Please open your Bibles this morning to Paul's letter to the Colossians, where we will take up our consideration of that letter in chapter 2 today. Letter of Paul to the Colossians, chapter 2. Now I changed my mind after the bulletin was printed. We're going to start reading at chapter 1, verse 24, and continue through chapter 2, verse 15 in order to situate our text which is just two verses, verses 6 and 7 of chapter 2. That's where we'll be giving our attention today. I'd like to raise a question. Where do we go from here? Men, we have a reputation for not asking this question when we get lost. With a stiff upper lip and you know firm resolve we press on and we fake our way until we figure out where we are or we submit to the pleas of our passengers to get some help and i would submit to you this is not a good strategy therefore some of us have learned to carry a map whether that be a thompson guide or a gps unit that keeps us oriented on the way that at places of decision along the way we have a frame of reference to know where we've come from and where we're going. So hopefully we don't have to raise this question, where do we go from here? Well, whether we are navigating roads or navigating the Christian life, we face moments of decision whenever we come to a crossroad. Whenever we face new or difficult circumstances, new or confusing information, new or perhaps old temptations we find this question welling up within us where do we go from here? And when this question concerns what we believe about Christ Jesus the Lord or how we're going to live as his people then we are standing at the very same crossroad as did the Colossians. Paul wrote this letter to them in order to help them navigate rightly. He wrote to encourage them along the narrow path that leads to a life worthy of the Lord and to keep them from the broad detour that goes to destruction. And much like a voice prompt from a GPS unit, our text this morning, in summary, tells us the way to go. Paul begins by looking back, having us check our rearview mirrors to see where we've been. before moving forward according to the map set forth in the scripture for all believers in every age. So listen for this voice prompt in verses 6 and 7 as we read beginning in chapter 1, verse 24. Hear now the word of God. Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, which is the church. I have become a servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness, the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations but is now disclosed to the saints. To them, God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy which so powerfully works in me. I want you to know how much I am struggling for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not met me personally. My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, 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. 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. 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. See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophies which depend on human tradition and on the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ. For in Christ all the fullness of the deity lives in bodily form and you have been given fullness in Christ who is the head over every power and authority. In him you are also circumcised in the putting off of the sinful nature not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with a circumcision done by Christ having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God who raised him from the dead when you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature God made you alive with Christ he forgave us all our sins having cancelled the written code with his regulations that was against us and that stood opposed to us he took 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. Again our text this morning verses 6 and 7 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. Here ends our reading of God's Word this morning. Well, as we have become well aware in this series, there were some in Colossia who were promoting a new program that denied the sufficiency of Christ and diverted the people of God from the way in which they had been instructed to go. It was advertised as a fast track to holiness, had a checklist of rules, a blend of Jewish legalism about food and festivals and pagan ideas and practices. and it was in their midst but even so in verse 5 Paul concludes by telling the Colossians how he is delighted by their steadfast faith and their disciplined Christian living he recognized that they were at the crossroads and had not yet made a turn they had not yet decided which way to go so then he begins because he considered them holy and faithful brothers in Christ he offers them and presents to them direction at the crossroad. Answering the question, where do we go from here? In verse 6, Paul addresses this unspoken question by looking back. Turning their attention back to have them remember the most important fact that governs every other fact of life. That their present status, which has been accomplished in the past, is to govern how they respond in the present. You received Christ Jesus as Lord. We read these familiar words, Jesus, Lord, Christ. We see them all through the New Testament. And people of God, we have to admit that we just fly right past them. We think we know what they're talking about. But this particular phrase this morning, Paul wants us to stop and consider the immensity and the completeness of what Christ Jesus the Lord has accomplished for us and that we have received in Him. Have us remember and contemplate and be encouraged by that fact as we face the present crossroad. Now in the Greek, Paul speaks of the Christ, Jesus, the Lord, in a way that He does nowhere else in any of his letters. He uses these terms, these titles and names in many ways and many combinations but never like this anywhere else. So it is important. He has done it for a purpose. Now this particular way he's written it can be translated many ways and therefore most translations leave it how it is and try not to lead us one way or the other. The NIV as we read it has chosen to emphasize the lordship of Christ, which is not wrong by any means, but I don't I want to lead us in a slightly different direction than their choice. I believe it's most helpful to understand this expression as a very well balanced, double confession about Jesus, who stands at the middle. It's focused on one person, Jesus, and it tells us two things, two aspects of his ministry, two aspects of his work for us. you have received Jesus the Christ the long expected Messiah promised throughout the Old Testament God in the flesh who is the mystery of God now revealed the image of the invisible God that you might behold him the one in whom God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell through whom he reconciles all things to himself by the shedding of His blood on the cross, the beginning and the firstborn of all creation, the firstborn from among the dead, the head of the body, the church. To have received Jesus, the Christ, is to have received Jesus as Savior in whom we have redemption, Paul has told us. The forgiveness of sins is ours in whom we have been rescued from the dominion of darkness and have been qualified to share in the kingdom of light. It's ours to have received Jesus as the Christ is to have all these benefits. And we have received Jesus, the Lord, the Sovereign, the Ruler, who not only is He sovereign in His divinity, He was the firstborn over all creation in whom all things were created and in whom all things are upheld. He is sovereign over all by virtue of His deity. But He's also sovereign over all in His humanity that's been resurrected. Resurrected by God and seated at His right hand in the heavenly realms to rule over all things for the church. To receive Jesus, the Lord, is to have received Him as Master. willingly by whom we are called to live a life that's worthy for him, a life that's pleasing to him, a calling for which he has promised that we are being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might. You have received Christ, Jesus, the Lord, Savior, and Master. He wants them to remember that. He wants us to remember that when we face these moments of decision. To whom do you belong? And what does he call you to? And what does he equip you for in this moment, looking back? And we must ask the question how it is that the Colossians had received Christ Jesus the Lord. even though they had not seen Him, even as we have not seen Him, they had received Him. He had come to them as He comes to us through the Gospel, proclaimed and the sacraments, displayed and received by faith that was created in them by the Spirit. That's how Jesus comes to His people. That's how Jesus is received. by his people. The Colossians had received the gospel from Epaphos. And Epaphos had received that gospel from Paul. And Paul, in verse 25 of chapter 1, tells us that he had received it by the commission of God himself. Which he explains in Galatians chapter 1, verses 11 and 12. He says, I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preached is not something that man made up. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it. Rather, I received it by a revelation from Jesus Christ. God himself, in the person of Jesus Christ, revealed the gospel to Paul and the rest of the apostles that has come down through ministers like Epaphos, Timothy, Titus, through the ages to today to proclaim to you this gospel. the Colossians and all Christians of all time have received Christ Jesus the Lord by way of this tradition this apostolic tradition that's why we call the church One Holy Catholic Apostolic Church and this tradition stands above and against every human tradition which Paul is going to argue against through this letter did not be led astray by human traditions this tradition is the one that we have received. Every human tradition seeks to shift our confidence and our assurance away from what's presented to us here. Away from Christ Jesus, the Lord, whom it presents. Away from our confidence in Him and our allegiance to Him. The apostolic tradition is the good deposit. The Word of God. That we have so many copies in our house we forget how precious it is. It has come to us from God Himself. And in this tradition, the promise of the Gospel is accompanied by the command to repent and believe. Believe in Jesus the Christ and be saved. Submit to Jesus the Lord and repent. Turn from your sin and pursue a life that's pleasing to him. You see, by this short phrase, you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, Paul would have us call to mind as he would have the Colossians call to mind, all that has been accomplished for them and for us in the Lord Jesus Christ. And then he continues in verse 6 by summing up the way for moving forward. In this knowledge, in this confidence. And here he is, he's his first direct command of this entire letter. We have not had a single command issued in this letter till today. Continue to live in him. The command live translates a Hebrew expression that pictures the way we live as the road we walk. It's a path. That expression is preserved in the English Standard Version. If that's what you use, the command comes as walk in him. And with this general command, Paul will introduce 25 specific commands throughout the rest of this letter. 25 specific commands that sample for us how this lifestyle command has application in every aspect of our lives. This is the command. Walk in Him. And this lifestyle command applies not only to the style of our life, but also to the duration of our life. It is a lifelong lifestyle in which we are called to continue day by day. Not turning to the right, not turning to the left, not stopping and certainly not turning back. In other words, we are commanded by God to go on as we have begun to persevere. Well, that makes us raise the question, at least it does for me, how is this lifestyle possible? I look back at my walk and it hasn't always been straight and true. How often do I turn to the left or turn to the right? How often do I stop in my tracks? How often do I turn around and run the other way? knowing what God would have me do. And in that moment, when I ask myself, where do I go from here? I choose the wrong way. How is this walk possible? How do we not despair? Well, Paul offers us much hope in what follows in verse 7, where he presents four word pictures to encourage us in moving forward in Christ. Walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. Through these pictures, Paul illustrates how our walk is related to the ongoing work of Jesus Christ on our behalf. And he makes it clear that our obedience to the commands of God, our obedience to the law of God, that direction He would have us walk, our obedience is founded upon and empowered by the Gospel. What Jesus Christ has done and is doing for us. As those who have received Christ Jesus the Lord, it is important that we understand and remember this relationship in all of our efforts to live this life, to walk this way. So I'll say it again. Our obedience to the commands of God is founded upon and empowered by the Gospel. What Christ has already done and is doing for us. So now let's look at these pictures and see what they show us. The first two pictures illustrating our walk in Him are compressed into one phrase, rooted and built up in Him. You young people know what it is to do a mash-up, right, with your music. This is a mash-up. Paul's talking about two separate things and he's set them together. This mash-up is not without biblical warrant. In Jeremiah, the Lord said of Judah, who was in exile, he said these two things side by side. He said, I will build them up and not tear them down. I will plant them and not uproot them. They will be my people and I will be their God. It's his relationship to his people. They'll be planted. They'll be built up. And Paul applied both of these metaphors separately to the church in Corinth. He says, you are God's field, God's building. And here he blends them together. So we're going to unpack them and look at them. The first picture is that of a cultivated field. Live in Him as those who have been rooted in Him. And the sense of this word rooted is that it is something that has already been done in the past and continues to be true in the present. You have already been rooted in Him. Here Paul pictures the saints as productive plants with well-established roots. All who have received Christ Jesus the Lord have been rooted in Him. We're not like tumbleweeds with no root that are subject to every circumstance and every doctrine and every teaching that blows us here and there. We're rooted, we're grounded, and we're nourished. By grace through faith we have been given root in the fertile life-giving soil of Christ Jesus Himself who nourishes our new life, bearing fruit in every good work. This is what the Lord says in Jeremiah chapter 17, Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. So people of God, as we walk in Him, We are to be encouraged. Knowing that we do so in the strength provided by Jesus Christ, the Lord himself. Indeed, he spoke the truth in John chapter 15. What did he say? He said, apart from me, you can do nothing. We're rooted in Christ. The second picture is of a construction site. Live in him as those who are being built up in him. And here Paul pictures the saints as a building in progress. It's not done yet. It's being built up. And it's important to notice that this building is not building itself up. It's not laying brick by brick itself. It's not pulling itself up by its bootstraps to throw in another picture. It's being built up. And like any building where it only is stable and is enduring as the foundation upon which we're built, And notice here, we're being built up in Him, in Christ. And Paul fills out this image in Ephesians chapter 2 where he describes God's household, the church, as being built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, that apostolic tradition we talked about, being built upon that foundation with Christ, Jesus Himself, as the chief cornerstone. In Him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord, a dwelling in which God lives with His people by His Spirit. As we walk in Him, we are to be encouraged knowing that we are God's workmanship. He's building us up because He's created us in Christ Jesus to do good works. The third picture is from the marketplace. Live in Him as those who are being strengthened in the faith as you were taught. Now notice again that we are not strengthening ourselves. We're not pumping spiritual iron. We are receiving strength. We are being strengthened. Now this picture here is a bit more obscure so I want to come at it by way of example. Young people, if I were to give you a car, one of you a car, I'm sure you would say, thank you very much. And then you would say, where's the pink slip? And why would you want the pink slip? Because the pink slip is what I can give you that will strengthen you in the way that Paul's talking about here. It can strengthen you in this sense. It will bolster your confidence. It will establish your sense of guarantee. It will confirm to you that what was mine really now is yours. And in this picture, it is the faith as you have been taught that is the pink slip. Here's the pink slip. The apostolic tradition not only presents Christ Jesus the Lord that you might receive Him, that you might believe in Him, that you might submit to Him, but it continually presents Him as the one who strengthens you, in whom you're rooted, who establishes you, who builds you up. It assures you that He is yours and you are really His. That's why we are preached to from this Word every Lord's Day. This is why we have catechism in Sunday school. This is why we have personal devotions. we need that assurance. And this is where we find it. Calvin comments that the Colossians were confirmed in the faith in consequence of their having been instructed. In other words, by means of the faith, the apostolic tradition, the Holy Spirit works to establish true faith in us, strengthening and confirming our assurance of His saving work for us and His sanctifying work in us. and the fourth picture is that of a river live in him overflowing with thankfulness just as a river overflows its banks when it's overwhelmed by an abundance of rain so also do the hearts of the saints overflow with gratitude when we are overwhelmed by the abundance that we have received in Jesus Christ this flood of gratitude is the primary and fundamental response that comes from within and carries us along in our walk with Him. Just picture the floods you've seen on TV. Whatever gets in their way, it's carried along. Our gratitude carries us along. It is the telltale sign that we have received Christ Jesus as Lord, that we have been rooted in Him, that we are being built up by Him and that we are being strengthened in the faith as we have been instructed. Paul has given us much encouragement here for this walk in him. And so, brothers and sisters, when you stand at the crossroads in life facing circumstances that challenge the faith you have been taught from the Scriptures, young people, especially as you go off to college, you're going to get challenged in the faith you've been taught. You will stand at crossroads. when you're at a crossroad in circumstances that contradict or distort what you believe and profess about Christ Jesus or that undermine your confidence that he has saved you and is working in you to sanctify you or circumstances that divert you and drive you or tempt you to turn away from the way that he would have you go circumstances that trigger the question where do we go from here you can face those circumstances drawing encouragement by looking back looking back to remember that you have received Christ Jesus the Lord Jesus is your Savior Jesus is your Master and He not only stands with you you stand in Him at that cross room He is all in all and He is all that you need to keep moving forward walking in Him. You have been rooted in Him. He's the source of your life and strength. You're being built up with Him together with all the saints to be a holy temple where He lives with you by His Spirit. You're being strengthened in the faith more and more assured from God's Word that Christ really has saved you and that He really is at work in you. All this and more is yours in Christ Jesus the Lord. And as this abundance overwhelms your fainting heart, you will be overflowing with thankfulness. A thankfulness that will carry you forward in your efforts to live a life worthy of the Lord that pleases Him in every way. let's thank God for his word today in prayer let's pray Almighty God our Father and Jesus Christ the Lord we thank you that as your people we can at every moment of our life as those who have professed faith in Christ we can look back to remember that we have received Christ Jesus the Lord that he and all that he has accomplished all that he is doing all that he has yet to fulfill Lord is ours in him and he is all that we need to face the circumstances of this life and we thank you Father that we face these moments of decision these crossroads in life where we must ask and answer, where do we go from here? That you have not left us to ourselves to stumble about and hope that we make it. You have rooted us in Christ and you are building us up in Him even as you continue to strengthen us and assure us from your word that He is ours and we are His that we might be grateful, motivated, and empowered, Lord, to live one more step in our walk in Him. We thank you for this good news, this encouragement for our walk this day. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.