do you breathe that into your soul? Or are you trying to cover yourself?
[00:26:48] Are you trying to fix this exposure and this vulnerability and this shame and this struggle? Are you just trying to, like, running around crazy, trying to do it yourself?
[00:27:01] Paul said, no, no, no, no.
[00:27:03] Look to Christ and nowhere else, because only in him are these things. And so Paul says, because these are. These are in Christ. He says, here's how you breathe in that oxygen. He says, first, seek the things that are above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Now, what's cool about that verse is he's quoting Psalm 110, and Psalm 110 was written about 1,000 years before this. And Psalm 110 is actually the most quoted psalm in the New Testament.
[00:27:43] So it's kind of cool to go back and to read Psalm 110 because it's quoted about 23 times in the New Testament and Paul. And it's this idea of being seated at the right hand of God. And what does that mean? Well, it means a lot of things, but let me just share a couple of them. Number one, it means that when Christ is seated, it means his work is finished.
[00:28:10] See, there's two different ways you can take a seat.
[00:28:14] Sometimes you're working hard. You're like, I'm so tired. I need to sit down.
[00:28:20] And that's pretty normal experience for me.
[00:28:23] I'm wiped out. I need to sit down.
[00:28:26] You're sitting down because you need to rest. The other way to sit down is when all the work that you intended to do finished.
[00:28:38] You're like, man, it's Monday and I mowed the lawn.
[00:28:43] Yeah.
[00:28:47] And it looks amazing.
[00:28:49] And then you just go, and you look at that recliner and you just sit down.
[00:28:53] You're like, I have fulfilled what God wants me to do.
[00:29:03] And you're sitting down from.
[00:29:05] From a place of accomplishment, that the work is done. And when the New Testament says that, that Christ is seated, that's the idea. He sits down. Because the work is done.
[00:29:17] It's done.
[00:29:19] It's not kind of up in the air. It's finished.
[00:29:23] And so when I seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated, I'm reminding myself again and again, man, what Christ has done, it's finished.
[00:29:36] When I mess up and fail, I can remind myself, hey, my forgiveness is finished.
[00:29:45] I don't need to create some plan to balance out what I've done. You with me on this? I don't need to say, all right, well, you messed up here. Now, how can you cover. How can you fix it? No, I can't. I can receive the finished work of Christ and live in that.
[00:30:05] When life is stressful and crazy, I can remember Christ is seated.
[00:30:09] That means he's got my future, whatever. The economy does, the market does, whatever. Like, all right, I can acknowledge that and make the best decisions, but ultimately, my future's not in that stuff.
[00:30:25] It's in him, the one who is seated at the right hand of God. Here's the second thing that that means, is that he is seated as a king.
[00:30:35] As the king of kings. And when I seek the things that are above, it means that I'm learning to relate to Christ as the king of my life.
[00:30:48] That I'm not looking at my life and saying, well, what does this person want from me? What that does? What do I want from me? But the most pressing.
[00:30:59] I'm done. Let's pray.
[00:31:03] I can't talk today.
[00:31:05] It's hard to preach a sermon when you can't say simple words.
[00:31:10] But anyway, I forget what I was saying.
[00:31:15] Yes, but the most pressing question is, what does Christ want from.
[00:31:20] He is the king. He is the one that I trust in him. And then Paul says, seek the things that are above and set your mind on the things that are above, for your life is hidden with Christ in God. I just. It's such an interesting phrase to me. Your life is hidden. I have a little experience with hidden things because sometimes we'll get, like, great desserts at our house, and they'll be sitting on the counter, and Allie will hide them from me.
[00:31:55] This happens at times because she's afraid if they're within sight, I will eat them all, you know, and that fear is completely justified.
[00:32:07] And even the kids say, sometimes, daddy, don't eat all those.
[00:32:12] Come on, man.
[00:32:13] I got my wife and now I got these girls, you know. Can't catch a Break.
[00:32:19] So what? I like sugar and carbs. Sue me, you know, and so they'll be hidden. And what Paul says is, he says, your life is hidden with Christ.
[00:32:36] Nothing can get at it, nothing can take it away.
[00:32:41] Nothing can diminish it, nothing can alter it. It's hidden with him. So he says, set your mind on things above, for your life is hidden with Christ. Now, there's a Psalm, Psalm 27, where this idea of hidden is actually brought up here. And I think it's just kind of a cool way to bring insight into this idea. And it says this one thing. Have I asked the Lord that I will seek after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple?
[00:33:23] And here it is. For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble. He will conceal me under the COVID of his tent. He will lift me high upon the rock. But I just want you to see that in these verses, what David, the psalmist, is saying. He's saying the only thing I really want is to enjoy the presence of God.
[00:33:48] And he says, as I do, that there's a protection, there's a safety, there's a comfort, there's a cover to my life.
[00:34:01] And I just want to ask us today, what do we ultimately want? I want a lot of things, you know, and it's fine. And we're human, and we're gonna want a lot of things. But I also need to remind my soul again and again that the thing that I should want most above all is God himself.
[00:34:30] Because that is where the life is. That is the if I have that, everything good comes from that.
[00:34:40] And today, church, I just want to remind you, maybe help you to see, you have a great God.
[00:34:47] You have a God that you are meant to enjoy, that you are meant to delight in, that you're meant to say, man, look at all you've done for me.
[00:35:03] All you're doing for me.
[00:35:06] And as you see that, and as you take it in, guess what? Your heart and your life moves closer and closer to him.
[00:35:15] And that's what I want for you and for me. So through this series, I want you just to pray this prayer these next couple weeks. It comes from Romans 5:5.
[00:35:26] And in Romans 5:5 it says this. For the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit.
[00:35:39] And I want you just to pray. And I want for everyone in our church, for everyone in our family, just pray. God would you pour out your. Your love in my heart by your spirit. Would you pour. Would you pour out your love that. That God wants. See, we can talk about all this stuff, but. But there's also something supernatural that has to take place that it. It takes supernatural work for me to fully understand and receive the goodness of Jesus Christ.
[00:36:16] And so let's pray for that for each of us, for our church. And let's pray. God, would you just pour out your love in our hearts? Could we breathe that in as oxygen to our souls? Let's pray. Father, thank you that everything begins with you.
[00:36:40] Thank you. That in Christ is all the fullness, is redemption, is life, is love, is all of these things and more.
[00:36:54] Help us, Lord, to live from the fullness of who you are and what you've done, what you've given us.
[00:37:03] Help us to see it, to take it in to the deepest places in our lives.
[00:37:13] Father, I pray we could just breathe it in now. I pray your spirit could just pour out your love in our hearts right now that it could be real, it could be deepened, it could be understood more, it could be strengthened.
[00:37:32] And I pray, Father, that our hearts would just move towards you.
[00:37:36] You are worthy, Lord, and we thank you. We want to appreciate you more, we want to love you more, we want to live with a greater focus on you. Help us to do all that. In Jesus name, amen.
