Walking in Christ

Good morning and welcome again to our continuing journey together through the book of Colossians. Colossians has disclosed to us thus far that in Christ we are reconciliation to God (1:21-23), find the revelation of the mystery of God (1:24-27) in Christ, the believers’ fulfillment (1:28-29) is in Christ, and God’s wisdom (2:1-5) is in Christ. Therefore, believers should continue to live “in Him” [used six times in these verses].

Christ is sufficient. In Him the believer finds sufficiency. Surrendering to Christ as Lord of your life is the beginning of a new life in Christ. This life, this relationship, grows in so many ways as we follow His leadership. The world, the flesh and the devil will try to get you following other things, other philosophies, other experiences. But, if you have Christ, you have everything you ever need (CIT).

Finding Christ or surrendering to Christ is only the beginning. Christ intends for us to grow in our faith. There are ways that will help us grow and there are ways that will hinder or even stop our growth.

I. ROOTED AND BUILT UP IN HIM, 6-7

Verse 6 urges us to continue our Christian life just as it commenced, in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Colossians 2:6–7 ESV

Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

Colossians 2:6 ESV

Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him,

“Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,”

Therefore builds the concluding exhortation on what Paul has said in verses 2–5. The Colossians have received Christ Jesus the Lord, they have settled convictions about His deity and sufficiency, and are standing firm against the attacks of false teachers. To stand firm does not mean to stand still. They must continue to walk in Him.

The familiar term walk refers to daily conduct. In this context it emphasizes continuing to believe the truth about Christ, not allowing their faith in Christ’s deity and authority to waver. It was Christ who saved them so do not to forsake His divine authority for any human sophistry or chicanery.

In broader terms walking in Christ means living in union with Him. It means to maintain a lifestyle patterned after His. “The one who says he abides in Him,” the apostle John writes, “ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked” (). When faced with the dilemmas that confront Christians in their daily lives, the guideline should be, “What would Jesus do in this situation?” [WWJD]

Ask God to help you walk with Him day by day. We put our faith into practice one step at a time. Allow what God works into our life to work it’s way out of our life. Walking in Christ is how we become Christ-like. Waking in Christ is focusing our thoughts on Him, on what He has done, what He is doing, and what He will do for us.

Verse 7 clarifies how living in union is lived out in our life.

Colossians 2:7 ESV

rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

“having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.

Believers are to live by faith so they can become firmly established in their walk with Christ. We do that by drawing our life from Christ. Like a tree with deep roots in rich soil, believers have been firmly rooted in Christ. That eternal planting took place at salvation, which the perfect tense of the participle translated having been firmly rooted. Christ then became the source of our spiritual nourishment, growth, and fruit.

The Scripture is clear here. It is pointed right at us. There is no way to misunderstand what God is saying to us this morning. God is telling us that if you are going to make it as a Christian, you must be “deeply rooted” in Christ.

As we walk in Christ, we are being built up in Him. That connotes the process of being more and more like Jesus Christ. Being built up is a present tense participle indicating continuous action. By studying the “word of His grace, which is able to build you up” (), believers will “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (). And they will come “to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fulness of Christ” ().

Being firmly rooted in Christ and growing in Him results in believers being established in their faith. The passive voice of the participle translated established indicates that it is God who will establish believers. Having such a firm foundation for faith based on walking in Christ is imperative for a healthy Christian life (; ; ; ). Being built up and established in our faith are ongoing process that are only possible because we rooted into the Lord Jesus Christ.

As believers are “built up” and established in Christ, they become more grateful and begin overflowing with thankfulness (). The last of the four participles in verse 7, overflowing, is the only one in the active voice. It is a response to the other three. Believers who are firmly rooted in Christ, being built up in Him, and established in their faith, will overflow with gratitude to God.

Imagine being given a BOWL OF SAND containing tiny particles of iron. Then you are told to remove the iron from the sand. You have two choices. You can pull your fingers through the sand, searching for speck of iron and find very few. Or you call pull a magnet through the sand and watch it attract countless bits of iron.

Like the fingers in the sand, the grumbling heart finds very few mercies. But as the grateful heart moves through life, it finds countless blessings, just as the magnet finds iron.

Of all the choices we make in life; few affect us more powerfully than our choice between gratitude and grumbling. An honest look at our lives will reveal which choice we have made. If it's grumbling, we probably see few blessings. If it's gratitude, we not only find innumerable blessings--they seem to find us!

The Bible teaches that a heart overflowing with thankfulness comes from being rooted and built up in Christ. In believers are commanded and even commanded again to “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!"

Which choice have you made? Grumbling or gratitude? Grumbling overlooks blessings, but, gratitude finds blessings everywhere--even in dry, sandy places! With a little practice anyone can master the art of thankfulness.

Praise completes the circle in which the blessings that flow to us from God return to Him in the form of our praise and adoration. By taking in the Word of truth believers can appropriate the riches that are Christ’s legacy to believers, and walk in Him. As we walk in Him, we will grow in Him & become established in our faith. As a result, we will give praise to God.

II. FILLED AND COMPLETED IN HIM, 8-10.

After exhorting believers to live in Christ, verse 8 condemns the heresy that was diverting them from Christ.

Colossians 2:8 ESV

See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.

“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, rather than according to Christ.”

It is bound to be significant that, in the only place where the Scriptures even mention philosophy; we are warned to beware of it! The concern is that no false teacher takes believers captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy. The thought here is not against all philosophy but against false philosophy.

The philosophy at Colosse was “hollow” (kençs, “empty”), “deceptive,” and based on human tradition . . . rather than on Christ. True Christian philosophy “take[s] captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (). False philosophy is based on the world’s basic principles (stoicheia, “elementary principles,” ; , ). Such a philosophy is demonic and worldly, not godly or Christlike. Unless believers are careful, such philosophy may ensnare them, taking them “captive.” [Walvoord, John; Zuck, Roy. The Bible Knowledge. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1983, S. 677]

“Beware of the philosophy and psychology the world values,” the Bible warns. “They’re vain. They’re empty. They don’t work.”

I am concerned about the increasing number of believers who are wasting their money and time on unbelieving psychologists and psychiatrists when their problems are specifically dealt with in the Bible. Folks, if your car breaks down, I wouldn’t tell you to read your Bible. I would tell you to read an automotive manual. If your arm breaks, I wouldn’t tell you to read your Bible. I would tell you to go to a doctor or read a medical manual. But for matters of the heart and soul, I would implore you to read your Bible, for it alone contains the answers you need. [Courson, Jon: Jon Courson's Application Commentary. Nashville, TN : Thomas Nelson, 2003, S. 1314].

Verse 9 returns again (1:19) to the fulness of Christ’s deity and His total sufficiency. This declaration is the rock upon which all attempts to disprove Christ's deity are shattered.

Colossians 2:9 ESV

For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,

“For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form,

The Colossians do not need any other source or authority for their understanding and spiritual life. Christ is not just another philosopher, He is God. In fact, “in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form.” Note the word “whole.” The glorified Jesus, His whole glorious total essence, is God. He alone is God incarnate; and all, all possible deity, the whole universe of deity, is found permanently in Him.

Christ is both fully God and truly man (). He is the full essence of God and man. Christ is God’s revelation of Himself and His will to man. If you don’t follow Him, you will be following someone else and end up at some other destination than your walk with Him would take you. Who else, what else do you need? Why search for meaning anywhere else. Why search for direction in any one or anywhere else?

Because Christ is who He is, verse 10 declares that we have been made complete in Him.

Colossians 2:10 ESV

and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.

Colossians 1:10 ESV

so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;

As a result of the Fall, man is in a sad state of incompleteness. He is spiritually incomplete because He is out of fellowship with God. He is morally incomplete because he lives outside of God's will. He is mentally incomplete because he does not know ultimate truth.

As a result of the Fall, man is in a sad state of incompleteness. He is spiritually incomplete because He is out of fellowship with God. He is morally incomplete because he lives outside of God's will. He is mentally incomplete because he does not know ultimate truth.

As a result of the Fall, man is in a sad state of incompleteness. He is spiritually incomplete because He is out of fellowship with God. He is morally incomplete because he lives outside of God's will. He is mentally incomplete because he does not know ultimate truth.

At salvation, believers become “partakers of the divine nature” () and are made complete. [Walvoord, & Zuck, 677]. Believers are spiritually complete because they have fellowship with God. They are morally complete in that they recognize the authority of God's will. They are mentally complete because they know the truth about ultimate reality [MacArthur.103]. In Christ you have found the source from where flows the streams of blessings that supplies your true needs. In Him you can grow to the fullness He has for you, if you will only walk with Him, but you must let Him lead. He must be the head.

Since He possesses all the fullness of Deity, Christ is the head over all rule and authority. He was not one of a series of lesser beings emanating from God, as the false teachers maintained. Rather, He is God Himself and thus the head over all.

He is over all spiritual and earthy powers (archçs, “ruler”) and authorities (exousias, “ruling power”) (1:16; 2:15). Obviously, He is head over those who would talk the Colossians into living according to the world or their understanding instead of according to Christ. Christ is fully God forever!

III. BURIED AND RAISED UP IN HIM, 11-12.

Verses 11 & 12 turn from the theological errors of the false teachers to their practical errors. Following Christ is a matter for your born again spirit not the flesh as verse 11 observes.

Colossians 2:11 ESV

In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ,

“and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ;

The Christians in Colosse had no need to conform to Jewish rules and regulations, such as circumcision. Circumcision was only the outward demonstration that man was born sinful and needed cleansing.

They had been circumcised when they surrendered to Christ. This spiritual “circumcision” was done by Christ, not by man. It was in fact a crucifixion or putting off of the body or fleshly nature, a circumcision of the heart (; ). Their sinful nature (Lit. “the body of the flesh”); was decisively put off by Christ’s death and resurrection. What people were in Adam—sinful, fallen, and corrupt—was destroyed by Christ. Now “in Christ” a believer is a new creation (). And having a new Head a believer has a new authority for his life—not the Law of Moses but the life of Christ.

For Christians, the physical rite of circumcision is unnecessary because we have already been circumcised with a circumcision made without hands. The object of the circumcision of Christ is the removal of the body of the flesh. The words putting off or removal indicate a “total breaking away from” [from the noun apekdysei, which occurs only here in the New Testament]. This putting off of the old life occurs at the moment of salvation. The body of the flesh refers to the sinful, fallen human nature totally dominating believers before salvation. Christians have been cleansed of that sinful dominance and been given a new nature created in righteousness, having been circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, that is, not physical but spiritual.

At salvation, “our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin” (). As a result, “if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come” (). Nowhere is it expressed any better than in the words of Paul when he wrote, “We are the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh” (). [Believers have been freed from sin's dominance and judgment, though not yet from its presence.]

Verse 12 uses baptism as a way of illustrating the believers union with Christ and His work.

Colossians 2:12 ESV

having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.

“having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.”

Baptism pictures believers' union with Christ. They have been buried with Him in baptism when, at their salvation, the spiritual union of the believer with Christ takes place (). At the moment of salvation a believer is buried with Christ in baptism by the Spirit () and is raised with Him to new life. This co-burial and co-resurrection is pictured in baptism. In water baptism, immersion portrays burial with Christ, and coming out of the water depicts the resurrection by the power of God to “live a new life.” Water baptism symbolizes the believer's identification with Christ's death, burial, and resurrection ().

Such a spiritual transformation can only be achieved through faith in the working of God. Working translates energeia, from which we get our English word energy. It refers to God's active power—the same power that raised Jesus from the dead. Those who believe that God raised Jesus from the dead will also be raised with Him. “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved” (). [MacArthur, p 107.]

IN CONCLUSION

Is your walking with Christ real to you? Are you experiencing His fulfillment? Is Christ filling your emptiness? If not, with what are you filling your life? Is it evident that you have died to the flesh and being raised to walk in the spirit?, in newness of life? Do you know the power of the resurrected Christ working in you?

If you have received Christ are you being rooted and built up in Him? Are you growing a Christian?