Heavenly Mindedness (69)

 

 

“I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God, the Almighty and the Lamb are the temple thereof. And that city has no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine upon it, for the glory of God lightens it, and the throne of God and the Lamb are therein: and his servants shall do Him service, and they shall see his face, and his name shall be on their foreheads.”  [G. Vos using excerpts from Revelation chapters 21 & 22]

 

“…and they shall see his face, and his name shall be on their foreheads.”  

 

How shall we see the Face of God? How shall the Name of God, His Nature, be written on our foreheads? Vos’s message on Heavenly – mindedness is anchored in Hebrews Chapter 11, and yet his conclusion propels us into Revelation chapters 21 and 22, for our union with God in Revelation is the fruit of Christ’s redemptive work and grace and love in us, and of our heavenly – mindedness in Him. When we know our true nature, which in Christ is the Divine Nature; and when we know our true purpose, which in Christ is koinonia with the Trinity, then heavenly – mindedness becomes a Way of Life; it is not only how we live, it becomes in Christ who we are.

 

Continuing with Colossians 3:1 – 4:

 

“Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.”

 

What do you see in this passage? What do you see about Christ? What do you see about yourself? What do you see about your position in Christ? What do you see about your activity in Christ? What do you see about your life’s orientation?

 

Note that in verse 9 that we “have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him.” Note in verse 11 that in this renewal, in the People of God, “Christ is all, and in all.”

 

Then in verse 12 we read, “So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved…”

 

We see that we have been raised up with Christ, that we have died [with Christ] and that our lives are hidden in Chris, that we have put on the new self and that this new self is being  renewed in the image of God, and that we have been chosen of God and that we are holy and beloved.

 

Now then, is this the way we think about ourselves? Is this the way we think about one another when we gather together? Is this the way you think about yourself? Is this the way you think about the glorious salvation which Jesus Christ has brought to you and to your sisters and brothers?

 

If not, then why not? Do we not believe the Scriptures? Do we look to ourselves and not to Jesus Christ? Do we make our experience – whether high or low – our benchmark, our view of reality, or do we trust the Word of God and “walk by faith and not by sight” (2 Cor. 5:7)?

 

Do you see yourself as raised up with Christ, out of the tomb of sin and death? Do you see yourself as a new creation in Jesus Christ? This is the way, in Christ, you are called to think about yourself – do not deny the completeness of the salvation that Jesus Christ has accomplished for you and in you. This salvation is so much more than the forgiveness of sins, it encompasses our inheritance as the sons and daughters of the living God, as those who have not only been raised from spiritual death (Eph. 2:5), but who have also been raised to sit in the heavens in Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:6).

 

“…keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.” The title of Vos’s message is Heavenly Mindedness. The motif of Hebrews Chapter 11 is faithful pilgrimage, looking for that City whose builder and maker is God; living life with the eyes of faith, living according to the reality of the unseen, invisible, and eternal Kingdom, as opposed to the temporal and visible. We are to “keep seeking” the things above, for our treasure is in heaven and not on earth (Matthew 6:19 – 24).

 

We want to keep seeking Christ, beholding Jesus Christ, following Jesus Christ – loving Jesus Christ with all that we have and all that we are. Do we want to love Jesus more today than we did yesterday? Do we want to know Jesus more deeply today than we did yesterday? Do we want to spend more time with Jesus today than we did yesterday? Is Jesus Christ our all-consuming passion and desire?

 

Are you a man, or a woman, or a young person, who belongs to Jesus Christ? Are you pursuing Jesus Christ? Look at those words, “keep seeking.” What image do these words convey? When others look at us, do they see us seeking Jesus Christ? Should others want to learn to seek Jesus, can they look at us as examples of how to do that?

 

Our orientation is to be above, where Christ sits at the right hand of God. I’m sure you’ve heard the saying that we can be so heavenly minded that we are of no earthly good – let me tell you a little secret, that is a lie from hell. How can seeking Jesus Christ be of no earthly good? Was not Jesus Christ consistently seeking His Father in heaven? Was the Father not His source of life, His source of action, His source out of which He give His life for us – healing, feeding, saving, redeeming, delivering from darkness, dying for us, rising for us? (John 3:6, 13; 4:34; 5:19; 6:38; 8:28; 12:49; 14:10; 17:4).

 

On our day of judgement, and make no mistake, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad” (2 Cor. 5:10; see also 1 Cor. 3:10 – 17); Paul is writing to Christians, so if you think that you will not be judged, when Paul knew that he (and we) would be judged, you are believing a lie…

 

On our day of judgement, do we think it will go like this:

 

Christ says to us, “Where have you been? I have not seen much of you here in the heavens.”

 

“O Jesus, I knew you were up here, but I had so much to think about on earth, so much to give my attention to, so much with which to be occupied.”

 

“Really? Did you not read Colossians Chapter 3? I had Paul write that to my people. Also, did you ever to read Geerhardus Vos’s message on Heavenly Mindedness? I had him preach that to my people. I have had many of my servants write and preach such messages.”

 

“I read Colossians 3, and I did read Vos’s message, and I’m sure I’ve heard and read similar things, but I kept reminding myself on Mondays that what I heard on Sundays needed to be filtered through what I’d also heard, that we can be so heavenly minded that we are no earthly good.”

 

“So that is why I haven’t seen much of you Bob?”

 

What about you dear reader?

 

Heavenly Mindedness (68)

 

“I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God, the Almighty and the Lamb are the temple thereof. And that city has no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine upon it, for the glory of God lightens it, and the throne of God and the Lamb are therein: and his servants shall do Him service, and they shall see his face, and his name shall be on their foreheads.”  [G. Vos using excerpts from Revelation chapters 21 & 22]

 

“…and they shall see his face, and his name shall be on their foreheads.”  

 

Now let’s ponder Colossians 3:1 – 4. What do we see? How is it related to 2 Corinthians 3:17 – 18? How are both of these passages related to 1 John 3:1 – 3?

 

“Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God” (Col. 3:1; see also Ephesians 2:4 – 7).

 

In order to capture an element of context:

 

We are to be pleasing Him “in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all power according to His glorious might (Col. 1:10 – 11)”…living in the knowledge that in Christ we have “all the treasure of wisdom and knowledge” (2:3)…and that “in Him all the fulness of Deity dwells in bodily form” (2:9) and that in Him we “have been made complete” (2:10).

 

While in 2 Corinthians Chapter 3 there is a contrast between the Law of Moses as the letter that kills and condemns, and the New Covenant that gives life and transforms us into the image of Jesus Christ, in Colossians the dangers have a swirling complexity:

 

“See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ” (Col. 2:8). I think we could add the social sciences to this, in that we have exalted social science to be the arbiter of much of what we do, how we think, and what we trust; we have replaced God’s Way with man’s social and therapeutic understanding. We have brought idols into the Temple.

 

“Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day…Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind…If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why as if you were living in the world do you submit yourself to decrees, such as Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch! (which all refer to things destined to perish with use) – in accordance with the commandments of men? These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self – made religion and self – abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.” (These are excerpts from Chapter 2).

 

Thus we have the lead – in to Chapter 3, “Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things 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 our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.”

 

In light of the foregoing, we are to “consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity…” We are to live as those who are being “renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him,” and to realize that we are “chosen of God, holy and beloved.”

 

In Colossians 2:20 we have “died with Christ.” In Colossians 3:3 we have “died and your life is hidden in Christ in God.” In Colossians 3:5 we are “to consider the members of our earthly bodies” as dead to sin. (See also Romans Chapter 6, and Galatians 2:20).

 

Can we begin to grasp the context of Colossians 3:1 – 4? How are we thinking about ourselves? Do we see ourselves in Christ, and do we see Christ in us, our hope of glory? (Colossians 1:27). Do we see the work of Jesus Christ as complete, or do we think we need to add to the work and Person of Jesus Christ in one of the many ways the Colossians were tempted to do in Chapter 2? Is Jesus Christ truly our treasure house? Is He our all in all? (Colossians 1:13 – 20; 2:1 – 10).

 

O dear friends, these are not just words, nor are they simply ideas – Jesus Christ is our source of life and the one and only source of our inheritance. These images and teachings and paradigms in Christ open our souls, our hearts, our minds, our spirits, and our bodies to be filled with all the fulness of God (Ephesians 3:19), calling us into the koinonia of the Father and the Son (1 John 1:3).

 

The pores of our skin should be oozing the glory of Colossians, we should be saturated with the Word of God, with Jesus Christ. We are called to be “a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life” (2 Cor. 2:14 – 16). How can it be that we can be among others and no one sense the aroma of Jesus Christ? How can it be that the professing – church blend in with the world, looking to the world for legitimacy and acceptance? Can we hear Paul saying, “why, as if you were living in the world...”? (Col. 2:20).

 

Can we see the heavenly – mindedness of Colossians? Are we setting our minds “on the things above, not on the things that are on earth”? Are we living heavenly – minded lives in Jesus Christ and with one another? What does the story of Colossians look like in your life? In the life of your congregation? In your denomination or movement?

 

We’ll pick Colossians 3:1 – 4 back up in the next post, the Lord willing.