Brian Hopkins – Page 4 – Mt Freedom Baptist Church

In Colossians 2:6, Paul encourages Jesus followers who have received new life in Christ to “walk with Him.” We will naturally start out just barely able to walk, but as we persevere in following our LORD Jesus, we will eventually learn to run with endurance the race that He has set before us in service of His Kingdom. Along the way, we will encounter distractions – snares set by our great enemy to distract us from abiding in our Christian walk. In the latter part of Colossians 2, Paul warns us about some of these snares – legalism, asceticism, worship of angels, and the “elemental spirits of this world.” Paul encourages us to set such things aside and focus squarely upon the LORD Jesus alone.

In chapter 2 of his letter to the Colossians, Paul encourages Christ followers to continue working on their relationship with the Lord Jesus. Certainly, we can rest assured in our salvation through faith in Jesus’ Gospel, but our new spiritual life in Him should be much more. Paul also tells us of the benefits of growing in the knowledge of our Lord. Of course, we must continue to learn about God through His Word, but even more so, we must cling as closely to Jesus as possible and allow the Holy Spirit to direct us throughout our days – all while remaining intentionally focused on Jesus as Lord over our entire being.

In his letter to the church at Colossae, Paul reminded the Colossians of who Jesus really is – God the Son. Certainly, Jesus is our Redeemer and Savior, but for the true Christ follower, Jesus must be much, much more. He must be our everything – the very center of our entire life. In short, Jesus must be our “All-in-All.” In this video, comedian Jeff Allen shares the story of his own journey out of atheism and alcoholism into a true saving relationship with our Lord Jesus.

Since mankind’s rebellion in the Garden of Eden all of us have been estranged from God our Father by our sins. But Jesus made the way for everyone who believes in His Gospel to be reconciled to God and returned to our proper relationship with Him as His beloved children.

In his letter to the church at Colossae, Paul addressed a misconception among them that Jesus can’t be Immanuel – God in human flesh, because their view was that all flesh is inherently evil. Paul reminded them that Jesus – the Word of God – is the instrument by Whom our Three-In-One God created the world. Therefore Jesus was before all things as John reminds us in the introduction of his gospel account. In describing this concept to the Colossians, Paul used the Greek word πρωτεύω) prōteuō – preeminent. In our lives and our belief, Jesus must not only be important. He must be the only and central focus of our entire being. In other words, we must hold Him “Preeminent.”

Colossians and Ephesians were written by Paul the apostle from house arrest in Rome as he awaited his trial before Caesar. We will study this entire letter over the next few weeks. Colossae was a city in Asia Minor which had a large Jewish population including some Jews who had become Christian believers after hearing the Truth of the Gospel of Jesus from Epaphras. Paul wrote this letter to remind the Colossians that salvation in Christ results from knowing Jesus as our personal savior and having a relationship with Him – continually growing in knowledge of God, not from any other “secret” knowledge (Gnosos) or through any form of legalistic works.

As we celebrate Fathers Day, it is helpful to look at how Jesus modeled His own relationship with His father during His ministry on Earth. The defining characteristic of that relationship is connection. Jesus was in continual communication with His Father as He accomplished the mission on Earth that He was given by God the Father. Then, by dying on the cross in our place, Jesus made the way for us to enter into that same kind of relationship with God.

In finishing up our series on God’s grace, it’s important to remember that it is certainly God’s grace alone through which we are saved out of death in our sins – His saving grace, and His grace is sufficient for us to carry us through whatever we might encounter in this life – His sustaining grace. Along the way, God’s grace is perfecting us day-by-day into the very image of God’s Son Jesus – His sanctifying grace. Finally, throughout this life and our eternal life to come, God’s grace is and will forever be poured out in infinite measure upon His children who have believed on the Name and Gospel of Jesus for salvation – God’s securing grace.

Our salvation is a three-fold process. We are justified (our eternal life is secured) by God’s saving grace through Jesus’ death on the cross in our faith in His resurrection. This begins the second phase in which we are being perfected into the very image of our Savior Jesus through God’s sanctifying grace.

sustaining grace, God will always provide for our needs and give us the strength we need to sustain us through times of hardship. Jesus Himself confirmed this truth in His Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6:25-34). Yet we must be careful to note that God never promised that we would not encounter troubles in this life, but that by His infinite grace He will always sustain us through them.

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