“I was listening to your sermon referencing Colossians this morning, and then read the four short chapters. It is amazing…how completely & concisely God thru Paul lays out everything. In fact if that were the only scripture left for us, we would be w/o excuse in living pure lives before Him…” ~ CW
Surely that speaks to the heart of one of the great purposes of Colossians: Colossians is a kick in the pants to live pure lives in Christ!!!! ~ A life worthy of our Savior who died for our sins and was raised from the dead. Go forward in Christ! The car of faith goes forward or reverse… Are you striving for greater things, greater understanding, greater awareness, greater strength… or you are going backwards…
Paul writes to the church at Colossae. Interesting he has the same desire for Laodicea down the road (READ Col. 2:1). “Contending” he says in the NIV. My paraphrase is a Kick in the Pants. The fact that he has the same desire for at least these two churches shows this is a general letter, and in a very real sense is written directly to us. Paul has much to commend of the Colossians, but he has a fear they may be slipping into the reverse gear. You go forward or backward in faith, those are the only choices. You are growing in Christ, or…
Surely that speaks to the heart of one of the great purposes of Colossians: Colossians is a kick in the pants to live pure lives in Christ!!!! ~ A life worthy of our Savior who died for our sins and was raised from the dead. Go forward in Christ! The car of faith goes forward or reverse… Are you striving for greater things, greater understanding, greater awareness, greater strength… or you are going backwards…
Paul writes to the church at Colossae. Interesting he has the same desire for Laodicea down the road (READ Col. 2:1). “Contending” he says in the NIV. My paraphrase is a Kick in the Pants. The fact that he has the same desire for at least these two churches shows this is a general letter, and in a very real sense is written directly to us. Paul has much to commend of the Colossians, but he has a fear they may be slipping into the reverse gear. You go forward or backward in faith, those are the only choices. You are growing in Christ, or…
...going backwards, the gospel message is getting stale, you’ve lost your first love…. I saw a dopy video this week illustrating the first five years of marriage: year one a young couple is walking down the street hand in hand. They come to a telephone pole in the middle of their path. Carefully they reach around with their free hand on the other side so as to never lose contact and continue their walk… year two they let go as they come to the pole then clasp each other’s hand on the other side… year three they aren’t holding hands so no problem to keep walking… by the time they get to year five, as they approach the pole, the video ends with the wife shoving the husband smack into the pole…
Paul writes this letter because he wants the amazing love they have for Christ to continue. One of the dangers of faith is to get bored with the things of faith. Boredom and faith ought not to go together, yet it happens….It can happen to the best of us…
Paul speaks of encouragement, united in love, fullness of knowledge, and much more because he wants us going forward on the cutting edge of faith. Not growing bored. Forward or backwards are the only two choices.
Bored with the things of God vs. a cutting edge faith. Maybe, just maybe, you need a kick in the pants. That’s why Colossians is written…May Paul’s words be an incentive to get going forward in your faith…
Paul begins in this scripture by declaring he is working hard on their behalf to stay focused on the things of Christ. READ Col. 2:1. This is actually the 2nd time he’s said this, last week the last verse, Col. 1:29, he says much the same thing.
I’ve noticed bored people don’t work hard! Even people that appear to be working hard in a job they are tired of, if they are bored, aren’t doing as much as they could. They’ve lost the edge, only doing a minimal amount. Paul is stressing how hard he is working because he cares so passionately… I think he’s telling us he works hard not to brag, but rather, as an example. It takes work and discipline and caring to go forward in faith. You cannot stop and take a break from living for God because there is no such thing as neutral… forward or backward, that’s it… the hare lost the race to the tortoise not because he went back towards the start line, he lost because he got bored and took a nap. He thought he could go into neutral and take time out… but he lost time, he lost ground…
The next few verses Paul describes his purpose for writing… it’s all about forward in faith…. READ Col. 2:2: A Christian going forward in faith is encouraged, united in love, is rich in faith, is excited about God, and focuses on the future…
Are you encouraged right now as a person of faith. I’m not talking this moment, but in general as you walk hand in hand with the Lord? A bored person is a discouraged person. Nothing to do. Can’t get out of the funk they are in… nothing sounds that much fun… When a person is spiritually bored the disciplines of the Christian faith sound tedious/rote… just a formality…
When you are going forward in faith, you are a positive person, looking at what God is doing…you have a general sense of joy, expectation…
“United in love” ~ in order to become more mature in Christ, as frustrating and scary as this may sound to some folks, it means you need fellow Christians. The goal as outlined by Paul includes uniting in love with others, working together, traveling the same path. The gathering of God’s people, The Church, is vital to the maturity of believers!
A spiritually bored person doesn’t feel a sense of love. Apathy is closer to the truth. If you don’t have a profound sense of love, purposelessness is not far behind.
I think of the video about the couple coming to a pole in the middle of the street. As I watched the wife shove the husband into the pole…I thought they needed a sixth year of marriage ~ one more time coming to the pole, only this time instead of the wife shoving the husband, recreate something closer to the first year, and show how sweet love is AFTER the tension, after problems… that’s what some of you need. Maybe in your marriage (but that’s just the illustration) this message is about a cutting edge faith, rediscovering the sweetness of Christ. You overcome boredness by uniting in love with fellow Christians…
Col. 2:2 includes the word Riches ~ “full riches of complete understanding.” A spiritually bored person has a mindset of poverty. Backward or forward, the only two directions of faith in Christ… Poverty or wealth, which word best describes your mind? Something is missing to the person who is bored, that’s poverty. A bored person is looking for something to do…
Wealth is a mindset of enough. In the last six months my patterns are such that I am in my truck when Dave Ramsey comes on the radio. He is a Christian money guy. I find myself over and over using his phrase when somebody asks him, “How are you?” his standard response: “Better than I deserve.” Wealth has very little to do with how much money you have, it is a mindset…
A spiritually bored person has no excitement about God…You overcome boredom by learning to be amazed at how much you do have, the grace God has given you, the level of understanding that is yours…
The Mystery of God is solved when you are going forward in faith! Sound bold? Listen again to end of Col. 2:2e READ.
God is a mystery to the spiritually bored person...There will always be questions about God/the Bible no matter where we are in our faith. The difference between a person of faith traveling forward and backward is a matter of attitude: Do your questions erode your excitement about God, like an anchor to your soul, or do you get excited with the facts of what you know about God be the most important defining aspect of your spiritual life… I have lot’s of questions, I cannot answer every question posed to me…, but the truth I know of God is vastly more important giving me hope and expectation….
Jesus himself is a mystery. READ Col. 2:3 ~ To a spiritually bored person Jesus is like a rumor that you don’t get ~ how do other Christians find such joy? You may even secretly think confident Christians you know are over the top in their faith…jealousy of other’s people faith is common ~ why can’t I have the peace they have?
Col. 2:3 says that in Christ is “hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” Many Christians that don’t want to be too radical in their faith, actually think all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are not found in Christ, but in //// science…
To go forward in Christ, you put Jesus first as the authority in all wisdom, all knowledge. The way to understand the world is through the prism of Christ…Christ is first, in my thoughts, in my purpose, my goals must be according to his will, my desires must be in keeping with a life of cutting edge faith. I love Col. 2:3 because if we are to take it seriously then to be a Christian is confidently searching for a treasure that you know is waiting to be found… READ.
Col. 2:4 says a spiritually bored person is easily swayed by nice sounding alternatives. READ. Nothing new under the sun. What was true then is more true now. Satan doesn’t care about creating atheists, all Satan needs to do is to water down faith. Christians without convictions. A cutting edge Christian walks with confidence and conviction. We could spend forever with examples of this verse in action in our world…
Paul is an inspiration. Even though he warns the people not to put their faith in reverse, but remain solid in their convictions, he continues to encourage them and does not condemn READ 2:5. He hasn’t given up. He keeps on keeping on encouraging them, not beating them up but commending them. I take that lesson to heart… You know I do my best to encourage people, to commend people, to learn from people…
For those of you who were here last week, this message is really a continuation of last week, in which I talked about Maturing in Christ to be the goal and to think of maturity as a direction going towards Christ. If you think of faith as car with only a forward and reverse gear, it makes no difference how far you’ve gone backwards. The good news is that forward is forward no matter where you start. Faith is not a competition with others, it is a direction to head… if you and I are headed in the same direction then we are equal in our goals, our purpose, to become more aware of Christ, to live for him…
Paul is simply saying FORWARD IN FAITH. You overcome boredom by going forward, not getting to a certain level of maturity and then you can begin, but to simply put the car in forward… That is the only way I can read Col. 2:6-7 is go FORWARD. READ….These are the verses I am leaving with you to mediate upon this week. You don’t need any great cultural insight to understand them. Quit being so hard on yourself and simply shift that gear into forward no matter how far away you feel you’ve gone from Christ. “continue” it says in v. 6, not try to become a Christian superstar of faith. CONTINUE… it’s about direction. ROOTED. BUILT UP. STRENGTHENED. OVERFLOWING. THANKFULNESS. All these truths are about going forward. Meditate on each of them.
The message today is a kick in the pants to live pure lives in Christ! Maybe you feel you’ve been going backwards in your faith. You only got two gears of faith: backward or forward. Shift to forward and head towards Christ. Look for signs of encouragement. Unite in love with fellow believers. Dwell on what Christ has done for you, not the questions that haunt you, and you will be rich. The key to the mystery is simply Christ, to know him, to be loved by him, to be forgiven by him, to be amazed and excited because of Him.
You’ll never be bored again when you go forward in Christ. Amen.
Paul writes this letter because he wants the amazing love they have for Christ to continue. One of the dangers of faith is to get bored with the things of faith. Boredom and faith ought not to go together, yet it happens….It can happen to the best of us…
Paul speaks of encouragement, united in love, fullness of knowledge, and much more because he wants us going forward on the cutting edge of faith. Not growing bored. Forward or backwards are the only two choices.
Bored with the things of God vs. a cutting edge faith. Maybe, just maybe, you need a kick in the pants. That’s why Colossians is written…May Paul’s words be an incentive to get going forward in your faith…
Paul begins in this scripture by declaring he is working hard on their behalf to stay focused on the things of Christ. READ Col. 2:1. This is actually the 2nd time he’s said this, last week the last verse, Col. 1:29, he says much the same thing.
I’ve noticed bored people don’t work hard! Even people that appear to be working hard in a job they are tired of, if they are bored, aren’t doing as much as they could. They’ve lost the edge, only doing a minimal amount. Paul is stressing how hard he is working because he cares so passionately… I think he’s telling us he works hard not to brag, but rather, as an example. It takes work and discipline and caring to go forward in faith. You cannot stop and take a break from living for God because there is no such thing as neutral… forward or backward, that’s it… the hare lost the race to the tortoise not because he went back towards the start line, he lost because he got bored and took a nap. He thought he could go into neutral and take time out… but he lost time, he lost ground…
The next few verses Paul describes his purpose for writing… it’s all about forward in faith…. READ Col. 2:2: A Christian going forward in faith is encouraged, united in love, is rich in faith, is excited about God, and focuses on the future…
Are you encouraged right now as a person of faith. I’m not talking this moment, but in general as you walk hand in hand with the Lord? A bored person is a discouraged person. Nothing to do. Can’t get out of the funk they are in… nothing sounds that much fun… When a person is spiritually bored the disciplines of the Christian faith sound tedious/rote… just a formality…
When you are going forward in faith, you are a positive person, looking at what God is doing…you have a general sense of joy, expectation…
“United in love” ~ in order to become more mature in Christ, as frustrating and scary as this may sound to some folks, it means you need fellow Christians. The goal as outlined by Paul includes uniting in love with others, working together, traveling the same path. The gathering of God’s people, The Church, is vital to the maturity of believers!
A spiritually bored person doesn’t feel a sense of love. Apathy is closer to the truth. If you don’t have a profound sense of love, purposelessness is not far behind.
I think of the video about the couple coming to a pole in the middle of the street. As I watched the wife shove the husband into the pole…I thought they needed a sixth year of marriage ~ one more time coming to the pole, only this time instead of the wife shoving the husband, recreate something closer to the first year, and show how sweet love is AFTER the tension, after problems… that’s what some of you need. Maybe in your marriage (but that’s just the illustration) this message is about a cutting edge faith, rediscovering the sweetness of Christ. You overcome boredness by uniting in love with fellow Christians…
Col. 2:2 includes the word Riches ~ “full riches of complete understanding.” A spiritually bored person has a mindset of poverty. Backward or forward, the only two directions of faith in Christ… Poverty or wealth, which word best describes your mind? Something is missing to the person who is bored, that’s poverty. A bored person is looking for something to do…
Wealth is a mindset of enough. In the last six months my patterns are such that I am in my truck when Dave Ramsey comes on the radio. He is a Christian money guy. I find myself over and over using his phrase when somebody asks him, “How are you?” his standard response: “Better than I deserve.” Wealth has very little to do with how much money you have, it is a mindset…
A spiritually bored person has no excitement about God…You overcome boredom by learning to be amazed at how much you do have, the grace God has given you, the level of understanding that is yours…
The Mystery of God is solved when you are going forward in faith! Sound bold? Listen again to end of Col. 2:2e READ.
God is a mystery to the spiritually bored person...There will always be questions about God/the Bible no matter where we are in our faith. The difference between a person of faith traveling forward and backward is a matter of attitude: Do your questions erode your excitement about God, like an anchor to your soul, or do you get excited with the facts of what you know about God be the most important defining aspect of your spiritual life… I have lot’s of questions, I cannot answer every question posed to me…, but the truth I know of God is vastly more important giving me hope and expectation….
Jesus himself is a mystery. READ Col. 2:3 ~ To a spiritually bored person Jesus is like a rumor that you don’t get ~ how do other Christians find such joy? You may even secretly think confident Christians you know are over the top in their faith…jealousy of other’s people faith is common ~ why can’t I have the peace they have?
Col. 2:3 says that in Christ is “hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” Many Christians that don’t want to be too radical in their faith, actually think all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are not found in Christ, but in //// science…
To go forward in Christ, you put Jesus first as the authority in all wisdom, all knowledge. The way to understand the world is through the prism of Christ…Christ is first, in my thoughts, in my purpose, my goals must be according to his will, my desires must be in keeping with a life of cutting edge faith. I love Col. 2:3 because if we are to take it seriously then to be a Christian is confidently searching for a treasure that you know is waiting to be found… READ.
Col. 2:4 says a spiritually bored person is easily swayed by nice sounding alternatives. READ. Nothing new under the sun. What was true then is more true now. Satan doesn’t care about creating atheists, all Satan needs to do is to water down faith. Christians without convictions. A cutting edge Christian walks with confidence and conviction. We could spend forever with examples of this verse in action in our world…
Paul is an inspiration. Even though he warns the people not to put their faith in reverse, but remain solid in their convictions, he continues to encourage them and does not condemn READ 2:5. He hasn’t given up. He keeps on keeping on encouraging them, not beating them up but commending them. I take that lesson to heart… You know I do my best to encourage people, to commend people, to learn from people…
For those of you who were here last week, this message is really a continuation of last week, in which I talked about Maturing in Christ to be the goal and to think of maturity as a direction going towards Christ. If you think of faith as car with only a forward and reverse gear, it makes no difference how far you’ve gone backwards. The good news is that forward is forward no matter where you start. Faith is not a competition with others, it is a direction to head… if you and I are headed in the same direction then we are equal in our goals, our purpose, to become more aware of Christ, to live for him…
Paul is simply saying FORWARD IN FAITH. You overcome boredom by going forward, not getting to a certain level of maturity and then you can begin, but to simply put the car in forward… That is the only way I can read Col. 2:6-7 is go FORWARD. READ….These are the verses I am leaving with you to mediate upon this week. You don’t need any great cultural insight to understand them. Quit being so hard on yourself and simply shift that gear into forward no matter how far away you feel you’ve gone from Christ. “continue” it says in v. 6, not try to become a Christian superstar of faith. CONTINUE… it’s about direction. ROOTED. BUILT UP. STRENGTHENED. OVERFLOWING. THANKFULNESS. All these truths are about going forward. Meditate on each of them.
The message today is a kick in the pants to live pure lives in Christ! Maybe you feel you’ve been going backwards in your faith. You only got two gears of faith: backward or forward. Shift to forward and head towards Christ. Look for signs of encouragement. Unite in love with fellow believers. Dwell on what Christ has done for you, not the questions that haunt you, and you will be rich. The key to the mystery is simply Christ, to know him, to be loved by him, to be forgiven by him, to be amazed and excited because of Him.
You’ll never be bored again when you go forward in Christ. Amen.
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