HOW TO WALK IN MATURITY

Col. 2:6-7

Morning Meditation 8/18/2013

Verse 6-7 say, “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.”

Mature Christians can be led astray but it is much less likely. We do not operate in the Christian life like we do in the world. One of the mistakes of our day is that we can use the world’s methods to promote the things of God. This is so untrue. But when you have a church full of immature Christians who have been raised to leadership and you have a pastor who holds to the idea that the church should be operated according to methods that have proven successful in the world, what do you do? You are probably going to be a part of a church operated according to the principles of this world.

Maturity is not going on from the cross, i.e., now that we have been saved, let’s go on to other things. It is the development of the christian in the same truth that brought him into God’s family. Paul is combating the Gnostic error in this letter. It is the most complete book on Christ in the Bible. Paul is telling them that the way to keep the Gnostics from taking God’s people into error is to make them strong in who Jesus is. Let’s take a look at His approach in these two verses. The first thing Paul says is,

AS YE HAVE THEREFORE RECEIVED CHRIST JESUS THE LORD

The word “as ye have therefore” takes us back to the statement in verse 5: “and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ.” These Christians had had a Christian experience. They had been saved. They had received Christ as a personal Saviour. They had a STEADFAST FAITH.

Think for a moment about your experience of salvation. You know there has to be one. I tell people that they may not remember the time of their salvation but there has to be one. You may have lost your memory from a bump on the head and not be able to remember your own name or the time of your salvation, but that does not change your destiny. Our salvation is not dependent on our memory. Most of us can go back to a time and place where we first trusted in Christ. That simple faith was your response to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul is reminding these believers of that initial faith in which he says they are STEADFAST.

What is the faith Paul is talking about? I will mention two things about it that are revealed in our text:

1.They received Him as Christ Jesus the Lord. The word “Christ” means the anointed One. He is the one the Old Testament said would come. Evidently when Christ was preached in that early day, this truth was included in the message. Paul uses the word Christ here without explanation because he knows they already understand what this means. This means that when they received Christ they accepted that Jesus was the One that God would send into the world as Saviour. They were not accepting Jesus as a great self-made man. He was God’s plan for the salvation of mankind. They understood that so that he did not have to make further explanation of CHRIST.

The word “Jesus” is more than a name to the Colossians. They knew that Jesus was His name because it identified the purpose for which He came into the world. Matthew 1:21 says, “And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.” You only communicate with another when both of you have the same understanding of the meaning of words. Paul was communicating with the Colossians without stopping to explain what CHRIST mean or what JESUS meant because he knew they knew.

The words “the Lord” mean two things. First, the definite article “the” identifies the word Lord as meaning the ONLY ONE. There are no other Lords in the kingdom of God. Peter instructs pastors in 1 Peter 5:3 “Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.” Why did Peter tell the pastors not to be Lords over God’s heritage? Because we are not lords in His perceived absence. The fact is, He is not absent. He is still here. He told the Church after He had given them the Great Commission, “And, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” Is Jesus still present? If so, why? He is Lord. He is still the Lord of the Church. I am afraid that Jesus is the least consulted member of the Church when things need to be done. Where is the continuous prayer and the daily searching of the Scriptures? The Colossian Christian knew about the Lordship of Christ. They had received “Christ Jesus the Lord” and were STEADFAST IN THEIR FAITH.

2.They had received Him in repentance. There are those even in our day that minimize the need for repentance. Repentance does not mean that you quit all your sins. If it did, there would be no room for growth after salvation. But it does mean a change of mind. Jesus taught “repent or perish” or, to put it another way, “turn or burn” in Luke 13:3, 5. If this bothers you, it probably means you have not repented. You want a Christ that will let you pursue your own course in this world and finally take you to heaven. If your experience of salvation does not include repentance, you are fooling yourself if you think you are saved. Repentance is not just an act at a point of time. It is a state of mind into which you enter. REPENTANCE IS GETTING ON GOD’S SIDE EVEN WHEN IT IS AGAINST YOURSELF.

The repentant agree with God. He is the only One who has the right to say “this is right and this is wrong.” Right is right because God says it is right.. Wrong is wrong because God says it is wrong. The moment you begin to ARGUE with the BIBLE over what God says is WRONG you are out of fellowship with Him. You notice I did not say out of relationship with Him. The moment you begin to argue with the Bible about what is right or wrong, you are TAKING BACK YOUR REPENTANCE. Repentance is an attitude adopted prior to salvation because of the conviction of the Holy Spirit and sets us up to receive Christ Jesus the Lord. Why would you trust Him if your need did not demand it?

Paul is saying, “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him.” Just AS. With the same faith in who He IS and the same attitude of REPENTANCE of your own personal weakness and the need of utter dependence upon Him. Then that leads to the next point,

SO WALK YE IN HIM

What does this mean? It means with the same attitude of repentance so that you will never put your ideas above His. The Gnostics reasoned and used their philosophy to refute the Scriptures. Paul is saying that we do not arrive at the truth by reasoning but by revelation. We must always put the Word of God ahead of any human reasoning.

The Christians in Colosse did not become Christians by reasoning. They became Christians by revelation. “ Matthew16:16-17 says, “And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.”

God’s Word is His revelation. Paul was writing by inspiration of God. It would furnish them a REVELATION that could be compared to what the Gnostics were saying. This same principle is to be used against cults today who do not believe that Jesus is God. They do not believe in the incarnation. “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him.” This is the rule by which all error is measured. If it conflicts with what you believed at salvation, reject it and continue to walk with the same faith by which you entered the family of God. You cannot enter the family of God the wrong way. There is only one Door (John 10:9).

There are four things about verse 7 I will point out in closing:

3.Walk rooted in Him. The word “Rooted” translates “rhizoo” and means, “to cause to strike root, to strengthen with roots, to render firm, to fix, establish, cause a person or a thing to be thoroughly grounded.” It is a perfect passive participle. The perfect tense and the passive voice means that they were put in the root when they were saved. Paul is talking about developing what is already there.

4.Walk built up in Him. The word “built up” translates “epoikodomeo” and means, “to build upon, build up.” It is a present passive participle. The present tense and passive voice means that we are to continually allow Him to work in our lives to bring us to the stature and fulness of Christ (Eph. 4:13-15).

5.Walk established in the faith. “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God (Rom. 10:17).. The word “stablished” means “to make firm.” We need to constantly expose ourselves to the Word of God and believe every word of it. That is the way one becomes firm in his faith.

6.Walk in the abounding overflow. The word “abounding” translates “perisseuo” and means, “to exceed a fixed number of measure, to be left over and above a certain number or measure.” It is a present active participle. The present tense means this is to go on continually in the present tense of ones life. The active voice means that one has to decide. It is a choice. One of the greatest ways to combat error is to be overflowing constantly in your faith. This means we stay in fellowship with Him through His Word and overflow to those around us.

It is hard to stop. These are already too long for some. And I understand that. But I must leave this meditation at this point. I trust it will be a blessing as we all meditate on these great truths.

In Christ

Bro. White