Walk in Him
Notes
Transcript
Big Idea:
Big Idea:
Tension: How should those who have received Christ walk?
Resolution: Continually in him, in both their external and internal lives.
Exegetical Idea: Those who have received Christ should continue to walk in him both their external and internal lives.
Theological Idea: Those who have been united to Christ should continue to walk in him in both outwardly and inwardly.
Homiletical Idea: If we have received Christ, let us continue to walk in Him outwardly and inwardly.
Outline
Outline
Introduction: Now what?
As you have received Christ Jesus the Lord
received/heard/believed - The Colossians had heard this message preached by Epaphras. God had called him and Paul to preach this message. The COlossians heard it and believed it.
Christ Jesus the Lord
(The image of the invisible GOd) Son of the Father - Paul is summarizing what he has already told them right. So when he says Jesus Christ teh Lord, he wants them to know he is saying that Jesus Christ is fully God. That he is totally and fully divine.
(Firstborn over all creation) Son of man - But he is also totally human. Right? He became human. So he is the God-man. he entered into human flesh and lived in a human body.
He died. Because he was divine he could bear the divine side of the penalty. He could bear an eternal wrath and the eternal weight of God’s wrath against our sin. But he can reconcile creation to God because he was the firstborn of creation. He is not merely removing God’s wrath against Creation, but he is putting his righteous status on creation.
He rose again. - And because the grave was not strong enough to hold him, he rose again. Because sin was not greater than slavation, he was resurrected. Because death could not have the final word, he brought life.
In Him - And those who receive him, those who ahve believed in him, those who have put their faith in him, share in his death and his resurrection. They are found in him. Therefore, they are reconciled to God. Their sins were nailed to the cross, and they have peace by the blood of the cross. But they also share in his resurrection. We have the “hope of glory”. We really are “raised with Christ” now, and we will experience that fullness when Christ returns. The holiness of Christ pushes back sin and it begins to recede and retreat. Even as we die, Scripture tells us we are being renewed day by day. And one day, that long construction project, that long renewal and rehabilitation will be complete. One day, we will be glorified. So we have this amazing reality of salvation by virtue of our union with Christ.
Application: Grace - ANd we see that there is absolutely no ground here for boasting. You cannot take credit for being a Christian. There is no room for Pharisees here. Because to receivbe CHrist is to admit, I cannot save myself. It is to admit I need his help. I need his mercy. I have sin and I cannot get it out myself.
so walk in him
Walk in him - So if this is true, what then? What should we do? How should we live? Is this just a get-out-of-jail-free card that we put in our back pocket? Is this just an investment that we’ll get back later? No of course not! Paul says, you have this identity in Him, so live like it! If you really are in Him, you should walk like it. Become who you are. To not walk in him would be like saying that you have a million dollars in the bank, and to live homeless under a bridge. To walk in him is to have his glory permeate everything we are. This is one of Paul’s favorite words to describe the Christian life:
We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.
And what we see here is that just as we cannot walk in Christ as Pharisees, neither can we walk in him as libertines. God calls all of us without regard to the cross, but those who receive him as savior must also receive him as Lord. We cannot go on still sinning and call him our Messiah. We may have been a tax collector when we became a Christian, but the call of the gospel is a call to grow and progress and walk in him.
rooted and built up in him - Our outer life. How we handle our relationships with others.
rooted (3:16-17) - Image of a root planted in the ground. And here, Paul I think is particularly thinking of the assembly of believers the church. As we gather here every week to receive his Word, to sing his praises, to partake of the table, to confess and repent, we are being rooted in Christ. Paul will say in 3:16… It’s at the church, where we unite as his body. We grow in our union iwth Christ. We are rooted in him togehter. One of the msot amazing things about our life in Christ is that it is not a life alone. It is the life we live together.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
and built up (3:18-4:6) - This is a construction image that means to build a house on something. And I think, as soon as Paul would have mentioned the word “house” or something related to it, he wants us to realize he means the relationshiops that we have. And directly following his instructions about the church, Paul in his letter is going to give the Colossians instructions for how they should conduct their relationships. He’s going to tell servants and masters how to get along, eh’s going to tell husbands and wives what is healthy, he’s going to instruct children and parents how to honor one another, he’s going to tell us how to live towards both other believers and unbelievers.
And Pauls’ point is, if you are not rooted in Christ, and remember by that he means engaged in teh life of the church, then the rest of you outward life, how you handle your vocation, how you handle your marriage, how you handle yoru children, your relationships with other Christians and nonChristians, will suffer. If the Word of CLhrist is not dwelling richly in you, if you are not rooted in him, if you are not gathering with other believers, then your other relationships will suffer.
and established in the faith just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving - Now, Paul pivots here to talk about our internal life.
established in the faith just as you were taught (2:8-3:4) - Paul says that we are “established” in teh faith. And this word means to stand steadfastly on smoething. And Paul wants us to stand firmly and steadfastly on the true faith, true doctrine, truth about God that has beenr evealed to us. The church in every generation has a responsibility to love, cherish, and hold onto the truth that they were taught. And each individual Christian has a responsibility to know God, and to not uby into false doctrine. Hebrews 13 says seomthing very similar… And we actually see that Paul is going to correct some false teaching in the rest of chapter 2. Because as he says in vs. 8, “see to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit...” Paul wants each us to hold onto the truth of the faith. This is how each of us can walk in him, is by knowing what is true about him and clinging to him. Or as Paul says in 3:1-4...
Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them.
abounding in thanksgiving (3:5-3:15) - And he wants us to abound in thanksgiving. That our hearts should overflow, be overwhelmed and overflow with thanksgiving to God. That our inteernal lives should be so well calibrated to what God has given us, that we can’t help but overflow. And this is what it means to walk in him. This is why Paul ends talking about our internal life by saying in 3:15...
NOw it is crucial to understand the link between being steadfast and overflowing. If you are not steadfast in the faith, if you are not thinking of the things above, if you are not on guard against false teaching and false doctrnie, then you will not overflow with thanksgiving. You see your internal life starts with what you know or think to be true about God and Christ. And if your mind is not set on the peace of CHrist, if he does not rule over your heart and mind and soul, then you will never be thankful. But when your mind is set on Christ, then you cannot help but be calibrated to him.
Summarize: If we have received Christ, if we have put our faith in him, if we recognize our need for him, we will walk in him, we will die to sin, we will synthesize our entire lives to him....
Conclusion: Be Thou My Vision...
