YouVersion

Colossians 2
V5-Paul is not with the Colossians physically, but is with them in spirit. He rejoices with their spiritual well-being.
How often do we rejoice in others’ spiritual discipline and well-being? Do we sometimes not rejoice for any reason? Why?
V6-7 The Message “My counsel for you is simple and straightforward: just go ahead with what you’ve been given. You’ve received Christ Jesus, the Master: now live Him. You’re deeply rooted in Him. You’re well constructed upon Him. You know your way around the faith. Now do what you’ve been taught. School’s out; quit studying the subject and start living it!”
We’ve discussed some false philosophies that are in the world, such as atheism. Let’s discuss some false philosophies that are in the church. A lot of our empty traditions are false philosophies. What is an empty tradition? Basically, I believe that an empty tradition is anything that is added to Christ. If you add anything to Christ, you are saying that His redemptive work on the cross was not enough for your salvation or even your acceptance by God…correct? What are some empty traditions you once believed? (God expects you to dress up for church. God gets mad if you don’t read the Bible and pray to Him everyday. Knowledge of the Bible equals a relationship with God. I can be good enough. I am not good enough. I have to earn God’s acceptance and love.) Do some of you still believe these empty philosophies/traditions?
I want to focus on the empty philosophy that “I am not good enough.” Let me ask another question, and think about this one…Is it our failure that pulls us away from God? It is not in our failure…it is in how we deal with our failure. Lou Holtz, a famous college football coach is quoted saying, “Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you respond to it.” He is also quoted saying, “It’s not the load that breaks you down, it’s the way you carry it.” Of course, I am simply quoting a man…why don’t I quote Paul, who was inspired by God when he wrote in Romans 6:8-11, “Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death is no longer master over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life He lives, He lives to God. Even so, consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” One of the biggest failures that pull people away from God is sexual sin…can you tell me why?
At Passion 2007, in Atlanta, GA, John Piper spoke on sexual sin. Piper told everyone that he went to a missions conference in Washington DC with a man named George Verwer, and when they returned home they wrote an article together for their church’s newsletter titled “Missions and Masturbation” Piper said that was the closest he’s ever been to getting fired from his church. “Verwer’s burden in that conference was the tragic number of young people (like many of you) who at one point in their lives dreamed of radical obedience to Jesus and were joyfully willing to lay down their lives and sacrifice anything to make Jesus known among the nations, but then faded away into useless, American prosperity because of a gnawing sense of unworthiness and guilt over sexual failure that gradually gave way to spiritual powerlessness and the dead-end dream of the middle class security and comfort.
In other words, what seemed so tragic to George Verwer—as it does to me—is that so many young people were being lost in the cause of Christ’s mission because they were not taught how to deal with the guilt of sexual failure.
Note carefully how I am saying it: They were not taught how to deal with the guilt of sexual failure. The problem is not just how to not fail. The problem is how to deal with failure so that it doesn’t sweep you away into a whole life of wasted middle-class mediocrity with no impact for Christ.”
I will ask another question…What is your spiritual worth based on?
Continue into the rest of our passage for the week...it will reinforce our message for the night...the basics of Christianity which we need to live and stop accepting the lies and the empty philosophies and traditions that the world and even the church try to impress upon us today. “For in Him, all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority; and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having cancelled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.”

This pretty much sums up the entirety of the gospel and the purpose God has through Christ...why do we try to add to the redemptive work of Christ?