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.”
So, if we are truly in Christ Jesus, by God-given faith in
him, then that means we have been crucified with Christ in death to sin, and we
have been raised with him to walk in newness of life in him, not like our old
lives, but now free from slavery to sin, and empowered of the Spirit of God to
now walk in holiness and in righteousness, in walks of obedience to our Lord.
So, this is how we are to walk in him (Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14).
And we are to walk in him, rooted and built up in him and
established in the faith, just as we should have been taught if we were taught
the truth of God’s word, and not the lies that many are spreading today. So,
let’s break that down. “Rooted” means to “cause to take root, to plant, fix
firmly, establish”. And if something is fixed it is fastened securely in
position, firm and secure. And if it is established it is stable and/or permanent.
Yet this is something we build upon, too, and we keep growing in it until the
end.
So, this is not something we do casually, or only at certain
times, but this is now our lifestyle, the way we live day in and day out no
matter where we are or who we are with. For Jesus is not just part of our
lives, but he is our life! Now we are his possession, and he owns us. “We are
his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared
beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10; cf. Titus 2:11-14).
And we are to be abounding in thanksgiving to our Lord, even
for small and simple things that might tend to go by unnoticed. And I will tell
you for certain that I have, I believe, been abounding in thanksgiving to my
Lord the last six weeks while I was sick, for I thanked him for every time I
was able to eat and to not have pain. I even thanked him for burps and the
releasing of body gases because that meant relief from pain and suffering. So,
thank him for even the little things in life.
Colossians 2:11-12 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, 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.”
This is not speaking of water baptism, although in New
Testament times when someone believed in Jesus, if water was near, it was their
practice to baptize them in the water, I believe symbolizing what had already
taken place in the heart. For water baptism cannot save us. For you can be
baptized in water and never be saved from your sins. And I believe you can be
saved from your sins without ever undergoing water baptism. Read the
Scriptures. I know of nowhere it says we will not inherit eternal life with God
if we are not baptized with water. The thief on the cross was not.
Now the reason I believe this is not water baptism is
because, first of all, it says, “without hands,” and so this has to do with our
regeneration. And we can be regenerated and then undergo baptism with water
later (see Acts 10:44-48). For we receive the Holy Spirit when we believe in
Jesus with God-given faith, and this can precede water baptism.
And this verse here in Colossians 2 parallels our
circumcision of the heart with being buried with Christ in baptism into death,
which is a putting off of the body of the flesh via dying with Christ to sin
and being raised with him to walk in newness of life in him. And so this is a
spiritual baptism, not a physical one, i.e. a baptism or a circumcision made
without human hands. And when this takes place our old self is crucified with
Christ in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we
will not longer be enslaved to sin but to God and to his righteousness (see Romans
6:1-23).
Now I believe our being crucified with Christ in death to
sin and being raised with him to walk in newness of life in him should be
followed up with water baptism as an outward testimony of our inward faith. And
if possible, going under the water and being brought back out of the water (immersion)
is the recommended mode for it symbolizes us dying with Christ to sin and us
being buried with him in baptism into death and then us being raised with him
to walk in newness of life in him.
But I don’t get hung up on modes of baptism, because it isn’t
the physical that saves us but what takes place in our hearts, and then what
follows in practice in obedience to our Lord. For we don’t “get saved” once and
now heaven is guaranteed us when we die. For Jesus said that if anyone would
come after him he must deny self and take up his cross daily (daily die to sin
and to self) and follow (obey) him (Luke 9:23-26). But if sin is what we
practice, and if righteousness and obedience to our Lord are not our practice,
then we don’t have eternal life with God (see the verses below).
He
Lifted Our Burdens
An
Original Work / February 15, 2014
Based
off Isaiah 9:2-7
People walk in darkness.
They abide in their sin.
It has power o’er them.
True belief escapes them.
Jesus Christ came to save them.
He gave His life up for them;
Crucified; died for our sin,
So we might be forgiven,
And have life up in heaven.
Many come to know Him.
God’s love now o’erflows them.
They rejoice in vict’ry.
Their sin is but hist’ry.
We were once bound in slav’ry.
Jesus lifted our burdens;
Set us now free from Satan,
So we now walk in freedom.
Sin has no more dominion.
Praise be to our Savior!
He showed us His favor.
He took all our burdens;
Cast them all upon Him.
He is our mediator;
The Light which shines in darkness.
Counselor in our troubles;
He gives peace now in our hearts;
Joy which is everlasting.
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