Untitled Sermon (27)

Col #3

Northside Church

May 21, 2023

Colossians #3

Jamey Mills

Good morning, my name is Jamey. I'm one of the pastors here at Northside… it’s so good to be with you guys…

Looking forward to hanging out with you all afterward for some lunch… Hope you can make it.

ILL

How many of you have a spouse or roommate that snores? OR

Stop it counselor…

We are in the third week of our series… Nothing more/nothing less where we are looking at the letter that Paul wrote to the church in Colossae… after getting an update from Epaphras… who planted the Church. The Church had been doing well… but an issue was growing…

All kinds of beliefs… from the culture around them… all of these outside influences were infiltrating their families, their lives, and the Church… causing them to loosen their grip on Christ and misplace their hope.

This was bothering Paul so much that he sat down and wrote the letter of Colossians… and this is how our passage today starts…

Colossians 2:1 NLT

I want you to know how much I have agonized for you and for the church at Laodicea, and for many other believers who have never met me personally.

I want you to know how much I have agonized for you and for the church at Laodicea, and for many other believers who have never met me personally.

We see Paul’s love for the Church… Paul knew how important the Church was… and you hear it over and over again in what he wrote…

Paul tells us… this issue in the church is keeping him up all night…

He tells them that he is agonizing… struggling… The word can even mean… fighting for them… aching for them, praying for them in the face of it.

It makes me wonder what Paul would right to American Churches… or even ours. I did some research this week… I found some information from the Barna Institute and from the ACU… Here is what I found… One from 2023 the other from 2004

What constitutes a "biblical" worldview? Christian researcher George Barna says it includes a belief in absolute moral truth as defined by scripture, as well as acceptance of six core biblical beliefs: the accuracy of biblical teaching, the sinless nature of Jesus, the literal existence of Satan, the omnipotence and omniscience of God, salvation by grace alone, and the personal responsibility to evangelize.

In a recent survey of Protestant pastors, only half (51 percent) passed the test on whether they possess a biblical worldview.

This more recent survey, highlights a simple but important principle: "you can't give people what you don't have." "The low and declining percentage of Christians who have a biblical worldview is a direct reflection of the fact that half of our primary religious teachers and leaders do not have one,"

Most Americans have little idea how to integrate core biblical principles to form a unified and meaningful response to the challenges and opportunities of life," he says. "We're often more concerned with survival amidst chaos than with experiencing truth and significance."

Adults with a biblical worldview possess radically different views on morality, hold divergent religious beliefs, and demonstrate vastly different lifestyle choices.

A majority of pastors lack a biblical worldview. In fact, just slightly more than a third (37%) possess a biblical worldview and the majority—62%—hold a hybrid worldview known as Syncretism. Exactly what Colossae was struggling with… outside believes and values infiltrating the Church. It’s just further evidence that the culture is influencing the American church much more than Christian churches are influencing the culture.”

“A person’s worldview primarily develops before the age of 13, then goes through a period of refinement during their teens and twenties. Therefore, from a worldview development perspective, a church’s most important ministers are the Children’s Pastor and the Youth Pastor,” I couldn’t agree with this more… and it's one reason I hope you’ll come to support our kids and youth after church today.

“You cannot fix something unless you know it’s broken,”

Paul’s telling the Colossian Church… we need to clear this up, we need to right the ship now… before we travel a long way off course.

And that same issue is happening today… with all the stuff we have at our fingertips, I’d guess it's happening like never before… in fact, I think if we are willing… we see it. It’s so easy to immerse yourself in every thing and idea that's happening in culture… every moment of every day and how that often robs us of immersing ourselves in Christ and in His truth…

Even within the Church today.

I’d bet that if I were to ask every single one of us to write down our opinions and thoughts as to who Christ really is… we’d probably find some different thoughts and opinions…

A good reminder…

Isaiah 55:8–9 (ESV)

8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

What informs you? Do you cling to and trust your own thoughts… the thoughts of others/culture… maybe even like me… or… are you anchored in the truth that God teaches.

That answer to that question was leading to massive issues in the Colossian Church…

They’d accepted bad teaching…

A pastor in California says that Paul uses three B words to confront this in the Colossian Church… all of them are appropriate.

Believe… Behave… and Beware

He says it like this…

Believe = know

Behave = Grow

Beware = Slow to move

Colossians 2:2–5 (NLT)

Colossians 2:2–5 NLT

I want them to be encouraged and knit together by strong ties of love. I want them to have complete confidence that they understand God’s mysterious plan, which is Christ himself. In him lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I am telling you this so no one will deceive you with well-crafted arguments. For though I am far away from you, my heart is with you. And I rejoice that you are living as you should and that your faith in Christ is strong.

2 I want them to be encouraged and knit together by strong ties of love. I want them to have complete confidence that they understand God’s mysterious plan, which is Christ himself. 3 In him lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 4 I am telling you this so no one will deceive you with well-crafted arguments. 5 For though I am far away from you, my heart is with you. And I rejoice that you are living as you should (good order) and that your faith in Christ is strong (steadfast).

Paul is using words that are speaking into the issue itself… That phraseology… mysterious plan… screams into what was actually happening in Colossae… it was like the petri dish to Gnosticism… this secret special knowledge that only few had.

Paul wants them and us… to have complete confidence… that we understand God’s mysterious plan… Which is Christ. Nothing more and nothing less.

Paul’s leading them away from this Jesus + idea… reminding them that it’s simply Jesus, it's not some sort of hard to get mystical thing… He is the only wisdom and knowledge you need.

“Living as you should” and “strong” are actually military terms better translated as “in good order” and “steadfast”. Paul is saying… be committed to and firm/unwavering in the truth of Jesus.

If I were to ask us all to write out your opinions and thoughts on who Jesus is… and send them to me… I am pretty confident we’d have some different thoughts and opinions…

And that should be concerning to all of us. For a couple reasons…

If we are all drawing from the same source… if we believe the Bible… and that its words for life… authoritative… we are going to be coming to the same conclusion on who Jesus is…

If what the Bible says is true, it all hinges on what it is we believe about Jesus.

It’s not just the most important thing… it's the only thing. (settle this first… why baptism often happened at the very beginning of someone's life… because once we settle this… once and for all… what Paul goes on to say is the fruit of it.

#2 Behave

Colossians 2:6–7 NLT

And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him. Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.

6 And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue (walk in Him) to follow him. 7 Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.

Let you activity… reflect your belief.

And Paul gives us three things that can help here…

Continue moving forward.

Where it says you must continue in him… the actual translation is… so walk in Him.

That idea of walk… has to do with lifestyle. Walk out this belief… live it out.

Charles Spurgeon wrote this… The christian life is like climbing an icy hill. The moment you stop moving forward, you begin to slide back down. No can never stand still.

To not move forward is to stop pursuing Jesus

… and that is how the drifting we talked about last week starts and it's where syncretism both then and now comes from. We use the phrase next steps a lot… there are always steps to take in your relationship with Jesus.

Paul is saying it's not the kind of belief where you simply acknowledge something is true… but it causes action… changes the way we see and do things.

Like… if you believed there was an out of control oncoming semi… what would you do… and why…

It’s believing the right things… in the right ways…

Grow down so you can grow up.

Don’t settle for a shallow… watered down… lukewarm faith…

To be rooted means to be established… well planted…

One author compared it to a tumble weed… really thin and weak roots that disintegrate over time and end up being blown around by the wind of culture or every new idea… it's why god refers to us as sheep

This idea of being rooted is in multiple places in scripture…

But it reminds me of this passage too.

Luke 6:47–49 (NLT)

Luke 6:47–49 NLT

I will show you what it’s like when someone comes to me, listens to my teaching, and then follows it. It is like a person building a house who digs deep and lays the foundation on solid rock. When the floodwaters rise and break against that house, it stands firm because it is well built. But anyone who hears and doesn’t obey is like a person who builds a house right on the ground, without a foundation. When the floods sweep down against that house, it will collapse into a heap of ruins.”

47 I will show you what it’s like when someone comes to me, listens to my teaching, and then follows it. 48 It is like a person building a house who digs deep and lays the foundation on solid rock. When the floodwaters rise and break against that house, it stands firm because it is well built. 49 But anyone who hears and doesn’t obey is like a person who builds a house right on the ground, without a foundation. When the floods sweep down against that house, it will collapse into a heap of ruins.”

If I were to ask you what your life is built on… rooted in…

If I were to give you a minute to think about the last month of your life and ask… what would you say it was rooted in?

Jesus is saying there is only one… no more and no less… true foundation to built you life on that can withstand the storms…. They still come… but being rooted… anchored in Jesus brings with it a hope… that helps us see and live through them in an entirely different way.

Be overflowing with thankfulness

Paul makes it sound like this is the result… of knowing and walking out the truth of Jesus… we begin to see more clearly and appreciate more deeply the reality of Jesus.

Gratitude and thankfulness are a huge part of worship

… begins to form more and more in the way we relate to and respond to God and it actually strengthens our grip on God’s truth.

One author called it the missing marker of truth faith within the church.

#3 Beware

Paul talks about several things that he wants them to beware of… all three exist in the American church today…

High sounding nonsense (philosophy)

Colossians 2:8–10 NLT

Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ. For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.

8 Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ. 9 For in Christ lives all the fullness of God (Godhead) in a human body. 10 So you also are complete (Filled) through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.

That work for capture is actually kidnap… Don’t let people kidnap you… with their own thinking… no matter how intelligent it sounds.

It’s a dangerous thing when those who are far from God try to discern what life is and is about… and who God is… based on their own reasoning.

Paul uses this to say that man's attempt to find out on his own intellect those things that can only be found and known in Him…

Your worldview matters. how

Legalism

Colossians 2:11–12 NLT

When you came to Christ, you were “circumcised,” but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision—the cutting away of your sinful nature. For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead.

11 When you came to Christ, you were “circumcised,” but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision—the cutting away of your sinful nature.

12 For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead. 13 You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins.14 He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. 15 In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross. 16 So don’t let anyone condemn you for what you eat or drink, or for not celebrating certain holy days or new moon ceremonies or Sabbaths. 17 For these rules are only shadows of the reality yet to come. And Christ himself is that reality.

Shadows… so much of what we see in the OT… are shadows… reflections… that purposefully prepared for and pointed to Jesus… and what He’s accomplished

Sacrificial lamb/sacrificial system - pointing to us being made right … once and for all… by the blood of Jesus.

Circumcision- that we are made clean by the cutting away of our sinful nature… and that's often painful.

Paul compares circumcision to baptism…

Baptism is this outward sign… of an inward commitment… saying I am His… I am one of His people, I belong to Him.

You almost exclusively see it at the very beginning of your relationship with Jesus… it’s part of choosing Him… the commitment to believe and walk it out.

We are getting ready to plan another baptism Sunday… if you’re interested in knowing more, there is a form on the welcome table. Would you email the office

Temple/tabernacle: about where the presence of God dwells… so you know… after the resurrection… we are called the temple of God.

Sabbath: the importance of working hard… and of resting in Him

All the feasts and celebrations… point to Jesus.

Those things are shadows of the reality that is Jesus. They point to Jesus.

Vs 17 these rules are only shadows of the real thing… Christ himself is that reality

OT and NT point to Jesus… God’s intentionality in creation… in Israel… in sacrifice… sacrificial lamb… in the law…

Mysticism

Colossians 2:18–19 NLT

Don’t let anyone condemn you by insisting on pious self-denial or the worship of angels, saying they have had visions about these things. Their sinful minds have made them proud, and they are not connected to Christ, the head of the body. For he holds the whole body together with its joints and ligaments, and it grows as God nourishes it.

18 Don’t let anyone condemn you by insisting on pious self-denial or the worship of angels, saying they have had visions about these things. Their sinful minds have made them proud, 19 and they are not connected to Christ, (holding fast to the head, being led by Jesus) the head of the body. For he holds the whole body together with its joints and ligaments, and it grows as God nourishes it.

It’s talking about those who were seeing inflicting pain on yourself as a way of becoming right with God… becoming misguided… worshiping the wrong things all together.

Paul says… they aren’t connected to Christ… they aren’t led by Him.

Paul says… None of these things actually even help. They are chasing the wrong thing.

Conc…

I am aware of my role… and the weight it carries.

I try… really hard… to make sure whoever is here brings you the gospel truth…

You are complete in Christ, nothing more and nothing less.

ALL OF THOSE THINGS… god was teaching about Jesus, who He is, and why it matters.

Vs 20… died with Christ, he has set you free from the spiritual powers of this world…

SO WHY… would you return to it by believing and living some of the same old stuff He saved you from…