How
Does Your Spiritual Garden Grow? Colossians 2:4-6
From Colossians 1:3 to 2:5
is introduction. The next section, the actual body of the epistle begins in
2:6; 2:4, 5 end the introduction, and 2:6, 7 open the
main body. Verse 6 is the first of a series of imperatives. Up to this point
the verbs have all been indicatives (one exception), meaning he has been mostly
talking about his prayers for them, a focus upon who Jesus Christ is and what
He has done for the church. But starting in v. 6 down through chapter three we
have imperatives, and this is the structure of the Christian life. It is not
something that is random or haphazard, there is a structure in the spiritual
life and there should be a structure and an order in our approach to the
spiritual life.
But Paul says
as we get down into 2:7 that walking in Him is on the basis of being rooted in
Him and now being built up in Christ. These words that he uses are words that
come out of gardening, an agricultural metaphor.
“Mary, Mary, quite
contrary, How does your garden grow?” As Christians,
how does our garden grow? In Colossians 1:6 Paul is praying for the Colossians
and is thankful because the gospel came to them and is bringing them fruit and
is increasing. Again is verse 10 is the prayer 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.” These words are those which come out of an agricultural background, a metaphor
for growth and fruitfulness within an orchard, a garden, something of that
nature. This is the focal point of Paul’s message to the Colossians. His focus
is not on how to become a Christian, how to become justified, but on the fact
that now that they are justified how do they grow?
As Paul concludes his introduction he says, Colossians 2:4 NASB
“I say this so that no one will delude you with persuasive argument.” We know
that there are, especially compared to the first century, thousands of philosophies
and worldviews, ideas an opinions about how to live life and what truth is
today. They appear on the surface to be well argued and very convincing. That
is what Paul refers to by “persuasive argument.” It is easy to deceive even
believers, because they don’t know enough not to be deceived. They have to know
not only what the truth is but a really good counterfeit can deceive even
experts, because it imitates the original so well. And Satan is the master
counterfeiter who goes around as an angel of light and has had thousands of
years to refine his religious and philosophical systems, rationales and
justifications for worldly thinking so that Christians are often taken in by
the latest trend, the latest fad in spiritual things. And these are dressed up in
biblical terminology so that it is hard for the person who doesn’t know much
truth to be able to identify that.
Even people who know a lot
of truth have been seen to be easily seduced by false
ideas for several reasons. We all have sin natures which
have a propensity towards anything that promotes self-sufficiency and anything
that allows us to maybe find success and stability without just trusting in
Christ for everything, without relying on the sufficiency of God’s grace and
God’s Word for everything. We have a mindset, a default position with our sin
nature to be attracted to these things unless we are really focused on applying
the Word.
Colossians 2:5 NASB
“For even though I am absent in body, nevertheless I am with you in spirit,
rejoicing to see your good discipline and the stability of your faith in
Christ.” Then he shifts to the main body of the epistle: [6]
“Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, {so} walk in Him.” So we
are to walk in Him (2:5) and worthy of the Lord (1:10).
Then (and understanding the
grammar is really important) we have participles. The first is a perfect
participle. It means something is already accomplished,
it is the present reality of a past completed action. Colossians 2:7 NASB
“having [already] been firmly rooted …” That is what happens at salvation. “… {and now} being built up in Him and established in your
faith, just as you were instructed, {and} overflowing with gratitude.” Then
verse 8 begins, “See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and
empty deception…” He starts getting a little specific about those deceptive
words he mentions in 2:4. So there is this transition now into the main part of
the epistle where the focus is on what we need to do as believers. The
imperative moods, the commands, the prohibitions, are all addressed to our
volition. It is what we are responsible to do on our part if we are going to
grow and mature spiritually.
Wrapping up the
introduction: Colossians 2:5 NASB “For even though I am absent in
body, nevertheless I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good
discipline and the stability of your faith in Christ.” The verse starts with a
first class condition in the Greek (if, and it is true); it is stating this
opening phrase as a reality, and that is that Paul is absent in the flesh,
physically absent. He is saying, “I am with you in spirit,” i.e. I am thinking
about you, my mind is on you and I’m thinking about what is going on there;
“rejoicing to see” might be translated “rejoicing and seeing,” but in this kind
of construction is called a hendiadys where two words are brought together to
express a single concept, and many times one of them really functions as a sort
of adjective for another. For example, if someone says, “I heard a musician the
other day and I was impressed by his passion and his singing.” What they are
saying is, they are impressed by his passionate singing. Really you can express
it in two words but this is a figure of speech that pulls the two together. So
here what Paul said means “I am rejoicing to see.” He is not seeing physically;
seeing is a metaphorical way of talking about mental perception, understanding
or grasping an idea. Paul is rejoicing because he has been informed about the spiritual
life of those in Colosse.
He summarizes it here with
two words. The first is taxis from
which we get our English word “taxonomy” which is a study of the order or
organization of things. The word has two basic meanings: a) an arrangement of
things in sequence or in order; b) a state of order or
proper procedure. It is also a word that was used in a military context to
refer to discipline, well-disciplined troops. But the idea here is that Paul is
saying that in praising the spiritual life of the Colossian believers he is
praising them because they have a good self-discipline, a good organizational
order in their approach to their spiritual life and growth. This also reminds
us of 1 Corinthians 14:33 NASB “for God is not {a God} of confusion
but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints…. [40] But all things must
be done properly and in an orderly manner.” So we should think about the
structure of our spiritual life and our approach to our spiritual life. The
Colossians have understood that if they are going to grow spiritually they have
to have an approach to their spiritual, life that is going to be based on
order, organization and self-discipline. The word “stability” is stereoma, which refers to stability,
firmness and steadfastness. So it is emphasizing that they have an approach to
the spiritual life that is based on discipline and organization, and secondly
it is based on stability; it is a solid approach. Paul’s joy is a
circumstantially based joy. He has heard great news.
The only way that we
accomplish anything in life is if we make a plan, set out that plan and follow
that plan. We have to understand that we don’t lower our goals and objectives
just because we find things to be a little difficult. We have to learn to stick
it out, to be mentally tough; not just because we are reaching
down and pulling ourselves up by our own spiritual boot straps but because we
realize that our strength is in Christ. That is what Paul is saying at the end
of Philippians: “I have learned to have great abundance and I have learned to
do without.” It is the doing without that we have trouble learning about. Why?
Because “I can do all things.” What are the “all things” there? It is learning
to pass the prosperity test and learning to pass the adversity test. “I can do
all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Again it is the sufficiency of
Jesus Christ, what we have in Christ in terms of those riches that are talked
about in Colossians 2:2—“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}.”
So he says here that he
rejoices in their good order or their discipline and their steadfastness and
stability of their faith in Christ. This isn’t talking simply about that
beginning point where we trust in Christ for our salvation, it is talking about
the totality of what we believe in, in terms of Christ and all that Jesus is
and all that He has done. He is not talking here in context about getting saved
or becoming justified, he is talking about the process
of growth from that position of initial regeneration. So it is the development,
the growth of that faith in Christ. Jesus referred to all that was needed was
faith like a mustard seed. Mustard seed is one of the tiniest of all seeds and
when we first trust in Christ it is compared to that, but yet it is planted and
nourished and it grows into a large tree. That is the comparison to the
Christian life.
What exactly does this mean
in terms of our own spiritual life? If Paul was
writing this letter to us personally would he say something like that? Would he
say, as I have come to understand your [add our name] spiritual life I am
really thankful that you have a well organized, structured, stabilized approach
to spiritual growth? At lot of people don’t really ask that question and so we
ought to go to another level and ask what is it that makes a spiritual life
orderly and organized?
We need to recognize that
this idea of being self-disciplined is an extremely important value. Anyone in their own natural ability can learn to exercise
self-discipline. Look at the athletes who achieve incredible things. Look at
successful businessmen. Much can be done in our own natural power, but the
Scripture says that part of the fruit, the spiritual character that the Holy
Spirit produces in us is self-control. This is the Greek word enkrateia, which has to do with the
restraint of our sin nature and our self-centered desires. It is used in 2
Peter 1:5, 6 NASB “Now for this very reason also, applying all
diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in {your} moral
excellence, knowledge, and in {your} knowledge, self-control, and in {your}
self-control [enkrateia],
perseverance, and in {your} perseverance, godliness.” All of
these must be produced by the Holy Spirit.
So Paul is saying in
Colossians 2:5 that, “even though I am not with you I have heard about you, and
what I rejoice over in you is a disciplined, stable approach to spiritual
growth.” So what makes our spiritual life orderly and organized is the element
of self-discipline. We have to define what we want. Different people are
satisfied with different things. Many of us at the very beginning set out maybe
an unstated and unrefined goal: If I reach this level of proficiency I will be
happy. The problem with that is when you translate that kind of thinking over
to the spiritual life what we should be saying is: What level of proficiency
does God want me to reach? And only when I reach that level of proficiency will
I be satisfied. So we need to define what our target goal is and then we need
to define what the mechanics are or what the stages are to get there.
This also involves just
basic skills like time management. How do I manage the disposable time of my
week so that I can spend a certain amount of time reading the Bible, a certain
amount of time in prayer, and a certain amount of time in Bible study? All
three of those are fundamental; they are foundational to anything in the Christian
life. We need to have a set, focused time in prayer—every day; a time for Bible reading. Every believer
should be reading their Bible on a daily basis. It is important to be
reading a chapter, two chapters, three chapters a day just for our general fund
of knowledge of what the Bible says. One of the
reasons for only teaching three times a week is because we should be taking the
notes from one Bible class one night, and the next night we should be studying
them. We have to have time to think and reflect upon what we have been taught.
Then Paul says in
Colossians 2:6 NASB “Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the
Lord, {so} walk in Him.” This is introducing the thrust of the next two
chapters—how we maintain that walk in Him without going out of bounds.
That is what the imperatives do; they set the boundaries for staying in
fellowship and walking in Him. Walking in Him is comparable to all of the other
walk type passages that we have in the New Testament: walking by means of God
the Holy Spirit, walking in the light and not in the darkness. He will give us
the manner and means in verse 7 based on the fact that we have already been
rooted in Him (at salvation), and we are never uprooted, and now are being
built up and established in the faith. How does that happen? Colossians 2:7 NASB
“having been firmly rooted {and now} being built up in Him and established in
your faith, just as you were instructed [as you have been taught], {and}
overflowing with gratitude.” Notice “as you have been
taught.” It comes from teaching, the teaching of those who are gifted within
the body of Christ to teach. And “overflowing with gratitude,” being thankful
that we are being taught the Word. And that is so rare today, even among
evangelicals who have so lowered the bar in terms of their expectations of
teaching and expectations of spiritual growth that they don’t live any
differently from the rest of the world. We are to be taught well and to be
thankful for what we have. This also leads to understanding enough so that we have
the defensive walls up and be protected from the counterfeits that are
camouflaged to seduce us into thinking we are living the spiritual life and we
are not.
The focal point here is on
this whole issue of having an orderly, organized spiritual life. Go back and
look through Colossians chapter one. Think about it—what Paul prays for,
what he is thankful for in the life of the Colossian believers, what he prays
for them. These are the spiritual priorities we should have in our own life.
Then the last part of that section from verse 13 down through 2:5 focuses on
who Jesus Christ is. When we understand who He is that is supposed to change
how we think and how we live. So the question we should all ask in terms of
application: If Jesus is X, as Paul says here, how should that changed the way
I think and the way I live? That is our application. If Jesus is the creator of
all things, how does that change the way I think and how I live? If I have
forgiveness and redemption in Jesus, how should that change the way I think and
how I respond to that? That is application; that’s where we need to sit down in
the process of thinking about the application of Scripture.