Have you ever been talking to a friend, telling them about a fun adventure you were about to embark upon, and they warned you about almost certain death?

You might have said, “I’m so excited for my upcoming ski trip!” And they replied, very concerned, “Don’t you know that if you go skiing, you might run into a tree and die!?”

Or perhaps you’ve communicated an upcoming flight across the Gulf of Mexico. Did they tell you, “Don’t fly! The plane may drop out of the air, and you will die!”?

Maybe you shared, “I just booked a cruise to Alaska. I can’t wait to see the whales!” And your friend, horrified, told you, “Don’t you remember the story of the Titanic? Your cruise ship could hit an iceberg, sink down into the cold ocean, and you would die from hypothermia in just a few minutes!”

In your wisdom, you know that these responses from your friend are all based on their irrational fears. Because you’ve been skiing 12 times in your life and haven’t died. You’ve flown across the Gulf of Mexico 7 times, and it’s been fine every time. You’ve booked 2 other cruises in your past, and they were so much fun. But your friend has never been skiing, never flown on an airplane, and never booked a cruise. Your friend speaks from a fear of the unknown, which has prevented them from enjoying the adventure of life.

Pursuit of Spiritual Things

Let’s parallel the conversation to the pursuit of spiritual things. Have you ever been warned by a friend that going after a deeper spiritual life could lead you into deep deception and sin? Perhaps these warnings seemed rational and reasonable at the time, but the more you’ve prayed about it, the more you feel the Holy Spirit drawing you closer and closer into Himself. You feel the beckoning call of Jesus Christ, inviting you into a deep discipleship relationship with Him. You start hearing the song of God the Father softly sung over your soul.

Could it be that the warnings of your friend originate in their own brokenness and irrational fear? And perhaps when they speak under the influence of this fear, they are unknowingly keeping you from diving deeper into God’s precious presence.

King David’s Example

King David’s example actually starts with God’s words to Moses, hundreds of years earlier. Moses wanted to see God’s glory, but the Lord says this:

“But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” (Exodus 33:20 ESV)

God instructs Moses to stand on the Rock, and then He makes His glory pass by Moses. (This is an amazing lesson in and of itself, but it’ll have to wait until another time.)

Fast-forward to much later in Israel’s history. King David has discovered New Covenant realities as he pens the Psalms and plays his ancient guitar. His Psalms sung in the presence of demon-oppressed King Saul actually drove away evil spirits! (See 1 Samuel 16:14-23.)

In David’s pursuit of the Lord, he felt God say to him:

“You have said, ‘Seek my face.’ My heart says to you, ‘Your face, LORD, do I seek.’” (Psalm 27:8 ESV)

Wait, God is telling David to seek His face? Wouldn’t David die? Wouldn’t David be destroyed? Didn’t all of the religious teaching from the past prohibit a person from gazing upon the face of God?

Knowing this real risk, David’s heart ponders, “Is it worth it? Yes!” The risk is worth it. So he pursues the face of God, even if it destroys him. And guess what? That’s kinda the goal of the Christian life!

“For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” (Colossians 3:3 ESV)

Our old sinful selves have died with Christ, and NOW we are hidden with Christ in God Himself.

Is the Pursuit of the Spiritual OK?

So this is the real question we are tackling today: is the pursuit of spiritual things OK or not? Will they lead us into destruction, or will they lead us into God Himself? Is it worth the risk?

“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.” (Colossians 3:1-2 ESV)

The “things that are above” are heavenly things, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. So the command is this: seek Heavenly things.

“Set your minds on things that are above.” The command: set your minds on Heavenly things corporately.

The Connection between the Spiritual and the Heavenly

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,” (Ephesians 1:3 ESV)

Ephesians 1:3 makes a connection between “spiritual” and “heavenly places.” 

Is Every Spiritual Thing Heavenly?

Another verse in Ephesians mentions another type of “spiritual.”

“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:12 ESV)

There are very real entities in the spiritual realm who are evil. So the context of the word “spiritual” is very important. As believers, we pursue spiritual things in the confines of Jesus Christ. “We have been raised with Christ…” A spiritual pursuit must be done in Christ, through Christ, with Christ. 

We also see that not all “heavenly places” are created equal. There are “heavenly places” where God dwells, which we typically think of as Heaven. Paul calls it the third Heaven in 2 Corinthians 12:2. The “heavenly places” in which evil dwells is not third Heaven, but something lower, perhaps first or second heaven.

Our Present Reality

“But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.” (Hebrews 12:22-24 ESV)

We “have come to Mt. Zion…” We are already seated with Christ in Heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6). We are already in Heaven. Perhaps we don’t realize how much in Heaven we are!

“For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.” (Romans 8:5-6 ESV)

If we want to “live according to the Spirit,” then we must set our “minds on the things of the Spirit.” Things of the Spirit are spiritual things. Things of the Spirit require investigation in the spiritual realm through the doorway of Christ Jesus (John 10:7-10, Revelation 4:1-2).

Hidden Wisdom of God

“Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. 

But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 

But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”– these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 

Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.” (1 Corinthians 2:6-14 ESV)

Wisdom Takes Maturity

Wisdom is imparted from the mature to the mature, or at least those developing in spiritual maturity. The wisdom is not a worldly or new-agey “wisdom.” “It is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age.” 

But there is a secret and hidden wisdom of God. Where is it hidden? In the spiritual realm. But it says, “these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit.” That’s where we get our spiritual intel: from the Holy Spirit Himself. That’s one of His job functions, and He is very good at His job. The Spirit searches the thoughts of God and then makes the information known to our human spirits. Our own human spirits know our thoughts as well as how to communicate spiritual information from the Holy Spirit to our minds.

The Holy Spirit Shows Us

“Now we have received … the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.” We have received the Holy Spirit, and He shows us the things freely given to us by God in the spiritual realm. This impartation comes through wisdom that is literally taught by the Holy Spirit. 

A person with no or limited connection to the Holy Spirit perceives these things as “folly,” meaning “silliness, i.e. absurdity:—foolishness.” It’s actually a really good test to see how mature a person is: what do they do when you relay spiritual information you learned from the Holy Spirit? Do they disregard it as foolishness? Or do they seek the Lord and ask the Holy Spirit for confirmation? (1 John 4:1)

Discerning Things in the Spiritual

“…The things of the Spirit of God … are spiritually discerned.” The word for “discerned” means “to examine or judge; to investigate, examine, enquire into, scrutinize, sift, question; specifically in a forensic sense of a judge to hold an investigation; to interrogate, examine the accused or witnesses.” 

We are expected as mature believers to investigate in a forensic manner the things of the Spirit and the spiritual realm, at His leading and within the context of being “in Christ.”

Our God-Given Gift

We set our minds on Heavenly things, investigating the things of the Holy Spirit in the spiritual realm, discerning the amazing things given to us by God to discover! It’s a wonderful and God-ordained pursuit of spiritual things.

This whole process is a wonderful gift from God Himself.

“It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out.” (Proverbs 25:2 ESV)

The Lord loves hiding these things for His children to search out, discover, and comprehend. He loves when we ask Him, seek after Him, and knock on His door. He loves when we seek after Him with whole hearts. And this, my friend, is abundant life!