Verse 6 in this passage gives us some significant instruction, in that we are told that the secret to living the Christian life is the same as the secret to beginning the Christian life.
We begin the Christian life by acknowledging the Lordship of Christ.
“It is vital in this connection to notice how the apostles preached the lordship of Christ. The word ‘Savior’ occurs only twice in the Acts of the Apostles (5:31; 13:23), on the other hand the title ‘Lord’ is mentioned 92 times, “Lord Jesus’ 13 times, and ‘The Lord Jesus Christ’ 6 times in the same book! The gospel is: ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.’” - Ernest Reisinger
We continue in the Christian life by learning to live more and more under the Lordship of Christ.
In verse 7, Paul shares with us the characteristics of the believer who is living under Christ’s Lordship.
1. Their life is centered around the person of Christ - “rooted and built up in Him”
The tenses of the two verbs used by Paul here are significant.
“Rooted” is a perfect participle. This conveys the idea of something which took place in the past, but whose effects are still experienced in the present. The idea of the Christian being “rooted” therefore, refers to our initial encounter with the living Christ wherein we trusted Him for our eternal salvation and entered into a personal love
relationship with Him.
The Bible teaches that once a person is saved by acknowledging Christ as Lord of their salvation, they are saved eternally.
“I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.” - John 10:28-29 (NIV)
Since I have believed on Jesus, I am safe in His hands; and over His hand is the Father’s hands; and to even get their to try to pluck me out of the hands of Jesus and the Father, the Devil is going to have to swim through the blood of Jesus by which I have been provided an eternity’s worth of forgiveness. And that’s too great a distance for the Devil to swim!
“Built up” is a present participle. This conveys the idea of something that is being constructed in the present.
This is an obvious reference to our growing in our surrender to every area of life to Christ’s Lordship, which, interestingly enough, is yet another guarantee that once a person is saved, they are saved eternally.
“And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.” - Philippians 1:6 (NLT)
2. Their life is growing in the knowledge of Christ - “strengthened in the faith as you were taught”
A. The disciplines of the faith.
Like prayer, confessing sin, yielding to the Spirit, Bible study, hearing God and obeying, worship, service, fellowship, and witnessing.
B. The doctrines of the faith.
In the responses to article appearing on a Facebook post, “Only Half of Kids Raised Southern Baptist Stay Southern Baptist,” one person said, “Churches need to forget doctrine and teach the Bible.” But one cannot learn the Bible and ignore doctrine.
When people repeat sayings like “Christianity is a life, not a doctrine;” or “I don’t need theology. Just give me Jesus;” or “No creed but Christ;” or “Deeds, not creeds;” they’re either buying into a cultural distaste for claims to absolute truth or pushing back on what they see as a dry, academic approach to the Bible. Such statements reveal a misunderstanding of what doctrine is.
Biblical doctrine defines the parameters of Christian teaching on topics such as God, sin, salvation, etc. You cannot study the Bible and not learn doctrine, nor should you want to. For to study doctrine is to learn truths for the purpose of embracing them in our lives.
“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine . . .” - 2 Timothy 3:16a (NKJV)
It does matter what you believe.
C. The defense of the faith.
It is not enough to know what you believe, you should know why you believe it. We shouldn’t be afraid to explore the “whys” of our faith. Christianity is a common-sense, reasonable faith. You do not have to check your brains at the door in order to be a Christian.
D. The dynamics of the faith.
Too many Christians are living a compartmentalized faith. They are applying their faith in some areas of their life but not every area. But living under the Lordship of Christ requires that I allow my faith to impact and transform every area of my life.
3. Their life is overflowing with thanksgiving to Christ - “overflowing with thankfulness”
If I am living under the Lordship of Christ, then my eyes are on Christ, not my circumstances, which means I will always find reasons for joy and reasons to be thankful.
“JOY comes when there is Zero between Jesus and You.”
When I live under Christ’s Lordship, then there will be zero between me and Jesus and the result will be that my life will be overflowing with thanksgiving!
Conclusion: Living under Christ’s Lordship today is practice for what we will do as believers for all eternity.
A couple of weeks ago, our son, Jeff, took his four year old son, Enoch, to a fishing tournament for kids. It only cost $3 to enter, but it was a morning of fun for them both. The kids could catch five fish, and the one who caught the biggest fish would win first place.
Some friends also brought their son. He was not happy to be there. He wanted to be somewhere else doing something else. He had a frown on his face. His bottom lip was stuck out. When someone asked if he was excited about the tournament, he made it clear he wasn’t.
Our son, in an effort to encourage him, said, “Hey, you need to practice smiling, because if you win this thing, there’ll be people taking pictures and folks taking pictures for the newspaper, and you’ll want to be smiling.”
Well, our grandson, Enoch, won second place. Guess who won first place? The grumpy little boy. But you know what happened don’t you? When he won and they started celebrating, he was smiling from ear to ear.
One day, Jesus is coming again. And what a day of celebration that will be as we all will center our lives around Jesus, will be growing in our knowledge of Jesus, and overflowing with thanksgiving to Jesus. But why wait until heaven to experience the benefits of living under His Lordship? Why not do so today?
