Walk in Him
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 having been rooted in him and continuing to be built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.
This is the word of the Lord, Colossians Chapter 2, verses 1–7.
And this passage is just continuing the same train of thought that we heard in Chapter 1, verses 24–29 — and if we go way back to January of 2015, that passage, Colossians 1:24–29, was our first sermon text at our first worship service. And if you’ve been able to look through the vision guidebook, maybe you noticed that we printed that first sermon in there, and one of the things I had said in the introduction of that sermon was that:
As a new church, we need to know what it is we’re doing here. What are we about?
And well, it seems fitting that today we would ask that question again, and that we’d look back to Colossians for help, and that it’d be the next chapter in Colossians! Because that’s where we are as a church.
We are, here in our seventh year, turning the page and starting the next chapter, and the call of this ROOTED initiative is for you to be part of that chapter. The pastors are calling for our church to be rooted here — to freshly embrace the vision, to invest in our footprint, and to commit to give.
And as we talked about last week, at the end of this sermon we’re going to have a moment to symbolize that commitment by bringing forward our commitment cards. And in these commitment cards we’re writing down what we want and plan to give to Cities Church over the next two years, if God wills. We’re doing this as humans. These commitment cards are like desires that we bring to our Father. That’s at the close of this sermon. But before we get there:
As a church in our seventh year, we need to know what it is we’re doing here. What are we about?
Well, the apostle Paul tells us in this next chapter — for our next chapter. In In Colossians 2, verses 1–7, there are two parts that we’re gonna look at:
first is verses 1–5, and
then that leads to the very important verses of 6 and 7.
And each of these two parts have one point that brings clarity to our mission. That’s what we’re gonna focus on this morning — this is a two-point sermon — let’s pray together, and get started:
Father in heaven, we are gathered under your care and in your joy, and in this moment, we long to hear from you. By the power of your Holy Spirit, please speak to us through your word, in Jesus’s name, amen.
So we need clarity for our mission. What is going on in this next chapter for our next chapter? —
#1. We have a purpose worth our headaches (verses 1–5).
Notice what Paul says in verse 1: he wants the church in Colossae to know how a “great a struggle” he has for them and also for the church in Laodicea. Now Colossae and Laodicea were neighboring cities in what is modern-day Turkey, and Paul wrote this letter to be read in both of those churches — he says that in Chapter 4, verse 16 — and it’s because Paul struggled greatly for these churches.
And what Paul says here in Chapter 2 is the same thing he’s been saying in the previous verses. Look back at Chapter 1, verse 29. Paul says there,
For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works in me.
That word for “toil” means hard labor; and the verb for “struggling” is from the same noun used in Chapter 2, verse 1. In the original it’s the word A-GON— which means conflict or fight (it’s where we get our English word agony). It means to struggle.
So clearly, here, Paul is talking about something that’s difficult. This is something that is not easy. But what’s not easy? What is Paul talking about?
Back up another verse. Chapter 1, verse 28:
Him [Christ] we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.
The Struggle of Discipleship
Remember that Paul in this passage has been describing his ministry, which is: to make the word of God fully known, to reveal the glory of God in the church, to speak the gospel to people with the goal of them becoming mature in Christ.
This is what we call discipleship.
Or, another way to say it: This to multiply and mature worshipers, servants, and missionaries of Jesus who live faithfully in the home, the church, and the world.
And that discipleship ministry, Paul says in verse 24, includes suffering.
Suffering and labor and struggle — these are part of the ministry of discipleship, which is the mission of the church. This is our mission.
As much as we might wish it were, the struggle that Paul talks about is not exclusive to him. Discipleship ministry has not gotten easier for everyone after Paul. This struggle is not just for the apostles and the early church; it’s not just for pastors and missionaries — but the struggle that Paul talks about here is characteristic of the entire church in all times at all places.
The mission to make disciples is a mission we all share — which is a struggle we all share. This is not easy. Often it’s a headache. It seldom seems to go smoothly. In may cases it’s one step forward and two steps back; And we’re constantly walking against the current — And we think: Are we still dealing with this thing? —And the time we need, it feels like, is always crunched because we’ve got so much to do, and there are so many values competing for our attention — And yes, false teaching is still a problem — And sometimes our hearts are just off and we’re sluggish to do what God says; And this is not even to mention the countless devices of Satan that are meant to wear us down and rob us of joy!
No wonder this is a headache! Yes, this a struggle. Our discipleship growth together into the maturity of Christ is not easy.
But is it worth it?
Is our growing into maturity in Christ worth our struggle?
To Have More of Jesus
In Chapter 2, verses 2, Paul is restating his ministry goal. Here he is describing in more detail what it means to be mature in Christ. This is why he struggles greatly. This is the purpose of his labor for the church. It is, verse 2,
… so 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. …
And in this verse you can hear echoes of Ephesians 3 and 4. Paul’s concern is for our hearts (the deepest part of who we are); and our love for one another is essential. Our becoming mature in Christ is connected to our being knit together in love.
And this again, like in Ephesians, speaks to the mutuality of our growth. Remember Ephesians 4:16, that when each part of the church body is working properly, it “makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.”
So our individual maturity in Christ leads to and extends from our corporate maturity in Christ, which means, whether we like it or not, we get there together. Somehow, knit together in love, we are reaching maturity together, which Paul explains is to “reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ.”
In short, Paul is saying we grow in Christian maturity together, and Christian maturity means we know Jesus more.
That’s it!
And knowing Jesus is not merely about information. Paul is not talking about head-knowledge here. This is a deep understanding. It’s confidence. It’s full assurance. It’s what we mean we say we believe Jesus is real.
We’re not talking about ideas here. He’s a person, and he’s alive. He has been raised from the dead, after he came here for you. He lived for you. He suffered for you. He died for you. He is raised for you, and he reigns over a kingdom that is overcoming this world; and he’s better than anything of this world — and we want more of him! We want his standing by us! His energy at work within us! His glory to be felt. We want Jesus close and clear. Just more of him.
That’s what Paul is talking about; that’s his purpose. And that’s our purpose. That’s why we do what we do — that’s the purpose in making disciples; that’s the purpose in planting churches — it’s so that we would have more of Jesus and that these cities would have more of Jesus through us. And this is a purpose we gotta keep coming back to, because the road isn’t easy. It’s a headache.
Worth the Headaches
A month or so ago, just on a normal day, I was sitting in my car at a traffic light, trying to turn left. And I was a few cars back, and when the arrow turned green, apparently the first car hesitated, so when I got to the light, from just a few cars back, the light was red so I couldn’t turn — and well it caught me in a bad moment, and you know I said?
I said: What’s the point of life?
You know it’s a bad moment when a traffic light sends you down a metaphysical spiral, but that’s where I was. For that moment, everything to me felt stupid. Y’all know what I’m talking about. And I wondered in that moment: Why am I doing this? … Any of this. Why? And as soon as I voiced the question, the self-talk sobered up and said: for more of Jesus.
That’s why.
I remembered something I once read by the late Jack Miller. Jack Miller was a seminary professor and the founder of a missions organization that has sent missionaries all over the world, and for years he would write letters to these missionaries to encourage them (and they’ve been collected in this book). And in one of the letters, he was encouraging a missionary couple by explaining to them how he prayed for them. This is what he wrote:
What I finally came to as I walked and prayed for you is the old, old story of getting the gospel clear in your own hearts and minds, making it clear to others, and doing it with only one motive — the glory of Christ. Getting the glory of Christ before your eyes and keeping it there is the greatest work of the Spirit that I can imagine. And there is no greater peace … than doing it all for the glory of the Lord Jesus.
You see it? All for glory of Jesus. More of him for more of him!
All the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Which means, if I press in to know him more — if you press in to know him more — he will not let us down.
More of Jesus is our purpose, and that purpose is worth our headaches.
That’s the first point here in this next chapter for our next chapter: #1. We have purpose worth our headaches.
The second point, and the final point, is this:
#2. We have a command to walk the talk (verses 6–7).
And this is in verses 6 and 7, but first, look at verses 4–5.
Verse 4 is a break from what Paul has been saying because he’s stepping back and commenting on his own writing. He’s letting us in on his strategy, and this is it: it’s that the best defense against delusion is explaining the truth.
Paul is saying, I’m telling you about the wonder of knowing Jesus, because if we only knew what we had in him, false teaching would get zero traction here.
If we really knew Jesus then nobody is going to be able to deceive us with persuasive arguments of some other kind. Because there is nothing to discover outside of Jesus that is lacking in Jesus because in Jesus there is no lack. All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in him, therefore he’s enough for us. And the church in Colossae seemed to get that!
Now there was certainly opposition to the church, and false teaching is always a threat, but this church had a solid foundation, and in verse 5, Paul says he rejoices to see “their good order and the firmness of their faith in Christ.” In other words, this is not a church in crisis. They are not need of Galatians-like correction. But instead, as one commentator puts it, “This epistle is a vaccination against heresy, not an antibiotic for those already afflicted.”
And this is important because of how it sets up verses 6 and 7.
The Main Message
Everything up through Chapter 2, verse 5 is considered the introduction of this letter. And it’s a long introduction for Paul because he goes on some glorious tangents, but this is his introduction, and the real start of the body of this letter is in verse 6.
Verse 6 is the very first command in the letter, and all the scholars agree that this is the main message of the Book of Colossians. Verses 6 and 7 give us the focus of this letter and everything that Paul says after it flows from it.
Okay, so in your heads, get that drumroll going, because here is it, Colossians 2, verse 6 — because you’re firm in faith —
Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him …
Continue to live your lives in Jesus.
You have embraced the truth about Jesus;
you have put your faith in Jesus;
you have entered into the Lordship of Jesus —
and so … live like it.
In everything you do — in your thinking and acting and everything — work out what it means to gladly live under the supremacy of Christ Jesus the Lord. That’s what Paul is saying. Keep walking in him.
Now Paul is going to explain exactly how that looks in the rest of this letter through all of his ethical commands, and he already starts to unpack that in verse 7. But in verse 6 alone Paul makes it clear that the command is to walk the talk.
At the most basic level, because of who Jesus is, for us to believe in him means that he rules our lives. We follow him. We do what he says. We look to him.
What else do you think faith is? The idea that faith in Jesus does not really change us; the idea that faith in Jesus has no real bearing on our daily lives — that idea is absolutely absurd when we read the New Testament.
Let Us Walk in Him
Recently, I was talking about this with my kids about this. I don’t remember how it came up, but I was explaining to them the meaning of “nominal” and how the word is used. And I told them, as an example, that where I grew up, it’s common for people to call themselves Christians but not live like Christians, and I was just using that as an example, but one discerning conversationalist in the group spoke up and said, “Dad, you know that happens in Minnesota too, right?”
And of course it does. I suppose there are people everywhere who for some reason call themselves Christians but don’t live like Christians — but how about not here? How about not at Cities Church?
In this next chapter, for our next chapter … let us heed this command of the apostle Paul, and continue to walk in Christ — let’s walk in a way that befits the glory of his name that we profess: Christ Jesus our Lord. That’s what walk the talk means. The talk is our declaration of who he is. It’s the truth about Jesus that we have received and affirmed:
the promised Messiah finally come,
the real man named Jesus who is raised from dead,
the Lord of heaven and earth —
— let us live our lives in his authority, under his supremacy.
Look, in this new chapter of our church, there are all kinds of things we want to do better — if you have a list, good grief, I promise, my list is longer! — but if we could just bring it down to one thing, like, in this next chapter, what’s the main main thing?
I want us to follow him … more.
Him more.
See, following him more is part of what it means to have more of him, right? We just keep him — Jesus, who is more real than anything — we keep him always front and center. Always before our eyes.
In His Strength
And I realize, that at some point, at least in most cases, aspirations can become burdens. Because it means we’re aiming for something we do not have and how we close that gap is up to us, and so we’ve got to figure that out and do better and try harder — and welp, there’s a red light — why am I doing this again?
This is why I love verse 7. In verse 6, “walk in him” is an active verb. It’s something that we’re doing. But I think Paul would remind us that we can only walk in him in his strength. The next three verbs that follow are all passive:
Having been rooted in him
Continuing to be built up in him
Continuing to be established in him, just as you were taught
So track with me here: if we’re the ones BEING rooted and built up and established, who do you think is DOING the rooting and building and establishing?
It’s him.
To borrow from Chapter 1, verse 29: it’s Jesus with all his energy that he powerfully works within us. Holy Spirit, we need you!
Jesus, through his Spirit, is the only way we can obey his commands. He’s the reason we can walk the talk. Nobody can say Jesus is Lord except in the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:3) — and nobody can live like Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.
And so now it makes a lot of sense that Paul would end verse 7 with thanksgiving.
Thanks That Overflows
Because thanksgiving is what you do, not when you affect, but when you receive. Thanksgiving is our response to a gift that comes from outside of us. We say thank you because we recognize that this is not from me, it’s for me — and I don’t deserve it. Thank you!
And if we’re abounding in thanksgiving, it means that at every angle of the Christian life, in every direction we look in Christ, it’s only thanks, and it’s thanks that overflows.
What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?
The opposite of boasting is thanksgiving, and God has saved us in such a way that we have no grounds for boasting, but every opportunity to give thanks.
And look, we’re certainly commanded to be thankful, but it’s not a chore — thanksgiving is the manifestation of the Spirit’s presence in our lives; it’s the fundamental feature of what it means to know we have been saved by Jesus … to have more of Jesus.
And I want us, Cities Church, to be a community of Christians who say Amen to that.
We have a purpose worth our headaches.
We have a command to walk the talk.
And we have the power of Christ Jesus our Lord, risen from the dead, reigning over all. Amen!
And it’s in that truth, and that hope, that the pastors ask for your commitment to Cities Church. We are asking that you commit to this next chapter, God willing. Now in a few moments we’re going to share Communion like always, but this is the moment of commitment, and this is how this part is gonna go …
Bringing Our Commitments
The band is going to come — and they’re going to lead us in a song — but before we sing I want to give us some time for prayer and reflection. Maybe you have your commitment card ready to go, maybe you just got one and you wanna fill it out now, or maybe you just want to pray — either way, we’re all going to stop for a minute, and I want us all to pray, and if you only pray one thing: Would you ask the Father to bless our church by giving us more of his Son? Would you pray that?
And then after we’ve prayed in silent prayer, Max is going to invite us to all stand and sing All Glory Be to Christ. Because that song says it.
And in that moment, as we start to sing, I’m putting this card in that basket — the Parnells are in. And all the pastors will come and do the same, and several others will come and do the same, and I’m inviting you all to come and do the same. Cities Church, having been planted, now becoming rooted.
Father in heaven, I pray, fill us with your Holy Spirit now, to rule us and guide us according to your will, for your glory, the name of Jesus our Lord. Amen. …
Yours, Father, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all! We praise you, O God, and we thank you, in Jesus’s name, amen.
The Table
Now we come to this Table to receive from God the gift of himself. We bread represents the broken body of Jesus. The cup represents his shed blood. And this morning, if you trust in Jesus, if you are united to him by faith, we invite you to eat and drink with us, and to give him thanks!
His body is the true bread. His blood is the true drink. Let us serve you.
