What Should We Desire for GracePointe?

Spiritual development is a daily challenge for each Christian. We are prone to get distracted by every problem. Every opportunity. Every challenge. Every victory.

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I. GracePointe Church to be knit together in love (2-3)

II. Gracepoint Church to be pure in our thoughts of Christ (4-5)

III. GracePointe Church to be faithful in our walk with Christ (6-7)

Spiritual development is a daily challenge for each Christian. We are prone to get distracted by every problem. Every opportunity. Every challenge. Every victory.

Each of these threaten to undo our devotion to the Lord.

Paul writes that he is struggling over the spiritual development of the Colossian Christians.

There are people who are struggling for your spiritual development. You may have a parent who is praying for you to grow in Christ.

You may have a spouse who is agonizing over the lack of spiritual development in your life.

You have church members who labor over you. Praying for you to grow. Praying for you to serve. Praying for you to come to know Christ.

You see, the more you grow, there further our ministry reaches. The further our ministry reaches, the more people will have the opportunity to hear and respond to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Some years ago, the average church member attended church 4 times a month.

A few years ago, the same church member attended 3 times a month.

Today, the statistics show that the average church member attends church 1 time a month! That means that the average church member gives 25% of their Sundays to the Lord and keeps 75% for themselves!

Is it any wonder that we see churches closing and ministries dying?

We should be thankful for the Lord’s promise that the gates of Hell will not prevail against the church.

If the current trend of human commitment continues, the vast majority of the churches like you and I know will close over the next decade.

For churches and ministries to continue, they need two things: people and money. Now, this isn’t “unspiritual.” This is the way God has made things to operate.

Of course, you may say, “all we need is Jesus.” And you are right! And where Jesus is there are His benefits.

But what is the evidence that Jesus is here? You are being changed. You are being committed. You are being devoted.

Our desire for GracePointe is that this would be where true, genuine, biblical Christianity is the expectation.

How do we do our part to have a church that is true and genuine and biblical? Three ways.

Pray for GracePointe Church to be knit together in Love (2-3)

A church that is knit together in love is an encouraging place to be. People don’t attend because they feel obligated. They attend because they recognize their need for brothers and sisters in their life.

First, a church that is knit together in love is a place of encouragement.

The church that is “knit together” in love is a church that loves one another. They forgive each other. They minister to each other. They bear one another’s burdens in prayer. They think the best of one another. They do not criticize. They do not backbite or gossip. They build each other up and they seek to create platforms for others to serve.

A church that is knit together in love is an encouraging place to be.

A church that is knit together in love is also a church that receives the wealth of the knowledge of Christ. Notice what verse 2 says: attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding.

The Bible says that the true riches that we possess is that we have knowledge and understanding of Jesus Christ. We understand that we can possess the world and yet—if we do not have Christ—we are in poverty.

We can possess nothing and yet if possess Christ we possess all things!

Paul writes in :

Whatever gain I had, I counted loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed I count everything as loss for the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as refuse, in order that I might gain Christ.

The church that is knit together in love recognizes that their most valuable possession is their knowledge of Jesus Christ and the way to salvation.

It is in Christ that are hidden all of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

We are reminded of the words of (NASB95)

33 Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!

The church that is knit together in love is a church that is encouraged because they are continually reminding one another that their greatest and most valuable possession is their knowledge of Jesus Christ.

As we grow in our love for one another, we are demonstrating the true value of Jesus Christ to each of our lives.

We talk about what are the treasures that we are storing up in heaven. Is it gold? Is it silver? Is it pearls?

We often conjure up images of Blackbeard and his merry band of pirates who finally find where *X marks the spot*. They are happy because they have finally found the wealth for which they have lusted!

Our treasure is not gold! Our treasure is not silver or pearls!

Our treasure is Jesus Christ! And what knits us together in love is that we remind one another that our true treasure is Jesus Christ!

Pray for GracePointe Church to be pure in our thoughts of Christ (4-5)

Cults and false religions—not to mention the perversion that often comes into Christianity—are very deceptive.

How can we—as GracePointe Church—seek to keep our thoughts about God pure? Right?

One man said “The greatest danger regarding cults … is complacency—considering ourselves and our children to be immune from [cultic] attraction. If Christ is not the center of a Christian’s life, that Christian is ripe for another spirit.…”

Max Anders, Galatians-Colossians, vol. 8, Holman New Testament Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1999), 300.

When we recognize that our treasure is in Christ we commit ourselves to growing in the knowledge of Christ.

We seek to understand those things that we treasure.

Paul was concerned that some of the members of the church at Colossae would be “deluded” by persuasive arguments.

To be deluded is to be carried away by false arguments or false reason.

Deluded is used in only other place in the Bible, . Here, the person who is a *hearer* of the word and not a *doer* of the Word is someone who has *deluded* themselves.

In other words, the result of not obeying the Word of God is that we delude ourselves into believing things that are not true.

Some delude themselves into believing they have been saved when they have not.

The tool used by false teachers to deceive or to delude others is *persuasive speech.* False teachers use untrue but persuasive arguments to lead people astray.

That is certainly prominent today. False teachers who play on the emotions of people rather than straightforward teaching of the Word of God.

There are many persuasive voices within our culture that seek to lead you from Christ. They appeal to your fallen human nature. They promise what your fallenness desires.

Just as Eve looked at the fruit of the tree and it was good for food, delightful to the eyes, and would make one wise, so do false teachers appeal to your needs, your desires, and your ego to get you to bite.

But they are persuasive words that lead you from Jesus Christ.

This past week I was continuing to move some of my library from the east Campus to the West Campus. I have two boxes of books that were filled with false teachings.

I have studied many false religions so that I can speak intelligently to the truth of Christianity.

Many of those books you would not be surprised would be considered false teachings. The Koran. The Book of Mormon. The New World Translation of the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Others you might be surprised because of the subtlety of their false teaching and the slick marketing campaign which makes them appealing.

Some promise that you can have your best life now. Others giving “testimony” of going to heaven and returning in order to convince you that Heaven is Real.

Some promising an experience with God apart from the Bible, as if Jesus is Calling apart from the Word of God. And one that creates a false picture of the triune God as you vacation in a shack.

My prayer is that our understanding of God will be true to God’s revelation of himself in the Bible.

We can disagree about many things. We can disagree about who should have won the World Series. We can disagree about who is the best football team. We can disagree whether chocolate or vanilla ice cream is best.

We cannot disagree about from where we seek our understanding about God!

The most important thing that you think is what you think when you think about God.

I am praying that each of us is filled with the beauty of the vision of the risen Savior.

Our faithfulness as a church is dependent upon our pure and biblical thinking about Jesus Christ.

Pray for GracePointe to be faithful in our walk with Christ (6-7)

Our pure and biblical thinking necessarily affects the way that we live our lives. One cannot think about the God correctly and not be changed by what they have thought.

The Bible says that our *thought* influences our *walk*. Verse 6 tells us to “walk in Christ.”

Notice who are the ones who are expected to walk in Christ: those who “have received Jesus Christ as Lord.”

The Bible is calling us to consistency. “If you have received Christ, then live as if you have received Christ.”

If we have indeed recognized the Lordship of Jesus Christ as was shown to us in 1:15-20, then we should live like we really believe what we confess.

When we are living consistently with what we have confessed, there is a four-fold result:

1. We are firmly rooted. This reminds of the words of Psalmist to those who delight in the Law of the Lord in : they are “like a tree firmly planted by the streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season. Its leaf does not whither; and whatever he does prospers.”

2. We are being built up. The first is a metaphor of gardening. This is one is a metaphor for building or construction. If you walk in Christ, you will be “built up.” This reminds us of the Temple. As we continue to walk in Christ, we are being fitted into the Temple as dwelling place for God in the Spirit.

3. We are established. If “firmly rooted” is a gardening term and “built up” is a construction term, “established” is a legal term. The NIV uses the word “strengthens,” but it is better to think of the legal context. By saying we have “established,” the Bible is saying that as we walk in Christ consistently, we are bearing legal evidence that we belong to Christ. If it were illegal for you to be a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?

4. We are overflowing with gratitude. As we are growing in Christ—we are being rooted, built up, and established, our lives begin to “overflow with thankfulness.” Listen, if you are a Christian, you cannot live in opposition to the Word of God and find joy. You cannot contradict the witness of the Spirit and be thankful. He will convict you. He will make you uncomfortable. He does not let the sheep find happiness in living in the pigpens.

We cannot walk faithfully with the Lord if we are not witnessing to unbelievers.

A church that is genuine and true and biblical is a church that desires to see unbelievers come to know Christ. Being faithful to the Lord means that we want to see the lost brought to Jesus.

Paul did everything that he did so that the name of Jesus might be heard everywhere and by everyone.

We should have that same desire.

Conclusion

My desire—and I hope that yours—is that GracePointe will:

· Be knit together in love

· Be pure in our thoughts of Christ

· Be faithful in our walk with Christ

These three things are a large step in what it means for us to be a genuine and true and biblical church.

This is my desire. I am praying that it will be your desire.

Invitation

Ultimately, a true and genuine and biblical church is a church that knows the salvation of Jesus Christ. They know the significance of the Cross. They have the hope of the Return of Christ and our own resurrection.

In other words, they are church that will not be moved from the gospel.

If you are here today and you have never responded to the gospel, we are going to give you the opportunity to do that now.