Today on the verdict with Pastor John Monroe. What is Paul saying here? That Christ is the treasure of wisdom and knowledge, and all of Christ is available to you. Don't miss that point. He is in us.
And we are in them. Welcome to The Verdict, featuring the Bible teaching of Pastor John Monroe. Senior Pastor of Calvary Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. Would you like to have more knowledge and wisdom to better understand your purpose in life? while these answers aren't hidden or limited to some special group.
These treasures of wisdom are freely available in Christ. We're exploring how to become spiritually mature.
Now, here's Pastor John Monroe with today's lesson. Most of us love babies and find them very cute, but If a child is five and still acting as a newborn, we realize there is a serious problem. A disciple is one who's learning. And the more we follow Jesus, listen to His words and obey His teaching, the more we mature as His disciples. God gives us His word so that we may learn, so that we may grow.
so that we can become more like Jesus. Are you serious about spiritual maturity? I trust you have spiritual maturity as one of your goals. Perhaps you're in a spiritual rut, you're you're stale. You've lost the passion you once had as you followed Christ.
This study will help you. as we look at the opening verses of Colossians 2. From time to time we hear that someone has discovered the secret. or the key or some technique. to living a victorious and prosperous Christian life.
If only we understood the secret, they say. If only we discovered this key or used the key that they have discovered. If only we tried these techniques that they have mastered, we would be assured of a life of unbroken happiness, victory, fulfilment and prosperity, provided, of course, we buy their book, the D V D, study guide or attend their seminar at some exorbitant cost. Over the years I've had many of such claims. And I confess I've become very skeptical to such approaches to the Christian life.
The last time we opened our Bibles to Colossians, and I invite you to turn there to Colossians chapter 2. When we looked at the final two verses of Colossians 1, we learned. That Christian maturity is not a matter of discovering some esoteric secret or technique or key. Rather, Christian maturity is knowing Christ. It is growing in Christ.
An ancient colossae As there are today, so there were then. There were those who claimed to have the key, the secret, the answer. to the Christian life. If their techniques were followed, so they claimed. If their secrets were understood, a select few could enter into some kind of esoteric level of super spirituality and special knowledge.
And Paul writes this wonderful little book that we call Colossians. He writes this book against such ideas. And presents in contrast to secrets and techniques and keys. He presents what? The supremacy.
and the sufficiency. of Christ. His goal as he says at the end of chapter one. That we may present everyone mature in. Christ.
And in our passage, I believe Paul continues to give further teaching on maturity to Colossians. to people he had never even met.
Now, if you're a follower of Jesus Christ, I know you want to be mature in Christ, you want to grow. You want to be all that God intends for you to be. You want to fulfill. to fulfill The purposes Of God in your Life. And here is what Paul is saying.
Focus Not on secrets, not on keys, not on techniques. but focus on Christ, on maturing in Christ. Because in Christ, as we will learn, There are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Verse 3 of chapter 2. And that's why we turn then to the word.
of God. From the seven Opening verses of chapter 2, we will learn more of what it means to be mature in Christ. This Christ, in whom are hidden. All Oh. of the treasures of wisdom.
And knowledge.
Now, read with me the first seven verses of Colossians 2. I'm reading from the English standard version. Paul says, I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you. And for those at Laodicea, one of the neighboring towns, and for all who have not seen me face to face. That their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ.
In whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ. Therefore. As you received Christ Jesus the Lord.
So walk in him. Rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in. Thanksgiving. What a magnificent. Passage.
So we'll look at this subject then of maturity further. I believe that in the opening three verses We learn this that maturity requires community. Maturity requires community. Christian maturity, among other things, involves being strengthened through love within the Christian community.
Now this is Paul's goal for all believers. including those he had never even seen. that he wants them to be mature in Christ. Paul knows of nothing of some slick, superficial answer. He says he's involved in this great struggle.
We saw in verse 29 of chapter 1, he says, For this. This presentation of everyone mature in Christ, he says, for this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me, for I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face. He's never even seen these people, but he's struggling. He's toiling with this magnificent goal that they would be presented mature. and Christ.
We do not become mature in isolation. How often have you heard, as I have heard, someone say, I don't need to go to church to be a Christian. What is true that you don't need to go to church? to receive Christ's forgiveness of your sins. But it's also true That you will never be a mature Christian without being part of a local community of believers.
As you know, I'm a married man.
Now I don't need to live with Goodney to be married. I may lose my job, I suspect I would if I didn't. But God expects, of course, married people to live together. And my wife and I, we will never grow in our relationship together unless we spend time together. And after all, if you love someone, you want to be with them.
If you love Christ, you spend time with Christ. If you love the people of God, you spend time with them. And what a wonderful time. As iron sharpens iron, as we pray with one another, as we interact with one another, that is one of the ways that God gives us within community of maturing in Christ. Paul's goal, as we see here in verse two.
That these believers' hearts are encouraged. That they're strengthened, he says, that they're knit together in a tapestry by strong bonds of love. is going to say in chapter 3 verse 14 That love is the perfect bond of unity.
Now, you cannot be knit together in love on your own. Spiritual balance, to be spiritually balanced, to be spiritually mature, requires community, verse 2, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, together to reach all of the riches of the full assurance of understanding. And so on.
So I ask you. Are you involved in the lives? of your fellow believers. Today, community is one of these buzzwords, and I sometimes think we talk more about it than we really experience. Are you involved in the life?
of your brothers and sisters. Do you allow others to encourage you, or do you give the impression? That you are sufficient. That you're Of all of the answers? Do you pray for others?
Are you interested enough in others to Pray for them and to Ask them to pray for you. Do you reach out to others? We have many new people who come to this church.
Some of you are in that category. Do you reach out to others, or are you the kind of individual who just sits there and wants others to reach out to you? Are you a bit of a loner? You will never be mature in Christ. If you are a Christian, lonely.
Ranger.
Now some of you like me will remember Simon and Garfunkel. They had a song, not one of their hits. And I asked someone this week if they'd ever heard of this song by Simon and Grafunkel, and they said no. But they had a song, really, a very Good song, I think. I'm not going to sing it.
But they had a song called A Most Peculiar Man. This is how it went.
Some of you know it. He was a most peculiar man. That's what Mrs. Reardon said, and she should know. She lived upstairs from him.
She said he was a most peculiar man. He was a most peculiar man. He lived all alone. Within a house, within a room, within himself, a most peculiar man. He had no friends, he seldom spoke, and no one in turn ever spoke to him.
Because he wasn't friendly and he didn't care, and he wasn't like them. Oh no, he was the most peculiar man. He died last Saturday. He turned on the gas and he went to sleep. with the windows closed so he'd never wake up to a silent world in his tiny room.
And Mrs. Reardon says he has a brother somewhere who should be notified soon. And all the people said, What a shame that he's dead. But wasn't he a most peculiar man? Sad song, isn't it?
You know, without community, All of us would be very peculiar men and women.
Someone who lives on their own, someone who lives an isolated life. Any peculiarities about them become accentuated. And God gives us, and God has designed us, the triune God, who lives in perfect community and harmony within the Godhead. He gives us one another. Families.
But most of all, as a wonderful gift, he gives us the church of Jesus Christ. And if you and I are going to mature in Christ, We require one another. We need, as Paul is saying here, being knit together in. Love. And I trust the church.
We try to do that to encourage one another. to strengthen our hearts. to be knit together in love. Don't be a spiritual Loner. Because the result, as Paul says here, the result of our hearts being knit together in love will be a full understanding of the knowledge of God's mystery, namely Christ.
One mind as well as one heart. What's the principle here? It is this: the stronger we love one another in Christ, The greater will be our understanding of. Christ. So, we encourage everyone, as well as coming to corporate worship on a Sunday morning and a Sunday evening, like this, to be part of a smaller group.
to get to know one another. To reach out to one another, to develop friendships, spiritual friendships, spiritual bonds, so that in that way we together will be knit together in love and so understand more and more. of the richness. of Christ. Paul says verse 2, this full assurance, this confident understanding of Christ, comes not merely through understanding the truths about Christ as he's presented, although that is necessary, but also through being knit together in love.
with our fellow Christians. We've all had the experience, haven't we? of our cold hearts. Being warmed by the love of God's people. And our hearts which are so easily To go off track, that we are so prone to wonder that once again.
God, through his Spirit, through His Word, through His people, warms our hearts, and we find ourselves being knit together more and more in love. Paul says at the end of Ephesians 3. It is as we are rooted and grounded in love that we are able to comprehend with all of the sense. The fullness of God's revelation in Christ. Maturity.
requires Community. Secondly, in verse 4, maturity requires discernment. Paul says, I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. Paul wants the Colossians to be discerning. Why?
There were false teachers at Colossi. He warns them, verse 4, not to be deluded with plausible arguments. Superficial, specious. Arguments. And he describes this false doctrine in verse 8.
As philosophy and empty deceit. This false teaching in Colossi, apparently, had some elements of legalism and mysticism and asceticism. as we read later in chapter two. But at the heart of this false teaching there was a claim To have true knowledge, higher knowledge. This false teaching clearly was cleverly packaged.
It was superficially attractive. It was being promoted by these false teachers in this church at Colossae. And Paul wants the Colossians, as God wants you and me, to be discerning. Don't be deceived. by these false Teachers.
Don't let anyone delude you with plausible Arguments. One of the characteristics of a mature Christian, then, is that this individual. is discerning. We can det detect False. Teaching.
Now I think one of the unfortunate Characteristics of our society today is gullibility. People are very, very gullible. We have not been taught, I think, in our educational system to think critically. And gullibility and uncritical thinking dominate our society. The Christian is not to be like that, we're not to be gullible people.
We're not to swallow everything that we hear. But we're to bring the mind of Christ. And to be discerning, to be able to distinguish right from wrong. To know the true from the false. And so, the Bible, the New Testament, unlike much of today's so-called preaching, the New Testament is full of warnings.
Paul in Acts chapter 20, when he meets with the Ephesian elders and is about to depart from them, he tells them to be on the alert, because people, he says, will speak, quote, perverse things to draw away the disciples after them. And the church at Ephesus. Learned this lesson of discernment. Revelation 2, verse 2. Where we have the letter to the church at Ephesus, you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false.
How good that the elders at Ephesus had listened to the warning of Paul. And as false teaching And false apostles had come to the church at Ephesus, these elders and leaders, and the congregation was able to discern this false teaching. how important it is. that we are discerning. Would you say you're a discerning person?
Are you easily taken in with false teaching, some hype, some emotionalism?
some worldly methodology which impacts the church. In July 2005, I read near the city of Van, eastern Turkey, one sheep jumped. to his death off a cliff. Stunned Turkish shepherds who had left the herd to graze while they had breakfast, watched. as nearly fifteen hundred other sheep followed.
each leaping off the same cliff. In the end, 450 dead animals lay on top of one another in a billowy white pile. Do not try to picture that. Those who jump later The Associated Press article said: those who jumped later were saved as the pile got higher. One sheep jumps off a cliff.
Fifteen hundred follow. When I read that, I thought Sadly, that's like a lot of Christians, isn't it? Sheep are not known for their discernment. They go with the flow. In this case, to disastrous consequences.
Are you just that like that, a sheep? Following everyone in the latest trend. Are you discerning? You're like the ancient Buryans who checked whether what the apostles were saying conformed to the word of God. Do you have a Christian mindset, a biblical mindset?
Be discerning what you read. Just because it's on the Christian bestseller list doesn't mean it's biblical. What you listen to and who and what you support financially requires discernment. Look beyond the slick packaging and hype. Says Paul to the Ephesians and Ephesians 4, verse 14: We are no longer to be children.
Tossed here and there by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness and deceitful scheming. Maturity. requires not only community, but maturity requires discernment.
Now finally, in verses five and seven, five through seven, we learn that maturity And this is the most important one, obviously. Maturity requires a Christ-centered life. Verse 5: For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness, notice that, the firmness of your faith in Christ. Therefore, As you received Christ Jesus the Lord, So walk in him. rooted and built up in him.
And established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in Thanks given. Maturity? requires A Christian. centered Life. Do you grasp this?
If we practice this, we will be mature. That's what Colossians is all about, that Christ is everything and has everything and you are in Christ. Christ is all and in all, Paul is going to say in chapter Three. The greatest wealth which you can possess. is the knowledge of Christ.
The greatest wisdom which you can ever find is found in. Christ. When our elders during the retreat asked us, Pastors, How could they pray for us? Several said Wisdom. I was good, isn't it?
The need for wisdom. Not because Our pastors are not intelligent. I think they're reasonably intelligent. We are. But a recognition of wisdom.
all of the wisdom we need, obviously. is found in Christ. He is all-wise. And Paul is saying here, When you receive Jesus Christ, As your personal Savior and Lord, Christ indwells in us. Christ is in us, the hope of glory.
Remember, we learned that in chapter one.
Now, this Christ who dwells in us, verse three, in him. That is, in the Christ who indwells us, in him are hidden all of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Douglas Mu in his helpful commentary on verse 3 says, This is the Christological high point of the letter, chapter 2, verse 3: In Christ are hidden all of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. This is the verdict, featuring the Bible teaching of Pastor John Monroe. There's still more to hear when John returns in just a moment, so stay with us.
From matters of truth and identity, to the subjects of love and grace, our world seems more confused than ever. but to find truth and certainty about who we are and find peace, we must turn our attention away from the world and look to the Word of God. To help you do that, John wrote a booklet titled Eternal Security, Finding Certainty in a Chaotic World. Through this special resource, John shares his personal testimony, along with a careful examination of Scripture, to offer us clarity on matters of eternity. Get your copy today by visiting our website at theverdict.org.
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Now, here's Pastor John Monroe.
Well, what's your verdict? Have you found that being isolated makes it more difficult to mature as a follower of Christ? I realize there are no perfect churches. But all of us need to be part of a community of believers.
So don't isolate yourself. Keep your eyes on Jesus Christ. and be discerning about false teaching. The more you mature in Christ, the more discerning you will be.
Next time we'll continue to look at the opening seven verses of Colossians 2. And think of the importance of living a Christ-centered life. Thanks for joining us today on The Verdict. I'm Michelle Davies. Today's program with Pastor John Monroe was produced and sponsored by Calvary Church in Charlotte, North Carolina.
