Some years ago, an Australian service station attendant reported an amusing incident. A car pulls into the service station, decked out with fat tires, a big chrome muffler and a very loud, grunty engine. It's obvious that the driver is a committed "rev head".

The driver gets out, fuels his car and heads toward the shop to pay. As he walks toward the door he can’t believe his eyes. There is his hero, Peter Brock, famed Australian racing car driver, King of the Mountain, standing right there in front of him. The driver runs over and starts talking to Peter Brock, telling him how much he admires his driving skills and asking for tips. After a moment or two he notices some people laughing at him. That's when he realizes he is speaking to a cardboard cutout.

We need to know if we are talking to the real thing or to something make believe -- something cardboard that someone props up in front of us and then tries to convince us is the real thing. That is our focus today.

In Colossians 2, Paul talks about the marks of Christian maturity. In verses one and two, Paul has talked about our faithfulness and love. Now, in verse three, Paul says that our faithfulness and our love for each other will lead to "full riches of complete understanding -- in order that we may know the mystery of God.” This mystery in Christ, in whom are “hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."

We live in a world where information is readily available. We can learn as much as we want to learn. DSL and Google offer us the world.

However, it is not enough to grow in factual information. We need to know why those facts are important and how they relate to our lives. Notice that it is not just any facts that we should be seeking. Paul says that we should be seeking a deeper knowledge of Christ!

This is the deepest knowledge there is. Jesus unlocks the secret of the divine nature. Jesus provides the key to the riddle of the world. John 1:18 says that Jesus stands as the "explanation" of God the Father. Paul tells us in Colossians 1:15 that Jesus is the image of God Himself.

So what moves us to go deeper? It is need.

Socrates, Plato's mentor, had a student who came to him while he was kneeling by a stream. The student asked Socrates, "What is the truth?" Without hesitation, Socrates grabbed the boy and held him under water until the boy began to struggle. Socrates then pulled him up and answered, "When you want knowledge the way you just wanted air, then you shall have it."

Socrates made the point very effectively. You won’t really go after something that involves real work unless you know you are in trouble if you don’t have it.

Before my Father’s infantry division headed to France in World War II, experienced soldiers from the British army came to their camp to help prepare them for combat. My Dad told me how one instructor on booby traps showed a film of soldiers clearing a village. One of the soldiers entered a house and found a toilet with an overhead tank and a pull chain. He sat to do his business and pulled the chain – only to be killed by the explosion of the booby-trapped toilet. The British instructor was not amused. But the Americans, including my Dad, just howled. It was one of the funniest things they had ever seen. They would not take such warnings seriously until they faced the shock of combat.

What happens to many people is that they make a decision for Christ. They become active and involved in the church. They learn the lingo, they learn how to do some things. They make it to the "mainstream". They now know enough to fit in so they sit down! They are content.

But we all know from watching the Lakers that one of the worst things that can happen to a team is to believe you’ve won the game before you play. When you become content, you lose your "edge". The fire begins to go out. As Christians, that is when we are most primed for defeat. Our opponent has not lost his fire. He is enthusiastic and diligent as ever. To withstand his attacks we must continue to grow in knowledge and understanding.

The Colossians cannot afford to sit on their lead. They had better take Paul’s warnings seriously because they are in combat. They are surrounded by all sorts of persuasive false teachers who are out pedaling poison. So Paul says in verse 4, "I say this in order that no one may delude you with persuasive argument.

The true Church must have the power to resist seductive teaching. People must not be able to beguile us with what Paul calls “enticing words.” “Enticing words” translates the Greek work pithanologia. Pithia is the spirit of deception. This was a word from the law-courts. It was the word used for the persuasive power of a lawyer's arguments, which could enable the criminal to escape his just punishment. There were also Johnny Cochran’s in the 1st Century. Paul says that the true Church should have such a grip of the truth that it is unmoved by seductive arguments.

Now the Colossians are under heavy attack. But they have not given in. In fact, Paul says in verse 5 that he is overjoyed by the reports of "how orderly they are and how firm their faith in Christ is."

Paul is using military language here. "Orderly" is taxis, a military term for an orderly lineup of soldiers. The word firm is stereoo, which means, "to make the line solid." In that time soldiers, with shields held in place and spears positioned, moved in against an enemy's columns with an inverted V-like array. Then the break through the lines enabled them to turn and attack from within the enemy's forces. In this shield wall you need to be able to trust your companions – that they are standing firm and covering your vulnerable side with their shields.

Paul affirms that the Colossians are standing fast and that their steadfastness is an attack on their enemies. Unlike the Galatians who, Paul says, have succumbed to false teaching, the Colossians are doing well. They are orderly and firm and on the attack.

However, military leaders know that even the most effective units are capable of blind panic or mindless, indiscriminate rage. In the words of military historian John Keegan, “Inside every army is a mob that is struggling to get out.” We’ve seen that in the prison in Iraq. That is why discipline is so essential.

Those of you who have served in the military remember the training in close order drill – left face, right face, right wheel. Once close order drill made sense on the battlefield. Weapons were inaccurate and had a slow rate of fire. It was essential to bring soldiers together in close groups to achieve an effective weight of fire. Beginning with the American Civil War, weapons technology began to catch up. Today any type of close order on the battlefield is suicide. The command used to be “close up!” Today it’s “spread out!”

But, strangely enough, armies still practice close order drill. It will never be used in combat. That would be suicide. But it is a way of instilling discipline, and making the individual consciously a part of the group.

Discipline is the thing that allows you to do what you are not able to do in your own natural ability. That is the value of spiritual disciplines like Bible study, journaling and devotions. These are the things that increase our knowledge of the Lord and of ourselves.

Spiritual knowledge comes from spiritual discipline. Discipline is the thing that allows you to do what you are not able to do in your own natural ability.

Let me give you an example of this that was shared some years ago by a man in our congregation. I asked permission to share it today.

Mike Ressler is a Ventura County firefighter who took part in the fight against the Box Canyon fire about ten years ago. You may remember how that fire swept up the canyon and badly burned several firefighters. Mike shared how he was stationed on the back porch of a canyon dwelling on the business end of a hose. His fellow firefighters were on the far side of the home supplying Mike with water. At one point the fire came up and surrounded Mike on three sides. One thing that saved him was his total trust in the unseen men on the other end of the hose. The other thing that saved him was the discipline he had received. It was this discipline that enabled him to stand his ground, fight the fire and live when all of his instincts told him to turn and run.

This is the saving discipline that Paul sees and celebrates in the Colossian believers. They are sensitive to spiritual truth. They are not easily led astray. They are not faddish or trendy.

They are doing well. But Paul cannot take their continuance in faith for granted. For “inside every army is a mob that is struggling to get out.” So, in verses 6 and 7, Paul gives the Colossians and us a powerful summary statement of caution and command for our Christian lives. These are two the first verses I ever memorized.

Some years ago I was in a church staff meeting. We were talking about a certain program and one of the pastors warned us about not trying to milk a dead horse. Think about it.

That’s a mixed metaphor – and a rather disgusting image.

Well Paul mixes his metaphors in verses 6 and 7 but with much better results. He talks about being rooted like a tree, built up like a building and walking in Christ all at the same time. It’s a mixed metaphor – a triple -- but the result is delightful – “Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.”

The word used for rooted is the word used of a tree with its roots deep in the soil. The word used for built is the word used of a house erected on a firm foundation. Just as the great tree is deep-rooted in the soil and draws its nourishment from it, we are to be rooted in ChristJust as the house stands fast because it is built on strong foundations, so our life is meant to resist to any storm because it is founded on the strength of Christ. Jesus is both the source of our Christian life and the foundation of our stability.

Paul also says that the true Church holds fast to the faith it has received. It never forgets the teaching about Christ which it has been taught. This does not mean a frozen orthodoxy in which all adventure of thought is heresy. But it does mean that there are certain beliefs, which remain the foundation and do not change. Paul might travel down new pathways of thought but he always began and ended with the unchanging and unchangeable truth that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Notice the sequence of verse 6-7. First, Paul assumes that we have a relationship with Christ. “Just as you have received Christ Jesus as Lord.” Things must be done in a certain order. You cannot live a mature Christian life until you have first come to Christ as the only one who can cleanse you from sin and give you life.

But, once you have received Christ as Savior, you must follow Him as Lord. It's a "package deal". Paul says we received Christ as Lord and now we should show Him to be Lord in our living. This means that we live by His example and follow His commands. The true test of the genuineness of a person's confession of faith is the life they live.

I'm not saying we are to be perfect. That's the standard and the goal but it is not something that we will actually achieve until we get to Heaven. But, we must be working toward that goal. We should not say we follow Christ with our mouth, but deny Him in our living. It's not enough to know about Christ. We must apply what we know to how we live.

Paul says there are two results from being "rooted and built up". The first is that you will be "strengthened in the faith". When we being to walk with Jesus in our daily living we become increasingly sure of the truths we have committed our life to. As we become acquainted with Jesus and "test Him" in our daily living, we become personally aware of His great faithfulness. This strengthens our faith.

The second result of this consistent walk with Christ is an overwhelming sense of gratitude. As you mature in the faith something surprising happens. You become even more grateful than you were at first.

First, you see how awesome and great God is. You begin to understand His holiness, His power, His Purity. You understand that He needs nothing to be complete. Then, you realize how deeply sin has infected our lives.

When we come to Christ we have little idea how pervasive sin is in our hearts and lives. As we grow we see the stain of sin everywhere. When you put these two together – God’s holiness and our imperfection -- you realize what an undeserved grace we have received. You can't help but ask, "Why me, Lord?" The result is that the mature Christian does not become rigid, arrogant or snooty. The mature believer becomes softer, more humble and much more grateful.

Those of you who have read C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia remember the beautiful scene in Prince Caspian where young Lucy finds Aslan, the great Lion who is the image of Jesus in the Chronicles. She has not seen Him for a long time and the reunion is joyful. Lewis writes of Lucy and her beloved Lion:

“The great beast rolled over on his side so that Lucy fell, half sitting and half lying between its paws. The beast leaned forward to touch her nose with his tongue. His warm breath came all around her. She gazed into his wise, large face.”

“Aslan,” said Lucy, “you are bigger.”

“That is because you are older, little one,” said he.

“Not because you are?”

“I am not. But every year you get older, you will find me bigger.”

I love that. Lewis is telling us that every year we grow in Jesus we will find Jesus to be both bigger and totally adequate to meet our deepest intellectual, spiritual and emotional needs. “Therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.