Rooted in
Christ
So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live
your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you
were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
- Col 2:6-7 NIV
A few Sundays ago I preached a message on Sowing and
Reaping. And I specifically dealt the
type of seed that you were sowing, because you would surely reap in kind. Now, I want to look at the next step in this
process—the root.
Paul told the Colossian church to be rooted in Christ. In the Greek, that word “root” or “rooted”
means to cause to strike root, to strengthen with roots, to render
firm, to fix, establish, cause a person or a thing to be thoroughly grounded. It also can refer to
something’s origin or source. Taking those definitions into consideration I
want to define what it means to be “rooted in Christ”.
Origin, or source:
Once a seed is sown the first part of a plant to take shape
is the root. The root must be
established in order for the plant to grow and come up out of the ground. The root will determine whether the plant
lives or dies. The root does not
determine what type of plant will grow. That comes from the seed. But the root
decides the plant’s viability.
But
when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they
had no root. (Matthew 13:6)
But since they have no root, they last only
a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they
quickly fall away. (Matthew 13:13)
In the movie The Karate
Kid Mr. Myagi told Daniel that he would make it in life because he had a
strong root. (And now I have successfully used a Karate Kid reference in a
message—you’re welcome.) If you want to
grow strong in the Lord, your root must be established into good soil. That soil is the Spirit and the Word of
God. If you are not rooted in Christ you
will eventually wither and die spiritually.
Firm, established:
Not only does the root decide if the
plant will survive, but it also decides how tall and strong a plant will grow
to be. A plant’s growth is limited to
the amount of root it possesses. A few
months ago a tornado ripped through our neighborhood in north St. Louis County. I think it was the first time I had ever seen
huge oak trees completely uprooted and knocked over. I was amazed at the size of the diameter of
their root structures. But I also
noticed something else. The roots,
although very wide in diameter, were not very deep. So when the storm came and the winds blew
even the mighty oak fell victim.
Friends, you can look like a
spiritual giant on the outside. You
stand head and shoulders above the spiritual crowd, but the real test of your
root system is in the storm. Are your roots
as deep as they are wide? You find
Christ in the depths of the soil, not on the surface. And the deeper you plant yourself in Christ,
the stronger you will become, and nothing can knock you down.
Health is in the roots:
Finally,
I want to examine the health of the
plant. Much like its viability, the
plant gains its nutrients and minerals through the soil. Jesus talked about being planted into good
soil because he knew the importance of being spiritually fed and nourished.
When you are rooted in Christ, you
are feeding off of Him, alone. You are
not looking for nutrition from the things of the world. If you are rooted only in Christ, you WILL
grow. You WILL become stronger. It’s just like the difference between eating
three well-balanced meals or living on a diet of potato chips and soda. One will strengthen you, the other will
weaken you. One will prolong your life,
the other will shorten it.
Who you are on the outside is solely
determined by what you are eating. You are what you eat. If you feed off of the things of God, you
will be come more Godly.
So, the question is simple. Where are your roots? Are they firmly established in the good soil
of God’s word? How far do your roots go? Are you going to be unmovable when the storms
come? Get rooted in Christ so you will
grow and live and never be shaken.
No comments:
Post a Comment