The Bible Top 40
Colossians 2:6&7
In his monumental biography of Abraham Lincoln, Carl Sandburg introduces the chapter dealing with the President’s death with this line: “A tree is best measured when it has fallen.” It is true that quite often the full measure and impact of a life is not known until that life has been extinguished. But there is more that can be assessed about a tree after it has fallen than it’s height above the ground, it is also that time when we can see how deep the roots went.
A year ago we had a very violent night, when storms went raging through our area. I had to go through the area from Fond du Lac to Oshkosh several times in the days following that storm, and there were literally hundreds of trees that had been uprooted. It was both impressive and depressing. It was almost painful to see some of the great old trees that had fallen, knowing that they had withstood the storms of the world for many years. It was impressive to get a view of the roots that usually are hidden from our sight, but in the violence of the storm were exposed, as the surrounding turf was torn, sometimes it seemed like entire yards were displaced by the uprooting of one large tree.
Roots, while unseen, are arguably the most important part of a tree. Leaves can be attacked by insects and a tree will go dormant and often survive. Great, huge branches can break in a strong wind, and fall to the ground, but the tree can remain. We had a tree in our back yard that had the distinct scar of a lightning strike from probably 10 years ago, yet the tree was still strong. Trees can take a lot of abuse, as long as the roots are good and strong. Conversely, a tree can look pretty good on the surface, but if the roots are not strong, or deep, the tree is vulnerable.
That image is one that Paul had in mind when he wrote the verses we are going to study this morning. We are in the process of studying the Bible’s Top 40 – verses every Christian should be familiar with, maybe even have memorized!? Today we turn to a pair of verses that are so laden with meaning that they have inspired an entire curriculum of discipleship classes. Turn to the letter that Paul wrote to the Colossians, chapter 2. (793) Colossians is a rather short letter, just 4 chapters, but don’t let it’s brevity fool you. Along with Galatians, Ephesians and Philippians, all of which are less than 6 chapters in length, Colossians is a book that is filled with great truth, and wonderful theology. And that doesn’t mean that it’s boring! This letter is practical! It really brings the truth of God down to a street level for all of us.
Let’s read these verses, which actually make up just one sentence, together:
As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.
If someone came along and asked you to take one passage from the Bible that could be used to summarize the entire thing, it would be difficult. Some would turn quickly to John 3:16, where we read about God’s incredible love for the world that drove Him to send His only Son, so that anyone who believes in Him would not perish, but have everlasting life. Others come up with other verses, but with all the verses of Scripture available, it would be difficult to narrow it down to one passage for the entire Bible. I can tell you that it is tough to produce a list of “top 40 verses.” But if you had to come up with a verse that summarized a single book of the Bible, it gets a little easier, and in Colossians, it would be these two verses. They bring the message of Paul in this letter into a single sentence. In fact, they really summarize much of what Paul says in all of his writings.
Just look at that first phrase: “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him…” I guess the first thing we have to note is that this verse is being written to people who have “received Christ Jesus the Lord.” What does that mean exactly? You may have had people tell you, “You have to receive Christ!” Or they may ask, “Have you received Christ?” And you might think, “What does that mean, exactly?”
“Receive Christ?” Maybe you didn’t know He was available. Or maybe you didn’t know there was anything you had to do – you think of Jesus as “standard equipment,” when you were born, or when your parents had you baptized, Jesus was part of the package. After all, you were born in America, you’re a nice person, you’re in church for crying out loud! – isn’t that all there is to it?
No, there is more. That word “received” is very important. When Paul wrote this letter he chose a word that his readers would understand as “the acceptance by one person of another’s teaching.” In Jewish culture, teaching and tradition were passed from one generation to the next, and the word Paul used here was one that described the moment when the student recognized the truth. That moment of “AHA! I get it! It implies recognition of truth, and a whole-hearted belief in that truth. Do you remember when your child first grasped the concept of addition - that two and two equaled four? Remember those days that were full of “aha!” moments?
Have you had that happen with Jesus? Have you had that moment of revelation when you suddenly “got it?” When you discovered that it’s not about “religion,” it’s not about “doing good things?” It’s about Jesus. It’s about Him loving you first, unconditionally, no stings attached. He paid the price for your sins and mine so that we can be children of God. That moment when Jesus goes from church to work; when He is transformed from “religion” to “relationship;” when talk of Jesus no longer prompts an “Oh, no!” from us but an “Aha!” – that’s the time we have received Christ. We “get it!” We understand it, we have received it – more importantly, we have received Him. We are able to stand and proclaim without question that Jesus is our Lord and our Savior.
When you were teaching your child to add, recognition was only part of the process. I can remember when our kids could recognize that 2+2=4, and they could give the right answer. But it was completely different when the understood the concept that lay behind the answer. They could then transfer the concept of addition to other areas of math, and add any set of numbers, not just those they had memorized. The same is true spiritually. It is one thing to have memorized the answer:
· “Did Jesus die for you?”
· “Yes.”
· “Did He raise form the dead?”
· “Yes.”
· “Okay, you’re going to heaven.”
It is quite another to “receive it” as Paul talks here. It means taking the truth behind the facts and applying them to every part of our lives.
So before we can look at the rest of this verse, it begs the question, “Have you received Christ Jesus the Lord?”
If you have, Paul says, in effect, “That’s great, but you’re not done yet.” He says, “just as you have received, Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.” Whereas that receiving of Christ was a particular point in the past, the word, walk implies a continuation – in fact, the NIV renders this phrase, “continue to live in Him” - an on going way of life in Christ Jesus. Matthew Henry, in his commentary of this verse, says,
The great concern of those who have received Christ is to walk in him —to make their practices conformable to their principles and their conversation agreeable to their engagements. As we have received Christ, or consented to be his, so we must walk with him in our daily course and keep up our communion with him.
And Paul describes this walk with four wonderfully descriptive words that I want us to take note of:
· rooted
· built up
· established
· abounding
Each of these words produces a marvelous image for us to contemplate as we make this verse a part of our lives.
Rooted. As we said earlier, there is nothing that compares to having strong roots. Just as the roots of a tree are the most important part of that tree – even so our roots are the most important part of our lives. What keeps us steadfast in the storms of life? From what do we receive our spiritual nourishment? We have some sapling pines that we purchased a couple of weeks ago. Twenty trees to plant in our lot. As Andrew and I were out there digging the holes and placing the tiny trees, I said to him, “In twenty years you’ll bring your kids out here and say, ‘I can remember planting these trees with my dad like it was yesterday!’” By then, (hopefully) they will be taller than our house, forming a nice barrier between our lot and the open fields beyond. But they will never grow beyond a twig unless they take root. They need to draw their nutrition from the soil, they need plenty of water and sun. They need care and attention – support in these early days to keep from being blown over in the wind.
Spiritually we are much the same. We need to sink deep roots; we need spiritual nutrients, we need support and care. Those roots are not sunk in a church, or in a spiritual guide, but “in Him” - Jesus Christ Himself. Don’t ever substitute church for Jesus. Dig deep into Him – read His word, spend time in prayer and meditation, on your own, personally one on one with Jesus. Be rooted in Him. Firmly rooted like a tree.
Built up. The next descriptive phase Paul uses is “built up.” By using the word “up” along with “built,” Paul gives a picture of one layer being placed upon another, like the building of a wall. Each stone placed upon the next, in just the right place. In a culture where homes were constructed largely of stone, the image would have been even more powerful to them as it is to us today. They were familiar with the care and attention that needs to be given to such a task. You don’t just pile one stone on another and expect to build a house. You are diligent, you study, you use care. And one more thing – Paul changes the tense of this word from the word “rooted.” While “rooted” is in the past tense, it literally reads, “having been rooted,” – this word, “built up” is in a present tense, it reads, “being built up…” It is a continual process of being built up – layer upon layer, each one built on the one previous. Solidly built like a house.
Thirdly, we see the descriptive word, established. This word is one that was used in the legal arena to describe something that had been confirmed. When land is purchased, a surveyor will go out and establish the exact boundaries of the land. When a person comes to claim a prize, they have to establish their identity. It means the issue has been settled – confirmed – made sure. Paul is encouraging those who have received Christ to put down deep roots like a tree, to be in the process of being built up more and more in Christ, like a solid home, and that they should have a stronger and more certain grasp of the faith. Confirming the claims of Christ by the tests and trials of real life - taking those things that we have been taught and using them in the real world. It is in the real world that our faith is proven and established.
When Robert Ingersoll, the notorious skeptic, and critic of Christianity was in his heyday, two college students went to hear him lecture. As they walked down the street after the lecture, one said to the other, "Well, I guess he knocked the props out from under Christianity, didn't he?" The other said, "No, I don't think he did. Ingersoll did not explain my mother's life, and until he can explain my mother's life I will stand by my mother's God."
It is our life of faith that establishes the credibility of our claims. It works! It changes lives! Those who set out to disprove it are brought to their knees when confronted with the facts that Jesus Christ still changes lives. Our faith is established like a legal document as we are rooted in Christ, and built up in Him.
Lastly, I want you to notice the word “abounding.” See it there? “Abounding in it (your faith) with thanksgiving.” The picture here is of an overflowing cup, filled beyond capacity. When I was growing up in West Virginia, my grandfather had taken an old iron tub, and placed it in a cool valley. There was a spring there, and he placed a piece of pipe into the side of the hill, and the water would flow out of the pipe, into the tub, and the tub would overflow continuously with fresh, sweet water. The cows in his field would use it to drink from, the deer from the area came to, and on more than one occasion, grandkids would splash around and play in it. There was no stopping that flow – for years way before I was born it had flowed, and it still flows today – filling and overflowing that old tub. That’s the picture here. When we have received Christ, when we “get it;” and have our roots firmly in Him, held firm and nourished by Him, when we are being continually built up in Him, always growing higher and stronger; when we are seeing our faith confirmed in the day to day activities of life, then we are going to experience an abundance of thanksgiving. It will flow from us like a spring that has been tapped and will provide refreshing not only for ourselves but for others who are thirsting for the kind of life that only Christ can give.
I hope that you will never be able to look at these words the same again. They are so full of imagery. The “aha!” of receiving Christ Jesus as Lord. The call to now walk in that knowledge, well rooted like a tree, strongly built like a house, confirmed and settled like a legal document, and overflowing like a spring. Each of these images has a point to make, but together they paint a portrait of an incredible life of fellowship with Christ that I believe is the desire of every human being.
Do you know it?
Is it yours?
It is available to you right now – and that’s the best news you’re ever going to hear. Come and know Him today.