Rejoicing in Christ

Col 2:4-7 “I say this so that no one will delude you with persuasive argument. For even though I am absent in body, nevertheless I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good discipline and the stability of your faith in Christ. Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.”

1. INTRODUCTION

2. BODY

a. Growing in Christ (2:4-5)

i. Paul starts verse 4 by telling us that nobody will delude you with persuasive arguments. Paul tells us who this Christ is. This Christ is the hidden mystery of God and the treasure of wisdom and all true knowledge. This theology, has a practical purpose. It is to keep believers from being deceived.

ii. The word here for persuasive arguments is better understood as reasonable (합당한) arguments (주장). I think much of the world today uses reasonable arguments to cause people to walk away from Jesus. We hear arguments about morality and often the question of the problem of evil. If God was truly good, why would He create a universe where there is so much evil and suffering? People make reasonable claims here to say that God can’t be good because He just allows this type of suffering.

iii. It sounds reasonable and many people fall for it. Many of us even accept this truth as well. We might not think God doesn’t exist but we are discouraged because we feel like God allows this and we don’t understand why. So when we read verse 4, Paul is telling us don’t be deceived by these reasonable claims. He is writing to us the truth of who Jesus is, to help us combat these arguments.

iv. I think this is helpful because it helps us understand that the doctrine of Christ (Christology) is extremely practical. It’s not just a sophisticated truth, but it helps us combat the most reasonable arguments. How does it answer these arguments?

v. Quite simply, why does God allow evil in this world? I think the best answer to this problem is that He allows the negative to help us see the positive. What do I mean by this? Well we can look at light and darkness. To understand what light is, we must have darkness. Without darkness, there is no understanding of light. Similar to this, God gives both perspectives to give full understanding. This is similar to why God allows evil and suffering. If we are to truly understand the greatness and depth of salvation, we must understand fully the depth of our sin and the weight of that sin.

vi. Most of the time, because of our light view of sin, we feel like we deserve or we merit only the kindness of God. We think to ourselves that God is supposed to make our lives happy and fulfilling. But the purpose of salvation is not to make our lives happy or fulfilling. It’s to help us recognize the kindness of God in calling us as sons and daughters. As we become sons and daughters, we don’t love God because of the blessings He gives us. We love God because of who He is and what He has done. It’s not that I deserve the love of God, but He freely gives it to me although I don’t deserve it.

ix. This is what Paul is reminding us when we hear reasonable arguments as to why we shouldn’t trust in God. Paul is reminding us of the love of God in how He loved us and reconciled us to Himself through the person and work of His son Jesus Christ.

x. This is why Paul tells us in verse 5, even though I am not with you, I am rejoicing with you. This phrase is significant. When Paul says that He is rejoicing in spirit with the church at Colossae, it’s not simply a “you will be in my thoughts and prayers.” Rather, it involves a corporate sense of identity within the person of the Spirit of God. Because the Holy Spirit dwells in all believers, Paul is telling the church there that although I am not with you, it’s not just my thoughts that we with you, but the joy that I have in the Spirit of God, the very person who brings us together into one family, I am rejoicing with you in Him.

xi. This is why Paul follows by saying that he is rejoicing to see their good discipline and stability of your faith in Christ. Paul’s greatest example that he provides for us is his ability to rejoice. One of the hardest things that I have realized in pastoral ministry is this idea of rejoicing. Why? Because ministry deals with people and people disappoint us. This is why when I read this phrase with Paul, it’s as if God is telling me to rejoice. Be thankful. Instead of looking at the things that people aren’t doing, look at what Christ is doing and has done. It’s interesting to note that Paul writes that he is rejoicing and seeing your good discipline. How could he be seeing if he’s not present? Is it just a euphemism?

xii. No. Paul’s seeing is accompanied by rejoicing. And what he rejoices to see is how disciplined you are and how firm your faith in Christ is. This is better translated “your order and the firmness of your faith in Christ.” Both “order” and “firmness” are used in military contexts, and a number of interpreters think that Paul uses them in this sense. Paul is like a general, inspecting his troops and rejoicing to see that they are displaying the disciplined formation, and their firmness to not change formation despite the current and environment.

xiii. Paul’s context here is that false teachers were trying to delude them from the truth. This doesn’t mean that all the people at Colossae were doing exactly what Paul wished. I am sure there were some people there that were flaky and didn’t keep their promises. I am sure that he was discouraged at times with people he was ministering to. But he didn’t focus on those things. He focused on the fact that they were still growing in Christ. When we consider what Paul was dealing with the false teachers, they were trying to cause these believers to fall astray. Because of this urgency in teaching them to stand firm, he was more focused on them staying the course rather than looking at what they weren’t doing. Therefore, Paul’s imagery here is to encourage his listeners of their growth in Christ. It is to remind them that they won’t do everything perfect, but to be rejoicing that people are growing, even if its slowly, in Christ. He rejoiced to see they were able to hold a formation despite the current of the false teaching to hold firm in their faith in Christ.

Important to recognize that 1:29 is speaking to this. They were able to stand firm in their faith in Christ because of the power that God was providing them to stand firm. There is an amazing balance between this tension. We don’t want to minimize the fact that we have a duty as well, but God provides the sustaining power. Therefore, he was rejoicing in them in spirit because He was the sustaining work of God working in them.

b. Walking in Christ (2:6-7)

i. So now that Paul has encouraged his listeners to keep their formation and their firmness against the teaching, He tells them to continue their walk in Christ. Paul starts verse 6 by writing therefore. Paul uses therefore to summarize what he’s said before. He’s told them about how the false teachers will try to lie to them and mislead them. How do we combat all false teaching?

ii. Paul tells us the antidote to the problem of heresy. It’s to receive Christ Jesus the Lord and walk in Him.

iii. Paul starts by reminding them. He reminds them to receive Christ Jesus the Lord. The word “receive” often has the idea of believers receiving a Christian tradition that has been “delivered” to them. That in “receiving Christ,” they were also receiving the “tradition” about him is evident from 2:7, where reference to their “faith” is directly followed by “just as you were taught.” And this received tradition is set in immediate contrast to the false “tradition of men.” Thus, “receiving Christ” is equally a personal and an intellectual commitment though the message they passed on was about Christ Himself as a person.

iv. What’s else is important here is that the answer to all heresies is to understand the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul is telling them, “continue to live your lives in Him.” Paul is reminding his listeners that if they have received the message of who this Christ is, if He truly is the God of the universe and Lord over all creation, then continue to give yourselves to His service. Continue to serve Him as Lord and Savior. Continue to labor and seek obedience. This is referring back to 1:10, where Paul reminds his readers to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord.

v. What is it to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord? To please Him in all respects and bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.

vi. How are we to do this? Paul tells us They have been “rooted” (perfect passive participle) in their Christian faith in the past (a past yet ongoing condition), and they are continuing to be “built up in Him and established (present participles) in their faith.” Paul uses architectural language here to show us that our foundation is Him. Notice what Paul writes, that you were built up in Him and established in your faith in Him.

vii. How were they established and built up in Him? They were told of who this Christ was in verse 2:3. This Christ is the treasure of all wisdom and knowledge and this Christ is also the Christ that you have received as Lord. Paul reminds the hearers that they were “overflowing with thanksgiving” in response to their “instruction.” This gratitude is the spontaneous manifestation of the divine presence and power within them, as they enjoy daily fellowship with Christ.

Are we rejoicing over this? Do we rejoice over the fact that we have been built up in Him and are established in Him because of the strength that He provides us daily? The more we think about this, we more thankful we are. But Satan will always try to convince us not to think about these truths and convince us there are more important things to worry about. But the more we are reminded and dwell upon these truths, it helps us to continually be built up in Him and be established in our faith. What is the result of this? Paul writes overflowing with gratitude. It’s hard to be overflowing with gratitude if we aren’t thinking about these things.

A little perspective. The more I think about how wonderful my wife is, the more gratitude I have for her. The more thankful I am to God for providing me my wife, it helps me to have more gratitude to God. This is how we learn how to rejoice in Christ. We must continually be reminded of His saving grace. We must constantly think about His finished work of salvation on our behalf. The more we dwell upon these truths, the more we will be overflowing in our gratitude.

viii. Paul concludes by reminding the church at Colossae of their joy when they heard about this Christ. He was telling them not to deviate from this teaching because of the false teachers, but to hold firm to what they were originally instructed. This is a great message for us too. There are so many things that can cause us to deviate from the Gospel, but as Paul reminds the church at Colossae, the greatest truth is the simplest truth. It is the simple truth that Christ came to reconcile sinners to Himself through His death and resurrection. The better we understand this simple truth, the better we can combat all false teaching and every lie Satan will use to convince us.

3. CONCLUSION