Rooted, Built Up and Established
By: Pastors Rodney & Adonica Howard-BrownePublish date: 10/15/2023
Foundation Scriptures:As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: 7 Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Colossians 2:6-7 KJV
1. As You Have Received Christ.
- Colossians 2:6a AMPC - As you have therefore received Christ…
- Received – means to receive something transmitted; to learn; to take (to, up, away); to take with oneself; to join to oneself; to not reject or withhold obedience.
- It means to receive, accept, and welcome someone as an associate or a companion.
- You received Christ when you were born again—you believed in Him, you believed God's Word to you, you accepted and acknowledged that He is who He says that He is.
- You also gave yourself, and your life, to Him from that moment forward, and became a brand-new creation; your sins were forgiven; your past was washed away.
- You are bought with a price, and you belong to Him (1Cor.6:20; 7:23)
- Colossians 2:6a AMPC - As you have therefore received Christ, [even] Jesus the Lord…
- Lord – master; a title of honor expressive of respect and reverence, with which servants greet their master; the title given to God, the Messiah.
- The Lord is the owner, the possessor, and disposer of a thing/person; the one who has the power of deciding; the one who has control.
- Your Lord—Jesus—is the Person to Whom you belong.
- If He is truly your Lord, then you have given Him complete authority over you, and your life, in every area of your life.
- Luke 6:46 NKJV - But why do you call Me 'Lord, Lord,' and not do the things which I say?
- Colossians 2:6b AMPC - …[so] walk (regulate your lives and conduct yourselves) in union with and conformity to Him.
- Walk - to walk; to make one’s way; progress; to make due use of opportunities; to live; to regulate one’s life; to conduct one’s self; to pass one’s life; be occupied.
- We died with Christ, and we were raised up, with Him.
- We are now dead to sin and alive unto righteousness—we live, by faith, to please and serve Him (Gal. 2:20; 1Pet.2:24).
- We have put off the old man and put on the new man, and now we walk in newness of life (Eph. 4:22-24; Col. 3:8-10; Rom. 6:4)
- We walk in the Spirit (not the flesh); we walk in love; we walk in His light (the light of His Word); we walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God (Gal. 5:16; 25; Eph.3:17; 5:2; 8; Col. 1:10).
- Colossians 2:7a AMPC - Have the roots [of your being] firmly and deeply planted [in Him, fixed and founded in Him]
- Rooted – to become stable; to cause to strike root; to strengthen with roots; to render firm; to fix; establish; cause a person or thing to be thoroughly grounded.
- Our life must be thoroughly rooted and grounded and established in the Word of God—it must form our identity and govern our actions—so that nothing can shake us or move us off or away from it.
- Jesus spoke of the Seed of the Word of God being sown on various types of soil (Matt. 13:18-23; Mk. 4:14-20; Lk. 8:11-15).
- The soil is the heart on man which is either good ground or not.
- Jesus said that the good ground is the person who receives the Seed, with an honest and good heart.
- It is the person who hears the Word, understands the Word, receives the Word, keeps the Word, and brings forth fruit with patience—thirty-, sixty-, and one hundred-fold (Mt. 13:23; Mk. 4:20; Lk. 8:15).
- Colossians 2:7b AMPC - …being continually built up in Him, becoming increasingly more confirmed and established in the faith, just as you were taught…
- Built up – to build up; to build upon—an ongoing process.
- Stablished – establish; to make firm; confirm; make sure; to make stable; stabilize.
- You are built up by, and established in, the Word as you renew your mind to the Word and become a doer of the Word (Acts 20:32; Rom.12:2; Eph.4:23; Col.3:10; Titus 3:5; Js.1:22-24).
- You build yourself up spiritually as you pray in the Holy Ghost (Jude 1:20).
- Build your house—your life—on the Rock of the Word, by being a doer of the Word, and you will never be moved, no matter what storm comes your way (Mt.7:22-27; Lk.6:47-49).
- Faith – belief; trust; assurance; conviction of the truth; belief with the predominant idea of trust or confidence in God, springing from faith in the same; fidelity; faithfulness; the character of one who can be relied on; moral conviction of the truth of God and His Word.
- Your faith is what you believe, and it is also who you are and what you do—how you live your life.
- Taught – instructed; impart instruction; instill doctrine; explain or expound a thing.
- It is very important for us to be taught and instructed in the Truth of the Word of God—and also to teach and instruct others, especially our children.
- Colossians 2:7c AMPC – …and abounding and overflowing in it with thanksgiving.
- Abounding – to exceed a fixed number of measure; abundant; over and above; overflow; large measure; to excel more than; to exceed; to increase; to be richly furnished; to make abundant or excellent.
- Abounding is used of a flower going from a bud to full bloom.
- Thanksgiving – gratitude; giving of thanks; thankfulness; actively grateful language to God as an act of worship.
- To always, and in all things, abound and overflow with gratitude, is a conscious choice we make.
- It is also the fruit, or the result, of being rooted and grounded in God and His Word.
- The more we come to intimately know Him, the more we realize how good and gracious He is, and the more our heart and mouth will overflow with gratitude and praise.