Settle Down
Colossians 1:23 If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;
Intro: Being a grounded and settled Christian is God’s desire for every believer.
DEFINITION OF SETTLED: sitting, sedentary; firm, immovable, steadfast
So many Christians today are unsettled.
A person that is unsettled is an immature believer.
Multiple passages of Scripture address this issue.
- Ephesians 4:14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
- Hebrews 13:9 Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines.
- James 1:6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
In several places, this tendency is a characteristic of an apostate.
- 2 Peter 2:17 These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever.
- Jude 1:12 These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;
Our text is A Prayer, A Plea, A Possibility, A Prescription
I. Our Reconciliation – The Requirement to Settle Down
A. Reconciled to Christ – vs. 19-21
B. Receive Christ – 2:6
C. Risen with Christ – 3:1
Many people can’t settle down because they are simply not saved.
They are miserable; they are searching; they are unhappy.
They have not experienced the joy and contentment of knowing Christ.
If you’ve never been saved, you will never know peace and satisfaction in Jesus.
II. Our Continuation – The Request to Settle Down
- Colossians 1:23 “If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away…”
I want to ask so many people that move away from the hope of the gospel, – Where are you going?
The Apostle Paul testified:
- Acts 20:24 But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.
He was referring to being bound and imprisoned.
- Acts 20:23 “…that bonds and afflictions abide me”
John 6
- 67 Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?
- 68 Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.
- 69 And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.
Rooted in Christ – 2:7
Things with roots don’t move away.
Trees don’t move.
- Psalms 1:3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
God wants the believer to settle down and be unmoveable.
- 1 Corinthians 15:58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.
- 2:6 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him.
We received Him by faith – believing the Word of God.
We should walk the same way – by faith, believing the Word of God.
We received Christ as being the One the Bible says He is.
We walk by also believing the Bible.
We can’t SETTLE DOWN if we are listening to man!
- Colossians 2:4 And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words.
- Colossians 2:8 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.
- Colossians 2:18 Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,
In order to continue; to be grounded and settled, we must listen, heed and follow the Word that has been taught.
The emphasis is placed on continuing IN THE TRUTH; THE WORD; THE SCRIPTURE that you have heard.
- 1 Timothy 4:16 Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.
- 1 John 2:24 Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father.
III. Our Presentation – The Results of our Settling Down
- Colossians 1:22 In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:
- Holy
- Unblameable
- Unreproveable
Conclusion: 1 Peter 5:10 But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.