Mark Your Words (8 of 8)
Series: Masquerade
Joey Rodgers
Colossians 4:2-6
masquerade - to operate under false pretense or character; to disguise oneself or to present a façade. To pretend to be someone or something you are not.
Several weeks ago we embarked on a journey through the book of Colossians seeking to unmask the reality and influence of cultural Christianity. Throughout our journey, Paul has taught us how to distinguish the difference b/w the cultural and the committed. Yet like frogs in a kettle, it would seem that the church has been slowly losing her Gospel focus as society continues to pressure the church into a politically correct, ''co-exist'' submission. If there's any threat to our faith today, it might be how the influence of culture has infiltrated the church leading believers away from the Gospel into a self-satisfying religious plurality of comfort and convenience.
Colossae was a situation quite similar to ours today. As we slide deeper into a post-Christian society, we're discovering many of the same challenges this pre-Christian society faced. The church in Colossae was under the constant assault of a religious syncretism of Greek and Roman idolatry, oriental mysticism, and Jewish ceremonialism - and the pressure to conform was immense as persecution for non-conformist was tremendous.
Yet Paul calls the church to a purity of focus and to remain steadfast in the Gospel of Jesus. He challenges them to never confuse their goodness for God's presence, to not lose sight of the truth and sacrifice of Christ, and to not be pulled to some earthly, manmade religious extreme of legalism, asceticism, or mysticism. Then, after laying a doctrinal foundation, Paul directs their attention to what such faith looks like when put into practice in the three most challenging arenas - at home, at work and in our words.
2Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. 3Pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so w ...
Series: Masquerade
Joey Rodgers
Colossians 4:2-6
masquerade - to operate under false pretense or character; to disguise oneself or to present a façade. To pretend to be someone or something you are not.
Several weeks ago we embarked on a journey through the book of Colossians seeking to unmask the reality and influence of cultural Christianity. Throughout our journey, Paul has taught us how to distinguish the difference b/w the cultural and the committed. Yet like frogs in a kettle, it would seem that the church has been slowly losing her Gospel focus as society continues to pressure the church into a politically correct, ''co-exist'' submission. If there's any threat to our faith today, it might be how the influence of culture has infiltrated the church leading believers away from the Gospel into a self-satisfying religious plurality of comfort and convenience.
Colossae was a situation quite similar to ours today. As we slide deeper into a post-Christian society, we're discovering many of the same challenges this pre-Christian society faced. The church in Colossae was under the constant assault of a religious syncretism of Greek and Roman idolatry, oriental mysticism, and Jewish ceremonialism - and the pressure to conform was immense as persecution for non-conformist was tremendous.
Yet Paul calls the church to a purity of focus and to remain steadfast in the Gospel of Jesus. He challenges them to never confuse their goodness for God's presence, to not lose sight of the truth and sacrifice of Christ, and to not be pulled to some earthly, manmade religious extreme of legalism, asceticism, or mysticism. Then, after laying a doctrinal foundation, Paul directs their attention to what such faith looks like when put into practice in the three most challenging arenas - at home, at work and in our words.
2Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. 3Pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so w ...
There are 12271 characters in the full content. This excerpt only shows a 2000 character sample of the full content.
Price: $5.99 or 1 credit
