Alive in Christ

Introduction

Right after Paul’s statement of his ministry to the church Paul continues to warn the church not to fall into the traps of all the different philosophies of the false religions around them but he encourages them with something greater. He encourages them to be alive in Christ and to walk in him. Which is bigger than a religious system that promises Jesus and more. They didn’t understand the point of Jesus and His sufficiency for all believers. Once you have tasted and seen of the Lord you know it is good and you never want to go back. When you experience the Lord you serve him joyfully. When you experience Jesus you have tasted from a well of living water that never runs dry. You don’t want to chase after other things because you have found the one who has given your soul rest and meaning and purpose. Praise Jesus!!!!!

Continue in Christ (v. 6-7)

Receive the teaching of Jesus and the good news

Walk in him (see verse 1:10 “so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;”)

Be rooted in Christ. You can’t be grow roots when you’re constantly moving to different soil.

The idea is a once and for all planting and rooting in Christ Jesus. Just like a tree when planted is planted to grow and dig deep roots in the soil that it is planted in. Trees do not grow deep and strong and tall and unwavering when they are continually pulled up and moved to another location. They need a consistent place in order to root properly which ultimately makes a tree more sturdy and unwavering.

Be built up on the foundation of Christ. You can’t build a house on a faulty foundation.

The idea here is a continual growth like the building of a house. The longer into the project the more structure is there. The more walls are put up. The more stability comes as the building becomes more and more whole. Paul is telling the young Colossian church to take a stronger grasp upon the faith that they possess.

Be overwhelmingly thankful to God. You can’t be thankful when you’re focused on yourself.

The idea here is like a cup that continues to pour over. A mark of a church growing in maturity is their thankfulness to God. (3:15 “And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.” 3:17 “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” 4:2 “Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.”) At least 15 psalms are psalms of thanksgiving and they usually follow psalms of lament where God rescued his people out of a dangerous or bad situation. We must ALWAYS be looking at and counting up the reasons why we should be thankful to God.

You are complete in Christ (2:8-15)

Anything added to Christ is made by man and ultimately will perish.

Do not let ANYONE take you captive by any EMPTY deceit or delude you with plausible arguments because in God’s mystery, which is Christ is where all the hidden treasures of wisdom and knowledge are. Again Paul is shooting down the need to add anything to Christ and his sufficiency for our faith, our lives, our conduct, our salvation, or our maturity. Everything in Christ is all that we need. We don’t need some extra law system or some gnostic belief system that promises us some further enlightenment. Or today all of the sneaky religions or lack there of that say we can keep Jesus but we need this also. Paul is telling us NOOOO let nobody convince you or steal you away with other philosophies that are ultimately man made and of this world that will eventually perish.

Jesus was fully God and fully man and is the head of all authority. All power structures, ancient or modern, whether political, economic or racial, have the potential to become rivals to Christ, beckoning his followers to submit themselves to them in order to find a fuller security.

How simple is it that we can look to Christ for full dependency and sufficiency? How attractive is that to you? How amazing is that to you? How much weight does that throw off of your shoulders that you don’t need to look anywhere else for fulfillment anymore? You don’t have to search anywhere else and if you are a Christian and you are looking for fulfillment or you are seeking dependency somewhere else…STOP!!!! All your problems are coming from the fact that you’re worth is wrapped up in something else. It may be an instrument, a style, a sport, a person, a success driven life, a game system, a friend group. All of those are great things but they make HORRIBLE GODS. The idea that Jesus doesn’t want to compete for your attention should strike you at the heart. He waits patiently for you to sit at His feet but there will be a day when He comes back that He won’t be waiting anymore He will be judging. He wants you to rest. He wants you to lay your burdens at his feet. He wants to take the stress off of your shoulders. He wants you to make him first in your life but you are holding so tightly to all of those other things that plague you because you haven’t let go of control and handed them to God.

The Holy Spirit circumcises the heart spiritually. Baptism is a picture of the doorway of Christ death into Christ’s life.

Paul is combating the Jewish leaders that are telling others to have physical circumcision done when the circumcision that they have was done spiritually NOT BY HANDS but on the heart and that birthed them into newness of life in Christ Jesus. Also, baptism becomes the imagery of a gateway to the Christian life, demonstrating that being a Christian means dying with Christ to our old ways and habits and coming alive to the new family of God and its new lifestyle. There must be change in the life of the believer consistent with Scripture and a daily dying to oneself and living for Christ. “To live is Christ and to die is gain.” We not only have faith in Christ but faith in the God that raised Christ from the dead and raised us from the dead with Him. This is not only a fact about Jesus but a truth about God. That He is all powerful and is the one who had the authority to raise Jesus and has the authority to raise us from the dead.

Because of Christ’s resurrection we are free from the law’s demands.

The main thought running through this whole passage is that “new Christians have been united in baptism with the death and resurrection of Christ, and so have exchanged their previous status of Gentiles and outside of the people of God for that of forgiven sinners, welcomed into a family circle beyond the reach of legal accusation or previous national loyalties”.

God forgave us of all of our sins. But how?? God has, through the death of Jesus on the cross, erased the Torah’s demands. No longer do the Jews need to be under its curse; no longer can it keep Gentiles out of God’s family. It can no longer bar the way to the life of the age to come.

Conclusion