When Christ Is All

What is the truest wisdom message of Jesus? Our life is knowing Jesus Christ. Pastor, teacher, and author Adrian Rogers said you can get to know Jesus better, but you can never know anything better than Jesus. You can go deeper into Jesus, but you can never go beyond Jesus. Christ is all.

Let me ask you a question. What is Jesus Christ to you? You say, well, Jesus Christ has a place in my life. Jesus Christ does not want a place in your life. Well, you say, Jesus Christ has a big place in my life.

He doesn't want a big place in your life. Jesus desires, deserves, and demands preeminence. Now, does Jesus Christ have preeminence in your life?

I asked myself that same question. I want you to look at this scripture with that question in mind. If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.

Set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.

Mortify, therefore, your members which are upon the earth. Fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry. And then skip down, if you will, to verse 11, where there's neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond or free, but Christ is all and in all. Well, if Christ is all, then that leaves nothing out. It means he is everything.

Now, that's a big question. Is Jesus Christ all to you? I mean, is he all, and is he in all? Well, Paul just said it another way in verse 4, when he says, Christ is our life. Now, Jesus doesn't just give life. He is our life. For me to live is Christ is what Paul said in this passage in another place. He is our life.

He doesn't just point to life. He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life in John 14, verse 6. So, Christ is our life. It is Jesus only.

He is all and in all. It is not knowledge about Jesus. It is not Jesus plus anything. It is not something after Jesus. Now, you can get to know Jesus better, but you can never know anything better than Jesus. You can go deeper into Jesus, but you can never go beyond Jesus. Paul says in verse 11 that Christ is all and in all. Now, notice how he puts it in this passage of scripture. First of all, we have been crucified with Christ.

Look in verse 3. For ye are dead. I have been crucified.

So have you. I died with Christ. His death had my name on it. The old Adrian died when I was buried in that liquid tomb called baptism. That was my funeral service. The chief mourner who was there was the devil.

He aided to see his old buddy die. But we are dead, and not only are we dead, but according to this passage of scripture, we have also been raised. Look in verse 1. If ye then be risen with Christ, we are dead with him. His death had our name on it, and we are risen with him. And because we were crucified with him and risen with him, we are dead with him.

We live with him. Look, if you will, in verse 4. Christ then is our life. We have the resurrection life of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that life is hidden in Christ.

Notice verse 3 again. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. Now, in order for the devil to get to me, I'm in Jesus, and Jesus is in God.

He's got to go through God the Father and God the Son to get at Adrian. That's where I'm hidden. That's where I'm hidden in my life.

What's he saying here? I died with him. I was raised with him. I live with him, and I'm hidden in him. He is our life.

Friend, he is everything. Go back to chapter 2 and look, if you will, in verse 3. And this is a wonderful, wonderful verse here, and I hope that God will write it upon your heart. The Bible says there, speaking of Jesus, all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Where is that hidden? In Jesus. All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Jesus, and I'm hidden in Jesus. There's nothing worth knowing that's outside of Jesus. There is no wisdom that this world has to offer that can compare with the only true wisdom that is in Jesus Christ.

Now, he is all and in all. Now, in the verse that I read to you from chapter 3, there are three major verbs, and I want you to see them. Look in verse 1. If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above. Underscore the verb seek. And then look in verse 2. Set your affections on things above. Underscore the verb set.

And then look, if you will, in verse 5. Mortify, therefore, or put to death may say put to death. But mortify, therefore, your members.

Underscore the verb mortify. Now, those are three things that will happen when Christ is all. When Christ is everything. When Christ is your life. The verb seek, set, and mortify, or we can say if you want it alliterated, slay.

Seek, set, and slay. There's certain things that are true. Now, what happens in my life? What is of necessity true when I can say that Christ is my life and say in verse 11 that Christ is all and in all? Number 1, Jesus captivates my ambitions. Jesus captivates my ambitions.

Verse 1, look at it again. If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Now, what you seek is what your ambition is.

Your ambition is to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. The devil doesn't care what on earth you may seek as long as you do not seek those things which are above. Now, I'm going to say something profound, but chapter 3 follows chapter 2. And I want you to go back to chapter 2, and he's thinking in chapter 2 about those things which are below. He's thinking about those things which are on the earth, and he delineates those things which are on the earth, and then he goes into chapter 3 and says, but if you be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above. Now, let me show you some things that you might be prone to seek that we find in chapter 2, the things of the world, things which are not above, but things which are below.

For example, there are the reasonings of the world. Look in chapter 2, verse 8. Beware lest any man spoil you, through philosophy, and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world.

The word rudiment there means the ABCs, the basic elements of the world, and not after Christ. And actually, the word here, spoil, it literally means to carry you off as a captive. When people would take a country, they would say they spoiled the country.

That is, they would carry away the goods of that country, and they spoiled it. Now, he's saying, don't let somebody carry you away as captive. Now, the cults are good at this. The cults, they don't want converts as much as they want captives. What they will do is kidnap true converts.

They will hang around Billy Graham Crusades and other places, and they will try to carry them off captive, and they do this through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. And so, beware of the reasonings of this world. And then secondly, not only the reasonings of the world, but the rituals of the world. Look in chapter 2, verses 13 through 17. Verse 13, verse 13, verse 13, verse 13. Verse 13, verse 13, verse 13, verse 13. And now notice what he says in verse 16. Let no man therefore judge you in meat, that literally means in food, or in drink, or in respect of a holy day, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days, which are a shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ.

Now, what's he talking about here? Well, he's talking to people who have been in the Jewish religion, and they had this certain ritual They had things that they had done, religious rituals. They had certain drink offerings, and certain meal offerings, and they had certain days that they kept. And there were some people who said, now that you're saved, that's fine, but you've got to keep these days, and you've got to keep these diets. And Paul says, don't let anybody judge you of those things. For example, don't let anybody judge you concerning the Sabbath day.

Now, listen to me carefully. Sunday is not the Sabbath. Sunday is the Lord's day. Saturday is the Sabbath. Sunday is not the Christian Sabbath. Sunday is the Lord's day.

It's an absolutely different kind of day. Now, we have people today who want us to keep the Sabbath. If you think you're keeping the Sabbath, you better be careful because you can't even start a fire on the Sabbath.

And, friend, when you cranked your automobile, you started to fire in the engine. You ought to be stoned. I'm telling you, we don't keep the Sabbath in that sense.

There are people who would like to judge you and put you under some ritualistic diet and some ritualistic days. But those things were taken out of the way. They were nailed to the cross. And it tells us they are but shadows of things to come. Do you see that there in that verse? They are shadows of things to come.

They're not the substance. They're the shadow. And people who try to keep these rituals are chasing shadows. Have you ever seen the ridiculous thing of a dog that chases the shadow of a bird on the ground?

And the bird is up there in the sky. Now, that's when people are substituting rituals for reality. They are seeking things which are below, not things which are above, shadows and not substance, the blueprint and not the building. So, Paul says here, beware of the reasonings of this world. Beware of the rituals of this world. And then he goes on to say beware of the religions of this world. Notice again in chapter 2, verses 18, 19. And let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshiping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and not holding the head from which all the body by joints and bands, having nourishment ministered and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God. What he's saying is don't go falling after some psychedelic being or some high-faluting religious philosophy.

You hold on to Jesus, which is the head. I've been preaching long enough to be amazed at two things. Number one, that men will not believe the truth. And number two, what men and women will believe.

Satan is not against religion, as long as it's the religion of this world. And you can seek the reasonings of this world, vain philosophy. You can seek the rituals of this world, days and diets. You can seek the religions of this world and worship things other than almighty God.

And then something else you can seek, and that's the regulations of this world. Look in chapter 2 now, verse 20. Wherefore, if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why as though living in the world are ye subject to ordinances?

The word ordinances means laws. Touch not, taste not, handle not, all which are to perish with the using, after the commandments and doctrines of men. Now, he's not saying that you ought to taste or touch or handle things which God has forbidden. But what he is saying is that when you have the traditions of men, men will take the Bible and they will add to it. They will like the Pharisees, bind on people burdens, heavy to be born.

And then he says, Which things have indeed a show of wisdom in the world? They will worship. That's a very interesting phrase, underscore it. Will worship and humility and neglecting of the body, not in any honor to the satisfying of the flesh. Now, I admit that this is hard to understand English.

It's convoluted. But what he's saying is this. You're not going to be any more like Jesus with a list of do's and don'ts. They're not going to make you one speck more like Jesus.

It may look good. It may have a show of wisdom and humility. But if you let all of the air out of it, it is will worship and not God worship.

You think up certain things you're going to do and then you do them and you say, What a good boy am I. And Paul says it has no effect against the flesh. All it will do is just simply increase your pride. And it gives the wrong indication to your neighbor that Christianity is just a list of do's and don'ts. Many of us have the idea that if there are just certain things that we don't do and certain things that we do, then we're spiritual. I mean, we say, especially with the don'ts, you know, don't tell lies, don't tell dirty jokes, don't cheat, etc.

We try to go for about two weeks not doing the dirty dozen. You know, we think that's going to make us spiritual. No. A thousand don'ts will not make you one whit more like the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, Christianity is not a legal relationship.

It is a love relationship. I'm not saying there's certain things you ought not to do, but the difference is whether it is will worship or God worship. Now, you can read your Bible out of will worship. Do you ever get the idea that you've got to read so many chapters a day? That's going to make you a great Christian? Not necessarily. You know, a chapter a day keeps the devil away.

No. Now, you can read your Bible and not love God. I don't believe you can truly love God and not read your Bible.

It's why you do it, not what you do. Now, what I'm trying to say is this, that none of these things, the reasonings of the world and the rituals of the world and the religions of the world, none of these things can make you like Jesus. We need to understand that Christ is all and in all.

We need to understand that Christ is all and in all of these things. And he says this, if ye then, in relation to all that he said in chapter two, be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above. You are to seek Jesus. Jesus is to be the one who has captivated your ambition.

Number two, let's look at the second verb. Not only does Jesus captivate my ambition, but number two, Jesus dominates my attention. Jesus dominates my attention. Look in verse two now.

Chapter three, verse two. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. Well, the way to seek him is to set your affections, and the word affections literally means attention. That is, what you seek, you have to set your mind to because the Bible says, as a man thinketh, so is he. Now, we've often heard that some people are so heavenly minded they're no earthly good, but the direct reverse may be true. This verse is not telling us not to be heavenly minded. It is telling us to be heavenly minded. Jesus is to dominate my attention. I am to meditate on him. I am to set my mind on him. And there are many things pulling at my mind. There are many things pulling at your mind. And I'm not to say that recreation is wrong.

And I'm not saying that relaxation is wrong. But I'm telling you, folks, in this day and in this age, you are going to have to seek him. Your ambitions are going to have to come to a burning focus. And then you're going to have to set your affections, your attention, where Jesus just dominates your attention. Thou will keep him in perfect peace whose mind has stayed on thee because he trusteth in thee. The first verb is seek. The second verb is set.

The third verb is slay. Notice number three, Jesus is to regulate my actions. Jesus who captivates my ambitions. Jesus who dominates my attention is the Jesus who is to regulate my actions. Now, when I said before that will worship is wrong, that doesn't mean that discipline is wrong.

It's a different kind of discipline. Notice now in chapter three, verse five, mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth. This verb, mortify, means to put to death forcefully and immediately. Why would you put something to death?

Well, because you hate it. You see, mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth. These things are to be put to death. Did you know that as a Christian you need to learn to hate? Oh, you say, oh no, I don't want to be convicted of a hate crime. As a Christian, you have to learn to hate. You could not have love without hate any more than you could have high without low, or hot without cold, or in without out. If you love justice, you hate crime. If you love health, you hate disease.

If you love purity, you hate pornography. If you love flowers, you hate weeds. Did you know that God is a God who hates? May I give you some scripture? Proverbs 6, verses 16 and following, these six things doth the Lord hate. Ye seven are an abomination unto him. God says these seven things doth the Lord hate. May I tell you that so-called love without corresponding hate is sheer hypocrisy. There are certain things that need to be put to death, mortify. Now we're to hate narcotics, liquor, communism, atheism, pornography, and any sin in our own lives that needs to be put to death.

Why? Because Christ is all and in all. What is the Christian life? It is not prayer. It is not the Bible.

It is not doing good. It is Jesus Christ. Christ is our life.

He is all and in all. Where you can share how this message or others have made a difference in your life. We'd love to hear from you today. Go to lwf.org slash radio and click the tab that says discover Jesus. Now, if you'd like to order a copy of today's message, you can call us at 1-877-love-God and request the title when Christ is all.

Or you can order online at lwf.org slash radio. Or write us at Love Worth Finding, Box 38600, Memphis, Tennessee 38183. Is Christ your life, your everything, your all? Has Jesus captivated your ambition, dominated your attention, and regulated your action? We're so glad you joined us for today's broadcast. Make sure you tune in next time for more timeless truth right here on Love Worth Finding. Here's an encouraging word from a listener who reached out recently. I've received and continue to receive blessings and encouraging words from your broadcast.

Years ago, I started watching Love Worth Finding on TV, and now I've learned how to get it on the internet. May God continue to enable you all to keep the programs going out into the world. Well, it brings us a lot of joy to hear how these messages have been used in your walk with Christ. When you donate to the ministry this month, we would love to send you the book, The Incredible Power of Kingdom Authority. If your spiritual life needs a booster shot, you can't go wrong with the powerful work by Adrian Rogers. If your spiritual life needs major renovation, Pastor Rogers also has that cover. Prepare to dig into your Bible and experience the most life-changing power in the universe. Request the book, The Incredible Power of Kingdom Authority when you call with a gift at 1-877-LOVEGOD.