Friday – April 8, 2016
We have arrived at Friday already and it is time for another feast on God’s Word. On Friday’s we remind each other to pray for the Church, the ecclesia, those who are called out of darkness into His marvelous light to do the will of God in the earth, to be lights in a dark World, and to advance the Kingdom of God, destroying the works of the devil wherever we find them. The Church pictured is St. James Methodist Church located in Central City, Colorado. This Church was organized in July 1859 by a wagonmaker and a lay preacher. (Courtesy of www.waymarking.com)
Colossians 2:6-7 (KJV)
6 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:
7 Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.
Ephesians 3:17 (KJV)
17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
Revelation 22:16 (KJV)
16 I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.
Jesus is the ‘root’ He tells us so Himself in the preceding verse. Let’s take a look at what a root is defined as. When we look at the word root from the Greek in the Strong’s Concordance it means to become stable, to be strengthened, to be firmly fixed, and to be constant. We can clearly see that this is exactly what the verse is referring to “in him”, and “in love”. In the Thesaurus being rooted means to have ones origin in, to cause, the source, the basis, the derivation, the core, the essence, the foundation, and the starting place. I think it is obvious even to the novice Bible reader, student, that this all applies Jesus. Jesus is the origin of our salvation, He is the cause or reason, He is the source, the basis, the One from which salvation derived, the core ingredient, the essence, the foundation, and the starting place. Salvation starts and ends with Jesus, there are not many ways to the Father, there is but one and one way alone and that is by the man Jesus Christ.
Our text tells us that we are to be rooted and built up. The word or phrase “built up” means exactly that or to be built upon. One who builds, builds up, or builds upon is a son. We are sons in the Kingdom of God if we are building the Kingdom of God. Being busy is not necessarily building the Kingdom of God. Doing the will of God which is to think, say, and do only what the Father asks will build the Kingdom. We are able to be firmly fixed and effectively build the Kingdom of God from our position in Him. We are in Him because we entered the Kingdom of God because of Him and submitting to Him as our Master (One of highest authority in our lives). We are new creatures or creations in Him, and we are Ambassadors in this Kingdom of God. An Ambassador only thinks, says, and does what the King (President) thinks, says, and does. An Ambassador also enjoys diplomatic immunity meaning the laws of the host country do not apply only the laws of the sending or guest country. We are Ambassadors of the Kingdom of God sent by our Lord Jesus Christ to be salt in the earth and light in the world. The laws of the kingdom of darkness do not apply to us and cannot hurt us.
We are made stable, consistent, and reliable builders of the Kingdom of God knowing who we are in Him. To be established in the faith means that we are stable as long as we believe God, the Word of God, the still small voice of the Holy Spirit within. When we resort to our own understanding then we become unstable and we are developing faith in something that is not of God and as the old gospel song goes it is sinking sand. As you probably have noticed another lynchpin to this whole process is gratitude, thanksgiving, or thankfulness. Because of who we are in Christ Jesus being more than conquerors we can give thanks in all things and for all things. Our thanksgiving brings the victory and the triumph in all situations when we do it His way and this is a powerful testimony to those who witness us overcome the worst of circumstances and came out in a place higher than where we entered the battle.
Finally, I want you to be aware that the words ‘faith’ and ‘thanksgiving’ are both singular in number and feminine in gender. This means that a single person operating in faith with a thought life, words, and actions of thanksgiving will be fruitful for the Kingdom of God. The fertile ground is the faith and thanksgiving and the seed is the Word of God (thinking, saying, and doing what He thinks, says, and does).
By Pastor David R. Wood
