The Mindset of the Believer

[0:00] If you return your Bibles to Colossians chapter 3, Colossians chapter 3, starting in verse 1.

[0:24] ! They give me four verses, so about ten minutes will be done. No, I'm just kidding. Colossians chapter 3, verse 1 says, If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.

[0:50] 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 and God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, you also will appear with him in glory.

[1:05] Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I just thank you for this opportunity to come up and just proclaim your word. Father, I pray that you would use my voice. Father, I pray that I would not get in the way of you.

[1:17] Father, I pray for those that are in this room this evening. Father, I pray that your word would sanctify us. Father, your word would mold us.

[1:29] Your word would change us. And Father, I pray if there's anyone in here that has never professed Jesus as Lord and Savior. Father, I pray this evening is the night of salvation for them. It's in Jesus' name.

[1:40] Amen. So as I studied this, I had a hard time coming up with how I would title this. And the title that I came up with is The Mindset of the Believer.

[1:53] The Mindset of the Believer. Our mindset affects us in so many ways. You may not be able to tell looking at me right now, but I think it was in 2011 through 2014.

[2:11] I was, I would say, big into cycling. Two pedals, cycling, two tires. I was big into it.

[2:23] First, my brother got me into it. I was, I was, wasn't really excited about getting into it, but he wanted me to go ride with him. And so I went and got me a little hybrid bike, had a little suspension on it, had skinny tires.

[2:35] So it was kind of fast. But as you pedaled, it would go down, but, and you would lose momentum. But I was just, I was just doing it because my brother wanted me to. And then as I started enjoying it more, I began getting more serious about it.

[2:49] And a buddy of mine who lived in Tulsa at the time, he, we, we got to talk. So maybe we should do Oklahoma free will. If you don't know what Oklahoma free will is, it's a week long bike ride from the southern part, southern border of the state to the northern border.

[3:04] And it takes a week long to do. And so we decided we were going to do it. We signed up. Our starting town was in Durant.

[3:16] We drove down there. My brother dropped us off, me and my buddy. It was about one in the afternoon before we decided on that first day to run down to the Texas border, which I think it was like 20 miles, something like that, down.

[3:32] But the thing about it was we started at like one o'clock in the afternoon. And this is typically the first full week of June when this occurs. And so we get down there.

[3:42] We're all pumped. And all of a sudden we start riding and they just blacktopped the road that we were on. And we were baking. I was baking.

[3:55] And I really didn't know what I was doing, to be honest with you. But I was there to enjoy the week. I was beginning to think, maybe we need to call my brother back to come and get us.

[4:08] I was almost to that point. But as I continued, we got through that day. And I told my buddy, I was like, we've got to start earlier in the morning. And so we thought we was getting an early start at 8.

[4:21] And it was a little bit better. We finished the day around 2 or so, maybe 15 miles. And we got that done. I was like, we've got to start earlier.

[4:32] This heat is killing me. I wasn't necessarily wearing the correct cycling clothing, which is a whole different thing in itself.

[4:47] But as the week went along, I began seeing how I was starting to enjoy this week, even though I hurt.

[4:57] And I come to a point to where I just continued to get better and better as a cyclist. And that's maybe hard to understand. How can you get better at riding a bike? It's possible. And so I started doing everything that I needed to do to be better on the bike.

[5:14] I paid attention to what I was eating. I paid attention to how my bike was working. I got to the point to where I could tell when something minor was wrong with a wheel, with a brake.

[5:25] I could feel it and I could stop and fix it at that moment. And everything about it was I had this mindset of when I first started riding a bike, I'm doing this for fun. And I get to the point to where I'm serious about it now.

[5:40] I seriously was. I didn't, towards the end when I stopped riding a bike, I was riding a bike to, in a sense, to push myself to a point where I hadn't been yet. I was constantly pushing myself to the edge on the bike to where it hurt my lungs.

[5:57] But that's what I wanted. And so I went from this lazy guy to this person who kind of became a snob on the bike. I had the cool bike. I had all the cool stuff.

[6:09] And I became that guy. And so as I wanted to be better and as I got better, it took a mindset change. And as we look at Scripture here, we begin.

[6:19] I want to things that that I gathered from the Scripture as Paul wrote this to the church. And as Pastor Tyler mentioned to us last week about the teachings that were being, that were coming into the church that were false, false teachings.

[6:37] And all these different things that were starting to have an effect on the church. We see Paul here. He's beginning to change what he's addressing.

[6:47] What he's addressing here is ourselves. Again, the mindset of the believer. And so in Colossians 3 verse 1, the first point that I gather from this is seek the things above, which is Christ.

[7:07] To seek the things above, which is Christ. If you've been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand. If then is better translated with since.

[7:22] Since you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above. Paul gives us a reminder of who we are and what we are now in Christ. Romans 6 verses 3 through 4.

[7:34] It says, Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ, Christ Jesus, were baptized into his death? We were buried, therefore, with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead, by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in the newness of life.

[7:51] And so as Paul is telling us here in this scripture from Romans, as we've been baptized into Christ Jesus, he's not necessarily saying our baptism, physical baptism.

[8:05] But when we become the moment of our salvation, we are immersed in Christ. We take on the righteousness of Christ. Everything about Christ, we become.

[8:16] So as we look at this and as we begin to dig into this a little bit more, again, the moment of salvation, we become united with Christ.

[8:31] We identify with Christ. His death, burial, and resurrection become ours. So as Paul says, since you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above.

[8:46] And that might be hard to understand. Seek the things that are above. You're looking. Some people, I was reading in a commentary about hundreds of years ago, they would try to draw or paint paintings of what that may have looked like.

[9:01] And they were all about darning Jesus with all the fine linens and the throne. What Paul is talking about here is not physical things.

[9:12] He's talking about spiritual things. He's talking about who Christ is. As Jesus is at the right hand of God, that is the position of power, authority, and honor.

[9:28] Paul, he's not actually referring to literal things. He's talking about what Jesus is. He's talking about what Jesus is doing while he's reigning on his throne. He's talking about the presence of Christ.

[9:41] His character, his blessings, and his joy. Let me ask you this. How often do you dwell on the presence of Christ?

[9:56] As Christians, that's our ultimate goal is Christ. That's our ultimate goal is to be with him in glory. But right now, as he sits on his throne, do you ever dwell on the presence of Christ?

[10:12] Do you dwell on his character? And his blessings? Or his joy?

[10:26] Think about that for a second. Do you ever just sit back and... I like to... When I wake up, I'll go and get my coffee and sit outside with dog Ruby and sometimes Nikki.

[10:37] And I just sit out there and just... As I read the scripture, like... Goodness. God's good. God is so good. But sometimes there's times where I, so to speak, wake up on the wrong side of the bed.

[10:54] You know, I'm worried about the day. I'm worried about something else. And I get to the point where I don't dwell on those things. But it's important, as Paul was talking about dwelling on the presence of Christ, his character, his blessings, and joy.

[11:11] How often do we dwell on this? We've been changed by Christ. We've been united with Christ. How often do we think about those things?

[11:24] John 14, 13 through 14 says, Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do. That the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.

[11:37] Yes, Paul talks about seeking.

[11:50] Seek the things that are above. As I was thinking about that word, seek. I think of seek. When you seek for something, it's a constant doing.

[12:03] If you're seeking something, you're constantly seeking after. You're constantly doing it. You don't stop. I think of the game hide and seek. There's a couple times we've played with the youth hide and seek in this church.

[12:16] That's crazy. This church at night. It was scary. But it was fun. But when you think about it, when you're the person, the seeker, they have a job.

[12:31] They're constantly trying to find those that are hiding. And there's been times where there'll be a student who says, All right, I'm done. I'm done looking. And at that moment, they're done looking.

[12:44] The game's basically over. The game becomes, what are you quitting for? And the whole fun of the moment just instantly goes away.

[12:55] Because the seeker quits. If you're hiding, you're in a good spot. You want to be found. And so as we seek the things that are above, we are constantly looking above.

[13:11] And what does that look like in Christ? What does that look like in Christ? If we don't intentionally seek Christ, seek the things that are above, his presence, his character, his joy, we will flounder quickly.

[13:36] Quickly. I've seen that in my life before. I see it in students' lives. If they don't constantly seek the Lord, if they don't constantly stay on track with what we're doing as Christians, to be like Christ, they quickly fall by the wayside.

[13:59] And that hurts me the most when I see that. And I can go to them because I can see this. And what's going on? What are you struggling with? And they'll admit to what they're struggling with.

[14:13] But they don't jump back on board. We have to be intentional. We have to be intentional. Don't dwell on earthly things and situations.

[14:35] Verse 2 says, Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. The definition of set, the very first word in this verse, the definition says, To put, lay, or stand something in a specified place or position.

[14:54] In a specified place or position. As Christians, our lives should be driven by a standard. As Christians, our lives should be driven by a standard, and that standard is Christ.

[15:09] Yet it is not our wisdom by as many years as we've lived and how we've experienced things. Our standard is Christ. No matter what we're dealing with, our lives should be pointing to Christ.

[15:33] See, no matter what we do, we're either pointing people to Christ or we're pointing people away from Christ. When we begin to dwell on the earthly things, whether it's material, whether it's honor in society, whether it's status in society, whatever it is, the moment we begin to dwell on those things, it all comes back to me.

[16:04] And when we focus on me, we will flounder, we will get nowhere. But the moment we put Christ at first in our lives, when the hard stuff comes into life, when the hard stuff happens, we handle those things differently.

[16:27] If we have Christ at the forefront of our life, if our standard is Christ that we should live by, it's human nature for us to allow earthly things, thoughts to get in the way, and our reactions will reflect that.

[16:46] It's human nature. But again, as Paul said, in the death, burial, and resurrection, the moment of our salvation, we are united in Christ with that.

[16:56] We are united in all those aspects of Christ's life. Those things, those things that come up in our lives, they should not affect us the way they affect everybody else.

[17:10] Romans 8, 5 says, for those who live according to the flesh, set their minds on the things of the flesh.

[17:27] But those who live according to the spirit, set their minds on the things of the spirit. Romans 12, 2, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, and that by testing, you may discern what is the will of God, and what is good, and acceptable, and perfect.

[18:01] Matthew 16, verses 21 through 23 says, for 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.

[18:17] And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, far be it from you, Lord, this shall never happen to you. 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.

[18:39] Again, the verse says, set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. Would you be honest and ask yourself, would Jesus say this to you?

[19:01] Get behind me, Satan. You are a hindrance to me.

[19:19] That'll quickly put it into perspective where you're focused on, what you're dwelling on. Earthly things are heavenly things.

[19:36] I know there's been a few times where if Jesus was standing right there with me, like he was with Peter, that he would say the same thing to me. Amen. What is it you think about when you don't have anything to do?

[20:08] What begins to flood into your mind when you're just sitting at home doing nothing? Nothing. Is it Christ?

[20:30] Is it the bills? Looking for a new house? Sick dog?

[20:49] Where does your mind go to when you're not doing anything? Luke 12, 34.

[21:03] Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. See, again, as we look at this, Paul is giving us, is reminding us of these things. He's telling us we need to do these things because he was talking to the church there and the church was dealing with false teaching.

[21:21] The church was dealing with a lot of stuff that was happening within the church that was causing disunity. See, if we don't have Christ at the forefront of our lives and that's something, and Christ is our standard on a daily basis in everything that we do, our thoughts and our decisions that we need to make, if Christ isn't in that position, we will falter.

[21:51] We will falter. Verse 3, point 3, dwelling on, dwelling on and realizing the realities of being hidden in Christ.

[22:14] Verse 3 says, for you have died and your life is with Christ and God and your life is hidden with Christ and God. Paul says it's for you have died.

[22:26] Again, at the moment of salvation, we are immersed in Christ. Again, we are immersed in his death. For we have died.

[22:37] In the moment of our salvation, our old self has died. And so we identify with Christ in that way. The old ways of willful sin have died.

[22:48] And Jesus paid the penalty of that sin. What does it mean to be hidden in Christ?

[23:14] Three things. We are spiritually connected with God and Jesus. 1 Corinthians 6, 17 says, but he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.

[23:27] 1 Peter, or 2 Peter 1, 4 says, by which he has granted us, to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them, you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desires.

[23:48] It blows my mind. And I like to think about it often, that as Christ was righteous in his life, and at the moment of salvation, God saw me the same way.

[24:05] Not because of anything that I did, but because of who Christ is and what he did. That is so amazing to me. At that moment, God sees me like Christ.

[24:22] I'm so undeserving. I'm so undeserving to be looked at that way. But God in his grace says, you are.

[24:32] The world does not understand the salvation that we have through the work of Christ.

[24:49] This is another thing that we, what it means to be hidden with Christ. The world does not understand the salvation we have through the work of Christ. 2 Peter 1, 4 says, By which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world and because of sinful desire.

[25:17] 1 John 3, 1 and 2, See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God. And so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

[25:30] Beloved, we are God's children now and what we will be has not yet appeared. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him because we see him as he is.

[25:41] I don't know if you've ever been out sharing the gospel and you feel like you've shared the gospel and you've shared it very clearly.

[25:59] You feel like you've done everything you could, but there's no response to the person that you're sharing with. God does the work there in that heart as you share the gospel.

[26:18] But it's important that we understand that the people who are lost, they don't understand what we have in Christ. It's important that we remember that as we live our life day in, day out, that the outside world doesn't understand God's grace.

[26:38] It's hard to comprehend. But we have to be willing to show grace, to give grace in that manner so that they can have a picture by the grace that we give because we understand the grace.

[26:55] they can see the picture of God's grace through us. And another thing, what it means to be hidden with Christ, we are forever secured.

[27:18] We are forever secured. John 10, 28, I give them internal life and they will never perish. And no one will snatch them out of my hand.

[27:30] No one. No one will snatch them out of my hand. Oftentimes we live, we live as if we don't know that.

[27:52] or we live as if it's it's a partial promise that we live not in a sense knowing that nothing can separate us from our Lord.

[28:08] We'll live it halfway. Why do we do that? Hebrews 7, 25, consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him since he always lives to make intercession for them.

[28:42] 1 Peter 1, 3, and 4. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus, Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.

[29:02] As I look at these three different things, what it means to be hidden with Christ, we are spiritually connected with Jesus and God.

[29:25] The world doesn't understand the salvation of what we have in Christ. doesn't understand God's grace and we are forever secured.

[29:40] When you see Scripture, tell these truths. It's so comforting. It's comforting to know these truths. It's comforting to know these promises.

[30:00] verse 4. Point 4, dwelling on the promises, on the promise of Jesus' return. Verse 4 says, when Christ, who is your life, appears, then you will also appear with him in glory.

[30:20] Revelation 19, 11 and 12 says, then I saw heaven open and behold a white horse. The one sitting on it is called faithful and true and in righteousness he judges and makes war.

[30:33] His eyes are like flames of fire and on his head are many diadems and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. 15 and verse 15 and 16 says, from his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations and he will rule them with a rod of iron.

[30:50] He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God, the Almighty. on his robe and on his thigh he has the name written, King of Kings, Lord and Lords. Christ is going to return.

[31:10] He's going to return and it says, then you also will appear with him in glory. John 17, 24 says, Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me may be with me where I am to see my glory that you have given me because you love me before the foundation of the world.

[31:35] That's Jesus' prayer. That us, those of us who have made professions of faith that Jesus is our Lord and Savior, this is Jesus' prayer that we would be with him.

[31:49] and of course, Jesus never prayed outside of God's will. He always prayed in God's will.

[32:04] So as we see here him praying in God's will, it's going to happen. Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me will be with me where I am.

[32:21] That's what Jesus is saying about us. Jesus wants us there. In our broken ways, by the grace of God, Jesus wants us with him.

[32:37] Those of us that are believers, he wants us with him. What a joy. I can think of so many people who don't want me around.

[32:52] Again, I'm pretty awkward and hesitant when it comes to chit-chat. But to think about the one who came for our sin, the Savior of the world, he wants me to be with him.

[33:06] That's amazing. Philippians 3, 20 through 21 says, but our citizenship is in heaven and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.

[33:30] again, verse 4 says, when Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

[33:42] all these things that Paul is reminding us, he's telling us to seek the things that are above.

[33:56] To set our minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. Your life is hidden with Christ and God.

[34:06] God, when Christ returns, we will be with him in glory. I don't know what you're dealing with.

[34:19] I don't know what you're struggling with. But what is your mindset right now? We've all made a conscious decision to come here tonight to come worship.

[34:36] Maybe you're struggling with something. If you're a believer, in these four verses, we have so much reassurance of who we are in Christ.

[34:49] But still, yeah, we go back to the things of what is around us, what we can see. But these are things that distract us from our standard of Christ.

[35:04] It's easy to lose track. I understand. but again, Paul is reminding us our mindset has to be different.

[35:20] As Christ followers, our mindset has to be different. we have to be pointed to the heavens.

[35:34] We have to be seeking Christ. We have to be seeking his character. We have to be seeking his presence because we're called to be that way.

[35:46] We're called to be different from the world. our reactions are to be different from everybody else. Not because it makes us look good, but because of what Christ did for us.

[36:08] Because God said we're worthy. We're worthy of something we don't deserve. and that's our wrath that we've soared up because of our sin.

[36:25] He says we're deserving of a savior. We're deserving of the life of Christ. We're deserving for him to go to the cross while it should be us.

[36:39] we're deserving to receive the wards of risen savior. Is that your mindset?

[37:07] Going back to the question, what is it you think of when you're sitting at home doing nothing? You have a few moments of down time. What are you thinking of? Is it of heavenly things?

[37:28] Or earthly things? of heavenly things?

[37:40] We've been given the Holy Spirit. We've been given everything we need to make this mindset change.

[38:05] Is it time for you to put everything else down? Is it time for you to put the earthly things down? And to change your mindset to Christ. Because he is the standard.

[38:22] Not the U.S. government. Not the state government. Not the local government. Jesus Christ is the standard. standard. Is he truly your standard?

[38:45] He's my standard because of me placing my faith and trust in Jesus as Lord and Savior. Because I realized I was a sinner.

[38:57] I realized there was wrath stored up for me. And then God revealed himself to me. He said, hey, come here.

[39:09] Come here. I want to show you something. I want to give you something. In that moment of I don't know what's going on, he wraps me up in his arms.

[39:27] And I say, I need a savior. I need a savior for my sin. And he says, you're mine. I will love you.

[39:40] I will care for you. I will give you your needs. Your mind. All because of what Christ did.

[39:55] Christ going to the cross. to pay the penalty of our sin. So that we can have a relationship with God. The biggest decision you could ever make in your life.

[40:10] Not buying a house, not buying a new car. But saying, yes, I need a savior. I need him. God is calling your name out.

[40:30] Because he wants a relationship with you. You never professed Jesus as your Lord and Savior. If that's you tonight, I want to encourage you to come and talk to me, talk to Pastor Tyler, talk to Pastor Mike.

[40:42] That's why we're here. We want to celebrate with you if that's you tonight. my brother and sister in Christ is your standard for daily living Christ.

[41:00] If not, why not? I would encourage you to go home and the moment you sat down, be conscious of what you're thinking about.

[41:15] Be conscious of what you're thinking about. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for this time that we can come and just worship. Father, I just thank you for the words of Paul as he points us to Christ and as he shows us that we should all be pointed to Christ, that we should all have Christ at the center of our lives.

[41:39] Father, I just pray that your words would change lives tonight. Father, I pray that if there's any in here that that has found salvation tonight.

[41:49] Father, I pray that they would step out and proclaim it. Father, again, I just thank you for this time to share your truth. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

[42:00] Thank you.