Focused on My Lord

We're going to continue in our message series called Focused, which is a study in the book or actually the letter that the Apostle Paul wrote to the Christians living in the city of Colossae. And to understand this letter we need to keep in mind the underlying question that Paul is addressing in this letter. And that underlying question in the book of Colossians can really be summed up in three words. Is Jesus enough? Is Jesus enough? You ever ask that question? Maybe not out loud, but perhaps you wonder at times like I do. When I look at some of my own circumstances or I look at the circumstances of people that are really careful and love and I wonder, I believe you're real Jesus, I believe you're present in our lives, but is that enough?

Is Jesus enough when the doctor delivers bad news? Is he enough when you can't make ends meet? Is he enough when the wheels are falling off your family, your marriage, your career? Is Jesus enough when you're trapped in addiction or disgusted by your sins? Is Jesus enough when your life looks so different than you ever dreamed it would? Is Jesus enough? You know that's no small question because if you don't believe that Jesus is truly enough in any circumstance, you will live your life looking for something or someone to make up for what you perceive to be lacking in him.

Now with the Christians in Colossae, they hadn't gotten to that point. In fact, they were doing quite well. Paul even says right at the beginning of this letter, he says, "We thank God for you because chapter 1 verses 4 and 5, we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love you have for all God's people, the faith and love that spring from the hopes stored up for you in heaven and about what you have already heard in the true message of the gospel that has come to you." Now that's a pretty glowing appraisal. It's kind of one to go, "Paul, why don't you just end on a high note and you know call it good to say, 'Hey guys, a great job. Keep it up. Talk to you later.'" Well, in a sense, that's exactly what he does do in the passage that we're gonna see today.

It's like, "You guys, you're on track, so just stay on track." Reminds me of when I was in college, I'd be home for a weekend or something like that and when it was time to drive home to school, I'd be in my car but ready to pull out the driveway and my mom would always say the exact same thing every single time. She'd say, "I love you, don't end up in a ditch." That's your mom thinking, "I love you. Now don't end up in a ditch." Which is pretty wise advice after all, but in her funny way, what she was basically saying is, you know, pay attention, right? Keep your eyes on the road.

This fall, my oldest son Jack will be driving down that very same road to the same college. What do you think I'm gonna be saying to Jack? Don't drive into a ditch. And that's what's going on in this letter to the Colossians because when Paul writes this, there are really two significant things at play. First of all, when it comes to the city of Colossae, you could say that when Paul writes this, their best years are well behind them. Centuries earlier, Colossae was populous, it was prosperous, it was an economic hub, but then somebody decided to change the roads and Colossae got bypassed as a result. Thank you very much. And from there on out, these kind of started this long decline.

Kind of reminds me of that movie Cars. Remember this? Remember this little town that this story is based in? Remember, what's it called? Radiator Springs. And Radiator Springs was this happening place on Route 66 until... Well, watch the screen. What happened? The town got bypassed just to save 10 minutes of driving. Time goes by, time brings changes, you change too. Nothing comes that you can't handle, so on you go. Never see it coming, when the world caves in on you, on your town. Nothing you can do, Main Street isn't made in street anymore. No one seems to need us like they did before. It's hard to find a reason left to stay. But it's our town, we love it anyway. Come what we, it's our town.

How great would it have been to see this place since heyday? Can't tell you how many times I've dreamed of that. James Taylor song just gets me every time. Kind of a metaphor for life. When your firstborn goes off to college. But I imagine that very same mood in Colossae. They got bypassed, never to see their former glory again. In fact, one of the leading scholars on the book of Colossae says this about Colossae. It says it was the least important city of all the cities mentioned in Paul's letters. Least important, that's their dubious distinction. And you know what? There's a vulnerability that comes when you feel like you've missed out or you're missing out or you're being passed up. You know what I mean? It creates this vacuum, this ache that longs to be filled.

Well that's the first issue going on in Colossae. The second one is this. It's the presence of false teachers. These teachers have come into town and we don't know exactly what they say, but Paul hints at it. In fact, later in chapter two when he talks about empty and deceptive philosophies. Spiritual secrets, so-called deep teachings and rules that have to do with strict dietary requirements or harsh treatment of the body. He talks about requiring people to worship on special days or experiencing visions, even worshiping angels. And so they're trying to pull the Colossian Christians way off center. And the implication, of course, is look, you know, follow Jesus, that's fine and well, but it's not enough. You need to do these other things if you really want to be spiritual.

If you really want to penetrate the mysteries of God, well here you go. And can you see how this would be a perfect storm for the Colossians? Because again, on one hand, their economy, their opportunities, it's all trending down as far as the eye can see. And on the other hand, here's these false teachers saying, hey, we got exactly what you need. We are here to save the day. And whether it's some kind of, you know, spiritual rabbit trail, or it's just going down a road you know that you shouldn't, again, if we look to something or someone else to fill that space that only Jesus can fill, we're headed for the ditch.

And so as a loving precaution, Paul says beginning in chapter 2, I want you to know how hard I am contending for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not met me personally. My goal 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.

Now, I want you to stop there for a moment because do you notice Paul's emphasis? The full riches of complete understanding. There's no lack that they may know the mystery of God. Oh, what? Did somebody say mystery? You got to know these guys are like, hey, we got some great secrets for you. And Paul says, yeah, the mystery of God, yet namely that's Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Like Paul is setting up these claims and then just like bowling pins and just smashing them with the truth that you have everything in Jesus and you already have him.

And so continuing at verse 4, "I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments, for though I'm absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how disciplined you are and how firm your faith in Christ is." When Paul mentions their faith being disciplined and firm, he's using terms that were at times used to describe Roman soldiers, disciplined in their cohort as they marched in sync and in the direction that they were called to, and firm when they would form with their shields a defensive formation, we call the phalanx. And Paul's saying, you know what? Way to go, because you haven't broken ranks yet.

You know, you're holding up the shield of faith, you're standing firm, and despite the pull of what these guys are saying or even your circumstances, just stay focused on Jesus because Jesus is enough, whatever the circumstance. And this issue of focus is so important, and I have to admit, this is kind of a stretch, but the whole narrative this last year, if you're a Warriors fan, and I see that we've got a couple of Warriors fans here today, some of you just woke up, you're like, "Warriors? No, yeah, tonight, okay. I'm going to get that." But if you've been following this team, the narrative all year long has been about focus.

When the Warriors are focused, they're the best team in basketball. When they're focused, they win. When they're not focused, they turn over the ball way too much, they take stupid shots, and they sometimes get blown out by teams that are far less talented. Earlier this year, they got blown out by the Sacramento Kings. I mean, no offense if that's your team, but I mean, come on, talk about the Warriors here. And when they're focused, they are on. And Paul sang to the Colossians and to us, stay focused on Jesus, period.

And so picking up in verses 6 and 7, this is really the entire letter of Colossians in a nutshell. Right here in these two verses, he says 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." Now, let's just unpack this for a moment. He begins, "So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord." Let me ask you, how did you receive Christ Jesus as Lord? In faith, right? Simple, childlike faith.

Where maybe you didn't understand everything there is to know about Jesus. Your theology might not have been terribly sophisticated, but you knew that Jesus was the answer to your need, to your problem. In chapter 1, verse 6, Paul refers back to, "The day you heard it," that's the gospel, "and truly understood," what? God's grace. And if you truly understand God's grace, then you truly understand there's nothing you can do to add to God's grace. Jonathan Edwards put it this way, he said, "You contribute nothing to your salvation, except the sin that made it necessary." That's all of us right there.

And in one of Paul's other letters to the Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 15:1, he says this, "I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand." We took our stand on God's grace, on the gospel, the good news that Jesus has saved us from sin and death because of what he did for us on the cross. So then, just as you receive Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him. Let me ask you, are you living in the joy of this truth? Are you living in the Lord's power in his provision, or are you still trying to carry burdens that you laid out at his feet when you received him?

Have you taken them back upon yourself, even though he willingly took them from you? It reminds me of an illustration I read one time about a guy driving an old flatbed truck down a lonely stretch of highway. It's one of those old flatbeds that has the wooden rails on the sides of it. And he's going down this lonely road, and he notices a guy walking on the side of the road. He's got this huge backpack on his back, and he can tell it must be very heavy because the guy's kind of hunched over, walking like this, straining under it. And so the driver of the truck, he feels sorry for this guy, he pulls over and says, "Hey, you know, why don't you just jump him back?" The hitchhiker gladly does, and down the road the truck goes.

And after a couple of miles, the driver of the truck, he looks in his rearview mirror, and he notices that this guy, he's standing up in the back of the truck, he's holding on to the side rails, and he's still got that pack on his back. And he can tell he's still laboring under the weight of it. And so he pulls over, he stops, he pokes his head out the window, and he says, "Hey buddy, why don't you just drop your pack into the bed of the truck?" The guy says, "Oh, no, no. I wouldn't want to be of any further burden to you." You're like, "Wait a minute. That's crazy. That's ridiculous." And yet that's exactly how a lot of Christians live their lives.

I mean, is it possible that you're one of them, you believe you're in the truck, but at the same time, you're still trying to bear the burdens of your own weaknesses, your own hurts and your hang-ups. You're weighed down by worry, or you're living under the assumption that just someday, if you try hard enough, you're going to be able to kind of pull yourself up by your own bootstraps, that you're finally going to get it right in your own strength. And then Paul's saying, "Oh, time out." You know, you don't need to knuckle down more. You don't need to have some new fad, some new technique. You need to just stay focused on the one who provides everything you need in terms of your life, your faith, your future, your everything. And that's Jesus.

In other words, Paul's point is, you're already in the truck. Jesus has already taken on you and your backpack, and He will take it from there. So live in this truth. And then Paul goes on in the next verse to give us a sense of what this looks like in our lives. Because when I received Christ Jesus as Lord, I received, first of all, my source of life and stability. I know it says stability there, but it's life and stability because our life was given to us in Him, and there's a stability that comes with that.

Verse 7 begins saying, "We are rooted in Him." You know, this time of year, you go to Home Depot or something like that, they got plants galore all over the place, right? Because this is when we're putting in our vegetable gardens or sprucing up our yards with new plants and the like. And I don't know about you, but there's been times, you know, you pull the new plant out of the little plastic pot and you're kind of holding that little root ball in your hands. You know that moment before you plant it? And in that moment, you know, that plant is completely helpless, right? It's not going to plant itself. Those roots can do nothing on their own until they're put down into the soil. And that's us.

We are dead in and of ourselves. Paul says, "I mean, you were dead, you were alienated, you were an enemy of God, but now you have been planted, rooted in Christ." And when that happens and those roots start to go down, we do take on a greater stability. Again, just like the plants that you, you know, didn't plant last week, but you planted last year, they're more stable. It's more difficult to uproot them, right? Because of their rootedness. And he is the source of our life, our stability. He's also my source of growth.

He says, "We're rooted and built up in him." And Paul shifts the language a little bit to that that was used of buildings. And from the foundation on up, Jesus is the one who's doing the building day by day, brick by brick. It's Jesus. And would you agree, we spend so much time trying to build ourselves up, don't we? I mean, if we're honest, you know, trying to impress, trying to get ahead, trying to reach our ultimate potential, our culture is maximized, or excuse me, our culture is obsessed with, you know, being the very best that you could possibly be, which, you know, that's all fine and well, but you know who the best you is? It's the person that Jesus created you to be. That's the best you.

And right now, you might say we're all under construction, aren't we? I know I am. You know, I don't think Jesus has gotten out of the basement yet, but he's still doing the work. It reminds me of, this is one of my favorite, not that I have like, you know, favorite gravestones, but if I did, I think it would be this one. This is the gravestone of Ruth Bell Graham. She's the wife, of course, of Billy Graham. And what I love about this is underneath, her name and her dates are this epitaph, "End of construction, thank you for your patience." Isn't that great? I mean, that's true of all of us right there, you know, "End of construction, thank you for your patience." But right now, while we're living and breathing here, Jesus is continuing to build us up so that we resemble His character, His heart, so that we resemble our Lord, and it's His project.

Not only are we rooted and built up in Him, He also says that Jesus is my source of strength. Paul says, "Strengthened in the faith you were taught." And we become stronger, more established, as His Word transforms our minds and our hearts. And that's why it's so important to be part of gatherings like this, so important to be part of, you know, a small group or studying the Bible on your own, because God's Word feeds us, strengthens us, informs us, transforms us into the image of Jesus, because after all, it's His Word. That's why this is so key.

But I want you to notice these three verbs. Rooted, built up, strengthened. These are all passive verbs, passive verbs. You know what that means? It means that Jesus is the one doing the doing. Jesus is the one rooting, building up, strengthening. We're on the receiving end. In fact, in the Greek that this was written in, you could read it like this. "Having been rooted," that means permanently rooted, with ongoing, abiding results, having been rooted, we are being built up continuously right now and being strengthened in Him. And this all starts when we received Christ Jesus as Lord. And that's it all because He's also my source of every blessing, every good gift, your next breath, your next meal, the next moment you enjoy with family and friends. It's all an extension of His goodness.

But you know, it's one thing to be grateful for the things that make us happy, right? I mean, sunny day, warm bed, cold drink. I mean, it's kind of natural to be grateful for that kind of stuff if you're a reasonable human being. In fact, you don't have to be a Christian to be grateful for the things that make you happy, but Paul's not talking really about that. I'm sure it includes that, but Paul's talking about this deep, abiding gratitude that develops within us. Because listen, if we're only thankful for the things that we enjoy, then here's what's going to happen. You'll be thankful for the good days and you will be resentful of the bad days.

Because it'll all just be about the whims of your circumstances. But it goes much deeper than that because when God's grace enters into our hearts and we begin to see God for who He is, that's when you find yourself overflowing with thankfulness. It starts to flow out of you despite your circumstances. Even if the roads change, you get bypassed by the interstate, so to speak, your fortunes dwindle. You're no longer the latest or greatest. You overflow with gratitude. And for the record, this is the only active verb right here. This is what we actually do. We overflow.

And I imagine Paul, his vision for these Colossian Christians is when they've got these guys telling them, "Hey, man, you ought to really kind of get into this because this is really going to kind of make it happen for you." They're like, "You know what? I'm good. I'm really good. Jesus." And he is my all and all. So thanks, but no thanks. And as they just kind of overflow with gratitude, imagine us in our neighborhoods, in our workplaces, wherever we go, we're just overflowing with thankfulness because of all that Jesus has done for us.

Because here's the thing. When I receive Christ Jesus as Lord, I've come to realize that, "Man, I receive more than I can imagine. I received Jesus Christ as a nine-year-old boy, and I thought it was a good deal at the time. I had no idea." No idea. He has been more and better and more loving and gracious than I could have ever imagined. Now listen. My circumstances are going to change. Your circumstances are going to change. Sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. But what's not going to change is Jesus Christ our Lord, in whom we have everything we need.

And listen, I don't know what you're facing in your life. This might be a great season of life. It might be a very difficult season of life. I don't know what those particulars are, but I know this much. I know this. In Jesus, there's more than enough love for your marriage. There's more than a strength for your diagnosis. There's more than a peace for your worries, comfort for your grief, grace for your sin, and hope for your future, because in Jesus, there is more than we could ever imagine. Amen? Amen. Yeah, you can clap for him. Not me.

So the question is this. If Jesus is all of these things, and if you haven't received Jesus, what are you waiting for? You could settle that right now as we go to prayer. Would you bow your heads as we pray together?

Heavenly Father, we thank you for this opportunity to gather together in your presence, to hear from your word. And as your spirit applies it to our hearts, I pray that it would strengthen us and it would give us tremendous joy and peace today, that our hearts would be encouraged and united in love, the love we have for you and the love that we have for each other.

And Lord, I'm thinking of the person here, Lord, that either in this room or next door or hearing my voice somehow. And they've been curious about you, they've wondered about you, and now they feel the pull of your voice. They hear you knocking on the door of their heart, saying essentially, "You want to get in the truck?" Because they're weighed down by their sins, and Lord, we have no answer for our own sins. We have no answer for our own death, but you do. Because Lord Jesus, you came, you lived the life that we could never live, you died the death that we deserve, and because you rose from the dead, we have the promise of eternal life.

And so Lord, I pray that you would just clear out the things that are distracting our minds and our hearts in this moment, and especially if this is the moment that we need to say yes to you. And if you know that's you right now, again, you don't have to understand everything. You could be like the thief on the cross who just simply said, "Jesus, count me in. Remember me." Not really magic words, it's more the attitude of your heart, but you can simply say, "Lord Jesus, I admit I'm a sinner. I need your forgiveness. I need your grace. And I believe that you came, you died, and you rose again. And so I place my faith, my trust in you to do for me what I can never do for myself. Pray that you would lead me from this moment on in the newness of life here on earth and life everlasting with you.

Lord, we pray all these things in your name, and we thank you for them. Amen.