Colossians 2:6-7 | "The Fruit of Deep Roots"

This sermon was recorded at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota.

Make your way in your Bible to Colossians chapter two.

Colossians chapter two.

And as you make your way there, I will put out a question for you to consider.

What generates thankfulness in you?

Think about the times when you have felt grateful, thankful, and consider what has led you to that point in your life.

Now add being a Christian to that question.

As a Christian, what generates thankfulness in you?

Now, if you would direct your attention to Colossians 2, verse 6.

Colossians 2:6

Therefore, as you have 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.

Amen.

Thanksgiving is woven throughout this letter to the New Testament church to the in the ancient city of Colossae.

But it seems that everything wasn't exactly positive in this church and in the region of Asia Minor in which it was located.

Some false teachers were spreading heretical teachings throughout the churches.

That's why Paul warned them in verse 24 through 29 of chapter 1 to be careful of what they listen to.

He says in verse 4 of chapter 2, I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible but false arguments.

Then in verse 8 of chapter 2, he says, See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy or empty deceit.

He says, Don't be caught up or swept away by the teaching that is prevalent in your area or even in your church that does not cohere with Scripture.

I think that's why he begins such rich and deep teaching on the person and the ministry of Christ in chapter 1.

Because when you focus on the person and the work of Christ, that enables God's people to be built up in Christ and able to discern wrong teaching.

But between these two warning statements in verse 4 and verse 8 is the sentence that makes up verses 6 and 7.

And this sentence is more important for our present context than you might realize.

We must be discerning in a culture where truth is difficult to determine, where error masquerades as truth, where wrong is paraded as right, and where sin is accepted as righteous.

You see, we live in circumstances very similar to the recipients of this letter.

We live in a culture, even in a community, where sometimes it is difficult to discern between what is right and what is wrong.

We live between these warnings and we need to hear it.

You might remember that the theme of thanksgiving is quite prevalent in this short book.

Back in chapter 1, verse 3, the Apostle Paul begins: We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you.

He's thankful.

Chapter 1, verse 12, he gives thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.

Chapter 3, verse 17, whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father.

Chapter 4, verse 2, continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.

And right in between those two sets of thanks statements is chapter 2, verses 6 and 7.

Isaiah 2:6

Abounding in thanksgiving.

Our sentence for this morning is in the middle of those four references of giving thanks.

And I want to spend the rest of our time together helping us see the five parts of this sentence.

And when we're done, I hope you will be able to put those five parts back together again to see how walking in Christ results in deep roots that produce a life of thankfulness.

Now, how many parts are there to the sentence?

Five, thank you.

Some of you heard that.

Five parts, five parts.

The first part of this sentence is what I will call the pre-existing context.

Now, if walking in Christ results in deep roots that produce a life of thankfulness, then something must already exist.

And that something is faith in Christ.

Notice what the apostle Paul writes in Colossians 2, verse 6.

Colossians 2:6

Therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord.

Therefore, as you have received, this is a completed action.

This is where you are, he says.

You have received Christ Jesus the Lord.

Everything else in this sentence is relevant because of that statement.

If you have not received Christ Jesus the Lord, then the rest of this sentence does not apply to you.

But if you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, then everything in the rest of this sentence is relevant for you.

So what does it mean to have received Christ Jesus the Lord?

This may be elementary for some of you, but let's break it down into its parts.

First, it might be helpful to think of the word Christ a little differently.

Because modern Christians tend to think of that word as part of Jesus' name, right?

Kind of like we view last names today.

This is Jesus Christ, like Jason Holm.

But that's not the way that this word really functions.

This is more of a description than it is a name.

He is Jesus Christ.

But that's not an accurate way to understand the term Christ.

Christ is a title that describes who Jesus is.

His name is Jesus because he is the Christ.

And Christ is merely a Greek word for the Hebrew word Meshiach, which means Messiah.

So let's read this differently.

Let's read this differently.

Therefore, as you received Messiah, Jesus the Lord.

Well, that sounds a little different, doesn't it?

Do you see what that does for you, though?

To receive Jesus is to understand that he is God's Messiah.

He is the promised one, which is what Messiah was.

He is an anointed one.

That's what the word itself means.

He is the one God promised to send.

He is the one who would be crushed for your sins and who would at the same time crush the serpent's head.

He is God's Messiah.

To receive him is to believe that he is the Messiah and to trust in his position and in his power and in his work as God's Messiah.

He is the Messiah who would save his people from their sins.

Oh, but there is more, isn't there?

This Messiah, whose name is Jesus, because he saves his people from their sins, is the Lord.

Right?

That's what it says.

Two aspects to that term would likely have been in the minds of the Colossian Christians.

The first is the term's ordinary meaning in the Greek and Roman world of that time.

It was a general title of respect and honor for someone that implied status and authority.

So using the term in its ordinary sense, you might call your boss Lord.

And it wouldn't feel weird.

It would be very normal.

Because your boss has a place of status and an authority that is all implied in the position.

So the Gentile Christians in the church at Colossae might read this in that way first and foremost.

They might hear this and say, oh yeah, Jesus is the one who has the status, the position of Messiah, and he has that position and that status, and thus we listen to him and we obey him because he has authority.

But there is another side to this term, and it has a Jewish background.

You see, when Jewish people, scholars specifically, began translating the Old Testament into the Greek of the New Testament world, they used the word Lord in place of the Hebrew term for God's covenant name.

That covenant name of Yahweh or Jehovah in the King James.

So a Jewish Christian who has come to faith in Jesus Messiah would hear this being read, and they would automatically connect Jesus Messiah with Yahweh, Jehovah, Israel's covenant God.

He is God, He is Emmanuel, He is God with us to have received Christ Jesus, the Lord, then, is to understand that God Himself has come to save his people from their sins.

And he's come as their Messiah, the anointed king, Yahweh, their God.

He is their Lord, and he is to be believed, he is to be trusted, and he is to be obeyed.

This is the pre-existing condition for deep roots that produce a life of gratitude.

So I ask you, have you received this Messiah, Jesus?

The Lord.

If not, he calls you right now to believe.

My friends, a life of gratitude requires a life of trust in Messiah Jesus the Lord.

The second part of our sentence is what I'll call the apostolic command.

Therefore, as you have received Messiah Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.

That walk in Him is a command.

One of the most significant, maybe we can call it imperfections of the modern church is a lack of follow-through.

You see, we we treat salvation like fire insurance.

So once we say a prayer of trust in Jesus, we are we are saved from the fires of hell.

And then we can go out and live however we want to live, because I've said the prayer.

Well, that is true if the prayer results from genuine trust that comes from faith in Jesus.

Real faith genuinely saves.

But the Apostle Paul's point here is that genuine faith requires follow-through.

Let's say it differently.

If we genuinely believe that Jesus is the Messiah, that he is Yahweh Himself come to save us from our sins, and we trust in him as the Savior God, then that trust requires that we walk or we live in him.

It is expected that all who receive Him will walk in Him.

Walking is often used in the New Testament as a picture of the Christian life.

Of day by day, hour by hour living as a Christian.

Well, what does that mean?

I'm glad you asked.

Look at chapter 1, verse 10.

Let's go back to verse 9.

So from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you be filled with the knowledge of his will, God's will, and all spiritual wisdom and understanding.

Why?

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.

So right there we have a very simple definition of what it means to walk in him.

It means to walk in a way that is that is worthy of him, that represents him properly, that is pleasing to him, that bears fruit and good works, and that increases in the knowledge of God.

Look over chapter 3, verse 7.

In these you too once walked when you were living in them.

Well, to understand what that means, we have to understand what these things are, what he's referring to.

So let's go back to verse 3 of chapter 3.

For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

Put to death, kill, therefore, what is earthly in you.

Sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, covetousness, which is idolatry, on account of these the wrath of God is coming.

In these you also once walked.

So there we have another description of walking.

When we connect chapter 3 with chapter 2, we see that walking in Him, in Jesus Messiah, is the opposite of walking in an earthly kind of way.

The kind of way that God judges.

Judges 4 · chapter mention

Chapter 4 is another instance, chapter 4, verse 5.

Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, those not in the body of Christ.

So it means to walk in a way that represents and mirrors Jesus' Messiah, that distinguishes you as different from the rest of the world.

This is the apostolic command.

Those who have received Messiah Jesus are often tempted to live the way we always lived without Jesus.

We're tempted to live the way we lived before receiving Jesus.

And when we do that, we are not living in a manner worthy of the one who gave his life to save us.

So we need this exhortation, don't we?

We need the reminder to walk in him.

But it also informs us that our way of life reveals what governs us.

What motivates you?

What drives you?

In other words, our lives will show if Jesus is our Lord.

If he is our God, if he is Jesus' Messiah, the one in whom we trust.

But if sin rules in us, then we will not be walking worthy of him, will we?

That's why Jesus' half-brother James would write, be doers of the word, not hearers only.

Because when you just hear and don't do, you deceive yourselves into thinking that you're doing what's right.

So the apostolic command then is to live in Christ.

Now, you might think this is diving too much into the details, but this is crucial to understand.

The apostle writes regularly in Colossians, in him, or in Christ.

And notice what he says here in chapter 2, verse 6.

So walk in him.

He doesn't command Christians to walk with Christ.

That's different.

He doesn't command us here to walk with Christ as though Jesus is somehow our companion or the driver, and we're in the passenger seat.

Those things are true.

He is those things.

He is like that.

But this is speaking of something more than mere companionship, more than mere walking with Jesus.

This is speaking of something far richer than that.

Walking in him means that you have died and your life is hidden with Jesus.

It is no longer you who lives, but Christ lives in you.

That is what it means to walk in Him.

This is going to become significant in a few moments.

For if we live our lives outside of Jesus, we will be far more inclined to be thankless, ungrateful, and disconnected people.

Why is that?

Why is being outside, walking outside of Jesus inclining us to be ungrateful, unthankful, discontented?

Well, it's because when we're walking outside of Jesus, we are not walking in him, we are walking in ourselves, and life becomes all about me.

Life becomes all about what makes me comfortable, all about what makes me satisfied, all about what makes me happy.

But when we walk in him, he becomes our all.

And we can then become thankful for all that he gives and brings to our lives because Romans 8 actually becomes real then.

That all things work together for good to those who love him and are called according to his purpose.

We can be thankful because deep roots that are fruitful for Jesus the Lord come from receiving him and living in him.

Now look at the third part of our sentence.

How many parts are there?

Five.

Thank you.

Good.

Number three, these are the established conditions.

Now by conditions, I don't mean things that we're looking for to be satisfied.

Like a condition is in that sense is I will go to the store.

For you, if you give me the cash.

That's a condition, right?

I will do this for you if this happens.

I don't mean that, I mean more like status.

The established conditions are the current status of those who have received Messiah Jesus the Lord and walk in him.

You might think of them as the results of receiving Jesus and walking in him.

If you have received Jesus the Lord and walk in him, then these things are true of you.

They are the current status of those who have received Messiah Jesus the Lord and walk in him.

Now these conditions are not something that you or I do.

They are not up to you to accomplish.

You can sit back and relax because you don't have to do this.

Because God does it.

God does it.

What does God do?

He develops deep roots.

He builds us up.

And he establishes us.

That's what God does.

And that might need to be clarified a little bit because the Apostle Paul mixes his metaphors.

He uses an agricultural or horticultural metaphor, then a construction metaphor, and then a commercial metaphor.

The first term is one that comes from working with plants or trees, you might say.

It's the realm of a farmer who works with vines, you might say.

And it speaks of roots that grow downward into the earth.

God works in those who receive Jesus and walk in him in such a way that their roots grow deep in him.

Those who have received Jesus through faith are rooted.

In the imagery of Psalm 1, there's this tree that has been dug up, carefully dug up and lifted out of the ground by God and transplanted.

It's been taken out of a desert area where there is no water, there is no fruitfulness, and it's been transplanted by canals of water.

That's the word in the Hebrew there in Psalm 1.

By canals of water that have a constant source of water running through them so that its leaf does not wither and its fruit produces in season.

Deep roots result in steadiness.

Deep roots result in survival.

A tree with deep roots can survive the hardship and the uncertainty of drought.

Deep roots result in endurance.

For the storms of life come along and they beat on the tree.

And they whip it back and forth, seeking to tear the tree apart.

But deep roots enable the tree to endure the storm.

The Apostle Paul brought in the same idea of being rooted in Ephesians chapter 3, verses 16 and 17.

Ephesians 3:16

He said, speaking of Christ in us, he said, so that Christ may dwell in your heart, so that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend the love of Christ.

You're likely familiar with Vizza Italy.

You're likely familiar with it because of a particular tower in that city.

This tower was built on a foundation that was approximately nine feet deep.

But when they got to the second floor of that tower, the building began to lean because the ground upon which it was built was not solid and the foundations were not deep enough to support the structure in that poor soil.

And as a result, it's known today as the leaning tower of pizza.

That's not you.

Do you hear me?

That's not you.

If you have received Messiah Jesus the Lord and walk in him, that is not you.

You are rooted.

Because God has caused you to be rooted.

If you live in Jesus, God makes you have a solid foundation in him.

You need not be overly concerned about your roots because God does the work of rooting you.

When you wholly trust in him and you live your life in him, he causes your roots to grow deep.

Our concern is not in the depth or the strength of our roots.

Our concern is walking in him.

If you are in Jesus having received him, then God is causing your roots to grow.

Now, you may not feel that way.

But you can't always trust your feelings, can you?

Because they can deceive you.

You may not feel that way, but it is true.

That's why we must walk in him to remain close to the one who causes us to be rooted.

Now, the further we are from him, the further we are from walking in him, the more we will feel that our roots are shallow or even non-existent.

And if you are walking through a storm in the midst of life and you are not walking in him, then you will feel the battering and the whipping more than ever.

But that's not the only condition that we find here.

The second condition is that we are built up in him.

The second condition of those who walk in Jesus is described with a construction metaphor.

He says we are built up.

It's the picture of building a home in which to live.

And God is building this home, he's building us up into his house.

It doesn't refer to our working or our spiritual growth, like in our Bible reading, in our prayer, fellowship with other saints.

Instead, it refers to God's work, God's doing his work to make us into his people, and he takes us and he fashions us together, he connects us together to mold us, to build us up, to form us into his house.

So first, God gives us deep roots.

That's the foundation that he builds upon, and then he builds up.

From here, he moves from the farm to the construction site.

God begins the building process when we receive Jesus.

And that process continues as we walk in him.

One step at a time, one floor at a time.

Sometimes the construction process moves slowly.

Because there are details that God needs to work on to fashion us into his house.

Sometimes it feels like God is working very rapidly and we're struggling to catch up.

Ephesians uses this metaphor quite often.

Ephesians chapter 2, verse 20 speaks of being built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, the entire building is being joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord.

Ephesians 2:20

Chapter 4 of Ephesians, he talks about giving the church apostles and prophets and evangelists and shepherds and teachers to equip the saints for the work of the ministry so that the building up of the body of Christ might take place.

Later on, he talks about each part, each individual being fashioned and connected together.

That's why being a part together is so important.

He puts us together as a house fit for his presence.

Peter also uses this metaphor in 1 Peter chapter 2.

1 Peter 2 · chapter mention

He says, You yourselves are like living stones being built up into a spiritual house.

You don't do the building.

God does.

If you have received Messiah Jesus the Lord and you walk in him, he roots you and he builds you up.

The third metaphor moves us to the business world, to the to the commercial realm.

Established in the faith, the word established comes from the business world.

It's a word used to guarantee a transaction.

So if I sold you a piece of property or a home, we would sit down and sign a contract to guarantee or establish you as the new owner.

It's similar to the idea being rooted because it has the has the sense of firmness to it.

A signed contract is firm, it is settled, it establishes the purchaser as the new owner.

And so God causes us to be firm, to be established in the faith in Jesus.

That means he works to place us firmly in Christ rather than in the world.

He establishes us as his own because he has purchased us with an exorbitant price.

The price of his own blood.

And like a contract guarantees a land sale.

Ephesians chapter one tells us that God gives us his spirit as a guarantee.

These three conditions all result from walking in Him.

As we walk in Him, having first received Him, God then begins a work that we can't see.

Sometimes we can sense it, sometimes we can feel it, sometimes we can see it working itself out in the body of Christ, but God does this work to root us, to build us up and to establish us in the faith.

It's God who does the work.

He causes us to be rooted.

He establishes us in the faith.

He builds us up together into his house.

He has taken us out of the realm of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of light, the kingdom of his son.

He has caused us to be firmly established in the faith.

And that reality is to guide our lives in Christ.

We are to walk with him.

We are to walk in him, to live in him, knowing and understanding what he's done for us.

You see, in receiving Jesus, we have become the recipients of God's tremendous love to work to ensure that we have an immovable position in Messiah Jesus the Lord.

And what a place that is, my friends.

What comfort is there in knowing that I don't have to grow my own roots to make sure that I remain stable?

What assurance is there in knowing that God's the one who's going to make sure that I'm built up?

What encouragement is there in knowing that God is going to establish me in the faith?

In receiving Jesus, we have become the recipients of God's tremendous work.

That should bring us great comfort and immense boldness to walk in Him.

You know, some of the homes in parts of our country are built with hurricane clips.

Hurricane clips are specially designed connectors in the framing process that enables a home to endure to withstand the tremendous force that storms inflict upon buildings.

In other portions of the country, homes are built with special allowances to withstand earthquakes.

That means they have certain kinds of foundations and certain types of construction so that they can sway with the movements of the ground.

Those homes are in solid positions to withstand the onslaught of nature.

Similarly, God has given each person who has received Jesus an even more excellent place that can never be moved by rooting them, by building them up, and establishing them in the faith that is in Christ.

Don't you want to receive Jesus?

How can you say no to that?

That brings us to the fourth part of our sentence.

The repeated counsel.

Rooted, built up in him, and established in the faith, just as you were taught.

Just as you were taught.

This is nothing new.

You already know this.

Do you remember that the great commission at the end of the Gospel of Matthew?

Yes, you do.

Jesus told the disciples, Matthew 28, go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you, and behold, I am with you to the end of the age.

Making disciples involves two components.

The first is leading them to faith in Jesus, to receiving Jesus, demonstrated then in the outward demonstration of that faith in baptism.

The second that we often forget about is teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

That's what the apostle Paul's saying.

You have received Jesus.

And you've been taught to observe everything that Jesus has said.

You've been taught to walk in him.

This is nothing new.

You have been taught these things.

They were taught that as they walked in Jesus, he would always be with them.

And that continual constant presence with Jesus makes roots grow.

It makes us be built up in the faith and established in the faith.

This phrase, this phrase reminds us that this is the core responsibility of the Lord's church.

This is what you've been taught.

This is what we teach.

Receive Christ Jesus the Lord and walk in him.

The Colossians were taught to walk in Christ.

Now let's move to the fifth and the last part of our sentence.

Abounding in thanksgiving.

I'll call this the continual countenance.

On the one hand, this is something that keeps on going.

This is what you are, and this is who you are if you have received Christ and walk in him as God roots you and builds you up and establishes you, you abound in thanksgiving.

Now this phrase doesn't describe our position in Jesus, but it describes the result of our position and our condition.

This is the fruit of receiving Messiah Jesus the Lord and walking in him.

As you receive him and walk in him, you abound in thanksgiving.

To abound means to have more than enough.

It means to overflow.

To overflow.

We appreciate it in the morning when we have overflowing coffee.

We have more than enough.

It abounds.

We will overflow with thanksgiving when we walk in Jesus.

Do you see the flow of thought?

Receiving Jesus means we switch families.

No longer are we in the world's family that is led by the deceiver.

But we are now in God's household, led by the Father of truth.

Our trust in him and our love for him draw us to walk in Jesus.

And as we walk with him, as we walk in him, our roots grow deeper and stronger, and the body is built up and we are established in the faith, and those roots carry the sweet life of righteousness that produces fruit that pleases God.

Deep roots result in an abundance of fruit.

Being fashioned as God's people results in an overflowing of praise.

Being made firm in the faith brings an abundance of thanksgiving.

And when we live out our lives in Jesus in recognition of our position in Him, the result is a life that overflows with thanksgiving.

We begin by asking a question.

What motivates thanksgiving in you?

As you think about a life or a time of gratitude that you have had and what motivates that?

And then I ask, add Christian to that.

As a Christian, what motivates gratitude in you?

Don't miss this, my friends.

For Christians, giving thanks is not related to what life gives us.

It is not associated with our comfort.

It is not associated with our possessions.

It is not associated with our employment or lack thereof.

It is not associated even with the presence of our families.

Giving thanks is first and foremost an outflow of what God has done for you in Jesus Messiah the Lord.

If you have received Messiah Jesus the Lord and you are living your life in Him, an acknowledgement of your position in Him, then you can give thanks no matter what the circumstances of life might be.

And you can remain firmly rooted, built up and established in Him, no matter what the storms of life might throw at you.

How can that be?

How can that be?

It can be because nothing in life changes the work of God, rooting you, building you up, and establishing you in the faith.

And because nothing can change that, you and I can have a constant reason, an unchanging reason to overflow with thanksgiving.

Because of Jesus, Messiah, the Lord.

And walking with Jesus results in deep roots that abundantly produce the fruit of Thanksgiving.

Now you have a reason for Thanksgiving week.

Would you pray with me?

Lord Jesus.

We bow before you first in confession.

That so often we fail to give you thanks.

Too often, Lord, we we grumble and we we complain and our hearts are not right with you.

Too often our spirits are wrestling between the tug of the world and what we know that you call us to be and to do in you.

Oh Lord, help us.

With the man that encountered you, we ask, help our unbelief, Lord.

Lord, we ask you to be faithful to your word.

We ask that you would fill us with your spirit, that you would give us the promise of the Spirit, the guarantee of our inheritance, and that in that guarantee that you would cause us to have strength to walk in you.

Fulfill your promise to give us deep roots, to build us up and establish us.

For then, then we will overflow with thanksgiving to you.

Amen.

That concludes this sermon from Faith Evangelical Free Church.

Our mission is to declare the Word of God and disciple believers into mature, devoted followers of Jesus.

You can learn more by visiting our website at faithfree.com.