The Logic of Your Life: From Root to Fruit Text: Colossians 2:6-7
Introduction: The Un-upgradable Gospel
We live in a world that is obsessed with the upgrade. Your phone is obsolete the moment you walk out of the store. Your computer needs a new operating system every six months. Your car manufacturer is already designing next year's model before this year's has even cooled on the asphalt. The spirit of our age is one of perpetual dissatisfaction, a constant, nagging sense that what you have is not quite enough. There is always a better version, a premium package, a director's cut just around the corner.
This mentality, like a spiritual virus, has infected the church. Christians get saved, and then they begin to look around for the upgrade. They received Christ, and it was wonderful, but now they are susceptible to the traveling salesman who comes to town peddling "Gnosticism 2.0" or "Advanced Mysticism" or "The Deeper Life" package. The Colossian church was dealing with just such a thing. False teachers had rolled into town with their carts full of philosophical snake oil, offering a blend of Jewish legalism, pagan mysticism, and angel worship. They were telling the Colossians that Jesus was a good start, a fine foundation, but to be truly spiritual, they needed to add these other things. They needed Jesus-plus.
Paul confronts this head-on. He tells them that the gospel is not a starter kit. Jesus Christ is not the freeware version that you later upgrade to the premium edition. The Christian life is not about moving on from Christ to bigger and better things. The Christian life is about moving deeper into Christ, who is Himself the biggest and best of all things. The logic of your entire Christian existence is contained in the seed of your conversion. The rest of your life is simply the oak tree that was always latent in that initial acorn. Paul's argument here is devastatingly simple: the way you began is the way you continue. There is no bait-and-switch in the kingdom of God.
This passage is a potent antibiotic against the infection of spiritual faddishness. It is a call to radical consistency. It provides us with the fundamental architecture of Christian maturity, showing us how the initial act of faith becomes a lifelong walk, how that walk is stabilized by deep roots, how those roots support a growing structure, and how the entire edifice is designed to be weatherproofed by sound doctrine and overflowing with the joyful noise of gratitude.
The Text
Therefore as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and being built up in Him, and having been established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and abounding with thanksgiving.
(Colossians 2:6-7 LSB)
The Unchanging Premise (v. 6)
We begin with the foundational premise that governs the entire Christian life.
"Therefore as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him," (Colossians 2:6)
The word "therefore" links us back to what Paul has just said. He has just finished exulting in the supremacy and sufficiency of Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (v. 3). Because Christ is exhaustively sufficient, the way you relate to Him must be consistent from beginning to end. Notice the logic: "as you received... so walk." The manner of your entrance dictates the manner of your journey. The character of your justification defines the character of your sanctification.
How did you receive Him? You received "Christ Jesus the Lord." This is not just a name; it is a confession. "Christ" means He is the Messiah, the anointed King, the fulfillment of all Old Testament prophecy. "Jesus" is His human name, the name of His incarnation, the one who saves His people from their sins. And "Lord" is the declaration of His absolute sovereignty. You did not receive Him as a helpful guru, a spiritual advisor, or a co-pilot. You received Him as Lord. You bent the knee. You surrendered unconditionally. You came to Him as a bankrupt sinner, with nothing in your hands to offer, and you received Him by grace through faith alone. You did not earn it, you did not deserve it, you did not add your own spiritual resume to the application. You simply received.
And Paul says, "so walk in Him." The Christian walk is not a different activity from the Christian reception. It is the same faith, now with legs on it. It is the same grace, now at work in your daily life. It is the same Lord, now exercising His authority over your Tuesday morning as He did over your initial conversion. The temptation is to receive Christ by grace and then attempt to walk by works. We get our foot in the door by faith, and then try to earn our keep by performance. This is the essence of the Galatian heresy, and it is a fool's errand. It is like being rescued from the ocean by a helicopter and then, once safely inside, insisting on helping the rotors by flapping your arms really hard.
To walk "in Him" means your life is now located within the sphere of Christ's person and work. He is not just your destination; He is the very road you walk on. He is the air you breathe. All of your life, every step, every thought, every transaction, is to be conducted within the reality of who He is. This is what we mean by "All of Christ for all of life." There are no areas of your existence that are cordoned off from His lordship. Your business, your family, your politics, your entertainment, your finances, all of it is to be an expression of this initial reception of "Christ Jesus the Lord."
The Unseen Foundation (v. 7a)
Paul then unpacks what this walk looks like using a series of powerful metaphors, starting with agriculture.
"having been firmly rooted and being built up in Him," (Genesis 2:7a LSB)
He gives us two participles here that describe the Christian's stability. The first is "having been firmly rooted." This is in the perfect tense, which in Greek describes a past action with ongoing results. At your conversion, you were transplanted out of the barren soil of Adam and planted into the rich, life-giving soil of Christ. This was a definitive, once-for-all event. You are not in the process of being rooted; you have been rooted. Your roots have gone down deep into the historical reality of His death, burial, and resurrection. This is not a subjective feeling; it is an objective fact. You are in Him.
This is why Christianity is not a philosophy or a set of abstract ideals. It is grounded in history. Your stability does not come from the intensity of your feelings but from the solidity of the ground in which you are planted. A tree does not stand through a storm by sheer willpower. It stands because its roots have a firm grip on something outside of itself. Likewise, your spiritual stability comes from being anchored in the finished work of Christ. When the winds of false doctrine blow, when the storms of trial and affliction hit, you do not stand by looking inward at the quality of your faith. You stand by looking downward, to the unshakeable reality of the Christ you are rooted in.
The second participle is "being built up in Him." This shifts the metaphor from agriculture to architecture. This verb is in the present tense, indicating a continuous, ongoing process. While your rooting was a past, completed act, your construction is a present, daily reality. You are a spiritual building, a temple of the Holy Spirit, and God is the master builder. The foundation has been laid once for all, and that foundation is Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 3:11). Now, the superstructure is going up, stone by stone, day by day.
This is the process of sanctification. God is adding to you, shaping you, making you more and more into the image of His Son. This is not a frantic, self-help project. Notice the verb is passive: "being built up." You are not the primary builder; you are the building. God is at work in you. Your job is to cooperate with the builder, to yield to the hammer and chisel of His Word and His providence. This process is often slow, noisy, and messy, like any construction site. But it is progressing, and the one who began this good work in you will bring it to completion (Phil. 1:6).
The Unwavering Standard (v. 7b)
Next, Paul brings in a third metaphor, this one from the world of law or commerce, to describe our intellectual and doctrinal stability.
"and having been established in your faith, just as you were instructed, " (Colossians 2:7b LSB)
To be "established" means to be made firm, to be confirmed as true and reliable. It is the idea of a legal guarantee. Your faith is not a flimsy, sentimental wish. It is a robust, objective body of truth. Notice he says "the faith," not just "your faith." He is referring to the apostolic doctrine, the content of the gospel, the things that they were "instructed" in. This is not a call to have more feelings of faith, but to be more grounded in the facts of the faith.
Christian maturity requires doctrinal clarity. Vague, fuzzy, sentimental Christianity will get blown over by the first clever argument that comes along. This is why sound teaching is not an optional extra for the intellectually inclined. It is the skeletal structure of the Christian life. Paul says you are to be established in the faith "just as you were instructed." The standard for truth is not your personal experience or some new revelation. The standard is the Word of God as it was taught by the apostles. The faith was once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 3). It does not get updated. It does not evolve. Our understanding of it deepens, but the faith itself is a settled deposit.
This is a direct shot across the bow of the Colossian heretics. They were offering something new, something more, something beyond what Epaphras had taught them. Paul says, no. Growth is not found by adding to the gospel, but by going deeper into the gospel you first heard. Stability comes from knowing what you believe and why you believe it. It comes from being able to distinguish the solid food of God's Word from the cotton candy of human philosophy and religious nonsense.
The Unavoidable Response (v. 7c)
Finally, Paul describes the emotional atmosphere, the pervasive attitude, that characterizes a life that is walking, rooted, and built up in Christ.
"and abounding with thanksgiving." (Colossians 2:7c LSB)
This is not just an add-on. It is the necessary result of the first three realities. A Christian who truly understands that he was received by grace, is rooted in Christ, is being built up by God, and is established in the truth will be a fountain of gratitude. The word is "abounding," or overflowing. It is not a trickle of thanks. It is a tidal wave.
Thanksgiving is the engine of the Christian life and the ultimate weapon against sin. Murmuring, complaining, and bitterness are the native tongue of the old man. Gratitude is the language of the new creation. The fundamental sin of mankind is that "although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks" (Romans 1:21). The fundamental act of the redeemed man is to give thanks in all things (1 Thess. 5:18). Why? Because we know that the sovereign Lord we received is working all things together for our good.
A thankful heart is a sign of good doctrinal health. When you are abounding in thanksgiving, it shows that you understand grace. It shows you know you are a debtor who can never repay. It shows you know that every good thing you have is a gift. It suffocates pride, kills envy, and starves covetousness. The false teachers were offering a religion of asceticism and rule-keeping, which always leads to either pride in one's performance or despair in one's failure. Both are joyless. The gospel, in contrast, produces an overflowing, abounding, robust joy that expresses itself in constant thanksgiving.
Conclusion: The Consistent Christian
So what is the takeaway? It is this: the Christian life is a life of radical, joyful consistency. You do not need a new program. You do not need a spiritual upgrade. You need to understand and live out the logic of what happened to you when you first believed.
You received Christ Jesus the Lord. Therefore, walk in Him. Don't try to walk in your own strength, or in some new philosophy, or in a set of man-made rules. Walk in Him.
You have been rooted in Him. Therefore, stand firm. Your position is secure. Don't be shaken by trials or tossed about by every new doctrinal fad. Your roots are deep in the bedrock of Calvary.
You are being built up in Him. Therefore, grow. Submit to the Master Builder's work. Let His Word and His providence shape you into a glorious structure fit for His dwelling.
You have been established in the faith. Therefore, think. Be a student of the truth. Know the doctrine. Don't be intellectually lazy. Your mind is a key battleground.
And as you do all this, as you live out this consistent Christian life, you will find that your heart cannot help but overflow with gratitude. Thanksgiving will be the soundtrack to your walk. And this, a stable, growing, thoughtful, and thankful Christian, is the most powerful apologetic in a flighty, brittle, foolish, and grumbling world. You don't need something more than Jesus. You just need more of Jesus. As you received Him, so walk in Him.