Continuing in Christ
Notes
Transcript
Scripture reading, Ezekiel 36:26-27
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*****ANNOUNCE- LOOKING for TEAM of VOLUNTEERS who will find 1ST TIME VISITORS, or people who haven’t been here in a while.
PLEASE STAY FOR FELLOWSHIP TODAY.
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Recap: New Kingdom Living- LAST WEEK we spoke on the HOPE of GLORY, that the NEW COVENANT in CHRIST’S BLOOD was a MYSTERY REVEALED, and that PAUL SOUGHT to PRESENT BELIEVERS before God as MATURE and DEVOTED...
** TURN to Colossians 2:6
***READ PASSAGE & PRAY
Intro:
Intro:
HELP me FINISH this QUOTE. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”
another....from BOSS...“Better is the enemy of good”
PEOPLE BUYING NEW CAR BEFORE OLD ONE BREAKS....SUDDENLY UNRELIABLE?
HUMAN TENDENCY TO REPLACE THINGS, GET BORED WITH THINGS...
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MUST be WATCHFUL for COMPLACENCY....YET IDEAS are RELEVANT to BIBLICAL TEXT.
For PAUL BEGINS by basically saying, AS you RECEIVED JESUS, CONTINUE in this FAITH/IN HIM…if THE FAITH ISN’T BROKE DON’T FIX IT…SUFFICIENCY OF CHRIST THROUGH WHOLE OF POST-CONVERSION LIFE.
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Text: Colossians 2:6-15
Text: Colossians 2:6-15
Colossians 2:6–15 (ESV)
6 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him,
7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.
These verses are the TURNING POINT of the ENTIRE LETTER… note “therefore”....
RECEIVING CHRIST = SUMMARY of 1ST HALF...
WALK IN HIM = SUMMARY of 2ND HALF - (ETHICAL COMMANDS)
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RECEIVED (AORIST) - COMPLETED EVENT/ SEEN HOLISTICALLY…PAST.
RECEIVED CHRIST HIMSELF (& TRADITION OF FAITH)
**ALSO, CHRIST AS LORD---DIVINE & SOVEREIGN.
WALK = PRESENT TENSE...ONGOING, CONTINUAL
CONTINUE IN CHRIST & IN THE FAITH.
Big Idea: Receiving Christ and the gift of salvation might be a past event, but living for Christ & overflowing with thanksgiving should continually characterize the Christian life.
IN LIGHT OF PAST SALVATION - WE LIVE FOR CHRIST TODAY...
SERIES IDEA - “New Kingdom Living
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(V7) Being rooted, built up, and established are all participles that modify how one is to walk…LIVE in such a way that you are THOROUGHLY ESTABLISHED in CHRIST alone.
ESTABLISHED means “to PUT SOMETHING BEYOND DOUBT” - to confirm/establish
ROOTED in HIM...UNION....CONNECTED-NESS W/ JESUS....JOHN 15 APART FROM HIM - NOT ABLE TO DO NOTHING!
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(V7) IN ALL of THESE THINGS, ABOUND in THANKSGIVING....believers are to HAVE an ABUNDANCE of, to EXCEL in THANKFULNESS.
GRATITUDE should CHARACTERIZE the CHRISTIAN LIFE!.....BEGINNING, MIDDLE, & END!
GRATITUDE = NOT TAKING THINGS FOR GRANTED...
EVER EXPERIENCE INGRATITUDE, NATURALLY?
HOW MUST JESUS FEEL?
10 LEPERS....
“IF I HAD LEPROSY” ---ALL of US HAD WORSE THAN LEPROSY, ...DEPRAVITY!
Doug Moo - “True gratitude for God’s grace is an important offensive measure against the false teaching”
GRATITUDE/CONTENTMENT FIGHT OFF TEMPTATIONS...
CHRIST IS ENOUGH, REMAIN GRATEFUL...
If Christ is all you have, you have all you need.
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8 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.
While TRADITIONS can be GOOD…they can ALSO be terribly BAD…
JESUS had told the PHARISEES that they EMPTIED the WORD of GOD of its POWER.... THROUGH their TRADITION !
All our traditions must be subservient to the word of God…we never want to submit the Word to our traditions.
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The GOSPEL MESSAGE is NOT a HUMAN TRADITION! ---PAUL’S GOSPEL CAME from REVELATION from JESUS CHRIST....NOT MAN-MADE!!
Here he says NOT to be TAKEN CAPTIVE, literally “CARRIED OFF as PLUNDER” (Moo) by HUMAN TRADITION, which is CONTRARY to the TRUTHS of the GOSPEL.
These OTHER IDEAS/beliefs/PHILOSOPHIES are all EMPTY and UNTRUE and stand in CONTRAST to the TRUTHS of the GOSPEL.
IN CHRIST ALONE, HOPE IS FOUND....NOT JESUS +
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9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,
10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.
SUFFICIENCY/PREEMINENCE OF CHRIST ---2 WEEKS AGO.
FULLNESS of DEITY…NOT MODALISM
Deity here is a hapox legamenon
DEITY = “the state of being god- divine character/nature, divinity”
The FULLNESS of GOD’S CHARACTER & NATURE, EVERYTHING HE IS, is bound up IN CHRIST....GOD is NOT in A TEMPLE, NOT in a PLACE, etc. BUT in a PERSON- JESUS CHRIST.
DWELLING is a CONTINUAL NATURE…GOD in CHRIST, FOREVER....NO SEPARATING.
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(V10) BELIEVERS = FILLED IN HIM....ALL BLESSINGS FOUND IN CHRIST
FILLED==NT TEMPLE = BELIEVERS, BODY OF CHRIST.
“FILLED” - FULLNESS LANGUAGE.... DON’T FALL for GIMMICKS of FALSE TEACHERS.
ALL THROUGH JESUS CHRIST.
THERE’S NO “I BELIEVE IN GOD, BUT I DON’T BELIEVE IN JESUS” - THE REAL GOD IS FOUND FULLY IN JESUS CHRIST.
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(V10) CHRIST = HEAD [AUTHORITY OVER & SOURCE] of RULE and AUTHORITY--- SPIRITUAL REALM
EVIL SPIRITS HAVE THEIR SOURCE IN CHRIST! Every demon in hell and the devil himself are all on a leash and Jesus Christ reigns supreme over everything. He is sovereign and fully in control. !
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11 In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ,
12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.
CIRCUMCISION - SIGN OF O.T. COVENANT. = HUGE DEAL to JEWS.
ISSUE W/ GENTILE BELIEVERS … GALATIANS/COUNCIL OF JERUSALEM.
N.T. CIRCUMCISION - INWARD, HEART.
HINTED O.T. - DEUT. 10:16; JER. 4:4
29 But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.
GOD DESIRES OBEDIENCE FROM THE HEART…A HEART CHANGE.
RESHAPES OUR HEARTS DESIRES....
(V12) “Having been buried with him in baptism” —BAPTISM SIGN OF N.T.
BURIED WITH HIM (BAPTISM)..RAISED WITH HIM…-
= NEWNESS OF LIFE…RESURRECTION POWER NOW & ULTIMATE BODILY RESURRECTION.
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13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,
WERE DEAD- participle…CONTINUAL STATE of BEING DEAD. It was our CONDITION BEFORE CHRIST came into our lives.
SIN IS BOTH AN ACT & CONDITION (FLESHLY DESIRES), FOR THOSE OUTSIDE OF CHRIST, PRIOR TO THE CIRCUMCISION OF CHRIST on the HEART.
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BURIED, RAISED, MADE ALIVE WITH CHRIST.
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(v13) JESUS FORGAVE ALL our previous SINS & TRESPASSES....Aren’t you so THANKFUL our HEAVENLY FATHER DOESN’T HOLD a GRUDGE?
14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.
CANCEL = OBLITERATE THE CERTIFICATE PROVING DEBTS.
BDAG: “to remove so as to leave no trace, remove, destroy, obliterate”
MANKIND’S “IOU’S TO GOD!”
JESUS DIED IN OUR PLACE!
JUSTIFICATION is a FORENSIC/LEGAL VERDICT. DECLARED RIGHTEOUS
SET ASIDE DEBTS ---GK- literally he REMOVED it FROM OUR MIDST) our debts and nailed them to the cross!
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IN CHRIST we are DEBT FREE
SPIRITUAL DEBT = GREATER than MONETARY DEBT....CONSIDER the WEIGHT of this.....
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When JESUS CHRIST was being PUBLICLY put to SHAME…
spit on
mocked
beaten
whipped
crucified,
(v15) --- HE WAS PUTTING all the RULERS & PRINCIPALITIES…THAT COULD ACCUSE US TO OPEN SHAME PURCHASING OUR REDEMPTION
Open shame (GK- he MADE A PUBLIC DISPLAY) - historical context - ROMAN CONQUERING and PUBLIC HUMILIATION PARADE of VICTIMS.
That is what Christ did to all the evil spirits in the world on our behalf after conquering death and being installed as Lord of the universe!!!
(v10) had said CHRIST is the HEAD of all RULE and AUTHORITIES, and here we see why, BECAUSE the RULERS and AUTHORITIES WERE CONQUERED…PUT TO SHAME.
HE IS TRIUMPHANT! WE’RE NO LONGER SUBJECT TO THESE FORCES....
THE DEVIL CAN’T MAKE US DO ANYTHING…WE ARE TRIUMPHANT IN HIM!
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Takeaways
Takeaways
LOOK back OVER your LIFE and see if there’s AREAS that YOU have STRAYED, LOST your FIRST LOVE etc....HAS your WALK CHANGED SINCE you’ve RECEIVED HIM?
HOLDING ONTO CHRIST ALONE FOR SALVATION? - AVOIDING PRIDE/WORKS...
Big Idea: Receiving Christ and the gift of salvation might be a past event, but living for Christ & overflowing with thanksgiving should continually characterize the Christian life.
IN TIME W/ GOD- THANK HIM for the GIFT of SALVATION/NEW LIFE IN CHRIST
PUTS EVERYTHING IN LIFE IN PERSPECTIVE.
GLORIFIES GOD for his GREAT GRACE
SHOULD NEVER GET OLD. . .
If you have NEVER been BAPTIZED, you SHOULD BE
N.T. HEART CIRCUMCISION---PRAY for GOD to SHAPE your DESIRES...
LOVE what HE LOVES…HATE what HE HATES...
IF YOU FEEL GUILTY/ASHAMED/CONDEMNED BEFORE GOD,....REMEMBER ACCUSER WAS PUT TO OPEN SHAME FOR YOU....NO CONDEMNATION FOR THOSE IN CHRIST JESUS
NO SHAME OVER PAST SINS....CHRIST NAILED IOU’S TO THE CROSS!
IN CHRIST WE ARE FREE!
DIFFERENT THAN CONVICTION of H.S. OVER PRESENT SIN.
****Close in prayer