Jesus Is Your Answer

It’s considered cliché these days to say Jesus is the answer. People upon hearing the phrase will typically react with an eye-roll, or say “Yeah, I know, but…” – as if to admit that they do not really believe that He is the answer at all. Believers continue to search for new truths, new ideas, new philosophies and theologies every day because they are still searching for answers. They are searching for something more, as if Jesus was not enough, and in the eyes of many, He secretly isn’t enough.

Now it’s okay to admit feeling that way. It’s okay to admit thinking that… because the honest admission that sometimes we feel or think that Jesus isn’t enough is a starting-point upon which to build the true Gospel foundation of Jesus Christ. I’ve watched many professing believers over the years, who were too afraid to make that admission, live their entire lives searching for answers, going from this thing to that thing, attending every conference they come across, reading every book, laboring in all kinds of works – so busy, yet still not finding their answer, because in all of their busy-ness, they have missed Jesus… never even truly realizing that He is the One and Only Answer that they need. Today, we will be taking a look at how Jesus is our true answer, and saying that will no longer be an empty cliché.

Let’s start today with Colossians 2:6:

“As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk you in him:”

I want us to stop here for a moment because this verse sets the stage for everything that is to follow… Notice that it says As you have received Christ Jesus the Lord. This is important, because as you have received, that is how you are to walk; that is how you are to believe.

Now how exactly did you receive Jesus? We all receive Jesus by faith. (Galatians 3:24-26) And this same faith is exactly how you walk as well. There are so many people who miss this essential truth. Look at verse 7:

“Rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.”

Rooted and built-up in Him, and established in the faith. Think about the words being used here, very similar language to John 15, where Jesus says that He is the Vine and we are the branches. We are told here to be rooted in Him, meaning that as a branch, our root is Jesus Christ. All of the nutrients, all of the life-giving energizing things that we need are drawn from Him, received from Him; He is the source of it all, and we are rooted in Him as such.

We are also told to be built-up in Him. Some people don’t like this because they feel that we as Christians should never be built-up – they think being built-up is synonymous with pride; the opposite of humility, however we read here that we are quite plainly told to be built-up in Christ. It is in Christ that we are to be built-up… not in ourselves, not in our works or our service, and not in religious knowledge either, but it is in Christ and Him alone.

Notice also that we are also to be established in the faith. Again this is all centered around Christ and specifically what He has done for us through His finished work and who we are in Him, as we studied previously. The reality is that many people never stop seeing themselves as “dirty rotten sinners” – they never acknowledge the reality that they are in-fact New Creations in Christ Jesus. Many people still see themselves as clean when they are doing good (performing well) and then unclean when they mess up. They see themselves as holy one moment and unholy the next moment, and that is not the truth of scripture. The reality of what Jesus has done is that in Christ, you have every reason to be abounding with thanksgiving as the rest of verse 6 says. Hebrews 10:10 states that we are sanctified (that is made holy) once and for all by Christ Jesus. Our performance really has nothing to do with our position in Him, because it is His Spirit of Holiness that makes us holy, not ourselves.

Verse 8 of Colossians 2 is very vital for everyone who is in Christ, and it is the main point of our study today:

“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.”

Now that word “spoil” is a very interesting one. συλαγωγέω (sulagōgeō) in Greek, it means to lead someone away from the truth, and carry their goods and treasures away. Basically to rob someone of their things. In the context of what we have been reading, the focus here is the truth of Christ and notice this verse says very clearly what will lead us away and rob us of things: philosophy, vain deceit, the traditions of men and the rudiments of the world.

Our English word, philosophy, is based on the Greek philosophia, which itself is a compound of phileo (love) and sophia (wisdom) meaning “the love of wisdom” however this wisdom mentioned in this verse is not the proper wisdom of God mentioned throughout the Bible… this is the kind of wisdom that spoils – this is sophistry that so many people get caught up into. As was mentioned at the start of this study, I have seen many people so preoccupied with attending Christian Conferences, reading Christian books, commentaries, and engaging in so many acts of service that they have completely missed Jesus. They have sacrificed a genuine intimate relationship with Him on the altar of their own intellect and works – and that leads to vain deceit… empty, worthless knowledge that may impress their friends and people around them, but ultimately does not prosper, and actually serves to spoil them, as this verse says.

Next on the list of things here are the traditions of men and oh boy; there are many of them! There are a great number of man-made and very worldly religious traditions in Christianity today… many of which Jesus never taught, let alone enforced, even under the Old Covenant of the Law! We have books today such as “Twenty reasons why people don’t get healed”, “Thirty things you must do to be blessed”, “Ten steps to pray properly” and all of these things place artificial roadblocks and barriers between you and God that Jesus actually paid a high price to free you from. God tore the veil and we are busy placing new ones up!

The rudiments of the world has two main meanings… First, the word “rudiments” means the origin of something, in this case the world, and many people have entertained doubt regarding Jesus because of the debate surrounding the origins of the world. Many young people are taught evolution in school as a fact and have been driven away from the life-giving truth of Christ as a result of it.

However this word rudiments also means the “base elements” or basic workings… and so it can also imply the system of the world… and many people are still stuck in the system of the world and the way that things “appear to work”, such as regular sicknesses, pains, depression. We have been trained and taught by the lie of the world, by the natural ways instead of the ways of Christ. But as we look to Him and His finished work, then we begin to see that there is a better way than this, which brings us to our next item:

Whatever is not after Christ. In other words, whatever is not following or moving towards Christ. This is a big one for a lot of people, and it is very subtle because there are many things in the world that will pull us away from the truth of Jesus and who we are in Him – and many times we do not even realize or notice it when it happens. We are in some ways “conditioned” to think after the manner and ideas of the world instead of after Christ. We often accept weakness and sickness and poverty as “facts of life” when God calls Himself our Strength (Psalms 28:7), Healer (Exodus 15:26) and Provider (Psalm 145:14, 15, 19).

Jesus is our answer to the suffering in the world, but the reality is that most of the time we do not look to Him. We don’t actually believe that He is enough, and we start looking to other wisdom, other sources, other strength, other provision to fulfill what we think is lacking in Christ. I know that some people think that this kind of belief is radical, however it’s actually biblical! Take a look at verses 9 and 10 of Colossians 2:

“For in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.

And you are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:”

Verse 9 is speaking of Jesus. It tells us with absolute certainty that in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. What this means is that In Christ, all of the complete power, presence, authority and glory – the very fullness of God lives and operates in Him. There is nothing that He cannot do, no command that He cannot give, no place that He cannot see, no thing that He cannot know, and He is altogether beautiful and glorified. Thankfully the only limits on Him are the ones which He has placed on Himself… namely that He cannot lie (Numbers 23:19) and He doesn’t remember your sin (Hebrews 8:12). That is Perfect love revealed by the way, so do not despise it. (1^st Corinthians 13:4-5) A perfect God, with perfect power and perfect love, revealed perfectly in Jesus. Let your mind meditate on that for a moment.

Now look at verse 10. The scriptures make a seamless transition from speaking about Jesus containing the fullness of the Godhead bodily (Father, Son and Holy Spirit), to speaking about how we are complete in Him because we are one with Him (John 17), and then goes right on to say that He is the head of all principality and power.

So if He is the one claiming that we are complete in Him, then we are without a doubt complete in Him. Take this truth for all that it is worth. This scripture here is just as much the inspired God-breathed Word of God as every other part of the Bible. If this scripture says that you are complete in Christ Jesus, then you are complete in Christ Jesus and there is no need to go looking around and chasing after other things to make you complete.

Whatever problem you may be facing today, I say this without any hint of irony – Jesus is your solution. Jesus is your answer. You don’t need to go looking for other wisdom. You don’t need to go looking for other ideas, philosophies, or hidden secrets or codes or anything else. We haven’t been seeing Jesus as the answer because for many of us we haven’t even been giving Jesus an honest look. We haven’t been receiving the truth of what He has done for us and who we are in Him. Once we wake-up and realize our power, position and authority in Christ – the very position which He suffered and died to give us – then we will start doing the miraculous works which He said that we would do, and we will stand against the enemy and all evil forces and not be afraid any longer.

This is the truth of the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus Christ. He is your answer. Jesus is the only answer, the universal answer to every problem.