Chad Coley
Series in Colossians
The Keys to True Spirituality
Colossians 3:1-4
13 October 2019
If Legalism, Asceticism, or Mysticism (as Paul has taught towards the end of chapter 2) are false and do not provide any spiritual value, how then are we to grow in spiritual maturity? We find the answer to this in the text before us today.
# 1. Having heavenly affections
If our spirituality leads us to hanker after earthly things then that’s not a true spirituality. The key to true spirituality is having heavenly affections.It is motivated by our positional reality, which is “in Christ”. So if we are “in Christ” then we ought to fix our minds on where Christ is i.e. in heaven. We must orient our minds to have heavenly affections. We need to understand that this is a battle; one that begins in the mind. And it is won by having heavenly affections. In other words, heavenly affections are weapons that enable us to become transformed instead of being conformed to this world and its passing attractions. To know God is to love him, and the Word of God is how we can know Him. Love of the world's things breeds death; but everlasting life is in the things of God.
# 2. Having a heavenly mindset
JB Lightfoot paraphrases Paul quite accurately when he says, “You must not only seek heaven; you must also think heaven.” True spirituality is loving Christ. Instead of living for pleasure, a life well lived is a life that is spent in pleasing Him. After all He has done for us, it is the very least service to lay down our lives for him. Put somewhat differently, if our life is hidden with God, then why are our minds fixed on the things of earth? If Christ is the source of our life, why are we fixated on things that are bereft of life and lead only to death? Our hope for the future determines how we live today. What’s more, our hope in the future helps us to have a heavenly mindset now.
Seek and Set: these, then, are the keys to true spirituality. Seeking heavenly things and setting our mind on heavenly things.