[Transcript represents full sermon's text]

       Colossians 2, starting in verse 6: “Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him” (ESV).

       We discussed last time the fact that in Christ are “hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” Wisdom and knowledge. That was the emphasis of the our last paragraph, which was the first paragraph of Colossians 2. That being the case, that explains why the “Therefore” is present in this verse—because it is telling us why we should “walk in him,” walk in Christ. Christ is our bedrock, our foundation. And what a wonderful foundation he is, because really that is the essence of life. All life stems its origin back to Christ—it was from him it came. John 1:2 "He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made” (ESV). And, verse 17 from Colossians 1: “in him all things hold together” (ESV). All of this is the basis as to why Christ is the path that should be chosen, the path among all the paths, the path above all the rest. The mystery Paul alluded to is summed up in the verse, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13, ESV).

       Also understood in reading the “Greater Love” verse, is what comes right after it. There in John 15, verse 14 says, “You are my friends if you do what I command you” (ESV). It often seems we read this verse as if its an obligation. We read it like Jesus is saying, “I will count you as my friends if you do what I say—and you’d better do it or else!” That, however, seems to miss the point. It seems better understood when the underlying tone is just a statement of fact. That is how we will know we are friends, if we do what it is that he has commanded us. That’s how the world will know. Otherwise, and it seems commonsensical, what’s the point? Why would one call themselves a Christian, a Christ follower, and not do anything which the Bible says to do? Indeed, this leads to the despair and criticism that certain folks have over Christianity, in seeing those who are supposed to be different, supposed to be better than world, supposed to be sin-free, acting like the rest of the world. This becomes the problem.

       It could be viewed that walking in Christ is good because it saves a person from Hell—and it appeases God’s anger versus a person walking in sin. That’s one way to look at it. Or, it could rather be viewed that walking in Christ is the best way to walk for multiple reasons. One, we could note that being in Christ’s consciousness is the foundation of love, of love. For sure. That’s what we find in and around Christ. “For God so loved the world…” John tells us. Or, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” the Golden Rule. Or, that which we just read, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” Yes, in and around Christ is found love. Pretty good foundation then. Or, we could say that walking in Christ saves us from the struggles, the hardships, that practicing sin brings into people’s lives. It’s easier to marry once, rather than twice. Things work out better, way better, when a person doesn’t steal. Real life changing truth is found in aligning with the truth of the Jewish God, rather than some other lesser known god.

       Interestingly enough, Paul doesn’t leave us empty handed, and we probably didn’t expect that he would. Verse 7: “so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught” (ESV).

       Given to us, then, are basically three pointers about walking in Christ, and two of which we will talk about first because they go hand-in-hand. Let us note the first one” “rooted… in him.” What does it mean to be rooted in Christ? Let’s consider the visual. Roots going into the ground. Think of roots of a tree, for instance. We know that the roots of the tree travel down into the ground to give that tree a firm standing, a ‘firm foundation.’ Ah, there it is. It’s what we’ve already been talking about. The roots allow the tree to stand up in general, and then against the elements of the world. They allow of the tree to take its place in the world. And to get a little scientific, for certainly this is not the speaker’s mind’s inclination, we also know that the roots draw up water, or feed the tree water that they get from the ground. So, nutrients. Survival even. Constant feeding. Sound familiar? Yup. This illustration from Paul, again, emphasizes the importance of a good foundation. It’s the same point Jesus himself made at the end of his great sermon in Matthew 7, with the houses and where they are built.

       But the rooting of the tree also ties into the second pointer, and that is that of being “build up in him.” It’s necessary to have the proper foundation, but maintenance is also needed, at least, to be healthy. With a tree, a healthy tree is one that is tended to from time to time. Branches might need cut off. It could even be that it needs watered due to being too dry. It’s probably easier to understand maintenance when discussing a building—using the house illustration from Jesus in Matthew 7. We easily understand how a building needs maintained. Why, there is a whole whole cable T.V. Network that is basically dedicated to that point. We can’t just build the house, or plant the tree, and walk away. Over time, things will happen, and as those things happen, maintenance is needed. Home and garden maintenance. It’s what Paul alluded to in chapter 1 in discussing the threat of false teachers, when he said, “if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard” (ESV). See, there is a choice. The Christian can shift over time, or not shift. The tree can be taken care of and grow into a healthy, old tree, super big and seemingly going in every which direction. Or it can be neglected, dry up, start to look bad, brown and whatnot, and then eventually fall over.

       This leads to the next part of the verse, “established in the faith.” At first, it sounds like Paul’s saying the same thing, just in a different way. However, there seems to be more to it. So, we are “rooted and built up in him,” and then we are “established in the faith.” It seems best to understand the word “established” here not as a foundation, like in saying, “I established a tree by planting it here.” But rather, it appears best to understand “established” as in, “The tree is now established because it has been there for a long time.” It is something that because it has been there a long time, it is now accepted as being there. We understand this, don’t we? That’s why a business usually says “Established in… whatever year it is.” The hope from the business is that in emphasizing its longevity, it will persuade the consumer to perhaps buy whatever product it is offering.” Or, to look at it another way, consider the Established Church of England. It wasn’t that the church was just ‘established,’ but the emphasis is that it has been around a long time, and it is the church that is recognized as the official church of England, the state endorsed church.

       The point in saying all this is that the Christian becomes “established” over time in walking in Christ in the right way. All the correct practice pays off. A reputation is developed that is trustworthy and admirable. This is what Paul would bring up later to Timothy, remember, in saying “He must not be a recent convert” when discussing the appointment of elders or overseers (ESV). This has been something that has been noted as a problem among modern Evangelical churches—the appointment of people before they’re ready for important, or in-front-of-others roles. “But we need people to lead,” it might be said back, “We don’t have anybody else.” Then your model is flawed. It would be better to have a couple strong, more mature leaders than several who are not “established in the faith.” Better to give more responsibility to a couple of individuals who can handle it. You don’t need so many leaders like you think you do. Recall what Paul also said to Timothy, “what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also” (2 Timothy 2:2, ESV). Being “established” is someone who can be “entrusted” and can also teach.

       So Paul says, “rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught” (ESV). Note then, that as has just been gone over, in order for one to reach the level of establishment, then one needs to be taught. The teaching then comes over time. Teaching leads to growth, just as it does with a tree. A tree doesn’t grow up into a large tree in three years. It takes time. That’s why, when you’re new to the faith, and really at any time, it’s important to be filling your life with good teaching. Listening to sermons. It can be beneficial to listen to the same sermons over and over even. It doesn’t have to be a hundred different sermons. Repetition makes it so a person can remember. It’s the cliche saying, “Practice makes perfect.” This is the beautiful thing as pertains to Christian radio. Many excellent Christian radio teachers in one place. Or, even podcasts, assuming the right ones are chosen. But at least in the beginning, one should try to align what he or she listens to with what corresponds to the teachings of their church. That lays a strong foundation. Over time, later, is when other teachings can perhaps be explored.

       Finishing verse 7: “just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving” (ESV).

       It looks like it’s best to tie in our understanding of “abounding in thanksgiving” with having received something first. And that something that we received was actually noted by Paul, for he said, “Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord” (ESV). Christ, then, Christ is our gift. The Gospel. Having a personal relationship with God now through Christ. We have to remember, and it can be easy to forget, that this whole concept would have been new to the Colossians. Certainly there were Jewish persons in the city of Colossae, but it’s also true that there were many Gentiles. For us in American society, this can be hard to grasp. Hard to grasp a whole new religion being offered. That’s because Christianity has already been here from before any of us were born. It has been around for hundreds of years here. It’s not new to us. Even if we come to believe in Jesus from a life of rebelliousness, we were still aware that his religion existed before we believed. For us, then, the experience is contrasting versus what it was for the Colossians.

       Nevertheless, what we want to get into is being thankful for what we now have—that personal relationship with God through what Christ has accomplished for us. It seems like it’s easy for the new convert to be thankful. That was the personal experience right after being saved, after really believing for the first time. To go from one of whom was just carried along by the world, with really no aim and even no discipline, to go to one who now understood how things really were in the spiritual, that Jesus was God. That the God of the Bible really was who he said he was. To be free from all the past sins—from the guilt and burden of them. The truth was so enlightening. We know then what it is like to first have the experience, well, a lot of us anyway. And we know that feeling of thankfulness that comes over us, to be finally free of the old thought construct, the old mindset, the old ways of doing things. Of course, we saw our lives change over time because now we were doing things the right way, and that naturally then begat good fruit in our lives. And that made us all the more thankful.

       And while the individual experience of thanksgiving can be discussed, there is also a collective element. The collective element is that the church, as a whole, as a body of believers, is thankful. This has been something that has been generally noticed among believers, and in varying groups. If you’re in a good group, one that is not bound by legalism or some other destructiveness like that of too many charismatic elements or whatever, then that is usually the prevailing attitude. Thankfulness. Thanksgiving. People are happy that they know the truth, and a lot of times they are happy that their lives are better. Sure, sometimes there is persecution or hardship for following the truth. But, generally, in our Jeffersonian society where everyone is allowed to believe whatever they want to believe, that generally isn’t the case. So, it appears the that the natural disposition of the collective group is that of happiness in what each has on the spiritual level. This has indeed been the experience, and the personal spirit is happy about that.

       Now Paul moves us into an area in which our thankfulness can be robbed, where it can go away. Let’s read verse 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” (ESV).

       This verse really is a lot to bite off and chew. Let’s just go ahead and start tackling it and will see where we end up. For starters, what is the “philosophy and empty deceit” and “the elemental spirits of the world”? What is that of which can take us captive? Certainly, various approaches could be taken as to what this means. For one, from an obvious vantage point, it safe to assume that Paul likely has those pre-Gnostic beliefs in mind we were talking about a couple weeks back, and even last week. Remember, that the material world is bad, that the human body itself is bad? Those were completely made up beliefs which have no basis in reality. Yet, they were intermixed with Christian beliefs, with what Epaphras had been teaching, with what Paul and Timothy had been teaching. It was a customized version of early Christian thought, or early Christian truth, a twisted version to be more precise. And these twisted teachings are stated by Paul here were tied into “human tradition.” Human tradition. This, of course, is going to be further elaborated in the upcoming verses, which we are going to get into next week.

       For us, here in twenty-first century America, an easy way to grasp what Paul is bringing up in regards to “philosophy and empty deceit” would be that of what the Jehovah’s Witnesses or the Mormons believe. These are familiar religions to us where the common, mainstream Christian beliefs have been changed, reworked, or added to to create others ways, hence these two ways, in which people are carried off, by which they are taken captive. What are some ways the Jehovah’s Witnesses have done this? Of course, they deny Jesus as being equal with the Father. Under their view, Jesus was created by God. Not good. Then they deny things such as the “eternal punishment” of Hell we were talking about a few weeks back. The Mormons, on the other hand, believe in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, but they see them almost as if they are three separate gods—truly different from one another. Again, problematic. And then they believe, instead of the traditional believers and unbelievers view of the world, that pretty much everyone is God’s child. And then in the afterlife, people can progress through different stages, or different Heavens, and eventually themselves get to eternal life. In essence, it is salvation through works.

       These are the kinds of philosophies we have to mindful against, and guarded against. They are based in “philosophy and empty deceit”—human developed ideas that have no true basis in Scripture. And for the Mormons, remember, they have additional documents by which they develop these philosophies. This can be difficult again for us, as American Christians, in our Jeffersonian society, where everyone is supposed to believe, and is encouraged to believe, whatever they want to believe. And it’s supposed to be that everyone should be considered okay and good in what they believe, as they believe it. And this is only complicated by the natural kindness which prevails in our society. This natural kindness prevails because of the fact that Christianity is ingrained into it. In other parts of the world, where Christianity is not ingrained, there is that lack of kindness usually. And perhaps you know people who are of either of these groups, the Jehovah’s Witnesses or the Mormons, who are nice people, and people of whom you like and enjoy their company. And this makes it difficult. On a personal level, no Jehovah’s Witnesses have been know. However, Mormons there have been, and one of which the mind thinks highly of, for she is a good teacher in what she teaches.

       Moving along to verse 9. Paul defends reality against what the false teachers were saying: “For in him [Christ] the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.”

       Two important things are founded in this verse. They are both important. They are, one, that Christ is fully God. That is, even though he is in the flesh, and was on the earth, born as a human person, in the flesh, that he is still fully God. And that’s the second part, in the flesh. Christ is in human flesh. So, he is fully God and fully man as we have often heard. So, the fullness of God dwells in a human body. Recall, the Gnostics said that the material is bad. That the human body is bad. That’s what they said. Thus, they denied that Christ was still in the body in Heaven. He might have been in the body while on earth, but isn’t now. That’s what they believed. But Paul uses the present tense in his sentence. He says, “For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.” It’s present tense. It’s talking about now, about the current condition of Christ. In this way, he goes against the pre-gnostic beliefs. This goes against the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ beliefs because if the fulness of God dwells bodily, then the Son cannot be created by God. He is God, he’s not created, and he’s not a created being. This goes against the Mormons’ beliefs also, because, again, the fulness of God dwells in the Son. Whether we are referring to God the Father here or God the Holy Spirit, it means they are the same in essence. They aren’t different persons.

       Verse 10: “and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority” (ESV).

       What does this all go back to? It goes back to what we have discussed in detail and at great lengths. That’s the knowledge. God’s knowledge. The true knowledge. Remember, Paul had prayed that the Colossians believers would “be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding” (ESV). That was verse 9 in chapter 1. This then leads to true spiritual wisdom and understanding. Not human thought-up wisdom and understanding. It’s not made up principles. It’s not based on the external world we see with our eyes, the elemental spirits of the world. It’s not false religion, but real religion. It’s not man’s ideas, but God’s truth. Recall, the purpose of being filled in him, as Paul stated in verse 10 of chapter 1, is “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” (ESV). We won’t be fully pleasing to him if we aren’t aligned with truth that is based on sound doctrine.

       This leads us to the conclusion, then, that Christ is “the head of all rule and authority.” It’s not that we need a secret knowledge, or another layer of knowledge, or a higher or secret knowledge, as the Gnostics may have said. We don’t need to be part of the Free Masons, or understand Evolution completely and entirely to have a full picture of how things work. Those are things from men; they are worldly ideas. We don’t need Joseph Rutherford’s or Joseph Smith’s ideas. Jesus is the head of everything, and not a created part of it. Nor is he head as in being different from the Father and the Spirit. Rather, he is in agreement with the Father, one with the Father, and all that equated authority has been given him from the Father. It is as Paul told us, again, in chapter 1: "For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him” (16, ESV).

- Daniel Litton