Alive in Christ

New trends

I wonder if you have ever heard the name, Marie Kondo?

She was someone I became aware of last year when various memes about her started popping up in my Facebook feed.

It turns out she released a TV show on Netflix last year, but as I don’t have Netflix, I missed out.

So for those who are unaware of her, she is someone who is obsessed with tidying up. On the show, which was called “Tidying up with Marie Kondo”, she would go into someones house that was very cluttered to help them clean. As she went through the house, she would get the owner to hold an item up and would ask them: does that spark joy? If the answer was no, then it would get tossed out.

Apparently this started a big craze as people discovered that they could find joy in having less. I’ve heard that in the few weeks after it first aired, there were notable increases in the number of donation at charity shops.

I remember after the show, I started hearing a lot more about a movement (if that’s the right word) called minimalism. Although, I can’t say it is a lifestyle that I’ve adopted.

But really, this is just one trend among many. As a society, new ideas come and go. There’s usually always some latest diet we should be on. Or perhaps it’s fitness.

Sometimes the trend is around games. For a while there, it seemed like everyone was addicted to that silly game on the phone called “candy crush”.

It seems to me like society is just itching for the next thing as if it is going to fill a hole in their life.

Particularly in this period of covid, we’re all the more taking up new hobbies or practices because we need to fill our life with something.

You see, sometimes it feels like life just isn’t quite right, whether in covid or not. And so we try to do something to make it right. So we buy more things, or if that doesn’t work, get rid of our stuff. Or perhaps we eat more carbs, or is it less carbs? Or maybe we install an app on our phone which is going to revolutionise our lives!

Surely there must be something that is going to do it for me?

You know, when you follow Paul on his missionary trips, one of the places he goes is to Athens where he gets to speak at the Areopagus.

There’s a little verse in that account which says: “All the Athenians and the foreigners who lives there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas”. You know, I don’t think we’re much different today. We want the latest idea, because surely something in their is going to make a difference to my life.

This morning, I want to suggest that it is not in another trend or practice that we are going to find that missing thing in our life, rather it’s in a person - that is, the person of Jesus Christ.

And so I want to explore the idea of what it means to find fulfillment in Christ.

Walk in Him

Well, we continue this morning in Paul’s letter to the church of Colossae.

And today, you could say that we start to get into the main section of the letter.

Summary of letter

To give you a quick summary of what has happened before this section of the letter, we started with a the customary greetings which moved into Paul giving thanks to God for these people and a beautiful prayer for them. And it should be remembered that Paul never actually met these people before. Unlike most of his other letters, this one wasn’t to a church he established, but rather, Paul had taken a keen interest in due to his connection with Epaphras who we assume did establish the kingdom work in the city of Colossae.

Well, after describing his prayer for them, he paints an amazing picture of Jesus who is above all creation and all of the new creation. Paul has deliberately placed this discussion early in the letter because this is going to form the basis of everything he will say afterwards.

From here, he goes into the part we looked at last week, where Paul describes his ministry and the reasons why he is doing what he is doing.

Walk in Christ

Now, as we move to verses 6 and 7 of chapter 2, what we find is Paul making a statement which will set the tone for most of the remainder of the letter.

He says: “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord...”

(you see, there is the link with his discussion on Christ)

“…continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him...”

(again notice that focus on Christ)

“strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness”.

So remember that this is a young church, we can start to see the main objective of this letter from these two verses.

Paul wants their lives to become entwined with Christ, and in the process, gaining strength and a spirit of thankfulness.

Essentially, this will be the basis of my messages for the next few weeks.

Following Paul’s line of thought in this letter, I’ll be exploring different aspects of how we can ensure our lives become more and more rooted in Christ, and in the process, we’ll become more like him.

Walking

Now, I just want to make one quick observation from this before I move into the specific aspect that we will look at today.

You see, the words that have been translated as “continue to live you lives...” at the end of verse 6, is actually just one Greek word which could have been more simply translated (as it is in the ESV) as “walk”.

That is to say, Paul is saying that he wants us to walk in Christ.

Now, I think the sense of how the NIV has translated it is correct, but I love the imagery that goes with walking.

You see, to walk carries a connotation of being on a journey. And the thing about a journey is that things change. Within a single journey you go through some beautiful sections, some barren land, some steep painful streets, and some easy parts. But through all of it, the good and the hard, it’s the same instruction. Stay in Christ.

Don’t go off track

Now there is one aspect of a journey which I want to pick up on today. And that is the aspect of getting lost.

I love exploring bush tracks. The place our family often goes for holidays has a bit of bush land around it, and I love to go running in these areas. I generally follow a track that I’m familiar with, but every now and then I decide to take a different track. Now I’ve never been completely lost, but there have been a few times when I’ve got myself quite disoriented.

Well, a similar thing happens on the Christian journey, and I think this is what Paul’s got in mind for today’s lesson in how to stay rooted in Christ.

You see, the Christian journey is about staying in Christ.

But, this is where I want to bring back the ideas I suggested at the start of this message.

We see others on different tracks, and we listen to some lies. Lies that tell us that our journey can be made better if we just add a few things.

It can start out very innocently.

In fact, part of the journey is that you get to enjoy the good things of God’s creation. And a lot of the things we add is just that - enjoying God’s good creation.

But there is a line we cross. A line where whatever it is we are adding to our life becomes the main focus of our lives.

Let’s take an example. Let’s say on our life journey we become excited by fitness. Now, this is a good thing. Being fit is a way to treat your God given body well. For most people who go to the gym or go out for a run, this is something that should be encouraged.

But, there is a line. And it is a line that can be crossed without realising. That line comes when this is the place we start to find fulfillment.

The reality is, I could have replaced fitness with anything we might add in our lives. The problem comes when this is where we find fulfillment.

Hollow and deceptive philosophy

So let’s take this back to our passage this morning. Paul’s concern for the people at Colossae is hollow and deceptive philosophy.

Remember this is a young church that we’re dealing with. They haven’t been grounded very long in the truths that they have been taught. And so it is easy for new ideas to come up which sound pretty good.

We’re not told exactly what these are, but in some ways, the vagueness is better because it doesn’t matter what the philosophy is: if it takes away from Christ, then it lacks truth.

Philosophy

But let me just consider for a moment this word philosophy. It’s a word that actually didn’t need any translation because it is a Greek word.

In fact, it’s actually made up of two Greek words.

The first word is Phileo, which is one of the Greek words for “love”, usually designated as a brotherly love.

The second half of the word is “sophia”, which means wisdom.

So the word philosophy literally means, the love of wisdom.

So in this regard, philosophy is important to Christianity because wisdom is something that we should be seeking.

The discipline of philosophy, as it’s been practiced now for over 2000 years is actually very broad but essentially is the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality and existence.

Now here’s the thing. There are a lot of differently philosophical schools of thought out there.

Some of them are good. Some… well, not so much.

But if we say it considers the nature of knowledge, reality and existence, then on the basis of what we’ve already learnt about Christ from this letter, then any philosophical thought should have at its base, the fact that Christ is over all creation.

Where this is denied, we end up with what Paul describes as a hollow and deceptive philosophy.

You see, once we take out Christ, then we’re left with ourselves and the things we’ve created. And unfortunately, humanity has not proved that reliable. We take out the one thing that is reliable, and replace it with good intentions of others.

You see, you could say one philosophical line of thought today is: life is short so live it up. (actually, while not exact, it’s similar to the Epicureans thinking that Paul came against in Athens).

You see, it’s taken Christ out. It lacks any substance. But it is so easy to be taken captive by this way of thinking.

Paul was concerned for this young church of Colossae that they would get caught up in these shallow ideas.

Understanding Christ

The antidote to such thinking is actually quite simple: understand how Christ is everything for us.

And to help us with this antidote, Paul makes a similar statement to the way he started his description of Christ back in chapter 1. Back then he described Christ as the image of the invisible God. This time, he describes Christ as having all the fullness of the Deity living in bodily form.

I think both in chapter 1, and again here in chapter 2, Paul is very keen to ensure his readers are under no allusion that Jesus Christ is God in the flesh. He is not just another amazing teacher or good leader - he is God, come down from heaven to Earth.

And as he goes on to say in verse 10, in Christ, we have been brought to fullness.

You see, here’s the thing. It is all those things that we add to our lives… those ones which I described earlier which we think is going to make our lives more fulfilling… but in Christ, we have fulfillment.

Christ is over all things - so no matter what you are trying to understand, make sure you have Christ in the picture.

Circumcision

But then Paul takes aim at a particular practice of the Jews - circumcision.

Now I say it was a practice of the Jews, but that’s not to say is was just a man made invention. God did institute it for the Jews. But it had a very special purpose for this people. It was to mark them out.

But now here’s the thing. You see, there’s something quite appealing to a physical mark. When something is physical, you can see it and it can be easily confirmed whether it is there or not.

Now while it served a purpose for the Jews, it can become a stumbling block for others. That’s because it becomes another thing that we place in our way - and that thing takes away from Christ.

Now circumcision is not wrong. But like a everything, when we make it a part of salvation, then it is taking away from Christ.

The interesting thing is that in this passage, we actually find Paul re-imagining circumcision, but in such a way that keeps Christ front and centre.

That’s because, circumcision was always meant to be a mark that were part of God’s people, but Christ now becomes that mark for us.

And so in a sense, anyone who has called on the name of the Lord has been circumcised, not necessarily in the physical sense, but in the sense that our sinful nature has been put off by the work of Christ.

Baptism

And watch what Paul does here - you see, he seamlessly moves from this picture of circumcision to Baptism. It’s not that he lost his train of thought, it’s that all of these marks work together.

You see, in a similar way that circumcision signifies the cutting off of sinful flesh, baptism also symbolises the washing off of the sinful nature.

But the symbolism of baptism takes it even further, because in baptism we get the identification of rising with Christ.

Now there is something to be careful about here. It is easy to make baptism just like what circumcision was to the Jews - just something you do as almost a quick fix.

When baptism becomes just another thing to be done, then we’ve made it just another hollow and deceptive philosophy. The power of baptism is only found when it draws us closer to Christ.

Now essentially, what Paul has done is to take this practice of circumcision and shown that when it’s stripped of Christ, it’s just another hollow and deceptive practice. But when we see how it relates to Christ it once again regains power.

The work of Christ

Once we get into verse 13, Paul digs even deeper into the significance.

And I want to suggest, that if we want to talk philosophy, then this really shows why Christ is important. You see, I defined philosophy as describing the fundamental nature of life, reality and existence.

Well, without Christ, we are dead. Though we fight, we are powerless against the sin that so easily entangles. Our existence is a dead end.

But in Christ we find forgiveness. Not just a weak flimsy sentiment - but a powerful forgiveness that breaks us free from our entanglement.

We can try all sorts of things to try to find fulfillment in our lives, but without Christ, that entanglement will remain. And for this reason, while you might feel momentary feelings of joy, ultimately we won’t be free.

In forgiveness, Christ cancels the charge - he takes all that hold us back, having nailed it to the cross.

And just look at verse 15: “And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross”.

You see, the freedom we find in Christ is all encompassing. It frees us from our guilt, but it also frees us from the external powers that bring us down.

Conclusion

So the first step in being rooted in Christ, is not allowing the hollow and deceptive philosophy to become captive in our lives.

To do this, we need to become aware of when any new practice we find is taking us away from Christ.

This does not mean you shouldn’t do that diet, or become a minimalist, or whatever practice you might find. Most (although perhaps not all), are not inherently good or bad.

But the key is figuring out when they become the thing in our life which we are trying to find fulfillment in.

When something is part of God’s creation, it is good - but when we make it the main thing, we need to have the alarm bells ringing.

So test everything. Ask whether you can honour God in that activity.

And keep always front and centre in your mind that our freedom comes only because Christ has set us free.

In this freedom you will find fulfillment, and this, at the end of the day, is the only real fulfillment that will ever be real in your life.

So fill up on Christ, and don’t let the hollow and deceptive philosophies of this world take you captive.

Let me pray...