Bible Talks - Family Church (9:45am)
Series: Gospel
Receiving Christ
Sunday, 07 April 2002
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Do you ever feel under siege?
I mean the times where you seem to be under attack from all quarters? Sickness, financial pressures, relationship problems, children, etc, etc
I guess we all go through those times, and with the help of God, family, friends, we usually get through and live to fight another day.
These things are bad enough, but what happens when the attacks on you can actually threaten your eternal life?
What happens when holes are punched in the safe, comfortable ideas that we have about God and our relationship with Him?
My guess is we don’t feel that happens very much… But I beg to differ, and suggest that in reality we ARE under this kind of attack, but it is often gradual, subtle and not always obvious.
One of the more obvious examples though, is happening right now. In the April 25th edition of The Bulletin in 2000, Dr Peter Carnley, Archbishop of Perth, and now Primate of the Anglican Church in Australia, called into question the uniqueness of Christ as the way to salvation. In referring to Acts 4.12 (“There is salvation in no one else,
He also wrote that those who had complained about a multifaith service which he had held in Perth were "hell-bent on exclusion and condemnation - for, they say, salvation can come from Christ and no other, save Christ alone." Such views were not Luke's, Dr Carnley claimed.
In doing this, Dr Carnley is saying that we need something more, something extra, something on top of or in place of Jesus to be saved.
We are easily lulled into a very false sense of security.
Week by week we come along to church, and in just doing that, it’s so easy to drop our guard and think that all is well.
But it isn’t. And it probably has never been. Because gospel-based, biblical Christianity is under threat daily – even here in Australia.
And that is why Paul’s letters in the N.T. are often so intense and passionate. Sometimes it’s hard for us get excited by his writings, but as we work through Colossians, we are going to see that it could easily have been called ‘Sydneyians’ and written 2000 years later than it was.
Why?
Because in Colossians, Paul address issues that we are up against ourselves today. Paul could have just as easily be speaking to Christians in Sydney as he was in Colossae.
Of course, there are a few differences:
Colossae wasn’t located on the East coast of Australia, and Sydney isn’t a smallish trading town built on the junction of two trade routes in a fertile valley somewhere in what we now call Turkey
But it was a vital and lively town, a real multicultural melting pot – much like Sydney. And those who followed “The Way” were in a tiny minority – much like Sydney.
And, perhaps most important of all, that small group of Jesus followers were under attack!
And not necessarily from the outside – perhaps they had their own Peter Carnley?
These were wicked people deliberately encouraging the Christians NOT to place their trust in Christ alone, but to seek something extra, on top of the salvation that God holds out to them.
Today, we’re going to get a handle on the central issues in this short, but passionate letter.
Now if you have followed the controversy over Peter Carnley’s comments and beliefs, you will probably have heard different people arguing and debating about the things he has said.
While this can be helpful and important in bringing to light error and false teaching, Paul has a much more positive suggestion for the Colossians and us, and it’s summarised for us in the two verses in Colossians 2 that form the centre of the reading we just had:
“So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.” Colossians 2:6-7
These words not only describe how the Christians at Colossae should be faithful to the Christian foundations they were taught by Paul, but they also point to the best approach for the future: seeking to grow while avoiding common spiritual traps for Christians.
Paul’s solution is to urge the Christians reading this to take on the challenge of living with Christ to the full!
Encouraging an enthusiasm and devotion in our lives with Christ that puts to shame all complacency and half-heartedness.
He speaks of the need to get out of the shallows, and open our hearts and minds to the deep things of God.
What Paul is urging his readers to do is to combat the false teaching that is attacking them and their faith in the gospel by pursuing growth in Christ.
It’s like going to the doctor and he says to you: “The best way for you to stay healthy isn’t to take lots of drugs, but to exercise and eat healthy food”
Paul is saying take a pro-active stance, and fight untruth with the truth. Become so soaked in Christ and all he means to us that the false-teaching has no chance of taking root.
There are two central ideas in v6 & 7 which Paul speaks of:
1. To receive Christ as Lord.
2. To live with Christ as Lord.
We’re going to take a quick look at the first of those ideas:
1. To receive Christ as Lord.
This is the first step or phase in getting things right, in setting our lives on the right foundation.
Now, the word “received” can be a little confusing, but when Paul speaks of the Colossians “receiving Christ” what they received was an account of the gospel truths that Jesus had revealed to Paul himself.
As important as this is, it is seen here as the first step down
that path, meant to lead on to other things, to a new life lived God’s way.
But this was no academic exercise because the phrase also means “receive into the heart”, so these words become an appeal to experience Christ in their lives.
We cannot drive a wedge between the gospel of Christ and the person Himself - as if we become Christians through hearing the gospel, but then get to know Christ personally later on!
We only know Christ as he comes to us in the gospel, offering us redemption and reconciliation with God.
That’s why Paul speaks of “proclaiming Christ”, and not just proclaiming about Christ.
So, passing on these truths, unchanged and unmodified
is absolutely central to any church worth it’s salt.
’Receiving Christ’ means being taught something but going on and embracing it and the person at the centre of that teaching at a heart level as well as in the head!
The Bible teaches us many things about Christ.
As we learn these things, take them to heart and put our trust in them, we grow in our personal knowledge of Christ.
He reveals himself as he speaks through the Bible, and we get to know him as a person, as we learn and embrace all that he is,
and all that he has done for us.
And look at who he is, according to this letter, (1:13-20 & 2:9-10).
Jesus is:
the image of God
the creator
the owner of creation
the reason for creation
the sustainer of creation
the head of the church
the beginning
the firstborn from among the dead
the fullness of God
supreme
the head over every power and authority.
Look at what he has done for us!:
qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints (1:12)
have forgiveness of sins in Christ (1:14, 2:13)
rescued from the dominion of darkness (1:13)
transferred into the kingdom of the Son (1:13)
presented holy in His sight, without blemish (1:22)
made full in Christ (2:10)
circumcised in Christ, putting off old sinful nature (2:11)
buried with Christ in baptism (2:11)
made alive with Christ (2:13)
died with Christ to the principles of this world (2:20)
raised with Christ thru faith in power of God (2:12)
will appear with him in glory (3:4)
When we come to know Christ, we are rescued from the dominion of darkness and brought into his kingdom of light.
This is what faith is - it is personally knowing Christ; it is understanding who he is and what he has done for us in such a way that we put all our trust and reliance in Him.
That can never be an academic or just an intellectual exercise.
It is a relationship of personal knowledge; it is a relationship of trust based on what we have learnt.
To pursue that, is the best way for us to avoid many of the spiritual traps that await us, just the same as the spiritual traps were dogging the Colossians
As a church, as individuals, the challenge for us is to grow in that personal knowledge of Jesus Christ.
NOT just to grow in our intellectual understanding of Christ,
but to “live IN him, rooted and built up in him”.
That doesn’t happen automatically.
It doesn’t happen as pure chance.
We have to take deliberate, intentional steps to make it happen.
There are three simple paths of action we can take to begin or continue this process of receiving Christ as Lord in our lives.
1. Sunday church.
2. Personal time in the word.
3. Meeting with other Christians at other times with growth the main item on the agenda.
