The devil wants us to be spiritual couch potatoes.
He wants us to be satisfied and content with mediocrity.
He doesn’t want us to dream radical dreams, to think revolutionary thoughts, to think of the impossibilities becoming possibilities.
The devil wants us to pursue prosperity, security and comfort without having any thought toward Christ being glorified in our lives.
What’s the tactic, you may ask, that the devil uses to get our eyes off of the radical, the revolutionary and the seemingly impossible?
It’s failure. Our own personal failures and the guilt that follows them. Satan uses the guilt from our own failures to condemn us, to make us feel unworthy of the calling, to tear us down, to add weight to our hearts. Eventually we become so weighed down that we give up. We become apathetic towards faith. Toward ministry. Toward fellowship. Towards God. It’s the reason why some Christians feel they have nothing to offer others – the reason why they don’t serve, the reason why they don’t take risks, the reason why they don’t get baptized, go on missions trips, become a missionary, lead someone to faith at school or the office, or mentor a younger believer.
The ultimate is what George Verwer, past president of the missions agency Operation Mobilization, calls the spiritual couch potato. It is a life once lived as a passionate follower of Christ, who now is a Christian by name only. Having experienced the excitement and awe of knowing God on a personal level, they have forsaken that fellowship with the Almighty, their Creator, for a lonely fellowship of self – a life of loneliness, self-serving apathy and lack of eternal purpose. Sure, they still have salvation, but barely. To live 20, 40, 60 + years as a spiritual couch potato is no life at all. No passion. No excitement. It’s a tragedy.
If you are here this morning thinking that I am talking about you I want to assure you that I have no one in mind. But I plead with you to accept the Spirit’s prodding in your life and to consider what He has to say to you today. I’m not here to heap more condemnation upon you. God knows you have suffered enough of that at the hands of the world and the enemy. Listen - The tragedy is not that you have sinned. The tragedy is not that you have failed. The tragedy is that Satan has taken your failures in your relationships, your failures in your spiritual disciplines, and your failures in your sexual integrity and is using them against you. The enemy is saying “See, you’re a loser. You may as well not even go to church. No way are you going to make any serious commitment of your life to Jesus Christ! You might as well just sit there, drink the world in until you’re wasted, and settle for the mediocre life you deserve.”
But this is a tragedy that doesn’t have to happen.
Let’s go back to Colossians 2, starting in verse 6 again we see these words:
So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, 7 rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
1. Growing your roots deep – v. 6-7
The tragedy is not a specific sin, the tragedy is our hopelessness fed on by this world and satan. This is a hopelessness we don’t have to experience.
I am not denying the fact that we suffer depression, that we have times of great mourning, that we will suffer tribulation and trials, but in these times we can hold fast to the one sure thing, the truth of God’s Words to us which have lasted throughout many millenia, words such as these:
“There is surely a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off.” Proverbs 23:18
“In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead” – 1 Peter 1:3
The world is hopeless. Satan is hopeless and he knows it. As believers in the living God, we have hope, but, as verse 7 states from Col. 2, we must be rooted in this hope. I like the way the New Living Bible translates this, it says “Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him.” This makes me think of Psalm 1, many of you know it. The godly person is “like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither.”
The next verse of that Psalm compares the solid tree with the chaff of grain which gets blown away. You see, if you are rooted deep, you won’t get blown down with the storms of this life. Satan will come and blow, like the big bad wolf, and he will huff, and he will puff and try his hardest to blow your tree down, but if you have your roots growing “down into Christ”, then you will not be blown down. The windstorm may hurt, you may get some scrapes, bruises and aches, but in the end you will stand tall.
How do you get rooted in Christ? You become a disciple! You study and follow God’s Word. And some times, to become a disciple takes a discipleship relationship with a believer who is mature in the faith. You ask this person to teach you the basics of the faith, how to study and apply God’s word to your life in the various situations in which you find yourself.
Rooted in hope, we have an escape from the guilt which the enemy throws at us. Discipleship is the process which feeds our roots so that they can grow deep into Christ.
2. Rejecting the world access to your walk - v.8a
Being rooted deeply in Christ, we are also to reject the food which is not good for our roots. Take a look at verse 8:
“See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition…”
The word “captive” here refers to a kidnapping. The world wants to kidnap your mind and your faith. It wants to feed you deception – a lot of times they are things that seem pleasing and perhaps even good. All religions are true and all point to the same God. Or God wants you to be rich so that you can give more. Or God doesn’t want you to suffer and if you are sick or depressed or not prospering, then you must not have enough faith.
Notice that it doesn’t say all philosophy, but deceptive philosophy. According to this passage, philosophy is deceptive if it is rooted in human thinking.
There are good philosophies out there, but they are only good for our nurturing if they line up with the Word. Let me say that again – Philosophies or teachings or ideas are ONLY GOOD if they do not conflict with the Word of God. How do I know if they line up to the Word or not? Do some research – get into the Word yourself. Ask God to guide your study. Ask a mature believer for help.
Get good food. Reject the worlds’ teachings. Get the food that sustains, that’s living. Christ stated it Himself – Come to me all who are thirsty and I will give you what – Springs of Living Water. Are your roots drinking up Living Water or dead water? Are they digging into that spring that will never dry up, or are they digging into the teachings of the world that will eventually fade away? Point number two is that we are to reject the world access to our walk with Christ.
3. Rejecting the devil access to your walk – v.8b
And You know what else will fade away? You know what else is not eternal? The devil. That’s right – the lies you keep hearing and sometimes give in to – they’re coming from someone who knows that his time is limited. Rev 20:10 states that “the devil, who had deceived them, was thrown into the fiery lake of burning sulfur… where he will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”
Back to Colossians 8 we read these words:
“See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.”
Basic principles here refers to spiritual powers. It’s talking about the prince of this world – the devil who is known as the great deceiver. 1 Cor. 11:14 says that he “masquerades as an angel of light.” And here’s one of his tools of deception, I said it before – he will use your failures against you.
Many of you might have read Pilgrim’s Progress. I have not, but I have a pretty good paraphrase version which I have read to my son many times. In this great allegorical tale of a believer on the journey of faith toward heaven, the believer character, Christian, comes face to face with the great deceiver himself. I love this encounter because John Bunyon captured the essence of this so well. Listen to my paraphrased version of this story
Christian finds himself face to face with the demon Apollyon. He begins to be afraid and almost turns back, but he resolved to stand his ground. The monster was hideous to behold.
He said to Christian, “Where are you from?
Christian replies “I’m from the City of Destruction.”
Apollyon replies, “Then you are one of my subjects, because I am the prince and God of that country.”
“Not any longer… serving you brought me nothing but misery, and your wages are death.”
Apollyon thought he had better try a different approach, so he softened his voice and said, “Go home and I’ll see what can be done to improve things.”
“Oh no! I have promised to serve another Prince – the greatest one of all.”
“Then you’ll come to grief. All his servants do!”
“It looks that way, sometimes,’ said Christian, ‘but it isn’t so, for in the end, all the prince’s subjects will share in His glory.”
“Do you really think he’ll welcome you? You who tried to explain your failures away, you who are lazy and doesn’t read the Word? You, who almost ran at the first sight of danger? You who’s out for your own glory?”
“You’re right about all of that,’ admitted Christian. ‘And there are other things you could have mentioned, but I have sought forgiveness – and the Prince has forgiven me.”
Apollyon stopped pretending to be reasonable and stormed, “I hate your prince and all his subjects. And I have come to fight you.”
“Then you’d better watch out!’ replied Christian. ‘For I am on the King’s highway, the way of holiness.”
This story, written in the 1600s, still rings true today. The deceiver is still delivering his lies. He attacks our failures and tells us that we are unworthy. You’ve heard the phrase “You good for nothing” – that’s what the devil is saying to you. He doesn’t want you to think you are worthy of doing anything worthwhile for Christ. But what does the Word say? It’s not saying “You good for nothing”. It’s saying “You’re good for something!” You are good for something. Don’t let him feed your roots. The stronger your roots are in the Word, into Christ, the stronger you will stand against the devil’s lies.
Listen - we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, Ephesians 6 tells us, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.
We’re at war, and sometimes the battle is thicker than other times, but we are constantly at war. Don’t be deceived. You can do it. You can fight him as valiantly as Christian fought off Apollyon. Point number three is that we are to reject the devil access to our walk.
Point number one is to Dig your roots deep
Point number two is to reject the world access to your walk.
Point number three is to reject the devil to your walk
And Point number four is to know your identity.
4. Knowing your identity – v.9 - 12
One of the reasons why Christian was able to stand up to Apollyon’s lies was because he knew who His King was. Listen as I read verses 9 – 12,
“For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, 10 and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. 11 In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.”
When you came to faith, you might not have understood it or known it, but you became a child of God. Even if you have not physically been baptized, you were spiritually baptized. Baptism is simply this: Identification. In 3 weeks, when we have a baptism service, you will see people coming into the baptistery for the very purpose of identifying themselves publicly with their Lord and Savior. That’s what it is.
You see, it’s not about knowing who we are. We’ve been educated in that already. We’re depraved. We’re evil. The war with our flesh tells us that we are prone to go after the things of the world. That’s who we are.
We’re not going to win any battle this way. It’s not about knowing who we are, it’s about knowing who the King is and understanding our relationship with the King. The King says this: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” and this “All things have been handed over to Me by my Father” and this has been said about the King “God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” That’s the King.
Now hear what the King says about those who believe in Him, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me, 29 for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else.”
This is how you are going to win the battle – by understanding who you are in Christ, not who you were as the old person. Turn with me to Romans 5:17. Romans 5:17 states this:
“For if, by the trespass of the one man, [this one man is Adam – so it can be read “For if, through the sin of Adam”] death reigned through that one man [Adam], how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.”
We’re not in Adam anymore. As sons and daughters of Adam, we inherited Adam’s sin. That’s what our inheritance was. NOW we’ve been adopted into God’s family. And you know what our inheritance is? Eternal Life. We’re not citizens of this world – we’re citizens of another kingdom and another King. We’re no longer subjects of the ruler of this world and his evil plan – we’re subjects of the King of kings! Did you wake up this morning and say “I’m an American citizen” or did you say “I’m a Kingdom citizen”. To win this battle, you’ve got to know you’re identity and what that identity entitles you to – right there in Romans 5 – “God’s abundant provision of grace – that’s sanctification, and righteousness – that’s justification. Which brings me to point number 5.
5. Believing in Grace - v.13-14
And that is believing in grace. Believeing in grace. Do you believe it? Do you accept it? Look at verse 13 – 14:
“When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.”
Let me paraphrase verse 14 – “He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross.” Are you living your life knowing you are free of guilt? Are you living a life that has been declared innocent? Or have you accepted Christ as Savior, but still believe that the verdict is guilty? This is one of the enemy’s prime weapons. You see, if he can minimalize the effects of the cross on your life, then he’s got you in the box. When it comes to our justification, Jesus’ blood is central. It is the sacrifice of the blameless Lamb which justifies our guilty lives. Without the blood, there is no justification. The enemy knows this – he may be the full embodiment of evil, but he’s not dumb. He wants to get you to think less of the power of the cross. He wants to make you think the cross is a meaningless symbol – something that is not relevant to our day and age (hollow philosophies). You see how this all ties in together?
Get rooted in Christ. Reject the world, reject the devil, know your identity in Christ and believe in His grace!
John Piper states that “the distinguishing mark of saving faith is not perfection. The mark of faith is not that I never sin... The mark of faith is that I fight. I fight anything that dims my sight of Jesus as my glorious Savior. I fight anything that diminishes the fullness of the lordship of Jesus in my life. I fight anything that threatens to replace Jesus as the supreme Treasure of my life. Anything that stands between me and receiving Jesus is what faith fights—not with fists or knives or guns or bombs, but with the truth of Christ.”
All of what Christ is and did, is all that I need.
Satan doesn’t want you to believe that. I once believed his lies. I remember feeling as though I wasn’t even a Christian because of all my failures to live a holy life. That my words of belief and what I thought I had known to be true in my heart were empty words because I continued to sin, continued to fail, continued to fall short. And in my failure came back the resounding words – you’re a bad Christian. You’re no good. Why do you continue to call yourself a Christ follower, yet live the life of a hypocrite?
Then I realized it. Yes, I sinned. Yes, I failed. I thought that I wasn’t a Christian because I wasn’t bearing fruit. But then God gave me the grace to realize that the fruit that was borne was actually in the fight. The mere fact that I was fighting the sins and failures was evidence of the Spirit’s work within me, and if the Spirit was at work within me, then that meant that I was a sealed believer and follower of Jesus Christ.
I’m going to ask Gil to come up here and lead us through Amazing Love again and as he gets ready, Listen to the Message’s paraphrase of Col. 3:14 -15:
“Think of it! All sins forgiven, the slate wiped clean, that old arrest warrant canceled and nailed to Christ’s cross. He stripped all the spiritual tyrants in the universe of their sham authority at the Cross and marched them naked through the streets.”
Do you believe it? Christ triumphed over all and because of the cross we have no reason to believe satan’s lies. Fight the good fight. Win the race. Paul’s words to Timothy are still true today. You can do it – the cross beacons us onward. As C.S. Lewis said, you can’t avoid hearing the devil’s voice, because it will be there like a constant, annoying buzzing sound – but you can ignore it and believe in the supremacy of Christ that trumps the devil’s powers and the world’s empty philosophies. That’s same power that nailed your sin to the cross forever and ever.
