Rooted In Christ Jesus

Introduction

Today we begin a new year with a new theme, and a new series. I am excited about this year, and to share with you the vision God's given me for it.

Our theme is drawn from Colossians 2:6-7; And the title of it is "Rooted and Built Up in Jesus."

This year marks the centennial of the church. In October, we will celebrate our 100th year as an organized body of Christ. This church will have, at that point, shone the light of Jesus in this community for 100 years.

Given this historical year, I wanted to reinforce the foundation upon which this church stands, and that foundation is Jesus Christ our Lord.

This year, throughout our morning worship services, our focus will be on the life and ministries of Jesus. We will look at His parables, His miracles, His mission, His purpose, and His impact and influence upon man.

Jesus said: John 12:32 “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.” I am looking for and expecting big things this year. For we are going to do our best to exalt the name of Jesus and root And build up this church in Him.

For the introduction to the theme, I plan to take this week and next, examining a few of these verses here in Colossians chapter two, so that we might enter into this with the right mindset and understanding that Christ may do a great work through each one of us.

Today and next week will, in essence, set the table. These messages will serve as John the Baptist, preparing the way. For as John prepared the hearts of those in first-century Judea for Christ, I desire for these messages to prepare your hearts for the Christ, to experience Him in a way that is deeper than you ever have before.

I. A Reception Necessary

Ye Must be Born Again

He's speaking to those who have received Christ Jesus the Lord. Therefore, he is speaking to those who have been born again.

If Jesus is to benefit you at all, you must be born again.

Jesus was speaking to a religious man in John chapter 3.

He told him the importance of being born again: John 3:3 “Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Then He told him that he needed to be born again: John 3:7 “Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.”

He would go on to tell him how to be born again: John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

Now something is very important to understand, and that is Nicodemus was a Pharisee. He was a very religious man, but he was unlike most of the Pharisees, and that is he was actually a good man. He would defend Jesus in John chapter seven, and then after his crucifixion, he would bring aloe and myrrh to anoint the body of Christ.

What does this tell us? It tells us two things:

Even though you're religious, you still need to be born again.

Being a good man with good works will not get you to heaven.

So, I'm going to be speaking a lot about Jesus. But just know that Jesus cannot benefit you if you are not born again.

You must be born again.

A Gift to be Received

I love the way Paul words this. He speaks of those that have "received Christ Jesus the Lord."

He said they received Christ Jesus because you do not earn Christ Jesus.

There is such a prevailing mindset in man, and I think it stems from the pride of man, that makes us believe that we can either earn or deserve heaven. This mindset is the general consensus among Americans but also within the four walls of the church.

They set aside the grace of God and turn our God into a god like unto Allah!

If you get nothing from the message today other than this, get this: Salvation is a gift to be received and not a prize to be won.

Ephesians 2:8–9 “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

Romans 3:24–28 “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.”

2 Timothy 1:8–9 “…but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God; Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,”

If you have been born again, you have been born again by the spotless Lamb and the blood in which he shed for your sins - And not by the corruptible works of your hands.

You cannot boast and brag as the Pharisees did about how righteous you are because the only righteousness those of us that are saved can claim is the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

A reception is necessary. He must be born again by receiving the free gift of salvation through Jesus.

A Reception Necessary

II. A Reasonable Response

At the conclusion of verse 6, Paul is making this statement because they have received Christ Jesus the Lord. The reasonable response is to walk in Him.

Once again, church, this is a reasonable response. This is something the Christian should do by default, is to walk in Christ Jesus.

Let me remind you of Romans 12:1 “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”

We must stop thinking of ourselves as prizes that God won and consider ourselves to be servants in submission.

The reasonable response to being born again is to walk in Christ Jesus.

Walk in Christ

Let's consider for a few moments this phrase and break it down. What does it mean to walk in Christ?

If I am walking in Christ, I am going where he is going.

I am not contrary to Him, but I am in harmony with Him. All too often, the things in which we do are not in harmony with the Lord's will in our life.

There are Many different designs for each of our lives.

God has a will for your life.

Satan has a will for your life.

You have a will for your life.

Your family, or spouse, or parents - they all have a will for your life.

So our lives can take a multitude of different directions. But if we are walking in Christ, then we are going to go where He's going. We're going to be following His will for our life, and there is no better direction to follow!

If I am walking in Christ, I am at the mercy of His direction.

Building upon that, if I am walking in Christ Jesus, I am not at the helm of the ship. I am along for the ride.

(Ill.) I have gotten to the point in life where I don't care to drive. I just assume someone else will do it, and I'll sit and relax. Whenever I have opportunity, I let my son drive. He's a better driver than I am at this point in life, and he's responsible. And I trust his judgment.

Church, let me just say that we can trust the judgment of our Lord in steering our lives in the manner in which He desires. He will not lead us astray - and everywhere he takes us will be for our good and His glory.

(Ill.) Now on the flip side of that, I remember going to school on Monday in seventh grade and seeing people weeping as they found out that they had a classmate that was killed in a car accident over the weekend. His name was Travis Jordan. In 1987, he put his trust in the wrong person to drive him home from school. And because of that, at the age of 15, he breathed his last breath upon this earth.

We need not fear of calamity if we trust Christ to guide our ship.

We're to walk in Christ.

Walk Consistently

I have said this before: one thing that walking communicates is consistency. It's not speed or efficiency, but consistency. (Ill.) They have that speed walking which is about the dumbest Oxymoronic thing you'd ever heard of.

(Ill.) I've spoken to a bunch of the men of the church, and by far, the thing that was expressed to me that they struggle with is consistency.

Great moments don't make great men. Consistency does.

Great pastors are not made because of a handful of great sermons. They are great pastors because they preach good sermons consistently.

(Ill.) When I was a kid, we used to play wiffle ball in the front yard. We had: A tree stump for first base, A tree for second, A crack in the driveway for third, A crack in the sidewalk for home. We would play so much, I’m sure we would begin to wear paths between the bases. The paths did not appear after one run or two, but after several cycles of repeated consistency, the dirt would harden. The grass would be stomped down.

You see, consistency can be good or bad. Whatever path you are on right now, if it is one that is lukewarm, if it is one that is worldly, if it is one that is godly, you are on it because of your consistent decisions in life.

We must walk in Christ Jesus consistently if we're to see a difference made in ours.

We must walk consistently.

Walk Circumspectly

Ephesians 5:15–16 “See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.”

Circumspectly (def) carefully

We must be careful in our walk, for the Bible tells us 1 Peter 5:8 “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:”

We must watch our step that we continue in Christ Jesus because this world makes it so easy to get outside the lines.

We must walk circumspectly.

A Reception Necessary; A Reasonable Response

III. A Rooting Examined

Here I want to spend a few moments and really look at the illustration that Paul is using to tell this church in Colossae how they need to approach Jesus.

The first illustration he uses is that to be rooted.

The first thing we see about roots are its function.

It’s Function

The function, the purpose of the roots is to anchor.

To Anchor

Rooted (def) become stable; fixed; deep

So the first thing we notice that Paul is alluding to is the fact that Jesus needs to be our anchor.

Paul told the church in Ephesus, Ephesians 4:14 “That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;”

(Ill.) I remember it's been several years ago, seeing this man testify in front of Utah's House of Representatives, on the topic of accepting the practice of sodomy. This man was a Mormon, and he was brought up and taught that sodomy was wrong. But the problem was his child came out of the closet to him, and now he was a proponent of homosexuality.

What changed? His problem was that he was more rooted in his family than he was in Christ Jesus.

And that's the thing, if we are not anchored in Christ with the way that the opinions and whims and wills of men are blowing, constantly changing in this world, you and I will be shaken. We will be disturbed. We will never have solidity or peace unless we are anchored in Christ.

This year I want this church's roots to grow in Christ Jesus. I want us to have a stable foundation because this world is going to continue to change, but my God changes not!

The functions of root are to anchor.

It’s the Foundation

What All Else is Built Upon

When we consider the root structure, it is the foundation of everything else.

A house is only as good as the foundation upon which it's built.

(Ill.) I remember an old Gunsmoke episode where Chester was trying to farm a piece of land and it was homesteader land. There was a little shack there, and sometime during the episode, he was trying to straighten it up, and the whole thing just fell down. It fell down because the foundation wasn't worth anything.

If you want your life to be a God-fearing, spiritual life, then your foundation must be Christ.

The problem is there's a lot of Christians that say that they want to live a spiritual life, but their foundation is that of the world. You cannot build a Christ-like life on top of the world. In turn, if you have Christ as your foundation, you will not build a worldly life upon it.

The roots are the foundation of what everything else is built upon - And it determines the structure.

Determines the Structure

What I mean by that is the basic building principle that if you are to build something great, you have to have a great foundation. They coexist together. The higher the spiritual life you desire, the lower the foundation you must have to support it.

You will never build a great spiritual life with a shallow Spiritual Foundation.

This is why I advocate the basics: Study your Bible, Spend time in prayer, Go to church. When you do the basic things, you are building your spiritual foundation. If you ever want to do great things for God, you cannot do it on a shallow foundation.

Its foundation determines the structure.

It’s Fortitude

Now I want to speak about the strength of the roots. As you know, some root beds for plants are stronger than others, and there are a variety of things that will determine the strength thereof. Here are four of them.

The root's fortitude or strength lies in its …

Lies in It’s:

Health

A healthy root bed is stronger than a sickly one. They must be nourished and taken care of.

This holds true for the Christian life. When you are born again, you do not automatically have strong roots. They must be developed. They must be fed and strengthened.

That leads me to the second one, and that is longevity.

Longevity

The longer a plant lives, typically, the roots continue to grow, the stronger they become.

Christians who are not complacent in their salvation or their spiritual walk but continue to grow, their roots are stronger than new Christians or young Christians who have not had that opportunity yet to grow.

This is why discipleship and mentorship is so important. Those of us that have stronger roots and longer roots that have reached out and have a better grasp than the less mature, we must be teaching and training the younger so that their roots might grow deep as well.

Longevity leads to strength.

Soil

The soil obviously matters a great deal. Roots are only as good as what they're clinging to.

(Ill.) I was speaking to my wife, and she was telling me about how starters are grown. How you take cuttings and you put them in water, and you can watch the roots grow in just water. But you can pull that right up out of a cup of water, and it does no good because there's nothing to cling to.

Church, there's a lot of people that are rooted in the wrong soil. There are those that are rooted in:

The soil of this world

The soil of their job

The soil of leisure / escapism / pleasure

The soil of family

The soil of sex & immorality

But the problem is, in all of these types of soil, and every other kind, they can be taken away in a moment. And where does that leave those that are rooted in it?

Church, we must be rooted in Christ Jesus, the solid rock upon which we stand, that which is unmovable, unshakable, one that cannot be taken away from us!

(Ill.) As you know, a little over a year ago, the Lord provided us a house over on Smith Street, and as many of you know, I don't call that place home; I call it Hebron. It is my sanctuary, my retreat from the world. But it is just a temporary abode. For my home is not here, my home is in heaven. DON'T WANT ROOTS HERE!

Its strength is found in the soil.

Sustenance

Ultimately, its strength is found in what's feeding it, which leads me to my last point.

And that is we need to look at the fuel of the roots.

It’s Fuel

It’s the Source that Sustains

When we consider a plant, all of the nutrition and things that sustain it are drawn from the roots.

Water is absorbed through the roots.

Its nutrients are gained through the roots.

The fuel for the plant is derived from the roots. It's what causes it to live and sustains it.

Church, do you want a better life than you have right now? Then be found rooted in Jesus.

Let Him be your food.

Let Him be your sustenance.

Let Him be the source of what drives and motivates you.

Many of you are living your lives stressed out, burnt out, struggling. I'll let you in on a little secret as to why that is. It's because your food is not Jesus. You are trying to get your strength and nutrition from the things of this world.

Oh, if we would just find our strength in Jesus. If we would just continually look to Him for our sustenance, what a better life we would have!

Conclusion

There may be some of you that have not received the free pardon of sin that is found in Jesus.

If that is you, I'm going to ask you to come to this altar when the music plays and be born again.

It doesn't matter how religious you are or how good you are. As Jesus told Nicodemus, "Ye must be born again."

Saint of God, this is a new year. What do you want from your life this year? How do you think growing your roots IN OR deeper in Christ Jesus would affect you?

Maybe you need to take this time to re-dedicate your heart, your mind, and your life unto God.

If so, when the music plays, will you come to this altar and do just that?