WALKING IN CHRIST COMPLETES YOU!

6.) "As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,

7.) rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. 

8.) Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.

9.) For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; 

10.) and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power." (Colossians 2:6-10)

Christianity is not just receiving Christ Jesus the Lord.... it also means to "walk in Him." He is everything we need! There is no area in our life that Christ is not able to supply with His fullness. O, how we need to see the all-sufficiency of Christ afresh today!! The power of Christianity is "CHRIST IN US, the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27). It is not "Christ & me" or "Christ & something else." ALL the fullness of God dwells in Him! Alleluia! 

Receiving Christ as Lord of our life is the beginning of life with Christ. But we must continue to follow His leadership by being rooted, built up, and strengthened in the faith. Apostle Paul uses the illustration of our being rooted in Christ. Just as plants draw nourishment from the soil through their roots, so we draw our life-giving strength from Christ. The more we draw our strength from Him, the less we will be fooled by those who falsely claim to have life's answers. If Christ is our strength, we will be free from human regulations! Aleluia! 

Christ is the Answer to all life's problems! Christ is the Answer to all believers problems! Jesus Christ wants to guide us and help us with our daily problems. But to do so, we must be submitted to Him whole-heartedtly, we must abstain from sin, we must be obedient of His Word, striving to fulfill His will, we must be faithful and trusting of God for He has our best interest at heart!  

We can live in Christ and for Christ by:

(1) Uniting with Christ in death and life -

》"I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me." (Galatians 2:20)

》" It is a trustworthy statement: For if we died with Him, we will also live with Him.." (2 Timothy 2:11)

(2) Committing our life and submitting to His will

》"....by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which  is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." (Romans 12:1-2)

(3) Abstaining from sin

》 "Abstain from every form of evil." (1 Thessalonians 5:2)

》 "Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God." (1 John 3:9)

》 "Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts." (Romans 6:12)

》"And Jesus said to her: 'Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.'

(John 8:11)

(4) Seeking to learn from Him, His life, and His teachings - (Colossians 3:16)

》"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord." 

(5) Striving to be more like & live in Jesus' footsteps - (1Peter 2:21)

》"To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in His steps."

》As we walk with the Lord, obeying His Word and relying on His Spirit, we find that we are given the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16). 

(6) Recognizing the Holy Spirit's power in us (Acts 1:8 & Galatians 5:25)

》"But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.."

》"If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit."

(7) Suffering for Christ's sake

》" For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake.."(Philippians 1:29)

》" For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps.." (1 Peter 2:21)

》"And you will be hated by all for My name's sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved." (Matthew 10:22)

》 "Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake." (Matthew 5:11)

(8) Remaining faithful until the end

》"Jesus said to them: 'Have faith in God.' (Mark 11:22)

》"Only fear the Lord and serve Him faithfully with all your heart. For consider what great things He has done for you." (1 Samuel 12:24)

》"Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls." (1 Peter 1:9)

 Further, Apostle Paul asserts Christ's deity. "In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily" means that all of God was in Christ's human body. "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him, and He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the Church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence."

This is one of the clearest & strongest statements about the divine nature of Christ found anywhere in the Bible. Not only is Jesus Christ the Son of God (Matthew 26:63, Mark 1:1, John 20:31, Hebrews 4:14), but He is One with God in Spirit (John 10:30, 38; 12:45; 14:1-11). Jesus Christ is the visible image of the invisible God, He is the exact representation of God. He not only reflects God, but He reveals God to us (John 1:18; 14:9)

As the firstborn over all creation, He has all the priority and authority of the firstborn prince in a king's household. He came from heaven, not from the dust of the earth (1 Corinthians 15:47), and He is Lord of all (Romans 9:5; 10:11-13; Revelation 1:5; 17:14). He is completely holy (Hebrews 7:26-28; 1 Peter 1:19; 2:22; 1 John 3:5), and He has authority to judge the world (Romans 2:16; 2 Corinthians 5:10; 2 Timothy 4:1). All glory be to Him!

Therefore, Jesus Christ is supreme over all creation, including the spirit world. We must believe in the deity of Jesus Christ  or our Christian faith is hollow, misdirected, and meaningless. This is a central truth of Christianity. When we have Christ, we have everything we need for salvation and right living!

》We are complete in Christ through GRACE. Grace is God's free gift of salvation granted to sinners for their salvation. Grace cannot be earned for it is the unmerited mercy (favor) that God gives to humanity by sending His son to die on a cross, thus delivering eternal salvation. Ephesians 2:8 says, "For by grace are you saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves."  Grace is God giving the greatest treasure to the least deserving—which is every one of us. God is the instigator of grace, and it is ONLY from Him that grace flows. The only way any of us can enter into a relationship with God is because of His grace toward us. Jesus says in 2 Cor 12:9 "My grace is sufficient for you.." Those who receive grace from God, receive grace from Christ's fulness, which fills God's children with the fulness of God. So completion in Christ means that through His atoning, sacrificial death and subsequent resurrection, all of the work has been done and our justification is therefore by His grace through faith. 

》We are complete in Christ through SALVATION by our circumcision in Him. Spiritual circumcision performed by the hand of God is a matter of the heart as Deuteronomy 30:6 teaches us: "And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live." This regenerative work of the heart is God's action in us that becomes complete when we trust in Jesus as Lord and Savior of our life. We are complete in Christ through Salvation! 

》We are complete in Christ through FORGIVENESS. As Colossians 2:13 teaches us: "And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses."  We who were dead in trespasses, God made alive, or as Romans 5:8 says: "while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" and Ephesians 2:5 affirms that even when we were dead in our trespasses, God made us alive together with Christ – by grace we have been saved! ALELUIA! All glory be to God!

So how can we possibly be dead in our sins and made alive with Christ?  That old dead man was made alive in Christ through His death on the cross: "For if we have been united with Him in a death like His, we shall certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like His." Romans 6:5 Salvation through Christ's death, burial, and resurrection provides not only eternal life, but also the forgiveness of our sins. God sent His Son Jesus forth to be a propitiation for our sins (Romans 3:25), meaning He satisfied the legal demands of God's justice towards us the sinner, as we read in Colossians 2:14, by cancelling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands.  This He set aside, nailing it to the cross. Likewise, Jesus averted God's wrath from us onto Himself.  The Son of God purchased for us not only the forgiveness of sins, but also forgiveness of our sinfulness and in doing so satisfied the Holy demands of God.  We are complete in Christ through Forgiveness!

》We are complete in Christ through VICTORY. "He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in Him." (Colossians 2:15) We are complete in Christ through salvation, forgiveness, and now victory because the cross severed the ruling power of satan in our lives. He is no longer our master and sin no longer has dominion over us.  We have been set free and can stand in the place of victory because of Jesus Christ. ALELUIA! ThankYou Lord!

"Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil." (Hebrews 2:14) Jesus Christ defeated satan and the principalities of darkness with His death on the cross and subsequent resurrection proving that He could also reign over death.  As Romans 6:4 says: "We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”  Victory is ours in Christ! ALELUIA! 

There is so much of Christ's fullness that we need to be manifesting (for "of His fullness have we all received" - John 1:16); we really have no time in the space of this short life here on earth, to be "taken up" with anything else. This is Life: "to know God, and Jesus Christ, Whom He has sent"(John 17:3) and to live in Him and for Him (Phil. 1:21) 

Multitudes are seeking "Life" today. Let's look around us. People are searching for something to give their lives a boost. Few people seem content within themselves. A strange and often hard-to-identify inner hollowness gives most people an uneasy sense of incompleteness. Christ fills that hollowness! As Jesus' person is fully divine, so we,  united by faith to Jesus, find personal fulfillment in Him: "You are complete in Him." That means exactly what it says...the sufficiency of Christ.  As God's children, we are, from a spiritual viewpoint, complete in Him. The surpassing theme of the New Testament is distilled and articulated in that phrase.  Everything from Matthew to Revelation speaks to the issue of the sufficiency of Jesus Christ. In 1 Corinthians 1:30, Apostle Paul says that in Christ we have all wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. In 2 Corinthians 12:9 it says: "My grace," that is the grace of God in Christ, "is sufficient for you."  In Ephesians 1:3 it says that we have in Christ been blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus.  And Hebrews 10:14 says: "By one offering He has perfected forever them that are His, or sanctified forever them that are His." So, all of these Scriptures speak to the matter of the total sufficiency of Jesus Christ for every need, spiritually speaking, in time and eternity.  And no clearer a statement exists than that of Colossians 2:10, " YOU ARE COMPLETE IN HIM." 

When you know Jesus Christ, you don't need to seek God by means of other religions, cults, or unbiblical philosophies as many are doing today. Christ alone holds the answers to the true meaning of life because He is life. "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one can come to the Father except through Me." (John 14:6) Christ is the unique source of knowledge and power for the Christian life. No Christian needs anything in addition to what Christ has provided  and continues to provide for us to be saved. Having the Lord Jesus Christ is to have everything needed in spiritual life for time and eternity.  To have Him is to have everything! Aleluia!  Not to have Him is to have absolutely nothing at all!  All joy, peace, meaning, value, purpose, hope, fulfillment in life now and forever is bound up in Christ.  And when a person receives Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, they enter in to an all-sufficient relationship with an all-sufficient Christ. Aleluia! All glory be to God!

Many may feel rather empty, but in Jesus, the hollowness is gone; the full power and presence of God have taken up residence in our mind and heart. You are a new person, equipped for life and satisfied in God! Submit your life to God and God will guide you. Give more generously and God will supply. Love more freely and God will energize you. Say "I can do all things through Christ" more often and God will amaze You! All glory be be God! 

Beloved Church of Christ, our completeness is in our Saviour. In Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ alone, life can be lived to the full! All of God's Life dwells in Jesus Christ; and He dwells in all who "walk in HIM". Amin! It is no longer we that live, but CHRIST who lives in us! Not a dead Christ; but a risen, Living Christ, in whom dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. May our eyes be opened more and more to this wonderful reality!

Some will ask: "Why, then, do we not see more of the power and glory of God in His saints today?" Beloved brothers & sisters in Christ, the tragic and disturbing truth is that many believers have lost a good relationship with God because they chose to move outside the realm of simply abiding in Christ, of walking in Him. Our love  & obedience for Christ dies when we do not remain rooted and grounded in Him! 

Believers are more attracted to their carnal desires and wordly standards, however sinful desires and fleshly lust deny the spiritual work of the Holy Spirit in our souls. The Holy Spirit tells us clearly in 1 Timothy 4:1 that in the last times some will turn away from the true faith; they will follow deceptive spirits and teachings that come from demons.

Following false doctrines/teachings does NOT keep Christ in His rightful position in your life. The Bible warns us not to be spoiled by those things which are after man & the world - and are NOT after Christ. We MUST beware of anything that will lead us away from receiving more of Christ Himself.... for He will not give His glory to another!

Apostle Paul goes further explaining that  deceitful people with their vain wisdom and traditions, comes along with enticing words and indoctrinates converts after the basic principles of the world (the beliefs of pagans) which in Christ we become dead to! (Colossians 2:20). We cannot reach up to God by following rules of pious self-denial, by observing rituals, or by practicing traditions. Our high calling of God in Christ Jesus is to come unto the measure and stature of the fullness of Christ and not to be "tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting" (Ephesians 4:13-14  ). 

It is extremly tragic, but true, that the very reason that Apostle Paul gave us is also the same reason as to why many of our full Gospel believing churches have not got the power of God with them today....because the " deceitful spoilers" have been through and tricked many! In our churches today, we hear teaching that credits humanity, not Christ, with that being the answer to life's problems. This approach becomes a false religion. There are many man-made approaches to life's problems that totally disregard God - self help, self-esteem, positive thinking, yoga-meditation, prosperity....etc  To resist heresy we MUST remain in Christ, keep our eyes on Christ, and study God's Word daily! 

If many do recognize that they have been "tricked" by cunning men (and God help those workers of iniquity to see their own works before it is too late), may they turn again to Christ with all their heart, even as Apostle Paul, who "counted all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord: for whom he suffered the loss of all things, and did count them as rubbish, that he might WIN CHRIST, AND BE FOUND IN HIM...." (Phil 3:7-10).  Our life is hidden with Christ in God! (Colossians 3:1-4)

"As you therefore have received CHRIST JESUS the LORD, so WALK IN HIM" (Colossians 2:6)."Let the WORD of CHRIST dwell in you richly in all wisdom…." (Colossians 3:16).... for Jesus is "the Word become flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1:12-16). By the same Living Word, the Living Christ dwells in us today!

If we truly love Jesus Christ, we will always seek to see Him in the Word, we will always want to please Him, knowing that in HIM dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily! Knowing that OUR COMPLETENESS is IN HIM (and Him alone), who is the head of all principality and power. Hallelujah! Jesus is far above ALL ,anything we care to name,  Jesus is far above it; and as we walk IN HIM, His abundant life makes us complete in His fullness. In Jesus name...Amen.

May grace, mercy, and peace  be with us from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love. God bless you Church of Christ! I love you all in Jesus name! God bless you!