Walking in Christ Jesus
Colossians 2:1-10
1 For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face,
2 that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ,
3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
4 I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments.
5 For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ.
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.
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.
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.
Introduction:
A. A Simple but Profound Passage
1. This is a wonderful, wonderful passage of Scripture.
a) What this scripture is teaching us is how to live victoriously in the Christian life, and it’s going to be very simple.
b) The Christian life is not so high that you can’t reach it.
c) It’s so low that you get down to it.
2. Psalm 116:6 “God preserves the simple”.
a) An ordinary person, surrendered to the Lord, can understand how to live the victorious life.
b) You don’t have to have a Ph.D. in theology
c) You don’t have to learn Greek and Hebrew to learn what we’re going to learn tonight.
d) Somebody said about the Bible, “The Bible is such a wonderful book. It is shallow enough that a little child can come and get a drink without fear of drowning, and so deep that the scholars can swim in it and never touch bottom.”
e) That is so true about the Bible.
3. Colossians 2:1 “For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face,”
a) When Paul says “struggle” he means, “have a deep concern in my heart for you”
b) Here’s what it was that he had the desire for those in Colossae—“2 that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, …”
4. Now here is one of two key verses in this passage!
a) 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
b) 4 I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments.
c) 5 For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ.
5. Here is the second key verse in this passage
a) 6 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him,
(1) So we’re talking about how to walk in the Spirit. Now, how are you to walk in Him?
b) 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.
c) 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.
d) 9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,
e) 10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.
B. God’s Incredible Treasure
1. Paul is saying that there is an incredible treasure for you.
a) Go back to verse 3— he is speaking of Jesus, “in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” (Colossians 2:3).
b) In Jesus—it’s all in Jesus.
c) In Jesus you are complete.
d) You don’t have to look for anything else.
e) All the treasure is hidden in the Lord Jesus Christ.
2. Why did God hide it?
a) So you and I could have the joy of discovering it.
b) The treasure is available all for you.
c) But, you may not be aware of it because the treasure may be hidden to you.
d) So, what you have to do is to discover and appropriate your treasure.
3. I read about a ship that was out in the ocean, off the coast of Brazil, and the ship was without water.
a) The people on board the ship were surrounded by salt water and they were dying of thirst.
b) Then they saw another ship, and they sent a message to the other ship by flags, and said, “Do you have any water? We need water.”
c) The other ship sent a message back, and said, “Let down your buckets where you are.”
d) They said, “No, you don’t understand.” They sent another message, “We need drinking water.”
e) They sent back the message again, “Let down your buckets where you are.”
f) They let down their buckets and came up with fresh water, because they were at the mouth of the Amazon River, and that river of fresh water was flowing out into the ocean and bringing fresh water, all the way out into the ocean where they were.
g) Here they were, thinking they were dying of thirst, and surrounded by water to drink.
h) So many people in churches are living in spiritual thirst,
i) And the Apostle Paul says, “I don’t want you to miss the blessing that can be yours. Just let down your bucket where you are!”
C. Satan’s Lie vs. God’s Truth
1. The devil will do everything he can do to keep you from hearing this message today, so don’t you let him!
a) Colossians 2:4—Paul said, “I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments.”
b) Colossians 2:8 “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.”.
c) The devil wants to keep you from understanding the blessing that you can have in the Lord Jesus Christ.
d) The devil wants you to say, “That’s absurd to say that everything’s in Christ. That’s absurd to say that all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are in Christ.”
e) That’s exactly the lie that he told in the Garden of Eden – “Eve, God’s holding out on you. There are other things. You don’t need to be hemmed in by the will of God. You need to get outside the will of God to discover all that you can have and know.”
f) But the Bible says in Jesus you have everything. “In him you are complete” (Colossians 2:10).
2. So if a person is complete, what else do they need?
a) The secret of finding everything in the Lord Jesus Christ and letting everything in the Lord Jesus Christ express itself through your life, and living victoriously, is found in verse 6.
b) “Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him,”
I. The Boundaries of the Walk
A. Walk in Jesus
1. Look at this verse carefully.
a) He doesn’t say, “Walk after Jesus.”
b) He doesn’t say, “Walk with Jesus.”
c) He says to “walk in Jesus” (Colossians 2:6).
B. Understanding the Boundaries
1. If I said to you, “Walk in this building,” where are you to walk?
a) In this building.
b) The parameters of this building are to contain your walk.
c) This building would be the boundaries of your walk.
d) Paul says to walk in Jesus.
2. The natural man says, “I don’t like that. I don’t want to be hemmed in. I want more!”
a) Well, friend, if you want more, it’s because you don’t understand verses 2 and 3.
(1) Paul says “[I’m concerned] that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”
b) Listen carefully – there is nothing worth having, outside of Jesus—nothing worth having!
c) You say, “Well, what about my car?” No, no.
d) You can have a house; you can have a car; you can have your clothes; you can have all of these things.
e) All of these things simply are things that are a subset of knowing the Lord Jesus.
f) If Jesus allows you to have them, if they’re a gift that He gives to you, then that’s fine.
g) But, if you have to go outside of Jesus to get any of these things, if you have to transgress the law of God to have something else, then you don’t need it; you don’t have to have it.
h) Everything that you need He will supply. “And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:19).
C. How do you know when you get out of bounds?
1. Colossians 3:15 “And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.”
a) Now, the word rule there means “referee”; it’s a word that means “an arbiter, a referee, a judge.”
b) If you’ve been walking with the Lord very long, you know exactly when you step out of bounds.
c) You know how? God will let you know! You lose your peace!
2. I know it is hard to believe, but there are times that I’ll get cranky and fussy.
a) And I’ll say something to Betty that is not polite and the whistle blows.
b) God says, “Daniel, you’re out of bounds. You can’t act that way. You can’t talk that way.”
c) I have to go back, and I say to Betty, “Bet, I’m sorry.”
d) I know that I’m out of fellowship with God because I don’t have His peace!
e) It’s such a simple thing. When you get out of bounds, God will let you know by taking away your peace.
3. Let the peace of God referee in your heart.
a) The boundaries of your walk is the sphere of Jesus Christ.
b) You are to walk in Him and, when you step out of the boundaries God will blow the whistle on you, and you will lose your peace.
c) There is nothing worth having outside of Him – absolutely nothing; no possession; no relationship.
d) Anything you can want—if you can’t have it in Jesus, you don’t need it.
e) And, when you start getting out bounds, He’ll blow the whistle on you.
II. The Beginning of the Walk
A. Receiving Christ
1. You begin a walk by taking the first step.
a) Again Colossians 2:6 “Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him,”.
b) How do you start the walk? You receive Jesus Christ.
c) Walking begins with a step.
d) What is the first step to walk in Christ?
e) It is to receive Christ Jesus the Lord.
f) You can’t begin to walk in Christ until you receive Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and Lord.
2. This is very important because I think there are people who are listening who have not ever really received Christ.
B. Salvation
1. Salvation is not a plan that you know.
a) You might say, “Well, I know the plan of salvation.”
b) Well, that’s wonderful but you can know the plan of salvation and go still to Hell.
c) You are not saved by knowing the plan of salvation.
d) You are saved by the knowing personally the Man of salvation.
2. Salvation is not by obeying the rules
a) You say, “Well, I live right. I obey the rules of the Bible.”
b) Well, you may just be a Pharisee on your road to Hell.
c) “Well,” you say, “I serve the Lord,” but salvation is not just obeying the rules.
3. Salvation is not working in the church
a) You can work yourself to death in the church.
b) Matthew 7:22–23 Jesus said, “22 On that day (judgement day) many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
c) What you call mighty works, Jesus called “lawlessness”
d) These are people that thought they had salvation, but they never had it.
4. Salvation is not a Church membership
a) You say, “Well, I’m a member of such and such Church, and such and such Church is a Bible-believing church; and, I was baptized into the fellowship of that church.”
b) You are still not saved. Being a member of a church won’t save you!
c) The only way to be saved is to receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior – to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ!
d) I’m afraid that our churches have many people who can relate to programs, relate to music, relate to activities, but they have never begun the walk in Christ by taking the first step of receiving Jesus Christ as their Lord.
III. The Nature of the Walk
A. Walking in Christ
1. Colossians 2:6 “6 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him,”
a) When you walk in the Lord Jesus Christ then that means that Christ is the Lord of your life.
b) As Lord He demands and deserves absolute control of your life.
2. Colossians 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”
a) 1 John 2:6 “whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.”
b) If I’m walking in Christ, then my life will manifest the life of the Lord Jesus Christ.
c) You should be able to see Jesus in me!
d) I should be able to see Jesus in you!
e) The character of the Lord Jesus Christ is the nature of our walk.
B. Baptism
1. That is what baptism is all about and that is why we are baptized.
a) Colossians 2:12 “12 having been buried with him (with Jesus) in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead”
b) When you get saved, we take you over to this baptistry, and we plunge you beneath the water.
c) The old person you used to be is dead and buried, buried with Christ by baptism.
d) Then according to verse 12, even as Jesus came out of the grave to a new, abundant life, you are raised to walk, the Bible says, in newness of life
e) Romans 6:4 “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.”
2. I’m not asking you whether you tithe.
a) I’m not asking you, even, if you obey the commandments.
b) I’m asking you “Is the genuine life of the Lord Jesus Christ manifested in you?”
c) When you receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you are going to walk as Jesus Christ walked, and He’s going to be the Lord of your life.
d) In the New Testament, Jesus is called Savior 24 times, but He is called Lord 434 times.
e) That ought to tell us something!
IV. The Continuation of the Walk
A. What is walking?
1. Look again in verse 6 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him,
a) It says, “So walk” and the Greek tense literally means “to keep on walking”.
b) A lot of people are looking back to an experience for their salvation.
c) We said that a walk begins with only one step.
d) You have to keep on walking.
e) Now, you’re not saved because you keep on walking; you keep on walking because you’re saved!
f) There is a continuation of walking in the Lord.
2. What is walking? It is a series of steps.
a) If you take one step and don’t take another then you are not walking,
b) To walk in Christ you must keep on taking one step after another.
3. We know what it means to walk, because Paul says this, in verse 6: “herefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk (keep on walking) in him”.
a) How did you receive Jesus? By repentance and faith.
b) How do you keep on walking in Him? You keep on walking in repentance and faith.
c) You repent of your sin and put your faith in Jesus.
B. Repentance and Faith
1. Those are your first two steps—repentance and faith.
a) That’s how you receive the Lord Jesus Christ.
b) Now, you walk exactly the way you receive Jesus.
c) The way to live the Christian life is the way you got the Christian life.
d) That is all walking is—just repentance and faith, repentance and faith, repentance and faith, repentance and faith.
2. You say, “Bro. Dan, I already repented.”
a) Well, so did I, when I got saved.
b) But, I’ve done far more repenting after I got saved than I did when I got saved!
c) I have trusted Jesus more after I’ve gotten saved than I did when I got saved.
d) You know why? Well, when I got saved, I gave all I knew of me to all I knew of Jesus, and I knew very little about either one.
3. Romans 14:1 “As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions.”
a) The Living Bible paraphrases it this way: “Receive a brother into the Church, even if he scarcely believes Christ can save him.”
b) Now, that paraphrase really gets to the meaning of it: “Receive a brother into the Church, even if he scarcely believes that Christ can save him.”
c) God accepts weak faith!
d) It’s not our strong faith that saves us; it’s our strong Savior that saves us.
e) When you put your weak faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and trust Him, and He will save you.
f) He takes you right where you are and then He starts growing your faith!
4. You receive Him by repentance and faith and then you begin to walk in Him
a) Then God convicts you of some particular sin, you repent and put your faith in Christ, and He reveals Himself to you, and you repent.
b) And, you just go through life one step at a time, repenting and trusting, repenting and trusting, growing more and more like Jesus, manifesting Him more and more in your life.
c) I want to give you some news today – you are not going to stop repenting till the Rapture, if you’re walking in Christ!
5. You never reach the place in your Christian life where you don’t need to repent.
a) How do you walk in Christ? Repentance and faith.
b) How did you receive Jesus? By repentance and faith.
c) Repentance is turning from self and faith is turning to Jesus.
d) The more you turn from yourself and the more you turn to the Lord Jesus Christ, the more real He will seem to you.
e) “Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him,” (Colossians 2:6).
f) If you will do that, you will discover the treasures that are in the Lord Jesus Christ!
V. Conclusion
Bow your heads in prayer. I want you to ask the question yourself: Is Jesus Christ real to you? Do you honestly believe that, not only is He necessary, but do you really believe He is enough, that in Him you are complete, that all of the treasures are hidden in the Lord Jesus Christ, and that, if you walk in Him, you will discover more and more these wonderful treasures that are hidden from you?
Why don’t you take just a moment and ask God about it, and try to just get this into your heart.
Don’t try to remember the points of the message. Just ask yourself right now, “What is God saying to me?”
Not, “What did Bro. Dan say?” “What is God really saying to me, right now?”