Sunday LinkUp – July 27, 2025 – Colossians 2:6-19

WELCOME and THANKS for joining us.

OPENING COMMENTS

• Today is the Seventh Sunday After Pentecost.
• The theme for this week is aligning to God’s grace.
• The selected passages that support the theme are … Psalm 85:1–13 • Hosea 1:2–10 • Colossians 2:6–19 • Luke 11:1–13    
  • In our call to worship psalm, the sins of Israel are acknowledged but a message of hope emerges from the portrayal of God’s faithfulness and forgiveness.
  • The Old Testament text in Hosea displays the divine disfavor of God with Israel but ends with a reminder of God’s faithfulness to his promises to them.
  • The reading from Colossians exhorts us to live out the life we have in Christ, an exhortation that warns against being captivated by worldly views contrary to Christ, as well as useless and needless pursuits.
  • The Gospel text in Luke provides an overall theme of prayer which includes the shorter version of the Lord’s prayer that encourages us to seek alignment with God’s will.

OPENING SONG

OPENING PRAYER

BIBLE READING

Colossians 2:6-19

⁶ As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, ⁷ rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.  

⁸ Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.  ⁹ For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; ¹⁰ and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.  

¹¹ In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ,  ¹² buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him  through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.  ¹³ And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses,  ¹⁴ having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us.  And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.  ¹⁵ Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.  

¹⁶ So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, ¹⁷ which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.   ¹⁸ Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, ¹⁹ and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God.  

SERMON

Walk in Christ

A.  Last week in our passage from Colossians, we were reminded by Paul of who Jesus is, what he has done, and who we are in relationship to him.  That passage paints a glorious reality that the Lord has established for us.

B.  Today, we will continue with Paul’s address to the believers in Colossae.  We’ll see some of the implications of believing and living out of this gospel reality.

C.  Our TEXT for today … Colossians 2:6–19 (ESV)

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.

See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.  For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.

In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.  And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.  He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.  

Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. Let no one disqualify you,  insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.

Before we look at this passage it will be important to note a dangerous issue Paul is trying to deal with in his letter.

• False teachings were creeping into the Colossian church that undermined the truth that Christ is the most important thing and all we need.
• We can’t be certain exactly what the form of false teaching was, but it was leading some to judge others for not following certain cultural ideologies or engaging in some specific ascetic practices.
• In short, the Colossian church was being tempted to establish their own spiritual or religious standing apart from Christ  or  in addition to Christ.
  • This is not a distant or foreign challenge for the Church today, or any day for that matter.
  • There is always pressure from the surrounding culture for the Church to conform to the latest “way of thinking” that presents itself as wiser and more knowledgeable than the gospel message.
  • However, this conformity often leads to idolatry.  We end up seeking our justification and righteousness in something other than Jesus Christ.
• Paul’s way of dealing with this is to return to the basics, reminding the believers in Colossae who they belong to and who has redeemed them.  They only need to hold onto Christ and not grasp at any passing fad that claims to offer something better.

⁶ As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, ⁷ rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding ^[a]in it with thanksgiving.  

• Notice the word “therefore” in the beginning of the passage.
• “Therefore” is a word that connects what was previously said to what is coming.
• Paul wants to help us see that because of who Jesus is, what he has done, and the fact that Christ is “in you,” we have a new reality open to us that we can live out.
• Paul begins by reminding them of who they are as those who have “received Christ Jesus the Lord.”  What they have received is the one who is “Lord.”  Paul seems to want to emphasize that part of Jesus’ identity.  If you have the Lord, especially the Lord as described earlier in Paul’s letter in the hymn in Colossians 1:15–20, then there is nothing greater to receive.  And notice the note of grace Paul paints with the word “received.”  This is what it means to be a believer in Jesus.  We are those who trust him to give us life and all things.  We know he is the giver, and we are to receive all that he gives us.  He is the “head,” the source of our lives, and we are the “body” those who trust and follow him in all things.
• This sets up a contrast from the circulating idea that they need to work up their own righteousness.  Paul’s statement highlights two competing ways of living — achieving versus receiving.  But his statement also positions only one way that is a fact for those who are facing these false teachings.  They have received Jesus as Lord.
• Springing from that fact, Paul then encourages them to “walk in [Jesus].”  This is a way of saying that their lives should align to the reality of belonging to the Lord.  Paul then offers two metaphors that provide the foundation to walk on.  They are to be “rooted” and “built up” in him.  These two metaphors, one organic and one architectural, combine to express a top-to-bottom saturation of living in Christ.  Paul also speaks of being “established in the faith” which also conveys a grounding in the reality they have in Christ.  Paul also reminds them that this is not some new fad idea like the ones being floated by false teachers.  What they have is what they have been “taught.”  There is history and tradition backing their knowledge of who Jesus is and what he has done.Paul adds “abounding in thanksgiving,” which would be the accompanying and fitting response of one who is receiving Christ as Lord.   We are only thankful for what we receive.  The life, or “walk,” that is fitting for one who has received Christ is a life of further receiving.  They do not need to be tempted to find their significance, security, or identity from any other source but the one who is Lord over all.

⁸ Beware lest anyone ^[b]cheat you^{[Lit. plunder you or take you captive]} through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.  ⁹ For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead ^[c]bodily^{[in bodily form]}; ¹⁰ and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all ^[d]principality and power^{[rule and authority]}.  

• Paul highlights that our walk in Christ also involves not receiving from other sources for our life and identity.  This will amount to being taken captive and being deceived.  Paul is referring to spiritual and religious practices and ways of thinking that come out of a worldview based on “human tradition” and “elemental spirits of the world,” a phrase that probably refers to spiritual beings.  What is conveyed here is a worldview, with human and demonic origins that are “not according to Christ.”
• We can witness this today in our culture as well.  There are always competing worldviews and ideologies that if followed will leave you empty and in bondage.  Typically, these approaches to life demand that we become “achievers” instead of “receivers” when it comes to our own righteousness or “spirituality.”  Instead of living by grace, we are to work our way forward by meeting the demands that someone, who typically does not have our best interest in mind, has placed on us.  Paul makes it clear that if the “fullness of deity dwells bodily” in Christ, and we are “filled in him” then there is no further “fullness” that can be achieved.  We have it all in Jesus.  No need to look somewhere else.
• And Paul adds that the one who fills us is none other than the “head of all principality and power (rule and authority).”  With that stroke of the pen, he denounces all who presume to think they can have some rule or authority over us.  Jesus is our Lord and everyone else must take a knee.  When someone is pressuring you to “obey” them or follow their teaching that is not consistent with walking in the Lord, you do not need to comply or even acknowledge such delusions.  Christians often must resist that which the Lord is not giving.
• Paul will now go further to demonstrate that there is nothing more needed than Christ:

¹¹ In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body ^[e]of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ,  ¹² buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him  through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. 

• Using both language of circumcision and baptism, Paul signifies how we “come to fullness” in Christ.  This runs counter to any teaching that claims you must climb above the brokenness in our world and in yourself and find a way to ascend, on your own steam, to some higher spiritual plane.
• Our baptism is a baptism into the death and resurrection of Christ. In him, we find fullness on the basis of what Jesus did for us in his death and resurrection. He is the one who first descended into our death and then ascended in glorious resurrection.

¹³ And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses,  ¹⁴ having wiped out the  ^[f]handwriting^{[certificate of debt with its]} of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us.  And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.  ¹⁵ Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.  

• And he didn’t do that as an example for us to follow. He did that in our flesh and blood.  In faith, we receive his work on our behalf.
• He is the one who has forgiven and removed all our “trespasses” and has set the record straight.  He has taken all that is broken, tainted, and distorted, and removed it by “nailing it to the cross.”  That is where we look for setting right all our wrongs.
• In nailing our record of sin and death to the cross, God has “disarmed the rulers and authorities.”  Not only that, but Jesus has also made a public spectacle of them, likened to the ancient Roman celebration of victory by parading prisoners of war through the city.  Paul is writing in such a way as to highlight the complete foolishness of falling for the lies of these false teachers.
• Jesus has set us free to be free. No one has any claim on that freedom, no matter what clever, convincing, or even “righteous” rhetoric they may use.

¹⁶ So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a ^[g]festival^{[feast day]} or a new moon or sabbaths, ¹⁷ which are a shadow of things to come, but the ^[h]substance^[body] is of Christ.   

• Paul admonishes his readers to be on guard against those who demand specific approaches to food, drink, or observing festivals, for the purpose of passing “judgment” on them and to “disqualify” them.
• They want to condemn those who do not jump through their own self-made and self-righteous hoops. They insist on self-abasement as well as angel worship and having visions.
• Paul locates this type of thinking as springing from one who is “puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind” because he ceased to hold “fast to the Head.” This is not the Christian worldview Paul is springing from.  He certainly wants the believers in Colossae to discern the difference.
• Paul is guarding against the external cultural teachings inherit in the Greco-Roman culture, that has slipped into the Colossian church to persuade believers to pursue asceticism on one end of the spectrum or mysticism on the other end. Either way, the goal is to move people from receiving God’s grace in favor of achieving some high state of spirituality that would qualify them in the eyes of their accusers.

¹⁸ Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has ^[i]not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, ¹⁹ and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God.  

• Paul’s final word in this passage serves to provide the antidote to the deluded false teachings that target the Church.  Hold fast to Jesus.
• Paul emphasizes again the relationship that exists between  Jesus as the Head  and  the Church as the body.
• As we hold fast to that reality, letting our roots grow down deeply in Christ and building on the firm foundation of his grace, we will be nourished and made whole leading to a “growth that is from God.”

CONCLUSION

A.  This is a picture of a truly healthy church, one that discerns between what it means to belong to Christ and any ideas that run contrary to it.

B.  This discernment comes by way of returning over and over again to our Head, Jesus Christ, to receive his grace, and to being nourished and built up in him.  This is walking “in him” as Paul exhorts.

C.  May we hear Paul’s words and hold fast to what we have been taught in God’s word, not succumbing to tantalizing ideologies of empty deceit, but discerning and denouncing all that claims a higher spirituality than what we have in Christ.  Amen!

CLOSING SONG

CLOSING PRAYER

ANNOUNCEMENTS

The reminder below was sent to leaders of GCI congregations in the Caribbean …

“Greetings, my brothers and sisters. Just a friendly reminder to set some time aside on Tuesday, July 29th for prayer and fasting.
“We are praying for a closer walk with the Lord , and for the spiritual health and wellbeing of our congregations .”

In light of this request from the Regional Director for GCI in the Caribbean
… we are asking that YOU mark the date and pray that the call to a region-wide fast will bear good fruit.

Also … if you are able to join with us in this time of praying and fasting, please feel free to do so.

Small Group Discussion Questions