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Tearing It Up: Living Free
March 18, 2025 · 41 min
John Mark emphasizes the importance of making genuine spiritual progress through a relationship with Christ, contrasting it with the concept of progressive Christianity.
Series "Men's Breakfast" with John Mark Caton March 18, 2025 · 41 min · "Men's Breakfast" with John Mark Caton
John Mark emphasizes the importance of making genuine spiritual progress through a relationship with Christ, contrasting it with the concept of progressive Christianity. ...more Show the full description Show less John Mark emphasizes the importance of making genuine spiritual progress through a relationship with Christ, contrasting it with the concept of progressive Christianity.
Series "Men's Breakfast" with John Mark Caton Support this leader Liking this video? Support this ministry.
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John Mark is the Senior Pastor of the thriving Cottonwood Creek Church in Allen, Texas, where he has served since 1995.
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Understanding Spiritual Progress 0:02 Welcome to Men's Breakfast with John Mark Keaton. Join us as John Mark shares his insights with other men in his ministry rooted in the timeless truths of the gospel. Today's message will encourage you to0:14 inspire, inform, and invest in the lives of others. This is men's breakfast with your host, John Mark Caton.0:23 Welcome back to, our series entitled Tearing It Up. And if you are new here or new listening online, that idea of tearing it up comes from Paul's words in Colossians0:34 chapter 2, verse 14. But let's start reading in verse 13, just to remind ourselves what it means to tear it up. It says, When you were dead in your trespasses and sin and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God0:46 made you alive together with Christ. He forgave us all of our sins. And here's the idea, having canceled or torn up the charge of our legal indebtedness,0:58 the charge of our sinfulness that literally God tore up the charges against us when Jesus hung on the cross. And so he says, having canceled the charge or torn up the charge of our legal1:10 indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us, He has taken it away. What an amazing thought that he has taken away all of our charges. He's torn up our charges. How did he do1:22 it? Paul says by nailing it to the cross. Now if you're here last week, we talked,1:27 about the idea of 5 marks of an1:27 effective men, of an effective man, of an effective man in ministry. And we said he's gotta be willing to suffer. He's gotta be a servant, not a king. We said he's gotta understand1:39 the big picture of what God is doing. He's gotta speak the truth, but always speak the truth in love. And then we also said, he's gotta put in the effort, man. There's gotta be some sweat equity, if we're gonna be who1:50 God wants us to be. And so now we're in, chapter 2 of Colossians chapter, 2 verse 6, and we wanna talk about making spiritual progress. But then also,2:02 I'm going to, let you know that that word progress is being misused today. We hear a lot about what is progressive Christianity. What does2:13 that mean? That Christianity spiritual progress is all through God's word. In fact,2:25 I'm gonna show it to you here in a few seconds in Colossians chapter 2 verse 6 and 7, but that is different than progressive Christianity. As individuals, as believers, we make2:37 spiritual progress. Let me show it to you from Paul in Colossians chapter 2 verse 6. He says, so then, just as you have received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him. What is he2:49 saying? Make progress. And how do you do that? By being rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. Now the word3:01 progress simply means a movement toward a goal or to a further or higher stage or standard. So the idea of progress means I am moving towards something. What is the3:13 goal? That I would become more and more like Christ, that I would become more and more godly in my life, that, I would sin less and I would do righteousness more. And so progress matter of fact, let's just3:25 walk through Paul's words here. He says, man, my progress as a Christian, spiritually, my spiritual progress begins at my salvation. He said in verse 6, just as you have received3:36 Christ Jesus as Lord. That's where it starts. And maybe that's where you need to ask yourself the question in this moment now. Have I ever trusted Jesus Christ as savior and Lord? Have I ever received3:49 Jesus Christ as savior and Lord? That's your spiritual birth, so my progress begins at birth. But then notice the second thing that Paul says, progress continues throughout my life. He says your walk. He says4:01 live your lives in him. So my progress starts at my birth. As I grow, I wanna learn more and more to live my life in Christ Jesus and like Christ Jesus. And he says, how do you do that? He4:13 kinda gives some agricultural terminology. He says, listen. Your progress has roots, and it starts with your roots. He says, being rooted and built up. Then what do roots do for a tree or for a plant or for4:24 a flower? They what? They, first of all, they allow the plant to have water. They bring up nutrients. But then also when the wind blows, what do those roots do? They4:36 hold firm. They keep the tree up. They keep the flower up. They keep the shrub up. So, man, we need deep roots in our lives. So when the storms come that, and the winds4:48 blow in our life, that we will be able to stand in difficult times. Beyond that, notice what he says. Not only is there an agricultural term, being having roots deeply planted, but he also says5:00 there's an architectural idea, to our spiritual progress. It's to go up. It says you would be built up in him. So I dig deep roots. I developed deep roots to allow me to5:12 have the nutrients from God's word and God's people and also be able to stand the test of time. But I also wanna grow up in such a way that my walk and my life allows me,5:24 to stand head and shoulders above where I used to be when I was an infant as a child, in Christ. And a matter of fact, Paul, talking to the Corinthian believers, he said, listen. I5:36 wish I could speak to you as mature people, mature men, but you're not. He says, you're still babes in Christ, but you shouldn't be babes in Christ. What is he saying? Yes. You just received Jesus Christ as savior and5:47 lord, but you stopped your progress right there. You didn't develop deep roots and you didn't grow tall. You didn't have the agriculture it takes by reading God's word, studying God's word, and being with God's people to5:59 develop the nutrients to grow stronger. And not only that, you didn't grow taller. You weren't built up. So I have to speak to you as though you're still a child, although you should be grown up by now. And so don't ever6:11 let that be said of us that, man, I should be further along in my faith. Well, let's just step back. The reality of it is we all should say that. I can tell you as your pastor for all of these years, I'll look I'll look6:23 at my life and think, man, I should be further along than this. I should be, more spiritual than I am. But there is a reality. We go through those seasons, and plateaus in our6:34 spiritual progress and our spiritual growth. And then what we wanna do is shake out of that by developing deeper roots and growing taller in Christ. But he says it doesn't stop there. There's also a physiological element6:46 to it that we wanna get stronger and stronger. If you look at verse 7, he says, you wanna be strengthened in your faith. Man, guys, we wanna do everything we can. Just like if you're gonna get stronger at the gym or6:58 healthier at the gym, you gotta show up at the gym over and over again. You don't get stronger in the gym just by thinking about going to the gym. Instead, we get stronger in the gym by going to the7:09 gym, by showing up in the gym, by pushing the weight, by getting on the treadmill, or whatever it is. That's how we grow physically. And Paul is saying that's exactly how you grow physiologically7:21 and spiritually as well. That how do you grow? Man, you strengthen your faith. You show up, you do the work, you serve. You, as we looked at last week, put in the energy, put in the effort, trust7:33 God. But then he says, there's also an educational element to our spiritual progress. He says, as you were taught, strengthened in your faith as you were taught. Guys, we consistently7:46 need to sit at the feet of spiritual leaders who don't just teach their own thought or just their positive thoughts, but they teach God's word. And so we learn more and more of the doctrines of the faith and the7:57 practical elements of the faith and how we should live our lives, how we should walk, how we should talk, how we should live, how we do any of that. And then he says, here's 1 of the marks or the key characteristics8:09 of a life that has made spiritual progress. Look towards the end of verse 7. He says, you will overflow with thankfulness. And so just ask yourself the question. When you look at your spiritual8:21 life, is there a birth that ever happened? Did you were you saved? Was there a salvation? Then was that salvation followed by growth? What was that growth? Well, it started with, your8:33 walk. It has an agricultural element. I am growing deep roots. It has an architectural element to my spiritual progress. I am built up. There's a physiological element to it. I am8:45 strengthened in my faith. There's an educational element to my spiritual progress that I am taught God's word consistently whether it's podcast and personal Sunday morning, Tuesday morning,8:57 Wednesday night, whenever it is. And then the result will always be that I overflow in thankfulness. And then as you just continue to move forward in Paul's idea that as we make9:09 spiritual progress, we won't be duped by the deceptions of the day. Notice what Paul said in Colossians two:eight. He says, See to it that no 1 takes you captive9:21 through hollow or deceptive philosophy which depends on human traditions and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ. What is9:33 Paul saying? He's saying in his day in the first century, there are always those who were trying to dupe believers. They were trying to trick believers. They were trying to move in and deceive believers. Satan always9:44 wants to do that. He wanted to do it in the first century. Guess what? He wants to do it in this century. And so Paul was telling the Colossian believers, man, don't be drawn away with, deceptive9:56 philosophy, or vain philosophy or empty philosophy, which depends on some sort of human tradition or human teaching. But instead, focus on Christ. And what was the main10:08 1 of the main early, false philosophies, that took place, in Colossae? It was the idea idea that Jesus was just a special person or he was a10:20 higher angel. He wasn't fully God. That's why we will look when we look at Colossians chapter 2 verse 9, Paul says, for in Christ, all the fullness of deity lives10:32 in bodily form. In Christ, all the fullness of deity lives in bodily form. And in Christ, you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every10:44 power and authority. Now so Paul is addressing 1 of the vain philosophies or false teaching of the Colossians day. What was that? That Jesus wasn't fully God and fully man.10:56 You say, what does that mean? Well, if you go back to the Greek philosophy, in Greek philosophy, they were pretty much dualist. They believe there was spirit and there was matter. That's pretty much what they believe.11:07 That there was a God somehow, some way up there, the spiritual force, the spiritual power that was powerful enough to create the world. However, they also believe that this11:19 God, this spirit, the Greek philosophers, was so pure. He was like pure light. He was holy. John uses the word the logos, the spirituals the spiritual11:31 wisdom of the world in eternity. But they believed that God was all spirit. Why was that? Because they attributed holiness and purity to the absolute God. But then they turned11:43 around and looked at matter. They looked at people. They looked at this world, and they said, wait. If that God created, that pure, holy, righteous God created matter, you and me, us11:54 in this world, and they looked at this world and they saw sin. They saw immorality. They saw brokenness. They said, how in the world can that holy God create an imperfect world?12:07 Well, the Bible sums it up this way, that God created this world and you and me with the ability to sin. Why? Because He didn't wanna simply create robots. So what did He do? He12:19 created you and me with the ability to say no to sin or yes to sin. Well, we all know what happened. Adam and Eve started it. They said yes to Satan and yes to sin. They were deceived. Their spiritual12:30 progress was stunning. So now, we look at a world where people all around us are choosing sin over righteousness, choosing unholiness over holiness,12:42 choosing immorality over morality. And that's the problem. And so here's what happens. The Greek philosophers said, how could this perfect righteous holy God create a broken world with12:54 broken people? The Bible says, sin, free will, and the choice of men. However, the Greek philosophers didn't go with that. They said, well, there had to have been a13:05 season some time ago where this great pure holy God, let's just put him on a, on a continuum. This 100 percent God created some lesser God that was only13:17 99 percent God, then created a lesser God, a lesser God. So then you get this God that's 50 50, and then you get this God way down at the bottom that maybe is only 5 percent of the13:29 God. And that broken portion of god, that smaller god, that, god that has a less percentage of pure purity, that was probably the god13:41 that created the earth. That's why it was it's filled with the morality and mistakes and sin and brokenness. So they they did not attribute the earth to the holy and righteous full God. They attributed13:54 it to some other smaller God. Interestingly enough, these Greek philosophers would put angels somewhere in the continuum, you know, maybe in the 50 50 spot. They're not they're not us,14:06 but they're better than us, but they're not as good as God. And so here's the key. Those philosophers came into the church and started dealing with Jesus. And they said, well, where do we put Jesus on that14:18 continuum? Do we say that Jesus was 50 50? Is he halfway up the continuum? And Paul stops down and says, no. Jesus is fully God14:29 and fully man. He literally blew them away. He took all of their teaching of these, this pure God was who was hundred percent God all the way down this continuum to some14:41 Godhead that's more powerful than humanity, maybe 1 or 2 percent God. That's the God that created the earth. They said, well, gee where do we put Jesus? Some of them put angels lower and higher than Jesus.14:53 And so Paul just shows up and says, listen, we can do away with that whole system. Jesus was fully God, fully man. Jesus was the second person of the Trinity. So now,15:05 that's what Paul said in the first century. That still applies today. Now, let me tell you as I started, today to talk about something calledShow more In this video 0:00 Understanding Spiritual Progress15:11 The Challenge of Progressive Christianity
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