Do you fear giving up the Gospel because of hostile opposition to it and to believers?
We are living in times of increasing opposition to the Gospel: verbal opposition, economic opposition, workplace opposition, legal opposition, etc.
Many have given up part of the faith, especially in the area of sexual ethics. Some have given up all of the faith and abandoned the Gospel altogether. Some of them have been well known Christian leaders.
How can I expect to stand in the face of opposition, if they can’t?
This fear of falling has some significant effects upon us:
- It displaces Christ, resulting in man-centeredness. We have our eyes on people who threaten us rather than on Christ’s protection of us.
- It demoralizes us, resulting in sin. We give up doctrinal and moral beliefs resulting in immoral behavior.
- It destabilizes us, resulting in inconsistency. We are all over the place as we respond to attacks from all directions.
This fear of falling and its consequences can be removed and replaced with a confident expectation of perseverance which has some wonderful happy consequences.
How can we persevere when we are so weak and the opposition so strong? Paul gives us three truths.
For more, see my sermon notes from my third sermon in the Colossians series entitled Complete in Christ (download pdf here). Scroll down a bit further and you’ll find a one-page sermon summary infographic. Index to other Colossians sermons here.
