Message of the Week

The Little White Community Church

Scripture: Colossians 2 : 5-8

September 28, 2025

Message: “Progress in the Christian Life!”

by Pastor George Gnade

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Introduction:

1. The Book of Colossians is all about the greatness and supremacy of Christ. We already learned how “all things visible and invisible were created by Him and for Him” (Col. 1:15-16).

a. Then we learned in Col. 1: 19-20 that “all of (God’s) fullness dwells in Him” and through Him (God’s plan) was “to reconcile (all things) to Himself making peace through the blood of the cross.”

b. But Col. 1:23 speaks of one important condition. We are asked to “continue in the faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out to us in the gospel.”

2. It doesn’t stop there. In Col. 1:27, Paul tells us more about our hope in Christ. This time he calls it a mystery that had been hidden for generations but now had been made known through the Lord Jesus Christ. He simply refers to it as:  “Christ in you, the hope of glory!” 

a. “Glory” stands for the riches and glory of heaven. God promises to share all the riches and glory of heaven with those who invite Christ to live in their hearts. Thus “Christ (in us) is (our) hope of glory.” 

b. But asking Christ into our lives is not meant to be something we do and then forget about. It is meant to be the beginning of a relationship with Him that keeps on growing. That is what Col. 2: 6 is all about.

A. It describes how our relationship with Christ is to keep on growing.

1. Paul writes: “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in your faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.”

a. Assuming you have accepted Christ into your heart, you should have also been told of the importance of growing in your relationship with Him.

b. Paul calls this being “rooted and built up in Him.”

2. In Ps. 1:3, our relationship with Christ is compared to a ”tree planted by streams of water, bringing forth its fruit in season, whose leaf does not wither, and whatsoever he does shall prosper.”

a. When you know the Lord and have the Holy Spirit of Jesus in your heart, it is like having the roots of a tree that grows and brings forth fruit. 

b. In Gal. 5:23, this fruit is called the fruit of the Spirit.

It includes “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control.”

3. It is also compared to building a temple, a temple “built up in Him.”

a. In I Peter 2: 4-5, the Bible teaches us that God’s spiritual temple is not built with stones like the temple in Jerusalem was. It is built with “living stones, Christ Jesus being the cornerstone.”

b. A fruit tree doesn’t just bring forth fruit. It also brings forth more trees. So a Christian should show forth the love of God. In the process, God uses one Christian to lead another person to Christ. That is how God’s spiritual church keeps getting built up and growing.

B. So a new Christian is not meant to live isolated from other Christians. We are called to live for Christ together. 

1. Most of us know the song: “Onward Christian soldiers, marching as to war.”  Paul lived in the days of the Romans. That is why he liked to use military words to describe God’s church. He often compares Christians to an army at war with Satan and the world.

a. Just as in any war, it is easier to fight and win if you work together. In our passage, in Col. 2: 7, Paul shared how delighted he was to “see how orderly you are and how firm your faith in Christ is.”

b. The word for “orderly” means we should work together like soldiers who belong to a certain rank or file, each one doing his or her job. 

c. The word for “firm” means to be part of a group of soldiers forming a bulwark that stands firmly together as they fight for Christ together. 

2. So when people who claim to be Christians tell me they can be a Christian without going to church or working together with God’s people for the cause of Christ, they are going against the clear teachings of God’s Word. The Bible says we need each other and need to work together. 

a. Have you ever led someone to Christ? Many of you would probably say you haven’t. But if you are working together with other Christians, doing your part and encouraging others to come, then you could answer “Yes!”

b. If you help to support Christian workers like Pastor Arun or Dr. Leban Serto and they are used to bring others to Christ, then you have and are doing your part to grow the church. 

c. Or if you take time to visit an elderly person and encourage that person in their faith in Christ, then you are helping that elderly person to know their Christian friends have not forgotten them. And the Lord has not forgotten them either.

3. Paul was thrilled the Colossians were working together for the Lord. In our passage, he is encouraging them to keep working together for the Lord.

a. Paul was not just a missionary. He was an apostle, called specifically by Christ to teach and protect the church from error. He along with other apostles and teachers wrote God’s Word so that we in our day would not be led astray either.

b. But unless you read the Word of God or come to a church that teaches the Word of God, it is very easy for you to mix up popular ideas with God’s Word and end up all mixed up!

4. The Colossians were getting all mixed up by combining Gnostic teachings with Christian teachings. 

a. This is what Paul is referring to in Col. 2:8 where he wrote: “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophies, which depend on human traditions and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.”  

b. It was very important that Paul write them this letter, a letter that can now help us 2,000 years later.

5. Paul’s job was to teach them and strengthen them in their faith so that they would keep growing in the Lord. My job is to research and teach you from God’s Word so you may be strengthened in your faith and keep growing in the Lord.

In Conclusion: 1. Do you remember when you accepted Jesus into your heart? Have you continued to grow in your faith since inviting Him into your heart?

2. Two important signs of growth include bearing fruit by allowing the Holy Spirit to teach you how to be a more loving person and allowing the Holy Spirit to use you to help others come to believe in Jesus too.

3. Examining yourself, are you continuing to grow in Christ in these ways? In this passage, Paul encouraged all of us to “be rooted and built up in Christ, and strengthened in our faith.” May the Holy Spirit help us to grow and be more useful to Him. Amen.