Walking in Christ

Colossians 2:1-7

In this chapter, we again see Paul's heart for ministry. He cares so much about the Colossians and desires their growth even though he hasn't seen them. He rejoices in their triumphs, grieves over their sin, and admonishes them in love. This is also seen in verse 5 as he tells the Colossians that he is with them in spirit. Paul's encouragement in verse 2 is that they "attain to all the wealth that comes from full assurance" and results in "true knowledge." The word for knowledge is again epignosis. Paul's desire is for the Colossians to not just have head knowledge of God and His Word, but to have an understanding of who God is, what He is like. (If you haven't read J.I. Packer's book, Knowing God, you should. It's a good one.) Again, this is to refute the Gnostic teaching that body and soul are two separate entities. Paul is trying to teach them correct doctrine so that if someone comes bringing false doctrine, they will be able to discern it.
Verse 6 is a transition verse. Paul goes from encouraging them to admonishing them. He tells them to "walk in Him [Christ]." When I see this word walk, I think of several things. The first is that walking is an action. This means that we need to be constantly moving toward Christ. It doesn't say, "sit in Christ," it says "walk"! There is no time to take a break from the Christian life, every moment we need to be living it out. The second thing I think of when I see the word walk, is the direction I am headed. To explain this, we must go to the book of Ephesians. "Walk" is pretty much the theme of this book. Verses 8-10 in chapter 2 give us a call to walk. "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, {it is} the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them." So from these verses, we understand that God has prepared good work for us and that we are to walk in them. What are the specifics of that calling? Well, we must go on to chapter 4. Eph 4:1 is a transition verse from doctrine to practical application. In this verse, we are called to "walk in a manner worthy of the the calling with which you have been called." What calling? That was what chapters 1-3 described. What is a manner worthy of the gospel? See verses 2-16 of chapter 4. Verse 17 contains our second "walk." We are to "walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk." Explanation? verses 18-32. 5:1 contains the next "walk." This time we are called to "walk in love just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us." Whew, that's a tough one. Love as Christ, completely, unconditionally, and sacrificially. More explanation follows in verses 1-7. Verse 8 of chapter 5 contains the final call to walk. "Walk as children of light." This theme is carried through the rest of the book where Paul teaches on submission and the armor of God. (Eph is one of my favorite books, can you tell?) Going back to Col 2:7, we are able to walk in Christ because we are firmly established, rooted in our faith. Now Christ is building us up to completion. I think of construction on a house and how you have to lay the foundation and then piece by piece, wall by wall, the house comes together. So it is with us. Sanctification is a process that takes time, but day by day, week by week, year by year, Christ is being formed in us. The thought of God's grace and His sanctifying work in our lives should make us overflow with gratitude.

Now it's time for some more application. Going back to the beginning of the chapter, we see Paul's love for all believers. It is something that should clearly be demonstrated in our lives. We should be tuned into what's going on with believers all over the world, and rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep, and pray for all of them. As Jesus said, "By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." John 13:35 The second application that I wanted to bring out was to make sure that we are spending time getting to know God. It takes time and energy to get to know someone, thus we need to put our time and energy into getting to know God. This means spending time in prayer and in the Word is essential! The rest of the application is scattered throughout the above paragraphs. I'm excited to hear, well, read, what you guys are learning.