Colossians: Hidden in Christ
Director of Worship and Spiritual Formation Jared Cooper preaches from Colossians 3:1-4. Discussion points: Our old life and identity is attached to the death of Christ, our transformed life is hidden in Christ, Christ is not making you a better version of yourself but rather more like him.
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Scripture reader: [Colossians 3:1-4] 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 will also appear with Him in glory.
This is the word of the Lord.
Preacher: OK, OK. Let's try this again. Good morning, City on the Hill Church. Awesome, awesome. My name is Jared, and I'm the director of worship and spiritual formation here at COA Summerville, and I'm so honored to be really sharing this text with you all today because it's such a rich passage, yet so simple that it can be easy to miss some of the powerful truths that are packed into these few verses.
So if you can do me a favor, I need you to bust out an imaginary fork and knife. Can you do that for me? OK, OK. There's some obedient folks in here, some other. You know, God will work on you, that's all right. But if you have your fork and knife out, OK, and I need you to imagine that they just brought your steak out at Ruth Chris Steakhouse, OK? And it's not a porterhouse, it's a filet mignon, it's a little bit, but this is one of the best cuts, all right? And I believe that, these verses that Paul has, has shared with us, there's some powerful truths. And so, when I read that you can put your forks and knives down now.
When I read the Bible, I love to dissect every little detail because there's so much packed into God's word. The Bible actually says that the word of God is alive and active and that it's sharper than a two-edged sword piercing even between the division of soul and spirit. And I also believe that God has hidden in his word mysteries and treasures for us to find like any good father was OK? any fathers in the house, you, you like to, you know, do a little scavenger hunts at home, right? Am I the only good father in here? No, I'm just kidding. All right, all right, I see how you guys are gonna be today, OK? There's more jokes coming, so like get comfortable now. All right? I'm just, I'll just double down.
But the writer of Proverbs says that it is the glory of God to conceal a matter, to search out a matter, however, is the glory of kings. And so right at the beginning of verse one, Paul makes a statement that almost sounds like a question if you read it too fast. So he says, if then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above. Let's pause right there. If then you have been raised with Christ. No Paul isn't asking a question there he's declaring a truth to us and to the Colossian Church, a truth that if we understand it should completely change the way you look at your life. City on the Hill Church, you have been raised with Christ. Amen. Can you say that? declare that over yourself, say I have been raised with Christ. OK, that's not bad. I'll get y'all right by the end of this message, OK?
Now if you're like me, you said that, OK, and it's kinda, we're used to saying things in church, you're like that sounds good. OK, I have been raised with Christ, and we believe that Christ has ascended, but at the same time, the reality is that me and Kelly are sitting here looking at each other, right? OK, so what does this actually mean? And I'm gonna give you guys a, a real life example as best as I can.
And I remember when, well first, does anybody know Tom Brady? That's the, the loudest you've been all day, OK. Now I remember when Tom Brady made the decision to leave the New England Patriots and join the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. And at that point in his career, Brady had already won 6 Super Bowls. If you don't know, that's a lie. OK. no, that's, that's a lot. He actually held the record for the most Super Bowl wins in NFL history, and he wasn't even done playing. And I remember all of the offseason buzz surrounding where would Tom Brady play next. Listen, teams that already had a good quarterback were huddling together trying to get this 40 year old man on their team, and it was because they all knew one thing.
Even if Tom had lost a step, Tom was a proven winner. And wherever Tom was going next, Tom expected to win. He was bringing with him not only the know-how of how to get here, but also the expectation, the excellence level, the preparation strategy wherever Tom went, he was gonna raise the bar from the GM to the coach to the players. Tom was a leader. He said this is where I'm going and this is where you all are coming with me.
And there's literally, let me back up a step. When you look at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, I gotta talk about them first, OK? For you to really understand kind of like the magnitude, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers overnight when he joined them, they went from a team who hadn't made the playoffs, hadn't made the playoffs in over a decade. Let that sink in. OK, not lost in the playoffs, not lost in the first round like my Bengals, hadn't made the playoffs in over a decade to a team who overnight because one man walked in the building now has Super Bowl expectations, that's crazy. But it was simply because Tom Brady had walked into the building and there's a documentary called The Brady Effect and it breaks down just how his arrival began to change the culture, the expectations, the confidence level, and even the trajectories of individual players on the team.
And in his very first season, not only did they make the playoffs, not only did they make it to the Super Bowl, but they won it all. You guys are quiet, but I know if you were in that stadium when they were, I knew, I, I, where's Matt Carpenter? OK, there we go. Listen, in their very first season they won it all. And that was just all because of the arrival of one man. Church, that's just Tom Brady.
But Paul's saying that we have been raised with Christ, not Tom Brady not Michael Jordan, not some CEO or Instagram influencer no, Christ the King of kings, the Lord of Lords, the one seated on the right hand of God. Listen church, if you are in Christ today your entire reality has to change because your identity and your position has already changed. I'm gonna say that one more time if you are in Christ today, your entire reality has to change because your identity and position have changed. Listen, you are no longer living towards victory you are living from victory do you see that difference?
Because Christ is already victorious so I need you to look at your neighbor and tell them that we ain't missing the playoffs no more. OK, I, I heard some of you say it, and you said it real proper, but I need, can you say it with a little ebonics, OK? Just, just for me. Say we ain't missing the playoffs no more. There we go. Thanks, thank y'all. Thank you. I feel a little bit at home. Amen. Listen, I, I'm not missing the playoffs anymore see I'm looking higher in every area of my life because that's where Jesus is seated so say it one more time like you believe it say I am risen with Christ. Amen amen. I believed you that time.
So let's transition back to this text and dive into the verse and it 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, man, if Paul had just stopped right there, that would be a message all in of itself we could sing holy forever, take communion and go home, right? Amen, amen, jokes are warming up, they're warming up. But Paul doesn't stop there. And it's almost like he noticed what we noticed earlier where there's a spiritual truth that's being presented but there's also reality and he knows this truth, but he's also seeing the church of the Colossians that they're not actually experienced this new life in Christ so I believe he continues because he really wants them to get it and he really wants us to experience this and so he says, set your minds on things above, not on earthly things for you died and your life is now hidden with Christ.
OK, hold up. Paul, you said I was risen with Christ, now I'm dead. Now I'm hidden in Christ. In the words of Marvin Gaye, what's going on? And it, you know, that was my initial response when I read this, but church, let me try to break down what Uncle Paul is trying to tell us here, and this is the Jarrett Cooper's translation, the message version, OK? So bear with me a bit. If we are to fully embrace our risen life in Christ, we must attach our old life and identity to the death of Christ and set our minds on things above where Christ is. I'll say that one more time if we are to fully embrace our risen life in Christ, we must attach our old life and identity to the death of Christ and set our minds on things above. Amen, amen.
Now and because this is the Jared Cooper translation, it has to be a little more long winded than that. So once we embrace that we are hidden in Christ, we then become positioned to see life from the same perspective and vantage point as Christ. When we understand our position in Christ, we can begin to share his focus, his priorities, his perspective after all he's seated at the right hand of the Father where a son belongs. I'll come back to that point.
But if you're taking notes this morning, you can write this down as point number 1. You cannot live the new life until the old life dies. I'll say that one more time, you cannot live the new life until the old life dies.
So here's a little personal story when I was a kid I had quite the imagination, still do honestly, and I used to close my eyes and try to imagine, you know, what kind of man I would grow up to be, how tall I'd be, what career I would have, what city I'd live in. What I'd look like with a full beard, I'm still wondering that one actually. But as I got older. That picture started to get a little blurry. And I remember around 18 years old that the image of myself that I had always dreamed about started colliding with the reality of who I was actually becoming. And I remember growing up in church that I would put so much pressure on myself to become this phantom version of a man that honestly church I had no clear example of.
Truthfully I probably built that image around the kind of man I didn't want to become. More than the kind of man I actually wanted to be. Because I had more examples of what not to do than what to do. And while we're on this point, can I just ask every father in the room to stand? Hey man, can we give them a round of applause? Amen. I know it took you guys a little time to get out, so I wanted to give you. That was like a whole 10 seconds, you know, of us, amen. I'm sorry, we're supposed to be honoring the fathers, not picking on their knees. Amen. Listen, I just wanna honor you all today. Because every father who is walking with Christ and modeling his life for his family, listen, you're giving your children something priceless. Something that not everybody has, and it's important for us to not lose perspective of this because it's a foundation.
It's, it's much easier to build from the right starting point than spending most of your life trying to figure out what the starting line is, right? And as much pressure as we put on ourselves as fathers, I want you to know that the right starting point isn't you living the perfect picture, OK? Or you being the perfect picture. No, it's really a picture of a life surrendered to Christ that we're modeling.
Listen, if our families and our children just see us living a life surrendered Christ, even in our weakness, even in our mistakes, they will ultimately know that that is the foundation from which they need to be, be, excuse me, begin building their own lives. Amen. Listen, today's passage, it challenges us with a complete perspective shift. Because some of us. We're pretty proud of the lives we were building before we came to Christ. Others of us. It's not good grammar, but that's how I said it. Others of us, we carried a lot of shame. Shame over some of the choices that we made. Shame of some of the advice we didn't take from our fathers. Shame of some of the mistakes. Ashamed of some of the relationships that we chose to pursue.
Maybe this morning you're ashamed of some things that weren't even your fault. It wasn't your fault that that person wasn't there. It wasn't your fault that that happened to you, but the reality is that these things altered the trajectory of our lives. Listen, whatever side of the coin that you're on, whether you're proud of the life or, or you've you've been feeling a lot of shame and have. And most of us are a little of both, if we're honest. Listen, there's parts of our lives that we gladly hand over to God and ask him, Lord, can you make this new?
And then there's other parts where we kinda come to God and we say, God, can you just improve this area of my life? You know I would love my salary to just be a little, a little better. Or God, can you just upgrade? This area of my life. Maybe my car, can you just upgrade that? Maybe you're looking at. All of the shame in, in your past and. In in some part of your heart you you kind of blame God that some of that stuff happened or that he didn't step in. And so maybe you're coming to Christ and you're saying like, well God I think I can deal with all of that. If you just help me get this one thing I've been chasing and we give conditions to God, God, if you can just give me this one thing, I promise I'll forget that you ever let that other thing happen.
And if that's you this morning, I've got some good news. Jesus didn't come merely to renovate your life. He came to give you a completely new one, saints. See some of us came to Christ asking him to improve the version of ourselves that we had already built, but Jesus didn't come to improve the old you. No, he came to crucify the old you, so that he could raise up something entirely new. Church, you are risen with him positioned in him and your new identity is found in him.
Moving on to point two, if you're taking notes. The life that Christ has for you is hidden in him. I'll say that again, the life that Christ has for you is hidden in him and it says that right in the verse. And church when I read that I realized something. If my new life is hidden in Christ. Then that must mean my pursuit of Christ isn't just a spiritual activity. No, it's the pursuit of my actual identity. The more I know him, the more I discover who I really am. See Paul says seek the things that are above the life God has for you cannot be found by obsessing over earthly things or our earthly identity.
See, the world says and I think we have a, a graphic. The world tells us to discover ourselves, to express yourself. To build yourself. I'm guilty of this too. I worked in higher ed for years. I do consulting where I go and I talk to students, and there is a truth to that. But when we look at scripture. Well, first, I'll say, a partial truth is a lie. Partial truth is a lie. And so we must look at Scripture to really understand. And it says Luke, yeah, Luke 9:23 tells us to deny yourself. It's in complete contradiction. In Matthew 16:24-24 it says 24 to 25. If you lose your life, you'll find your life in Christ.
Listen, church, hidden with Christ means your truest identity is not self-created. It's Christ revealed. I'll say that one more time, being hidden in Christ means that your truest identity is not self created by you, but it is Christ revealed. We, we need to be pursuing Christ. We need him It's in him that we live and breathe and have our being. And listen, one thing that I've learned along my journey or my walk with Christ and I'll dip into a little bit of Fletcher's sermon from last week, you know that there's gonna be some powerful moments in your pursuit in your walk in your journey with Christ, some encounters as you get into his word, you know, some powerful truths that are revealed to us along the way as we pursue the heart of Christ that's just part of that's the byproduct of pursuing him.
And as Pastor Fletcher shared last week, these things shouldn't be the primary focus of our pursuit. But also let's not let the pendulum swing too far. These moments in his presence. These encounters, these revelations that we discover as he takes us from glory to glory to glory as he promised will help sustain you through the seasons where you're also share in the carrying of our own cross. Jesus even said this in Hebrews 12. Or perhaps this is Paul, sorry. let us, whoever the writer of Hebrews is, let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. Who for the joy set before him endured the cross scorning its shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
And John I believe he said he set his face towards Jerusalem because he knew what was waiting on the other side and of course I'm paraphrasing, but listen church, I don't know what you're walking through right now, but I need you to encourage you in something. Do not quit. Before you see his glory revealed. Come on, this, this life and this walking journey in Christ, it can get hard. And I need to encourage you, don't quit. Matter of fact, I'll say it like this. Don't quit until, oh see, messing up my, this, I was gonna, I was gonna what do you call it? catchphrase this or patent this, it's so good, OK. So, so lean in, get your steak fork and knife out again, OK? Here it is.
Don't quit on it until you see His glory revealed in it. Whatever it is, whatever it is for you, whatever it is that you stop praying about whatever it is that you stop believing God for, don't quit on it don't quit on them until you see His glory revealed in them so I don't know why I had to say it that way but I believe that's for somebody. Listen church don't get tired don't get weary of working on your marriage don't get tired of preserving yourself in purity waiting for the one that God has for you because those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength they shall mount up on wings like eagles they shall run and not grow weary.
Come on, we might call them worship nights where we're going after God, but Abraham and Jacob they called it a well. Moses would have called it a bush or a mountainside, no matter what you wanna call it, the fact of the matter is, it is the heart of God. To reveal himself to his children. I wish I had more time, but let me move. It's what a father does, church. He makes himself known. He makes himself available. He puts himself within reach. Within viewpoint so that his children can see him.
And that leads me to point three. Jesus did not come only to die for man, but he came to reveal man. Listen, Jesus didn't come only to forgive and restore humanity, he came to reveal and demonstrate to us what redeemed humanity actually looks like. He was the first. Both born with the Spirit and born of a woman, so listen, he's a perfect example of what it looks like to live a life led by the Spirit while also denying the flesh. We can look to him. The Bible says that he is the second Adam in Romans 5:12-19, and it describes even in 1 Corinthians that where Adam failed, Christ succeeded where Adam brought death, Christ brought life.
The Bible also tells us that He is the true image of God. A couple weeks ago our brother Femi preached that in him dwells the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And another verse here, it describes, it says that he is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. So that's, that's where it gets interesting for me because I've already described to you how I read the Bible, OK? And so it says that he is the image of the invisible God. And when I go back into Genesis, and I read where God's getting ready to create man.
He says, let us make man in our image and in our likeness. We were created in Christ from the very beginning, but it goes on, it says, and let them have dominion. Over the fish of the sea and over the birds, and of the heavens and over the livestock. Overall, the overall earth and over every creeping thing. Let me tell you something, church, we have fallen a long way from taking dominion over the earth. We get so caught up trying to build our own lives that we forget that we were originally designed to take dominion over the earth.
Romans 8:19, it says that the creation, it waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. Jesus came saints, because we still have a job to do. Yet our identity has been lost and stripped from us when sin entered the world we stopped taking dominion and became so consumed with awareness of our own nakedness in our own lives what we don't have, what I'm trying to build, we so we got so self-focused that we forgot to take dominion over what God gave us. Yes, Satan gained a foothold through humanity's fall and is called the ruler of this world, but only because the first Adam's abdication.
But in Matthew 28:18 before Jesus ascended, he declared to us that all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me, Jesus. And in John 1:12 he says, but to all who did received him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children with God once again, so it's been restored. So church, when we declared that I am risen with Christ, we are also declaring by faith that we are stepping back into our delegated author authority through Christ to take dominion over this world. You can't take dominion over the earth when you're so focused on yourself.
Think about it when sin first entered the world, one of the immediate side effects was that they were looking at their own nakedness. But when I'm in Christ, I don't have to worry about what I'm going to wear. What I'm going to eat, what I'm gonna do with my life because the Father in heaven has already taken care of all these things. No, our focus needs to be on declaring the word and will of the Father over every fallen thing that we see around us.
And as I get ready to close here. Listen, that's why Jesus was so intentional with what he said. He said I don't speak anything of my own will, but only what my father tells me to say. And we see even that this was the original design. When God first created Adam, one of the things he did was he brought the animals to him to see what he would call them. To see what he would name them. So church, what would happen? If we begin to open our mouths again and declare heaven on earth in every room, office and situation he leads you into. See dying to yourself doesn't necessarily mean I have to quit my job. It doesn't necessarily mean I have to move to a new city. Or abdicate any previous role I roles I held, but it means that Jesus can now show up through me because my life is fully surrendered to him.
And what would happen if we let Jesus show up as the Father in our homes. Speaking life and love and kindness over our children and our and our wives, the way the Father speaks to us, what would happen if we let Jesus show up as the employee at work with his eyes to see in his heart of compassion and love flowing through us? What would happen if instead of reacting to the news and what's going on. Around us in the earth, we allow Jesus, who is the word at the beginning, to begin speaking light and new life over each and every situation.
Church we are called to take dominion and live victoriously. That is our charge as children of God. And that is our charge collectively. As the church who is called the body of Christ. I know I don't have a lot of time left. But I just wanna ask you a few questions. If Christ calls the church his body. You know, since he has ascended. And our life is found in him. Then why do we think we can live this new life in Christ? Without consistently being connected to his body. Listen, it's true that if you are in Christ, his spirit lives within you. But there's aspects of his love. And aspects of this new victorious life I believe that you will never experience if you are not in deep fellowship with his church. Of which Jesus himself is the cornerstone.
In John 15 he says, I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me, and I in him bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. This is the blueprint, church. The Christian life is not you trying to become a better version of yourself. It is Christ reproducing His life through you.
So as I think back, I realize that that picture was always blurry. Because I was never meant to discover my life apart from him. And some of you keep asking God to bless a version of yourself that he has already asked to die. You've been struggling maybe to go deeper with Christ. Because listen You can't be full of him and full of yourself at the same time. If you're here this morning and you don't know Christ. I believe this is a divine appointment for you. Listen, don't worry about having a life that's worthy enough to present to Christ, cause even what we would consider a righteous life by our own standards is as filthy rags to him. So there could never be an even exchange.
No, he offers you salvation this morning and new life in him as a free gift. But you do have to surrender the old one to receive it. And if you're here this morning and you're scared that following Christ this way will cost you everything. You're absolutely right. It cost him everything. But take heart Because whatever is buried. And this is for me. Whatever is buried in the death of Christ, will also be raised to life with him in his resurrection. And I dare you to trust him this morning, church.
If you can just close your eyes right where you are. And let the Holy Spirit speak to you whatever he needs to. I dare you to trust him that the life that he has for you is so much better than anything you can imagine or build on your own. So today, if you hear his voice, don't harden your heart. So wherever you are, every, every eye is closed, we're just gonna close in a quick prayer. And if we can all just pray this together. Some may be praying this for the first time and the rest of us. Let's just pray this with them.
Say heavenly Father, I come to you today. I acknowledge that I am a sinner. And I thank you for sending Jesus to die for my sins. Right now I surrender my life to you. I choose to die to my old self. And I believe my life is now hidden with Christ in God. Thank you Lord Jesus for giving me the power and the right to become a child of God. Fill me with your Holy Spirit. And give me the strength to live for you. I declare I am born again. I'm a child of God, and I am a new creation in Christ. Amen, amen.
If you prayed that for the first time, I just wanna bless you. There's people in the back as we prepare for communion and I invite, invite Mark up. That would love to pray for you this morning. Church, there's a new life that Christ has for you. I can't wait to see how he shines his light through you. Thank you all for sharing and listening into the word this morning. Amen.