So Walk In Him Series

Introduction

It was Easter Sunday in 1976.

I attended an Easter Sunday Evening Worship Service at St. John’s Methodist Church in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.

During that worship service, I heard the good news about God’s grace, found only in Jesus Christ.

I knew myself to be a sinner and destined for hell for eternity.

During the sermon, the preacher, the Rev. George Irvine, pointed me to Jesus Christ.

Jesus paid the penalty for all my sins.

He credited me with his perfect righteousness.

I believed in Jesus and received him, his love, and his forgiveness.

I walked out of that sanctuary that night a new creation in Christ.

My life was changed, and I have never been the same since that wonderful night.

Just as I received Christ Jesus into my life, he has grown me in him.

That was almost 50 years ago, and I am still growing in Christ.

The Apostle Paul wrote this letter to the Colossians.

They were relatively new Christians.

False teachers were showing up in Colossae and tempting these new Christians with spiritual add-ons, religious upgrades, and mystical enhancements.

They were being told that it was fine to begin with Christ.

But they needed more.

Paul’s answer is simple and stunning: You never graduate from Christ!

The Christ who saves you is the Christ who sustains you.

The Christ who justifies you is the Christ who sanctifies you.

The Christ you receive is the Christ who grows you.

Scripture

Let’s read Colossians 2:6-7:

6 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

Lesson

Colossians 2:6-7 shows us how believers grow in Christ.

Let’s use the following outline:

1. Continue in the Christ You Received (2:6)

2. Cultivate the Walk Christ Gives (2:7)

I. Continue in the Christ You Received (2:6)

First, believers grow by continuing in the Christ they have received.

Paul writes in verse 6, “Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him.”

Verses 6-7 occupy a central place in Paul’s letter to the Colossians.

They serve as a hinge between what has already been written and provide the basis for the attack on the false teaching that is coming (8-23).

Paul begins with the foundation of the Christian life: “You received Christ Jesus the Lord.”

That is justification.

The sovereign Father takes hold of sinners and unites them to Christ.

You did not receive Christ by your own wisdom, willpower, or wisdom.

The Apostle John says you were born “not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12-13).

Paul says in Ephesians 2:8–9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

The reason you are a Christian is because of God’s grace.

You are the recipient of God’s pure, undeserved, and sovereign grace.

Augustine of Hippo’s justification illustrates the grace of God.

Augustine was not seeking Christ.

Rather, Christ was seeking Augustine.

Augustine was tormented by his sins, particularly his sexual sins, and so he went out into his garden in Milan, Italy, in the summer of 386 AD.

There he heard a child's voice say, “Tolle, lege!” which means, “Take up and read!"

He took a Bible, the pages fell open to Romans 13:13-14, and the gospel of Christ pierced him.

There he read, “ Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.”

Years later, Augustine wrote of Christ, "You called, you shouted, and you broke through my deafness."

Augustine received Christ because Christ first received Augustine.

Paul’s logic is beautiful, as he continued to write: “Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him.”

The way in is the way on.

The Jesus who saves is the Jesus who grows you.

Remember that Jesus said, “Apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).

Paul sternly rebuked the Galatians for forgetting this truth when he said in Galatians 3:3, “Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?”

My dear Christian, when you were justified by faith, you were united to Christ.

You are in Christ.

And it is only in Christ that you grow as a Christian.

That is why Paul encouraged the Philippians when he said of Christ, “He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion” (Philippians 1:6).