Colossians 3:1-4
If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
Hallelujah, Christ is risen, is risen indeed. It's a joy to have you here as we celebrate the wonderful promise of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This week has been a big week for us here. We have told lots of stories over the past seven days, Palm Sunday began with the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, riding a donkey that has never been written, with the crowds of people waving palm branches and shouting Hosanna. Maundy Thursday, we gathered with the disciples where Jesus washed the disciples feet, instituted Holy Communion, and gave them his body and his blood to drink, how he went to the Garden of Gethsemane and prayed there, where he was arrested. On Friday, we read the story of Jesus's trial, before the High Priest and before punches Pilate, before he was finally executed by being nailed to a cross, where they took him down and placed him in a borrowed tomb, simply because it was nearby. Saturday, we waited with Jesus in the grave for the vigil of the of the resurrection. Before Finally today, we shout for joy, because Christ is raised from the dead. What that means is death has no power over Jesus, he died once and is now back, he will never die again. And the power of death is defeated by him. What a joy that this is for us. And it's not just that Jesus Himself will never die again. His resurrection means that death has no power over us, the people of Christ, who believe in Him. St. Paul helps us to understand what that means for us in our daily life. When we look at Colossians chapter three, he says, if then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above not on things that are on earth. For if 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. Now, to understand what he's saying, you have to go back a little bit to the chapter ahead, where he talks about how we are united with Christ. Colossians chapter two says, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. What that means is, we were connected with Jesus Christ in baptism. And by baptism, he raised you from the dead, and gave you eternal life, not sometime in the future. But right now, by the amazing gift that he gave you. In that washing, a baptism. St. Paul continues, and you who were dead in your trespasses, and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him. And so Jesus's death and resurrection means that not only are we raised from the dead, but all the powers and forces of this world that might fight against us, have no power over us. They have been defeated by Jesus's death and resurrection. That means our greatest enemy death itself is no longer in charge. And all of the problems that come from it, no longer have a claim over our lives. Our life is safe in Christ, and nothing can stop that. Nothing can defeat us as long as we are in Him. And this is why St. Paul says to us seek the thing things that are above where Christ is, he is seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things that are above and not on things that are on earth. Despite our best efforts, the world always wants us to pull us away from the promise that we have in Christ, the things that are above and faithfulness to him, by distracting us with the things that we worry about. So we know we have an amazing promise that we are safe in Christ, our life is kept secure in him. But our daily needs, our worries, or concerns. They keep pulling us our attention away from God, and faithfulness to him and pushing it back down to earth. Paul says, Set your minds on things that are above. Remember, the most important thing is this promise that Christ has been raised from the dead, and your life is safe in him. There are a number of Bible stories of people who received amazing promises but didn't follow through in trust. I'd like you to think about Abraham, the first one to receive a great promise in the Bible. When God came to Abraham, he gave him three big promises. He would make him the father of a great nation, he would give him a promised land, and all nations would be blessed through Him. Abraham saw most of those promises come to pass. But the one he was really most worried about was having a son. And when he got to the promised land, it took a while before God would come through on this. Abraham didn't trust. And so he and his wife Sarah decided to take matters into their own hands. Abraham impregnated a servant, Hagar, as a way to get make this promise happen. Instead of being faithful and waiting, instead of just trusting that God would come through, he decided he was going to take care of things and be unfaithful. And boy, did it create some problems. You can imagine what that would be like in the family. The servant girl has the kid with the husband and the wife, what did she do? She was not very happy. There was so much conflict in that family because of it. Eventually, Isaac did come, the promise child that would come from Sarah. And Abraham learned his lesson. He learned to trust God and keep His mind set on things above so much, that when God said to him, Take your son and sacrifice him on the mountain. Abraham doesn't hesitate. Why? Because he knew that God, even if God allowed Isaac to die on top of that mountain would bring him back. Because the Isaac was the son of this promise. And God said that Abraham would be the father of many nations who finally had the peace, to trust God and turn from taking matters into his own hands.
I don't know what problems you're facing. What daily concerns you deal with? I'm sure you have a list that you can run through your mind. They're never far from us are they? But what this promise of Jesus Christ gives us that he has raised from the dead is that none of these things are more important than him. None of these things can take you out of Christ's hand. And so we should set our minds on following Jesus, the one who holds our life, the one who returned and raise us to glory. Last night at the vigil, we read another story of people who couldn't accept the promise. It was Israel. Right after they had come out of Egypt and were brought to the Red Sea. God had sent Moses to go to Pharaoh and say Let my people go. And God sent plague after plague. He did amazing miracles that threatened the Egyptians but kept Israel safe. And finally, after the Passover, the people walked out of out of Pharaoh's Egypt and made their way to the Red Sea.
And when they got there, Pharaoh changed his mind and sent the army after them. srael had seen all of these amazing things heard promises from Moses. And when they saw the army coming, their minds left the promises of God. The things that are above and they turned to the things that are on earth. They said to Moses, are there no graves in Egypt? That you brought us out here? Didn't we tell you to leave us alone? It'd be so much better to be back in slavery in Egypt. But God had an answer. They just had to trust. He split the Red Sea. And the people walked through on dry ground. And when Pharaoh's army chased after them to kill them, the water came in on them and drown. They just needed to trust God would protect them. Instead, they took their things into their own hands and turned to unfaithfulness. What's amazing is right on the other side, the same thing happens. As soon as it looks like they might not have enough food, they turn to Moses, and they say, Why did you bring us out here to starve in the wilderness? It was so much better back in Egypt. Let's go back there and serve the Egyptians. God responded by coming through on his promises again. He gave them manna bread, right outside of their tents every morning. He dropped quail from the sky into their camp to give them meat every evening. It's way better than an Amazon delivery, I think. All they had to do was trust. And yet, in their fear, their minds left the things that were above and focused on the things that are below the things of earth. How much more peace would they have had if they simply focused on following God and hoping in his promises, and trusting in Him. Towards the end of the Old Testament, we have a story from the book of Daniel, that shows a group of people who were faithful. You probably know it the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego are in the province of Babylon when King and Nebuchadnezzar builds a 60 cubit, tall, golden statue that's 90 feet. And he says, Every time you hear music, you have to bow down and worship this statue. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego have their mind set on the things that are above. And so they refuse. Nebuchadnezzar gets his soldiers and gathers them in and he says to them, now if you are ready, when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, Trigun, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, to fall down and worship the image that I have made, well and good. But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands? Shadrach Meshach and Abednego know the answer to that question. They say, Oh, Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us out of your hand oh king, but if not, be it known to you, oh king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up. You imagine Nebuchadnezzar has the fiery furnace and it's going he is so mad at this point. He heats it up harder than it's ever been. And they say no. Their minds are set on things above. They know the promise of God is sure and through that even if God wouldn't save them from the fire, he would raise them from the dead on the last day, and give them glory forever. And yet, when King Nebuchadnezzar throws the three men into the fire, the fire is so hot that it kills the soldiers who throw them in. But not Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. He looks in and he sees four men there, the three that he has thrown in and one he says that looks like the son of the gods. We know who that is. Christ Himself who stays with us in danger, who is with us in the worst. who's with us even in death. He got Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego through the fiery furnace. And he will get us through the most dangerous thing we face through death itself. Because he led the way through the grave, by dying and rising from the dead, and death has no power over him anymore. Your life by baptism is safe in Christ. Nothing on this earth can threaten.
Set your minds on things above. Only Christ matters. Only following him matters. Everything else is a distraction. The promises that we have in Him will always come true. Because Christ is faith and he is risen. Hallelujah Christ is risen. In his name, amen.