SERMON OUTLINE:
• The Traveller (vs 6)
• The Tree (vs 7a)
• The Building (vs 7b)
• The School (vs 7c)
• The River (vs 7d)
• The Prisoner (vs 8)
• The Gift (vs 9)
SERMON BODY:
Ill:
• Where would you rather eat;
• In a fast-food takeaway or in a good, family run restaurant?
• What would you rather drive:
• A clapped-out old rusty car or a brand new one straight from the dealer’s showroom?
• If you had a £10,000 gift card where would you rather shop:
• In a Bargain Basement shop like Primark or in Harrods?
• Would you take a job in which you earnt the minimum wage;
• And were on zero-hour contract or a job that paid generously;
• With rest breaks, health care and holiday entitlements?
• TRANSITION: The answers to those questions are obvious,
• Most of us probably all of us know exactly what we would choose and why,
• Yet, when it comes to theology (the things of God),
• Too many people sell themselves short!
• They choose the wrong option;
• The poorer choice when a better option is offered to them.
• Non-Christians do that when they reject Christ;
• And they end up exchanging something that is inferior in his place.
• And sadly, some Christians also get side-tracked;
• And allow cheap substitutes to come into their lives and spoil their walk with Christ.
• In this letter the apostle Paul is telling these Christians at Colosse,
• Not to let people sell them short, to delude them with persuasive arguments,
• Because in time, those decisions;
• Will only turn out to be inferior replacements for the real thing!
Notice: Twice in the chapter the apostle Paul writes let no-one deceive you (vs 4&8).
Verse 4:
4”I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments”.
Verse 8:
“See 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”.
• These Christians were encountering false teachers and false doctrines,
• They were peddling them in the Church and people were being taken in by them.
• The teaching sounded so right, but in content it was so wrong.
Ill:
• The Greek term used here in verse 4:
• Describes the persuasive arguments of a lawyer.
• Who is doing his best to defend his client, even though he knows his client is guilty!
• In warning the Christians at Colossae against false teachers:
• The apostle Paul used several vivid word pictures;
• If we like the Christians at Colossae;
• Take note and grasp hold of this warning, then we too can overcome the enemy.
(1). The Traveller (vs 6):
ill:
• Late last century,
• An American tourist paid a visit to a renowned Polish rabbi, Hofetz Chaim.
• He was astonished to see that the rabbi's home;
• It was a simple room filled only with some books, a table and a bed.
• The tourist asked him, "Rabbi, where is your furniture?"
• Hofetz Chaim replied, "Where is yours?"
• The puzzled American asked, "Mine? But I'm only a visitor here. I'm only passing through."
• The rabbi replied, "So am I."
• We might not live as literal as the Rabbi, but don’t miss the point!
• All Christians should remember that we are citizens of another place,
• Quote: As the old hymn says; “This world is not my home; I am just a passing through”
• ill: Remember the title of John Bunyan’s classic book, ‘The Pilgrims Progress’
• We are pilgrims, visitors, tourists, aliens, travellers in this world.
Verse 6:
”So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, CONTINUE to live in him”.
“…so WALK ye in him” (KJB).
• The Christian life is compared to a pilgrimage,
• And believers must learn to walk.
• Paul had already encouraged his readers to “walk worthy of the Lord”
• (chapter 1 verse 10),
• And later in the letter he would twice use this image again,
• (chapter 3 verse 7 & chapter 4 verse 5).
Notice:
• We are to walk in Christ the same way we originally received Christ;
• i.e. By faith.
• The false teachers, the deceivers, the enemies of the Christians;
• The Gnostic’s:
• (an agnostic is a ‘don’t know’ a Gnostic is one who claims ‘to know’ special knowledge)
• They wanted to change the gospel by introducing some “new truths”.
• They taught that faith in Jesus Christ alone was not enough,
• We need a Jesus plus.
Ill:
• It happened 2,000 years ago and it is happening still today.
• i.e. Mormons - Jesus plus the book of Mormon.
• i.e. Jehovah Witnesses - Jesus plus the Watchtower interpretation to his teaching.
• i.e. Christian Science – Jesus plus the writings of Mary Baker Eddy.
• i.e. Seventh Day Adventist – Jesus plus the teachings of Ellen White.
• i.e. And it is happening still today, with groups like the New Apostolic Reformation.
• The NAR teach that their leaders are apostles;
• Therefore, they are as authoritative as the original apostles Paul, Peter & John etc.
• These people are all over God TV and other Christian TV stations.
• Note: As soon as you add another authority alongside the New Testament,
• You have a problem,
• And that problem soon leads to heresy!
• So, the apostle Paul denounced false teachers in his day by teaching the believers;
• “You started with Christ and you must continue with Christ,”
• “You started with faith and you must continue with faith.
• This is the only way to make spiritual progress.”
Notice: the deliberate ordering of the names and titles in verse 6:
• “Christ Jesus the Lord,” is a phrase that the apostle Paul used nowhere else,
• It counteracts three false ideas regarding Jesus.
• These are His deity (“Christ”) that is what Judaism denied,
• They rejected him as the ‘chosen one’ of their Old Testament scriptures sent from God.
• His humanity (“Jesus”):
• This is what the Docetists (i.e. Jesus was spirit but not a real human) denied,
• And His sovereignty (“Lord”) – that is what the Gnostics were denying.
• Jesus is the ultimate authority and many varieties of false teaching denied this.
• As they introduce another authority alongside him.
• Note: the apostle Paul says, if you have received Christ Jesus as Lord,
• Then that is how you are to continue to live in Him.
(2). The Tree (vs 7a).
“Rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught,
and overflowing with thankfulness”.
• Rooted is an agricultural word.
• The tense of the Greek word means; “once and for all having been rooted.”
Ill:
• Christians are not to be tumbleweeds that have no roots;
• We are not to be blown about by “every wind of doctrine” (Ephesians chapter 4 verse 14)
Ill:
• Nor are they to be “transplants” that are repeatedly moved from soil to soil.
• Once we are rooted by faith in Christ, there is no need to change the soil!
• Instead they should have good roots:
• These roots can draw up the nourishment and the tree can then grow.
• These roots will also give the tree strength and stability.
Ill:
Jeremiah chapter 17 verses 7-8:
“But blessed are those who trust in the LORD
and have made the LORD their hope and confidence.
They are like trees planted along a riverbank,
with roots that reach deep into the water.
Such trees are not bothered by the heat
or worried by long months of drought.
Their leaves stay green,
and they never stop producing fruit.”
(3). The Building (vs 7b):
“Rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness”.
• Built up is an architectural term.
• It is in the present tense: “being built up.”
• When we trust Christ to save us, we are put on the foundation of Christ;
• Quote: “Foundations are unseen but essential”.
ILL:
• It is visited each year by thousands of people,
• It is one of the great tourist attractions in the world,
• It stands 179 feet tall and is a work of beauty,
• The problem is the architect built it on 10 feet of foundations.
• The leaning tower of Pisa,
• Is externally impressive but was a disaster waiting to happen!
• And it has only survived to this day,
• Thanks to the knowledge and skill of many different experts.
• Question:
• Are we growing up? Or are we just growing older?
(4). The School (vs 7c).
“Strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness”.
Ill:
• Years ago, a ship’s captain made an entry in the ship's log,
• It read; "First-mate drunk today."
• It was a true statement, but the First mate was not happy,
• He pleaded with the captain to amend the statement,
• But the captain refused, saying it was a true statement.
• The next time the First mate was in charge of the ships log,
• He recorded the following words in the hips log, "Captain sober today."
• TRANSITION: Sometimes we can have the right words;
• And twist them to give a new or a false meaning.
• That is what these Gnostics were doing
• The teaching sounded so right, but their content was so wrong.
We know of course that it is the Word of God that builds up & strengthens Christians:
Ill:
• Chapter 1 verse 7:
• Epaphras had taught the Colossian believers the truth of the Word.
• But now the false teachers were undermining that doctrine:
• Undoing the good work that Epaphras had done.
• They did this by offering Christians an easier, more exiting alternative.
ill:
• On my recent mission trip to Moldova,
• One of the younger members of the team, a translator told us;
• That the students in her school have a choice,
• They can work hard like she was doing,
• Or they are tempted to take the easy option and pay a bribe to the examiner.
• TRANSITION: That is what the Gnostics were saying:
• There is an easier way to become spiritual, to grow in your faith,
• Via this experience or this teaching.
• There is no short-cut in growing up in the Christian life.
• It requires a daily walk, a daily discipline, a daily battle;
• No experience can ever replace the daily walk, a daily discipline.
• And when we are doing the daily walk, we become familiar with his truth,
• And when error comes along, we can detect it and deal with it!
(5). The River (vs 7d).
“And overflowing with thankfulness”.
• The word “Overflowing” or “Abounding” is often used by Paul:
• It suggests the picture of a river overflowing its banks.
Ill:
• On my recent mission trip in Moldova,
• One of the common sites you see in towns and villages are wells.
• Many people still draw their water from a well.
• In one meeting we met a young woman who had fallen down a well.
• She would have fallen about twenty feet and was trapped in the well.
• Wet and cold and in danger of death from hyperthermia,
• She was discovered and rescued,
• She survived and was in one of the house-meetings.
• Now had that well been full and overflowing;
• She would not be able to have fallen in it and endangered her life,
• She may well have got wet,
• But the overflowing water would have warned her to keep her distance.
• Or allowed her to pull herself out.
• TRANSITION: When we overflow in truth.
• We are not in danger, the opposite we are kept safe!
THESE 5 PICTURES ARE OF SPIRITUAL PROGRESS:
• They show to us how the growing Christian,
• Can easily defeat the enemy and not be led astray.
• If his or her spiritual roots are deep in Christ,
• They will not want any other soil.
• If Christ is his or her sure foundation,
• They have no need to move.
• If he or she is studying and growing in the Word,
• They will recognise and reject false doctrine.
• And if his or her heart is overflowing with thanksgiving,
• They will not even consider turning from the fullness he has in Christ.
• A grounded, growing, grateful Christian,
• Will not be led astray.
Note: We then have two word more pictures to note:
(6). The Prisoner (vs 8):
“See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces[a] of this world rather than on Christ.”
• The apostle Paul continues his argument against the false teachers (Gnostics);
• By using another image – this time a military picture:
• “Beware lest any man carry you off as a captive” (literal translation).
ill:
• In ancient times when an army had been defeated,
• It had its soldiers and leaders taken off as prisoners and slaves.
• TRANSITION: These false teachers (Gnostics) were crafty:
• They did not go out into the cities & villages and win their converts,
• Instead they tried to “kidnapped” converts from the Christian churches!
Question: How is it possible for false teachers to capture people?
Answer:
• The answer is simple: they pick on those Christians;
• Who are ignorant of their Bibles.
• When a person does not know the doctrines of the Christian faith,
• They can easily be captured by false religions.
• ill: It is a great ploy of Jehovah’s witnesses.
• They believe they can out argue most Christians on Biblical doctrines.
THE IMPORTANT THING ABOUT ANY TEACHING IS ITS ORIGIN:
• Where did it come from?
• Did it come from God (New Testament truth approved by the apostles)?
• Or from man (has it been added to the N.T. writings many years later)?
• The Gnostic teaching was the ideas of men, and therefore it was hollow & empty.
• In contrast the gospel is a revelation from God to the apostles,
• And therefore, it is solid and reliable.
These false teachers in Colosse:
• Were extremely crafty and dangerous;
• Because they did not ask the believers to forsake Christ:
• They asked them to make Christ a part of a new system,
• A new experience that would deepen their faith.
• But in reality, it was a Jesus plus faith.
(7). The Gift (vs 9).
Paul gives the antidote to false teaching (vs 9):
9For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, 10and you have been GIVEN fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.
• When a person becomes a Christian, born again into God’s family,
• He or she is born complete in Christ.
• They grow spiritually not by addition,
• i.e. Adding to the gospel message i.e. Mr Mormon, Mrs J.W. etc
• But by nutrition.
• i.e. feeding on Christ and his word the Bible.
• The Christian grows from the inside out.
• And not by outward deeds of religion or by supernatural experiences.
Notice: The apostle Paul explains to the Colossians 5 areas of Christian Teaching:
• We are complete in him (vs 10)
• We are circumcised in him (vs 11)
• We are alive in him (vs 12-13)
• We are free in him (vs14)
• We are victorious in him (vs 15)
• If you want a little Bible study this week;
• Dwell on those 5 points!
• And notice the expression; “In Christ” or “in him”
• That is the key, it is our faith, our walk, our relationship in Christ!
The apostle Paul attacks the false teaching head on:
• By showing that these false teachers are not actually adding anything to their faith,
• But instead they are taking away from their faith,
• They are cheating them and stealing away what they actually have in Christ!
• After all, if all those five truths are ours,
• What else can be added?
Remember:
• The key verse in the whole book,
• Which summarises the whole of Paul’s teaching says:
• Chapter 3 verse 11: “Christ is all in all”.
• J.B. Philips translates it: “Christ is all that matters”.
• Every Christian/saint/believer is alive in Christ.
• May every Christian/saint/believer here tonight also be alert in Christ.
SERMON AUDIO:
https://surf.pxwave.com/wl/?id=O2biTNXHBQSW8Bac3h1qRiCedGgkX5u2
