GET ESTABLISHED IN THE FAITH 

COLOSSIANS 2:4-10 

          In Greece during the time of the early church public speaking was a noted form of art.  Great speakers and philosophers spent hours addressing the public trying to sway their opinion in one direction or the other.  The attitude of the professional speaker at that time was to persuade the people using any means and at all cost with little regard for the truth.  Knowing this Paul warns these Christians not to be tricked by enticing words and encourages them to remain strong in the faith, walking in the truth of Jesus Christ as they had been taught.  They were to continue to live as one who was planted, growing and firmly established in the faith.  They were to be alert and on their guard less someone come along and rob them of their faith through worthless, deceitful philosophies, teachings of this world and not the sound doctrines of leading to relationship with Christ.  Paul felt the need to warn these Christians because there were so many public speakers who voiced so many different opinions and who all claimed to be right and sought to persuade the people.  Paul here encourages them to be rooted and grounded, established in the faith.

          As I look at the Christian community today, and hear of so many things that are happening in churches, I like Paul feel an urgency to warn you.  For now in this age of church development, there are many wolves in sheep’s clothing. You may hear a message soon on how to know the wolf but today’s message is GET ESTABLISHED IN THE FAITH.

          God has established His Plan for man’s salvation, but it is up to each man individually what he or she will do with God’s plan.  However, even when we choose to accept God’s plan for salvation, the responsibility is still on us to establish a firm relationship with God and get established in our faith.  To be established in the faith does not mean to merely know what the Bible teaches about Christ and about being a Christian.  It means so much more.

EPHESIANS 3:17-19

          Being established in the faith requires that we understand the breadth, length, height and depth of God’s love for us.  We must understand how wide God had to stretch out his arms to embrace us, the length that he had to go to in order to save us, the height from which he had to come in order to be like us and the depth to which he had to sink in order to free us.  When we understand this we will then be able to comprehend God’s love for us and that understand will cause us to become grounded in His love.

COLOSSIANS 1:21-23

          When we are established in the faith we will refuse to be moved or drawn away from the hope that the Gospel provides us.  When we are grounded in the faith, we recognize that whatever this life holds is not to be compare with what God has in store for us.  We remember that “eye has…”  We know and always keep in the forefront of our hearts and mind that Jesus intends to present us to the Father as Holy and unblameable gifts to him.

          Establishing oneself in the faith is not an overnight experience and sometimes it can be a very hard struggle.  But Jesus did not expect any of us to be able to do it alone and without help.

EPHESIANS 4:11-15

          God gave ministers to help with the growing process.  Note that he did not give ministers to save us; that was done by Jesus himself.  But ministers were given for the perfecting or maturing of the saints and the building of the church.  Ministers are provided until we as Christians are united in one faith, understanding the Son of God and becoming a matured body functioning up to the standard set by Christ.  The function of these offices is to teach and instruct so that Christians would not be pulled here and there, tossed to and fro and carried away with every doctrine that arises by the cunningness and craftiness of man.  In other words, so that we as Christians would not run off with every new doctrine that pops up.

2 TIMOTHY 4:3-4

          But ministers can not do it all because some will not heed sound teaching.  Rather than being told the truth they would rather hear those things that tickle the ear or in other words they flock to those who will only preach and teach on what people want to hear.  Unfortunately there are plenty of ministers out there who are willing to tickle the ears.  They want to teach only on the goodness of God, the blessings of God, neglecting to teach the wrath of God that will be poured out on the wicked.  Jesus warned the people in Matthew 7:15 saying “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.”  What is the purpose of a wolf that is dressed like a sheep?  He wants to sneak into the fold unnoticed, steal sheep and feed his own desires.  As I look around and hear what is going on in many churches I wonder if some pastors are sheep in wolves clothing.  I wonder if they are not seeking to feed their own desires at the expense of their sheep.  You sheep tend to be very trusting of their shepherd. But as we talked about before, some shepherds are hirelings.  They do not care for the sheep.

JEREMIAH 17:5-8

          A person who puts there faith in another person is like a shrub trying to grow in the desert or in the salt lands around the dead see.  Even when rain comes it is swallowed up so quickly by the land that the shrub can not benefit from it.  In other words, even the good that the person does will be so over shadowed by the wrongs that are down that the good will not even be noticed.  Meaning, don’t put your faith in another person because you will eventually be disappointed.  Put the person who puts their faith in God will be like a tree planted by the river.  It does not matter how hot it gets, because the tree will draw refreshment from the river and will use the sun and the river to produce fruit.  The Christian who is established in the faith, having placed his trust completely in God will use the obstacles of life and God’s provisions to produce fruit to the glory of God.

          It amazes me sometimes what people will do when their trust is misplaced.  They will do things that display not even the use of common sense.  They will follow blindly and believe that it is right to do so.  They will treat a man as god and then become disgusted with God when the man fails them. 

2 CORINTHIANS 11:13-15

          Paul warns these Christians that there are false apostles, deceitful workers who look and act just like Christians.  Then he says, “Why are you surprised at this?”  Satan himself perpetrates as an angel of light.  Why would he not put ministers in churches to act as preachers of the gospel?

I JOHN 4:1

         God did not expect us to grow to full maturity in the Lord by walking the Christian road alone.  He gave minister to help along the way.  But God also did not expect us to follow blindly behind a man.  This verse says believe not every spirit.  Well you may ask, “How am I to know which spirit to believe and which not to believe”?  Well try every spirit.  If we walk close enough to God, He will show us the truth and it becomes our responsibility to heed the truth.  This goes back to what I said before.  To be established in the faith you must refuse to be moved or drawn away from the truth, even if the person who is trying to move you or draw you away is the pastor himself.

2 TIMOTHY 3:16

          How will we know the truth?  Study God’s word.  (Give the example of treasury agents.)  We may not know the tactics that every false prophet will use, but if we understand the truth of God’s word we will be able to spot counterfeit doctrines.  To be established in the faith, we must study God’s word so that we will not be swayed to and fro by every new doctrine that jumps up in the church.

PHILIPPIANS 3:7-14

          If we want to be established in the faith we must set as our highest priority, knowing Christ.  We can not be focused on the things of this world or even on the losses we suffer as a result of being a Christian.  We can not look back into our former life craving the things that we left there.  We must look forward, pressing our way to drawing closer and closer to Christ.  We must desire such a relationship with Him that it feels like there is no us without Him.  He should become such a part of us that there is no way to separate us and Him (like Kool-aid in water).

COLOSSIANS 2:4-10

          Be steadfast in your faith.  Know what you believe and why.  Study the scriptures.  Develop a strong, personal relationship with Christ.  Refuse to be shaken in your faith.  Receive sound teaching but try every spirit that attempts to make a deposit in you.  Beware of those, even in the Church who will try to lead you astray and take advantage of your desire to please God, ascertaining that you must also please them.  Be established in your faith so that you will not be deceived by the false teachings of deceitful men.