| As you
have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him . . . Are you
so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by
the flesh?
(Colossians
2:6 and
Galatians 3:3)
In this vital matter of relating rightly
to the Lord, one common mistake is attempting to develop our Christian walk
in a different manner than we began it. Our present verse points us to the
proper outlook. We are to build our life with the Lord upon the very same
terms that we began that life. "As
you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in
Him." We are to
walk with Jesus the way we received Him.
We received the Lord and His great
salvation as gifts of grace.
"Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift! . . . For by grace you have
been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God"
(2
Corinthians 9:15 and
Ephesians 2:8). We must, therefore, walk in Him with a "grace-receiving"
mentality. "And of
His fullness we have all received, and grace for [upon] grace"
(John
1:16). We must never attempt to treat the Christian life as something we
can manufacture or earn. Sinful, earthly fathers were created with a desire
to give beneficial gifts to their children. Even more so, our holy, heavenly
Father has a heart to give all that is needed to those who are willing to
ask and receive. "If
you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much
more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!"
(Matthew
7:11).
Galatians 3:3 reinforces the necessity of keeping our pattern for
beginning a walk with God the same one we use for developing that walk: "Are
you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect
by the flesh?" These rhetorical
questions warn of the deadly danger of having our approach to Christian
growth differ from how we found spiritual birth. The Holy Spirit alone was
able to bring us spiritual birth. The flesh of man could avail nothing. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is
born of the Spirit is spirit" (John
3:6). The Holy Spirit must bring us spiritual progress. The flesh can
contribute nothing. "It
is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing" (John
6:63). Any change in approach from birth to growth is foolishness. It is
doomed to failure.
We began by grace, so we must continue by
grace. We began by the Spirit, so we must continue by the Spirit. Yes, we
are to walk with Jesus the way we received Him. Any changes in
approach are unacceptable, ineffective, and impossible.
As you have therefore
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.
(Colossians
2:6-7)
The manner in which we received the Lord
is the very same manner in which we are to walk in Him. "As
you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him."
We received Him by grace, we must walk by grace. We were born again by the
Spirit, we must walk by the Spirit. Furthermore, when we first received
Christ, He was our only hope. Now, we are to walk with Him the
same way.
It is good to recall how Jesus was the
comprehensive focus of our beginning with Him. When we received Him and His
forgiveness, we knew He had to provide all that was needed for our
salvation. We agreed with the word of God that there was no other hope than
Jesus. "Jesus said
to him, 'I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father
except through Me' . . . Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is
no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved"
(John
14:6 and
Acts 4:12). We knew that we could supply nothing ourselves. We were
spiritually dead, having no righteousness at all: "dead in trespasses and sins . . . all our righteousnesses are
like filthy rags" (Ephesians
2:1 and
Isaiah 64:6). We had entered the blessed condition of being convicted of
our own spiritual bankruptcy. "Blessed
are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven"
(Matthew
5:3). Jesus was our comprehensive focus, our only hope.
This is how we are to
walk in Him today. We need the Lord Jesus as much now for living the
Christian life, as we needed Him at the beginning to be born again into it.
For growth and victory and fruitfulness, He is the one we must focus upon. "As
you have therefore 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."
We need to be
rooted in Him,
having our faith reaching out to Him for nutrition and strength, even as the
roots of a tree reach into the soil. We need to be
built up in Him,
having our lives developed by His work in us. We need to be
established in the faith,
allowing Him to stabilize us through the study of His word. This will lead
to lives of overflowing appreciation, grateful that "Christ
is all and in all"
(Colossians
3:11). Truly, we need the Lord Jesus as much now for living the
Christian life, as we needed Him at the beginning to be born again into it.
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