7/27/25 Sermon

The church in Colossae was small. Probably no bigger than us on a normal Sunday really. It was tucked away in a quiet town off the main roads — not a big, flashy place like Ephesus or Rome — but it sat right in the middle of a region where a lot of different cultures and spiritual ideas overlapped. It wasn’t unusual for folks in Colossae to blend traditions together. You might follow the teachings of Jesus while also practicing a little astrology, keeping some old Jewish festivals, or wearing a charm just in case. It was a spiritual patchwork, and everybody was trying to piece together a way of life that felt meaningful and secure.

Paul didn’t plant the church there; his friend Epaphras did. But, Paul hears from him that the community’s doing well overall. However, there’s some strange influences creeping in. People are starting to believe that if they just follow certain rules, or have certain mystical experiences, or avoid certain foods and holidays, then they’ll be more spiritual or more protected or maybe even more favored by God.

And Paul writes back to say be careful. That kind of thinking can seem harmless, even wise. But in the end, it pulls your focus away from Christ. It replaces the fullness we’ve already been given in Jesus with a bunch of spiritual add-ons that promise more but deliver less.

So in this part of the letter that we’re about to read, Paul encourages them to keep their lives rooted in Christ. Not rooted in rituals or rules. Not rooted in fear or superstition. But rooted in a relationship — a way of being in the world that trusts Jesus is enough. That he is the center, not just of your life, but of everything. That in him, we’ve already received what we need to grow.

Now, I don’t know about you, but that hits close to home. Because even if we don’t worry about new moons or angel worship these days, we’ve all felt that pull to reach for something else — something extra — in order to feel more grounded, more spiritual, more in control.

So let’s sit with what Paul says here. Let’s listen for what it means — not just to believe in Christ — but to build our lives around him. To let our roots grow deep. And to trust that maybe fullness doesn’t come from having more... but from being connected to the One who already gave us everything. Let us hear what God may be trying to say to us today in Paul’s letter to the Colossians chapter 2 verses 6-19:

So live in Christ Jesus the Lord in the same way as you received him. Be rooted and built up in him, be established in faith, and overflow with thanksgiving just as you were taught.

See to it that nobody enslaves you with philosophy and foolish deception, which conform to human traditions and the way the world thinks and acts rather than Christ. All the fullness of deity lives in Christ’s body. And you have been filled by him, who is the head of every ruler and authority. In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not administered by human hands. The circumcision of Christ is realized in the stripping away of the whole self dominated by sin.

You were buried with him through baptism and raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. When you were dead because of the things you had done wrong and because your body wasn’t circumcised, God made you alive with Christ and forgave all the things you had done wrong. He destroyed the record of the debt we owed, with its requirements that worked against us. He canceled it by nailing it to the cross. When he disarmed the rulers and authorities, he exposed them to public disgrace by leading them in a triumphal parade.

So don’t let anyone judge you about eating or drinking or about a festival, a new moon observance, or sabbaths. These religious practices are only a shadow of what was coming. The body that casts the shadow is Christ. Don’t let anyone who wants to act as though they are superior to you because they have had visionary experiences stop you from doing these things. Such people are obsessed with their own visions and not connected to the head. The head is Christ, the whole body grows from him. It’s held together by his strength and it grows as God gives the growth.

WORD OF LORD

Have you noticed that sometimes the Bible seems to answer one question only to leave us with another? Take this morning’s scripture, for example. Paul says something intriguing to the Colossians: “Continue to live your lives in Christ, rooted and built up in him.”

It sounds reassuring—solid, even comforting—but I wonder if you paused as I did on that word "rooted." What exactly does Paul mean by being "rooted" in Christ?

Because honestly, that’s one of those phrases we Christians love to say but aren’t always clear about. Does it mean having great faith that God will rescue us from trouble? Is it believing that things will always turn out fine if we just pray hard enough? Or is Paul hinting at something deeper, something a bit more challenging—and maybe even unsettling?

Billy Graham was once asked a similar question about what it means to really trust Christ—to be truly rooted in Him. And he responded - as all good preachers do - by telling a story about a man who got shipwrecked and ended up stranded alone on a deserted island. He managed to build a small hut from the wreckage. Nothing fancy, just something to keep him sheltered.  And inside it, he stored the few things he was able to salvage from the wreck.

Every day, he’d scan the horizon, hoping for a ship or a plane. He prayed constantly that someone would find him. Some days, he held onto hope. Other days, it felt like he was talking to the sky. But still, he prayed.

Then one day, after wandering to the far side of the island, he noticed smoke rising in the distance. His heart sank. He ran back to his hut—and sure enough, it was on fire. Everything he’d built, everything he had left, was up in flames. He fell to the ground, devastated. And in the middle of all that loss, he cried out to God: Why? Why this?

A few hours later, a ship appeared on the horizon. It came ashore and rescued him. When he asked how they found him, the crew said, We saw the smoke signal and changed course. We figured someone had to be in trouble.

That fire — the one that took everything — was the very thing that saved him. Billy Graham concluded by saying, “It was a sign for much needed help and it was a sign from God that He was still in control and He would not forsake His beloved child even if there was a doubt or not.”

I guess that’s a form of trusting in Christ.  I mean, there’s a trust there that God will answer your prayers.  But I’m not so sure that’s what Paul meant in his letter to the Colossians. In fact, I think Paul is warning us against that kind of thinking.  Paul spends a lot of time in Colossians attacking people who are buying into astrology and wishful or magical thinking as a part of faith. That there were certain rituals or prayers you could say - certain charms or items you could buy or certain dietary restrictions that if you did, God would become kind of like a divine Santa Claus and grant your wish.

Paul tells the Colossians that Christianity isn’t really about that.  And he says to them don’t let people condemn you for not believing in this magical thinking or because you don’t eat certain diets or because you aren’t observing festivals, new moons, or even special sabbaths.  But Paul tells us to root ourselves fully in Christ.  And that we then will come to fullness in Christ.  Paul doesn’t offer a technique. He points to a relationship. Not a transaction, but a transformation. Being rooted in Christ isn’t about getting what we want; it’s about growing into who God calls us to be.

Which again sounds great but let’s be honest, it can be hard to pin down what it actually means to be rooted in Christ or to come to fullness in him. It’s one of those beautiful but often vague phrases we say in church without always knowing how to live it. I can tell you what it means for me but the truth is, it’ll look different in each of our lives. And that’s not a problem. That’s part of the richness of the body of Christ. We grow by learning from each other — through the stories, struggles, and faith of those around us.

So what does it mean to trust in Christ? I think it means we trust his way of being in the world. We believe him when he says the kingdom of God has come near — and we live like that’s true. We trust that when Jesus tells us and shows us that loving our enemies, forgiving freely, living into grace, caring for the forgotten, withholding judgment, praying with our lives, worshipping God, and trusting God’s purpose is the best way to live — then it really is the best way to live. That trust forms the foundation of a life rooted in Christ.

And here’s the thing: that trust shows up differently for each of us. No two lives are the same. I spent all week trying to come up with the one perfect example of someone who lives this out. The problem wasn’t that I couldn’t think of anyone — it was that I thought of too many. None of them were perfect (no one is), but they each bore witness to what trusting Christ can look like: a faith that not only transforms their own lives, but leaves an unmistakable impact on the world around them.

We could name the big names — people like Bonhoeffer, Luther, Dr. King, Mother Teresa. We could look around this chapel and find folks quietly living out that same trust in Christ every day. We could scroll through the internet and discover strangers whose faith moves mountains in small, faithful ways. And there are others — people the world will never know — who live their lives rooted in Christ by loving their neighbors, praying without recognition, and serving with quiet devotion.

There are countless ways to live trusting in Christ. Too many to name. Too many to capture in a single sermon. And maybe that’s the point. Faith in Christ isn’t meant to fit a single mold—it’s meant to grow in the soil of each of our lives.

But the key here, the thing Paul is trying to convey to the Colossians and remind us of this morning, is that our lives should be lived in Jesus Christ.  That we need to root ourselves in Christ by trusting him and trusting that his way of living life is better than any other way of living life.  It’s better not only for us but for everyone else around us too.

And Paul warns the Colossians that there are going to be people who offer sometimes more interesting, sometimes easier, sometimes flashier ways of living in this world but they are just shadows of what’s to come in Christ, Paul says.  And that warning still stands today.

Sometimes, even among Christians theres a tendency to think magically about God and about the Bible. That God is a divine Santa Claus or a genie who grants wishes.  Or if we get this special water or go to that preacher we’ll be healed of whatever ailment we have.  Or if we give just the right amount God will bless us beyond belief financially.  And God knows, there are huge industries based around trying to live a better life now.  And a lot of it is without substance.

What gives us substance, what gives us depth is Jesus Christ. We as Christians should always hang our hat on and root ourselves in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  The meat and potatoes of Christianity and of the Christian life are trusting in his grace that he’s so freely given us and trusting in his calling on our lives to pick up our crosses and follow him.  It isn’t always easy.  It isn’t always magical.  It’s isn’t always flashy. It isn’t always painless or fun.  We may not always get what we want. But it’s always better.  The promise of the Gospel is that living the way Jesus taught us is always better.

You know, I don’t know if you’re like me but I can look back at times in my life, and Lord knows they still happen more than I want to admit, but I can look back at times in my life where I tried to live out Quincy’s way and I trusted my own wants and my own plans more than I did Christ’s.  And like I said, I sometimes still trust Quincy more than Jesus.  But when I reflect back on the times when I trusted my plans or someone else’s more than Christ’s, it’s true that sometimes it was just easier, sometimes I got more of what I thought I wanted, sometimes the pain didn’t seem as bad, but I can’t tell you that what happened was any better. I can’t tell you it paid off in the long run because often times it didn’t.

But when I look at the times when I trusted Christ, even when it called me into great pain or great difficulty or even great personal loss, I feel like the better thing happened - not just for me but for everyone involved.  If nothing else, I felt like a better person.  And sometimes that’s enough.

Trusting Christ isn’t always easy, but it's always worthwhile. The world constantly promises shortcuts — easier paths with quicker rewards. Yet these paths only offer temporary happiness, never lasting fulfillment. Paul’s message to the Colossians and to us is clear: authentic fullness can only be found in Christ. This week, let’s choose his way, even when it’s difficult. Let’s trust Christ’s call to live courageously, forgive generously, and love without conditions. Because when we root our lives in him, our faith grows deeper, our joy richer, and our impact stronger.

So, may you be rooted deeply in Christ, trusting confidently in his way, knowing it will transform not only your life, but the lives of everyone you meet.

Amen.