THOUGHTS AND
AFFECTIONS OF BELIEVERS ARE HEAVENLY
If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things
which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God [Col. 3:1].
Again,
this is not the if
of condition; it is really the if
of argument. We saw this same thing back in Colossians 1:23 where we read: “If
ye continue in the faith grounded and settled….” There was no question about
their continuing in the faith grounded and settled. The lives of these
Colossian Christians evidenced their salvation. What was the evidence? It
was faith, hope, and love—the fruit of the Spirit was in their lives. “Since
we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus”—the word had gotten around that they
had a living faith in Christ Jesus; “and of the love which ye have to all
the saints”—they loved the believers (Col. 1:4). Love among the believers is
so important, and I do not mean this sentimental stuff that you hear so much
about today. For instance, if you are a minister, you evidence your love for
your congregation if you give them the Word of God, and you show your love
for your pastor as a member of the church if you support his Bible-teaching
ministry. My friend, love is very practical—it gets right down where the
rubber meets the road. If it doesn’t, it’s no good at all. Love is that
which manifests itself in reality. The Colossians had faith, and they had
love. They also had hope: “For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven
…” (Col. 1:5). That hope is the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ for His
church. These three—faith, hope, and love—were the manifestation of the Holy
Spirit in the lives of the believers in Colosse. Therefore, when Paul says
“if,” it is the if
of argument. Verse 1 here in chapter 3 would be better translated, “Since
you are risen with Christ.”
“Seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth
on the right hand of God.” Where is Christ today? He’s sitting at the right
hand of God.
What are we to do today? We are to “seek those things
which are above.” Seek
is an interesting word. It actually means “having an urgency and a desire
and an ambition.” There should be an excitement that goes with seeking
spiritual things.
When we watch the Olympic games, we see folk who are
running or performing some athletic feat to win a gold medal. Believe me,
those folk are seeking.
I don’t see many saints looking for gold medals today, but we are to be
seeking Christ with that kind of urgency.
“Those things which are above”—these are the things of
Christ. I want you to note that Paul is not saying that we should seek such
courses as are offered today that are a mixture of pseudopsychology with a
smattering of Bible. This kind of teaching is handed out in a few night
classes, and then some poor crippled Christians think they have the answers
to the problems of life—all the way from a neurotic mother-in-law to a boss
who is a dirty old man. They think some little course will teach them how to
treat everybody and every problem. They consider it a do-it-yourself kit, a
kind of an open sesame to a new life. Now I say to you, and I say it very
carefully, you will only experience the new life as you “seek those things
which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.”
I will get even more personal in my illustration. You
cannot find the answers in anything I have produced—either a book or a
tape-recorded message. Now I am stepping on some toes, including my own
toes. A couple came to me this past summer at a conference and said, “Dr.
McGee, we have a certain tape of yours, and we play it at least once a week
and listen to it.” My reaction was that they had better burn that tape. I
had the feeling they were beginning to worship that tape and that tape
wasn’t getting them through to Christ.
And now I’m really
going to step on toes; Paul doesn’t say here to seek out and listen to any
preacher or teacher! May I say this to you very kindly and very frankly:
Don’t make Dr. McGee or any man your idol. If you do, you have an idol who
has feet of clay. You would be looking to a man who is just like you are. I
make a lot of mistakes. I’m not near the man I’d like to be, nor the husband
I’d like to be, nor the father or grandfather I’d like to be. Don’t make
anything man produces a god for yourself.
The purpose of this poor preacher is to get out the Word
of God to you so that you can see the living Christ and get through to Him.
If the Holy Spirit doesn’t use my ministry to get you through to the living
Christ, then I have failed—then I have fallen flat on my face, and I am
willing to quit. I believe with all my heart that the Bible is the one Book
which reveals the living Christ, and that is my purpose in teaching it.
I would like to give you an illustration of this. I went
to school with a fellow who was a Canadian, and he told me about his first
trip to Niagara Falls. (By the way, Mrs. McGee and I saw it for the first
time this past summer. When we were looking over the falls, I said to her,
“Honey, I promised you we would go to Niagara Falls on our honeymoon. I
think we are still on our honeymoon, and here we are.”) Well, my classmate
told me that as a boy he got on a train on the Canadian side of the falls,
which is the prettiest side. He said, “When I got off the train, I could
hear the roar of the falls, but I couldn’t see them. I began to move toward
the sound, and I came to a big building. I went into that building, which
was like a Union Station in the United States: there was the popcorn vendor,
the soda pop machine, the gift shop, and candy papers, chewing gum wrappers
and even chewing gum on the floor. People were sitting all around. I was
really disappointed, but I could still hear the roar of the falls. Then I
looked down to the end of the building, and there I saw the biggest picture
I had ever seen in my life. The frame of the picture took in most of the end
of that building. It was a picture of Niagara Falls. I couldn’t believe that
right there at the falls they would have a picture of them. I began to walk
down toward that picture, and as I drew closer to it, I began to realize
that through a frame I was looking at the real, living, running Niagara
Falls!”
My friend, when you read the Bible, you are not looking
at a dead person. You are looking at the real, living Christ. He is the One
at God’s right hand. We are to seek those things which are above—we are to
seek Him. That is
why I have a ministry of teaching through the Bible. There is no shortcut.
Some have suggested that I cut it down to a one-year program, but that
certainly is not adequate. And, really, five years is not adequate. Some
have suggested that I lengthen it to ten years, but that is not feasible for
me. Even if we took ten, or even twenty years, we would not know it all. At
the end of his life Paul could still say: “That I may know him, and the
power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made
conformable unto his death” (Phil. 3:10).
Real study of the Word of God will get you through to the
living Christ. Let me illustrate this with a letter from a listener to our
radio program:
When we were studying Romans and
Corinthians, I began to realize just how much of a carnal Christian I really
was. I began to desire much more than that. So I began to pray that I might
truly know Christ as God would want me to. Nothing happened for a while, but
I kept praying. And then God did answer my prayer. One day you said that God
sees us in Christ,
and it was as though some dark, hidden thing had been brought out into the
light. I had read Ephesians many times before, but that day your message
really struck home. It is a wonderful thing to know that Paul’s prayer is
still being answered today. I realized that day that God no longer looked
down upon me as a poor sinner struggling upon this earth, but
in Christ
and that I belong to Him as a child….
May I say to you from my heart,
get through to Christ.
“Seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand
of God.”
Set your affection on things above, not on things on
the earth [Col. 3:2].
Actually the word for “affection” is
mind. Think about the
things that are above. In Philippians Paul said that whatever things are
true and honest and just and lovely, think on these things—the things of
Christ. Life is full of its smaller problems (like whether or not you can
get along with your mother-in-law), and they are very real to us, but by far
the greatest need is for us to get through to Christ. That should come
before everything else. “Set your affection on things above.”
For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in
God [Col. 3:3].
“For ye are dead” might better be translated “for ye have
died.” If you have died, when
did you die? Paul wrote to the Galatians, “I am crucified with Christ …”
(Gal. 2:20). You died more than nineteen hundred years ago when Christ died.
He took my place; He took your place. We died in Him.
“Your life is hid with Christ in God.” I have been taken
out of the old Adam by baptism; that is, by the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
I have been taken out of Adam and placed in Christ. I am now
in Christ. Now that I am in
Christ, I should live out His life and let His fullness be lived out through
me.
When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall
ye also appear with him in glory [Col. 3:4].
If you have any life, it is Christ’s life. John wrote in
his first epistle that it was his intent to “shew unto you that eternal
life.” How could he show eternal life? He was going to show us Christ;
Christ is eternal life. And one of these days those who belong to Him are
going to “appear with him in glory.”
McGee, J. Vernon: Thru the Bible
Commentary. electronic ed. Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 1997,
c1981, S. 5:353-355