Growing In Christ
Colossians 2:6-7
6 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, 7 rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
(Colossians 2:6-7 NIV)
Can you remember when you were a child? Can you remember back when you were 8, 9 or 10 years old? I remember that during that time of life I was looking to do basically one thing –– to grow up. I remember anticipating the future. I didn’t know how good I had it as a ten year old. Most ten year olds don’t know how good they have it. We always think the stage of life we are in is tough, until we get into the next stage. But I didn’t appreciate where I was in life. I was always looking for my next major birthday! I wanted to be 13, then 16, then 18, then 21, and then 25. Each date marked a milestone of maturity. Now I wish I could go back to 25!
When we think humorously about those times trying to grow up, we realize that one thing we took for granted was that we were going to grow up. We never thought we would not grow up, because growth is natural, isn’t it? If you eat, exercise, and stay healthy, then you will continue to grow. You’re destined to mature. And whenever you see someone who doesn’t grow, who’s growth is stunted some disease, you feel bad for them because it’s not the way things ought to be.
Now your life in Christ is very similar to that. You see, being born again is just the beginning of a new life in Christ. Now don’t get me wrong, being born again is probably the greatest gift God has ever given you. But is God not working today? Being born again is wonderful but it is only the beginning of a walk with God in which we should be maturing more and more and more. In other words, it’s a journey. And if you’ve know the Lord for twenty years, ten years, five years, even one year, you should be further along in your journey. You should be more mature than you were when you first came to know Christ. You should be growing. You’re not sinless but you should sin less. You try to grow in your professional life and in your personal life. Well you should certainly be trying to grow in your spiritual life.
Now here’s an important question: Are you further along in your walk with Christ today than you were when you first came to know Christ? Are you further along in your walk today than you were last year? Are you further along in your walk today than you were last month? Now occasionally we will have setbacks, but over the course of time our walk with God ought to be getting better, growing stronger.
Now Paul gives us, in our text today, some instruction on ways we need to grow in Christ if we want to continue to walk in Him. Look at what he says in verse 6:
So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him… (Colossians 2:6 NIV)
How did you receive Christ as Lord? Well, you received Christ as Lord when you heard the message of truth and believed it by faith. So you received Christ, not because of anything you did, but because you believed the message of the Gospel, that Jesus Christ had done everything you needed for your salvation. He died on the Cross and paid the penalty for your sin. Because he purchased your salvation by paying for your sins, now he offers that as a gift to you to be received by faith. So when Paul talks about continuing to live, or walk, in the same way we received Christ, he’s talking about a walk of faith. He’s talking about a walk in which we are constantly depending upon Christ, living by faith. It is in this context that Paul gives us four areas of growth as we follow Christ.
Grow Deep
Continuing to walk in Christ means that we must grow deep. The word Paul uses at the beginning of verse 7 is "rooted." The image here is of a tree. When we look at a tree, most of us only see what is above ground. You might stand amazed at how big an oak tree has grown. You may travel to where the great redwood trees live and marvel at the height and size of those massive monuments to God’s creativity. But underneath all that is above ground is a massive root system underground. That is the reason those massive trees are able to stand and continue to live. The root system provides support and nourishment to the tree. And what he is saying here is that our relationship in Christ must be rooted. In other words, we need to put down roots. We need to grow deep in our relationship with Jesus Christ. But how do we do that? How do you deepen your relationship with Christ? How do you put down those roots so that you’re nourished in Christ? Well, let me take you to a wonderful Psalm.
1 Blessed is the man
who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
or stand in the way of sinners
or sit in the seat of mockers.
2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers.
(Psalm 1:1-3 NIV)
Here is a person whose focus is not on sin and wrong attitudes. His focus is on the word of God. And in the word he lives, he meditates, he reads, he studies. He lets that become a part of the fabric of his being. The result is that whatever he does prospers.
Wow! What is he talking about? He’s talking about a tree by a river. The roots are not only down deep in the soil but also probably extend out into the very river itself so that it always has nourishment, water. Though there may be a drought in the other area of the land, it always prospers. As long as the river is not dried up, this tree will always have sustenance and it will produce fruit. And if you’re like that, you will produce fruit. Whatever you do will prosper because you are rooted in God. So as Christians we need to deepen our relationship with God by putting down roots, so that we can receive from Christ what we need.
There is nothing more important along these lines than your own personal relationship with God. The way that you will grow deep in your walk with God is through time spent with Jesus. The only way you grow deep in your relationship with another human being is by spending time with that person. You don’t grow deep in your relationship with your spouse by studying about them. If you’re really going to have a relationship with that person, you’ve got to get to know them. And that takes time together. The same principle applies to our spiritual walk. We need to spend time with Christ. Spend time reading His word. Spend time in prayer. Spend time meditating on His word. You’re getting to know Christ. You must pursue Him. You must seek Him.
Grow Up
Secondly, continuing to walk in Christ means that we must grow up. Paul goes on to say in verse 7, "built up in Him." The image here is that of a building. We must grow up by building on the foundation, which is Jesus Christ. Look at an interesting passage in 1 Corinthians 3:10-15 (NIV) that speaks to building on the foundation.
By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.
Here he talks about two different kinds of building materials that we can use to build. He says one group of materials burns up; of course that’s the wood, hay and straw. When you put those into the fire, what happens to them? They’re incinerated! Another group of materials are basically purified by fire. The precious metals, for instance, come through the fire better than they were before they went in.
Now what is he talking about here? He means there are two kinds of work that we can engage in as Christians building on the foundation. One is the work that we decide to do on our timetable and on our terms, where we offer God the leftovers, what we can spare and what is convenient, and think he ought to thank us for it. That’s the wood, hay and straw. It’s work that he has neither authorized or desires. The other kind of work, the work that will remain, the kind of work that will receive a reward, is the work that we engage in out of obedience to Christ. It is the work that we do because we are being led by Christ and are walking in obedience. They really are two distinct ways of approaching our service to God.
We see the former all the time in the church, where people decide on their terms how they’re going to serve the Lord. But God never called us to do that. Jesus said, "Come, follow me." That means that we must, like Peter, leave our nets and our boats and follow Christ on his terms, otherwise, it doesn't mean anything to call him Lord. It’s a contradiction of terms to call him Lord and not obey him. Can Christ be your Savior without being your Lord? Perhaps you’ve never really surrendered your life if he’s not your Lord.
If we want to build ourselves up in the faith, if we want to build something that lasts eternally, it’s got to be built of those things that are authorized and led by Jesus Christ. They will be acts of obedience on his terms. As we build in obedience by faith then we will be built up as well. Then the building that God is trying to build will rise and we will grow tall in God as we build by faith doing His will.
Grow Strong
If we’re going to walk with God, we’ve got to grow strong as well. Look at what he goes on to say in verse 7: "strengthened in the faith as you were taught." Strengthened could also be translated as "established" in the faith. Paul is talking about growing strong in "the faith" as you were taught. He’s talking about what we believe, not "that we believe" but "what we believe". He’s talking about knowing what we believe.
There is always a danger of false teaching. There was in that day and there still is today. So it’s vital for everyone who knows Jesus Christ to also know what they believe about him. You need to know what the Bible teaches about the Christian faith. Gnosticism was the prevalent doctrinal aberration in Paul’s day. Today it’s New Age teaching. It’s everywhere. It’s the popular spirituality of the day. But what it does is remove Christ and substitute concepts like "inner energy" or "the divine within" or some other mystical sounding concept. I was watching some of this stuff on PBS the other day in which the speaker was redefining the term "grace" from the song "Amazing Grace" by John Newton. What Newton called grace he called "inner energy." But he presented it as if they were one and the same. I don’t think Newton would have agreed at all. The speaker said Newton was a slave trader turned abolitionist because of this experience of "inner energy." He conveniently left out the story of Newton’s conversion to Christianity. Newton would not have called it anything other than he did –– Amazing Grace!! It was the grace of God that saved him from his wretched life of sin, not "inner energy." But there was a crowd of people taking this stuff in. Don’t be one of them. Know what you believe. Study the Word.
Grow Out
Let me end with this. We also must grow out. What I mean by growing out is what Paul refers to in the last phrase of our text. He says that we should be "overflowing with thankfulness." You see what is on the inside of you will eventually come out, and it should come out. That’s who you are. If you truly are a believer in Christ and know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, then your life has been changed by the power of God and you just can’t keep your mouth shut. It’s going to spill out. Jesus talked about those who receive Him as receiving rivers of living water that will well up and flow out of us. If you know Christ, it should show.
Christ makes a difference is your life and that difference ought to be able to be seen by other people. If you’re a Christian, and you have worked side by side with someone for ten years, and they don’t know that you’re a Christian, you need to check yourself out. There’s no secret agent stuff in Christianity. There’s no such thing as being a Christian incognito. If you’re a Christian, you want people to know! Not because you’re better than they are. Not because we’ve arrived at anything. It’s because we’ve found something and we want to share that with everybody.
We live in the midst of a cynical, selfish, dissatisfied, society. People are miserable, and they show it. Some people are even proud of it. But if you’re a Christian, one of the characteristics of your life ought to be that your heart is overflowing with thankfulness. When people come in contact with you, instead of seeing someone complaining, moaning and groaning, they should see someone who says, "I just want to thank God for all of His blessings in my life. He has blessed me beyond anything I deserve. He has blessed me so much and in so many areas, and the more I serve him the more I see how good he is." When people see people who are thankful, they wonder what it is about that person that makes them that way. It’s Christ! If we know Jesus Christ we have so much to be grateful for.
How can you say thanks enough when you realize all that God has done for you? How many different ways can you thank him? That’s what I mean by growing out. It is reaching out, touching others by your life.
So I go back to my initial question. Are you growing? Are you growing in your walk with God? There’s no reason why you shouldn’t be. That is Christ’s desire. If you’re not, it’s because you’ve chosen not to do the very basic and fundamental things that will enable you to grow. I encourage you to make those things a regular part of your life so that you can grow and experience more and more and more of Jesus.
God desires that we grow deep, that we put down roots in Christ, drawing upon his life in us. God desires that we grow up, being built up by building on the foundation of Christ in unconditional obedience. God desires that we grow strong in the faith by studying his Word and coming to know why and what we believe. And finally, God desires that we grow out by reaching out with a thankful heart to share the good news with people everywhere.
Copyright © 2002 J. David Hoke.
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