Please turn with me in your Bibles to:

Colossians 2:6 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk ye in Him

I hate most commercials I see on television. There’s an Aldi’s© commercial that is nauseatingly stupid, and a Smuckers© commercial that should be called schmuck. I like a few of the Progressive© commercials, and the GEICO© commercials, because they are usually humorous. Several years ago a commercial for a SAMSUNG© phone came on that was just beautiful! Listen to these words:

“Nobody ever set their sights on second place. Who aspires to be almost remembered? There’s a reason there are no giant foam fingers that say “We’re number 3″. No one wants to tell an average joke, make an underwhelming entrance, go out with a whimper. No one ever stood in front of a mirror with a hairbrush pretending to be the tambourine player. And there are definitely more kids dressed as Batman, than Robin. We all aspire.”

I’m not sure we all aspire. It’s a good thought, I just don’t see it. I’ve eaten at restaurants where the waitresses are excellent, and where the waitresses don’t care. I’ve eaten food that was prepared with pride, and at places where the food was mediocre at best. I’ve worked – both in the Air Force and in civilian life – with people who sought excellence … but I’ve also worked with lazy people who had no concern over what they were doing. I tell you, if everyone DID aspire, our world would be a greater place!

The Apostle today encourages us to aspire to be like Jesus Christ – that is, IF you are a Saved Son of God.

We Must Receive Jesus As The Only Regent

Colossians 2:6 … As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord

What does it mean to “ received Christ Jesus the Lord”? The word “receive” is the Greek word παραλαμβάνω paralambanō which literally means “to draw to oneself in an embrace. To take to oneself. To make a part of your life”. God the Father sent God the Son into the world to save Israel first. Jesus Christ is the Creator God. John tells us:

John 1:10-14 {Jesus} was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. 11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not. 12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: 13 which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. 14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

This is not to say that every Jew rejected Christ. There were many who believed in Him, and received Him as He is, both Lord and Savior. There are many Jews today that know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and are a part of His ever growing Kingdom. But Israel as a nation rejected the Messiah Who came for them. The Bible tells us that through the Apostle Paul:

Romans 11:25-28 For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. 26 And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: 27 for this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. 28 As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes.

The nation Israel rejected Jesus Christ as Messiah, for their leaders (the Chief Priests, Jews, and Sadducees and Scribes) rejected Jesus. The Apostle calls this “a mystery”. God allowed Israel to reject Christ so that the Lord could save more than just Israel.

Through Christ God desired to save the WORLD. Though fully God Himself, and Co-Creator of all things, Jesus is God the Father’s Regent.

Jesus as a Child told His earthly parents:

Luke 2:49 {Do you not know} that I must be about my Father’s business?

And Jesus told His disciples:

John 14:9 … he that hath seen Me hath seen the Father …

In His First Coming Jesus Christ represented the Father and His Will on the earth. Though Jesus is co-equal to both Father and Spirit (He said “I and My Father are One”), He came REPRESENTING the will of God the Father. In His Second Coming Jesus as REGENT will destroy the enemy of God’s Kingdom, and set up a Millennial Kingdom on this earth. The Psalmist foresaw this:

Psalm 2:2-9 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying, 3 Let us break their bands asunder,and cast away their cords from us. 4 He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh:the Lord shall have them in derision. 5 Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. 6 Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.7 I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee. 8 Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. 9 Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron;thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.

Israel as a nation rejected Jesus as Regent in His First Coming. God used this rejection to reach out and save the Gentiles. God wants to save “whosoever will”.

We are told in Colossians 1:15-17 {Jesus} is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: 16 for by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: 17 and he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

Though REGENT, Jesus is NOT a lesser God. Jesus is, according to Scripture, the Historic Creator of all that we see. Jesus is also the Operational Creator Who holds all things together. That is the sense of the text “by him all things consist (συνιστάω synistáō, [pronounced soon-is-tah’-o] are held or put together)”. The Apostle said in another place:

1 Corinthians 8:6 but to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.

Darwinian Evolution claims that humanity came to be by chance. The Bible says “God … through {Jesus} also made the worlds” (Hebrews 1:1-2). Man was created by the Compound Unity we call the “Trinity”. “God said, Let US make man in OUR image, according to OUR likeness” (Genesis 1:26-27). Neither humanity nor the natural world are accidents. All that is, was created by the I AM that is Christ Jesus our Lord!

Knowing that Jesus is Creator, and receiving Him as such, drives fear from my heart. When Adam disobeyed the Creator in the Garden of Eden, he brought …

Death
Fear
Human Righteousness
& Slavery to sin

I believe it was God the Son Who told Adam,

Genesis 2:16-17 … Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

Spiritual Death came on all humanity when Adam disobeyed God. His seed from that moment on would produce bent twigs rather than righteous plants. Sin has a side effect of “self righteous, human good works”. We are told:

Genesis 3:7 … the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.

Covering their sin with their human works, Adam was fear filled. When Jesus came into the Garden, He cried out to Adam, “Where are you”? Adam replied:

Genesis 3:10 … I heard Thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid…

Fear causes us to run from rather than to the Lord. Fear causes us to play “let’s make a deal” with God. “God, IF You will do THIS, THEN I will do THAT”. We cannot work our way out of sin by our works – God proved this in the Garden when He killed animals to make coverings for Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:21), just before casting them out of Paradise. Sin enslaves us to false works that will never save us. Jesus as Regent came to save us from Death, Fear, Human Righteousness, and Slavery to sin. Praise God for His Regent!

We Must Receive Jesus As REDEEMER

Colossians 2:6 … As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord…

The first Adam brought ..

Death
Fear
Human Righteousness
& Slavery to sin

into the world. The second Adam, Jesus Christ, redeemed us from these four horrible things. The Apostle says in:

1 Corinthians 15:45-49 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam {Jesus} was made a quickening spirit. 46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. 47 The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. 48 As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. 49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.

It is our father Adam who gave us our brokenness, our sinfulness, our mortality. But it is the second Adam, Jesus Christ our Lord, Who gave us Himself, so that we might be redeemed to God. Jesus Christ died for your sin and mine. Jesus Christ rose again, and is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords to his people. The Scripture repeatedly tells us that Jesus Christ is ALONE the Redeemer.

Ephesians 1:6-7 {God Himself} hath made us accepted in the beloved {Son}. 7 in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;

Romans 3:24 … being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:

As God made the world through Christ Jesus, He now makes His Kingdom through Christ Jesus.

It is not by our own works that we can be saved, else we would be able to boast about our inheritance of Heaven. The Apostle says:

Romans 3:27-30 Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. 28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. 29 Is he the God of the Jews only? is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also: 30 seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith.

How is one saved?
It is by falling in love with Jesus.
It is by receiving Him into your life,
clinging to Him as your Preserver from hell.

The Apostle John, the lover of Christ, said simply:

1 John 5:11-12 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.

You have either received Jesus Christ, or have not. If you have not, then you have not Heaven.

We Must Receive Jesus As RECONCILER

Look at Colossians 1:20-22 … and, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. 21 And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled 22 in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:

The Biblical Doctrine of Reconciliation teaches that, though God created all humanity through Christ Jesus, God is ONLY the Father of those who have received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Jesus told the Pharisees who thought they were God’s children:

“If God were your Father you would love Me … you are of your father the devil”
(John 8:42-44).

Every person who has ever been born and ever will be born belong to God. God said, “all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine” (Ezekiel 18:4). From the perspective of creation, everyone belongs to God. But not everyone belongs in God’s Kingdom.

You must be “born again of the Spirit” (John 3:3, 7)
You must be “born again … by the Word of God” (1 Peter 1:23)

The unsaved person who is not “born of the Spirit” (John3:6-7) hears the Word and Will of God, but is “an enemy in their mind by wicked works”. They ignore what God said about the forbidden fruit. They unconcernedly do evil. They violate God’s Laws without concern. The lost violate God’s Commandments without thought.

We Must Receive Jesus as The RULER Of His Church

Colossians 1:18-19 And {Jesus} is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. 19 For it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell;

Jesus Christ is the Head of His Church. When He gave what we call “The Great Commission” to the Apostles, Jesus ordered them (and us) …

Matthew 28:19-20 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you …

The Church in America today has done exactly what the Apostle Paul warned against. The Church largely has drifted from the Word of God, the Bible, into human tradition and myths. In Colossians 2:8-9 the Apostle wrote:

BEWARE lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. {9} For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily

Word Study In Jesus and His teachings is “all the fullness”. Through Jesus we have all we need to be in a right relationship with God the Father. The Bible uses the word “fullness” (Greek πλήρωμα plḗrōma, [pronounced play’-ro-mah]) seventeen times. The word refers to “complete purpose”. To live a God pleasing life, you must receive Christ as Lord and Savior. To excel in the Kingdom of God, you must follow the directives of the King. Jesus Christ is King of Kings and Lord of Lords to His people.

The local Church becomes spoiled or taken captive by the world when it departs from the Word of God.

We can only achieve the high ground, being like Jesus Christ, when we obey the Scripture that Jesus so loved. The power of the Church is to stay firmly in step with Christ. The Bible says:

1 John 2:15-17 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. {16} For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. {17} And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.

As God planted the Church through His Apostles the devil continually sought to pervert it. When Paul and Silas went into the Synagogue at Berea, the Bible says:

Acts 17:11-12 These {Bereans} were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. 12 Therefore many of them believed; also of honorable women which were Greeks, and of men, not a few.

When God’s Word is adhered to, the Church grows, and souls are saved. When the Church departs from the commandments of Christ, the light of God dims and goes out. We must follow the King of Kings and the Scripture He so cherished.

Conclusion

Colossians 2:6 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk ye in Him

The Christian way of life is described in the Bible as “a walk”. If you have received Jesus Christ as Regent, Redeemer, Reconciler, and Ruler of His Church, then your life should reflect these truths. Our beliefs should reflect our walk. As Regent, we believe that Jesus is the manifest member of the Godhead. As Redeemer, we know that only the Blood of Jesus Christ makes payment for our sins. As Reconciler we know that we have direct access to God every minute of every day. And as Ruler, we know that we are not called to be lawless. We are called to follow the God Who saved us. As Christians:

We walk in the LIGHT, not in DARKNESS
Ephesians 5:8; 1 John 1:6-7

We walk as NEW CREATURES, not LOST CREATURES
Romans 6:4; Colossians 2:6

We walk in GOOD WORKS
Ephesians 2:10

We walk in WISDOM and TRUTH
Colossians 4:5; 2 John 4; 3 John 3-4

We walk in LOVE toward God and others
Ephesians 5:2; 2 John 6

We walk REJECTING SIN and EMBRACING CHRIST
Romans 6:1-6

We walk in DIGNITY as sons of God
John 1:12

Don’t waste your lives. Receive Christ Jesus the Lord, and walk in Him. May God touch your hearts with His Spirit and His Word. Amen and Amen.