Sermon – October 16, 2016
Colossians 2:6-8 The Emptiness of the World (mp3)
Introduction
We are stuck as sojourners and aliens in a foreign land (1 Peter 2:11). This land, filled with a strange mixture of blessings and curses for us, has pitfalls everywhere we turn. How, then, are we to keep ourselves from being driven by the winds of the world (James 1:5-8)? What advice would Paul give us?
1. Continue!
Paul states that the first step is simply to build on where you are and where you’ve been. Simply continue with how you have begun!
1.1 Rooted in Christ
Like Jesus’ parable of the soils (Matthew 13:1-9), make sure that your roots are growing in the right soil. Jesus is the only things that can truly nourish your roots, and provide true growth.
1.2 Growing in Christ
While we make sure our own roots are deep, we make sure that we all grow into a temple for our God and Christ. We are to be a temple suitable for him, not made with human hands (Acts 7:38), but through the will of God (John 1:12-13).
1.3 Confident in the faith
Your faith is meant to equip you for the pitfalls that his world has. We look back to see the ground of our faith – but faith is meant to equip us for the unknown future.
2. Continue carefully!
We have these protections, and we must use them. But we are never allowed to be foolish in the way we walk, as though the pits, or those who wish us to fall in them, weren’t real. Therefore, Paul cautions the Colossians (and us!) to be mindful of the ways of the world, and those paths we are at times willing to take; paths that lead to destruction and heartache.
Conclusion:
Do not forget that this world is not your home. To be friends with the world is to be enemies with God (James 4:4). If you allow it to, this world will make you one of its own, pull you away from the glory of Christ, and leave you forsaken like Joseph; sold into slavery and trapped in a well that can never quench your thirst or cleanse you from sin. Hold fast to Christ!
