Christ Over My Walk

*This blog post was adapted from Chris Rich’s sermon on 3/27/2022. You can find the sermon video below.

“Therefore, as you 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.” Colossians 2:6-7

In Colossians 2, Paul shifts from a focus on evangelism to discipleship. In verses 6 and 7, we see this phrase “walk in him.” When we are new believers, we start out “crawling” along in our faith. But Paul encourages believers (including us) to grow and mature in their relationship with Christ, which means we must learn to walk in Him. But what does “walking in Him” look like in our lives?

Never Walking Alone

At the beginning of chapter 2, Pauls writes, “For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face…” At this point, Paul is in prison and is not physically able to visit the believers in Colossae. He is agonizing over them, but he knows that there is one thing time and space cannot hold – and that is prayer.

In verse 5, Paul reminds the church in Colossae that though he cannot be physically with them, he is there in spirit – continually lifting them up to the Father in prayer. This is a great reminder that we are never walking alone. We have the Lord with us, as well as our fellow believers. We should all be supporting one another in prayer and agonizing over each other.

How To Walk

In Colossians 2:2-5, Paul tells us how we are to walk:

“…that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ.”

Walk In Courage

Paul desires that believers’ hearts are encouraged. When you encourage someone, it’s like you are giving them courage. Paul knows that the believers in Colossae are going to struggle, especially because their church was planted by someone who only recently became a believer himself. But he wants them to walk in courage.

Knit Together in Love

He also tells them to be knit together in love. We know from 1 John 4:16 that God is love. Without love, nothing that we do matters. We must have love to serve God and serve one another well.

Love does not mean feeling affectionate to one another. Love is a choice that we make daily regardless of our emotions. Believers should be knit tightly together in love for God and in love for each other, so we need to walk in love.

In Understanding, With Wisdom

Paul also tells the believers to walk with understanding, knowledge, and wisdom – all of which can be found in Christ. If we desire understanding and wisdom, we should be going to Jesus and deepening our relationship with Him. We should be reading His word, praying, and sitting in His presence regularly.

Anchored in Truth

Next, we must also be anchored in truth.

When we hear lies, it’s easy to identify the crazy ones. But Paul specifically warns us about “plausible arguments,” because those are the ones more likely to lead us astray.

Today, these plausible arguments can look like many things. One of them is the prosperity gospel, which teaches partial truths but twists them to mean something untrue. For example, this “gospel” teaches that God always wants us to be happy and prosperous. This prosperity gospel falls apart in times of crisis. The truth is that God never told us that the Christian life would be easy or worry-free or that we would always be happy. On the contrary, Jesus told us: “In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

We also see a strong trend right now of “deconstruction.” Deconstruction doesn’t simply mean asking questions and addressing doubts in our faith. We all can have crises of faith sometimes, and we can do so without deconstructing. But deconstruction usually means tearing apart all of our beliefs and the teachings we’ve heard and then “reconstructing” something new. Unfortunately, what’s reconstructed rarely resembles Christianity. The God of this newly “reconstructed faith” usually resembles the Self much more than He resembles the God of the Bible.

To avoid being led astray by these types of things, we need to be anchored in truth and not in our feelings. The only truth we have is God’s Word, so we need to be spending time reading and pursuing the Lord.

Firmness of Faith

Lastly, we should walk in the firmness of our faith. When we are anchored in God’s truth, we can be firm. That doesn’t mean that we are overbearing or overwhelming, but we can stand firm in what we know to be true. This firmness of faith will keep us from being deluded by plausible arguments around us.

Therefore… Walk

Paul wraps up this section of scripture in the same place we began: Colossians 2:6-7. He tells the believers, “therefore, walk…”

• In Christ - Live in the conscious presence of Christ. Give God glory in all things.
• Rooted - Be deep-rooted in good soil, providing nourishment.
• Built up - Standing fast on a good foundation.
• Established - Keeping a continual commitment to truth.
• Abounding in thanksgiving - The distinguishing mark of the believer.

Our walk is not about us, but about Him.“Walking in Him” requires an intimacy with Christ. We have to look forward and keep our eyes on Jesus. It’s not about following a moral code or checking boxes off of a to-do list, but pursuing a personal relationship with our Creator every single day.

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:1–2