Colossians 2:6-15- In Christ

Colossians 2:6-15

Deuteronomy 30:6-10

 In Christ

There once was a fish- let’s call him Jonny….

Jonny was a “happy going” kind of fish, he lived in the ocean, he had a great family, he enjoyed going to “school”- he enjoyed life, he enjoyed exploring the vastness of the ocean. He enjoyed the many hidden endless treasures of the ocean.

Jonny, like all the fish in his school were taught from an early age, that they needed water to live, a basic fact of life, they needed to stay in the ocean, if they wanted to live and live well.

Jonny grew up in a small part of the ocean. There were many places and many wonders of the ocean that Jonny had not yet seen or experienced. In fact, the ocean that Jonny lived in was so vast and wonderous, that it would have taken Jonny a thousand life times to discover all the riches that lay in it. All the different creatures, all the different coral, all the different waters….

Jonny was taught from the start, for the sake of his own life, he needed to stay in the water.

Then one day, while Jonny was at “fish school” someone whispered in his ears that he could actually live without being in the ocean, he could actually live on this thing called-the land. He was told that living on land was a much better place to be, it was like living on another spiritual level.  He was told that living in the water was so boring, so restricting, and the land was the better place to be.

And so one day, Jonny decided to skip school and he swam to the edge of the ocean, he could see the beech, he could see this place, this higher spiritual level, he saw land, and so Jonny, huffed and puffed with all his might and jonny jumped out of the water and onto the land.

Jonny had made it, he had reached the next “spiritual plane”, he was no longer in the water, he was no longer in the ocean, Jonny had moved on to the next level.

The only problem was- Jonny was dead!

When he was no longer in the ocean- he could no longer breathe.

His gills collapsed and they could no longer absorb oxygen.

Jonny had neglected the teaching he had received in “fish school”, he didn’t think, he didn’t believe he needed to be in the ocean to live and grow, he believed- it was the land that would make him whole, make him full-make him better…… and yet when he was no longer in the ocean, when he was no longer in the water- he died.

Friends, clearly, the message that the apostle Paul was wanting the saints in Colossae to know and for the saints for us here to know, is this:

We must be IN CHRIST, not only if we want life, but also if we want life to the full.

Just like Jonny needed to be in the water, us saints, need to be IN CHRIST, not only to live but to grow, and to live a life to the full, and if we are not IN CHRIST, then we are as dead as a fish out of water, or as the apostle Paul puts it-we are dead in our sins.

Paul was wanting us to know that not only do we need Christ, but that there are endless riches in Christ that we will be discovering for eternity.

Christ is all we need now and for eternity.

As Paul wrote this letter, he was obviously combating some false teaching that had crept into the church at Colossae. Some false teachers were teaching the lies that Christ was simply not enough.

As it tells us in verse  8 that these false teachers, were teaching some sort of hollow and deceptive philosophy, that may have started with Christ, but may have quickly encouraged people to move on from him.

They were teaching lies that true spirituality, true fulfillment was found outside Christ.

They were peddling human traditions which had to be kept, if they really wanted to climb up the ladder of contentment.

Just like Jonny was deceived in reaching for the land, the saints at Colossae were in danger of being deceived away from Christ.

Just look at how many times, Paul used the phrase in Him or with Him.

Verse 6- Walk in Him

Verse 7- Rooted and built up in Him

Verse 9- For in Him the fullness of deity dwells bodily

Verse 10- you have been filled in Him

Verse 10- In Him, you were circumcised

Verse 12- Having been buried with him

Verse 12- raised with him

Verse 13- God made us alive with Him

Friends, our faith is established by Christ, it is rooted in Christ and it continues to grow by the grace of Christ.

We need Christ from the first till last- we never move on from Jesus.

There was a real danger that the saints in Colossae started their walk with God by receiving Christ, but then tried by their own efforts, their own human traditions, their own law keeping to keep in that walk with God, or worse to walk without God on another perceived spiritual level.

Friends, our walk with God starts by grace, it is a gift that God gives to us, - we receive Jesus, and then we continue to walk by grace, God enables us to walk with him and when we finally enter into his glory and see him face to face, it will be by grace.

It is not our own works that we walk with God and continue to walk with Him, but it is by the grace of God, from first to last.

And even though, it is by grace that we walk with God, we also have to make a conscious decision to follow Jesus, to walk with Jesus each and every day. We have to make a conscience decision to reject things which take us away from Jesus.

Look at verse 6 with me:

Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.

The saints at Colossae had received Christ Jesus the Lord. They had heard the gospel from their shepherd- Epaphras. Epaphras had heard the good news of Jesus from the apostle Paul and then had passed that good news on to the saints at Colossae. The saints at Colossae had received the good news of Jesus, they believed he had died for their sins, they had believed he was and is the king of the universe and so Paul then encouraged them to walk or Live in Him. He encouraged them to continue in what they were taught at the beginning.

To live or walk in Christ, means to let Christ establish the values you live by, let Christ guide your thinking, let Christ direct your conduct: to walk in Him, means to live according to his reign- his rule.

Perhaps there have been many people across history who have “received” Christ, but later rejected Christ, because they have only received Christ as saviour and not as Lord.  They have received Christ, but have chosen not to live in Him, they have chosen to let the things of this world guide their thinking and not Christ. They may have made a one off decision, which wasn’t probably thought through and have since neglected not to live according to that decision.

Just listen to all the benefits we have for us who have received Christ.

Look at verse 13-15 with me:

And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by cancelling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.

For those who received Christ, they have been given eternal life.

Without Christ, we are dead in our sins.

Romans 6:23 tells us that the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

And so without Christ, we are like a fish on land, we may have jumped with all our might to get out of the ocean, we followed our own desires and as a result of our sin, we earn death. We may flap about a little on the beach, trying to do our own thing, but eventually we will die, because this is the consequence of sin, the consequence of wanting to live our own way.

When we received Christ, it was like God picked us up and placed us back in the ocean, he placed us in Christ, where we have life and life to the full.

For those who have received Christ, our sins have been forgiven, our debt has been cancelled.

When we received Christ, God took our rap sheet, that long list of sins, those many occasions when we have willingly or unknowingly broken God’s perfect law and He nailed them to the cross, and Jesus signed that rap sheet with his own blood and he wrote, All Paid For.

Friends, if having all your sins paid for doesn’t warm your soul, then just consider the severity of sin. It was because of sin, that this whole creation has been broken, shattered and groaning. It was because of sin, that our walk with God has been hindered, it was because of sin, that God had to give his own son, in order to solve the sin problem.

It will be because of unrepentant sin, that hasn’t been brought to the cross of Jesus that will separate us from God forever.

Friends, if you don’t care that Jesus paid for all your sins, I implore you to look at the cross again.

Not only have we received life, when we received Christ, not only have we received forgiveness of sins, but when we received Christ,  we received protection from the evil one.

When Jesus died and rose again, he defeated satan.

Satan is no longer able to accuse us for our sins.

That is what satan does, he accuses!

Satan may be able to point out the sins that we continue to struggle with, the sins we have committed in the past, but these sins no longer condemn us, since Jesus has paid for them all.

At the cross, Jesus took the only weapon satan could use, to separate us from Christ, our sins, which leads to death. At the cross, Jesus disarmed satan and his schemes. We are no longer condemned by our sins, we no longer have to listen to the lies of the devil.  Satan has no hold over us.

Paul reminds us in this letter constantly, that Christ is the one who rules over all creation, over all things, whether visible or invisible. That includes all the spiritual forces that work in our world, and make no mistake, there is a spiritual battle going on, and yet Christ is ruler over all- His power is supreme, there is no-one greater, no spiritual force more powerful- Christ is above all things.

When we received Christ, we received Christ in us, we have no need to fear any forces which may be working against us, because as Paul tells us in Romans 8:31

If God is for us (and he is in and through his son- Jesus), who can be against us?

Friends, when we received Christ, we received life, we received forgiveness of sins, we received our debt paid for in full and we received protection from the evil one. When we received Christ we received all that we ever need, all that we ever should desire and so I encourage you not to pursue anything other than Jesus.

For the Jews in Paul’s day, who had received Christ, some were trying to add to Christ. They were insisting that you must add the physical act of circumcision onto Christ, if you truly wanted to belong to Him.

Paul makes it clear here and other letters that physical circumcision no longer counts for anything, since when they received Christ, Christ performed the real work of circumcision- He circumcised their hearts. When they received Christ, Christ cleaned their hearts, he cut away the sinful stuff and gave them a new heart.

Look at verses 11-12 with me:

In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.

Now circumcision was a sign of the covenant that God made with Abraham- it was a marker that was done symbolising that God’s people, belonged to God.

But even before Jesus came, even Moses knew that the real circumcision of the heart was not done by human hands, but by God himself it says in Deuteronomy 30:6.

This is why the prophet Jeremiah promised there was coming a day, when God would write his laws on people’s hearts, not just on stone tablets. 

The act of circumcision found its fulfilment in Christ.

When we receive Christ as Lord and saviour, it is his spirit that marks us as his- not a physical act. – not a physical mark, but a spiritual mark. 

By the way, this is why I believe that the mark of the beast that is mentioned in revelation is not any physical mark, but a spiritual mark. The mark of the beast is a spiritual mark in which the devil claims that person for himself. But that’s a whole teaching point for another day.

Friends, we must be careful not to add anything to Christ, because when we add to Christ, we actually take away our salvation.

You don’t need to speak in tongues to be marked for God.

You don’t need to speak in tongues to reach another spiritual level.

We have all we need in Christ.

You don’t need to keep the Saturday as a sabbath to be marked for God

You don’t need to not work on the sabbath reach another spiritual level.

We have all we need in Christ.

You don’t need to pray to Mary, or saint Peter to be marked for God.

You don’t need to grab your rosemary beads or small wooden cross to reach another spiritual level.

We have all we need in Christ.

You don’t need to follow 7 steps to fulfillment to find fulfilment.

We have all we need in Christ.

And even the good things that may help us on that walk with God, we must be careful not to elevate them to a place of ritual and superstition.

You don’t need to attend church every week in order to be marked for God- although if we are living for Jesus, if we are walking in Him, we would want to meet with the body of Christ, it would be hard for a leg to survive without being attached to the body.

You don’t need to be baptised in water to be marked for God- although if we are living for Jesus, we would want to follow his command and be baptised in water.

You don’t need to have a regular devotional time or reading your bible and praying to be marked for God, although if you are walking with Jesus- you would want to. 

Friends, we have spent a lot of time today talking about the consequences of living out of the ocean, living out of Christ, but I also want to show you the Joy of living in Jesus.

Just like the vast ocean which have riches that man has not yet seen: there are riches in Christ that we will be discovering for eternity.

God created us to Glorify Him and enjoy him forever- and that Joy is found in Christ.

God wants us to enjoy life, he wants us to enjoy Him, that is what he created us for.

The pleasures of this world, don’t come close to the Joy to be had in Jesus.

God doesn’t desire for us to die on the land of our sins, but he desires that we live and thrive in Him.

Just as the fish thrives in the ocean, we thrive when we are in Christ.

Let us pray.