Rooted and Built Up in Him

Kent Hughes tells the story of a colleague he once had in the ministry who stopped discussing the meaning of Scripture with him or others because he said he now had a “higher hermeneutic” than others did. He believed that he had gotten to the place in his study of Scripture where he could see “truths that transcended grammatical and traditional theological interpretation.” With self-proclaimed “superior knowledge,” he fathered a terrible legalism and led others into a false cult. Paul knew the Gnostics were luring the Colossians into the same captivity, so he appeals to them in this letter to run to God’s Word and pursue spiritual maturity in Christ. To be rooted and built up in Him. 
 
It is an essential command in Colossians 2: “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.” Several simple but foundational truths spring from these two verses. First, how did you come to be saved? God revealed to you that Jesus is the Messiah, the only one who can save sinners. And you “received Christ Jesus the Lord.” Received means much more than “accepting” him. It means that we surrendered our heart, mind, will, and emotions to the Sovereign Lord of all. In the book of Acts, which is the story of the birth of the church and the spread of the Gospel, the word “Savior” only appears twice. But the word “Lord” appears more than 100 times. The Philippian jailer asked Paul, “What must I do to be saved?” Paul said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus.” 
 
Paul goes on, as you received Christ Jesus, so walk in Him. We walk in Christ Jesus in the same way that we received Him: by faith. That’s what we do every day, whether we walk 10,000 steps or whether we are confined to our bed because of infirmity. We walk in Christ. Our life in Christ is a testimony of our moment by moment walk with Him, as He leads us, feeds us, delivers us, and loves us. 
  
We walk in Him and are “rooted and built up in Him.” Our root, our foundation, our life, is in Jesus. When I am weeding the flower beds at our house, I don’t mind the clover or the dandelions, because they are so easy to pull up. They have no root. But the volunteer crape myrtles growing in the shrubs where we don’t want them are a different story and often require a shovel to get to the root. Our root is found in Christ! It is deep and established and immoveable. We are oak trees, believers, not dandelions. And the rule on trees, for the most part, is the greater deeper the roots, the greater the spread of the branches. It is the same for a believer. The deeper our roots are in the Lordship of Christ and His Word, the greater the spread of our shade, and fruit, and beauty of a life in Christ. 
  
Mark Dever shared this word in a recent post in reference to the parable of the mustard seed, a picture of the kingdom of God on earth. Remember, Jesus said that though the mustard was the smallest of seeds, it becomes larger than all the garden plants. Dever wrote, “The point is not simply that the kingdom of God will be great. Everybody knew the kingdom of God would be great. The surprise is that the kingdom of God could appear insignificant. It appeared at the time to be an exceedingly insignificant movement composed of an itinerant rabbi and a varying band of hangers-on, hardly a movement to shake the world, let alone to shape it. Surely there must be some more obvious means of growing a kingdom – the media, the academy, the military, the marketplace, politics, or multiplying disciple making movements. But Jesus already faced that temptation at the beginning of his earthly ministry. Satan had said, worship me and I'll give you all the nations of the earth. Instead, Jesus looked at that small band of disciples and said, I'll take them instead. The surprise is not that Jesus uses those who belong to Him to build His kingdom. The surprise is that we so often don’t remember who we belong to and how much He has given to us for His glory.” 
  
So we who have received Him walk, are rooted, are built up, are established in the faith. What’s the result? We are abounding in thanksgiving. Paul seems to be saying that the greater we are established in the faith, the more abundant and intentional is our thanksgiving. And the more it becomes a powerful force, a centripetal force. A heart of thanksgiving to Christ draws others to it. 
 
Keep drawing them, Lord, even through me.