What the Church Needs Today
Col. 2:6-7
Col 2:1-9
2:1 For I want you to know what a great conflict I have for you and those in Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh,
2 that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ,
3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
4 Now this I say lest anyone should deceive you with persuasive words.
5 For though I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ.
6 As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,
7 rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.
8 Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.
Intro:
- We had a wonderful time this week at the MARBC State Meeting in Rochester, Mi.
- The preaching was powerful, not only in the fact that it was coming from dynamic speakers, but more so,because of its content.
- The theme for this year’s conference was: Biblical, Servant, Leadership.
- And God really touched, and spoke to my heart in several ways—but most definitely in the area of standing true as a leader in a compromising, un-biblical world.
What does that mean?
- It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that our society
today is in real trouble.
- Yes, our financial standing as a nation is definitely
troublesome.
- And yes, people by the millions are either out of work, or are just
about ready to be placed in that category.
- Our educational system is in desperate need of much help—
financially, moralistically, and the teachers in many of our
schools are in dire need of support and prayer.
- As a nation, our children have run amuck.
- And that’s not just in our big cities, but even in rural areas that
once were thought to have much less problems.
- Society today has come to a place where many are willing to trade
honor, truth, moral living, and commitment for self-happiness.
- Many people don’t have a problem today with abortion, same-sex
marriages, adultery, stealing, drugs, etc., as long as they
have nice houses, good jobs, lots of toys, and can take plenty
of vacations—self happiness.
It’s more about me, my, and mine…and less— much less about you, and especially anything to do with the God of the Bible.
- So, what we were reminded of at this year’s meeting had little to do
with the financial standing of our country today—although it was
discussed.
The real problem in our nation today has more to do with the erosion of biblical truth, and sound principles.
- And the problem hasn’t stopped at the doors of our churches.
- In fact, our churches today have themselves become citadels of unsound
living and teaching.
- Our pulpits, once filled with preachers preaching the Bible, have been
quieted with a finer, more sophisticated, politically correct form of
speech.
Let me translate that for you:
Churches that were once on fire for God are now just meeting halls
being led by men and women who are more concerned with filling their bellies than in preaching the entire word of God.
And as a result those who fill the pews of our churches today are immature, anemic, people, who are basically ignorant of biblical doctrine and what it really means to live like Christ.
- And out of this has arisen a generation of people who base their
decisions on feelings, bumper sticker slogans, and economical
reasoning.
- Sad the leader who dares teach and preach God’s Word amidst this
mindset.
- Heartbreaking because it’s from out of this mindset of worldly
wisdom that churches demean not only the Bible, but God’s leader,
therefore stifling the power of God.
It’s definitely much easier to teach and preach a more quieter, easy-believism, “loving” form of message, than it is to stand up and lead and preach and teach as Jesus taught His disciples to do in the Scriptures.
- We were challenged not to cave in, or begin to paddle downstream
with the ills of society.
- We were challenged to be true to the Word of God, and to lead
like Jesus and Paul taught us to lead.
- We were also challenged not to become cynical—pessimistic leaders
within our churches.
- It would be easy to quit, and to just go with the crowd.
- It would also be extremely easy to become pessimistic and to just
do nothing.
- But that is not what we need today.
- Not from those who lead as pastors, and not from those who live
as Christians supporting pastors.
We must stand up and be counted on to be all that God wants from us.
- Will it be easy to live that kind of a life?
- Of course not.
- But God never promised us that the life of a Christian would
be easy.
- He did promise us that He will be with us through it all.
- And He has promised us that if we remain faithful and true to
the end, there will be a crown of life.
- And God will bless the man and woman, boy or girl who is
faithful in their daily walk with Him.
With the help of the Holy Spirit, along with the strength that I have (which isn’t much), I want to remain faithful and true to the calling that my heavenly Father placed upon my life many years ago.
- I want to be the husband that God has required of me to be.
- By the way, the kind of husband that I am, even as a pastor,
should be no different than the type of husband you are to be
as a Christian.
- We are to be faithful and true, committed and loving, serving
the wife that God has given to us.
- I also want to be the dad that God has required of me to be.
- Again, God’s requirements are the same for a pastor as they
are for any Christian who follows Jesus Christ.
I want to be the pastor that God requires of me to be.
- I want to have the kind of heart for the people of God that God
has required of me to have—a pastor’s heart.
- By the way, I’ve learned that there are as many definitions for a
pastor’s heart as there are people.
- So the bottom line for me is, my heart must make God happy, and
leave it there.
- As long as God is pleased, I am pleased.
When it comes to having a parent’s heart, I have to make sure my heart is what God would have my heart to be concerning my children.
- I’m sure that in a house of 8 children, there are probably 8
different viewpoints as to what exactly that is.
- And I’m also sure that there are times when my children don’t feel
like daddy necessarily has what they would consider a daddy’s heart—
especially during times of discipline.
- But in spite of their feelings, I have to be what I believe God
wants me to be, and I must be willing to follow His mandates.
- I also, and I have had to do this on many occasions, must be
willing to admit to them when I’m wrong, or when I’ve done
something that God isn’t pleased with.
That’s what I must be willing to also do as a pastor.
- I have to be what I believe God has called me to be.
- I know there is coming a day when I’m going to give an answer to
Him for what I’ve done, and how I lead.
- But I also need to be willing, and again, I know I’ve had to do
this in the past, I need to be willing to admit a wrong.
Now, you may be wondering what exactly am I getting at today.
- The point of all of this is to say that I want you to know just how
serious I am about making sure that God is welcomed in my life and
in this church.
- With a world that is quickly passing by…
- With a society filled with churches and preachers and people who are
progressively moving away from God…
- I am publically committing myself to you and to God to making sure
that that never happens, either in my life, or in this church.
Could it?
- Could I ever come to a place in my life where I just chucked it all?
- Could we come to a place where our pragmatism became more important
than our theology?
Pragmatism by the way, is a belief that we do whatever it takes to
get it done, even if what we’re doing is wrong, because the end
justifies the means.
For Example:
I’m a SS teacher.
- I want my class to be filled with pupils.
- I want my students to like me.
- I want others to respect my ability to teach a lesson and fill a
class.
The pragmatist would do whatever it takes just to fill a class, to attain the love of students, and to gain the respect and attention of others, even if it meant not teaching the full Word of God, because after all we don’t want to offend people.
- The pragmatist would also not be in God’s Word, nor would he take
time to be with God during the week.
But then you add the mentality of our world today, the me-first, my needs are more important than anything else, pleasure seeking way of life, and you add that together with a pragmatic viewpoint, and that describes for you why faithfulness to God and His House are waning by the week.
- A pragmatic Christian, (I have a hard time using those two words in
the same sentence)…
- Anyway, when you put those together—when the end justifies the
means, you begin to have people who vote for a party, or for self-
fulfilling reasons.
- What we need are Christians who vote their convictions, who will
take each candidate, each ropostion, each judge, etc., and filter
all of that through the Bible—God’s Word.
- Not voting for the popular thing, the greater sounding promises,
but voting for the person who more closely holds to the
principles of God’s Word.
Again, immaturity in our pews has created a generation of people who either do not know what the Bible has to say, or do not care what it says.
- In either case, it a shame, and God is going to hold us accountable
for the things we do, no matter how much we claim ignorance.
So, yes, in this environment that we’re living in today, it is much easier to not do anything, or to go along with the proverbial crowd…
- To just lay down our swords and whimper, “I surrender.”
But we cannot do that.
- When you come to a book like Colossians, and you read Paul’s writing
to them, way back over 2000 years ago, you begin to realize that the
world is full of quitters.
- You learn that God will not bless the spirit of surrender to the
world’s way of life.
- You learn that God demands for us to live life from a biblical
viewpoint, and not by the wisdom of this world.
That’s what Paul was getting at in v. 8 there in Col. chapter 2 when he said..."Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ."
- If we want to see vv. 6- 7 happen, then we must be willing to make
sure we’re following v. 8.
Col 2:6-7
“As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.”
- Paul said, if you’re going to walk in Christ, you better make sure
of the person(s) teaching you.
- Beware of following a worldly advice that purposely leaves out the
principles of Jesus Christ.
Hey…look at your life right now, and ask the hard question: Am I living by the principles of Jesus Christ or the philosophy and tradition of this world?
- Notice how Paul describes this way of life there in v.8.
- He calls it, “Empty Deceit.”
- Empty in the fact that it leads to absolute nothingness—it’s empty.
- And deceit, because it’s a big lie.
The world says things like:
1. Take a drink, it’s ok –that’s an empty lie!
2. Go to bed with someone else’s wife, or husband,
It’s ok as long as no one else finds out.
- “What happens here, stays here.”
- Again—EMPTY DECEIT”
3. Have the abortion—it’s your body, it’s your chioce and right.
4. Leave your spouse for a better person.
5. You don’t need church—it’s full of a bunch of hypocrites
anyway.
By the way, I’ve got to tell this story about a video that I placed on YouTube this week, entitled “God is In Control.”
- The gist behind the video was to explain why the world cannot stand
a person who dogmatically says they believe in the one true God of
the Bible.
- And I go on to share what Paul taught us in 1 Cor. 2:14, where Paul
said… “But the natural man does not receive the things of the
Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know
them, because they are spiritually discerned.”
- And then at the end of the video I make a plea for people to join
me in praying for our country, and to filter our decisions—and in
this case, the decision of who we vote for this Tuesday—through the
Word of God.
- I had no idea if anyone would even see it, or make any comments
about it.
I was amazed at just how many have seen it, but I was truly taken back by a response from a person calling himself: “factvsfiction.”
He writes:
"My invisable god is better then your invisable god is killing people ..thats whats wrong with it!!! Evil people will always do evil and good people will always do good, but for good people to do evil it takes religion. Blind faith in an old tale is not what a mature nation should aspire to. The bible is the most violent horror story on this planet, the sooner we put it down as myths the sooner we can stop divisions."
- I responded to them by saying that I hope they didn’t hear that in
my video, and that the God I know doesn’t tell us to go out and
kill and hate.
- In fact, the God I know tells us to love one another…
- That murder is a sin
- And that we should help our fellow citizens.
- And then I shared that maybe I can understand why he feels that
way.
- Religion has been known for starting wars and wiping people out.
- But religion is a man-made way to try and reach God.
- God didn’t invent religion, instead God wanted to have a
relationship with us.
Anyway…in his response I found true wisdom from the world.
How can we make sure we don’t head down the way of the world?
- Well, there in Col. 2, I find some really good principles that we
need to be willing to apply to our lives…some things that the church
definitely needs now.
First…
1. We need leaders—deacons, trustees, teachers, moms and dads who are
genuinely concerned about the people they lead. (vv. 1-3)
“For I want you to know what a great conflict I have for you and those in Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh,
that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”
- Paul agonized over the church in Colossi and Laodicea.
- His heart was burdened for their lives.
- He was concerned about what they were facing.
- And He didn’t keep it to himself…in fact, he made sure that he
told them his feelings in his letter to them.
- He loved them dearly, and he wanted them to know it.
As leaders, we need a heart for those who we lead.
- That doesn’t mean we give in to every whim.
- Or that we allow opinions to change our beliefs.
- It does mean however, that we are to lead from the kind of heart
God gives us.
By the way, that doesn’t mean we constantly tell people how concerned we are about every decision they’re making.
- Paul is not sharing his heart with these people solely because he
wants them to know how much he loves them.
- He’s not berating them here either.
Notice why he is sharing these thoughts with them:
v.4 “Now this I say lest anyone should deceive you with persuasive
words.”
- That’s his main concern here.
- He doesn’t want these people that he loves dearly being deceived
and thus being led astray.
- He’s concerned about their well being, but more importantly
about their spiritual well being.
VV. 1-3 clearly explains his concerns:
1. He wants their hearts to be encouraged (v. 2)
2. He is also very concerned that they stay tightly nit together
with one another through love. (v.2)
- That’s unity.
- And love folks, is the glue that holds it all
together.
3. But included in all of this is that they understand the mysteries of
God’s plan—which is Christ Himself. ]
- Paul was adamant about their being able to know the Scripture.
- He was extremely concerned that they mature in their knowledge of
godly things...
- That they also know what it is they believe.
- I love the way Paul says this.
- He says, “I want them to know God’s mysterious plan, which is
Christ Himself.”
We’ve lost something with that today.
- We concentrate on teaching the stories of the Bible.
- We learn the doctrines of the faith.
- We memorize song after song, and verse after verse.
- We even write biblical sounding constitutions and bylaws for
our churches.
- We attend seminars about the life of Christ and the
return of Jesus.
- We do all kinds of things in the name of Jesus Christ.
But lost in all of this with so many people today is Jesus Christ Himself.
- We’ve stopped at the growing in Jesus Christ part.
- We’ve gone all around that part.
- But Paul reminds us here, yes, all of these other things truly are
important, but the main thing is the main thing, is the main thing—
Jesus Christ.
That’s why he says in v. 4, “In him lie hidden all the treasures of
wisdom and knowledge.”
- We must make sure that our relationship with God is growing and
strong—that must be a priority.
- Paul made sure to tell them how proud he was that this was what they
were doing.
In v. 5, he says… ”For though I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ.”
- That’s ultimately what matters more than anything else—that are
faith in Christ is strong.
- That we are not giving in to the whims and inclinations of worldly
wisdom.
- And what a testimony there’s was, to actually have Paul commend them
for their strong faith.
- Think about it here: These men and women were being commended by
Paul, and through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, their
testimony would be recorded for future generations to read about.
- I find that awesome.
Folks, that what I want…
- I want to live the kind of life that will not only touch this
generation, but will live on years after I’m dead and gone.
- And ultimately, I want to be able to hear Jesus say to me, “Well,
done thou good and faithful servant.”
- These people didn’t know that Paul’s writings would be inspired by
the Holy Spirit.
- They didn’t know that their testimony would touch people thousands
of years into the future.
- But that’s exactly what happened.
That tells me that they weren’t living like this for the approval of man, nor for the accolades of their peers.
- They didn’t have a pragmatic outlook—the end justifies the means.
- No, they simply were living out what they had been taught by Paul,
and from the principles of the Word of God.
- And God blessed their faithfulness.
With that being said, Paul then goes on to say in vv. 6-7…
“As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.”
How can we make sure we don’t head down the way of the world?...
2. Don’t ever quit following Jesus Christ. v. 6
“As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him…”
- In other words, Paul has just shared several important concerns
with them…
- He’s just commended them, so then in v. 6 he says…
- Now with that in mind…
- Or, now that I’ve just commended you about how proud I am of
your walk in Christ…
- I want you to remember something... just as you accepted
Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him.
- With that same faith that you were willing to place in Him for
the forgiveness of your sins, keep the faith, don’t stop now.
And then Paul shares with them in v. 7, what will be needed in order to make sure they keep on keeping on.
1. Grow your roots deep in Him.
- Make sure the root system of your spiritual life is being fed by
Jesus Christ.
- Sink your roots down deep in Him.
Dr. Jeffery, who is the president of BBC in Clark’s Summit, Pa., and the keynote speaker at this year’s MARBC State Meeting gave a great illustration of the importance of a strong root system.
- He said, last year they had a terrible storm blow through their
area of the country.
- And this storm didn’t come from the regular direction that storms
usually come from.
- Instead of coming in from the west, the winds came in from the east.
He said that after the storm was over, trees, old trees, trees that were seemingly high and mighty, fell over like tooth picks.
- Well, as he was inspecting those trees he noticed that their root
systems were puny and weak.
- And the roots hadn’t gone down deep like most of the other trees
had done.
- And as a result, when the winds of change came through, these trees
weren’t ready, and they fell with ease.
Hey…with all the winds of change we see taking place today, is your spiritual root system deep within Christ, or is there a chance that you could easily fall prey.
Notice there in v. 7 that once our roots are strong and deep in Jesus Christ, then we can build our lives on Him.
- I think what’s being said there is before you start concentrating
on building a life on Christ, make sure first of all that your
spiritual root system is deep into the nutrients of Jesus Christ—
His Word.
- Then once that begins to take place, then you’ll be able to build
your life on Him.
- But before that can really happen, make sure the foundation is a
strong foundation.
Paul continues there in v. 7 by stating, “Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught…”
I hear so many people say, I wish I could see growth in my life…
- I wish I could see maturity in my spiritual life.
Well, you will, if you don’t give up hope.
- You will, if your spiritual roots are being fed by the Word of God.
- But don’t give up.
And Paul concludes there in v. 7 that if these are happening in your life, “you will overflow with thankfulness.”
- I think we can see right here why there are so many Thank LESS
Christians today.
- There’s nothing to really be thankful for when our lives are
full of the “empty deceit” brought on by the philosophy of
this world as Paul calls it in v. 8.
What about your life this morning?
- Would you be willing to join with me and say, I am going to commit
my life right now to making sure that I don’t go the way of the
world?
- Would you be willing to say, I want to be able to live the kind of
life that pleases God?
Wouldn’t it be great to know that your life was able to not only affect this generation, but also generations to come?
- Well, to do that, we need to be willing to listen to the words of
God’s Word.
- But we must take it a step further.
- We must also be willing to live God’s Word.
Let’s pray.
