Rooted And Built Up In Christ

As we begin a short preaching series in the book of Colossians, I encourage everyone to read and re-read the whole book. It's short - only four chapters, but packed full of divine truths.  I'll share just one with you today.

It was Charles Spurgeon who said "You have all you need in Christ, and He must be preeminent. Nothing will satisfy the soul but the One who made it. We are never truly full until we are filled with Christ." This is true, not just because of a saga like Spurgeon, but because it is one of the core truths expounded in the Bible and particularly in Colossians. 

"The Son is the image of the invisible God...For in Him, all things were created...He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. And He is the head of the church; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things...by making peace through His blood, shed on the cross." (Colossians 2:15-20, abb, NIV)

Often when we think about our Christian life, we move very quickly from thankfulness for salvation to expectation of eternity. We think of our heritage in Christ on a selfish level - what we have to gain. But the more I read the fathers of faith, the more I see that they had a different way of thinking about their Christian life. Paul is inviting us to stop to think about who Christ is. He is the image of the invisible God. In other words, He is God in human flesh. He did not only create the world, he also holds it together. Nothing functions without His sustaining power. About the Church, He is the head of His church, which means we all serve at His pleasure, including founders of movements and churches. The church belongs to no one. He is the owner of His church.

Our Christian life is not only about our eternal security, is it really about a relationship that affords us unfiltered access to fix our gaze on Him - The truest and purest glory there is. That's why Paul said, all God's "fullness dwells in Him (Christ)." There is nothing more to have when you have "all" and you are "full." Jesus is real FULLNESS. FF Bruce describes it this way, "Paul insists that all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Christ, and in Him believers are made complete. No additional spiritual powers or mysteries are needed beyond the sufficiency of Christ." We can only come to a realisation of our complete self when we are found in Christ. Outside Christ, we are lost, but in Him, we not only find Him, we find ourselves. 

This is why the invitation Paul gives in chapter 2 of Colossians is important. If Christ is God in human flesh and we have fullness in Him, then we must "continue to live (our) lives in Him, rooted and built up in Him." There is more in Christ himself than in the things He has to offer. We must change our pursuit from what Christ offers - salvation, provision, protection, eternal life, to Christ himself. He must be our ONE THING! So, let's mean it when we sing that song... Give me Jesus! Let me finish with this amazing verse in 2 Corinthians that captures the essence of this truth. "And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit." (2 Corinthians 3:18, NIV). We become more and more like Him when we are rooted and built up in Him, gazing at His face in amazement, awe and wonder.