As You Have received Christ - So Walk

Good Sunday morning to you!

Col 2:6-8 “Therefore as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, 7 having been firmly rooted and being built up in Him, and having been established in your faith—just as you were instructed—and abounding with thanksgiving. 8 See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, and not according to Christ.”

Let’s look first at verse 6:

Col 2:6 “Therefore as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,”

How did you receive Jesus?

Your receiving of Jesus involved a multitude of factors:

Consider just a few

Through someone sharing with you.

Most, maybe not all, but MOST of us received Jesus as Savior and Lord because someone shared with us.

That person shared their testimony.

They shared the Word of God AFTER it had spent time praying over it.

They took to heart what the Apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:

That [they] were compelled [animated, motivated] by the love of Jesus in THEIR hearts: 2 Corinthians 5:14–15 (NKJV) For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; 15 and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.

That they, who used to be lost and condemned to hell, were NOW representatives, ambassadors of Christ to a lost generation:

2 Corinthians 5:20 (NKJV) Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.

Love

Romans 5:8 (LSB) But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Humility

1 Peter 5:5 (LSB) … all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE.

Grace

Ephesians 2:8–9 (LSB) For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not of works, so that no one may boast.

Faith

Romans 10:8–10 (LSB) … “THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, IN YOUR MOUTH AND IN YOUR HEART”—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, 9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes, leading to righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, leading to salvation.

Faith and putting you mouth where your faith is.

The drawing of the Holy Spirit

1 Corinthians 12:3 (LSB) … no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.

Says: Col 2:8 “See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, and not according to Christ.”

We came to salvation NOT through philosophy and empty deception,

NOT “according to the traditions of men,”

NOT “according to the elementary principles of the world...”

We come to Jesus one way — through the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit working in our life.

We sincerely and wholeheartedly call Jesus Lord in NO other way.

Surrender

It’s not just mouthing the Words of Jesus’ pattern of prayer in Matthew 6:10 (LSB) ‘Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.

But it is completely abandoning our kingdom and our will for His and His alone.

Trading worldliness for holiness

We received a HOLY Jesus. A Jesus who calls us to walk in the same holiness.

As says 1 Peter 1:14–16 (NLT) … you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. 15 But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. 16 For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”

Hebrews 12:14 (NLT) Work at living in peace with everyone, and work at living a holy life, for those who are not holy will not see the Lord.

These are just a few of the ways in which we received Christ.

But the admonition is NOT just to remember the multifaceted way in which we received Jesus — But to walk that way from now on.

So Walk

So, in our every day walk with Jesus let us:

As a witness for Jesus

Be willing to share. If someone shared with us, shouldn’t we share with others?

Love towards others.

Humility — that we would stay humble towards God and others

Grace - showing grace

Faith - walk, believing that God WILL do what He said He will do

In the Power of the Holy Spirit manifesting the FRUIT of the Spirit listed in

that says: Gal 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law.”

Surrender — our initial surrender must turn into a LIFE of surrender to the plans, purposes and will of God.

Holiness — Jesus calls us to turn our back on the ways of this world and to walk closer and closer to Him in holiness

We must walk as says:

Col 2:7 “having been firmly rooted and being built up in Him, and having been established in your faith—just as you were instructed—and abounding with thanksgiving.”

So let us be firmly rooted in Him

Firmly rooted in His Love, His Grace, in the Holy Spirit, in holiness

Nothing shaking us loose.

Let the winds blow, the rains beat against us, the lightning strike, the earth quake, the fires burn — none of this matters as we hold FIRMLY to Him, IN Him.

Let us be built up in Him.

Having our foundation on Him and not shifting sand.

Jesus said in: Matthew 7:24–27 (LSB) “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and does them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 “And the rain descended, and the rivers came, and the winds blew and fell against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. 26 “And everyone hearing these words of Mine and not doing them, may be compared to a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 “And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.”

Firm in the faith we have been taught by the Word:

Faith like a mustard seed that grows into a huge tree. Faitrh like the Kingdom of God in us that Jesus talked about in:

Mark 4:31–32 (LSB) “It [the Kingdom or our faith] is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the soil, though it is smallest of all the seeds that are upon the soil, 32 yet when it is sown, it grows up and becomes largest of all the garden plants and forms large branches; so that THE BIRDS OF THE AIR can NEST UNDER ITS SHADE.”

Finally, let us walk in the way we received Jesus:

In joy and thanksgiving.