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[0:00] and before we turn to God's word, I want to thank you all for praying.

[0:15] For those of you who may not know, last weekend I was in California preaching at a youth retreat, 60 or 70 students, and I got to tell you, gang, it went beyond well.

[0:27] It was just evident that God was at work. We had students who were hungry for God's word, students and adult volunteers, and it was just such a joy to be a part of, and I attribute that to both y'all praying and the power of God's word.

[0:47] The theme of the weekend was all in for Jesus, and so four sessions, I got to do this. I got to declare that Jesus Christ is the controlling center of all things.

[0:59] And then I got to declare how these students can live in light of him as their controlling center. It was just a privilege.

[1:10] And so I got to tell them, this is who your Jesus is. You got to think right about him, and that's going to inform right living for him.

[1:22] to know the truth about Jesus determines how we truly live for Jesus. And that's where we find ourselves in the book of Colossians.

[1:37] Colossians 2, 6, and 7. I'm just preaching on two verses this morning. But if there's a purpose statement in the book of Colossians, this is it. So hear God's word.

[1:50] Colossians 2, 6, and 7. Therefore, page 1,169 of your pew Bibles. Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus, the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught abounding in thanksgiving.

[2:12] I'll read that again. Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus, the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

[2:32] This is the purpose statement of the book of Colossians. And there's another way you can say it. Who Christ is determines how you walk.

[2:47] Who Christ is determines how you live your life. Believing in the truth of who Christ is informs the way you truly live for Christ.

[3:01] Next week, we're going to see this in fuller detail when I preach 2, 8 through 23.

[3:13] But back in the day, when the Apostle Paul wrote the Colossian church, this is first century, they were being influenced by false teachers.

[3:24] And these teachers were trying to convince these Colossian Christians to not live according to Christ as their controlling center, but they were to live according to the views of the false teachers on circumcision and what you could and couldn't drink and which religious holidays you should observe and what you could touch and what you couldn't.

[3:51] There were just purity rules. And so what these false teachers were saying is that, hey, central to your living is the obedience to these rules and regulations.

[4:04] They seem to have been advocating some kind of works righteousness, works salvation. If you're not familiar with that phrase, this is what it means. It's the common belief that, hey, you do good and you earn salvation.

[4:18] But that's not the Christian gospel. The Christian gospel is this. Christ's finished work on the cross has earned our salvation.

[4:32] And we receive it by faith as a gift. These false teachers were saying, obey and be saved. And the Christian gospel says, be saved and obey out of that.

[4:51] So these false teachers, you know what they were doing? They were proclaiming a Christ-less way of living. And so Paul says, none of that.

[5:06] Who Christ is determines how we live, how we walk. So I'm going to make two points this morning. First point, Christ is the spring in our step, verse six.

[5:19] And verse seven, Christ is the sound of our step. Who Christ is determines how we walk. So let's look at this, verse six, how Jesus Christ is the spring in our step.

[5:35] Did anybody notice the first word of verse six? Therefore. And that should be like all capital letters because it's a big therefore.

[5:47] When I was a boy, growing up, I would watch Saturday morning cartoons with my older brother, Scott. And we watched this network TV show.

[6:00] There's a lot of generations who don't know what network TV, that's okay. But this, on Saturday mornings, they had these public service announcements and one of them was called Schoolhouse Rock. And Schoolhouse Rock had a particular song when it came to conjunctions.

[6:18] Conjunction, junction. All right, this is just going to show, this is going to separate generations. But you know what I'm talking about. Conjunction, junction.

[6:29] What's your function? Right? Hooking up words, phrases, and clauses. This, therefore, is hooking up something bigger than phrases, words, or clauses.

[6:46] It's hooking up an argument. Paul has just made a case in chapter one of who Christ is. And so this, therefore, is kind of summarizing that.

[6:58] In light of who Christ is, so walk in Him. This is a very significant pivot in the book of Colossians. And now he's going to turn his attention to how we live out our lives in light of who Christ is.

[7:11] And chapter two, for the rest of it, is don't live in the trash of these false teachers. And then chapter three, onwards through four, six, is this is how you live this out.

[7:24] In terms of your pursuit of holiness and life together in the church and in your marriage and your parenting and your workplaces. So what we have here is a very significant therefore.

[7:40] And Paul, in verse six, he makes a cause and effect argument. Because of this, then do this.

[7:52] Because of this Christ, you live this Christ way. So let me just help you see the Christ cause of verse six and the Christ effect of verse six.

[8:09] We read, therefore, as you received Christ Jesus, the Lord. Now upon reading that, you might think, okay, you know, I'm a fan of the Reformation.

[8:26] I'm, I like solo fide. I, by faith alone. Surely, the apostle Paul is saying, therefore, as you received Christ Jesus, the Lord, by faith, so walk in him by faith.

[8:39] And that's true. Do I have an amen? But that's not what Paul is arguing here. If you wanted to make that case, he would have just said it explicitly. Paul is actually emphasizing something else.

[8:55] Not the how we receive, but the who we receive. Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus, the Lord.

[9:13] Christ Jesus, the Lord, is apostolic shorthand for Christ is awesome. Christ is a title. It means Messiah, anointed one.

[9:24] It would, it would conjure up ideas of kingship. David's greater son who would come and establish a forever reign over a forever kingdom that brings in people from every tribe, tongue, and nation.

[9:38] It's a name that carries authority, kingship, role. And then we have the word Jesus. It's a name, the name of a man. The humanity of Jesus.

[9:53] The humanity of Christ. And that word Lord, it's actually a reference to God. The Lord of the Old Testament. It's getting at the divinity of Christ.

[10:09] I mean, this is apostolic shorthand for glorious Christ. And in this title, we have what theologians call, buckle up, the hypostatic union.

[10:27] And here's what that means. Two natures in one person. Jesus the Christ, definitively and completely 100% human.

[10:42] And Jesus the Christ, definitively, completely, 100% God. in one person.

[10:54] That's the hypostatic union. And that is right here in these three words. Christ, Jesus, the Lord.

[11:06] And he's got all authority over all things as the Christ. Do you know what he's doing? He's tipping his hat to where he's already been.

[11:18] Paul is saying, just as you received this one, Christ, Jesus, the Lord. You know, I was already talking about him in 1, 15 through 20. In verse 13, this one who, if you've believed in him, you've been delivered from the domain of darkness and transferred into the kingdom of the beloved Son.

[11:37] He's a king with a kingdom in whom is redemption, salvation, the forgiveness of sins. Verse 15, he's the image of the invisible God.

[11:48] He is God. Verse 19, in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. He's fully God. Verse 15, he's the firstborn of all creations. He is the king of creation.

[12:01] He created everything. Verse 17, in him all things hold together. Not only is he the creator of all, he's the sustainer of all. Right now, your next breath. Verse 18, he's the head of the body, the church.

[12:17] 18 again, he's the firstborn from the dead. He is not just the king of all of creation, he's the king of the new creation. He's the firstborn raised from the dead and he is doing a work of raising people from the dead.

[12:31] Amen. And he does that through reconciling all things to himself by the blood of his cross. That's the Christ, Jesus, Lord, that you've received.

[12:48] Not a little Jesus, a glorious Christ reigning over all things. Jesus. And he is the spring in our step.

[13:04] When Jesus is the controlling center of your life, he compels you. He's the power of your life.

[13:18] He's the one for whom you live. So here's the question. He's the Christ cause.

[13:31] The basic question is this. Is it true? Is he all that?

[13:42] If he's not all that, don't waste your time. He's not worth it.

[13:55] What you'll have to endure as a Christian is not worth it if he's not all that. But if Christ is all that, if he is risen and reigning, if he is the firstborn of all creation and the firstborn from the dead, if he's fully God, fully man, and one man in all hypostatic glory, if that is who he says he is, if that's true, he's the spring in our step.

[14:25] We organize our lives around him this is the Christ cause. Now let's look at the Christ effect.

[14:37] So walk in him. In light of who Christ is in all of his hypostatic glory, walk in him.

[14:49] It's a command urging us to press into a life with Christ as the controlling center. Now if you're not familiar with that language, walk, it's just a common biblical way to talk about living your life.

[15:05] Have you heard the expression like life is a journey? That's the way we're talking about walk. It's living out your life. And so, because of who Christ is, the cause, we live a certain way.

[15:19] Effect. We've encountered this walk, talk before in chapter 1, verse 10. Paul, Paul, in verse 9, is praying for this church. Verse 10, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him.

[15:34] Paul is praying for the Colossian church that they would be so moved upon by God and his spirit that they would walk all in for Jesus. A few sermons ago, I asked this question, what is God's will for your life?

[15:51] Five words. To please Christ in everything. When you've been delivered from the domain of darkness and transferred into this kingdom of this beloved son, you've been saved for another.

[16:17] you've been rescued from living a life for yourself and you've been rescued to a life lived for Christ and there's no greater joy.

[16:32] And that's what it means to walk in him. So walk in him. Live your life for him in light of who he is, in light of what he's done for you, in light of being brought into his kingdom.

[16:46] You're no longer outside of his kingdom. You're no longer living in darkness. You're no longer following the course of the world, the prince of the power of the air. You've been brought into his kingdom.

[16:58] Now you are a son or daughter of the living God. So now you live for him. You belong to him.

[17:11] He belongs to you. In fact, if you are a Christian, you bear his name. Christ-chen.

[17:25] You're his. And we live for him. Who he is and what he's done, what he's doing, what he will do, it determines, it defines, it delights who we are and how we live.

[17:50] We take our cues from him because he's the controlling center of all things in our lives. We live accordingly for him.

[18:03] Christ's cause, who Christ is, Christ's effect, we live for him. Now maybe you're like, well, how do I get this Jesus to be the spring of my step?

[18:19] If you're not a Christian, it begins with becoming a Christian. And the way that you become a Christian is simply acknowledging the fact to Jesus himself who is risen right now, you say, Lord Jesus, I've been trying to live my life for myself and it's grievous in your sight and I've been making a mess of it.

[18:40] I turn from that and I turn to you and Lord Jesus, would you bring me into your kingdom as you promised? And at that moment, you've been delivered from the domain of darkness and transferred into the kingdom of the beloved son.

[18:56] You went from thinking that all things orbited you to realizing by God's grace, all things orbit the crucified and risen Christ. You put a stake in the ground and you say, Lord Jesus, I'm yours.

[19:20] That's how it starts. But maybe you're a Christian in the room and you're like, well, you know what?

[19:30] at any given time during the day, I am not sure if Jesus is the controlling center of my life. I'm not sure if he's the spring of my step. How can Jesus become the spring of my step being that I belong to him?

[19:50] Well, it's not rocket science. It means treasuring him. it means it means seeing him for who he is and allowing his glorious person and his glorious work to affect you.

[20:11] So much so, he takes first place. That he's worthy. So you might be asking, how do I grow in treasuring Jesus? Here's what you do.

[20:24] You ask God the Father to show you the glory of Christ and then you open up your Bible. And you're like, show me your glory.

[20:36] Help me to treasure you. There's a couple spots that I would encourage you. If you're looking for a dose of Jesus' glory, write these down.

[20:49] Revelation chapter 1, 12 through 18. Revelation chapter 19, 11 through 18. These are hot spots with the big Jesus.

[21:01] Or you can start making your way to the gospel of Mark. And as you're walking your way through the gospel of Mark, you're saying, Lord, help me to see you for who you are and help me to arrange my life around you in your glory.

[21:18] He's the glorious spring in our step, brothers and sisters. We're united in our walk around Him. Is this true? Hey, here's one testimony.

[21:34] Wholehearted, full-throated, yes and amen, it's true. He's all that. He's worth my life and He's worth yours.

[21:47] Jesus. Which brings me to the second point. He is the sound of our steps. Pastor Mike, where's the sound?

[22:01] Where's the noise in verse 7? You know, when people walk in here and it's a really quiet morning and they walk down to the front, do you know what you hear? Squeak, squeak, squeak.

[22:12] the floors creak. You hear their steps. Can't miss them. There's a sound our steps make.

[22:25] In verse 7, we move from Paul, in verse 6, urging us to live a certain way to where he spells it out. Here's the manner in which you walk.

[22:35] And there are four words here that kind of unpack the manner of our walk. They're very helpful and I think as we walk through them, I think there's a chance you're going to be surprised and encouraged.

[22:54] The first word in verse 7 is rooted. This word is the name of our youth ministry and it's the name of our youth ministry for a reason. Rooted.

[23:06] We walk rooted. Now, I'm going to get technical on you. This is a verb but it's in a mood that's called the passive mood which means this.

[23:23] It's not us rooting ourselves in him. It's God having rooted us in him. We walk in him having been rooted by God in him.

[23:43] We walk rooted. That rooted word is a word from horticulture. Psalm 1 the man who delights in the law of God he is like a tree planted rooted by streams of water.

[24:04] Jeremiah 17 7 and 8 the one who trusts in the Lord he sends out his roots to the stream. Another horticultural picture is John 15 5 Jesus is the vine we're the branches we need to be vitally connected to him to bear fruit.

[24:23] Jesus and what we're learning here is that we walk vitally connected to Jesus because God connected us to Jesus.

[24:36] You're walking as the result of God rooting you in Christ. Our living for Christ is the result of being rooted by God in Christ.

[24:51] does anybody find that encouraging a little bit? He's got you. He wants you to live for Christ.

[25:05] The second word is built up in him and Paul shifts metaphors from horticulture to architecture but what's interesting is just like rooted this word built up it's in the passive this is a God building up of those who walk in Christ.

[25:29] This is not a we doing this is a God doing he's actively presently ongoingly building up his church so together we follow Christ.

[25:46] Christ in 1 Corinthians 3 this build up language shows up a lot and Paul is using it in a very interesting way he's making a case in 1 Corinthians 3 that God is building up his people as the new temple of God God dwells in his people his new temple we don't need a temple in Jerusalem anymore gang because we're the temple the church and God is actively building up this structure of living stones in which God himself dwells if you look at chapter 1 verse 27 you'll see something to them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery which is

[26:46] Christ in you the dwelling place of God we are a mystery revealed gang Christ dwelling in us and you know what that means it means that we are holy to the Lord a holy dwelling place we live lives that are to be holy that's how we walk this out as God's holy dwelling place we are a holy habitation for him so when we gather together like on a Sunday morning here we are a holy gathering a holy structure in which God is dwelling so it shouldn't be unusual if someone comes in here they're not a believer maybe they're a new believer and they're like wait something is different about this group of people I hope our difference is that they detect the presence of

[27:46] God in our midst we're being built up which means our gathering on a Sunday morning is more than just a happy time to see one another God's getting something done established in the faith just as you were taught it's another passive this is God establishing us in the faith the objective realities of who Christ is it's established in the faith about Christ it's God doing the establishing so what does it mean to be established if you look in verse 23 if indeed you continue in the faith chapter 123 if indeed you continue in the faith stable and steadfast not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard that's what it means to be established to be unwavering undistracted enduring focused not shifting not moving to the left or to the right but staying course established persevering in your walk in the faith in the objective realities of who

[29:05] Christ is established there is a beautiful picture of this of what it means to be established in the faith and that's in Matthew chapter 7 this is at the end of the sermon on the mount and Jesus says this everyone then who hears these words of mine sermon on the mount and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock established and the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat on that house but it did not fall because it had been founded on the rock on Christ on his words in the faith if you flip to Colossians chapter 3 16 let the word of

[30:08] Christ dwell in you richly teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God that's how he's establishing us when we gather together and we're hearing God's word preached we're singing these wonderful songs there is this word of Christ these doctrines of the faith that are establishing us it's all true it's all true despite what the world says throughout the week this is true Christ is who he is he's getting something done around the world and he is glorious rooted in Christ being built up in Christ being established in Christ this is how we are walking for him in him where's the sounding here's the sounding abounding in thanksgiving so far those three descriptions were all

[31:17] God's doing this last one is a we doing our response to what God has done and is doing is a response of thanksgiving to him thanksgiving is a significant theme woven throughout the book of Colossians we've already encountered in verse 12 giving thanks to the father chapter 1 verse 12 who has qualified you to share the inheritance of the saints and light he's delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of the beloved son we thank God for his work of salvation in us for delivering us from darkness and bringing us into the light to seven right here abounding in thanksgiving but flip over to chapter three verse 14 and above all these put on love which binds everything together in perfect harmony and when you think of harmony you might think of like singing look at verse 15 and let the peace of

[32:23] Christ rule in your hearts to which indeed you were called in one body and be thankful verse 16 let the word of Christ dwell in you richly with thankfulness in your hearts to God at the end of the name of the Lord Jesus giving thanks to God the Father through Him we walk thankfully in Christ together we harmonize our thanksgiving to God together thanksgiving is simply this it's gratitude given voice to God that's what it is you find yourself thinking about who Christ is and what he does what he's doing and you're like there's no one like you there's thanksgiving it's gratitude given voice and so here's what Paul is showing us when we walk we're like rooted established built up thankful rooted built up established thankful together we're rooted we're built up we're established we're thankful to God together one of the things I love about singing and singing loud though I don't sing well is that

[34:00] I get to sing loud of gratitude given voice with my brothers and sisters in Christ every Sunday after Sunday we get to do that together we get to sing you are so worthy of our walk Lord Jesus that's the sound of our step thanksgiving gratitude praise and honor that's how we walk in light of who he is and what he's done that we've been rooted in him and built up in him and established in him he is the sound of our stepping who Christ is determines how we walk believing in the truth of who Jesus is informs how we truly step for him he's the spring in our step he's the sound of our step and did you notice that little phrase just as you were taught established in the faith just as you were taught this Christ that is

[35:13] Christ central of how we live our lives he's the gold standard of the Christian life we live treasuring him we live for him he's the gold standard just as you were taught this is what's been passed down to us through the scriptures and the apostles but what we're going to see next week is that this gold standard not only helps us to see what's most valuable it actually helps us to spot to spot and renounce counterfeits false claims things that are not worthy of our lives and that's what we're going to look at next Sunday but between now and next Sunday would you call to your mind who

[36:16]  Christ is so that you live your life for him in him to him by him who Christ is determines how we walk all for the glory of Jesus let's pray together father father god would you pour out your spirit upon us that we would walk empowered by your spirit to take step after step for the lord jesus christ would you would you do a work in us father to make us a grateful people who give voice to that gratitude in heartfelt full-throated thanksgiving it's your name we pray amen