“Therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.” — Colossians 2:6
Following Jesus is not just about how the Christian life begins. It is about how we continue.
It is possible to remember the moment we trusted Christ, celebrate the grace that saved us, and then slowly begin living as though the rest of our spiritual growth depends on us.
We start by depending completely on Jesus.
Then somewhere along the way, we can begin depending on our performance, our discipline, our knowledge, our ministry, our accomplishments, or even our spiritual experiences.
Colossians 2:6 gives us a beautifully simple correction:
The same way you received Christ is the way you are supposed to continue walking with Christ.
You began by trusting Him.
Keep trusting Him.
You began by recognizing that you needed Him.
Keep recognizing that you need Him.
You began by surrendering your life to Him.
Keep surrendering your life to Him.
Paul’s words give us three important truths about the Christian life.
1. Christianity Means Receiving Christ Himself
Paul describes believers as people who have “received Christ Jesus the Lord.”
Notice what he does not say.
He does not simply say that Christians have received Christian teaching.
He does not say they have received religious traditions.
He does not say they have joined a church, been baptized, memorized Scripture, or learned the correct theological vocabulary.
Those things may have value, but Christianity is ultimately about receiving Jesus Himself.
There is an enormous difference between knowing information about Christ and actually knowing Christ.
You can know Christian doctrine without knowing Jesus personally.
You can understand how church works without walking closely with Jesus.
You can participate in worship services, Bible studies, communion, ministry, and other Christian activities while your heart remains distant from Him.
Biblical Christianity is not simply accepting a system of beliefs.
It is trusting a Person.
Knowing Jesus Personally
The Christian knows Jesus as more than an important historical figure.
We believe He is the Son of God who became fully human, died for our sins, rose again, and offers salvation to everyone who trusts Him.
But our relationship with Him goes even deeper than knowing those facts.
We begin to know His character.
We experience His grace.
We depend on His promises.
We recognize His voice through Scripture.
We learn what it means to pray, worship, obey, trust, and walk with Him.
Christianity becomes more than learning about Jesus.
It becomes life with Jesus.
Receiving Jesus as Christ, Savior, and Lord
Paul calls Him “Christ Jesus the Lord.”
Every part of that title matters.
We Receive Him as Christ
“Christ” means the Anointed One.
Jesus is not simply a spiritual teacher we decided to follow. He is the One God sent.
He is the promised Messiah.
He is our King, our High Priest, and the One through whom God carries out His plan of redemption.
We Receive Him as Jesus
His name points us toward His saving mission.
Jesus came to save His people from their sins.
We do not save ourselves by becoming religious enough, disciplined enough, generous enough, or moral enough.
Jesus saves.
Our forgiveness comes through Him.
Our righteousness comes through Him.
Our hope comes through Him.
Our transformation comes through Him.
We Receive Him as Lord
This may be the part modern Christianity is most tempted to minimize.
Jesus does not come into our lives merely to become an advisor.
He comes as Lord.
Following Jesus means surrendering our authority over our own lives.
Our question changes from:
“What do I want?”
to:
“Jesus, what do You want?”
His Word shapes our decisions.
His commands matter.
His priorities become our priorities.
His mission becomes our mission.
We cannot separate Jesus the Savior from Jesus the Lord.
Receiving Christ means trusting Him enough to surrender ourselves to Him.
Christianity Is About Receiving, Not Earning
There is another important word in Colossians 2:6:
Received.
Paul does not say we earned Christ.
He does not say we achieved Christ.
He does not say we worked hard enough that God finally rewarded us with Christ.
We received Him.
That destroys our ability to boast.
Think about an empty cup placed underneath a flowing stream.
The cup may eventually become completely full, but it cannot brag about its fullness. Everything inside it came from somewhere else.
That is the Christian life.
Everything we have spiritually comes from grace.
Salvation is received.
Forgiveness is received.
Righteousness is received.
Eternal life is received.
Jesus is received.
There is no room for spiritual pride at the foot of the cross.
The gospel requires empty hands.
We come to Jesus admitting that we cannot rescue ourselves and trusting that what He accomplished for us is enough.
2. Keep Walking in Christ
Paul continues:
“…so walk in Him.”
The word “walk” gives us a picture of the entire Christian life.
Walking involves at least three things:
continuing, progressing, and moving.
Continue Depending on Jesus
When you first trusted Christ, you understood something important:
You needed Him.
You knew your sin was too great for you to fix yourself.
You knew you could not earn forgiveness.
You knew your religious accomplishments could not save you.
So you looked to Jesus.
But Christians sometimes make a strange mistake.
We begin the Christian life depending completely on Jesus, then try to continue the Christian life depending on ourselves.
We begin by grace and then drift toward performance.
We start measuring ourselves by things like:
- How often we read the Bible
- How much we pray
- How faithfully we attend church
- How much ministry we perform
- How spiritually mature we feel
- How much better we think we are doing than someone else
Spiritual disciplines matter.
Obedience matters.
Growth matters.
Good works matter.
But none of those things can ever replace Jesus as the foundation of our confidence.
The mature Christian does not need Jesus less.
The mature Christian increasingly understands how desperately he needs Jesus.
The message at the beginning of the Christian life is:
Jesus is enough.
The message after ten years is:
Jesus is enough.
The message after fifty years is still:
Jesus is enough.
And when we eventually face death, our hope will not be that we prayed enough prayers, preached enough sermons, served enough people, or accumulated enough good works.
Our hope will still be Jesus.
Keep Growing
Walking also means progress.
Christians should grow.
We should become more loving.
More patient.
More generous.
More obedient.
More humble.
More disciplined.
More faithful.
More like Jesus.
But even our growth must remain rooted in Christ.
One of the dangers of spiritual maturity is beginning to trust our maturity.
We can become proud of our Bible knowledge.
Proud of our ministry experience.
Proud of our theological understanding.
Proud of our discipline.
Proud of how long we have been Christians.
Eventually, we can build an impressive spiritual platform underneath ourselves and forget that Jesus was supposed to be the foundation.
Then a storm comes.
Our emotions change.
Our circumstances fall apart.
We fail.
Someone disappoints us.
A prayer seems unanswered.
Our spiritual confidence begins shaking.
But sometimes it is not Christ who is shaking.
It is everything we built on top of Him.
When that happens, we need to return to the foundation.
Christ alone.
Our growth should make us increasingly dependent on Jesus, not increasingly impressed with ourselves.
Put Your Faith Into Action
Walking also implies movement.
Christianity was never intended to be passive.
Followers of Jesus should serve.
Feed hungry people.
Help those who are struggling.
Encourage the discouraged.
Teach those who need truth.
Care for people who are hurting.
Be generous.
Stand for justice.
Share the gospel.
Serve the church.
Love your neighbor.
But we must remember why we do these things.
We do not serve so that Jesus will save us.
We serve because Jesus has saved us.
We do not love others to earn God’s favor.
We love others because we have already received God’s grace.
Christian service is not payment.
It is gratitude.
Our good works should point people toward Jesus rather than toward ourselves.
3. Walk With Jesus the Way You First Came to Jesus
Paul gives us the pattern:
“As you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.”
Think back to when you first truly understood the gospel.
How did you come to Jesus?
That is how you should continue coming to Him.
Come Gratefully
You did not come to Christ because you deserved salvation.
You came because you needed mercy.
The gospel showed you that Jesus had done for you what you could never do for yourself.
That realization produces gratitude.
And gratitude should continue shaping our Christian lives.
Unfortunately, familiarity can slowly steal wonder.
What once amazed us becomes ordinary.
Grace becomes vocabulary.
The cross becomes a symbol we see so often that we stop thinking about what it means.
Forgiveness becomes something we assume rather than something that overwhelms us.
We need to recover our gratitude.
You are forgiven because of Jesus.
You have hope because of Jesus.
You can approach God because of Jesus.
You have eternal life because of Jesus.
Never outgrow your amazement at grace.
Come Humbly
Most of us came to Christ recognizing that we had nothing to brag about.
We knew we were sinners.
We knew we needed mercy.
We knew we could not rescue ourselves.
Then we became Christians.
We learned some Scripture.
We developed spiritual disciplines.
We began serving.
Maybe we started leading.
And somewhere along the way, pride began quietly returning.
We started comparing ourselves to others.
We noticed their weaknesses more easily than our own.
We became less teachable.
Correction became harder to receive.
We began thinking our maturity made us somehow less dependent on grace.
That is when we need to remember how we started.
Come back to Jesus humbly.
Not pretending you have everything together.
Not trying to impress Him.
Not comparing yourself with someone else.
Just admitting:
“Jesus, I still need You.”
Come Joyfully
There is often tremendous joy when someone first understands the gospel.
The weight of guilt is lifted.
Grace becomes real.
Jesus becomes precious.
Hope becomes personal.
But over time, the Christian life can become routine.
Bible reading becomes another task.
Church becomes another appointment.
Prayer becomes another obligation.
Ministry becomes another responsibility.
If that describes you, the solution may not be adding another religious activity.
You may simply need to look again at Jesus.
Remember who He is.
Remember what He has done.
Remember how much you have been forgiven.
Remember the hope He has given you.
Christ has not become less beautiful.
Grace has not become less amazing.
The gospel has not become less powerful.
Sometimes we have simply stopped looking closely.
Come Without Reservations
When we receive Jesus as Lord, we are giving Him the right to lead every part of our lives.
That means there should not be rooms in our hearts marked:
“Jesus is not allowed in here.”
Our relationships belong to Him.
Our finances belong to Him.
Our sexuality belongs to Him.
Our careers belong to Him.
Our schedules belong to Him.
Our ambitions belong to Him.
Our reputations belong to Him.
Our future belongs to Him.
Following Jesus costs something.
Sometimes obedience will be uncomfortable.
Sometimes it will cost relationships.
Sometimes it will require sacrifice.
Sometimes it will mean choosing faithfulness when compromise would be easier.
But whatever following Christ costs us, we will never be able to measure the worth of what we have received in Him.
The Question We Should Keep Asking
Colossians 2:6 is not complicated.
It is challenging because it is so simple.
How did you receive Jesus?
By faith.
By grace.
With empty hands.
With humility.
With dependence.
With surrender.
With joy.
Then Paul says:
Keep walking that way.
Do not graduate from grace.
Do not move beyond dependence on Christ.
Do not replace Jesus with religious activity.
Do not build your confidence on spiritual performance.
Do not allow years of Christianity to make you less amazed by the gospel.
Keep coming to Jesus.
Keep trusting Jesus.
Keep depending on Jesus.
Keep obeying Jesus.
Keep following Jesus.
What If You Have Never Received Christ?
Maybe you can talk about Christianity, but you cannot honestly say you have received Christ.
The invitation of the gospel is not complicated.
You do not need to clean yourself up before coming to Jesus.
You do not need to become religious enough.
You do not need to create an impressive spiritual résumé.
Come honestly.
Come recognizing your sin.
Come believing that Jesus died and rose again.
Come trusting Him rather than yourself.
Come receiving Him as Savior and Lord.
Salvation does not rest on how impressive you are.
It rests on who Jesus is and what Jesus has done.
And once you have received Him, keep walking with Him.
The Christian life begins with Jesus.
It continues with Jesus.
And ultimately, it ends with Jesus.
“Therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.” — Colossians 2:6
Patrick Ryan Lewis 
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