Sermon Tone Analysis

Good morning and welcome again to our continuing journey together through the book of Colossians.

Colossians has disclosed to us thus far that in Christ we are reconciliation to God (1:21-23), find the revelation of the mystery of God (1:24-27) in Christ, the believers’ fulfillment (1:28-29) is in Christ, and God’s wisdom (2:1-5) is in Christ.

Therefore, believers should continue to live “in Him” [used six times in these verses].

Christ is sufficient.

In Him the believer finds sufficiency.

Surrendering to Christ as Lord of your life is the beginning of a new life in Christ.

This life, this relationship, grows in so many ways as we follow His leadership.

The world, the flesh and the devil will try to get you following other things, other philosophies, other experiences.

But, if you have Christ, you have everything you ever need (CIT).

Finding Christ or surrendering to Christ is only the beginning.

Christ intends for us to grow in our faith.

There are ways that will help us grow and there are ways that will hinder or even stop our growth.

I. ROOTED AND BUILT UP IN HIM, 6-7

Verse 6 urges us to continue our Christian life just as it commenced, in the Lord Jesus Christ.

“Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,”

Therefore builds the concluding exhortation on what Paul has said in verses 2–5.

The Colossians have received Christ Jesus the Lord, they have settled convictions about His deity and sufficiency, and are standing firm against the attacks of false teachers.

To stand firm does not mean to stand still.

They must continue to walk in Him.

The familiar term walk refers to daily conduct.

In this context it emphasizes continuing to believe the truth about Christ, not allowing their faith in Christ’s deity and authority to waver.

It was Christ who saved them so do not to forsake His divine authority for any human sophistry or chicanery.

In broader terms walking in Christ means living in union with Him.

It means to maintain a lifestyle patterned after His.

“The one who says he abides in Him,” the apostle John writes, “ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked” ().

When faced with the dilemmas that confront Christians in their daily lives, the guideline should be, “What would Jesus do in this situation?”

[WWJD]

Ask God to help you walk with Him day by day.

We put our faith into practice one step at a time.

Allow what God works into our life to work it’s way out of our life.

Walking in Christ is how we become Christ-like.

Waking in Christ is focusing our thoughts on Him, on what He has done, what He is doing, and what He will do for us.

Verse 7 clarifies how living in union is lived out in our life.

“having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.

Believers are to live by faith so they can become firmly established in their walk with Christ.

We do that by drawing our life from Christ.

Like a tree with deep roots in rich soil, believers have been firmly rooted in Christ.

That eternal planting took place at salvation, which the perfect tense of the participle translated having been firmly rooted.

Christ then became the source of our spiritual nourishment, growth, and fruit.

The Scripture is clear here.

It is pointed right at us.

There is no way to misunderstand what God is saying to us this morning.

God is telling us that if you are going to make it as a Christian, you must be “deeply rooted” in Christ.

As we walk in Christ, we are being built up in Him.

That connotes the process of being more and more like Jesus Christ.

Being built up is a present tense participle indicating continuous action.

By studying the “word of His grace, which is able to build you up” (), believers will “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” ().

And they will come “to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fulness of Christ” ().

Being firmly rooted in Christ and growing in Him results in believers being established in their faith.

The passive voice of the participle translated established indicates that it is God who will establish believers.

Having such a firm foundation for faith based on walking in Christ is imperative for a healthy Christian life (; ; ; ).

Being built up and established in our faith are ongoing process that are only possible because we rooted into the Lord Jesus Christ.

As believers are “built up” and established in Christ, they become more grateful and begin overflowing with thankfulness ().

The last of the four participles in verse 7, overflowing, is the only one in the active voice.

It is a response to the other three.

Believers who are firmly rooted in Christ, being built up in Him, and established in their faith, will overflow with gratitude to God.

Imagine being given a BOWL OF SAND containing tiny particles of iron.

Then you are told to remove the iron from the sand.

You have two choices.

You can pull your fingers through the sand, searching for speck of iron and find very few.

Or you call pull a magnet through the sand and watch it attract countless bits of iron.

Like the fingers in the sand, the grumbling heart finds very few mercies.

But as the grateful heart moves through life, it finds countless blessings, just as the magnet finds iron.

Of all the choices we make in life; few affect us more powerfully than our choice between gratitude and grumbling.

An honest look at our lives will reveal which choice we have made.

If it's grumbling, we probably see few blessings.

If it's gratitude, we not only find innumerable blessings--they seem to find us!

The Bible teaches that a heart overflowing with thankfulness comes from being rooted and built up in Christ.

In believers are commanded and even commanded again to “Rejoice in the Lord always.

Again I will say, rejoice!"

Which choice have you made?

Grumbling or gratitude?

Grumbling overlooks blessings, but, gratitude finds blessings everywhere--even in dry, sandy places!

With a little practice anyone can master the art of thankfulness.

Praise completes the circle in which the blessings that flow to us from God return to Him in the form of our praise and adoration.

By taking in the Word of truth believers can appropriate the riches that are Christ’s legacy to believers, and walk in Him.

As we walk in Him, we will grow in Him & become established in our faith.

As a result, we will give praise to God.

II.

FILLED AND COMPLETED IN HIM, 8-10.

After exhorting believers to live in Christ, verse 8 condemns the heresy that was diverting them from Christ.

“See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.”

It is bound to be significant that, in the only place where the Scriptures even mention philosophy; we are warned to beware of it!

The concern is that no false teacher takes believers captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy.

The thought here is not against all philosophy but against false philosophy.

The philosophy at Colosse was “hollow” (kençs, “empty”), “deceptive,” and based on human tradition . . .

rather than on Christ.

True Christian philosophy “take[s] captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” ().

False philosophy is based on the world’s basic principles (stoicheia, “elementary principles,” ; , ).

Such a philosophy is demonic and worldly, not godly or Christlike.

Unless believers are careful, such philosophy may ensnare them, taking them “captive.”

[Walvoord, John; Zuck, Roy.

The Bible Knowledge.

Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1983, S. 677]

“Beware of the philosophy and psychology the world values,” the Bible warns.

“They’re vain.

They’re empty.

They don’t work.”

I am concerned about the increasing number of believers who are wasting their money and time on unbelieving psychologists and psychiatrists when their problems are specifically dealt with in the Bible.

Folks, if your car breaks down, I wouldn’t tell you to read your Bible.