Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Wednesday, March 2nd. Faith in God isn't a guarantee that life will be smooth, but there is a promise that the Lord will always be with those who trust Him. Our series Growing Strong in Faith continues with part one of Walking by Faith. There is one area of the Christian life that all of us fail in not once, but very, very often. And the result is that we feel discouraged, we feel insecure, oftentimes we feel depressed.
People feel all kinds of things as a result of failing in this one area. Would you say, well, what in the world kind of mistake is that? One that I make, one that you make, one that all of us make, and we all ought to know better, but somehow we do it. I want you to turn, if you will, to Colossians chapter two. In Colossians chapter two, Paul says in one verse, one phrase here, he gives us the key to what we are talking about. And in this particular phrase, he gives us the way also that you and I are to live a Christian life.
And what is that mistake we make? Well, let's read this second chapter and read the first 10 verses of it here. Remember now that Paul is writing to the Colossian believers. And there are all kinds of vain, empty philosophies that are being perpetrated upon the church.
And wherever Paul established the church, somebody would try to come along with some different kind of theology and just cause confusion in the church. And so he writes and begins by saying in verse one, For I want you to know how great a struggle I have on your behalf, and for those who are at Laodicea, for all those who have not personally seen my face, that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God's mystery, that is, Christ himself, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I say this in order that no one may delude you with persuasive arguments. For even though I am absent in body, nevertheless, I'm with you in spirit rejoicing to see your good discipline and the stability of your faith in Christ. As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in him and established in your faith. Just as you were instructed and overflowing with gratitude, see to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.
For in him that is in Jesus, all the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form. And in him you have been made complete and he is the head over all rule and authority. Now look if you will in verse six. As you therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him.
Now, listen carefully because here is a very, very important word from God. He commands us, as you receive the Lord Jesus Christ, so walk in him. Now, I want us to look at this word walk for just a moment because this is the word that Paul uses to describe the Christian's behavior and his conduct. As you notice, if you, for example, if you read throughout the epistles, here's what you'll find Paul saying, things like this. He says in second chapter of Ephesians chapter two, he talks about that you and I before we were saved used to walk according to the course of this world.
That is in their lifestyle, their behavior, their conduct. Then he talks about walking according to the flesh, walking as children of God, walking in wisdom, walking in the Spirit, walking in love. Paul uses many phrases to describe our walk. Then John in his little epistles first, second, third John, he talks about walking in light, walking in darkness, walking in truth, walking according to the commandments of our Lord. Paul says, for example, on one occasion, walking worthy of the one whose call is walking according to the pattern of our Lord Jesus Christ. So the term walk is a term that they use to describe our conduct and our behavior as a believer. And so he says in this passage, if you'll notice, as you therefore receive Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him.
Now, the question is, how are we to walk? Now, if you notice, he says in this passage, he says, so walk in him. What does he mean by walking in him? Well, he says, when you and I trust that the Lord Jesus Christ is our savior, we began a relationship.
This relationship is a vital union that exists between the Lord Jesus Christ and the believer. So he says in this passage that you and I are to walk in him. We're talking about a continuous. That is, when a person's walking, they're moving, there's action. You can't walk and stand still. And the believer cannot walk in Christ and stand still. We're either going backwards in our Christian life or we're going forward.
We do not stand still. So this is one of Paul's terms here. And if you'll notice, for example, that in the book of Ephesians again, he will use the term in him, in whom, in Christ, in the Lord.
This is his way of describing our relationship. In fact, you could probably take all of Paul's theology and wrap it up in that phrase in Christ or in whom or in him, because that's the way he saw life. And the thing that God desires for all of us is not simply to forgive us of our sins, but to develop a relationship, a personal relationship with him. And so when Paul uses this term of walking in him, this is what he's talking about. He's talking about this vital relationship as seeing the Lord Jesus Christ as the source of everything. For example, you and I cannot live without blood and without air in our lungs. And so Jesus Christ is to the believer what the blood is through our body, what the air is through our lungs. That is, we have eternal life. We have Christ's life inside of us. That is, through the presence of the Holy Spirit, we have been sealed as children of God.
We have divine life within us. And so he says, as you receive the Lord Jesus Christ, so walk in him. Most of us were saved, and we understood at that moment that we were saved by faith. But somebody, most of us, would have to say that no one told us, now that you have received the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior by faith, that's the way you're to walk. You're just to put your trust in him daily for everything. But most of us decided, or probably had to decide because nobody instructed us, that now that I've trusted him by faith as my Savior, in order to stay saved, I've got to perform in a certain way.
My behavior and conduct has to match some kind of legalistic formula that nobody knows what it is anyway. And so we were probably frustrated most of our Christian life and wondering if we were ever pleasing God. And oftentimes people wonder if they're still saved because they have struggles with their doubts at times. And so what Paul is saying is this, he says, now, Lord, don't let anybody lead you astray, mislead you by thinking that these vain philosophies of men, these elementary principles that they come up with, these things you must do and have to do and ought to do and should do.
Don't let that be a part of your thinking because just as you trusted Christ to save you, so walk in him. Our walk is to be the walk of faith, placing our trust in him daily for whatever the need may be. The Christian life is a walk of faith. And he says the just shall live by faith. We're to walk by faith.
We die by faith. We're saved by faith. The whole life is a life of faith. And so he says we are to walk by faith, placing our trust in him. And so if someone should ask you, well, how would you define, how would you define the walk of faith? And I would simply say the walk of faith is this. It is having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, which results in placing my trust in him for every circumstance of life. It is enjoying a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, which results in placing my trust in him for every circumstance of life, which simply means I will trust him in every circumstance to do what is good for me, what is best for me, what is right for me every single solitary time, no exception. And so what I want you to see is this. It is absolutely correct that it is not always easy to trust him.
That's why we need something to help us to learn to trust him. And so this is what happens in this next verse, if you'll follow this and notice at the end of verse six is not a period, but a comma. He says, as you therefore have received Christ Jesus, the Lord. So walk in him, comma, walk in him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed and overflowing with gratitude. Now, what he says here is, listen, he says the command, first of all, is to walk by faith. And secondly, he said, now, here's the conditions upon which that's going to happen. Well, if you'll notice, he says here, having been rooted in him.
Now, when he uses the word having been, it is the tense of the verb, which means that something started in the past and is continuing. And so he says, having been rooted. Now, here's what he's doing, using an agricultural term to describe our relationship with Jesus.
So here's what he's saying. He says that when you and I received Christ as our savior, we weren't listen, we were planted in the eternal soil of the person of Jesus Christ in him. We began relationship with him. And when we were planted there, our roots grew down into Christ. And so now we are rooted and grounded in our relationship with him. Now, you know that when a plant or a tree is is planted, what does it do? It sinks its roots down to the soil, because from that soil, it has its nourishment.
That's the way it grows. And so what is he saying to us? He says, this is where you live by faith. You live by faith by having sunk your roots into him from salvation. You are continually on a daily basis doing what?
In every circumstance of life, you are drawing your nourishment. Listen, from the roots that have been sunk into the eternal soil of the person of Jesus Christ. Not only that, a tree sinks its roots down deep. And what happens? It is rooted down deep. So when the wind blows and the storms come, what happens?
It is stable because it is rooted in the soil and oftentimes around the rock. So that he says, if you want to walk by faith, you want to walk in that relationship to Jesus Christ. You want God to make your life all that he wants it to be. He says, then we must learn to walk the walk of faith, walking in him. And he says, one of the things that's necessary is that you and I be, listen, rooted in the eternal soil of the person of Jesus Christ. Because it is from him we drop nourishment. It's like God placed a well on the inside of us that is ever flowing and ever growing. He says, these roots are in the person of Jesus Christ who is all sufficient to meet every single solitary need we have. Look at the next word. He says, now having been rooted and now being built up in him. Well, he goes from agriculture to architecture. He says being built up in him present in something that is going on now.
Now think about this. When you and I trust that Jesus Christ is our savior. The Bible says in first Corinthians chapter 11 that Jesus became the foundation of our life. The truth is you and I have been walking.
It's not a matter whether we have or not. You and I have been walking in the Christian life ever since the moment we were saved. We might not have been walking in the right direction. We may have been walking in the perfect direction, but we've been walking.
That is, we've been walking and we've been building on this foundation of Jesus Christ by our thoughts and motives and our actions and our deeds. Now, let me ask you a question. If someone built you a foundation for a house that let's say it had 5000 square feet and they said to you, now, here's the foundation. It's all yours. Property is yours.
Foundation is yours. It's all finished. And so over on this side, there is the very finest of material on this side is poor quality stuff. This is cheap stuff. Not going to last long. In fact, not very good to look at. Not very lasting.
Difficult to work with. But, you know, you have a choice. So on this side, as you build upon your foundation, you've got top quality, the best stuff. I mean, the president or someone else can walk in your home and be very proud and be impressed by what you put in this house and the way you build this house.
On this side, you might be able to maybe look a little shabby. So now the foundation is built. All you have to do is to choose which side you want to go to. What do you want to build your house out of? You want to build it out of shabby stuff. You want to build out of the best. It is your choice.
Here's what happened. The moment you and I were saved, we began to choose the quality of materials that we would place in our house. So that all of us in our walk, all of these years of your life since you've been a Christian, you've been walking. You've either been walking in obedience to God or disobedience.
There have been times when all of us have walked in disobedience and then back in obedience. But we've been placing in this life of ours those quality materials and those materials that were maybe not so quality in our life. So that what we are today is the result of the choices we've made down through these years since we were saved. You said, but what about those years before you were saved?
No, that's all wiped away into the blood of Jesus Christ. You've got a brand new foundation, brand new house, new spirit, new life, new destiny, a new savior, new Lord. You have something new. And so you are a new creation in Christ Jesus. But since that moment, you and I have been placing this material in this house of ours so that we are today the result of our choices. And as we walk, he says, we are being built up. Now, in this passage of scripture back to Colossians for a moment there, he uses the term he says here.
He says, now, not only have you been firmly rooted, but he says, being built up, being built up and being built up. We have placed into this life all kinds of things. For example, when we pray, that is good quality stuff. When we read or listen to the word of God, that's good quality. When we are sharing our faith, good quality. When we are serving, Lord, in some fashion, good quality. When we are giving, good quality. But then there are all the negative things that we allow in our lives at times that are all on the left side.
This is poor quality, shabby stuff that we put in our life. And so he says, we are being built up. So in order to walk in faith and to walk in him and to understand that I can trust him for everything, what happens? He says, first of all, remember, you've been rooted in him. And so what you want to do is you want to draw from him those things that you have need of because he's the source of it all. And secondly, on this foundation, you want to build with those quality attitudes and those quality actions that will do what?
That will strengthen you. Then if you'll notice the third word he uses, he says, having been firmly rooted, now being built up in him and established in your faith. When he talks about the word here being established in your faith, what he's referring to here is the fact of being strengthened and made secure.
That is fixed. And we are secure in our relationship with him. And so as we become in our relationship with him and our fellowship with him, we spend more time with him. We begin to understand more and more the Word of God.
What happens? We become more established. We become more understanding of who he is. We understand his ways and how he operates.
What does that do? That increases our faith. So we're talking about walking by faith, trusting him for everything. If I'm going to trust him for everything, listen, I must keep drawing what I need from him. Building on this foundation of Christ, those quality things that I want in my life.
And being established, being established what? By fellowship and prayer and in the Word of God, becoming stronger in my understanding of who he is and therefore stronger in my faith. So that when the winds of adversity blow, they will not blow you off the path.
Why? Because you're rooted and your foundation is the eternal rock of ages, the Lord Jesus Christ. You're established. You understand God is working in your life. Then notice the next word he uses here. For he says, that is having been rooted, presently being built up, continuously being established. And he says, just as you were instructed. Now, what he's referring to here is that Epaphras, one of his associates had taught the Colossian Christians here.
And he knew that they had known the truth and heard the truth. And so he says, having been instructed. So if I'm going to be the kind of person who's able to walk in faith and trust the Lord Jesus Christ for everything, then I need some instruction.
Now, listen carefully. You are not going to trust somebody you don't know. You're not going to trust someone you don't know. So therefore, it is so very important if you and I are going to walk in faith, walk in him, develop this relationship, trust him for every single circumstance of life. We must know who is this that we are trusting. Now, so when somebody says, well, when you stand up to preach, what's your motive? Just one simple thing.
Here's my motive. That God enriches and deepens and strengthens and builds you up and makes you Godly. That's what this is all about.
And the reason I want to keep pouring out the word and I repeat some things over and over and over again because I want you to hear what he's saying. Just as you trusted Jesus Christ as Lord, so trust him also in your walk, walking in him, living in him, personal relationship. Christianity is trusting the Lord Jesus Christ as personal Savior and beginning that all important, intimate, loving walk with the Savior. That's what the Christian life is all about. It is not simply forgiveness.
It is a walk. It is a journey. It is a life. It is an experience.
It is relationship. It is a vital union that you and I have with a person of Christ. Thank you for listening to part one of Walking by Faith. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or In Touch Ministries, stop by InTouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.
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