November 10, 2008
Evening Worship
Text: Colossians 2:6-23
Subject: Fullness in Christ
Title: Maxed Out
You know that I am one of those people who believe that you should be what you say you are. When I worked in the trades I was often captivated by the other trades, especially the tradesmen who were very good at their trades. And trust me, I have seen carpenters, plumbers, HVAC/sheetmetal workers, drywall hangers and finishers, and concrete men who were those things in title alone. And I have seen some who were like artists. Everything they did was a purposeful stroke of an artist’s brush to bring about the completed masterpiece. My goal for myself was always to be one of those types of people.
Did anybody besides me, when you were a kid, play pretend? We were out in the woods as pretend soldiers fighting a pretend war with pretend guns. It seems that is how a lot of people approach their work and life in general. They just pretend their way through without ever making the effort to be what they say they are.
I don’t want you as Christians to be like that. And you don’t have to be because the Bible says that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
I want to share with you tonight four steps to enable you to be maxed out for Christ.
Colossians 2:6-23
1. Continue to Live “IN CHRIST” 6So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, 7rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. Now Paul is obviously writing this to Christians, just as you therefore have received Christ Jesus as Lord… What you have received you have received in the spirit man. It began with a decision you made but the instant that you trusted Christ it became a spiritual event that translates into the soul and body. But it is something that is done in the Spirit; continue to live in him… People say, “Oh, I’ve tried church before. It didn’t work for me.” That’s the problem. They tried church but they didn’t have Jesus. Salvation isn’t something you try. It is something that takes place in the spirit man so that you never want to go back to your old life. Look at the three steps Paul says here that will help you in your continuing walk. 1) you are 7rooted and built up in him. If you are trying to continue in your own strength you have resorted to a works based salvation. Ephesians 6:10, 10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 2) You are strengthened by increasing your faith. strengthened in the faith as you were taught… How does faith come? By hearing the Word of God! Romans 1:17, For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last (from faith to faith), just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” Ephesians 3:16-20, 16I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. 3) You are overflowing with thankfulness. How do you overflow with thankfulness? It’s easy. Just start counting your blessings. Remember who God is, Psalm 69:30, I will praise God’s name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving. Remember what He has done for you. Psalm 103:2-5, Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits— 3 who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, 4 who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, 5 who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
2. Beware of False Doctrine. 8See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ. How could anyone be taken captive by false doctrine? For one thing it is a sign of the times we are living in. 1 Timothy 4:1-2, 1The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. 2Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. Also, people don’t know the Bible so how could they know what false doctrine is? Have you ever noticed how people from the radical left can take a topic like abortion or homosexuality and twist it around to make it look like Christians are insensitive and we are the bad guys? That is what happens when people rely on the basic principles of this world. Those last three words are the key. If it is of this world then it isn’t from Jesus. 2 Corinthians 4:3-4, 3And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. The god of this age or of this world wants to keep people blinded to the truth in the word and turned to the lies from secular philosophy – satan’s doctrine. Satan’s doctrine is any doctrine that leads people away from Christ. It is so attractive because it offers so many paths of salvation. But Jesus said I am the way the truth and the life.
3. The Fullness of Christ is in You. Let’s break verses 9-12 down individually. 9For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form… Jesus Christ is God! 10and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. Now remember that what has taken place in you is spiritual in nature but it translates over into the natural realm. If you have been given fullness in Christ what kind of fullness is it? It is the fullness of deity in bodily form. You are a spiritual being, transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit at work in you, and if you have the fullness of Christ in you then you also have His authority over demons and sickness and destruction. 11In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ… This is a spiritual cutting away of the flesh of the heart enabling the spirit man to receive the fullness of what God has for you. Romans 2:29, 29No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man’s praise is not from men, but from God. Remember, the heart of a man talks about the spirit man – the innermost part of a man. Circumcision of the heart has to be done by the Holy Spirit. 12having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. Paul continues with the same line of thought. Baptism in itself is not a spiritual act (like circumcision) but is a representation of what has happened to you spiritually. And it comes from the power of the Holy Spirit – the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead. Romans 1, 1Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God—2the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures 3regarding his Son, who as to his human nature was a descendant of David, 4and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: The fullness of Christ is in you because God has given His Holy Spirit. The church is at work in the power of God to do the things that Jesus began and to do it immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine, according to the power that is at work in us.
4. Don’t Get Caught up in Tradition. 13When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. 15And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
This passage brings us to a place of decision. Are you saved by grace or by works? Are you relying on God or yourself? Obviously, if you are here on Sunday night you probably know the answer to that. It is by grace you are saved through faith… The old covenant (the law) is cancelled. One covenant cannot be done away with unless there is a new one to replace it. That is what Jesus did. In doing so he took away satan’s power (disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them) Now, Paul does say that there is some value to the Law – 16a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day… 17These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. Verse 18 gives a strict warning about “spiritual” people. 18Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions. 19He has lost connection with the Head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow. Never rely on tradition or that is the way we always did it. Instead trust that the Lord is doing a new thing in your life. You can’t rely on yesterday’s anointing but God’s mercies are new every morning. He is consistent in His newness. Tradition loses connection to Jesus because a life with Jesus is in the spirit and tradition is in the soul (mind and emotions). Stay Separated from the World. 20Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: 21“Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? 22These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. 23Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.
In the four points that I made two were positive and two were negative.
1. Continue to Live “IN CHRIST”
3. The Fullness of Christ is in You.
2. Beware of False Doctrine.
4. Don’t Get Caught up in Tradition
If you live according to the positives the negatives won’t be a problem. Truthfully, you cannot do both. It is either one or the other.
You can continue – Keep going – never give up.
You can live in Christ. That is spiritual life that transcends the spiritual realm to manifest itself in the natural realm.
You can have the fullness of Christ in you. the fullness is in the baptism in the Holy Spirit for increased sensitivity to what God wants to do I your life.
You can be maxed out for Jesus
Fred Craddock, in an address to ministers, caught the practical implications of consecration. "To give my life for Christ appears glorious," he said. "To pour myself out for others. . . to pay the ultimate price of martyrdom -- I’ll do it. I’m ready, Lord, to go out in a blaze of glory. "We think giving our all to the Lord is like taking $l,000 bill and laying it on the table-- ’Here’s my life, Lord. I’m giving it all.’ But the reality for most of us is that he sends us to the bank and has us cash in the $l,000 for quarters. We go through life putting out 25 cents here and 50 cents there. Listen to the neighbor kid’s troubles instead of saying, ’Get lost.’ Go to a committee meeting. Give a cup of water to a shaky old man in a nursing home. Usually giving our life to Christ isn’t glorious. It’s done in all those little acts of love, 25 cents at a time. It would be easy to go out in a flash of glory; it’s harder to live the Christian life little by little over the long haul."
Darryl Bell.
