Rooted and Built Up

Welcome

We’ve been looking at the book of Colossians over the last few weeks. Dan continued for us last week and brought us up to Chapter 2:5, and so today we are going to be looking at 2:6-15. Let’s read this passage together and pray over it, then we will begin to look at this passage in smaller sections.

Colossians 2:6–15 NIV

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ. For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority. In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

Prayer

Engage / Tension

Have you ever been working on something at home or at work and someone came along to help you. But they come along to help with this sense of superior knowledge? They tell you how you have been doing it all wrong and they have a secret way, a way that they personally created to fix the problem and begin to tell you about it. Do you know what I mean? They sound like they have a huge understanding of whatever it is you are doing, but their actions don’t really line up with what they are saying? Paul just warned the Colossians to be wary of people like this. There could be people who come along who claim to have superior insight into the Gospel and have great sounding arguments for why things should be done a certain way. But Paul warns them against these people. Don’t fall for these persuasive arguments or empty philosphy. Remain fixed on Jesus and don’t listen to this earthly wisdom that people might use to try to get you to believe a false gospel. Paul then explains what this looks like in our lives.

Rooted and Built Up

Colossians 2:6–7 NIV

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

As you recieved Christ Jesus as Lord, live in him. Paul first recognizes here that the Colossians have firmly received Jesus as Lord. This is important because the Colossians aren’t just saying they believe Jesus was a good man who had good teachings. They aren’t saying he was merely a prophet. They recieve Jesus as Lord. Lord being the one who has authority and power. When Jesus is Lord, it means that the Colossians no longer live for themselves, but for their Lord, the one who has true power over their life. The Colossians understand the gospel, they understand that their lives are completely different because of what Jesus has done.

One way I’ve thought about this is with athletes. When an athlete, a baseball player, basketball player, get signed to a team, they are fully on that team and comitted. It would make no sense for that athlete to sign with the Cubs for instance, but still play part time for the Cardinals. Their team is the Cubs, not the Cardinals, and how they play should represent that. When we recieve Jesus as Lord, it’s like signing for a team and Jesus is the head coach. As players on this team, we are going to listen to what the coach says and do what he wants. We recognize that the coach is the one who tells us what we should or shouldn’t be doing.

If you have recieved Jesus as Lord then, there are things that you should be doing. (I want to clarify, we don’t do things to get on the team. We don’t do things to earn salvation. Salvation is given freely through Christ’s death on the cross to all who receive it. But, like I just said, if Jesus is Lord then he is going to change the way we live. If you signed up for a team and refused to go to practice and didn’t show up for games, people who probably wonder if you were actually on the team. We don’t do good things to earn salvation, we do good things, live our lives according to Christ’s teaching and scripture BECAUSE we have received Jesus as Lord.)

Paul says that we should continue to live our lives in Jesus. We’ve likely heard this phrase before, that we should “live in Jesus” but what exactly does this mean? The word live in this passage literally translates to “walk.” We are to walk in Jesus. Walking is active, it is not a passive activity. To walk means there is movement, there’s action. If Jesus is Lord in our life in translates into that movement I just talked about. We aren’t going to sit still or live our lives the same as we had been before Jesus. We are going to walk with Jesus and live for him instead of ourselves. What does this walk look like then?

It means that we are rooted and built up in Christ.

What your roots are in, matters. If a plant has a weak root system, it is going to have a tougher time weathering storms, maturing, and bearing fruit. However, if a root system in strong and deep, that plant can withstand different elements and can reach the nurtrients that it needs for growth and life. This is how we need to be rooted in Christ. Our roots, the thing in life that we depend on the most, that we get life from, should not be our jobs, our family, our friends, as good as those things can be. Our roots need to be in something sure and solid. Paul very well could be thinking of Psalm 1:2–3“but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers.”

2. Strengthened in the Faith you were Taught

Walking in Christ also means that we are strengthened in our faith. We aren’t stagnant in our faith, we continue to grow. We have a desire to know Christ more, to follow him with more of ourselves.

3. Overflowing with Thankfulness

The third point Paul makes is that the church, the people who receive Jesus as Lord, would be overflowing with thankfulness. Not just that we would be thankful, but that we would overflow with thankfulness. Gratitude is a key characteristic of God’s people and in the next few sections, we see that no matter what is going on in our lives, we have an incredible amount to be thankful for.

Verse 8 contains the warning against people who might then try to deceive the Colossians.

Fullness of Christ, Fullness in Christ

Colossians 2:8–12 NIV

See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ. For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority. In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.

There are people who will take human tradition and human philisophy and try to add or take away from the Gospel of Jesus. These are like those people who come along with that “superior knowledge” that I mentioned previously. There is complete fullness in Jesus. We don’t need other philosophies or wisdom in order to understand the message of Jesus. It was not out of the ordinary for misleading teachers to come into a Christian community and begin to teach things outside of the gospel. In Galatians and Corinthians we see that there were people who came into the church and tried to teach something other than the apostolic gospel. This warning still applies to us. If anyone comes alongside us and teaches something other than the gospel that has been taught to us, a gospel that includes promises of prosperity, a gospel that teaches good works lead to salvation, a gospel that teaches personal desires above Christ, we have to be careful of that. The gospel that we know and believe is only the gospel according to Christ.

The reason we are not to be swept away by philosophies and the wisdom of the world is because Christ is everything that we need. We are complete in Christ. Christ is fully God and “you have been filled in him” (2:10). You are filled in Christ. You are complete in Christ and need nothing that is offered by false teachers. There is nothing in philosophy or the wisdom of the world to make you complete. In Christ alone God has completely revealed himself. Further, Christ is in charge of all things. He is the head of all rule and authority. There is nothing above Christ. There is no thinking or wisdom that is greater than him. We do not need what the world has to offer, especially when we understand what we have in Christ.

Paul also tells us that in Christ a circumcision has taken place. Paul immediately wants the readers to know that this is a symbol. It is a circumcision that is not made by human hands. A spiritual circumcision is taking place. Since it is a spiritual circumcision, we need to learn what is being cut off. Paul explains that this circumcision is the cutting off the body of the flesh. The body of the flesh represents our sinful life.

Sin is being cut off. The old life that was under the rule of sin is stripped away and thrown in the trash. The corruption of our sinful ways is taken away. This cutting away of our sins is done by Christ. Christ is pictured as the surgeon who is treating our sinful disease.

How does this circumcision take place? When does Jesus remove our sins from our lives? In verse 12 Paul continues his teaching. We were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands having been buried with him in baptism.

Paul explains what is happening in baptism. We are being “raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God.” Many come to these words about baptism and they have a problem because they know Paul cannot mean baptism alone saves. Baptism is not something you do to earn God’s grace. Baptism is not an act that forces God to forgive you regardless of your heart. We cannot suggest or teach that we need to go around the community baptizing people and they will be saved. Paul says that there is something going on in baptism. We are placing our faith in the powerful working of God. The act of baptism is a symbol for something greater. We are showing our faith in God. We are believing in Christ as our Savior who will cut off our sins when we submit to him in faith.

Dead and Alive

Colossians 2:13–15 NIV

When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

You were dead in your sins.

God made you alive with Christ.

He forgave ALL of your sins.

God nailed our sins to the cross.

God transformed an instrument of murder and torture into a public display of his goodness of glory in the cross.

Application

Walk in Christ in your life.

Know the fullness of Jesus and don’t be deceived.

Overflow with thankfulness because of how God has forgiven your sins and given you life in Jesus.