Just As You Receive Him ... So Walk In Him
Colossians • Sermon • Submitted
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· 26 viewsSpiritual maturity is only possible IN Christ ... So walk IN Him.
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Several of us men are about to depart for a week of fishing in Canada. I can’t wait! Yes the food is good, and the fellowship is excellent, and the preaching is impactful, but it’s the fishing that really causes me to drive hundreds of miles into Ontario. We have really started to figure out what lures work well. It took us a year or two, but we really have a good idea of what works. So guess what lures I will be fishing with when we get there? The one’s that work. It would be foolish to say, “Well, these lures are what has always caught me fish. Instead of using them I think I will try Quarter-pounder with cheese.” That would be foolish. Just as you have caught fish in the past, so continue in the same way to catch fish.
This is the problem that is facing the Colossian church. They have received Christ through dependent faith in Christ alone. But now there is a heresy that they needed something else to grow spiritually. Paul says to them just as you have received Christ- with dependent faith- so continue to walk in Him.
Friends, sometimes we can be deceived into seeking to become spiritually mature through another means other than dependent faith in Christ.
Thus far in the book of Colossians Paul has thanked God for the evident salvation of these Colossian believers as displayed by their Christlike love.
Paul has offered up a prayer to God for these believers that they would be filled with knowledge in all spiritual wisdom and understanding so that they might grow unto the full measure of spiritual maturity.
Paul has magnified Christ proclaiming Him to be supreme over all creation- all things are in Him, and through Him, and for Him. Christ is also supreme over all the church- that Christ, in all things He might come to have first place. Christ the preeminent one- in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. And we love Him because He has made peace for us by the blood of His cross.
Paul then gave his motivation for why he was a disciple maker. Paul suffered, he toiled, he strived (agonized) for the sake of the gospel- why? To fill up what was left behind, to take his part in the sufferings of Christ- in order to see disciples being made. And to fulfill the word of God- to bring the grand plan of God- the mystery of the gospel which is Christ in you the hope of glory- to be part of this plan- to bring it to completion- to fill it up. So that He might present everyone mature in Christ.
In Paul gives his specific reasons for why he is writing specifically to the Colossians.
For I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh;
Θέλω γὰρ ὑμᾶς εἰδέναι ἡλίκον ἀγῶνα ἔχω ⸀
For I want you to know what great struggle (agony) I have
ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν
concerning you
καὶ τῶν ἐν Λαοδικείᾳ* ⸆
and those in Laodicea
καὶ ὅσοι οὐχ ἑόρακαν τὸ πρόσωπόν μου ἐν σαρκί,*
and as many as have not seen my face in the flesh,
Paul wishes for these believers to know the great conflict that he has, the agony (same word as above) that he has for the saints in Colossians, and in Laodicea, and for those that have never seen Paul face to face. Yes I agonize to make disciples, but here is why I specifically agonize for you...
That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ;
2 ἵνα παρακληθῶσιν αἱ καρδίαι αὐτῶν ⸀
In order that their hearts might be encouraged (pass)
συμβιβασθέντες ἐν ἀγάπῃ °
being knit together (c.f. , ) in love
καὶ εἰς ⸂πᾶν πλοῦτος⸃ τῆς πληροφορίας τῆς συνέσεως,
and unto all the riches of the full assurance of understanding
εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν τοῦ μυστηρίου ⸄τοῦ θεοῦ,*
unto the knowledge of the mystery of God
Χριστοῦ⸅,
(which is) Christ
Purpose #1- That their hearts might be encouraged
That, or in order that (I agonize for this purpose), that your hearts might be comforted or encouraged. In what way will these believer's hearts be encouraged?
That they might be knit together in love.
And not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God.
From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.
As the human body is literally held together by sinews, ligaments, and joints- so Paul wishes that his letter would so encourage these believers in their love for Christ and as a result their love for each other, that their love might bind them together- hold them together in Christ.
2. The second way Paul wishes these believers to be encouraged is by reaching all the riches of the full assurance of understanding unto the knowledge of the mystery of God- which is Christ. Paul has just talked about the mystery of the gospel back in Ch. 1.
Col 1
Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
The mystery, that which was hidden in the OT but now is revealed in the NT, is Christ among the Gentiles- Christ in you, Paul says, the hope of glory. This is new, and one of Paul’s purposes in writing the letter was to encourage the hearts of these believers by helping them come to a full assurance of understanding of this mystery. There were some saying that you needed more than Christ in order to be spiritual. Paul wants them to know that is not true- he wants them to know the riches of the full assurance of understanding of the knowledge of the mystery of God. You don’t need anything outside of Christ- v. 3
In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
In Christ are hidden ALL of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. You need nothing else. There is nothing outside of Christ that can make you a spiritually elite Christian. The riches and the treasures of knowledge wisdom and understanding are found IN Christ.
Purpose #2- That they might not be deluded
And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words.
4 Τοῦτο ⸆ λέγω,*
This I say
ἵνα ⸀μηδεὶς ὑμᾶς παραλογίζηται ἐν πιθανολογίᾳ.*
in order that no one might delude you with the art of persuasion
Paul- I say this,
So that, in order that no one may beguile you, deceive you, delude you- with enticing words, that is persuasive speech or the art of persuasion.
My kids are good at this… if they want something (play a game or watch a movie) they know how to persuade dad. There is an art to it. First, they clean the whole house including their rooms, then they get ready for bed (jammies, brush teeth)- then they come to me, quietly (because I do not like noise) and they say, “Dad we cleaned the whole house, and we did all our chores, and we are all ready for bed, and we were wondering if you could find it in your heart to let us play a game for the last 30 min before we will cheerfully and quickly go to bed?” The art of persuasion.
Apparently, there were some who were gifted at deceiving people, they had the gift of the art of persuasion (by the way Satan is the master deceiver), and one of Paul’s purposes was to so throughly exalt Christ and demonstrate his supremacy in all things related to the gospel, so as to completely do away with deceptive and persuasive speech.
Paul’s ultimate goal then is seen in v. 5
For though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the stedfastness of your faith in Christ.
Paul, even though he cannot be with them in person, in his spirit, he is rejoicing at their good order, and the steadfastness of their faith IN Christ- and he wants to keep it that way.
In the remaining verses of this section vv. 6-15 Paul commands these believers to walk in Christ because spiritual maturity is only possible in Christ.
Believers, you also must determine to walk in Christ because our only hope for spiritual maturity is found in Christ.
In vv. 6-8 Paul gives the commands that must be followed if we are to grow in spiritual maturity
And in vv. 9-15 Paul gives the reasons why the only hope for spiritual maturity is found in Christ
If you are to grow unto spiritual maturity in Christ you must do three things.
I. You must live in the same dependent faith in Christ as when you received Christ
I. You must live in the same dependent faith in Christ as when you received Christ
As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:
Therefore, if you are to be encouraged and if you are to avoid being deceived and if you are to grow unto spiritual maturity… then just as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk- you must continually walk IN Him.
A. The substance of your walk
A. The substance of your walk
As you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, or lit. “just as” or “in the same way” that you received Jesus Christ the Lord.
How did they receive Christ?
Col 1.3
3 We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, 4 Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have to all the saints, 5 For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel;
They heard the word of the truth of the gospel. What is the gospel? Christ died for your sins, was buried, and on the third day He rose again. Christ shed His blood for you, and only the perfect sacrifice of Jesus can wash away your sins, cause you to be forgiven, and stand pure and holy before God. How does one receive this salvation? V. 4 Paul says, “We heard of your FAITH in Christ Jesus.” It is faith in Christ. Biblical faith is the idea of putting all of you trust or you dependence in something. Salvation means you depend in Christ alone for your forgiveness. Ask Christ to forgive you, turn from those sins, and depend on Christ to save you. So how did they receive Christ? They received Him through dependent faith.
The command, the imperative in v.6 comes next… so walk ye in him. Present, Active, Imperative.
You must continually walk or live your life, or in the context- I think the idea here is living your life so as to grow unto Christlike maturity.
You received Christ through dependent faith, now you must continual live your life in dependent faith IN Christ if you are to become spiritually mature.
B. The outcomes of your walk
B. The outcomes of your walk
7 Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.
If you seek for spiritual maturity by means of dependent faith in Christ then, that kind of faith will have certain effects or produce certain outcomes in your life.
You will become rooted in Christ.
Perfect, passive, part- You have been rooted and those roots will continue to grow deep and strong as you walk in dependent faith. Passive- so as a result of your faith God is the one who roots you.
And you will continue to be built up in Christ. Constructed as in a building. Present, passive, part. An outcome of dependent faith is that God will continually build you up in Christ.
And you will be established in the faith- securely settled, firmly or solidly grounded in the faith, just as you have been taught.
This sounds like spiritual maturity. The false teachers would claim that you need to look elsewhere other than Christ, but Paul commands walk in dependent faith in Christ and as you do you will remain deeply rooted in Christ, you will be continually built up in Christ and you will be firmly grounded in the faith- in other words you will become spiritually mature. And not to be overlooked, this kind of Christian that lives in dependent faith will continually abound in thanksgiving. One of the key tests of a believer that is growing in Christlike maturity is a heart that is overflowing in thanksgiving. Why is that? Salvation is a matter of grace, sanctification is a matter of grace. If one is growing in Christ through dependent faith they will look around and think, wow look at what God is doing in my life. The end result has to be thanksgiving.
Illustration: I have seen a lot of different levels of spiritual growth in my life. I know some people, who professed to be Christians, now are atheists or they have followed homosexuality or they have embraced the teaching of evolution. I know some who have lived a very marginal Christian life. They never really seem to grow in Christ. Christianity is more of a chore than it is a part of who they are. I have seen those who have become legalistic in their walk, wordly in their walk, angry in their walk… the list goes on. The ones who genuinely seem to grow are the ones that truly love Christ. You can see it in them. They love the Lord and they are living in dependent faith in Christ. They realize how sinful they really are, and that only faith in Christ can produce any genuine change. These ones become rooted, built up, established, they abound in thanksgiving.
How about you? How would you characterize your Christian walk? How do you seek to grow spiritually? Is your walk characterized by a dependent faith in Christ? Are you rooted in Christ? Are built up in Christ? Are you deeply settled in your faith? Do you abound in thanksgiving at how the grace of God changes you? If you want to grow in spiritual maturity you must live in the same dependent faith in Christ as when you received Christ.
II. You must guard your life carefully against any teaching that is not according to Christ
II. You must guard your life carefully against any teaching that is not according to Christ
8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
A. Be Watchful
A. Be Watchful
Beware! This verb literally means to see or to look, takes on the sense look carefully or watch out.
Paul wants them to be watchful so that no man spoil them. This is only used here in the NT. It has the idea of taking something captive.
The Pillar New Testament Commentary: Colossians and Philemon 1. Spiritual Fullness in Christ (2:8–15)
It vividly expresses the danger that the readers may be “carried off as plunder” by an alien and fundamentally anti-Christian form of teaching.
in imagery of carrying someone away fr. the truth into the slavery of error
B. Be Knowledgeable
B. Be Knowledgeable
How will these false teachers carry off these believers from the truth and into the slavery of error?
8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
8 Βλέπετε μή τις ⸉ὑμᾶς ἔσται*⸊ ὁ συλαγωγῶν
See to it (beware) that no one takes you captive (in imagery of carrying someone away fr. the truth into the slavery of error)
διὰ τῆς φιλοσοφίας καὶ κενῆς ἀπάτης
through philosophy and empty deceit
κατὰ τὴν παράδοσιν τῶν ἀνθρώπων,*
according to the tradition of men,
κατὰ τὰ στοιχεῖα τοῦ κόσμου
according to the elemental spirits of the world
καὶ οὐ κατὰ Χριστόν·*
and not according to Christ.
Through (by means of) “the” philosophy and vain deceit- vain/empty philosophy and empty deceit- or you could say empty and deceptive philosophy. Paul is not criticizing all philosophy, just this empty and deceptive philosophy of the false teachers. He paints a stark contrast to the gospel.
5 For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel;
The Gospel is filled with hope- it is not deceptive. The Gospel is the word of the truth- it is not deceptive.
Paul continues to elaborate on this empty and deceitful philosophy.
κατὰ τὴν παράδοσιν τῶν ἀνθρώπων,*
according to the tradition of men,
This teaching is not from God, it does not contain Godly wisdom from above. It is based only in the tradition of men. How can a man-made teaching be effective in producing spirituality in a person?
κατὰ τὰ στοιχεῖα τοῦ κόσμου
according to the rudiments / elemental powers of the world
Rudiments- probably the material components of the universe, the elements, earth/fire/air/water. Pagans in Paul’s day would personify these things and worship them as gods.
The Pillar New Testament Commentary: Colossians and Philemon 1. Spiritual Fullness in Christ (2:8–15)
Philo puts it, “Some nations have made divinities of the four elements, earth and water, and air and fire. Others, of the sun and moon, and of the other planets and fixed stars. Others, again, of the whole world”
God had to warn the Israelites of this very thing.
19 And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the Lord thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven.
There was some way in which these false teachers were activating a philosophy of instead of seeking after Christ, one need to seek an elemental power, some kind of spirit being in order to be an elite Christian.
This is why Paul included this section on the preeminence of Christ.
16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
Whatever, these elemental powers where that the false teachers were trying to get the Colossian believers to worship we can be certain of one thing.
καὶ οὐ κατὰ Χριστόν·*
and not according to Christ.
They were not after or according to Christ. This is the final blow against this empty and deceptive philosophy.
Illustration: What is the best way to be on watch for this kind of false teaching? Should I install a security system in my house and train a guard dog to be on the look out for deceptive and empty philosophy? What does it look like then? The best way to be on the watch against false teaching is to be so knowledgeable of the truth that you can spot error the second it begins to creep into you life. In other words be knowledgeable. I once had a Jehovah’s Witness tell me that Jesus was not God because only Jehovah is called Almighty. Christ is only called mighty God. Now wait a minute. That doesn’t sound right. How can any one read Colossians and not walk away believing the Christ is fully God?
15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:
Col
19 For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;
9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
I am able to be on guard, to be watchful of that error based on my knowledge of the truth. This is why Paul says to the Colossians,
2 That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ; 3 In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Col 2.
If you are to genuinely grow spiritually, if you are to become a mature believer in Christ you must guard your life carefully against any teaching that is not according to Christ. And you can best do that by being throughly knowledgeable about the truth.
How about you? Are you basing your spiritual maturity on some form of empty deceptive human philosophy? We need to be careful about these things. They can be very subtle.
I wear a suit and tie to church therefore I am more spiritual.
I only wear skirts and she doesn’t I must be more spiritual.
I hand out 20 tracts a day I must be more spiritual.
I have more degrees added on to my name I must be more spiritual.
I have a bigger church I must be more spiritual.
I read 3 chapters of Scripture a day I must be more spiritual.
Now is there anything wrong with these things? No, I hope you do some of them. But if you are trying to grow in spiritual maturity by doing them, then you have a big problem. Spiritual maturity comes from dependent faith in Christ. These things (or at least some of them) are just by-products of relationship with Christ. As I live in Christ in dependent faith these things naturally take place because Christ changes me to become more like Himself. It is genuine, it is not forced, it is not a burden, it is a joy, and it results in thanksgiving. As I become rooted and built up in Him this naturally happens. It cannot be the other way around.
The other day I was at a conference, and one of the speakers told a story of girl who came to their church. She was in rough shape spiritually. And she didn’t exactly dress in the most modest of fashion, but that is all she ever knew- I believe she was homeless and just had a rough background. And some of the church people came and complained about her dress- essentially the Pastor just said let’s love her and pray for her and let God do a work in her. One of the ladies in the church took her in and began witnessing to her. One Sunday she came running up to the pastor and wrapped him up on a big hug. She kept saying I got saved, I got saved! After he extricated himself, she said pastor look at me. He had gotten used to only look at her from the head up. She said, really look at me. She had on a dress, it wasn’t necessarily the Baptist approved kind of dress, but she was so excited about her new relationship with Christ that she felt compelled to go out and buy something nice to wear to church. The pastor didn’t have to say anything to her about it. Her relationship with Christ naturally changed the way she dressed. The point is, they didn’t say to her, if you want to be spiritual then you need to wear a dress on Sunday. Instead she became spiritual based on her dependent faith in Christ and as a byproduct of her spiritual life with Christ she desired to wear something nice. Do you see the difference?
Sometimes, we can get caught up in empty deceptive human philosophy that is not according to Christ. If we want to genuinely become mature believers in Christ we must guard our life carefully against any teaching that is not according to Christ. Be watchful, be knowledgeable.
If you are to grow unto spiritual maturity in Christ:
You must live in the same dependent faith in Christ as when you received Christ
You must guard your life carefully against any teaching that is not according to Christ
How about you today?
Are you growing in dependent faith in Christ?
Are you growing by guarding carefully against false teaching?
This is the way we must walk if we are to come to maturity in Christ, if we are to maintain our good order and the firmness of our faith in Christ.