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Thursday, July 10, 2014

P2 of 2 Growing in knowing Jesus Christ


Colossians 2:6-7 "Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, 7 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."

Benefits of knowing Jesus Christ
Today's post is a continuation about spelling out the benefits of growing in knowing Jesus Christ. If we were to boil down our thoughts to one point of application, it would be this: It benefits every Christian to keep on growing in knowing Jesus Christ. Yesterday's post began looking at Paul's statements in Colossians 2:1-7 on the subject of growing in knowing Jesus Christ. We discovered that there are internal benefits of assurance that come by knowing Jesus through difficult times and in the scripture. We also saw too that suffering and time in the scripture go hand in hand, since Christ meets us in both and expresses Himself verbally through the scriptures and most presently in difficult times. With the internal benefits lined out, we turn our attention today to growing in knowing Christ and how that plays out externally in the Christ-follower's life.

The external benefits of growing in knowing Jesus Christ
Colossians 2:6-7 reads: "Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, 7 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." That idea of walking with Christ is so often mentioned throughout the New Testament. The following passages help us to understand what Paul is meaning by this phrase. Ephesians 4:1 "Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called." Colossians 1:10 "so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God." 1 John 2:5-6 "but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him:6 the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked." To "walk" with Christ refers to how one conducts their life, their behavior and their relationship to both Him and other people. This is why the process of growing in knowing Him must not only change me internally, but must necessarily manifest such change in how I act and relate to the Lord and others. 

As Colossians 2:6-7 expands upon this concept of "walk", we see the benefits: a firm rooting, building up and establishment in one's faith, resulting in an overflowing of gratitude. Such activity of giving thanks to God feeds back into the faith of the saint, who in turns seeks to grow in their knowledge of Christ, repeating the process again and again both internally and externally as spelled out in Colossians 2:1-7. 

Closing thoughts
We have spent the past two posts focusing upon this key point of application: It benefits every Christian to keep on growing in knowing Jesus Christ. We discovered from Colossians 2:1-7 that in doing so, internal assurance results as one gives themselves to knowing Christ in times of difficulty coupled with the scriptures. We then saw the chief external benefit, namely one's walk or lifestyle, conduct is changed from the inside out.