Set your mind and affections on what is above and fill your treasure bags in Heaven. The goodness of God fills our earth. The immaterial things of love and peace and joy are the lasting things. Let us put on those things. (Colossians 3:1-13; Luke 12:33)

Speaker(s): Thomas Schaller
Sermon 12250
11:00 AM on 2/13/2022

P. Schaller –

When we became born again believer, we had a new orientation. I want you to turn – this is our subject today. It’s
on Colossians 3. This will be a few minutes. I want you to notice something here. We’ll teach about it
this morning. When you became a believer, the Holy Spirit came into your heart and you started
to love God. You love God because he loved you first and was born in you. Christ born in us,
the hope of glory. Christ in us. The Bible opening up to us and we are able to hear. Jesus said it
this way, it will be given to you according to your ear. And to him that hears, more is given in
Mark. 4:23. So we have new ears. We have a new heart. We have the Holy Spirit as our teacher.
We have a new orientation. It’s described here in chapter 3 as the things we seek which are
above in vs. 1. Now when we say above, I want you to think with me.

Christ is seated above in heaven, but I also think it has the meaning of looking at the cross. “If I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto me.” Looking at what he did for us. What he did to save us. Looking at the cross.
“Seek those things that are above.” Above what? Maybe the dirt, the dust. One time in Jn. 4,
Jesus said, “Lift up your eyes and look on the fields for they are white and ready for harvest.
Don’t look over there. They’re not ready. That field is freshly plowed. That field is not ripe. Look
over there. It is ripe.

What are the things of the dust we can look at? My material things. Usually we think this way.
You have material things and they are my money, my health, my clothes, my food, my
neighbors, my car. The things that you can touch and handle. Those things we look at easily.
We fight over them. We argue. We complain. We worry. We fear. But there’s another reality and
it’s the immaterial things and these are love. Love, joy, peace. Immaterial things. You can’t buy
love. Song of Soloman 8:6 says that. “If you were to give money for love, it would be utterly despised.” My
money would be despised. You can’t buy love with money.

Where’s love come from? God. God is love, the greatest love. Look at the things that are above
or the immaterial things that really count in life. That’s what this is. Look at the things that really
count. That really make a difference, that really satisfy. Look at the things that are most
meaningful. Forgiveness, faith, prayer, the love of God, goodness. The goodness of God fills the
earth, Psalm. 33:5. That’s a great meditation. The goodness of God fills the earth. Goodness of
God.

I like watching children. Actually, I lived above a school and I listened to the children coming into
the school every morning and I enjoyed hearing the little chatter, their footsteps, the yelling and
shouting and the life and vitality of children. How much goodness is shown to children. How
much food we eat and air we breathe. If you go to the moon, and compare the moon to planet
earth, you see the goodness of God is all over the earth. All the fish in the sea, the air we
breathe, the sky. Every day we live. I had a good night’s sleep last night. Wow! God is good and
the goodness of God fills the earth. Fragrance of flowers. Flowers. Flowers. They are looking
pretty and smelling good. What else are they used for? He good have made the world without
the birds or the bees. But he could have made the world differently, but he shows us his
goodness on the earth. We should be looking at the things that really – we should appreciate it.
That’s what this chapter is about.

I’m going to show you something, and I’m going to finish here. Colossians 3:1-4, is the coaching of us
to look at life with the right perspective. vs. 5-7. we have a list of bad things. Then we have in
vs. 8, another list of bad things. I want you to see one thing. These are actions, sins by action
and then it goes to the second list which is attitude and words that are bad. If this new life, if this
new life is in us, then we mortify this list. It means we kill. We are not feeding our lusts and
passion in our low nature as sinners. We are not feeding it. We are not doing those things. We
are not doing those things listed in that list. But even further, we are thinking another way and
we’re speaking another way. We’re not saying the things that just come to our hearts. We’re not
angry like we used to be angry. We’re not cursing like we used to curse.

We had a new brother come here into our church, a tough guy, a car mechanic. He wanted to be here with us. He said,
tell me how I should behave? He said, what are some of the things I shouldn’t do while I’m here? What are some things? I was trying to understand what he was saying cause I really
didn’t understand. He said, tell me what I shouldn’t be doing to misbehave. I said for example?
He said, can I swear? I said, no. Don’t swear. Don’t do that. That’s a good point. I’m glad you
asked me. I’m glad you asked me!

What’s the point here? This chapter is telling me because I have this new heart and this Holy
Spirit in us, we are looking at life from another perspective. Then I am not cursing. I am not
complaining. I’m not angry as others. I’m not mistreating people. I’m learning something new.
That’s our message from this chapter. Even if we finished there, probably we got enough. We’ll
go home like this (head down). No! I don’t want you to go home like that. I want you to be edified
and the message is edifying but instructive. I think it will be good for us to hear it. Amen. Praise
the Lord. So glad you are here today.

When I said to P. Eugene, have them stand up and greet each other with a holy kiss. Then
when he came he looked at me. I wasn’t sure he was going to do it. He came to the pulpit and
he goes stand up. Greet each other with a holy kiss. He did, didn’t he? He obeyed me! That’s
amazing. That took courage. Yes. And he added the words “and if it is appropriate.” Oh, that’s
good!

Turn to Luke 12 for a preface verse. vs. 33. That phrase “money bags that do not grow old.” Isn’t
that amazing that we have treasure hidden away in heaven. We have treasure which is
incorruptible and undefiled and fades not away. Peter says that in 1 Peter 1. It’s amazing
especially when we think of people who do have treasure on the earth and can lose it. Alright.
You want to turn to your neighbor and say, you can lose it. You can lose it. You’re going to lose
it. Wow. You can lose it. What can you lose? Your house. Your earthly treasure. Your what?
401K and so on. These things happen. I don’t wish it on anybody but Jesus says there is
treasure that we can put away with bags, money bags which do not grow old.

These are eternal like God. The bags do not grow old and that’s what we are looking at here in Colossians 3.
Go to that text in chapter 3. This is how we now live. Why do we have this new life? Here’s a
short list. The knowledge of God. This is one of our great treasures. To know God, Hebrews 13:5.
The knowledge of God. How about Jeremiah 9:23-24. This is a treasure for us, the knowledge of
God. Also, we have a new reality in prayer. When you became a believer and you started to
pray and realize you have real fellowship with God through the Holy Spirit and he’s answering
your prayers, that he’s really with you in your prayer. There are times when your prayer is
anointed and you feel and sense the connection with God. The Spirit is in you praying, Rom. 8,
with groanings that cannot be intelligibly understood. Groanings that cannot be uttered. There’s
a prayer from the Spirit in us.

The third thing we have is an ability to understand the Scripture. This is one of the things that
understands your new life is your understanding of things, your perspective. It starts to change
cause you hear the Scripture, you read the Scripture, you think with the Scripture. It affects your
life. You know, like water is a cleaning agent. Just water washes things away and the Bible is
like this in Psalm  119:11. Water in John 15:3 is another one. Now you are clean through the Word I
have spoken unto you. Words that renew the mind and the fellowship. “My words they are Spirit
and life.” How about at the Sermon on the Mt.? Where there’s 5,000 people and why didn’t they
want to leave Jesus? It was so easy to be with Jesus for six hours, eight hours. Now it’s time to
go home and they didn’t want to go home.

They stayed three days. Why? What was the attraction? It was his Word, Luke 4:32. “No man has spoken like this man.” He does not speak like the scribes and Pharisees. He’s different. This is what’s happened to us with the Word. It
has an effect on our hearts. We are drawn to it. We are attracted to it. We understand it or we
hear it or it resonates with us. I may not understand all what I am listening to but there’s certain
parts of it that resonate with me and this is because we are born of Christ. We are a new
creation.

Let’s go to the text here, Colossians 3:1. And again, as I said earlier, the above life isn’t only like far at
the right hand of the Father which is the essence of it all, but it’s also the lifting up your eyes to

the cross, lifting up your eyes in faith, lift up your eyes and believe him while we are here on the
earth, while we are driving our car or looking out the window or having a cup of coffee. Lift up
your eyes beyond what you see and look at the invisible. For he has said these things. Let’s
follow him and do them. vs. 2-3. The authority of all these blessings on the earth are coming
from the throne where Christ is. It’s ours. It’s a bag without holes in it. It’s a bag that is not
getting old. It’s a bag of value. It’s a way of thinking. It’s the truth that Jesus came into the world
to give us and make it ours. vs. 2 another good word there.

Very easy to be attached horizontally to the things of the earth. We love our home or our boat or our car. Of course, our
children or our family or we love our – the things that are here, but it says you have to have a
thinking that transcends the things of the earth. It has to be more. It has to be deeper.
We drew this little picture here, this list. There is a third list of words. Let me draw another way
of it. Just because of time, we don’t have the time to go through all of these lists. There’s a list:
fornication, these actions. vs. 5. That’s the verse 5 list. Then comes attitude and words list, vs.
8. So this is actions and now we have the anger and the words. The complaining. Constantly
complaining. There are people that are constantly negative. Constantly. They’re not happy.
They’re like miserable people. It’s like are you ever thankful?

Do you ever? They go to the church to praise God, but most of their life is complaining outside, right? That’s what this is
saying. This is very, very possible if I don’t have another perspective. And this perspective is to
look at him who is invisible at the right hand of the Father and believing that what he has said to
me is actually true and relates to me so that I can have another way of living. I can have another
way of living. It’s shocking to think that I can be born again and I just live a miserable,
complaining life, not thankful about anything. And the whole thing is just a loss. It’s a loss. That
person has a bag that’s getting old and even what they have is going to be taken away from
them. Even what they have. Even their good health is going to go and the other things that they
have. They are accursed to their own life. It’s amazing. Why? How did this happen?
Go to chapter 3. There’s another list. I’ll put here like this.

This is a good one. This is vs. 12. Have mercy. Be merciful. Be gracious. Be kind. Be kind. Kindness. Humbleness of mind. Humbleness of mind. Who are you? Who are you? Proud, arrogant person. You’re never
satisfied. You’re always complaining. You’re always blaming other people and you’re just like a
miserable person. Who wants to be with you? Psalm 64 says people when they find out how you
are, they leave you. They go away from you. That person should be having friends everywhere
but they don’t have friends. And they produce that because of their spirit, their way of thinking.
Now as I’m speaking about this you’re wondering, what’s wrong with pastor today? What
happened to him? Okay.

Let’s look at vs. 12. Meekness. Longsuffering. I said maybe I’m getting a little ahead of myself.
vs. 13. Maybe another way, tolerating each other. Bearing with each other. Putting up with the
other person. How can I put up, how can I be patient with this other person and bear them? How
can I endure them? How can I do it? Because I’m Spirit filled. Because Jesus has done that with
me. He’s put up with me. Jesus is loving me. Jesus is caring about me. How wrong have I
been? I have been wrong a lot. I’m wrong many times and in many ways, but he puts up with
me because he’s a good God. He’s an amazingly good God. He’s good in essence. He reveals
goodness in Creation, but all the creation goodness like the strawberries and the good night
sleep and everything else that we have on the earth that is good that we feel is good, we taste
as good. We listen to the birds, smell the flowers, look at a child. It’s good. Where is all the
goodness coming from?

A good God who in essence is a good God. Now he’s saying to us I
forgave you. I gave you my Son. I’m telling you you better look at him. I’m telling you you need
to relate to him, and then you will be this way. You’ll be humble. You’ll be longsuffering. You will
bear with each other. You’ll be able to tolerate. You won’t be picky, negative, miserable person.
You can’t be. You cannot be that way. You cannot be that way. You cannot be that way. You
follow me, right?

Somebody was sharing with me, they worked in a nursing home. They just noticed the old
people either they are this way. They are miserable, depressed people or they are the sweetest
people and thankful for everything. Thankful for the porridge. Thankful for their bed. Thankful. I hope I will be that way. There’s not a guarantee, I know. I don’t know, but I would like to be that
way. But long before I get to the nursing home, I want to be that way now as a way of life, right?
This is the Spirit of God, the Spirit of God.

The second thing was I’ve traveled a lot and one time I was in a country and one of the people
that I knew was cleaning in the hotel. They’re cleaning the beds and the sheets and taking care
of the room. I said what tourist, from which country are the most complaining people? A people
that complain the most? I was hoping they would say the Finnish people. No, no! The Japanese
people! No, no. Guess who? Look at each other for a second. He’s talking about you! He’s
talking about you! Why do we do that? Why do we do that? The world can do it. Maybe they feel
it’s a fashionable thing. The towels are terrible. The towels. I can’t believe the towels! Is that
fashionable? Maybe it is. Maybe it’s something like my self importance or my rights or I paid
good money or I don’t know what it is. Why can’t you change that and be different? Why can’t
we just say thank you so much. You work so hard in this hotel, and you did a great job. Have a
good day.

Why can’t we be like that? I’m a little bit dramatizing for the sake of the message and to get a
point across. I’m not entertaining you, but it is kind of fun to think about it. I want to make a point
here. You and I are different. That’s my point. You and I are different. We have to be. We are
different. We are different. We are different. You and I are thankful people. That’s 1 Thessalonians 5
where it says – listen to this one. “In everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ
Jesus.” I’m telling you. I believe it. God will change my life. I will find a Spirit-filled life, and we’ll
have a bag that doesn’t get old and that bag is in heaven. That bag is maybe even right here
with us. That bag is how we are living our lives. That bag is something that is in your heart, that
the Holy Spirit has put in your heart. It’s actually a way of thinking. It’s a way of – who am I?
Who am I but somebody saved by the grace of God and given the Spirit of God.

Let’s go to the text. With this little breakdown this is the new life here in vs. 12. If you look up at
the screen, and I didn’t write the words down obviously. I’m just making the list. I like the list.
The list of sins. That’s this category. And then this one, attitude. And then he’s saying but now
you are this way. You are this way, and how did it happen? How did this happen that we
became this way? Go to chapter 3 and we’ll finish up in a minute. vs. 2. Alright. Get kind of
geared to God.

I’m reading an excerpt from a sermon by Charles Spurgeon and this is what he said, “the proper
study of the Christian is the Godhead. The highest science, the loftiest speculation, the
mightiest philosophy which can engage the attention of a child of God it’s the name, the nature,
the person, the doings and the existence of the great God which he calls his Father. There’s
something exceedingly improving to the mind in a contemplation of the divinity. It is a subject so
vast that all our thoughts are lost in its immensity, so deep that our pride is drowned in its
infinity.”

If you think about it, who am I? I’m an arrogant, little king. Like a little king walking around like
the world is about me. It’s about me. It’s like don’t do that. Don’t do that. Be humble and be
thankful. Be obscure. I’ll show you this in a second. I want to write this word “hidden.” You are
hidden with Christ in God and I’ll put down here the word “obscure.” And then the word “appear.”
And this is from the text here in chapter 3, vs. 3. Your life is hidden. It’s not explained what it
means, but somehow I think your life is somehow obscure to the world. When they look at your
life, they don’t see much but God sees. He sees your attitude. He sees your humility. He sees
who you are. It’s obscure. Like right now, the world doesn’t know us.

Of course, they don’t know us. You see that little lady over here in the corner who comes for 30 years and is serving God in faith and nobody knows but she’s the one. The last shall be first. But her life is in obscurity in a
way. We can discern or we can recognize her as a treasure. Jesus calls these people his
jewels. I’ll put down here “jewels.” It’s Malachi  3:17. You think of a jewel box where a woman has
her jewels in a box. I feel God has us hidden with Christ in God and we are a treasure, because
we are – careful now – because we are humble. Because we are trusting. Because the Spirit is
leading us to be thankful. To say thank you God, my car worked today.

You see, I came from a very simple background in upstate New York. We had a family
business. We had everything we needed, but nothing extra. I never really remember – I had
money, but I was always saving it because we were very frugal. I didn’t care. I don’t need stuff. I
want a friend. I want to have a good time. I want joy. I want to have fun. I want to play a game. It
was never like you have to have things to make you happy. It was more like my attitude, my
thankfulness, my way of living. But this is also I was not saved. I was brought up like that. Then
becoming a believer, it’s even stronger.

That if this is God on a cross, and he’s thankful, and
he’s saying this is God’s will. I’m trusting my Father. He’s not complaining. He’s saying forgive
them. They don’t know what they are doing. He’s not blaming us. He is saying excuse them.
They don’t know. They don’t have a clue of what they are doing. How about us? It’s terrible. Not
doing a good job. I am but it’s not the point. The point is I’m a little bit angry about it to be
honest. Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? How can you do that? How can you just be
like the world? How can you cheat like the world? How can you curse like the world? How can
you be upset like the world? How can you be arrogant like the world? How can you be
constantly complaining and never thankful for anything. How can you live like that. That cannot
happen. This is what he is saying, isn’t he?

Go to the next part and we’ll finish up here in a few minutes. vs. 3. God sees what you have in
that bag. You are hidden with Christ in God. vs. 4. If you look up here, you have two things here
that are different. You are hidden with him, but there’s a day when it will appear that you have a
big bag that is an eternal bag without holes in it and it will appear when he appears and you will
not be ashamed in that day. We will say, yep. It really did mean something. It didn’t look like it
did but it did. It meant something in this life with my spirit and my attitude and how I talked and
what I said.

And by the way, let me say something more here about this. This thing about the tongue. How
do you talk? How do you talk? Do you know you have power with your tongue, and you have
the power to bless, to turn it around. To turn it around. You have power to do that. You are not
denying reality. You just have the power to be silent. You have the authority to be silent. If I
don’t have anything good to say, I’m quiet. I have the power to turn things around. I have the
power to bless. I have a life of faith and we can change things maybe. If things don’t change on
the outside, they can change on the inside by my faith, by living by faith and believing in what he
has said. This is amazing. This is powerful. This can change my life.

I was standing in line at a grocery store one night. Maybe late, 11 or 12. There’s a line there and
I’m standing. I’m tired a little bit and I start judging the people in the line. I start judging them in
my attitude and everything. I’m bored with that. I can’t believe I’m judging them. I’m preaching
about don’t judge, and here I am judging. So, then this verse “I hate vain thoughts” in Psalm
119. And then I’m in another line and this woman – did I tell you this story? Somewhere I did.

This woman was like the other side of our culture. Her appearance was like neo-pagan. Neo-
pagan you could say. Pagan. The hair half shaved, purple, piercings, tattoos, t-shirt. I started

judging her in that line. In every line I’m a judge! Every store I go to, I’m judging people. Then I
notice her t-shirt says something on there. I don’t remember what it was. I said, I decided to talk
to her.

That’s a good thing by the way. When you’re judging people, it might be nice to talk to them as
long as you are judging them! It might be nice to know them! I said, that’s a nice t-shirt. She
said, oh, thank you. Where did you get it? She said, I got it at my church. Then she goes, you
should come to my church! Wow! My church is amazing! I go, what’s the name of it? She told
me and so on. I already have one, but – and we learn not to judge, but actually I – You know
what I’m saying. You and I, all of us, I’m telling you. Expect God to speak to you and lead you in
how to think and have treasure put in a bag. That’s a real thing. We have it. Jesus gave it to us.
We are learning to live in it. If any of this resonance with you, then change your way of thinking
and talking and learn to be thankful for the fact that you are alive today. Just straight up.
I was at Johns Hopkins listening to a lecture. Ravi Zacharias was there.

There was another doctor, and he gave a little speech about the faith. He said that a woman had come to him and
said, why do I have cancer? How could this happen to me? The doctor said, we should ask
another question. Why are any of us here alive? Why are any of us alive? That’s a very good
question. Do you know what the answer is? God. God is good and he gave you life. What do
you think? It ends. The things of earth end, but we have eternal life. Why did my car run out of
gasoline? Because you didn’t put any in it? Why did I go to prison? Because you live like a fool.
That’s why. And on and on it goes. You might say, you’re too hard. No, it’s reality time. It’s reality
time and for us to learn how to live in God’s world is what he is saying to us. Put off the old man
and put on the new man and grow up. Okay. Grow up.

Amen.

Please enjoy these sermon notes from the messages preached at Greater Grace Church in Baltimore. These notes are provided to aid in your study and understanding of the Word. Note that these notes do not represent complete, word-for-word transcriptions. Also, they may contain omissions as well as some errors in spelling and structure, etc., as we attempt to provide them as soon as possible. Our hope is that these notes serve as a way to help you search and connect with messages on related subjects and passages. Thank you for your interest in the ministry of Greater Grace.