Q&A Colossians 3:1-4

Hey everyone, thanks again for listening to another Q&A with the Pastor. This last Sunday, Keith preached on Colossians chapter 3, verses 1 through 4. And Keith, one of the things that you've been bringing up the last several weeks is the idea of thinking God's thoughts after him. And this was also a reoccurring theme within Genesis. So what do you mean when you say, think God's thoughts after him? Can we truly think God's thoughts after him? And how would that practically play out in our own lives? Well, first, welcome back from vacation. We're eating oranges in honor of your vacation to Florida. Yeah, thank you. Thank you for bringing sunshine back with you. Any day. Think God's thoughts after him. That's really the key rule for anyone who wants to be a good theologian. So, what does it mean to think God's thoughts after him? Well, we read God's Word. He has revealed His truth to us, what God thinks He has let us know, not in its entirety, but enough for us to, well, to understand for the rest of our lives in Scripture. And so, an example. You would not know without Scripture, without God telling us His own thoughts, that God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It is something we only gain access to when he has revealed his knowledge to us and we study it. And so to think God's thoughts after him is to know God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But a lot of people would call God Father. One of the key things that we have to do as Christians is recognize that we call God Father. We're not just using it as some kind of a sentimental word. to address God in a personal way. When we call God Father, it's because we have been adopted in Christ and we now get to come to the Father who would have poured His wrath out upon us, but now He pours out His love to us because of the Son. So, that's a theologically informed designation. And so, when I call God Father, I can't just have this sentimental concept of Father. I have to have a theologically informed understanding of what that that designation means. So, when I think that's what's after him, it means that I'm actually being transformed on mine. I am talking, I'm using the words that God has told me to use, and I'm using them in a way that he has deemed appropriate. And so, I think differently about God. I think he is now truly wise. A number of my thoughts have been changed. Well, thankfully, or hopefully, many of my thoughts have been changed since being a Christian. how I view the world, how I view cause and effect, how I view my own personal freedom versus God's sovereignty. All these things have been changed because I've allowed God's Word to transform the way I think, rather than trying to make God's Word fit into the way I want it to, based upon my own presuppositions. And so it's always allowing God's Word to have rule and authority over my assumptions. So, I assumed I was a real free-willing human being. I assumed evolution. I assumed, well I really had no idea about God being a triune God of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit until I opened up His Word and it was revealed to me. So when you've also said a couple of times, love God and do what you want, is that kind of an outsource of that train of thought of putting God in in such a way? Can you also explain what do you mean actually when you say love God and do what you want? Are there any boundaries that we should put up or can we really do whatever we want? Yeah, no, those are two of my favorite mantras, I guess you would say. Two of my favorite mottos. Love God, do what you want. I never actually thought about what it means in relation to thinking God sought after him, even though there is a relation there, because if I do what I want, I'm going to, everyone does what they want. That's actually just a bare fact. We are going to do what we want to do. Whatever we value the most, whatever we desire the most, we're going to do that. Now, you may restrain yourself from doing some things, but it's because you desire something else. So, you may restrain from eating that cheeseburger that smells and looks so good, but it's because you desire to lose weight rather than to eat that cheeseburger. The rule of love God, do what you want, is that if you are loving God, if God is your greatest love, you will do what God wants you to do. And so it's not an absolute declaration of freedom. It's actually really the best way to restrain freedom. The reason I like that particular motto from Augustine is that too many people want to regulate Christians with rules and regulations that really only determine behavior. Whereas if you say, love God, do what you want, you're giving the great command, you are to love God with your desires, with your greatest affections, and then you will do what you want. And what you want to do is obey God. Coming along within those of doing kind of what we want, you kind of used the college students as an example within your sermon as talking to them directly about living and aiming for a righteous life in a realm where it's easy to be kind of lethargic spiritually because you're either socially busy, academically busy, and you kind of neglect the spiritual aim. How does this all fit into what you were going after when you were talking specifically to the college students on Sunday? Yeah, so, I mean, what I understood when I was going to college is that I said this understood An unspoken understanding that college was a time for freedom, it was a time for me to kind of explore new things, try to give me new experiences, be lazy, just kind of, it's supposed to be a very self-absorbed season. Americans typically think of college, going away to college, as the ultimate self-absorbed season in life. And that is training yourself to be self-absorbed for the rest of your life. What you're doing in those particular years that are character building, those habits you're forming are going to affect who you will be in the future. I know from a lot of college students, they think, no, I'll pursue Christ after college. College is too much fun to be had now. That Christian life is for those people who get married and have children and so forth, putting off God until then. God isn't maybe going to make himself available to you then. He lets you know him according to his own sovereign grace. Also, if you are a Christian, you're losing the opportunity to really build your roots into the true reality of God during this particular season instead of putting it off. Yeah, I just have a strong conviction that the college years are some of the most formative years. in terms of once you're finally free to do what you want, you need to discipline your desires and build the habits, going to church regularly, being involved with the Christians, being involved in Bible studies, so that you're building character that will affect you for the rest of your life. Not to spend too much time on the time issue, but one of the things you brought up in light of us seeking God within your sermon was how we can kind of examine this and measure it with how we spend our time and then also how we spend our money. How can we measure practically, how can we measure our time and spending in relation to using it wisely and God-honorably? Yeah, I've always been challenged by, I believe it was a quote from Martin Luther that You know, whenever he was, you know, he would always try to pray two hours a day, but when he was really busy, he would try to pray three or four. You know, it was just kind of this kind of smack in the face that sometimes I feel like I'm too busy to do those deep spiritual disciplines. But that's really whenever you really must do them. So, always making sure you're putting aside the time to obey God and to trust Him. So, yeah, life gets hectic. Life is busy. And so people, I think people oftentimes just get wrapped up in the business of life. You wake up, you go to work, you come home, you're tired, you eat, you do something casual, a hobby, you go to bed. And it's easy to kind of get into a mundane cycle, a routine cycle, and not realize actually that you may be spending 30 to 40 hours watching TV a week. Now, no Christian should want to say, I'm watching 30 hours of TV a week. No Christian could possibly boast of that. But without realizing it, every night you're watching five hours of TV at night. You're spending 30 hours being consumed by that kind of entertainment. And I don't think TV is evil. I don't think entertainment is evil. But to spend that much time pursuing that kind of a thing, if you just actually analyze it from the big picture, I think that helps you see how you are being consumed and what you're investing in. So it's really just helping yourself be aware of how much time you're actually spending on a nightly basis or a daily basis. What about money? How do we do that? That's hard. I mean, obviously you can just kind of give the basic rule, you know, just cut 10% out and give that to the church, and that means, you know, you're good with your finances, you've obeyed God. You know, God wants you to give cheerfully and abundantly, and so How much are you clinging to the money you have versus and what you could do with it for yourself versus how much are you thinking about what could I do for the eternal value of God's kingdom with finances? It all comes down to if you really believe in Jesus' promises that our treasure that will not rot or be destroyed is in heaven. Do you truly believe that he has secured something for you in heaven that's worthy of you spending your money on? Or is it this money is going to buy me the best thing it possibly can here and now? And so how much you do, I mean, of course, 10% is a good healthy starting point, but that's obviously not the end point. The issue would be how much can you give for the purpose of God? All right, moving kind of away from that, but going back to a main thrust of your sermon and talking about seeking the Lord, how does longing for God's return You kind of gave four things at the very end of longing for God's return should enable us in these ways. How does longing for God's return practically increase our desire for evangelism and promote our desire for evangelism? Yeah, as you look to the ultimate end, you know that when Christ returns, a lot of people are going to go to hell. And so that should be one motivation. Secondly, you know when he returns, he's going to say well done good and faithful servant to those who are actually faithful. Being an evangelist is something that every Christian is called to do. Some have a bigger platform than others, but everyone's called to be a witness. Everyone's called to go. Disciple while they're going, making disciples while they go. So the motivation there is that the ultimate end constantly shakes up Again, the routine that we can think having a nice lawn or having the best of something, that's the ultimate. It's realizing that Christ's return is the ultimate end and the great hope that we have. Basically, we enjoy this world too much. That Christ is coming to bring a better world, that's what we need to be constantly reminded of. One last question. The last couple of sermons you've been talking about the unity of Christ. You've been saying that it's one of the most important things that we can study and observe and enrich ourselves with. Why is this so important? Why is studying the union that we have with Christ so important? Especially after, you know, if I'm a Christian and I'm justified, why do I need to continually remind myself of what that union is? And then also, if you have any resources that you would recommend in studying that, that would be helpful. So first, why is our union in Christ such an important topic to study and think about? First, the resource. Robert Lethem just came out with a book called Union with Christ. I believe another man has recently written I think it was actually co-authored. Another work was recently written on that very topic. Sinclair Ferguson, in his Little Theology, makes a very small book, I believe it's called The Christian Life, or Growing in the Christian Life. He actually makes the union with Christ the overarching umbrella principle for the doctrine of salvation. That's why it's so important. So union with Christ is important because First, it points to what Christ has done. He has died for us as our substitute. He has risen again to give us new hope in our life. He has ascended to the Father so that we have access to Him and He's coming again. So all that Christ accomplished for us is the first step. And then, rather, all that is ours. That's where the union comes in. So when we're united with Christ, we have died to sin. We no longer are guilty. We're no longer slaves to sin. We're no longer under the power of sin. We're no longer afraid of death. And so, the union with Christ is what gives us, our faith in Christ unites us with him. We are hidden in him. And therefore, every other blessing that Christ has comes out of that union. Union with Christ or adoption, you know, it's actually being adopted into him, being identified with him, him being a representative. That gives us salvation, justification, glorification, sanctification. Every other blessing comes from that union. And so that's why it's so important. It's our identity. It's what changes everything about us. Really, it's the bigger umbrella upon which every other blessing comes. Very good. Alright people, thanks for answering all these questions for us. What do we have to look forward to in this upcoming week's sermon with, I think it's verses 5 through 7 in chapter 3, is that right? I think I'm going a little bit farther than that, but mainly just a great challenge in terms of repenting and turning away from the old man. So, we'll do a little bit of a Palm Sunday within the service, but I'm not going to address that in the sermon, but just looking at Paul's charge to repent. Very good. Alright, well, Keith, again, thanks for your time, and we look forward to the sermon on Sunday.