Colossians 3:1-3
Seek, Sit, Set
This is one of those passage that ought to be memorized. It sets in
motion the very practical teachings of Paul.
1. Paul’s letters typically start doctrinal but close in the
arena of practicality.
2. These verses start that section and give in a few words the
heart of the matter.
3. The practical teachings of Paul are an outgrowth of the
doctrinal teachings. If we understand as we ought, we
will live as we ought!
I. A Condition
Col 3:1 If ye then be risen with Christ,
A. IF - That word is a conditional word.
1. It means that this promise may be yours or it may not.
2. If you want the riches the promise unlocks, you must meet
the condition the verse requires.
B. What is the condition?
1. You must be risen with Christ.
2. This is a reference to salvation.
3. Throughout the Bible, God makes reference to our salvation
as us having joined Christ in His death, burial, and
resurrection.
Romans 6:6 Knowing this, that our old man is
crucified with him, that the body of sin might
be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve
sin.
Romans 6:4 Therefore we are buried with him by
baptism into death….
5 For if we have been planted together in the
likeness of his death, we shall be also in the
likeness of his resurrection:
Col 2:12 Buried with him in baptism, wherein also
ye are risen with him through the faith of the
operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.
4. Christians share life with Jesus because we have died with
Jesus.
C. It is interesting that Paul only mentions one, the last one,
of the three events we share with Jesus.
1. We have died with Him.
2. We are buried with Him.
3. We are risen with Him.
4. Why just the last?
a. The Bible does not say.
b. I think it is because the resurrection speaks of the
power of a new life.
c. It is not just a matter of being saved. It is also a
matter of walking in the power that Christ has given
to us.
D. If you meet this condition (raised with Christ by the power of
the resurrection) you are invited to seek, sit, and set.
II. The Command
A. Seek
Col 3:1 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek
those things which are above, where Christ
sitteth on the right hand of God.
1. Seek is a command given to us.
a. Imperative sentence with you understood as the
subject.
b. Seek means to search; to find out by thinking,
meditating, reasoning, or enquiring; to strive after,
to demand, to crave.
c. God is commanding the saved, Spirit-filled, empowered
believer to look for something.
2. Where? "those things which are above, where Christ
sitteth….
a. Above
b. In the place where Christ sits.
c. Those two descriptions would tell me we are looking
for heavenly treasure.
3. God is telling is that there is something better,
superior, for us if we will seek it, but we have to look
in the correct direction—upward.
a. Too many are looking for God’s blessings in the wrong
direction.
b. You don’t look down and you don’t look out. You must
look up for God’s best.
(1) God can give you very, very good treasures on
this earth.
(2) However, the best treasures will not be found in
your job, your friends, or even your family.
c. This correlates to other verses which speak of our
heavenly blessings:
Psalms 16:11 Thou wilt shew me the path of life:
in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right
hand there are pleasures for evermore.
Ephesians 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of
our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in
Christ:
4. The better and superior blessings of God can be ours if
we will find them.
a. So what is this? Hide and Seek?
b. It is a call to focus and labor for better things.
c. We have been talking about the focus. Let’s consider
the labor.
5. There are two kinds of looking.
a. There is the looking you do when you don’t really care
if you find something or not and there is the looking
you do when you really want to find something.
b. To find something requires work on your part.
(1) It has been experience that these treasures are
not just laying around.
(2) You will not "bump" into them.
(3) You must invest labor and time into a pursuit of
heaven.
6. You are going to need some tools. God has provided you
with some.
a. You can search heaven through the Bible.
b. You can search heaven through prayer.
c. You can search heaven through fasting.
d. You can search heaven through worship in the Lord’s
house.
B. Sit
1. The main command is to seek but the second is a courtesy.
a. We are told to seek where Christ is sitting.
b. In the Bible, sitting is symbolic of rest and having
fellowship.
c. It would rude to be wandering around Jesus’ throne and
not sit with Him for awhile, wouldn’t it?
d. This becomes an invitation not only to look where
Jesus is sitting but to sit with Jesus.
2. The joy of God is to sit with Man and the joy of Man
should be to sit with God.
a. I understand busy, hurried, behind, late, overwhelmed.
b. I also understand that God created us to have
fellowship with Him, not because He needed us.
3. Many Christians are robbing themselves of sweetness of
Christ by not sitting with Him in fellowship.
Isaiah 40:29 He giveth power to the faint; and
to them that have no might he increaseth
strength.
30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and
the young men shall utterly fall:
31 But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew
their strength; they shall mount up with wings
as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and
they shall walk, and not faint.
a. Power is given to those who wait for the Lord.
b. To wait is to linger, to stay before, to look for.
c. God gives strength and power to those!
John 15:4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the
branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except
it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except
ye abide in me.
5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that
abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth
forth much fruit: for without me ye can do
nothing.
6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth
as a branch, and is withered; and men gather
them, and cast them into the fire, and they
are burned.
d. \\#4\\ Abide - to remain, dwell, continue, tarry
e. Those who do so become fruitful.
f. Those who do not wither.
C. Set
1. This is act of labor. (Se we have a command, a courtesy,
and a job.)
2. The sweetest fellowship will always be surrounded by
determined labor!
3. The idea is not a physically labor but a willful one.
a. We are to set our affection, our heart, our love on
heavenly things.
b. After we seek and sit with Him, we are to SET OUR
LOVES IN PROPER ORDER TO KEEP OUR FELLOWSHIP RIGHT.
4. Christians, we should not deceive ourselves:
a. We love what we choose to love.
b. Somethings cannot be loved equally - it is either
the heavenly or the earthly.
c. To love the heavenly, you will have to refuse to love
the earthly.
1John 2:15 Love not the world, neither the
things that are in the world. If any man love
the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the
flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride
of life, is not of the Father, but is of the
world.
17 And the world passeth away, and the lust
thereof: but he that doeth the will of God
abideth for ever.
5. To give the world preference over Christ is to be
carnally minded.
Romans 8:6 For to be carnally minded is death;
but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
If you are risen with Christ, you can choose to have the better
things but you must seek them and be determined to stay with them.
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