Sermon Tone Analysis

Colossians

Pray

RECEIVE CHRIST JESUS

Whats the therefore there for?

= Jesus, and Paul’s ministry

This verse is a hinge verse for the entire book of Colossians

Paul wrote about the preeminence of Christ who is Lord over Creation and Reconciliation, and that is reinforced here with this title that he has given Jesus.

Christ Jesus the Lord.

Who is it that Paul is reminding the Colossians that they have already received?

Paul says that it is Christ Jesus the Lord, but who is this Christ Jesus the Lord.

This phrase Christ Jesus the Lord breaks down into two very descriptive words who who Jesus is… He is...

Who is it that Paul is reminding the Colossians that they have already received?

Paul says that it is Christ Jesus the Lord, but who is this Christ Jesus the Lord.

This phrase Christ Jesus the Lord breaks down into two very descriptive words who who Jesus is… He is...

Christ

Lord

Christ = Messiah

If you are Gods it is because Jesus saved you, Jesus was the messiah that was sent to this world to reconcile a broken humanity, and we owe everything to Him.

What does the rest of this section of scripture say about who Jesus is and what he has done?

we were dead, completely unable to save ourselves.

Our sins had rendered us lifeless and unable to breath life back into our own bones, and yet God made us alive…Alive in Christ!

How did he do this?

He took the record of debt that stood agains us

Ian McNaughton says “There is no salvation by balancing the records.

There is only salvation by cancelling records.”

‘There is no salvation by balancing the records.

There is only salvation by cancelling records’.14

Literally the title of debtor, Jesus took that title off of us and nailed it to the Cross

Some of us continue to feel the identity of indebtedness, and we think we can pay God back by feeling guilty for long periods of time, but this can’t be done, because we can’t pay God back!

Our response to God’s generous grace toward us should be Open hearts of Thanksgiving!

God forgave ALL of our sin, because he gives us a new identity.

wondering about if all of our sins are forgiven forever more, or if we need to continue to ask for forgiveness.

We say were sorry with the full assurance that God will forgive us over and over because he already forgave us completely in Christ Jesus the Lord!

I love this truth that the record of our debt has been completely whipped away and the Bible tells us that our account isn’t even at zero, because Jesus gave us all of the identity as Children of God which means that we have been given more through Jesus than if all of the richest people got together in the world and they all gave us every penny that they owned.

We have the RIGHTEOUSNESS OF JESUS AND ARE COHEIRS WITH HIM!!!

So now all of our sins are taken care of!

What a beautiful thing!

This is the Christ who we have recieved.

When Jesus gave us the new identity of Christian (little Christ) He is now the Lord over our lives and He disarmed the accusative powers of the enemy.

Colossians is combating a Jewish mysticism that said that people should pray to angels, but Christians pray to no one except God Himself because Jesus is Lord over all of those things, and he gave us direct access to the Father.

Jesus is able to give us direct access because he is Lord over everything.

(were still in the “Therefore” section… only one word in!)

He is the Lord over all creation, and all things were made through Him and for Him… Jesus created everything in heaven and on earth and everything is subject to him.

We have also learned that Jesus is the Lord over all things… (were still in the “Therefore” section… only one word in!)

He is the Lord over all creation, and all things were made through Him and for Him… Jesus created everything in heaven and on earth and everything is subject to him.

receiving Him and His gospel is such a big deal, because you are not just receiving an idea, you are receiving the actual person, and that person is the one who nailed the record of debt to the cross so that you and I might live completely alive in the Joy of God.

So Its a pretty big deal that we receive Jesus into our lives, though we were dead in our trespasses, by receiving Jesus we are made alive, but if we receive him and then forget about Him were like Jay Lenno… he collects cars, but he doesn’t drive all of them so they just sit there.

Jesus can’t be like the fleeting pleasures of a new collectors item, we don’t receive Him and walk away, we Receive and WALK IN...

Its a big deal for people to recieve Jesus, amen?

We are called into something incredible and life changing, we should be so thankful that he has chosen to use us!

So this verse tells us to receive Jesus which is the starting point in our faith, then we are to CONTINUE to walk IN HIM.

WALK IN JESUS

We recieved Jesus into our lives, but do we ever actually graduate from that place of dependance on Him? No! We never graduate from the Gospel!!

But what does it look like to walk in Jesus?

ROOTED AND BUILT UP.

Rooted

We are rooted deep into the gospel

we dig our hands deep into the gospel

we explore all of the ways the gospel speaks to our lives

Parenting

Work

Marriage

Friendship

Enemies

Entertainment

We consider Christ in everything

“I believe in Christianity as I believe that the Sun has risen—not only because I see it but because by it I see everything else.”- C.S. Lewis

I believe in Christianity as I believe that the Sun has risen—not only because I see it but because by it I see everything else.

We now see all things through our rooted-ness in the Gospel of Jesus Christ

C.S. Lewis

This keeps us from believing the philosophy of our day.

Paul says in Verse 8

This keeps us from believing the philosophy of our day.

Paul says in Verse 8

Colossians 2:8

They forgot the gospel!

So what is it that they were believing?

The book of Colossians is combating a Jewish mysticism that said that people should pray to angels, and above all else fear demons but Christianity is different… we pray to no one except God Himself because Jesus is Lord over all things, and he gave us direct access to the Father.

He is the Lord over all creation, and all things were made through Him and for Him… Jesus created everything in heaven and on earth and everything is subject to him.

So Paul tells the Colossian believers not to look to angels or demons or this false teaching because in this false teaching there is not a deeper access to God.

What is the false teaching or the philosophy of our day?

Take a look at the headlines and see the themes that come up…

Christianity is bigotry and oppressive

Morality is relative

Easy Pleasure is everything

“The Internet is canceled thanks to Ted Cruz’s Zodiac Killer Joke” This is TIME MAGAZINE … not The ONION...

Then I got pulled into about a 45 minute Ted Cruz Meme binging

Even that, its quick easy, funny pleasure.

Thats what a Meme is!

Jesus free’s us from seeking temporary pleasures for lasting Joy... this comes when we root ourselves deep in Jesus digging down into the depths of the gospel because those depths are crying out to the depths of our hearts to find rest in Him.

We don’t graduate from the Gospel, we grow in the gospel.

Think of the Gospel as rich soil… and we are like a plant… in order for the plant to grow strong it must dig its roots down deep into the rich soil, and Jesus is the most substantial, richest, nutritious soul that we could root ourselves down into.

And just like a plant, the more we are rooted in the richness of Christ, the more we will be built up in Christ...

Built up

Walking in Jesus: Rooted and Built up (Putting off + Putting on new nature)

Walking in Jesus is rooting ourselves in Him, and being built up in Him which involves us putting off our old selves, and building up our new nature that Jesus bought for us on the Cross.

The technical term for this is Sanctification, which is the process by which we become more like Jesus.

But doesn’t Verse 9&10 say that we have already been filled?

Why do we need to be built up if were already filled?

Thats a good question...WE ARE ROOTED IN WHAT WE ALREADY KNOW (which is that were justified by Christ), AND WERE BUILT UP IN WHAT WE ALREADY HAVE (which is fullness in Christ)!!! THE PROCESS OF BECOMING LIKE JESUS IS THE PROCESS OF BECOMING MORE OF WHO GOD HAS ALREADY DECLARED US TO BE!