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Hi, this is Pastor Tom Holliday, and I want to welcome you to our study of the
book of Colossians, chapter 2 this week, we're beginning that chapter today.
Remember last week we began our study in the book of Colossians, this book
that's all about how Jesus Christ can make a daily difference in our lives,
strip away the false things that keep us from growing and give to us the reality
that we need in everyday life. Last week we talked about, you might remember,
living a life that's worthy, a pleasing life to God, living a life with Jesus in
first place.

We talked the last few days of last week about living a life of ministry, how
Paul's life of ministry can be reflected in our lives, we may not do the same
things that he did, we won't, but we can do the things that God wants us to do.
And we talked about how Paul had an attitude towards suffering and towards
service that made a difference in his daily life. As chapter 2 begins, Paul is
still on that same theme, and he's talking about what it means to really be used
by God in a way that makes a genuine difference in daily life.

And he focuses in these first few verses in chapter 2 on the purpose for our
lives. One of the things you and I have to get clear, if I'm going to live with
God's purpose for my life, and if I'm going to serve other people with God's
purpose for my life, is how clear is my purpose. Because well, let me give you a
warning.

Last week we talked about the fact you have to have a big vision in order to be
used in a great way. You can have a big vision without having a clear purpose.
It's a recipe for frustration.

You can get a lot done, have a great big vision, but without a clear purpose
you're not getting the right things done. Now it's just as sad to have a clear
purpose without a big vision. You can have the right purpose, but not really
have any sense of God using you to accomplish that purpose.

But the key to all of it is having a clear purpose, God's purpose. God's purpose
is all about what he is doing, what he wants to do in the lives of the people
that he created. As we walk through these first few verses of Colossians chapter
2, we're going to look at what Paul understood about God's purpose.

He got this directly from Jesus Christ. Because he understood from Jesus what
his purpose was in people's lives, Paul was used in a great way. What did Paul
understand?

He understood that Jesus clearly wanted people to come to know him. And because
of that, Paul clearly wanted people to know Christ. He took God's purpose and he
put it into his life.

Not only did he say Jesus wants people to come to know him, Paul wanted,
desperately wanted people to come to know Christ. Listen to what verses 1 to 3
of Colossians 2 say. So that they may have the full riches of complete
understanding.

In order that they may know the mystery of God, namely Christ. In whom are
hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Now Paul starts here by
talking about his passion, he uses the word struggling.

The word for that in Greek is agon, we get our word agony from that very word.
That's the kind of struggling that he was going through for people. Because he
loved people.

Now he says, I've never met you personally. So how did Paul struggle for people
at Colossians and Laodicea since he'd never met them personally? You remember
Laodicea is one of the other two cities that's near Colossians in this set of
three cities.

And Paul says this whole region I'm praying for you. One of the main answers
that we see in the book of Colossians is prayer. Paul struggled for them in
prayer.

He struggled that they would come to know Christ and they would grow in Christ.
His heart was with them even though he wasn't with them. And look at the process
of Paul's purpose here.

Here's what I'm praying for you. That you might be encouraged and united in
love. So that, that's the process part.

So that you might have the full riches of complete understanding. In order that
you may know the mystery of God, namely Christ. It begins with encouraged in
heart and united in love.

This fellowship that we have in the church is extremely important because it
helps us to know our relationship with Christ in a deeper way and it helps
others to discover a relationship with Christ in a deeper way. And when I
discover that, that's why it's so important to be in a church because it's one
of the main witnesses that we have. Jesus says they'll know you're Christians by
your love for one another.

When you're encouraged in heart and united in love, the so that is that we'll
have the full riches of complete understanding. This is telling me I can't fully
understand completely who Jesus is and his love for me apart from my
relationship with other believers. That's how important it is.

In order that we may truly come to know Christ. And before we go on, notice here
in chapter two, those same three words we talked about last week, understanding,
wisdom and knowledge. Paul's coming back again and again to those words because
the false teachers in that day were saying, well, there's a better
understanding.

There's greater wisdom. There's more knowledge. And God said he would give you
through Jesus Christ.

And Paul is writing to say, no, Jesus is enough. In fact, he uses a word here as
he talks about this wisdom that's revealed, he uses the word in Greek,
aprocoupos. Now the Gnostics, it's interesting, the false teachers, the
Gnostics, which means it has the idea of knowledge.

They called the books in which they wrote down their secret wisdom, aprocoupos.
So Paul is saying that the Gnostics hid their wisdom in books, but that God's
true wisdom is in Christ, in Christ in whom are hidden all the treasures of
wisdom and knowledge. What he's saying here is this, God's greatest wisdom isn't
hidden in some book somewhere.

It's found in Jesus Christ and it's not even hidden in Jesus Christ. It has been
made known in Jesus Christ. While these false teachers, the Gnostics tried to
make believers feel that they needed to understand one more secret to really
enjoy the Christian life.

And I've got the secret, they said. You don't have it, I've got it. Paul pointed
out that the real secret was the one they'd already found, Jesus Christ.

Anytime someone tells you, I've got a secret that you can't know except that I
give it to you. You pay me for it. You come to my church for it.

I'm the only one who knows the secret. You can know they're a false teacher.
Paul had a clear purpose for people because he knew and he clearly wanted people
to know Christ.

He also clearly wanted people to reject deceit. You need to know Christ, but you
also have to reject lies. I know some people out there, they say, well, it's
okay.

I know Jesus and, you know, let's just accept everybody and all the lies too.
No, those lies will kill you. And because of Paul's love for people and God's
purpose in their lives, he wanted people to reject deceit.

So in verse four and five, he says, I tell you this, so that no one may deceive
you by fine sounding arguments. For though I am absent from you in body, I am
present with you in spirit and delight to see how orderly you are and how firm
your faith in Christ is. Now this word for deceive that no one may deceive you
could be literally translated to reason beside something, to take something
that's very reasonable and then put this other argument off to the side and let
it get so confusing that it draws you away from that, which is really true.

If the target is the truth, here's the point, if the target is the truth,
deception is usually just a little bit off the target, just enough to be a lie.
An imitation, a piece of plastic fruit, just enough to be a lie and to draw your
eye to it. But imitations have obvious limitations and if you start regarding
them as real, you're in deep, deep trouble.

Paul says, I want you to reject deceit, reject the imitations. There were two
things about the Colossians that delighted Paul as he talked to him about
accepting the truth. He said, I'm delighted to see how orderly you are and how
firm your faith in Jesus is.

How orderly you are, that sounds a little strange, but Paul was thrilled when
people were involved in orderly worship, when they were involved in orderly ways
of living out the gifts that God had given to him. He knew that God is a God of
order and that God does things in a way in our lives that shows who he really
is. Just look at nature and what he does.

So he knew that when there's craziness and confusion in a church, that it says
that people are not following Christ, they're following themselves and their own
selfish whims. That's why he delighted in that. And he also delighted in their
firm faith, that they believed in Jesus Christ in a way that was making a daily
difference in their lives.

There's a third thing that Paul wanted, he wanted people to know Christ, he
wanted them to reject deceit. A third thing that he wanted because of God's
purpose in our lives, he wanted people to live by grace. These incredible
verses, Colossians 2, 6, and 7, "So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as
Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and build up in him, strengthen in the
faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

" Paul says in him you're rooted and built up. Oftentimes as people read through
these verses, the words rooted and built up get the emphasis and we talk about
those. But the key to these verses is in him.

I'm rooted in him. I'm built up in him. And these are all in the Greek in forms
that mean these things have been done to you by God.

God has given you this gift of rooting you in him and now he's giving you daily
the gift of building him up in him. And this happens, he says, by faith, you are
strengthened in the faith that you were taught. This happens, he says, with
thankfulness, you are overflowing with thankfulness.

There it is again. We talked about it last week. One of the keys to the daily
life of faith is thankfulness.

Whenever you feel discouraged, the first thing to do is to make sure you're
giving thanks for something in your life. I want you to notice how this passage
as we walk through it has become progressively personal. It starts with every
man, we started with that even last week, and then it starts with all, then it
goes to all those I haven't seen, and then it comes down to you.

So let's make it personal. Rooted and built up in him. How about you?

I became a believer in Christ over 30 years ago. So there are 30 years of
learning about Jesus, college and seminary and seminars and Bible study and
daily study. And on one side, I'd have to say, I feel like I barely started.

There's so much more to learn. I'm still a freshman in the school of faith.
There's enough to learn for the rest of your life.

But on the other side, I can see how learning about Jesus, putting faith in him
in a daily way causes me to be rooted and built up in the decisions and the
directions of daily life. That's what God wants for you. I love what Lloyd John
Ogilvie says about this passage and how Paul balances assurance and aspiration.

Just as you received him, that's the assurance. You have received him. You have
a relationship with Christ.

You can live with that assurance. You can live in that joy, but don't rest in it
and let that be all that's in your life. Just as you received him, continue to
live in him.

That's the aspiration. Built on that assurance is the aspiration to live a life
of grace, the life that God has given me. Let's pray about that right now.

Jesus, we pray about your purpose in our lives. God, help us to be rooted, to be
built up in you. You might pray for yourself personally and say, "God, help me
today to live my life based on the faith that you have given me, strengthen my
faith.

Thank you, God, for your purpose in my life. " But then also pray, "God, thank
you for your purpose in other people's lives. And help me to not only live out
your purpose for me, help me to look to how you could use me today to encourage
your purpose in somebody else's life.

I pray this, Jesus, in your name. Amen. " Well, join us tomorrow as we continue
our look through Colossians 2.

We're going to be looking at some of the ways the false ways of the world can
deceive us and God's answer, clear answer to that in Jesus Christ.