The Supremacy and Sufficiency of Christ, part 14
Remaining Faithful To Christ
Colossians 2:6-7
David Taylor
August 9, 2015
We are back in Colossians for the next several weeks to finish our series, “The Supremacy and Sufficiency of Christ.” I want to back track today to 2:6-7 and focus our attention on remaining faithful to Christ. I want to address all of us and in particular, parents in discipling your children. We are serious about discipling you and assisting you in discipling your children but we cannot take responsibility for you nor responsibility for discipling your children. We have a large children's and youth ministry. We are starting SS August 23 for Adults and children as well as starting children's church. Children's church has doubled in size; we are expecting fifty to sixty children during our Sunday morning service.
Big Idea – We remain faithful to Christ because of the gospels' work in us.
Paul encourages us to remain faithful to Christ by pointing us back to our conversion, “therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him.” They had embraced Jesus Christ as their Lord. Jesus is both Savior and Lord. As Savior He rescues his people from captivity to sin and the devil. As Lord he rules over his people as a benevolent ruler. Paul uses Lord because the theme of Colossians is Jesus' supremacy over all things and his sufficiency for ever need! Just as they have received him as Lord, they are now to walk in him, that is, let the gospel transform every aspect of life. Walking in him is a way of life or a pattern of living. Salvation is a life of faith that transforms the way you think and live. Remaining faithful means trusting Jesus to transform the way you think and live. Then he takes an interesting turn, instead of giving a program, steps to follow, he reminds them of God's work in them as the motivation and the means to remaining faithful to Christ. This is helpful advice for your spiritual growth and discipling your children. First, he reminds us that God has rooted us in Christ. That is, we are securely planted in Christ. We walk out our faith because we are rooted in him. Walking is the fruit of being rooted in Christ. Rootedness leads to fruit. Rooted means that your spiritual life is energized and sustained by Christ, not you. You will remain faithful because you are rooted in Christ and secondly, you will remain faithful because God is building us up in Christ. You will remain faithful because God is doing the work of building you up. Building up is a construction term, it means a building taking shape. The result of God having rooted us in Christ and building us up in Christ is that God is also establishing us in the faith. All three of these words, rooted, built up, and established are passive verbs, meaning God is the doer in the work; the latter two are in the present tense, meaning that it is an ongoing process. Established means to be solid, stable, not swayed or moved, like an old oak tree. We remain faithful to Christ by putting our hope, our confidence, resting in the reality of God having rooted us and building us up and establishing us in the faith. If your children come to faith they will remain faithful to Christ because God has rooted them in Christ, is building them up in Christ, and establishing them in Christ. Then he tells us the means by which God does this work in us, 'just as you were taught.' Being built up and being established in Christ comes as we are taught. This requires that we are actively involved in a church community where teaching is a priority. Teaching is the primary way God builds us up and establishes us. All of us desperately need the teaching of God's word in our lives. Too many professing Christians drift to their own demise. They start drifting spiritually which leads to drifting away from church, which leads to drifting toward spiritual apathy, and often the result is a train wreck. Your children are desperately needy for teaching in their lives. Parents, your children need teaching more than they need entertainment and media. That is why we take teaching your children seriously. If you are a follower of Christ, your hope of remaining faithful is not ultimately because of you but because of the prior and present work of God in you - God has rooted you in Christ, God is building you up in Christ and God is establishing you in Christ. Your children will remain faithful to Christ because God has rooted them in Christ, God is building them up in Christ and he establishing them in Christ. Remaining faithful to Christ is God's work not ours but that happens because we intentionality and deliberately putting ourselves under teaching and in turn teaching out children.
