Continue In Your Faith

The Bible tells us that the same things that the Apostle Paul declared about the Colossians are true of each of us. We too were separated from God because of our sinfulness. And as if it couldn’t get any worse, it does! In his Word God explains even more about our sinful separation from him. Ephesians 2:1 states the sad truth, “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins.” We were born spiritually dead! In Romans 8:6-8 the Apostle Paul declared, “The mind of sinful man is death…the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.” We were born enemies of God. And finally 1 Corinthians 2:14 says it so well, “The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.” Without God the Holy Spirit we are blind to spiritual truth and consider everything God’s says to be foolishness.

Thankfully what the Apostle Paul said to the Colossians in our reading is true of us also. The Gospel has created faith in each of us to believe that good news and to receive the personal benefit of what Jesus has done! With that in mind let’s get back to the idea of traveling with a passport. The passport of our faith and the connection to our citizenship in heaven is God’s Word. So to continue in that faith by standing firm in the Gospel is the most important thing in a person’s life! Listen again to the words of our reading, “…if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.” Why do we stand firm in the Gospel that brought us to faith? If faith in Christ is lost a person also loses the benefit of all that Christ has done! That’s why the little word “if” appears where it does in these verses.

Is this a warning for us? As we say in Minnesota, “You betcha it is!” If we are tempted to be careless with our faith and our connection to our spiritual passport we need to hear these words. If we are letting ourselves be moved from the hope that is ours in the Gospel God is calling us back. On the other hand if we are fearful and worried about losing our faith God takes the “if” away. There is no “if” when it comes to God’s promise to use his Gospel to enable us to continue in our faith. As we by God’s grace stand firm in the Gospel that brought us to faith the Holy Spirit will keep us in the faith—no if’s, and’s, or but’s.

II.

Although the Apostle Paul seems to take a detour in our Scripture Lesson we can actually see how his next words support the point that Christians need to continue in their faith. They do that not only by standing firm in the Gospel but also by maturing in the fullness of faith through the gospel. Let’s go back to our reading, “I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness—26 the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people.” So that the Colossians could see the big picture of their spiritual life Paul made the point that he was called by God to present the Word of God to them in its fullness. We could say that in the Apostles’ eyes these Christians needed to move on from the basic truths that they had learned about Jesus and mature in their faith. That would mean that they would study the Old Testament prophecies about the Christ and find their fulfillment in Jesus. They would learn more about all of God’s revelation to them in the Bible.