Fix Our Eyes on Christ- How Not to Dift Away
by Sidney Yuan
The title of today’s sermon is Fix Our Eyes on Christ, with the subtitle of How not to Drift Away. The Scripture is taken from the book of Colossians Chapter one, verse 14 to 20. Can Christians really drift away in our faith? The Bible clearly warns about Christians falling away or drifting away. The following are just a few examples.
2 Peter 2:20-22- For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them.
Christians are a group of people called out or separated out by God from this polluted world. The word holy means to separate out. The Apostle Peter said it is possible for someone to be separated out from this polluted world and be entangled in it again, and turn from the holy commandment.
Hebrews 6:4-6: For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.
The author of Hebrews said it is possible for someone to be enlightened, to taste the heavenly gift and good word of God, and even become a partaker of the Holy Spirit, and yet fall away. For these people, it is not possible to renew them, for doing so it means to crucify Jesus again and put Him to an open shame.
Hebrews 10:26-29- For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will He be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?
The author of Hebrews said that if we sin willfully, then we trample the Son of God under our feet and we don’t value the covenant Jesus established with His blood, and we would insult the Spirit of grace.
Since the Bible clearly warns about apostasy, it’s definitely possible to drift away or fall away. A Calvinist would say that it’s not possible for a true believer to lose his salvation. Thus anyone who falls away or drifts away, must have never believed in the first place. An Armenian on the other hand says that it’s possible for a person to drift away in faith and even lose his salvation. There is only one problem with either argument, we don’t know whether the person in question truly believed in the first place or not. We have no way of knowing who is a true believer and who is not. However, what we do know is whether we ourselves are truly saved or not. Brothers and Sisters in my old church were very curious and surprised to hear me say that we can know if we are truly saved. They asked me how can one know if one is truly saved. The answer is given in today’s sermon, How not to Drift Away.
Drifting away means that we are going in a direction other than where we want to go. It implies that we have a destiny, but we drift away. It’s like rolling a boat towards a destiny but the current or tide carries us away, causing us to drift off course. The early believers in the church of Colossae faced the very issue of drifting away. On one hand, there were false teachings that all materials are bad, thus the earth is evil, so that it could not have been created by God. They also believed the body is evil, but the soul is good, and we all have inner subjective knowledge which leads us to God. This false teaching would eventually develop into the Gnostic belief in the second century. Actually, the word Gnostic came from the Greek word which means knowledge. Nowadays, we still have the new age people believing in the same thing, “internal knowing” or self-knowledge which will lead us to God. This is nothing new, for the heresy of the Gnostic belief stems back to the second century. Besides these Pre-Gnostic false teachings, the church of Colossae was also plagued with the false Greek teaching of angel worshipping (recorded in Colossians 2:18). And more than that, the early church also had to fight the teachings of Judaic ritualism and tradition. They believed in salvation through keeping of the Old Testament Laws instead of accepting the blood of Christ for salvation. One may say, thank God that we don’t have these false beliefs in the Church today. Think again, for these kinds of false beliefs still exist today. We might not call it Judaism, Gnostic belief, or Greek teaching. We may not worship angels like the Greeks, but we worship something else, like money, power, our jobs or our loved ones. Matthew 6:21 says where our treasure is, there our heart will also be. And may I add, what we spend most of our time on, there our heart will be too. And based on how much time we spend we know what our idols are. We may not call ourselves Gnostics, but we also believe in self-knowing, and choose to do things our ways instead of following the word of God. We may even oppose Judaic ritualism, but sometimes we do the same thing, and feel that as long as we come back to church to worship on Sundays, and if we serve in our own capacity, we are fine. Worse yet, we may be drifting, but we don’t even know. Remember? The analogy here is drifting away. Why do we call it drifting away and not being cast away? It’s because it happens so subtly that we don’t even know it. We mentioned that it’s like rolling a boat in the ocean at night. Paul reminds us in today’s passage that in order not to drift away, we have to keep our eyes on Christ. If we are in a boat in a dark ocean, the only thing that will keep us from drifting away is keep on rolling towards a lighthouse. And Christ is our lighthouse. In John 8:12 Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life". So, Jesus is our lighthouse. If we don’t want to drift away, we need to fix our eyes on the lighthouse, we need to fix our eyes on Jesus. This has been a really long introduction to my sermon. Let’s look at today’s passage, which is taken from Colossians 1:14 – 20.
The Chiastic structure in the passage is quite obvious. Verse 14 says Jesus redeemed us through His blood and Verse 20 says Jesus reconciled us to God through His blood. These two verses refer to the price Jesus paid for our salvation which is His blood. Verse 15 says Jesus has the image of God and Verse 19 says He has the fullness of the Father. Both of these verses refer to the nature of Christ and are basically saying that Jesus is God and has God’s attributes. Verses 16 and 18 both refer to Jesus as the firstborn, with the former being the firstborn over all creations, and the latter firstborn of the dead. Last but not least, the main point of the chiastic structure and the most important message is that Christ sustains all things (verse 17).
Outline:
From the chiastic structure, we see that there are four main points for today’s sermon on why we should fix our eyes on Jesus. Not to drift away is to pay attention to the price Christ paid in order to redeem us and reconcile us to God by His precious blood. Not to drift away is to know the power of Christ’s image in us. We should be conformed to the image of Christ, who Himself has the image and fullness of God. Not to drift away is to know that Christ has a plan for us. Not only did He create us, His resurrection gives us hope that we will have eternal life too. Last but the most important point is that not to drift away is to claim Christ’s promise that He is the one who sustains all things, including sustaining us during difficult times and suffering. Only by fixing our eyes on Jesus, can we not drift away.
A. The Price Jesus Paid for Us-
Let’s look at the first point of today’s sermon. Knowing the price Jesus paid to redeem us and reconcile us to God can help us to stay focused and prevent us from drifting away. How can we sin willfully against Christ and drift away, after all that He had done for us?
a. He is Our redeemer (1:14)
We were slaves to sin and Christ bought us with His precious blood. How highly did He value us? Christ valued us so highly that He was willing to shed His blood to purchase us. In doing so, we are no longer slaves to sin, but slaves to Christ who redeemed us by His blood. One should note that Christ is not trying to enslave us. In the Old Testament, a servant who loved his master can become a bondservant after his 7 years of service expired by piercing his ear to the doorpost of his master’s house to show his loyalty. Paul referred to himself as a bondservant many times in the Scripture. We too are bondservants of Christ and we follow Christ willfully.
b. He is Our reconciler (1:20)
Christ is also the reconciler, which means that He is the peace-maker who changed our relationship with God. Romans 5:10 also tells us, “when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son.” Ephesians 2:1 & 4 says that we were dead in trespasses, but made alive together with Christ. Paul went on to say that not only we are reconciled to God, we are also reconciled to each another Ephesians 2:13, 14.
Because we have been reconciled to God, and have been purchased by the precious blood of Christ, we are bondservants of God and we no longer belong to ourselves. Therefore we should not live our lives the way we choose to live. As the author of Hebrews says, if we sin willfully, we trample Christ under our feet and count the blood covenant a common thing. What does it mean by sinning willfully? We sin willfully if we know it’s a sin and we do it anyway repeatedly without remorse. The main difference between a Christian and a non-Christian is that a non-Christian runs towards sin, but a true Christian runs away from sin. A Christian may slip once in a while, but will not stay in sin continuously without confession and repentance. The word repentance literally means to turn around 180 degree. So to repent is to turn 180 degree from our sinful way. Thus a true Christian would not willfully sin against God.
The great English preacher Charles Spurgeon once gave a sermon on sin. A woman went up to him afterwards and told him it was a great sermon, that she learned a lot from it. Spurgeon asked the woman what sin she was struggling with, and the woman replied that she had no sin. It’s not uncommon for Christians to think that we have no sin. After all, a lot of Christians think that we don’t steal and they don’t kill. What sin do we have? Actually, the longer we become Christians, the less tolerance of sin we should have. For example, Jesus said, if we are angry with our brothers, we have committed murder in our heart. If we look at the opposite sex in the lustful manner, we have committed adultery in our heart or in our mind. No one can say that he or she is sinless. As a matter of fact, 1 John 1:10 tells us that if we say we have no sin, we are calling God a liar.
One of my most favorite characters in the Bible is Joseph. Theologically speaking, Joseph was a type of Jesus Christ. We can all take a page out of Joseph’s life. In Genesis Chapter 39, the Potiphar’s wife tried to seduce him. Joseph said the master did not concern himself with anything in the house and has put him in charge of all things. What Joseph was saying, is that how could he sin against his master who had been so good to Him. But most importantly, how could he sin against God? Likewise, Christ has been so good to us that He redeemed us from our sin and He reconciled us to God. How can we willfully sin against Christ and how can we sin against God?
B. The Power of Jesus’ Image in Us
The second point is that having the power of Christ’s image in us, will keep us from drifting away. Colossians 1:15 tells us that Christ has the image of God. The original Greek text uses the word Eikon. This is where the word “Icon” came from. In ancient Greece, a person who was on travel will ask an artist to draw an image (or icon) of himself and send it back to his family. So Paul tells us Christ has the image of the invisible God, and in Verse 19, Paul tells us Christ has the fullness of His Father. What Paul is telling us is that Jesus is God. The key word in Verse 14 is invisible. John 1:18 says, “No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. The Father is spirit and no one has seen Him. Christ, who has the image of God and the fullness of His Father, clearly revealed God to us, His compassion, grace, kindness, love, mercy, truth, etc.
The Scripture tells us that we were made in God’s image too. But due to the fall of mankind, the image of God in us has been damaged, and could only be restored through the redemption of Christ and who reconciled us with God. Paul says in Romans 8:29, “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethrens.”
From the first point we studied today, we learned that we have been redeemed by the blood of Christ and are reconciled to God. Thus we should not sin willfully. Sin is a negative thing. The second point here is positive. Christ reminds us that He has the image of God and fullness of the Father, and we should conform to His image, which is a positive thing. By fixing our eyes on Christ, it helps us to conform to the image of Christ thus prevents us from drifting away.
We can again take another page out of Joseph’s life. Joseph had the image of God in him. The Potiphar clearly saw God in Joseph and said that the Lord was with Joseph (Genesis 39:2). The Pharaoh also called Joseph, the Spirit of God (Genesis 41:38). And the Pharaoh also gave Joseph a name in Verse 45, calling him Zaphnath-Paaneah…… (Zaf nath Pan near), which means God speaks and He lives. Do people around us think that God speaks and God lives in us, or do they think Satan or the devil speaks or lives in us? Do we have the image of Christ in us which keeps us from drifting?
C. The Plan Jesus has for Us
The third point of today’s sermon is that Christ has a plan for us. He was the One who created everything including us and is the firstborn over all creations. John 1:3 tells us that “all things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made”. Because of the word firstborn, there have been false teachings that Christ is a created being. The word firstborn is a title of rank and honor. He is the Headship of all creation that belongs to Him. Colossians 1:16 says "For by Him were all things created, in the heavens and upon the earth, things visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions, or principalities, or powers, all things were created by Him and for Him." Thus it is absolutely certain that the "Firstborn" does not mean that our Lord is a creature, but the Creator instead. Verse 18 also tells us that Christ is the firstborn of the dead. Here, the word firstborn is once again a title and honor and does not mean Christ was the first one who was raised from the dead. A lot of people were raised from the dead before Jesus, for example Lazareth. The fact that Christ rose from the dead gives us hope of resurrection and the hope for eternal life. He is the Head of the church, for we are the body of the church. This eternal hope is sufficient to help us stay focused on Christ and not drift away.
We can once again take another page out of Joseph’s life. When Joseph was dying, he told his brothers that God will keep His promise to bring Israelites out of Egypt to the land which He swore to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Joseph also told the Israelites to carry his bones into the promise land. This showed that Joseph had a strong hope for the future. In the book of Joshua, Chapter 24 verse 32, we are told that Joshua buried Joseph’s bones in Shechem. Likewise, we should have a strong hope for our future that God will keep His promise in bringing us into our promise land, the heaven. Such a strong hope will keep us from drifting away.
D. The Promise Jesus has to Us
The last point to keep us from drifting is Christ’s promise that He will sustain all things. Verse 17 says In Him all things consist, and in Him all things are held together. This is a promise given to us through the Scripture. Sometimes, life can be so overwhelming, that it feels like we have nothing to cling on to. No matter how difficult our situation is and how much suffering we are going through, we need to fix our eyes on Jesus. He is the sustainer of all things and He is in control and He will sustain us throughout our difficulties and suffering as well. Romans 8:28 says all things work together for the good of those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. All we need to remember is that, if we love God, all things will work together for good.
There is an equivalent passage in the Old Testament, involving the life of Joseph. Looking at Joseph’s life, one can see he trusted God no matter whether he was in the prison, or whether he was in the palace. His trust in God can be summarized by his final words to his brothers. He said, “But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.” Joseph regarded his being sold by his brothers to Egypt as God’s plan of rescuing his family, the family of Jacob from famine into Egypt. Like Joseph, if we trust God, all things will work out for good. All we are asked to do is to have faith so that we don’t sin willfully against Christ, to have love by displaying Christ’s image in us, and to have hope of resurrection and Christ will keep His promise in sustaining us, much like He has been sustaining all things.
I did promise I will show you how we can know that we are saved. All Christians have Christ’s Holy Spirit in us, who keeps on reminding us not to sin willfully, to conform to the image of Christ and have hope for our eternal life. We can either yield to the Spirit, or we can yield to our own desire. As we said earlier, in the early church, the Pre-Gnostics believed in self-knowledge, instead of listening to the Holy Spirit, or the word of God. Although we are not Gnostics, we tend to do the same thing sometimes. In order to prevent from drifting away, we have to keep our eyes on Jesus, who is our lighthouse and keep on rolling our boat towards Him. I am terrible with directions and I need to have a navigator when I drive. Before the invention of GPS, my wife was my navigator. But I used argue with her. The bottom line was I did not really trust her. When she asked me to turn right, turning left always looked like the right way. When she asked me to go forward, I always wanted to turn around. Now, I no longer argue with my GPS, but I don’t always follow its direction. Not that I don’t trust my GPS, but I make mistakes, sometimes turning too soon, sometimes too late. But the GPS will always faithfully guide me to my destination by recalculating the new route. However, if I keep on listening to myself instead of the GPS, I will never get to the destiny. In the same way the Holy Spirit will guide us towards Christ, our lighthouse. If we listen to the Holy Spirit, not to sin willfully, display Christ’s love through His image in us and have a steadfast hope of our eternal life, we will find out at the end of our journey that we are the elect or the saved ones. But on the contrary, if we don’t listen to the Holy Spirit and listen to our self knowledge, we will never get closer to the lighthouse. Much like if we don’t listen to the GPS, we’ll never get to our destiny, and at the end of the journey, we’ll find out that we are not the elect, or not the one who is saved.
I like to emphasize that I am not preaching salvation by works. There is nothing we can do to earn our salvation. But a person who is saved, will work towards sanctification, much like the Apostle James said, faith without work is dead.
Summary:
In summary, Paul gave the church of Colossae the good news in Colossians 1:21-23. He said that we have been reconciled to God through the death of Jesus Christ, so that we should continue our faith being holy and blameless, and not move away from the hope of the Gospel. Anyone who may have drifted away, should get re-focused on Christ.
The Challenge of this sermon is, praise and fix our eyes on Jesus for who He is and for ALL that He has done for us and for His promise of sustaining all things.
