Where Is Your Mind?

Introduction

As a child, I didn’t think much about Christmas until October. I knew with the crispness of October that Christmas was coming. The anticipation of it grew until Thanksgiving. And then from Thanksgiving on we heard Christmas music every day in our house. My mom and dad had a fairly solid Christmas album collection—Andy Williams, Johnny Mathis, Elvis Presley, Bing Crosby, and as my brother and I got older we added to the collection—Beach Boys and various compilation albums. From Thanksgiving to Christmas, besides going to school, life was filled with all things Christmas. It was a time for anticipation and excitement. Activities were experienced during this time which only built the excitement.

There have been other events that I have anticipated with the same intensity as those childhood Christmas memories. Getting married, birth of children, and the arrival of our children and grandchildren at Christmas. It seems that we are built for the future in some ways. We live in the present, ruminate about the past, and anticipate the future. When we stop anticipating the future, we know that life has changed dramatically. We are going to talk about anticipation today. Is it too early to sing “Jingle Bells?”

God’s Throne Room

Do you remember when you were baptized? For most of us, we focused on forgiveness of sins and being new. The words “raised to a new life” might have been said, but the implications of that were not revealed. I had turned 10 six days earlier. On November 5, 1969, our preacher Bill Ruhl baptized me. My mom and I had many discussions leading up to that night. I wanted to be baptized earlier, mom insisted that I was too young. It was when I told her “that she couldn’t stop me” that she agreed it was time. It was a Wednesday night. I told her that I wanted to sit close to the front so that I didn’t have to walk too far. We came home that night and my parents and I stood in the living room and dad prayed over me. It was special. It was much later that the idea of living in anticipation of the final resurrection filtered through my brain. Even today, I still have to work at thinking like that.

Paul writes that we have been raised with Christ—a reminder of our baptism—and that we are to seek things above where Christ is seated at God’s right hand. Doesn’t that give you an image? We can explore that image more fully in praying as we imagine being in the throne room and seeing two figures seated before us. The Holy Spirit is in us. It’s difficult to keep that image when you are in the immediate. When you are arguing with someone, it is difficult to keep the throne room in mind. When you are chasing kids, it is difficult to keep the throne room in mind. When you are focused at work, it is difficult to keep the throne room in mind. Or is it? The word “seek” means to strive after or to desire. It may indeed be in those times that you desire the throne room.

Don’t get distracted by all the formulas and rules. Those have been canceled. Don’t allow anyone to make you think (including yourself) that to be in the throne room requires doing more than trusting Jesus. Your baptism was sufficient. Our response to knowing that the throne room is available to us, is to live in praise and a life that reveals where our minds are. Verse 2, Paul writes what we think about affects our anticipation. If I told you that in order for you to be in God’s throne room, you had to do 15 pushups, 30 jumping jacks, and 30 sit ups, you would know something is wrong. But on the other side, to approach God you must not eat pork, you must be sure to read your Bible every day, and you must pray to Gabriel three times a day, you might begin to think—that seems reasonable.

Some of us even go so far as to think “I’ve got to be better in order for God to allow me into the throne room.” But then that ignores the reality of verse 3—you died. In our baptism we died, but we are still breathing. So where is our life coming from? Christ in God. We are back in the throne room. This is where our life is. We work, play, go to school, engage in leisure and entertainment—all the things that occupy our earthly existence. And if you don’t know the throne room then you have to find “life” in those things. Our occupation has to define us; our social media accounts energize us; leisure and entertainment fill us. But none of these bring life. We died in our baptism and found life in Christ. We have been raised to a new life.

Hidden

Paul uses an unexpected word in verse 3—hidden. What do you think of? The game Hide and Seek? Something that is tucked away from all eyes? A mystery? A secret? Something concealed? Paul uses the same wording in 1:26 and 2:3. It is in Christ that we find wisdom and knowledge. It is in Christ that we find that all will share in glory. What we cannot see on this earth is seen in God’s throne room and while we may have to use our imaginations now to see it—one day we will see it. If anyone tells you that in order to get into the throne room you have to jump through hoops, then that person is taking you away from Jesus.

Turn to Psalm 27. David writes a psalm and imagines what it would be like to be in God’s presence. Look at verses 4-6. David envisioned a day when he could go into the tabernacle and be with God. Only the high priest once a year could go into the most holy place and be with God. David imagined a time when he could go into the throne room of God and stay there. The anticipation focused him. Surrounded by enemies, he had work to do, but verse 5, it was in the throne room that God would hide him. Paul writes about the reality that David imagined. Hidden in Christ. This is where our life is.

Surrounded by all that we have to take care of in this world—work, school, play, children, loneliness, troubles, celebrations, change—but our life is in the throne room. And the day is coming when we will see the reality of that which we believed and of what we can only now imagine. I am still confident of this. Let us be confident. While we engage all that happens, the throne room remains in our mind. Our baptism assures us that we belong to Christ. Hidden in Christ, we find life. And when Jesus appears, we will forever be in glory with him. We have much to do before that day. Like the anticipation of something good, life has to be lived while we wait and we confidently wait for the day when we will see what we can only imagine.

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