Welcome and thank you for worshipping with us this morning. Keep Colossians 2 open before you, will you?
Despite perceptions, people do love change. Many of you have been home with nothing to do for weeks now. If someone had come to you in early January and said, “I’ll give you a three month staycation with no responsibilities, you’d welcomed it with open arms.” Yet, after two months, you’re grown restless and you’re climbing the walls. You feel like your life is a scene from the movie, Groundhog Day where every day is the very same thing over and over again. When Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden where everything was quintessentially perfect, for some reason, they wanted a change – something new. When the children of Israel had angels’ food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner miraculously arriving in the desert each morning where all they had to do was go collect it, they murmured and complained. The truth is: we love change. Hold that thought with me for just a minute, will you?
Do you know how to find Colossians? Do you get confused in this part of your Bible? Someone shared this with me and now I share it with you, “General Electric Power Company”—Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians.
Today’s Scripture (Passage Read Before Sermon)
“Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.
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. 9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. 11 In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him” (Colossians 2:6-15).
1. Remember Your Training
Remember your training, remember your “boot camp.” Yes, lots of things change in life but one thing shouldn’t change for believers though: “Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving” (Colossians 2:6-7).
I was not surprised by the Jon Steingard’s announcement over the weekend. Steingard is the lead singer for a Christian group called, Hawk Nelson. Even though he grew up the son of a pastor and now plays and sings in the Christian band, he recently posted, “I am now finding that I no longer believe in God.” Just last year, the author of I Kissed Dating Goodbye renounced his faith as well. Former pastor, Joshua Harris, says he is no longer a Christian.
Continue in Jesus – find your life in Christ. While many things in life change, Jesus cannot change. Put Jesus at the center of your life and mold your life around Him.
Christians leaders leaving the faith aren’t a new thing. This happened even to the apostles as the New Testament was being formed. John writes of supposed Christians in 1 John, “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us” (1 John 2:19).
Have you personally noticed how many people start the Christian life but quit along the way somewhere? Maybe some of the people who walked with the Lord during your school days have now turned away?
Listen to Paul here” you need to continue walk in Christ all your life. There’s a real danger for many people to start following but get lost along the way.
1.2 You Received Him
Look back at verse 6 with me: “Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving” (Colossians 2:6-7). You don’t earn Jesus; instead, you received Jesus.
My hope for you today is you can say, “Jesus is my Savior, my Lord, and my God.” What did you receive? “Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving” (Colossians 2:6-7).
Jesus doesn’t offer to become a consultant for your life but the Lord of your life. The book of Colossians really stresses your need to believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God who was crucified for your sins.
With just six weeks to live, Benjamin Franklin wrote the president of Yale University to say he did believe in many of the teachings of Christianity. But had “some doubts” about the deity of Jesus of Nazareth but he should know for sure soon enough anyway.
While many of the founding fathers of our nation were believers, Benjamin Franklin had some serious private doubts about the Jesus of the Bible. The Bible says you need to believe that Jesus Christ is Lord.
“Christ Jesus the Lord” means that Jesus is “the image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15).
“Christ Jesus the Lord” means that Jesus is “all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell” (Colossians 1:19).
“Christ Jesus the Lord” is shorthand for Jesus, “the head of the body, the church” (Colossians 1:18).
“Christ Jesus the Lord” is shorthand for Jesus, the repository of “all...wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3).
The Jesus of the Bible needs to be your Jesus … without deviation. You need to be careful to personally embrace the Bible’s teachings on Jesus Christ with no deviation.
1.3 You’re Rooted in Him
“Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving” (Colossians 2:6-7).
Paul gives a couple metaphors here to help us. One is from agriculture and one from construction. By using these metaphors of both a tree and a building, the Bible is showing you that you have a really strong foundation. You have sunk the roots of your faith into the soil of Christian truth. Notice the Bible says you were “built up in him” – like a building rises with layer after layer is added.
Think of the rings of a tall, massive tree if you will. Each ring is a year and you can see the growth of a tree. Each year of your life, there should be a layer added to you so that you are “built up in him.”
You and I need to continue to walk in Christ all of our days.
1. Remember Your Training
2. Resist Possible Captured
The church of Colossae was dealing with a new form of teaching similar to the kind of thing we witnessed with Tom Hanks’ movie, The Da Vinci Code some years back. Only this was entertainment, it was heresy. This new brand of teaching sweeping the day denied Jesus really was a human. In fact, the early Christians of the New Testament era did not even marking the nativity for the 100 years after Jesus’ resurrection. The only reason the Christians eventually marked Jesus’ cradle in Bethlehem a century later was because of the heresy that said Jesus did not have a physical body, He wasn’t human. An early form of this heresy called Gnosticism was running around the Colossian church.
So Paul writes these words to them: “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” (Colossians 2:8). Paul is sounding a warning here. So verse 8 is a “look out, beware” warning – “bridge is out ahead – turn around.”
2.1 Benjamin Franklin and the Resurrection
I mentioned Benjamin Franklin earlier. Franklin was raised by devout Christian parents in the Boston area. If you have visited his grave in Philadelphia and maybe even placed a penny there, perhaps you’ve seen this nearby.
The body of B. Franklin, Printer,
Like the cover of an old book,
Its contents torn out,
And stripped of its lettering and gilding,
Lies here food for worms.
But the work shall not be lost,
For it will, as he believed,
Appear once more
In a new and more elegant edition,
Corrected and improved
That sounds very much like a Christian belief in the resurrection. But the great evangelist of Franklin’s day and his close friend, George Whitefield understood Franklin’s views on Jesus. The Christian evangelist Whitefield said, “Believe on Jesus … and you can not possibly be disappointed of your expected second edition.”
If you find yourself “improving” Jesus, you might need to rethink your position. Again, you need to be careful to personally embrace the Bible’s teachings on Jesus Christ with no deviation.
“I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments” (Colossians 2:4). Don’t be deluded by the latest slick-sounding religious hucksters. No one can improve on the Jesus of the Bible.
2.2 Elemental Spirits
“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” (Colossians 2:8).
Ancient people would think everything in the universe was composed by 4 elements: earth, water, air, and fire. It was thought some kind of spirits controlled these four elements. So Paul gives an example of “empty deceit”. Even to this day, intelligent people rest their entire lives on what is ultimately nothing.
Your Ladder Day Saints friends have a motto for their beliefs:
As God was, man is.
As God is, man can become.
Be careful to stay in the lane of teaching you received when you were saved. Yes, some things change but somethings need to never change.
Think about this with me: a high school senior has never used the card catalog in a library. Google filed a patent in 2001 and quickly rose to prominence. Today’s high school seniors were born in 2002. Now we Google everything! Yes, you may love change, but somethings cannot and they do not need to change. Be careful to stay in the lane of teaching you received when you were saved. Jesus is the Rock of Ages and He is your foundation. Jesus will never need a technology upgrade or a theology upgrade.
1. Remember Your Training
2. Resist Possible Capture
3. Recall Your Deliverance
Remember, recall and relive the fact that Jesus delivered you!
3.1 Realize the Treasure You Already Possess
In 1866, a teenager names Erasmus Jacobs found some really pretty pebbles by the Orange River in South Africa. The son of a farmer, he played with these sparkling stones and no adult would even bother to reach down and pick one up off the floor. A neighbor was intrigued by the stone and offer to purchase it from Erasmus’ mothers. She refused any money and gave the shiny pebble away for free. The stone passed through several hands because an amateur geologist identified it as a diamond weighing 21.25 carats. Eventually, the enormous South African diamond was named Eureka, which means “I have found it!” What the kids were using as marbles eventually became the South African diamond mines. Fifteen years later, a diamond rush was on in the very area where the farmer’s children played.
They had them in their hands but they didn’t realize the treasure that they had. Christ followers, you have no idea the treasure you in Jesus Christ. Look with at the beginning of verse 10: “and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority” (Colossians 2:10). My Christian friend, you are complete in Christ. You lack nothing because Christ saved you. There’s no reason to change to something else; instead, make every year of your life a year of growth in Jesus.
3.2 Circumcision
“In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead” (Colossians 2:11-12).
Paul is focusing on the effects of Christ’s work on the cross on believers. The Bible mentions circumcision which was God’s way for God’s people to have an identity marker. Now, every man is quite uncomfortable right now with this discussion so I’ll be brief. “you were circumcised” speaks of your conversion, when you embraced Christ by faith. This is a metaphor here because it connects to piece of religious teaching so many people embraced at this time. Notice at the end of verse 11, all this is done by Jesus Christ. Remember, recall and relive the fact that Jesus delivered you!
3.3 In My Place
“And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross” (Colossians 2:13-14).
Notice the word “cancel” in verse 14. The word “cancel” originally meant when someone scrape the papyrus sheets clean so they used again. Remember, paper was invented right around this time but it wouldn’t find its way around the world until centuries later. Papyrus was relatively rare and expensive and you might want to use it again. So, you would scrape it clean. Now, you are that papyrus sheet and you are wiped clean by repenting of your sins and placing your faith in Christ. All your deeds are wiped clean. All the ugliness you’ve done is now scraped away.
Have you ever thought about what’s next for you after this life? William Shatner has thought about his death. In fact, a Philadelphia Inquirer article from 2004, spoke of the famed actor from Star Trek. Reflecting on the death of legendary actor Marlon Brando, Shatner said he began to really think about death. “I’m so not ready to die. It petrifies me. I go alone. I go to a place I don’t know. It might be the end. My thought is that it is the end. I become nameless and I spent a lifetime being known.” Remember, recall and relive the fact that Jesus delivered you!
3.4 Abound in Thankfulness
“Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving” (Colossians 2:6-7).
The Bible gives you a litmus test for your spiritual health. Be thankful for Jesus! I am thankful God stands by me because He had every right to stand against me. No matter the “obstacle course” your sinful life presents Him, God pursues you.
Give thanks with me that God’s love isn’t tied to your performance or your obedience! I will bless the Lord at all times! God’s praise shall continually be in my mouth. Oh, magnify the Lord with me! Let us exalt God’s name together! Taste and see that the Lord is good. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. You missed your cue there. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Yes, praise the Lord! For the Lord is worthy to be praised.
I’m Thankful God Stands by Me
I’m Overwhelmed God Stands with Me
I’m Grateful God Stands for Me!
You received Jesus by repenting of your sins and faith in the cross. The way to live the Christian life is the way you got into the Christian life – trusting Jesus. You walk exactly the same way you received Jesus.
