Colossians 2:1-5 ESV
“For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ."
Paul cared deeply about the spiritual growth and maturity of
the believers in Jesus Christ. It was his goal to encourage and to exhort them
in the faith so that they might walk in holiness and in righteousness and not
in sin. He wanted to see them experience all that was theirs in Christ Jesus
and to not be lacking in any good thing. And he was concerned that liars and
deceivers might come in among them and lead them astray with false logic. But
he was rejoicing that currently they were standing firm in the faith.
And we, as the family of God, are to have this kind of
concern for one another. We are to work together towards the building up of the
body of Christ to full maturity in Christ. We are to speak the truth in love,
one to the other, so that none of us are led astray by various winds of
doctrine being taught by people of cunning, and craftiness, and deceitful
scheming. And we are all to fulfill our God-given assignments within the body
of Christ, using the spiritual gifts we have been given to help one another to
living spiritually mature Christian lives, with Jesus Christ as our only head.
And we are to be continually being filled with the Spirit, addressing
one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody
to the Lord with our hearts. And we are to let the word of Christ
dwell in us richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing
psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in our hearts to God.
And we are to exhort one another every day, as long as it is called
“today,” that none of us may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
And we are to consider how to stir up one another to love
and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but
encouraging one another, and all the more as we see the Day drawing near. And
we are to be united in love, one with the other, and we are not to be selfish,
but we are to care about the needs of others. And we are to be humble and to
serve one another in love in walks of obedience to our Lord Jesus. And we are
to admonish one another, too, with the wisdom that comes from God.
[Rom 12:1-8; 1 Co 12:1-31; Eph 4:1-16; Eph 5:17-21; Col
3:16; Heb 3:13; Php 2:1-8; Heb 10:23-25; Rom 15:14]
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.”
Now, we don’t receive Jesus Christ as Lord and that is the
end of the story until we die and go to heaven, even though it appears this is
the gospel message that is most widely being taught and accepted here in
America today. For so many are teaching that we receive Christ and that grants
us forgiveness of all sins and it guarantees us heaven as our eternal destiny.
But they willingly leave out the parts which teach that we must die with Christ
to sin, not just once but daily, and that we must walk in obedience to his
commands or we don’t have the hope of eternal life with God.
So, to be in genuine relationship with Jesus Christ we are
to walk in him. This means we have things which are required of us to do. This
involves action on our part. And that is what fellowship with Christ is. It is
partnership with him in the gospel, and it is participation in what the gospel
teaches, and it means we contribute to our walks of faith, not in our own
flesh, but by the grace of God and in his strength, as we cooperate fully with God’s
work of grace in our lives.
“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10). And Jesus Christ “gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works” (Titus 2:14). And as we have always obeyed, we are to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:12-13).
And we are to be rooted and built up in him and established
in the faith, just as we should have been taught, abounding in thanksgiving.
And this all has to do with our spiritual growth and maturity in Christ Jesus.
For “rooted” means to be deep-rooted, fixed, engrained in Christ and in his
Word to where we are walking according to the Spirit and we are following our
Lord in obedience and we are walking in holiness and righteousness and not in
sin. And established in the faith means we are well-grounded and we are not
being tossed back and forth by every wind of doctrine. But we are on solid
ground biblically in our walks of faith and obedience to our Lord Jesus.
By
Annie Herring
There's a stirring deep within me
Could it be my time has come
When I'll see my gracious savior face to face when all is done
Is that his voice I am hearing?
'Come away, my precious one'
Is he calling me?
Is he calling me?
I will rise up, rise up
And bow down
And lay my crown
At his wounded feet
Is that His voice I am hearing?
'Come away, my precious one'
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