Colossians: Rooted

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Talk intro:

We’re continuing our journey through the book of Colossians today.

As a quick reminder in the first half of the book of Colossians Paul is explaining to these new Gentile believers more fully who Jesus is and the last ½ of the letter is focused on what it means in the life of the church.

Last week we looked at Colossians 2:1-3 and we saw that in Jesus we have all of the wisdom and knowledge of God in us. What that means is that we have constant access to the wisdom and knowledge of God and we can know God and His ways in every circumstance.

Today we’re going to continue with that idea as we look at….

Turn to Colossians 2:4-7 Let’s read

So right off the bat we need to see what Paul wants them, and us, to know. When we have Christ in us we have all of the wisdom and knowledge of God so that we won’t be deceived.

Think about that for a minute. Now if it were me I’d probably say something like “Hey if you’re not sure about something come and check with me.” But Paul says, in essence “Hey if you’re not sure about something look to Jesus. I’m here to help but you really have who you need living inside of you.”

That’s the basic idea behind verse 5. Paul has confidence in them because of who they have in them, even though he’s not there himself. I’m reminded over and over of how much confidence Paul had in the gospel of Jesus and its ability to preserve God’s people in Christ.

Pastors are notorious for thinking that their people have to have them in order to survive spiritually, but Paul makes it clear that pastors and leaders are here to help but as longs as people have Jesus in them they’ll be alright.

Paul knows that they are in Christ and that Christ is in them because of two things he mentions in vs. 5. He rejoices because he sees their ‘good order’ which means that they maintain proper order in their lives and their gatherings and he sees that their faith is ‘steadfast’ or firm and solid. In other words they’re not easily deceived. Deception is avoided by tapping into the treasures of the wisdom and knowledge of God. When you do that you don’t have to go chasing the latest fad doctrine or “move of God” because God is living inside of you in Christ and you have everything you need in Him.

That’s leads us to vs. 6-7 where Paul reemphasizes the practical reality of Christ in us. When we receive Jesus our responsibility is to walk in Him. When we receive Him that means we not only accept Him, but we also join with Him. We can accept people but we’re not always quick to join with them

When we’re on the bus and someone wants to sit down by us we’ll accept them, but that’s not the same as joining with them. When it comes to Jesus we’re not just talking about a mental agreement where we’re good with the idea of Jesus only to go living they way we want too. It’s deeper than that. To receive Jesus means that we join ourselves to Him.

Now when we do that it changes the way we live. The word ‘walk’ means to make progress or to take a walk from one place to another, but it also refers to the way we ‘order’ our life. When I receive Jesus fully it will change the way I live. My priorities will change, my direction will change and even my reason for living will change.

That’s because, as Paul goes on to say, we’re rooted and built up in Christ. Here’s the thing to remember, a tree can’t grow any higher than what the root structure can support and nourish it. Paul makes sure to tell us that we have to be rooted in Christ. Being rooted in anything but Christ will limit how much we can grow spiritually.

Paul doesn’t say be rooted in personalities, doctrines or philosophies. Those things can be important and helpful, but they don’t replace Jesus. Paul wants us to know that if we lock in on anything but Jesus we will end up less fulfilled and more stunted than we could be.

But in Christ we are built up and established in our faith, and we can abound in thanksgiving. That’s not talking about eating a lot of turkey and stuffing. The word translated ‘built up’ literally means to finish the structure of which the foundation has already been laid.

In Christ we have a firm foundation and we are complete. We have everything we need in order to live an abundant and thankful life. This past Wednesday we looked at this idea in comparison to marriage. In Ephesians Paul wrote that marriage was a symbol of Christ and the Church, and like a marriage when we find our spouse our search is over, we are completed and we don’t have to look anymore. There’s security and blessing in that, but in a way we begin a new search to learn more of them, to begin the process of ordering our life around our love.

Our life is complete in Jesus and our journey begins anew. When we are in Christ, we are complete and secure and then we can explore the depths of our relationship with Him and begin to discover more of Him as we search to know His heart and ways.

Jesus invites us all to come and join with Him in a sweet communion that will draw us deeper into the riches of His grace and love. Because when we have Jesus we have everything we need.