Please turn in your Bibles to Colossians 2:4-8
The apostle Paul, having preached Christ in you, the hope of glory, now begins to explain how that truth is to shape the life of every believer. There is a path we are to walk in the presence of Christ and in the power of Christ.
Let’s read verses 4-8 to see what that is.
READ COLOSSIANS 2:4-8
PRAY
INTRODUCTION
In verse 6 we’ve come to the first command in the letter to the Colossians, about one third of the way through it. Up until now, Paul has been expressing his thanks to God for the Colossians, his desires for their growth, and especially going on at length about the hope of the gospel, the salvation that we have in Jesus Christ.
Now he introduces a command, something the Colossian believers and we are to do, which is this: walk in him or walk in …Christ Jesus the Lord. It’s a command that Paul will spend the rest of the letter explaining, as he applies it to many areas of life. It is about how we are to live; how we are to walk this path of life until we reach our destination which is Christ.
As we go through the rest of the letter Paul is going to talk about how we put to death sin in our lives and grow in holiness. He’ll talk about relationships between husbands and wives, children and parents, between employees and employers, between believers and other believers, between believers and non-believers.
This broad command called walk in him will apply to all of life. And we’re going to find out what it means this morning and why it’s good for us to do it.
But I want to make an observation here before plunging into that command. Paul writes about the gospel and its benefits before he writes anything about commands. And that order tells us something. It tells us that the life we’re called to live is to be informed and motivated by the gospel (2x). Or, in other words, we are to live a gospel-shaped life.
Before Paul gets to any commands, before he addresses any concerns (and he does have concerns for the Colossians and us), before he tells us what to do, he first makes sure believers understand that in Christ God is for us, that God loves his people, that God has pursued us in our sin and given us life and hope. There’s a particular way he wants us to live, a way that is worthy of Christ, a way that is fully pleasing to him, but what makes that way of life possible and what motivates us to do it is the knowledge of God’s forgiveness, of his acceptance, of his commitment to do us good through Jesus. First liberty, then service. First gospel, then walking in a manner worthy of the gospel. That’s the divine order of things for us.
The life we’re called to live is to be informed and motivated by the gospel. It is to be a gospel-shaped life. That’s what this morning’s text tells us.
So, with that in mind we’re going to explore this by looking first at the concern that Paul has for the Colossians. Then we’ll define this command to walk in him and how it addresses the concern Paul has for them. Then we’ll see how to cultivate obedience to this command, how to cultivate the gospel-shaped life. So we’ll see the concern, the command and the cultivation of that command.
Let’s begin with the concern.
1. The Concern
We find in verse 5 that the Colossians are doing very well as believers. On a scale from one to ten, they’re probably at an 8. Paul rejoices to see [their] good order and the firmness of [their] faith in Christ. They are at the moment, stable. There is a consistency and orderliness about their love toward one another and their trust in the Lord.
They aren’t given to the excesses of say the Corinthian church where there was not good order - with people speaking in tongues at the same time in the Sunday meeting without interpretation, people getting drunk at the Lord’s Supper, believers taking each other to court over offenses.
This kind of thing wasn’t happening at Colossae. They had good order in their use of the gifts to benefit one another and they were firm in their faith.
But that doesn’t mean they are out of danger. That doesn’t mean their current spiritual health is guaranteed to last. No, there is still reason for concern; there is still the possibility of their getting out of order and weak in their faith.
Paul says to these healthy Christians in verse 4, I say this (referring back to his teaching on Christ in you, the hope of glory, his labor to establish them in this truth), I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments.
Again he says in verse 8, See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.
What’s the concern? His concern is that they will fall for false teaching and false hopes. He’s concerned that they’ll be duped into believing things that aren’t true, things that aren’t consistent with the hope that is in Christ alone, to their harm.
Apparently, there are one or more individuals who are trying to influence the Colossian believers. They are thinkers and intellects, good with using logical arguments to make their point. They think about ultimate issues like how do we know God exists, what’s the meaning of life, and how do we find true happiness – that’s what philosophers wrestle with. And they have their answers to those questions, answers they are trying to get the Colossians to buy into.
Now we don’t know specifically what their teaching was. But from the rest of chapter two we can infer a few things about it. They apparently were teaching asceticism as the proper course of life, which means practicing self-denial as a religious discipline. They had opinions on what kind of religious observances one should hold; they seemed to advocate the worship of angels, and they seemed to invest a great deal of authority in certain visions they or others had.
And their teaching sounded persuasive. They made plausible, believable arguments about things that matter to believers. Believers are interested in denying themselves and taking up their cross to follow Jesus. Believers hold religious observances, they know angels exist, they acknowledge a place for visions from God. So there is some connection there with what these teachers are saying.
But the problem is that their teaching about these things is not according to Christ. It isn’t consistent with the reality that man is sinful and his only hope is the Savior. It is according to human tradition, which is something that seems right to man. Or it is according to the elemental spirits of the world, which is what Paul calls in 1 Timothy 4:1 the teachings of demons; teachings that originate with spiritual forces opposed to God. But whether it comes from man or from the devil, the problem with the teaching is that it leads a person to hope in something besides Christ, and it ensnares them and robs them of enjoying the true hope which is Christ. It isn’t according to Christ.
And Paul is concerned about that. He’s concerned that they might fall for this teaching even though at the moment these believers are solid in their faith. So he urges them to see to it that no one takes [them] captive by this teaching. He doesn’t want them to be deluded or tricked.
Now we can learn some important things from this situation that the Colossians were facing.
The first is that teaching that is not according to Christ can seem credible (2x). That’s what makes it possible to fall for it. We’re not just talking about teaching that comes from an atheist or from a cult, though certainly that would fall into this category. No, you can find teaching that is not according to Christ in a Christian bookstore. You can find it on Christian radio and Christian TV. Virtually anyone who teaches something about God and uses the Bible as a reference can get their material promoted in one of those venues. But that doesn’t guarantee that it is according to Christ, that it is in line with the claims of the gospel.
Have you been deluded by a plausible argument that seemed to have truth in it?
We can find teaching in any topic you could name under the heading of “Christian” that is not according to Christ. There are false teachings presented by the prosperity gospel that say that Christians are to be healthy and wealthy by the fact of being Christians. There is the word of faith movement that teaches if you have enough faith you can do anything. There is the prophetic movement that emphasizes the teachings and authority of mere men more so than they do God and His Word. Christendom down through the ages has swung its pendulum from one extreme to the other. On the one hand, you have the doctrinally-correct, spiritually-dead Christianity. In this group, the focus is doctrinal purity but it is packaged, presented, and practiced in a boring fashion. On the other hand you have the experience-driven, feelings-based Christianity. In this group, the focus is on expressing joyful experiences but it has a tendency to lose its biblical grounding. Does it have to be one way or the other? No. Isn’t there a third option? Yes, do both, teach the truth and rejoice in the truth. All of these things have some truth in them and that makes them seem credible, but if they don’t point to the hope we have in Christ they are teachings that take us captive to false hopes. We are trying to teach that we are to be God-centered and not man-centered. We exist to glorify God. He doesn’t exit to gratify us. We want to be God-centered. We want to be motivated to glorify God.
And that leads to the second thing to learn from the Colossians’ situation, which is that it takes intentionality to avoid captivity to false teaching (2x).
Paul said see to it that no one takes you captive. We are to see to this, to do something about this concern, to resist captivity by taking some action that will prevent us from being sidetracked into many harmful and fruitless paths we could take in life. Captivity in false teaching comes to the unintentional, or to the unconcerned, to the believer who is confident that they are doing OK today and will continue to do OK tomorrow without any effort. But escape from captivity comes to those who are intentional, who see to it.
When Christians handle teachings thoughtlessly and uncritically they easily become prey to another gospel. At the very least we must employ critical discernment that is far removed from breathless naivety as we engage with the false teachings today.
And there is a way to see to it. There is a way to resist being taken captive to false teaching and false hopes. That is the substance of the command in verse 6.
So let’s turn from the concern to the command.
2. The Command
…as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him…
What exactly does it mean to walk in him?
Well, the words in him speak about our union with Christ, this unseen reality that believers are joined to Christ. We’re joined to him in such a way that his life becomes our life – all the blessings he earned by his life and death become ours.
The blessings of being in Christ are many. Paul said that it is Christ in whom we have
redemption, the forgiveness of sins. In Christ we are friends with God, reconciled in [Christ’s] body of flesh. To be in him is to be the object of God’s favor, to be loved by God, to be empowered by God to do all that he calls us to do.
So what does walk in him mean? It means you live by faith in these truths. It means that you walk by faith in Christ and all that God has promised you through Christ.
It means you live in the good of the gospel. The gospel shapes your life. The good news of Christ in you, the hope of glory changes your goals in life, changes your thoughts and actions, makes you a different person, a person who lives for Christ. And because you are joined to Christ, he supplies the power to live that way.
Paul said in verses 28 and 29 that he proclaims [Christ] and toils to present everyone mature in Christ …struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me. That is what walking in Christ looks like. There is a desire to honor the Lord and the ability to do it because he is working in us through our union with him.
Walking in him means living a life that is informed by and motivated by the gospel.
It’s probably easiest to describe walking in him by giving some examples of what that might look like.
It looks like facing your financial problems with faith rather than fear because you believe Philippians 4:19, … my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
It looks like forgiving someone who sins against you because you remember Colossians 3:13 – as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Your forgiving others flows from knowing your own forgiveness.
Walking in Christ looks like being tempted to look at pornography, but shutting off the computer because you believe 1 Corinthians 6:18-20 Flee from sexual immorality. … You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. You say no to lust because you are Christ’s now, and his plan for you is not slavery to sexual sin, but freedom to walk in purity and holiness that reflects his own purity and holiness.
To walk in him looks like introducing yourself to your neighbor or CHU-mate and seeking to tell them the hope of the gospel, because you remember that Jesus said in Luke 19:10 …the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost. What he seeks becomes what you seek. So you initiate a conversation like Jesus did with the woman at the well.
These and a thousand other things are what it looks like to walk in him. And we’re called to do that. To walk in him is to live a life that is informed by and motivated by the gospel. It’s a hope-filled life that honors Jesus.
But that’s not always our experience is it? Living like this isn’t automatic. We fall short of this. Maybe you experienced some conviction as I described one of those scenarios of walking in him. Or maybe you’re aware of some other ways you’re falling short and not living in an awareness of sins forgiven that motivates you to serve Christ gladly. You don’t seem to be experiencing all that energy from Christ that powerfully works within you like Paul did. So what do we do?
Well, the Lord knows we fall short. He knows living this way isn’t automatic or else he wouldn’t have to tell us to do it. And in his kindness he shows us how to cultivate this gospel-shaped life and encourages us that he’s at work in us to make it happen.
So let’s move from the command to the cultivation.
3. The cultivation
How do we cultivate this life? How do we grow in it?
Well, Paul goes on to describe it. He says walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.
This tells us both the hope for change and the path for change. It tells us how we can live in the good of the gospel and avoid being taken captive by philosophy and empty deceit that is not according to Christ.
Let’s consider first the hope for change. This is the encouragement for convicted souls, for those of us who are aware of how far short we fall in continuing to walk in Christ and in the good of the gospel.
It is in the word rooted. We walk in him by first being rooted …in him. The idea of rooted means just what you think it means. It means that Christ is the source of our life just like the fertile soil in which a plant grows is the source of a plant’s life. The life flows from what it is planted in.
But just as the plant doesn’t plant itself, so neither did we plant ourselves into the source of life which is Christ. God did that for us.
In the Greek the word rooted is in the perfect passive tense. That means it’s something that happened to you in the past and the effects of it are still continuing. There was a time when we were dead in sin, but that time is no more if you have trusted Christ. God has planted you in Christ, and now you are growing. We may not see as much evidence of growth as we would like, but any growth at all means the root system is in place.
Though the world, the flesh and the devil oppose our growth, we won’t wither and die if we’ve truly been planted in the living water that comes from Christ. Christ sustains us in the fiercest drought and storm. That is the hope for change, and it is with that hope in place that we can now cultivate the path to change, the path to walking in Christ.
So how do we cultivate walking in him? How do we cultivate the gospel-shaped life? I would mention two things from the text. The first one is this: Go deeper in your understanding of the gospel (2x).
Paul said we are to walk in him …built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught. Built and established are terms one might use in architecture. They picture a strong building going up on a sure foundation. The foundation is Christ and the truth about him in the gospel. So we cultivate a life that is informed by the gospel and motivated by the gospel by strengthening our grip on the gospel, the hope we have in Christ.
And the way we strengthen our grip on the gospel is to learn it from faithful gospel preachers provided by God and from your own meditation.
The Colossian believers learned the gospel from a faithful gospel preacher. Chapter 1 verse 7 says they heard and understood the grace of God in truth, just as they learned it from Epapharus.
And now Paul is saying that they should make it a priority to be built up in [Christ] and established in the faith, just as [they] were taught. They should keep building on that teaching that they are getting. They need to own this. They need to be convinced about the truth and be clear on the truth.
Being built up in Christ and established in the faith comes by a combination of Scriptural teaching and from personal meditation on the truth of Scripture. We need both.
So what does that look like practically? Well, for starters, it looks like reading your Bible and looking for the hope of the gospel everywhere in it. It looks like meditation on what you read there. Not just getting through a devotional time, but actually thinking through what you’re reading and seeking to rekindle the joy of your salvation.
But along with that, it means being part of a church where the truth about Christ is being taught. It means not just being part of it but learning from the teachers that God has provided in the church, taking to heart the messages, thinking about what was said, seeking to apply that. I can recommend that wholeheartedly even though it seems self-serving to say it because I’m one of those teachers I’m saying we should listen to. But I can recommend it because I know that whether it’s me or somebody else, God’s way of establishing us in the faith and in the goodness of the gospel is to provide for the church pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints. That’s Ephesians 4:11-12. So learn from preaching.
And that includes preaching from the pages of a book written by a faithful gospel preacher. A habit that was recommended to me and which I have found to be very helpful is to regularly be going through a book about the gospel. I’ve got a shelf in my office dedicated to books like that, and I make it a goal to keep reading one of those books at a time and adding new ones to it. If you do something like that, it will strengthen your understanding and hope in the gospel. You will be cultivating this life of walking in Christ, and you won’t be taken captive to teaching that is not according to Christ.
Now, I’ll just mention one more way we cultivate walking in Christ, growing in this gospel-informed and gospel-motivated life. And I’ll have to be brief because of time, but here it is:
Be intentional to thank God for the gospel (2x).
Paul said, walk in him …abounding in thanksgiving. We are to overflow with gratefulness to God for his grace and mercy to us through Christ. Thanksgiving is something we are to be intentional about, something we are to cultivate. It isn’t automatic.
For example, Psalm 107:1 says Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever! That is a command to give thanks to the Lord, to be intentional to consider his goodness and his love and give thanks to him for that. And God gives us commands like that because a common tendency of man is to not remember that God is good, and that his steadfast love is forever, and so not thank him.
As I go through a typical day, it is not my natural inclination to look for all the ways God has been merciful to me. My inclination is to see the problems, the challenges, the things not to my liking, the things I want changed or to go away. It requires no effort for me to think about those things. What takes effort, because of my sinful condition, is to remember God’s goodness and love, and to thank him for it. And God would have us remember. He would have us give thanks …with joy as chapter 1 verse 11 described. That’s part of what it looks like to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord.
And as believers, we have ample reason to be grateful. We were once alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds. We were deserving of wrath. We should not be here right now. God would have had every right to bring instant judgment the moment we first sinned against him. It humbles me to think that there are people right now experiencing God’s judgment in hell who have not sinned against him more than I have. They are not more deserving of hell than I am.
Why am I alive and saved? Only because God chose to be merciful to me, a sinner. And that explains why you are alive and saved also, if you have trusted Christ for salvation. Some of us have harder circumstances than others. Some of us are suffering. But Paul said that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory that is to be revealed, the glory that is Christ. We have reason to be thankful even in our suffering. We cultivate walking in Christ by cultivating thankfulness. And we cultivate thankfulness by remembering God’s goodness and steadfast love to us in Christ.
Our Response to False Teachings:
1. Maintain a Right Attitude: 2 Tim. 2:24-25
a. Avoid Anger
b. Avoid Arrogance
2. Recognize, Affirm, & Teach the Sufficiency of Christ, Grace & Scripture
3. Teach Sound Doctrine
a. Doctrine of God
b. Doctrine of Sin
c. Doctrine of Justification
d. Doctrine of Sanctification
4. Develop Discernment
CONCLUSION
What is at stake, the gospel? What is being subverted, the gospel? What are we contending for, the gospel? The Gospel is the power of God for salvation and sanctification. Those of us who have experienced its life transforming effect in our lives wan to serve this community by proclaiming this gospel of the kingdom so that they too might submit to the rule of Jesus Christ, be reconciled to God, be regenerated by God, then experience the process of transformation known as sanctification when they can be set free from the past, their sins to become like Jesus Christ. We’re called to live a life that is informed by and motivated by the hope we have in Christ, the hope of the gospel. It’s a gospel-shaped life. May we strengthen our grip on it and see to it that we aren’t taken captive to anything that is not according to Christ, so we can walk in a manner worthy of Christ. And may we abound in thanksgiving for all that is ours in Christ.
PRAY
