Well, good morning, everyone. If you have a Bible there, then grab it and turn to Colossians chapter 2.
This is where we're going to be this morning, verses 6 to 15.
And God has so much to teach us this morning as we turn to his inspired word.
So why don't we just, as you're turning there, let's just pause our hearts and let's just still ourselves and let's pray as we come to his word this morning.
Heavenly Father, we thank you so much that what we have in our hands is no ordinary book.
This is your inspired word. It is your word.
And so, Father, we ask that your spirit would come now and he would help keep our minds' attention.
And that he would stoke our hearts' affection for your son, Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.
So if you've got chapter 2 there, let's read verses 6 to 15.
This is where we are this morning.
Verses 6 to 15 of chapter 2.
So Paul, writing to these Colossian Christians, he writes this.
So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him,
strengthened in the faith as you were taught and overflowing with thankfulness.
See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy,
which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.
For in Christ, all the fullness of the deity lives in bodily form.
And in Christ, you have been brought to fullness.
He is the head over every power and authority.
In him, you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands.
Your whole self, ruled by the flesh, was put off when you were circumcised by Christ,
having been buried with him in baptism,
in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God who raised him from the dead.
When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh,
God made you alive with Christ.
He forgave us all our sins,
having cancelled the charge of our legal indebtedness,
which stood against us and condemned us.
He has taken it away,
nailing it to the cross,
and having disarmed the powers and authorities,
he made a public spectacle of them,
triumphing over them by the cross.
Amen.
This is God's word to us this morning.
So, to kick us off,
when was the last time you grabbed a real bargain?
Right?
A real bargain.
This kind of comes part of the territory of being Scottish.
We love a bargain.
Nothing excites me more than a discount aisle in Tesco,
and I'm not exaggerating there.
When was the last time you grabbed a bargain?
Because I was reading this week about a woman who bought this bowl
at a car boot sale in America,
and I think you'll agree that's a pretty ordinary looking bowl.
Now, I don't know what was going through her head as she bought it.
Maybe she was thinking it would be nice on her mantelpiece,
or it would be good to chuck her keys into,
or something like that.
Whatever she had in mind,
she managed to haggle a deal,
love a haggle,
haggle a deal,
to get this bowl for $3.
A few years later,
someone else looked at that bowl
and uttered the words,
do you know what you've got there?
Because that was a rare,
a thousand-year-old Chinese bowl
dating back to the time of one of China's most distinguished dynasties.
In actual fact,
that bowl that she bought for $3
was worth $2.2 million.
Now, why do I tell you that?
Because as I've been hanging out with Paul this week
in these verses in Colossians,
they've reminded me of that lady
who's paid $3 for that bowl.
Because here is Paul,
and if you like,
what he's doing in these verses
is he's saying to these Christians
that he's writing you to,
do you know what you've got here?
Do you know what you've got here?
Look at verse 6.
Do you see it?
They have something.
What does he write?
Just as you what?
Received.
They've got something.
As in, they've been given
and they've taken hold of
this great gift that God has given them.
And the great gift that God has given them
is not possessions.
The great gift that God has given them
is a person.
They've Christ.
That's what they've got.
True for every single believer here
this morning,
and ever since this letter was written,
we have Christ.
Now you may have picked it up
as we read it through there,
just how many times
Paul uses that phrase,
in him.
Did you get that in the reading?
In him.
In fact, let me hit you
with just some key Colossian stats.
Okay?
That phrase, in him,
is used 15 times
in this letter,
as I count them,
and seven of them,
that's just under half,
come in these ten verses.
Track with me.
In him, verse 6.
In him, verse 7.
In him, verse 9.
In him, verse 10.
In him, verse 11.
With him, verse 12.
With him, verse 13.
Seven of them.
Now why?
Why does Paul do that?
Two reasons, I reckon.
So that their eyes would be directed
off of themselves to him,
to Christ.
Do you not know that to be true
in your own life?
That's what I pray for
more than anything else,
that God would help me
take my eyes off myself
and fix them on Christ.
So that they would see him.
But more than that,
in him,
is what they are.
Do you see?
Paul is drawing their minds
to their new identity
that they have
in
Christ.
Jesus has made them
his own.
This is what he's saying.
He has, as it were,
he's taken you
into himself.
This is the new you.
This is who you are.
And probably more accurately,
this is whose you are.
You are Christ's.
Do you see what he's saying?
This is your identity.
Now think about it.
There are
all sorts of places
that you and I
can look to
for our identity
in life.
We can look to
any number of things
in life
that we want
to define
who we are.
Our jobs,
our relationship status,
our gender,
where we go to school,
where we went to university,
our first job
that we've got,
the whereabouts
of the house
that we live in,
the catchment area
that we live in,
our kids go to that school,
the kind of car
that we drive,
all kind of things
that we can look to
to define us in life,
who we are.
But whoever you are
here today,
and whatever you think
about this God,
let me give you
something to chew on
as we travel through
these verses,
okay?
This is
the identity
that you and I
were made for,
right here.
A life lived
in relationship
with the God
who made us,
the God
who loves us,
and the God
who knows us.
Right here,
this is the identity
that you and I
were made for.
Our little girl,
Grace,
she's got a wooden
train set
that she loves
to play to.
This is the toy
of the moment,
wooden train set,
and on the train set
she's got a little
battery-powered train
that goes round
and round this track.
But what she's done
recently,
it's her new
favourite thing to do,
is to take the little
battery-powered train
off of the track
and let it run
its course.
Honestly,
the number of times
that I've collected
that train
from under the sofa,
I could not tell you,
okay,
but this is her favourite
game at the moment.
Take it off the tracks
and let it run.
Now,
you could argue
that that train
is free,
yeah,
because it's off the tracks,
it's doing its own thing,
it's no longer constrained
by the tracks,
it's free to go.
Or,
you could strongly suggest
that when the train's
on the tracks,
it's doing the very thing
that it was
made to do.
Friends,
right here
is the identity
that you and I
were made for.
These verses tell us
about life on the tracks.
Or as the Westminster
Shorter Catechism
puts it,
let me get my geek
on for you,
okay,
question,
what is the chief end
of man?
Answer,
man's chief end
is to glorify God
and to enjoy him
forever.
There is life's purpose,
right there.
Paul wants these
Christians to see
the enormity
of what they have
in Christ
and he says,
do you know
what you've got here?
And in terms of
what they have in Christ,
there are two big things
that he wants them
to grasp from verse 9.
But before we get there,
see the appeal
that he makes to them
in verses 6 and 7,
which I think
is a big imperative
of this letter.
It's a big thing
that he wants them to do.
And if you wanted
to sum it up
in a phrase,
this is what I try
and do,
this is how my mind works,
okay,
the phrase that stays
is that the way in
is the way on,
okay,
the way in
is the way on.
Look what he writes.
So then,
just as you received
Christ as Lord,
continue,
as in,
keep going,
keep on going,
doing what?
Living your lives
in him.
Or if you've got
an ESV Bible there,
it says,
walk in him,
doesn't it?
Walk in him.
I love that word,
walk,
because it's a just
keep on,
keeping on kind of word.
Keep on,
keeping on.
It's an everyday word.
Keep on living
your lives in Christ.
Everyday,
everyday.
So the everyday stuff
that you and I do
in our lives,
the school run,
the big shop,
the homework,
the downtime,
the gym regime,
do it all conscious
of your new identity
in Jesus Christ.
Walk in him.
Do you feel it?
Walk in him.
Every day of your life,
walk in him.
Rooted and built up in him,
strengthened in the faith
as you were taught.
So put the roots of your life
deep down into Christ.
Get grounded in him.
Get anchored in him.
And as you do that,
draw nourishment,
be transformed,
and grow in godliness
as the sap of the Spirit
works its way
through your life.
And what will be
the overflow of that?
Thankfulness.
It's a wonderful word,
is it not?
I was thinking this week,
how much joy
in the Holy Spirit
do we miss out on
because we're not
a very thankful people?
Thankfulness.
Friends,
is that not the fruit
that you want to see
in your life?
Thankfulness.
Well,
key to this,
if it is,
is for us to see
the natural order.
In other words,
how this change
comes about
because this is not
an outside-in
kind of change.
It's not an outside-in
kind of change.
This is an inside-out
kind of change.
And this is the only change
that will work.
Why?
Because the heart
of the problem
is the problem
of the heart.
We need new ones.
That's the problem.
We need new ones.
We need changed ones.
We need cleansed ones.
And praise God,
that is what He has done
for us
in Jesus Christ.
We have new hearts.
Praise God
for His grace.
We have new hearts
because of what we saw
last week at verse 27.
God lives in our hearts
from the very moment
that you and I received
Jesus Christ.
That's mind-blowing
that He has taken up
residence in the hearts
of His people.
And He's changed us.
And He's committed
to changing us
from the inside out.
Friends,
the way in
is the way on.
And so good
is what they have.
I think this is why
Paul warns them
so strenuously
at verse 8
about entertaining
those
who would say to them
that the way in
is not
the way on.
These false teachers,
remember we've seen them
over the last few weeks,
are somewhere
in the background
of this church.
Paul says,
don't let them take,
don't let them
take you captive.
He's getting them
to think about a ship.
What you don't want
is people smuggling
on board your ship
and robbing you
blind of your
precious cargo.
Don't let them
take you captive.
And that's what
these teachers will do
if you listen to them
and if you take to heart
what they are saying.
People perhaps
who are peddling
a special kind
of circumcision,
a special kind
of baptism,
a special kind
of outward act
that if you did it
then it taps you
into some kind
of spiritual fullness
of an experience.
But whatever it was,
I think the heart
of their message
is that true
spiritual change
and growth
is to be found
outside of Christ.
And what does Paul call it?
Do you see the word there?
Hollow.
It's hollow.
As in,
there's nothing there.
It's empty.
Remember that experience
when you were young
and the first time
you ever got given
a big giant chocolate egg?
Do you remember that?
Remember thinking to yourself,
that whole thing
is chocolate.
And then you bit into it
and boy,
had Cadbury's let you down.
Hollow.
This is what he's saying.
It looks great
on the outside
but there's nothing
to it when you get
to the inside.
Why?
Because I think
the things that they are
promoting are simply
human ways of thinking.
Do you see what he says?
Worldly philosophies
dressed up
in spiritual clothing.
And the reason
that these things
can't work,
the reason
that these philosophies
can't work
is because they've got
the order wrong.
What these people
are promoting
is an
outside-in
kind of change.
And it just doesn't work.
And friends,
we might not be facing
the same philosophies,
the same human tradition,
challenges that these
Colossians are facing,
but that way of thinking
still rings true today
in every single one
of our lives
as we live our lives
in this world.
When you see that
Jet 2 advert
that tells you
that going on that
holiday break
will bring you
that inner sense of peace,
the inner sense of calm
that you so desperately need.
And I remember
in the office
I used to work in,
people used to come back
from holiday
and they used to use
the same phrases
again and again and again,
so much so that I
just created a little game
called Back to Work Bingo.
Okay?
What do they used to say?
That break seems like
a distant memory.
Dick.
Back to the coal face.
Tick.
Another day,
another dollar,
or as I like to call it,
another round,
another pound.
Tick.
In other words,
that did not deliver
lasting change.
I've climbed the ladder,
I've hit the snake
and I'm right back
to where I was before.
And I think down
where we live,
the charity shops
are stocked
with designer clothes.
Why?
Well, presumably
because somebody
saw them online
and bought it
thinking this will do nicely,
wore it for a while
and a while later
just got bored of it
and thought,
do you know what?
Charity shop.
Previous generation,
you had one job for life.
Today,
it's not uncommon
to have multiple careers,
let alone multiple jobs
because we think
if we just change
the external,
if we just change that,
then that will bring
lasting inner change.
ways of thinking
based on the faulty hope
that the external
will change the internal.
And the thing is
that the outside-in
kind of approach,
it cannot deliver
on what it promises.
And maybe not in ways
that we would immediately
think about,
nor by the means
that we would immediately
care for,
nor to a time scale
that we would immediately
subscribe to,
the inside-out change
that God brings
by his indwelling spirit.
It can
and it does
bring lasting change
and one day
that change
will be eternal.
Little wonder
that Paul says
continue to live
your lives rooted in him.
Little wonder he says
do you know
what you've got here?
And so in the time
remaining friends,
I just want to pick out
the two F's
that Paul uses
to help them see
what they have in Christ.
These will be really quick,
okay?
Firstly,
what do they have?
Nine to twelve.
They have fullness.
He draws their attention
to who Jesus is.
Who is he?
He is God in the flesh.
The deity dwells in him.
In other words,
if you want to know
what God is like,
you look to Jesus.
And what is he?
He is the supreme.
He is the head
over every rule
and authority.
And in him
is fullness.
Now follow the logic here.
You see,
you see,
God is not in the business
of saving us
to shortchange us.
What would be the point
of him doing that?
He has set us apart
for himself.
I think that's what
the circumcision language
there is about.
He has set us apart
for himself.
And he's identified
himself with us
and us with him
in his death
and resurrection.
That's the baptism
language there.
And he's made us his own
in order to display
the glory of his
transforming grace
to the world
in us
as he transforms
us by his grace
from the inside
out.
Therefore,
because of
who he is,
right,
who he is
and where he is,
God will supply
the wisdom
that we need
to live the Christian life.
God will supply
the power
that we need
to live the Christian life.
God will supply
the resources
that you and I
need to live
the Christian life.
The goal
of the Christian life,
which is to be
more transformed
into the likeness
of Jesus Christ
for the glory of God.
You see, friends,
making us holy
is God's
unwavering agenda
until he takes us
home to be
with him.
And so the question
that would come
at us today
is stemming
from our union
with Christ,
right,
we're in him,
is do we know
the communion
with Christ
that stems
from our union
with him?
Friends,
do you know him?
Do you know him
every day?
Walking in him
every day,
going to the storehouses
of his grace,
asking him
that he would help us
to know him more.
See,
these false teachers
are telling you,
says Paul,
that you lack.
Paul says,
in Christ,
Christ in you,
you have fullness
of life.
You have everything
that you need.
There's the first F,
fullness.
The second F,
what do they have?
Verses 13 to 15,
they have forgiveness.
Spiritually speaking,
in their previous life,
they were dead.
Do you see that language?
They were dead.
Dead person,
what do they need?
They don't need
resuscitation.
Okay,
I don't care what kind
of first aid badges
you have,
or the course
that you've been on,
or the mouth-to-mouth
that you've learned,
none of that is going
to work on a dead person.
What does a dead person need?
Resurrection.
And God,
who spoke life
into being
in the beginning,
spoke life
into their beings
and gave them life.
And what does it say?
And he made them
alive with Christ.
Alive with Christ.
And how was he able
to do that?
Because Jesus dealt
with our biggest problem.
Now follow with me
this language
because it is so vital
for us to see.
Verse 13,
he forgave us.
Do you see it?
If you're struggling
with guilt here this morning,
all of us,
I'm sure that is.
These are the verses for us.
Verse 13,
he forgave us.
Of what?
All of our sins.
Do you feel the totality
of that word?
All of our sins.
Not some of them.
Not the wee ones.
Not the majority
of our sins.
All of our past,
present,
and future sins.
He paid for them.
All the things
that you and I
have done wrong.
First and foremost
against this holy God.
All of them.
Get your head around
that sum in your head.
All of them.
Gone.
Dealt with.
Settled.
How?
Because Jesus Christ,
as we were singing earlier,
paid for them.
Friends,
I don't know about you,
but when it comes
to my sin,
I know that I have
racked up a pretty
whopping bill.
I mean,
it is a whopper.
And truth be told,
I have got no idea
how big that bill
really is.
And the one thing
that I do know
is that it is only
going one way.
And Paul says rightly
that your sin bill
has stood against you.
It condemned you
to justly
having to face
God's wrath,
that is his righteous
anger against our sin.
And you had no hope
and indeed you had
no desire
ever seeing
that bill
paid back.
I think we're meant
to feel the gravity
of this here.
Our sin is serious
against this holy God.
But incredibly,
Jesus stepped in
and if you like,
he took
our bill of sin
and he said,
let me get that.
Let me get that.
Let me take responsibility
for that.
And he took it with him
all the way
to the cross.
And your bill
and my bill of sin
was nailed to the cross
with him
and now it says
all over in capital letters,
not guilty.
It says written
in his blood,
paid for.
Paid for,
dealt with,
cancelled.
I remember singing
a song when I was
growing up
by a guy called
Tim Hughes
and it was called
See His Love.
And one of the verses
went,
greater love
no one could ever show.
Mercy so undeserved,
freedom I should not know.
All of my sin,
all of my hidden shame
died with him
on the cross,
eternity one
for us.
Such love,
such love
is this for me.
You see friends,
God doesn't say to us
in his word,
he doesn't say to us
in the Bible,
guess how much I love you.
Go on,
have a guess,
guess how much I love you.
He says in his word,
look at my son
on the cross
dealing with your sin
and see how much
I love you.
I'll just pause there
for a minute friends.
Do you need to soak that in
that all of your sin,
that the devil would shout
in your ear this morning
accusing you
that you have no right
to stand before this holy God
and you don't
were it not for Jesus?
Those accusations
that almost stopped you
coming here this morning
in the first place.
Do you need to pause
and just to think
on the forgiveness
that God offers you
through his son this morning?
those words
from Ezekiel 36
that we read earlier,
I will sprinkle
clean water on you
and you will be clean.
I will cleanse you
from all your impurities
and from all your idols.
I will give you
a new heart
and put a new spirit
in you.
I will remove from you
your heart of stone
and give you
a heart of flesh,
all your sin paid for.
And don't miss verse 15
as we come to a close.
I was trying to think
how people today
celebrate their victories.
If you remember Hibs,
if I can say that word in here.
Remember Hibs
when they won the Scottish Cup
a few years ago
had this massive
open top bus parade
down Leith Walk
if you were here
when that happened.
Well on this day
how an army
celebrated their victory
when they returned
from the battlefield.
What they used to do
is to ride into town
and display their victory
to the watching world
by having their prisoners of war
ride in front of them
and they would parade
into town
with the prisoners of war
walking in front of them
and the message
to the world
was that we won
and they didn't.
We won
and they didn't.
And here is Paul
saying to these Christians
picture Jesus
after the cross
he's riding back
into town
and who's at the front?
The devil's at the front.
And he's declaring
to the watching world
that I won
and he didn't.
I won
and he didn't.
Friends
Jesus
has made you his own.
In him
do you see what Paul's saying?
You have fullness of life
and in him
you have forgiveness of sin.
He has given us
the greatest power
and he has dealt with
our greatest problem.
We have everything
that we need in Christ.
Let him transform you
from the inside out
says Paul.
Friends
that bowl
was worth
2.2 million dollars.
Imagine the joy
of the seller
and most likely
their bank manager
when they found out
just what that was
truly worth.
But
consider
how the person
that sold it
at the car boot sale
for three dollars
must have felt
when they found out
that that was worth
2.2 million dollars.
I'd imagine that
whoever that person was
and their bank manager
was pretty devastated.
I never knew
what I truly had.
Well the truth
of these verses
for the Christian
is that in Christ
in Christ
the Christ
that we have received
we have something
infinitely more
and eternally
valuable
in him.
Paul Tripp
puts it like this
and with this
we close.
It is amazing
to be tolerated
by God.
It would be an honor
simply to be invited
to the wedding
but it is beyond
comprehension
to be the beloved
bride
of the King
of Kings
and the Lord
of Lords.
Christian
do you know
in Christ
what you've got here?
Let me pray.
And so friends
just as we close
there was two people
I was thinking about
as I was preparing
for this message
this morning.
Firstly
if you are here today
and you need to come
to Jesus
and to receive
the forgiveness
that he offers
and to ask him
to continue
to transform you
from the inside
out.
And the second
person is
if you are here
today
and the devil
is beating you
up seriously
because of your
sin
in the quietness
now
do you need to
come to the cross
and to know
really know
the forgiveness
that Jesus
has won for you
as he declares
to you
that he won
and the devil
didn't.
So maybe just
in the quietness
now
maybe offer
your own prayer
to the Lord.
This is Jesus
in his glory
King of Heaven
dying for me
it is finished
he has won it
death defeated
heaven beckons
me.
So Father
thank you
for your word
this morning
where would we
be without
your word
thank you
that you
love us
enough
to tell us
these truths
so Father
help fix
our minds
this week
and our hearts
on the glory
of your son
Jesus Christ
may he be
more precious
to us
this week
than anything
that the world
can offer us
and it's in his
name that we pray
Amen
Chao
chimp
Ch working
by