Christ is All I Need

Walk in Christ

Colossians 2:6–7 “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.”

You received Christ as your Savior to be set free from your sin. You received Christ because you wanted to leave behind the life of the old man. You received Christ so that you could walk with Christ. What does that mean? Walking with Christ is submitting to his Word and living like the Lord Jesus Christ lived.

Paul gives us some relational illustrations of what walking with Christ does for our lives.

Roots Need Soil

We are to be rooted in Christ like a plant is rooted in good soil. When this happens a healthy plant grows up from the soil and is full of life.

A person that is walking with Christ will become so rooted in the things of God that it will be very difficult to uproot, kill, or displace that Christian.

Buildings Need Foundations

A building built on the wrong foundations will have problems. Cracks up the walls, slumping in various places, doors won’t shut right, etc. Over time you will be able to notice the deterioration of a building built on an inferior foundation.

We are to be built up in Christ like a building is built upon a foundation. The foundation will determine whether the building stands or falls. When we are built up in Christ we will stand as a majestic building that people want to see.

Faith Needs Strengthening

We are to be strengthened in Christ so that our faith can be strong and unwavering. A faith established in Christ will not fall prey to false doctrine and deceit.

Victory Needs Thankfulness

We have many people in our society today that is not thankful for the things that they have. Unfortunately, going along with society norms are Christians who have bee saved by Jesus Christ, forgiven of their sins, in many cases set free from their sin, and yet, they are not thankful enough for what Jesus did for them. In fact, over time many Christians start to see themselves as good people and good Christians and compare themselves to other people that do not live for Christ. This leads to a prideful spirit about themselves rather than a thankful spirit for just how much Christ has done and how he has set them free from sin.

When we are “rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith,” then what flows out of us is a river of thankfulness. We are to abound in thanksgiving like a river abounds with water.

Beware of Philosophy

Colossians 2:8 “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.”

Paul knows that certain philosophies can deceive a person and drive them away from truth. He first challenges the reader to be rooted and built up in Christ because he wants them to be strong and be able to recognize when someone says or does something that is not right or truthful. By knowing what the truth is we will be able to easily identify things that are wrong.

He then tells the reader to be on the lookout for people that will introduce philosophy into their lives that have their roots in something or someone other than Christ.

Traditions of Men

Traditions of men is simply the culture around you. Do not buy in to everything that our culture tells you to. Culture should not dictate how we live; what we do, what we wear, where we go, what we say, and how we do things. The world is pulling us in so many directions, but we need to beware of these practices that do not have their roots in Christ Jesus.

Rudiments of the World

Rudiments of the world refers to the defeated spirits that followed Satan. They fill our world with philosophy that is meant to drive us away from the truth of Christ. We need to beware of philosophy that is born out of the workings of the defeated spirits. Satan is at work in our world today. He wants to turn the hearts and minds of people away from Christ. He has a number of different tactics that he uses; false teachings, crude entertainment, ungodly television shows and movies, alcohol & drugs, carnal living and carnal thinking that leads to carnal living, etc. etc.

A Christian needs to be so rooted in the things of Christ, built up on the foundation of Christ, have their faith strengthened and hearts of thankfulness so that they can overcome the traditions of men and the rudiments of the world.

Complete in Him

Colossians 2:9–10 “For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:”

There are two phrases we need to see clearly in these two verses; all the fulness and complete in him. There are so many teachers, denominations, and cults out there that will try to convince you that you need more than Christ. Just a little more good works, just a little more faithfulness, just a little more prayer, just a little more evangelism, just a little more bible study, just a little more to complete you as a believer. The truth is that if you are a believer in Jesus Christ you are COMPLETE IN HIM. He does all the work that needs to be done for your salvation. There is nothing more that you need to do to be saved. You are COMPLETE IN HIM and he will do the work inside of you to make you the disciple that he needs and wants you to be. Yes, we need to be yielded to his work, but Christ completes us in every way. We don’t need some smooth talking preacher to make us what God wants us to be. We don’t need some mystical creed to complete our commitment to the Lord. We don’t need some secret underwear to help us in our life (Mormons). We just need Christ. We need people to preach Christ. We need people to evangelize for Christ. We need people to point others to Christ, but to be complete as a believer we need nothing else and no one else but Christ.

Do you need to get sin out of your life? Yes.

Do you need to walk in Christ as a dedicated disciple of Jesus Christ? Yes.

Does that mean that you will need to change your talk, change your walk, change the way you act, change the things you wear, change the attitude you have? Yes.

Do you need to be engrossed in the Word of God, in Prayer, in growing closer to Christ, and in fellowship with other believers? Yes.

BUT DO YOU NEED THESE THINGS FOR YOUR SALVATION TO BE COMPLETE? NO.

DO YOU NEED THESE THINGS TO WALK CLOSER TO CHRIST? YES.

DO YOU NEED THESE THINGS TO GO TO HEAVEN? NO.

We need to stop allowing Satan to fill our lives with guilt and doubt because we our sanctification is not complete. We need to continue to pursue a relationship with Christ so he can continue our sanctification process, but we need nothing else but Jesus to be complete in our salvation.