Centered in Jesus, the All in All - Part 2
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Colossians 2:6-7 .
6 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.
How is Jesus received?
He is recieved by faith, as defined by Ephesians 2:8-10.
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
How then are we to walk?
We are to walk by faith. 2 Corinthians 5:1-10 talks about that walk of faith. Verses 4-7 speak to the main idea.
4 For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.
5 He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.
6 So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord,
7 for we walk by faith, not by sight.
Where does our faith rest?
Our faith must be centered in Jesus, the All in All.
Paul uses three terms for how we walk by faith centered in Jesus.
The first term is “rooted”. Rooted is an agricultural term that speaks of the vitality of the plant. A plant that is rooted out will be much more vigorous than one that has a poor root system. We also know that what the roots are in matters. We must be rooted in Jesus with a vigorous root system, which is accomplished by walking in him by faith.
The second term is “built up”. Built up is a construction term, speaking of building up from a foundation. We never say build down, because you can’t start at the top. The idea is that we build up on Jesus, the foundation of our lives, the very cornerstone upon which our lives our built (Acts 4:11).
The third term is “established”. Established communicates endurance. It speaks of full assurance of Christ being reliable. “Faith” speaks of the system of belief which Jesus established through his death and resurrection, explained through his teaching and the teaching of the apostles - in other words, the New Testament.
When we walk by faith, centered in Jesus, we become established in the faith once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 3).
None of this is caught passively. It all must be taught, so we must be students of the Word to walk by faith centered in Jesus, rooted, built up, and established in him.
Who are we in?
Jesus, the All in All.
What should well up in our hearts because of this?
Gratitude for what Jesus has done, is doing, and will do. Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift (2 Corinthians 9:15).
Colossians 2:8 .
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.
Being rooted, built up, and established in Jesus safeguards us from being taken captive by philosophy and empty deceit.
Philosophy, “PHILOSOPHIA” (φιλοσοφία), in the Greek, is only used here in the NT. Paul is using this word to speak of worldly wisdom, or wordly systems of belief.
Some examples of those today would be evolutionism, naturalism, capitalism, communism, materialism and socialism. The list could go on and on. There are a lot of worldly philosophies out there. Many of them have an effect on our day-to-day lives, especially the ones that have crept in unnoticed (Jude 4) as result of being in the world and not spending enough time in Jesus.
Paul says we are to see to it that we are not taken captive by these. This takes intentionality since they tend to creep into our thinking.
What are the worldly philosophies that have crept into your thinking, thus taking you captive?
Empty deceit or vain deceit speaks to the lies that we believe about God, about our world, about our family, about ourselves. We all struggle with believing lies. When we believe a lie as truth and act on it, it brings forth bad fruit, poisonous fruit in our lives, as Galatians 6:7-9 says.
7 Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.
8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.
9 And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.
I encourage you to follow Paul’s command here and see to it that you are not be taken captive by vain deceit, by the lies you believe.
How do we guard against being deceived and discover where we are deceived ?
First, we center on Jesus, the All in All.
Second, we ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to us where we are deceived, for Jesus said in John 16:13:
13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.
A good Psalm to pray through for this is Psalm 25:1-5.
1 To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
2 O my God, in you I trust; let me not be put to shame; let not my enemies exult over me.
3 Indeed, none who wait for you shall be put to shame; they shall be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous.
4 Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths.
5 Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long.
Third, we are to respond to the deceits revealed to us by believing the truth he is teaching us.
Many of us are living in misery because of the lies we believe. Please take the time to come before the throne of grace and ask for the Holy Spirit to lead you in all truth so that he can work with you to take care of the lies that have crept in.
These wordly philosophies and lies that we believe are according to two categories.
The first category is “according to human tradition”, meaning they have been established by humanity and not by God.
This is not an attack on having tradition, but a warning that we are not to have human tradition take us captive from the tradition God has established for us in Jesus, the All in All.
The second category is “according to elemental spirits”. The Greek phrase here is difficult to translate. The translators propose three options:
The first option is that it means the elemental building blocks of the physical world, such as atoms.
The second option is that it means the “elementary teachings of the world" which is how NIV, NKJV, and NASB translate it.
The third option is that it means “the elemental spirits of world” which is how the ESV and NET translate it.
Given the first century cultural background of the supernatural world and that the human element was already covered, I think the translation “elemental spirits” is what Paul was trying to communicate. He echoes this idea in Galatians 1:6-8.
6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—
7 not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.
8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.
Some philosophies and deceit that are according to demons are Islam, Mormonism, Hinduism, New Age, and Satanism. The list could go on quite a while.
May we not be ignorant to the sources of worldly philosophies and the deceit that creeps into our lives, taking us captive.
Let us see to it that we are not taken captive by anything other than Jesus, the All in All , being rooted, built up, and established as we walk in and with him through life.