Where you from?
A big city lawyer is duck hunting in rural Arizona. He shoots a bird which falls over the fence into a field. As he’s climbing the fence, a farmer drives up on a tractor and asks him what he’s doing. The lawyer explains he’s retrieving the duck he shot, and the farmer tells him that’s not going to happen.
“Oh really?” asks the lawyer who then explains that he’s one of the best trial attorneys in the nation and that he’ll sue the farmer—and win—if the farmer keeps him from getting the duck.
The farmer then explains, “Well, you must not know how we settle things around here.” The farmer proceeds to tell the lawyer about the “Arizona Three Kick Rule,” according to which each person kicks the other three times, back and forth, until one or the other gives up.
“You’re on,” says the lawyer, sure he can take the old guy. The farmer goes first and plants solid kicks with his work boot into the lawyer’s gut, then when he’s down, his face, and ends with a kick to the kidney. The lawyer had been close to giving up, but now it was his turn. “Okay, old man. My turn.” To which the farmer says, “Actually, I give up. You can have the duck.”
Different places do things differently. Here are some interesting facts about how people do things in different states. If you’re from Nebraska, your official state soft drink is Kool-Aid. If you’re from Delaware, people are outnumbered by chickens 200-to-1. If you’re from Ohio, your state flag is the only state flag which is not a rectangle, but rather more of a triangle. Minnesota has over 50 different species of mosquitos (and Minnesotans will tell you that mosquitos are their state bird).
Jesus was from heaven
Different places do things differently. Jesus was from heaven, and he was always doing things that made people say, “What?! That’s not the way we do things around here. You must be from somewhere else.”
You see, down here, if somebody hurts you, you find some way to get them back. But Jesus says, you got enemies? Love your enemies. Pray for them. That’s not the way we do things around here. Down here, you get as many people as you can to serve you. That’s greatness around here. Jesus says, you want to be great? In heaven, you become great by learning to serve others.
Down here, we turn all sorts of good things into bad things, by making good things into idols. We turn things like money, sex, and power into gods. These are what we live and die for around here. Jesus says that, where he comes from, you shall worship the Lord your God, and serve him only. Money, sex, and power are not bad, but they make terrible gods.
Different places do things differently. Jesus is from heaven. Where are you from?
“Jesus says, you want to be great? In heaven, you become great by learning to serve others.”
How we do differences down here…
The movie Miracle starring Kurt Russell is about the US hockey team at the 1980 winter Olympics. This is where the American hockey team is going to attempt the impossible: they’re going to try to beat the Soviet hockey team at the Olympics.
At the time, everyone knows the Soviets are going to win. They’re a better team, and what’s more is that the American team can’t even seem to get along with each other. After all, these are players from rival college hockey teams, and some of them literally hate each other. During the first half of the movie, the coach gets to know his players by asking them two questions: “Where you from?” and “Who do you play for?”
“Where you from?” he’ll ask one player. “Madison, Wisconsin.” “Who do you play for?” “University of Wisconsin.” Another guy answers, “University of North Dakota.” How about you? “UMD Bulldogs.” And leading up to the Olympics, they’re just not playing well. They’re not really playing as a team.
And that’s kind of how things are done around here. Life down here, on earth, is played that way. For example, “I’m American, and there are other countries I’m not a fan of.” Or, “I’m a Republican, and we don’t really like Democrats.” Or, “I’m a Democrat, and we don’t really get along with Republicans.” Or, “I’m more upper class. We can’t really stand people who live off the system when they could be working.” Or, “I’m more lower class, and I can’t stand those rich snobs looking down their noses at people like me.”
That’s kind of how things are done around here. We carve each other into groups. We like some groups, not others.
“We carve each other into groups. We like some groups, not others.”
Religious, ethnic, cultural, and economic divisions
At the time Paul was writing his letter to the Colossian church, the Colossian culture was divided into groups at odds with each other. Here are some of the groups:
“…Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free…” (Colossians 3:11, NIV)
Here, we find multiple ways of dividing people into groups. There’s a major religious (and ethnic) divide of Gentiles and Jews (also referred to as uncircumcised and circumcised).
Then, you’ve got a major cultural and ethnic division which divided people into cultured Greeks (e.g., inventors of philosophy, pioneers of democracy) and uncultured barbarians. Incidentally, barbarians didn’t call themselves barbarians. It was the Greeks that called other people barbarians. It started when Greeks were making fun of how other people talked: “Did you hear that foreigner? It sounded like all he was saying is ‘bar bar bar bar.’ Let’s call those people bar-bar-ians (barbarians).” Barbarian was originally a term used to make fun of non-Greeks. Then you’ve got the Scythians who were especially barbarous, warlike barbarians.
In addition to religious and cultural and ethnic divisions, Paul also mentions an economic/class division: “slave or free.” Carving people into this or that group is just how we do things down here.
“It was the Greeks that called other people barbarians. It started when Greeks were making fun of how other people talked.”
One in Christ
As long as the American hockey team sees itself as a collection of divided loyalties playing for different college teams, they’re not going to make it very far in the 1980 Olympics. At one point, the hockey team plays a pre-Olympics game against a mediocre team. The Americans totally should have won, but they end up tying with this team that’s not that good.
So, after the game, the coach is angry, and he says, “You guys don’t want to work during the game? No problem. We’ll work now.” He lines them up at the goal line. Whistle blows. Down and back they skate to the other end of the rink and back. “Again,” coach says. Whistle blows. Down and back again. Again. Again. Again. They’re coughing, wheezing. Again. Hours later. Everyone else has left the stadium. Again. The men are so exhausted that the team doctor is saying the coach has got to stop this. The assistant coach with the whistle can’t bring himself to blow it again. Again, says the coach.
Finally, one of the players shouts his own name, “Mike Eruzione!” followed by, “Winthrop, Massachusetts!” (telling where he’s from). The coach stops, looks at him, and asks, “Who do you play for?” The player says, “I play for the United States of America!” Coach says, “That’s all, gentlemen,” and he lets them go home.
“The coach stops, looks at him, and asks, ‘Who do you play for?'”
Even though each of the players had played for different universities, they’d forgotten they had put on a jersey that said USA.
Even though we come from different political, socio-economic, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds, if you are a disciple of Jesus, then you have “put on” Jesus.
“You…have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.” (Colossians 3:9-11, NIV)
So, where are you from?
So, here are two questions to wrestle with as you consider how disciples of Jesus are to live in this world:
- Where are you from?
- How can you hate what’s wrong and choose what’s right?
As a disciple of Jesus, you have laid aside the old self. You’ve put on the new self. You’ve put off to the side all your many labels and have put on one identity: Christ. So long as you see yourself as part of this group, which is way better than that group, you’re going to keep living the same, serving the same idols, making the same wrong decisions—because you’re living as if you’re from around here.
Yet if you’ve placed your faith in Jesus, you’re no longer from around here. This world is no longer home.
“For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves.” (Colossians 1:13, NIV)
Jesus is from heaven. He doesn’t do things the way things are done around here. He lives a different way. And you and I are part of his kingdom now. So the message of Colossians 3 is basically this: Christ reigns, you’re in his kingdom now, so live like a citizen of his kingdom.
Citizen of heaven? “Christ reigns, you’re in his kingdom now, so live like a citizen of his kingdom.”
Down here, people think that
- In order to have success, you’ve got to run over more and more people.
- In order to have fun, you’ve got to do more and more sin.
- In order to have security, you’ve got to store up more and more stuff.
But you’re not from around here anymore. You’re a part of his kingdom above. So, think about that kingdom, and remind yourself who really reigns.
“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” (Colossians 3:1-4, NIV)
How can you hate what’s wrong and choose what’s right?
Since heaven is your home, it affects what you think is good and bad, beautiful and disgusting. This is why Paul can use such strong language for how we are to feel about sin. Such as, see yourself as dead to it. Fling it away from you like it’s something filthy. Sin is that bad. You have died and been raised to a new life (Colossians 3:1-3). Being from somewhere other than down here directly determines how we react to sin.
To describe our relationship with sin, Paul uses two pictures of old versus new.
- Picture #1 – death and life
- Picture #2 – old clothes and new clothes
Here is the death and life metaphor:
“Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived.” (Colossians 3:5-7, NIV)
Here is the old clothes and new clothes metaphor:
“But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator” (Colossians 3:8-10, NIV)
Citizen of heaven? “You have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self.”
Can you think of something which you came into contact with which you immediately found revolting—and you didn’t need to pause to wonder whether or not it was bad for you? A spider on your arm? Spoiled milk in your cup? There are things we instinctively fling away or spew out.
This is how Paul says we should see things like sexual immorality, greed, rage, and filthy language. These include what people want (the list in 3:5) and what people say (the list in 3:8). There are some things we citizens of heaven ought to think are just gross. Why? Because we’re from heaven. And we have experienced a much better way to live.
There are probably sins in these lists that you already hate, but probably also sins that you have trouble hating. You might even have a liking for some of them. So, how can you start hating sin so you can choose what’s right? How can you, as a disciple of Jesus, “kill” it in your life and “fling” it away as something disgusting?
The answer to both of our questions is the same. Again, the questions:
- Where are you from?
- How can you hate what’s wrong and choose what’s right?
The answer to both questions is this: you’re from heaven.
“There are some things we citizens of heaven ought to think are just gross. Why? Because we’re from heaven.”
Being a citizen of Jesus’ kingdom, you know what it’s like to be filled with peace and surrounded by grace. So, when you reflect “on things above, not on earthly things,” you are no longer as attracted to sexual immorality, raging against people, abusing people, etc. because you’ve experienced the grace and peace that comes with being a citizen of Jesus’ kingdom.
Randy Alcorn is a Christian author who writes both nonfiction and fiction, often about the subject of heaven. In Alcorn’s novel Dominion, one of the main characters has died and is in heaven. In heaven, he’s having a conversation with an angel, and, in paraphrase, here’s basically what he says: “It’s wonderful beyond belief. To have a body and soul free of the compulsion to sin. I can’t understand how disobedience ever appealed to me when all along it hurt God, hurt me, hurt everyone. Sin never did good. Why did I do it? I’d no sooner commit a sin against God now than I would have drunk a gallon of motor oil on earth. It has no attraction—it’s just so repulsive.”
Now What?
Sometimes down here, sin doesn’t seem so repulsive. It’s just the way things work down here, and Satan is a talented liar. That’s why we must not forget that we are not from around here. In light of heaven, sexual immorality, greed, unforgiveness, etc. are as attractive as drinking a gallon of motor oil. So, in the meantime,
“…Set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God…” (Colossians 3:1-2, NIV)
Jesus is coming back. Heaven is on its way in its fulness. And that’s your home. It doesn’t matter how things are done around here; we are citizens of that kingdom. In the meantime, disciples of Jesus live in this world like this:
We practice heaven.
