Christ Is Our Foundation

I'm very thankful that we have a gardening church. We have many members who have a garden. They work the soil. They seek out a crop, some more productive than others. I'm very thankful that I can lean on many for know-how and, more importantly sometimes, what not to do. It takes a lot of work to produce a strong crop. As my father always said, it takes a tough farmer to produce a tender steak. We must realize that there's a lot of work that goes into having fruit for our labor. The garden, for instance, we have to make sure there's the right soil. We need to test it. We make sure we add nutrients into the soil. We need to till it, weed it. We need to make sure it's flat enough and it has the right preparation. We also must make sure there's irrigation, there's no slides, there's proper drainage, and there's going to be a proper water supply. Around here, we have to make sure there's a fence to keep out the critters. mainly the deer that are very frustrating. You have to know how to plant the seed. Each one had a particular depth, with a particular breadth for the next plant. Every plant has its own needs. Well, we have to work at producing a good garden. If we want to have a proper crop, if we want to have a fruitful crop, fruit from our labor, we must really invest ourselves into it. We're going to look at this morning at how we invest ourselves in our own spiritual well-being. We're going to look at how we are called to labor and strive, agonize, for not only our well-being, but for also for others. This morning the message is this. We must fight to make Christ our firm foundation. We must fight to make Christ our firm foundation. You should be able to find the outline for the sermon in the back of your bulletin on page 10. This text relates to our previous sermon from chapter 1, verses 24 through 29, in that Paul is talking about his sufferings, how he toiled for the church. He talked about how he was toiling and what he wanted the church to accomplish. Here we get more into the end. Really, this could be looking at how Paul says, I want to present you as mature in Christ. Well, this is much more about what that maturity looks like. One that is built up, rooted, established, and having a firm foundation. Again, we're going to look at Paul and we're going to see him as a model of faithfulness. We're going to see him striving and see that we too are supposed to be striving. And then it really gets easier to apply to ourselves because what Paul is striving for, well that's what we must seek to have ourselves. So our first point, we are called to struggle in our love for Christ. Let me read our text in its entirety and then I will read this particular portion again. For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea. And for all who have not seen me face to face, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit. rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ. 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. We'll return to verse 8 as our beginning verse next week, but I am going to bring it in as we look at verse 4, as we look at those arguments that delude us. So our first section, we are called to struggle in our love for Christ. Here we see Paul struggling. We see him fighting. The Greek word here is actually the word we get agonized for. He is agonizing for the saints. I think it's not that hard of a stretch to say he also agonized for his own spiritual well-being, not only for the church. The Christian life is a struggle. We must struggle to have a faithfulness to Christ. Paul struggles not only for the church, but he struggles for his own self. Now, one of the questions is, why would Paul struggle for the church? He had never seen them before. He didn't know them by name. He doesn't know who these Colossians are. But Paul struggles for every church. And the reason is the church is the body of Christ. Paul's love for Christ leads him to struggle, to labor, to agonize over his body. He doesn't have to know them by name. He doesn't have to know them personally. All he has to know is that they are his brothers and sisters in Christ, who want to have a great love for them. That's why we prayed for a pastor in Fluvanna, why we prayed for those in McGhackiesville, why we prayed for those in Uganda. We need to be agonizing and participating in love for all those saints all over the world. We don't have to know them by name. God knows who they are. God knows their trouble. God knows what they need. But we need to be seeking to love them because they are our brothers and sisters. We need to be seeking information about what it means to be a persecuted church. We need to be seeking those missionaries that we have most specifically. So, Paul says he is struggling for them. But what would the specific struggling be? There's two ways we can see just logically what Paul's struggle would be. What is the nature of his struggle? First, it's prayer. I believe Paul is struggling and agonizing. He's agonizing over these saints in prayer. We've already seen in the first chapter of Colossians that he was praying for them unceasingly. He has not stopped praying for them. As we saw from what Ben read in Ephesians, Paul prayed constantly for the churches around the world, that they would know the depths of the love of God, that they would know the plan of God, that they would have assurance in God. He agonized in prayer. Prayer isn't easy. Prayer is a difficult discipline. We get tired. We get distracted. Our minds wander. It's hard to focus, oftentimes, in prayer. It is a difficult discipline. But it takes energy. It takes practice. It takes training. One of the best things to do is, what Ben just led us through, is look at a passage and meditate and pray from Scripture. Praying doesn't come easily. It's not a natural thing for us. It takes a lot of work to make our minds and our hearts long for the things above. So whenever you pray and you oftentimes find your mind wandering or you may fall asleep, don't get discouraged. That happens to all of us. It's a difficult discipline. Struggle and agonize to pray for yourself and to pray for others. The second thing I think we can see him agonizing over is the words to use. What words can he use to encourage, challenge, correct the Christians in Colossae? We see him using different words and different tones and different letters. So, he wrote to the Christians and to the Philippians. It's a very encouraging letter. He's trying to build them up. To the Galatians it's, well, very different in tone and content. He doesn't even give a greeting. He just launches right in. What is going on? Have you so quickly forsaken the words that I taught you? And here in Colossians, it's a bit of a mix. He's wanting to make sure they know that he's thankful for them. He hears good report for them. He has full assurance in the gospel of Jesus Christ for them. But he also needs to give them a gentle, loving, clear correction. I believe he's agonized over the words to use. What words will he use to point them to Christ? And, well, as I hope we all walk away from Colossians, they're words that exalt Jesus Christ. That is what will correct their misconceptions. That is what will correct their wrong worldview. That is what will correct their hearts that have gone astray. Now, he says he agonizes. Why is prayer something we struggle with? Why is saying the right words something we struggle with? Well, there's two things that cause us to have agony, to have a struggle over any spiritual discipline. The first thing is our own sin nature. It seeks to enslave us. Christ has freed us if we were Christians. Christ has freed us if we really have believed in Him from the power of sin in our hearts. But that sin doesn't want to lose control of you. And so our own sinful hearts are always causing and agonizing and a struggle for us. We must fight against those sinful desires that come up and try to pervert our thoughts. Secondly, Satan doesn't want us to spiritually grow. He doesn't want us seeking Christ and God the Father and the power of the Spirit on our knees. He doesn't want us to stay focused on Christ. He wants to delude us. He wants to deceive us. We're going to have to struggle to be faithful Christians because our own sin nature is fighting against us and Satan is fighting against us. As we just read from Martin Luther's very great hymn, there's no power greater than Satan on this earth. Well, that is until Jesus Christ was born. It's him we must trust to overcome and win the battle. So, Christian, what do you struggle over? Do you continue to agonize in your spiritual disciplines? Are you continuing to try to strive for a deeper and deeper relationship, for a deeper love for Him in prayer, for a more intense time in study of Scripture? Or do you struggle for other things in this world? Do you work hard at play and do you play to work? That is what we do as Americans. We take the real responsibilities lightly and we want to make sure we have fun and we'll labor to make sure we have that fun. Your soul is at stake. The souls of all those around you are at stake. We must not be content with where we are spiritually. We must always be agonizing to further our relationship with Christ. This is where Paul's words are very helpful. We must struggle with purpose. We must struggle with purpose. Look there in verse 2, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. There's really three main parts here that we are to struggle for. There's three purposes. One, that we would have hearts encouraged. Two, that we would be united together in love. And three, that we would have a full assurance. And obviously, He gives much more time and attention to the full assurance, as will our sermon. Let's first look at this phrase, that their hearts may be encouraged. That our hearts would be encouraged. We must struggle that our hearts might be encouraged and that your hearts might be encouraged. It means strengthened. It means to be comforted. It means to be empowered and illuminated by the Holy Spirit. It's not clear here if the word for heart is referring to the seat of the desires or the seat of the mind, the intellect. I don't think it has to be an either or because those two things are so connected. Our desires give us our ideas. Our ideas give us proper or wrong desires. We need to be encouraged in Christ. We can already hear the great declaration of both. Set your mind on the things above. Let your heart and your mind and your soul and your body and your strength be committed to focusing on Christ. That is how you will be strengthened, comforted, and encouraged. Our second purpose. To be united together in love. To be knit together. We're supposed to be standing arm to arm, helping one another, encouraging one another, mutually walking with one another. Christianity is not for long rangers. You are not called to be your own little body. You're called to be knit together with other Christians for the purpose of encouraging one another, for the purpose of mutual care and love. And we have church membership that is supposed to knit us together, and it's supposed to be an assurance of your salvation. Church membership is supposed to be a way that you are assured in your salvation because other brothers and sisters are coming alongside of you and saying, I see the fruits of grace in you. I see the evidence of grace in you. Membership cannot be a guarantee of salvation. There are thousands. of people who are members of churches that think that gives them a ticket to heaven. Your salvation is not tied to the church. Your salvation is tied to the head. The head should lead you into the church. The technical membership does nothing if it is not bound up with a faith in Christ and a love for other brothers and sisters. Again, we are called to be united in Christ. Our love for Him. It is Him that puts us together. It's for His sake we love one another. If you remember, Christ loved us as Cedric shared Wednesday night. Christ loved us when we were unlovely. We're called to love one another in our unloveliness because Christ has loved us all. One of the things we can do together being knit together at this season As I mentioned before in my prayer and the announcements, we are seeking God's wisdom and direction for the possibility of pastoral care, additional pastoral care. Pray. Strive in prayer for that. That we would be completely united, that we would be completely trusting God, that we would seek His guidance and direction. for additional pastoral care, whether that comes from lay elders from within, whether it comes from a vocational pastor from within, or if it comes from a vocational pastor from without. Please, if you have not been praying for us up to this point, begin praying today. Finally, the third purpose for which we struggle The full assurance in Christ. Let me read this passage again, because it is, well, it's rich. We are to strive to reach all the riches of full assurance, of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Now, he's already spoken of the mystery that has now been revealed. It's Jesus Christ. That was in chapter 1, verse 27. The gospel has already revealed the riches of God's wisdom, the riches of God's love, the riches of God's power. The mystery is now unraveled. Jesus Christ has been born. He lived a perfect life. He died on the cross for sinners. He's risen again and He's coming back. We know how God is going to reverse the curse. We know how God is going to bring all things back under Him and reconcile all things to Himself. It's in Christ. Now, the Colossians problem is starting to be revealed here slightly. Because they were being duped, they were being deceived to think there's another way to get an additional wisdom that will help you get closer to God. There's an additional way to get knowledge. It's in angels or traditions or myths. Paul is saying, what more do you need to know than Christ? What more can God say that He has not already said in the Word that became flesh? Paul is saying there is no need to look outside of Christ because in Him are found all the wisdom of God and the knowledge of God. He is the very Word of God. It's interesting that our song, the Romans Doxology from Romans 11 and 33, they connect these two with Christ. The wisdom and the knowledge of God. We need to seek them and they must be sought only in Christ. See, we seek them only in Christ so that we find all the riches of full assurance. Paul wants us to know where to find what we need and it is only in Christ so that we have assurance. Now, one of the most deadly things that one could possess is a false assurance of salvation when they're not. That's one of those deadly and dangerous things we could ever give somebody. A ticket that they think takes them to heaven, but really it's a false assurance that keeps them from really listening to the gospel. It's a deadly and dangerous situation. But if you look on the flip side of that, one of those heartbreaking realities is that many who are God's children, they don't have assurance. Many who have been claimed and have been purchased by the blood of Christ, they don't actually experience all the riches of full assurance of understanding and knowledge of God's mystery. They lack the riches that can only be found in Christ. They have been the beneficiaries of the greatest gift ever given to the world. And they're not able to enjoy it. They've been given the love of God and can't delight in it. Because they lack assurance. If you're an individual here and you're lacking assurance, let me first encourage you in this. If you look around this room and you see all the Christians, I'm going to bet most of us, and I'm going to go ahead and tell you myself, we have all wrestled with assurance. The exception will be someone who doesn't wrestle with assurance or has never wrestled with assurance. All Christians who have really sought God and have been faced with their sin have wrestled with assurance. Don't think you're the exception because you've wrestled with it. No, the exception will be someone who doesn't ever go through a season of doubt or despair. Let me then tell you the place to find assurance. It's not by soul-searching. It's not by looking in and trying to figure out all the different sins and the different desires and different thoughts you've had. The way to find assurance is to look to Christ. The way to find assurance is to remind yourself over and over and over again who Christ is and what He's done. That is where we only find assurance. And let me give you this charge and this instruction on how to really do that. Do not do it by yourself. We're supposed to be knit together in love. We're supposed to be encouraging one another in the gospel. If you are trying to find assurance on your own, you're going to be left with your own dark thoughts and your own dark desires that your sinful heart is producing. If you're wrestling with assurance, get other believers who are going to encourage you in the gospel. Point you to Christ and remind you over and over and over again what He has done for you. Assurance is only found in what Christ has done in forgiving you of your sins by His death. Church, be armed and ready with the gospel to help those who are wrestling with assurance. We need to make sure they are ready and they know that they will be welcomed with love and care if they start asking questions about assurance. They're not to be ostracized and treated as if they're lesser Christians. No, they're truly wrestling with it. This should encourage us to point them to the gospel. The most remarkable identifier, Mark, of most people throughout Scripture is this. We're all forgetful. We are a forgetful people. This is the problem of Israel over and over and over again. We are forgetful, and when we start forgetting the Gospel, that's when we lose assurance. That's when we get entangled in more sin, and that's when assurance starts getting more and more lost. We need to constantly be reminded of God's goodness and His goodness towards us. as we seek to apply this further. Let me first talk to you, children. Hear the words of Proverbs chapter 2, verses 1 through 8. If you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding, yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom. From His mouth have come knowledge and understanding. He stores up sound wisdom for the upright. He is a shield to those who walk in integrity, guarding the path of justice and watching over the way of the saints." Children, you are setting yourself on a trajectory. You're setting yourself on a path every day. Are you going to let your minds be entangled with the lies of the world? Or are you going to seek God's wisdom, God's knowledge, God's truth, God's love in His Word? Here we see a promise, if you seek it, you will find it. There's all kinds of delusions that are in the world. Constantly trying to get your attention. All you have to do is walk through the mall and you will get the dangers that the author of Proverbs is constantly warning us against. In the windows alone is just nothing but images of greed and lust. Guard yourselves from those false truths. Those false promises that they can fulfill you. And find your only satisfaction in Christ. Trust your parents to guard you. Trust your parents to lead you. Trust your parents for what is wise and what is right. Put on Christ. Learn now to love Him alone, and your life will be happy. Adults. Many of you are saying, oh, that's good for the children to hear. Is it not good for us all to hear? How much do we think we're so mature that we can take in garbage and not let it sink into our hearts? I don't want to go to the mall. I went once since I've been here. I'm not going back. It's full of greed and lust. The images that you see. We must guard what we see, what we hear, because our hearts and our minds are so easily turned to this world. We must guard ourselves. It all comes down to this. Are we going to delight in things of this world or Christ? And then you have to ask this one question. Do you trust God enough in this promise? If you seek Him, you will find Him. Do you trust God when He says, if you seek Me with all your heart, you will find Me? This is one of those basic promises we learn in BBS or Sunday School as a child. I think it's one of those taken-for-granted promises in Scripture. It's one of the greatest, sweetest promises in Scripture. Do we believe it? It's agonizing work. It's labor. It's something we have to fight to seek Christ. Do we believe it will have the payoff? Do we believe that if we put in our hard labor of disciplining our prayer life, disciplining our Scripture memory, disciplining our fasting, disciplining our Scripture reading, that we will see Christ more? If we seek Him, will He reveal Himself? Do we trust that promise? I can already think of another question that comes in our minds here. But my desires are so far away. You have no idea how far it's going to take me. I feel so far away from God already. Start today. Every little effort begins to snowball. If you continue to think you're so far away because of the practices that you've gotten entangled with, you must discipline your desires, again, with the works, with the means at which God has given us. Prayer, fasting, and reading, and the fellowshipping. We're all striving for something in this life. It's either for something in this world, or it's what Christ has purchased for us. I was just with Lindsay Sadler and a bunch of the other Southern Baptist pastors in the area for a forum, and Lindsay reminded me that in 1852, or he informed me, I did not know this, there was a revival that broke out. In other words, 1862. No, I don't want to say that it really matters that it's the 150th anniversary of that revival, but it should remind us that God wants to do a good work. Are we going to seek Him out? Are we going to plead for Him? Are we going to seek Him so that He can be found? And so we pray that He will be found not only all throughout this body, but all through Charlottesville and Virginia. Are we seeking revival? Are we seeking that God would make Himself so manifest that we would be overwhelmed? That we would give up everything for Him? Are we seeking God? Again, I think it comes down to the fact that we're going to trust that if we seek Him with the labor and the intensity that it requires, that He will be found. Our second main section. We are called to be rooted in Christ. We are called to be rooted in Christ. This is from verses 4 through 7. I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ. Therefore, as you receive 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 traditions according to the elemental spirits of the world and not according to Christ He starts this section, I say this, he has said all that he has struggled for. He has said all about Christ. He has exalted Christ, the great creator and the savior. He talked about the purpose for which he has struggled in order to say this, be aware of the plausible arguments that delude you. Be aware of the deception that is in the world. Our first section needs to look at this, verses four and eight, the deception that destroys. Now, the most Dangerous deceptions are those things that are closest to the truth. It's someone who has half the gospel or parts of the gospel. They point you to one specific aspect of Scripture, but they don't take in all of Scripture. We must be armed with the Word of God so that we're aware of the dangers and the deceptions. And he speaks of human traditions. It reminds me of in Matthew 15. Jesus didn't come to abolish the law. He came to abolish the false traditions that have been added to the law. He didn't come to destroy God's Word. He came to fulfill it. To make it more clear. See, we all like to add to God's Word. Because it makes us feel better. We like to add our own desires, our own rules, our own authority to God's Word because then we can say, look what I'm doing. Those people are not doing it. It builds up our self-righteousness. We add to God's Word so that we can feel as if we are more holy. We make our own standards that are convenient for us. Now, this is why our opinions, as we said last week, need to be left at the church door. And what we come to do is worship the one Christ who has given His clear Word. The most dangerous deceptions are those that are closest to the truth. The lies that are close to the gospel, the lies that come from within. One lie we need to be aware of is a lie about sin. Too often we get overwhelmed with our sin and we think that our sin keeps us from God. Even though Christ has died for us, even though Christ has been sent out of the love of the Father, we can be so overwhelmed with our sin when we're lacking assurance, when we're not pursuing God. We can be overwhelmed and think that our sin is keeping us from God. It keeps us from experiencing God. But our sin is not more powerful than God. God can overcome our sin. Another lie that's very prominent is a lie about works. That we need to clean ourselves up. That we need to make ourselves ready for the gospel. That if we could only get rid of these things in our lives, then God could love us. Or that we need to add to what God has already done with good works to keep ourselves in His will. The most dangerous mantra that has defined numerous generations, at least in America, is, God helps those that help themselves. That's a horrible lie. It implies that God needs you to help yourself so that He can help you. No, God helps the helpless. God saves those that are broken in spirit, not those that have actually built up their spirit so they're now lovely. No, God helps the helpless. You see, both of these lies, lies about our sin and how dangerous it is, or how consequential it is, or powerful it is, or lies about our works, are really lies about Jesus. That Jesus is not more powerful than your sin? Or that Jesus needs help with your works? Any lie we believe has something to do with our doubt and our not being firm in Christ. We question His power to overcome sin. We question His love for sinners. We question His ability to keep us. We'll talk more about the deception next week, but here in this passage we actually see a great plan to battle deception. Here I'll be reading verses 5 through 7. For though I'm absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ. 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. The first step in battling deception is to believe in Christ. As you received Him, as you placed your faith in Christ, as you saw your sins, saw your helplessness, saw that He was the only one who could help you, you handed your sin over to Him. We must believe in Christ and have our basic identity defined by who He is, What He has done and who we are in Him. The key phrase we continue to see here, in Christ is found wisdom and knowledge. In Christ our faith is made firm. We walk in Him because we believe in Him. If you want to battle deceptions, if you want to prepare yourself to not be duped by deceptions, hear the words of John Calvin. Those who are not satisfied with Christ are exposed to all fallacies and deceptions. You see, those fallacies, those lies, they become tempting when we have taken our love from being focused on Christ. If we're not seeking to be satisfied in Christ, we're going to seek to be satisfied somewhere else, whether it be entertainment, Pornography, our work, our labor, our service, whatever it is, we're going to try to find satisfaction in something else. The way to battle against that is to find your satisfaction in Christ alone. Next, we see the battle plan is to not only believe in Christ, but to walk in Him. It says, if you receive Christ, you must so walk in Him. What does it mean to walk in Christ? It means to live in Christ. to find Christ as the source of life and therefore the only one who can give life, the one that we give our lives over for. If we believe in Him, we must live in and through Him. And there's really four different ways that he's qualified what it means to walk in Christ, I believe. Two come from verse five. There's order and firmness. To walk in Christ means to have order in our lives. That's the beauty of what we see in all of Genesis. God is a God of order. He's not a God of chaos. That's why Genesis 1 through 3 were written to show that God is not the God of chaos, of the sin of this world. No, God is a God of order that is good and right and purpose. Are our lives ordered? Are they ordered according to God's word? Are they ordered according to what is truly important? Are they ordered so that Christ is always preeminent? The second thing we see here is firmness. And really the best translation here would be, and the firmness caused by faith in Christ. Firmness that's caused by faith in Christ. Paul will talk later about Christians who are being tossed to and from. Young Christians are oftentimes up and down because they have not yet been established. They have not yet found firmness. Are you tossed to and fro? Are you emotionally high and emotionally low? Are you constantly wondering about Christ and who you are and what your purpose is? Have you truly found a firmness by committing your faith, your dependence, and your trust in Christ? As the great hymn says, if we trust Him wholly, we will find Him wholly true. We must persevere and strive in our faith to find it firm. We continue with verse 5. Rooted and built up in Him. Now these two go together. You can see the picture of a tree here in many ways. Because you have to be rooted in order to be built up. Any plant has to have the proper root system, the proper source, so that it can be built up, so that it can grow. The roots are what you don't see, but the roots are the source. The roots are what get the water and the nutrients so that the rest of the tree can grow up, can be built up and bear fruit. We can't see each other's root systems. We can't see how deep we're diving into prayer and deep we're diving into the Word. All we can see is the evidence of the root system. Only you know your root system. Well, you and God. Only we know how shallow we put our roots in, in dependence upon God. Only we know how much we are striving and agonizing after God and to get our nutrients from His Word and His Spirit. I ask you, Christian, how is your root system? If a wind comes, are you going to be blown over? When a great trial comes, are your roots deep enough in the power and the love of God, in the sovereignty and care of God, that you will not be destroyed? So that's really the task of a faithful Christian, that it's built up with a strong root system so that when trials and tribulations come, so when temptations come, we stand firm. Are we blown to and fro by lies, by trials, by temptations, or are we steadfast in the Word because we have developed the root system? The fourth way we are to be established and walk in Him, to walk in Him is to be established in the faith. Here, He's saying the faith. There's personal subject of faith and there's the object of faith. The faith is the things that we believe in. We are to be established in the faith. We are to know the truths of God, know His purposes. He also says to be taught or as you were taught. Now, I talk a lot about preaching the gospel to yourself. That means that you understand the truths of God and you're constantly trying to remind yourself. But there's a very important aspect here that we do need to hear from outside the truths of God. Paul is telling them, remember what I taught you. Remember what you've been taught by the apostles and those have been sent by the apostles. Remember that, and that will establish you in the faith. We not only need to be telling ourselves the truth, we need to be telling each other the truth. Finally, we see that we are to be abounding in thanksgiving. It's the battle plan. Be thankful. Be thankful to God. We will continue to see this as we've already seen it in Colossians. A Christian is thankful. A Christian thanks God for his good gifts. A Christian looks to Christ and he seeks to be thankful. Key mark here, a key question is, what are you thankful for? Or how thankful are you that you are no longer dying and going to hell, but you're dying? When you die, you will be greeted by the Son of God Himself and ushered into the great banquet feast of the Father as a bride of Christ. Are you thankful that your sins are no longer counted against you? Are you thankful that you now have freedom in Christ and life in Christ and you have the great love of God poured out upon you? Friends, are you striving to remind yourselves of the things that we have that we so quickly take for granted? Let us be thankful for what Christ has done for us. Let's go to the Lord and pray. Almighty God, You are good and You have been good to us. We who did not have a place to stand, we who in our own foolishness We're completely chaotic and full of sin and full of deceit and self-deception. You came and You have given us a firm foundation, Your Word proclaimed. You've given us the authority of Jesus Christ to trust and seek after. You've given us Your Spirit to empower and illuminate. You've given us the death and the resurrection of Christ to which we can always look and find assurance and find Your knowledge and Your wisdom. which most of all proclaims your love. Help us, Lord, to walk in Your ways. To not continue in our foolishness that is self-destructive. That ends in destruction. Help us, Lord, to walk just as we have received You. To be rooted and built up in You. To be established by the truths that You have revealed. In your holy name we pray, amen.