Rooted and Built Up in Christ – Colossians

Brandon Werner   -   June 28, 2026

Rooted & Built Up in Christ

Sermon Manuscript  |  Together Church  |  Pastor Brandon Werner

June 24, 2026  |  Series: Colossians

INTRODUCTION

It’s great to be back. Thank you for allowing our family to get away and spend that time together.

That message from Pastor Jerry on Father’s Day was incredible! And it created a great opportunity for discussion with me and my kids.

It’s been two weeks since we were in Colossians.

Pastor Stephen did an incredible job closing out Colossians 1 with that message on the new humanity laboring to present everyone fully mature in Christ.

As we pick up with Colossians 2, there’s something important we need to remember…

That big “2” in your Bible wasn’t part of Paul’s original letter. It was added later as a reference point to help Christians navigate the Bible.

Those reference points are helpful – as long as we don’t allow them to unintentionally interrupt the flow of thought.

We need to remember that Paul’s already been talking about his suffering and struggles for their sake. 

Colossians 1:24-25

24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, 25 of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known

Paul continued by telling them his purpose for this struggle…

Colossians 1:28-29

28 Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. 29 For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.

That’s how Colossians 1 concludes. 

And that’s where Paul picks up in Colossians 2.

BODY

We’ve heard the whole chapter, so let’s read the first four verses again.

These four verses serve as a connector of thought between what Paul has already said and where he is going.

Colossians 2:1-4

1 For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, 2 that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 4 I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments.

That’s the text that sets up the main idea. Let’s exposit.

First, Paul calls his struggle “great”. 

And his struggle isn’t only for Colossae. Paul broadens the scope.

He is also struggling greatly for Laodicea.

Laodicea was a nearby city – only nine miles from Colossae. There was a close relationship shared between the churches in these two cities.

So, he’s struggling for Colossae, he’s struggling for Laodicea, but he doesn’t stop there. His GREAT struggle is not just for these two cities, but it’s for EVERY disciple who he has never seen face to face.

That’s a reminder that Paul is writing to churches he had never visited personally. But even though he had never been there, this apostle is still carrying a heavy burden for the church…

• He’s concerned about their spiritual maturity
  • Presenting everyone fully mature in Christ.
• He’s concerned about their spiritual wellbeing.
  • That no one would delude them with plausible arguments.
• And he’s especially concerned for their faith and that they would not be led astray from their walk with Christ.
  • That they would be rooted and built up in the faith.

As an apostle called by God to lead the church, Paul understood that a primary feature of his calling was to defend the faith of the church against false teachings.

And his determination in that calling was also the source of his conflict and GREAT struggle for the church.

When a leader in the church speaks out against the culture to hold the line of God’s Word, it always comes with a cost.

While he was alive, Paul was constantly being slandered, attacked, assaulted, and persecuted by opponents as he contended for the faith.

And even since his death (postmortem), how many times have Paul’s writings in the scripture come under attack throughout world history? How many times has Paul’s reputation suffered because of those who hated him for his bold witness to the truth? How many times has Paul been slandered for defending the faith?

Millions and millions of times.

You will suffer and your reputation will suffer when you stand for what is true… especially if you lead others.

That’s been true in my life. As the lead pastor of our church, I can relate to Paul and his great struggle as he stood for truth.

Now, not to the same level.

It would be crazy for me to claim that I can relate to the full extent of Paul’s sufferings.

I haven’t even suffered to the point of bloodshed. He was physically assaulted multiple times for his witness. Paul lost friends to death because they stood for the truth. Eventually, he was killed – beheaded – for his witness for Christ.

I can’t relate to any of those at this point in my life.

But Paul was slandered by his own people for his witness. I can relate. He had great anxiety for the church; specifically, that they would not be led astray by false teachers. I can relate to that, too.

Paul’s willingness to suffer for the church is an inspiration to me. I admire him so much and want to be like him.

And while I may not know the full level of his struggle, I can certainly relate. I’ll say it again…

Any leader in the church who stands up to defend the faith of the church will inevitably come under attack.

So why do it?

Paul did it because he believed the reward outweighed the cost.

Jesus is passionate about His Church. He wants His bride to be in a constant state of readiness for His return.

God has tasked elders with the responsibility of following the examples of the apostles and defending in the faith of the church.

And the best thing that can happen in our church is for every member to stand firm in God’s truth, stand firm in the apostles’ doctrine, and stand firm with their elders as they lead them to be rooted and built up in Christ.

So in this passage, Paul is encouraging the church to stay the course with him… And he’s warning the church not to mix in the philosophies of the world or human ideologies with the ways of Christ!

Instead, they are to be knit together in love.

To knit is to bind something together so it becomes inseparable.

To be knit together is to become inseparable. It involves the combining of multiple single threads to make one thing that cannot be divided.

Love and truth knit us together.

And Paul’s struggle is an example of love that fights for truth.

I always admire those people most who don’t just talk about theology, but whose lives demonstrate their faith and provide an example worth following.

That’s Paul.

And that’s why his next words carry so much weight for me…

Paul wants them to be knit together in love and to reach ALL the riches of the FULL assurance of UNDERSTANDING and the KNOWLEDGE God’s mystery, which is Christ… in whom are hidden ALL the treasures of WISDOM and KNOWLEDGE.

Supremacy and sufficiency. Christ alone is enough.

Paul is reaffirming this equation…

JESUS + NOTHING = EVERYTHING

There is no room for the believer to add other traditions, other ideas, other thoughts, or other arguments to the Christian faith.

In Christ are hidden ALL the treasures of WISDOM and KNOWLEDGE. He is enough.  

And so, Paul says…

Colossians 2:4

4 I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments.

And that phrase becomes the launching pad for the rest of the chapter.

I’m not going to reread that chapter… you’ve already heard it. Let me just summarize it with this main idea, and then we’ll grab some examples from it. 

Main Idea:

Watch out, new humanity! Don’t be deluded by plausible arguments. Rather, be rooted and built up in the knowledge and wisdom of Christ.

Paul is struggling for the faith of these believers and the faith of the church. His struggle is great, and he struggles willingly. But he doesn’t want his struggle to be fruitless.

Right? Makes sense. He suffers with hope… that the fruit of Christ will be produced through their lives.

So, in this section of his letter, he pleads with the church…

• Don’t be deluded.

To be deluded means to be deceived by false reasoning. It is a deviation from the truth.

It’s amazing how far off course a pilot will find themselves if they are off by even just a few degrees. Planes have literally run out of fuel and crashed because of a slight deviation.

Paul knew that tolerating a little error may not seem like much in the moment, but the long-term effects would be devastating.

That’s why he didn’t just say “don’t be deluded” – he said…

• Don’t be deluded by plausible arguments.

A careful reader quickly realizes that phrase stands out.

We know the danger of lies and how deception can take hold of a person’s life and hold them captive to the schemes of Satan.

But here, Paul uses the phrase “plausible arguments” to describe the ideas or rhetoric that make us delusional about the truth.

That phrase comes from the Greek word here is pithanologia. This is the only place this word is used in the New Testament.

It is a compound word… two words mashed together.

• Pithanos – persuasive, convincing, plausible
• Logia – speech, discourse, argument

So, this word means…

• A persuasive speech
• A convincing rhetoric
• Plausible reasoning

Does your social media have any of this stuff on it?

So this is not just a warning about any kind of deception… it’s a warning about deception that may sound right to our ears but are not rooted in the fullness of the knowledge and wisdom of Christ.

We know this because Paul expounds on this idea in Colossians 2.

He uses several synonyms for this idea to clarify. He continues in verse 8, warning the church not to be taken captive by…

• Philosophy
• Empty deceit
• Human tradition
• Elemental spirits of the world
• And not according to CHRIST

These are all synonyms for “plausible arguments”… and Paul warns they can take our minds captive. 

What are some examples of these “plausible arguments” that can delude the faith of a believer and even take them captive when they are embraced by disciples of Jesus?

In this passage, Paul identifies several examples relevant to the church in Colossae. Specifically, Paul identifies plausible arguments from the Judaizers harassing the church.

Right here, it might be helpful to recall something we learned on week one of this book study.

We learned that Paul was aware of two major threats to the faith of this church…

1. Polytheism
2. Judaizers

Polytheism is the belief that there are multiple gods. This threat was always present because Colossae was a Roman city with a Hellenistic culture. 

One way Paul combats this throughout his letter to the Colossians is by speaking boldly about the deity, supremacy, and sufficiency of Christ. Phrases like “Jesus is the very image of the invisible God” and “in Him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.”

Those phrases directly deal with polytheistic delusions.   

But when scholars reverse engineer Colossians 2, they conclude that the primary threat to this church wasn’t Roman ideologies of polytheism… it was the Judaizers with their Jewish regulations.

Apparently, these Judaizers were a real threat to this church. 

A Judaizer is someone who insists that it is CHRIST + the LAW OF MOSES (or Jewish laws) = ENOUGH.

Paul recognized that “plausible argument” was a significant threat, and his writing in Colossians 2 confronts that false teaching head on.

In this passage alone, Paul gives several examples of false teachings from the Judaizers that threaten to delude and hold captive believers in Colossae. He mentions…

• Circumcision (v.11)
• Jewish food and drink laws and traditions (v.16)
• Jewish festivals (v.16)
• Jewish new moon laws and traditions (v.16)
• Jewish sabbath practices (v.16)
• Jewish regulations (vv.20-22)
  • Do not handle
  • Do not taste
  • Do not touch

He says these arguments all have “indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.”

***Oh, and by the way, don’t miss Pastor Chad telling us next week what God has really done to give us power over the flesh.

Wow! Paul blasts the persuasive ideas of those Judaizers. No wonder Paul’s greatest opposition in his missionary efforts were Jews! They were the ones primarily responsible for his great struggles and sufferings for Christ!

It was all because Paul refused to back down… he held the line and contended for the faith of the church.

CHRIST + NOTHING = EVERYTHING

I want you to imagine this with me for a moment…

You’re a Roman citizen and a new believer in Colossae. Through the witness of a member of the church, God changes your life…

• You realize there is only one true God, and you repent of your polytheistic faith
• You see that you have sinned against God and that your sin has separated you from God
• You believe there is nothing you can do, no work you can perform, to make yourself right with God
• You believe that Jesus is God and that in Him the fullness of God dwells bodily
• You confess your sins and turn to Jesus for the forgiveness of sins
• You receive the Holy Spirit and are born again as a new creation in Christ
• And you begin to be discipled in the church and begin to be rooted and built up in the ways of Christ

Then, one day, you encounter a Judaizer. They tell you that Jesus alone isn’t enough. They open scriptures to the Old Testament (where the Jewish laws are found) and through “plausible arguments” begin to convince you that you must also perform the right works to be made right with God… that the work of Jesus isn’t enough.

If you started entertaining those thoughts, imagine the setback to your growing faith! Imagine how the enemy could use that to create division in the church. 

Paul wrote this section of his letter because He didn’t want the church to be led astray by human reasoning. Instead, this was his burden and his struggle for Jesus’ Church…

Colossians 2:6-7

6 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

The word “received” in this verse is not the most common Greek word for received (like receiving a gift). This word specifically implies the receiving of a tradition.

When we think about a tradition, we think about a holiday tradition or a family tradition. That’s not the tradition we are talking about.

Here, we’re talking about a tradition as a way of life. A tradition or set of beliefs and values that governs the way a person lives. 

Let me use some examples the Bible uses…

• Military
• Professional athlete
• Farmer

To live these lifestyles, you must embrace the tradition – the code of conduct, the way of life – that makes these lifestyles possible.

Go back to the text…

Paul says we have received a way of life – a tradition – and that way of life is Jesus Christ. And just as we have received the life of Jesus, we are to WALK IN HIM.

Rooted and built up in Jesus and established in the faith.

To be rooted is to go deep, and to be built up is to continually grow.

We become rooted in Christ when we reject the world’s “plausible arguments” and embrace the knowledge and wisdom of Christ.

And we are built up as we continue to apply those truths to the way we live and our everyday walk with Christ.

CONCLUSION

This entire section of Paul’s letter is one consistent flow of thought. Here’s the main idea…

Paul is warning the church not to be deluded by plausible arguments, but to rather be rooted and built up in the knowledge and wisdom of Christ.

When it comes to the opportunity for God’s people to be deluded by plausible arguments, the threat to our church is FAR GREATER than the threat the Colossae church was experiencing.

Does that surprise you?

In that culture, you had to encounter a real-life Judaizer to hear these arguments and have the opportunity to be led astray.

Today, I’m burdened for you because every time you turn on the news, every time you get online, every time you read a book, every time you listen to a podcast, every time you put on some music… ALL THE TIME you are constantly being exposed to subtle deceptions that our enemy wants to use to take you captive.

I’m not as concerned about the obvious deceptions.

Every time I go by those buildings identifying as churches downtown or in other areas of our city that display the pride flag and promote sexual sin in their leadership and membership, I am really saddened. They believed plausible arguments that made them delusional and led them to embrace practices that are contrary to Christ.

That issue is a major threat to our culture as a whole, but I don’t think it is a major threat to you, Together Church.

I’m concerned about other plausible arguments…

• Arguments that pull you back into legalism instead of resting in what Jesus has already accomplished.
• Arguments that cause you to depend on your own strength and power to defeat sin instead of depending on the gospel and God’s power in you through Christ.
• Arguments that make you think you are not good enough or capable of fulfilling God’s calling on your life to be discipled so you can go make disciples of Jesus.
• Arguments that trick our men into believing God has not really appointed them to be the spiritual leaders of their homes so they don’t take that responsibility seriously.
• Arguments that trick our women into thinking their role is lesser in some way rather than marveling at God’s incredible design and fully embracing what He has called you to do for your family and in His Church.
• Arguments that cause parents to prioritize other activities and opportunities over the discipleship of their children.
• Arguments that lead you to be discontent with what you have and to envy or covet what others have.
• Arguments that cause you to see work as a curse rather than a blessing from the Lord.
• Arguments that cause you to excuse and dismiss ongoing sin in your life rather than bringing it into the open and confessing it to God and others.
• Arguments that convince you to look to other solutions besides Jesus, His Church, and His mission to make disciples as the best response to the sin and brokenness in our world.
• Arguments that make you see yourself and others from a human perspective rather than through a spiritual lens.
• Arguments that convince you to stop pursuing an intimate relationship with Jesus and prioritizing what He wants you to prioritize in your life.

I’m not as concerned about arguments that are not as reasonable or convincing to you. Like Paul, I’m concerned about the stuff that sounds pretty good that you may allow in your mind that is contrary to the wisdom and knowledge of Christ.

I don’t want to just warn you, I want to equip you.

What is your part in guarding against arguments that sound right so they don’t take you captive?

The answer is discipleship.

We work and toil to present everyone fully mature in Christ.

You need a discipleship relationship with Jesus and with His people to continue to test every line of reasoning and to learn how to subject your own ideas to the wisdom and knowledge of Jesus.

• That looks like spending time daily in God’s Word and listening to God’s voice.
• That looks like joining a small group where you can regularly engage in discussion around God’s Word with other believers.
• That looks like finding a discipleship relationship where someone else is helping you grow in your understanding or where you are helping someone else grow.
• That looks like prioritizing the preaching of God’s Word and following the example and teachings of the elders God has appointed to lead in our church.

You need to be equipped to recognize and dismiss plausible sounding arguments that are contrary to Christ. Doing that means quieting other voices and making space to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit through His Word and His Church.

Here’s an example…

I was sitting in the circle with the men I meet with for discipleship on Wednesday night. We mentioned a pretty hot topic issue. One of the men said, “I’m glad you brought that up. I have a lot of thoughts and feelings about that, but I need to have a conversation about that with you so I can have a better biblical understanding.”

That’s what you need.

You need quiet places with Jesus and with His people to silence the noise of human arguments so you can be rooted and built up in the wisdom and knowledge of Christ.

INVITATION

Let’s close in prayer…

• Holy Spirit, is there a way I am compromising Your truth to get what I want or because of how I feel?

• Jesus, how do you want me to be rooted and built up in the faith through discipleship right now?

• Let’s pray out loud: pray that our faith would be rooted in the wisdom and knowledge of Jesus and that we would grow in love.