God Is Still At Work In Us

Point: Christ is Lord, and we have entered into his Lordship.

Point: We are to continue to live in him, to work out just what it means in both our thinking and our acting to live under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

God Is Still At Work In Us

To receive Christ is not the end but the beginning of life. We are to grow and mature in our faith so that God can truly use us.

Colossians 2:6–7 ESV

Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

Colossians 2:6 ESV

Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him,

Our faith is a journey. Christians were designed to grow in their faith. If they don’t, they will experience spiritual atrophy. To receive Christ is not the end but the beginning of life. We are to grow and mature in our faith so that God can truly use us. Our faith journey is built upon a firm foundation on the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Christians were designed to grow in their faith. If they don’t, they will experience spiritual anthrophy. To receive Christ is not the end but the beginning of life. We are to grow and mature in our faith so that God can truly use us. Our faith journey is built upon a firm foundation on the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

How can we LIVE as Christians? ()

By the use of the main verb “walk in him” and the three participles describing how God is still at work in us today, Paul gives us three guideposts on how we can walk with Christ on a daily basis.

1. As you received… so live. (Godly Living) (Col. 2:6)

But let us focus on the main verb first: “walk in Him.”

What does it mean to “receive Christ”? Our present-day understanding of what it means is inadequate at best, if not just plainly wrong. It does not necessarily mean just salvation experience, but rather the reception of apostolic teaching through Paul’s ministry. Paul repeatedly refer to this twice:

1 Corinthians 11:2 ESV

Now I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I delivered them to you.

1 Corinthians 15:1–3 ESV

Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures,

In short, to ‘receive Christ Jesus the Lord,’ then, is to recognize as truth the marvelous news that, in Christ, the Lord who has power to redeem the world from error and misery has come. More than that, the words necessarily imply the appropriate submission to that Lord for personal deliverance.

That means we must live in the light of Christ’s lordship. We need to be willing to let Him rule in our lives.

The challenge now is how do we make Christ Lord in every aspect of our lives. Christ wants us to be His obedient servants, but we struggle to submit everything to Him. This is because we are swimming against the current of different worldview with a different set of values - God’s values. Before we were saved, we accepted the patterns of the world without a second thought. After we are saved, our eyes are opened to the truth and we can perceive the lies of the world. Fighting against those lies can be difficult.

WHAT PART OF YOUR LIFE HAVE YOU NOT SUBMITTED TO CHRIST AS LORD?

Sanctification can be a difficult process. Our friends no longer understand us. Sometimes our families question our new involvement and associations. Those we love might feel rejected, angry, and defensive.

We also struggle because we must constantly say “no” to our own fleshly desires and yield to the Spirit. We learn to handle conflict with grace instead of through retaliation. We learn to forgive rather than hold grudges. We learn to replace the vacillating emotions we once called love with true, unconditional love.

ARE YOU LIVING AN OBEDIENT LIFESTYLE?

1. As you were rooted… be built up. (Spiritual Growth) ()

Paul is summoning Colossians to grow in Christ. The idea of building adequately and firmly on the foundation of Christ is a vivid and important one in the New Testament. We are to make the building up of one another our chief concern.

The idea of building adequately and firmly on the foundation of Christ is a vivid and important one in the New Testament. We are to make the building up of one another our chief concern.

Take trees as an example. Healthy plants have a good root system, and it requires a solid foundation before you can truly grow. Massive trees have deep and wide root systems, and it is required to hold itself upright and draw enough nutrients from the ground to support the whole structure. Strong Christians don’t grow overnight… they become strong the longer they follow Jesus and remain connected in a Christian community.

This is why I emphasize small groups as the best way to grow in Christ. Christ is our Head and we experience the fullness of Christ through Christ-centered community. This is why I encourage all of you to get involved with a local church in Washington D.C. because it is through relationships and communities we spiritually grow. We either grow or begin to die (atrophy).

ARE YOU CURRENTLY GROWING IN YOUR SPIRITUAL LIFE?

2. As you were taught… be established in truth. (Christian understanding) (Col. 2:7)

When we are

As we stick to the roots of our faith (Jesus is God) and continue to be built up (live in a community), we will be established in faith.

Our faith is not purely emotional or purely logical, but a mixture of both. Our active love for God should lead us to a deeper knowledge of God. Anslem, a Christian philosopher, is credited with this quote, “faith seeking understanding” (fides quaerens intellectum). While seemingly confusing at first, it actually means, “an active love of God seeking a deeper knowledge of God.”

What is the best way for us to understand God, life, and faith? By reading and meditating on the Word of God. By spending time in prayer. By relating with other people within a Christian community.

ARE YOU LEARNING DAILY MORE ABOUT CHRIST?

3. Be Thankful (Defense Against False Teaching) (, )

Who is Jesus for you in your personal life? How you answer will determine how personal your faith is.

The best defense against false teaching is to make faith personal. Our faith is rational and defensible under the closest scrutiny. It is only when we have a personal relationship with Jesus will we be able to be abounding with thankfulness.

We must have a clear understanding of who Christ is and his claim about being God before we can correctly decipher what other people are saying. Later in the letter, you will learn more about what people are teaching (I believe I will touch on this issue next week).

But for now, I want you to know this: we need to be careful with what people say in the world - especially at Gallaudet. It is our responsibility to understand our faith and be able to communicate it with other people. In addition, we need to know how to defend our beliefs and examine other worldviews. This requires us to listen carefully to what people believe and learn how to respond appropriately. That is what APOLOGETICS mean from .

What is the best defense against false teachers? How do we remain thankful in all circumstances? By remembering that we are now truly alive as a result of Christ’s sacrifice for us on the cross for the forgiveness of all our sins.

How can we defend ourselves from false teachings and teachers? It is interesting that Paul seems to suggest that our whole life should be saturated with a thankful spirit. This should mark the Christian life since we are thankful about how we are now truly alive as a result of Christ’s sacrifice for us on the cross for the forgiveness of all our sins. If we are not thankful about it, I doubt we have really fully experienced Christ. The strongest claim we can make about our faith is that the God that we worship is not dead but is risen, and He is now reigning in heaven.

ARE YOU LIVING A THANKFUL LIFE (ATTITUDE CHECK)?

Colossians 2:8–15 ESV

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. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. 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, 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. 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, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.

Col. 2: