Seek the Things Above: A Sermon on Colossians 3:1–4

In June of 2024, I preached a message from Colossians 3:1-4 entitled, “Seek the Things Above.” I structured the sermon around three main points. The first point considered “the ground of our life” wherein the believer’s union with Christ was unpacked. The second point considered “the aim of our life” wherein Christ and “the things above” were set forth as the primary ends around which our whole lives should be centered. The final point considered “the hope of our life.” Below I have presented the content of the third point with only slight editing for your own meditation.

The Hope of Our Life

As we set our minds on things that are above, chief among them is the certain fact of the coming of Christ. Paul says in vv. 3-4, “For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”

The greatest hope of the Christian is this right here: the return of Christ, and our glorification with Him. This appearing of Christ is the climactic end to the present evil age. It is the exclamation mark to the story of redemption. It is at this point when all sin and death will be judged and cast away forever. It is at this point where the saints will join the Lord in the resurrection. It is at this point where heaven and earth will be united together. It is at this point when Satan and all the wicked who follow Him will be destroyed. And it is at this point when a new age, with a new world—free of sorrow—will begin and will continue forever, world without end.

This is what Paul calls the “blessed hope” that we wait for in Titus 2:13—the “appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.” Peter likewise says as an encouragement for elders to rule well in 1 Peter 5:4 that it will be then“when the chief Shepherd appears, that you will receive the unfading crown of glory.” And in a verse very similar to what we find in Colossians, John writes in 1 John 3:2, “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 shall see him as he is.”

This appearing of Christ will utterly transform us. We will in no way cease being human, of course; rather, we will be more human than we’ve ever been before. We will have bodies, but those bodies will not be like what we have known. We have known bodies that are mortal, susceptible to decay, the curse, and sin. We have known bodies that grow old and weak and that return to the dust.

But then we will have bodies like His own—bodies of glory, bodies that are immortal, bodies that are enlivened by the Spirit, and thus are called “spiritual.” The glory that shines from the very person of Christ will be as the sun illuminating the surface of the moon to us. We will appear with him in glory because the rays of his glory will shine upon us always.

This is our hope, brothers and sisters, and this is what our thoughts should always be meditating upon. Anything less than this will cause us to be a fruitless people because our highest thoughts and greatest hopes will rise no higher than the present world that is passing away.

Tell me this: How can a man whose greatest hopes, and whose greatest comforts, and whose greatest thoughts are all fixed on earth, and on this present evil age—how can a man like this ever serve the Master faithfully in the moment of trial? 

When the powers of the earth threaten to strip that man of his hopes and comforts, and when it is within their power to do so, will he stand?

How can he?

He sees the world as greater than the world to come. He sees what is passing away as more valuable than that which is eternal. Threaten to take that man’s comforts away and he will crumble. He will deny His Lord, or he will hide away. When the world tells him to be quiet and to submit, like a frightened puppy he will bow his head low.

But take a man who knows his God, who knows his Lord; take a man whose greatest hope is to be with Christ; take a man whose highest aspirations are to please his King; take a man who lives for heaven, and who thinks much on it; and take a man who knows that his life is hidden with Christ in God. That man, by the grace of God, will be unstoppable.

The world can threaten to take his possessions, and he will laugh because he knows that his riches are in heaven. The world can threaten to smear and destroy his name, and he will rejoice because his name is written in the Lamb’s book of life. The world can revile him as a hater of mankind, and he will continue to do good to them because his hope is in the voice of his Master calling him a good and faithful servant. The world can threaten his very life, and even take it, and he will sing praises to God with his last breath, knowing that he has conquered by the blood of the Lamb.

These kinds of people are the most dangerous people to the world. These kinds of people are the greatest threat to the devil’s kingdom. And these kinds of people will do the most earthly good because more than anything else they are compelled by heaven itself to live for the glory of their King.

So, brothers and sisters, heed this command. Heed this instruction.Think much on the things of heaven. Do not wait until you’re old and dying but use the energy of your youth to think much on Christ, and the kingdom of heaven, and not only will your soul reap much benefit, but all who are around you will be able to know something of Christ because it will be evident that Christ is in you.