Colossians 2:5-12
6So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, 7rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. 8See 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. 9For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, 10and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. 11In 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, 12having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.
Thoughts: Our faith and lives must be rooted in and built on Christ and Christ alone. We have already seen in Colossians how Jesus is the creator and sustainer of all things (week 1) and how he reconciled everything to himself through his death on the cross (week 2). Last week we looked at how our lives and destiny are intermingled with Jesus and this results in sharing in the suffering, struggles, life and victory of Jesus (week3). Paul continues this week by acknowledging the way in which we will be tempted (subtly and overtly) to move away from that central gospel of Grace bought by the suffering Christ. Tempted by worldly ideas and philosophies that have no value. Our gospel is simple, we are offered undeserved salvation and fullness by a God who decided to personally pay our debt of death. We don’t earn it, we don’t deserve it, it is freely given… it is grace and it is truly amazing.
There are many temptations to pervert this gospel and make it about ourselves rather than God. We must be wary of all these temptations and cling hard to the cross of Grace. Grace is not a simple doctrine that we advance away from, it should be the central experience in our lives. Spurgeon put it like this “we must abide hard to the cross and search the mystery of his wounds”, Paul said “For I resolved to know nothing…. except Christ and him crucified”. Lets pray that we do not waiver from the wonderful truth of Grace and continue to live our lives “rooted and built up in him”
Further Reading /Listening:
Book: CJ Mahaney, “The Cross Centered Life"
Video: “Jesus Wants The Rose” (this is a great little video)
Article: John Piper “The Gospel in 6 Minutes”
p.s. If you have any good videos/articles etc which might help the group, post a link to them below
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