This Week In

Rooted in Discipleship

Colossians 2:6–7 · Week 3

So then, just as you have received Christ Jesus as Lord,continue to walk in him, being rooted and built up in him.

Colossians 2:6–7a · CSB

The Big
Question

Have I stopped where I started, or am I still advancing in Christ?

Start settle in and warm up.

Sunday started with two pictures: a car, and a truck built tough. Both are built to move. A vehicle that never leaves the driveway is still technically a vehicle, but something has gone wrong with the point of it.

Paul says the same thing about following Jesus. You received Christ Jesus as Lord. Now continue to walk in him. Received is where it starts. Walk is what comes next, and it does not stop.

Go around the room and finish this sentence out loud: when I first started following Jesus, I was...

Now the second half. What has grown since then, and what has quietly stalled?

Move dig into the text together.

Colossians 2:6

Personally Advance

Key thought from Sunday: don't stop where you started. Receiving Christ as Lord was the entrance, not the destination. Paul assumes forward motion. There is no version of the Christian life where you arrive and coast. The question is never whether you got in, it is whether you are still walking.
Colossians 2:7a · John 15

Properly Abide

Rooted has two directions. Rooted in Christ, which is John 15 language: abide in the vine or there is nothing to bear fruit with. And rooted in community, which is what we covered last week. You cannot abide alone and you cannot abide in the abstract. Roots go into a specific vine and tangle with specific people.
Colossians 2:7b

Powerfully Act and Prayerfully Appreciate

Key thought from Sunday: you are not strengthened to sit but to serve. Strength that stays parked is wasted strength. And Paul closes the verse with overflowing thankfulness, which is the tell. A rooted disciple does not serve resentfully. Gratitude is what the overflow actually looks like when the roots are deep.

Key Thought

True discipleship isn't just a class that you pass, it isa lifestyle that you live.

Rooted in Discipleship

Group Discussion & Response

Colossians 2:6–7

Talk get honest with each other.

Where have you stopped where you started? Name the specific place you have been coasting rather than advancing.
Sunday defined the pathway this way: on the rooted side there are things you need to know, and on the ready side there are things you need to show. Which side is weaker for you right now, and why?
Pastor Jackie said true discipleship isn't a class you pass, it is a lifestyle you live. Where have you been treating following Jesus like a class to complete?
Spiritual maturity was defined as the degree to which the fruit of the Spirit is exemplified in your life and the gifts of the Spirit are exercised in your life. By that definition, where are you actually maturing, and where are you stuck?

Do take it into your week.

Pray

Use Sunday's prayer every morning: God, help me be rooted despite ________. Fill the blank in honestly. Opposition, my sin, my stress, my anxiety. Say it before you say anything else.
Praise

Praise Jesus daily by naming one reason you trust His reign. One reason, out loud, every day this week. Bring the list back to group.
Preach

Read Colossians 2:6–7 and write down one specific way you will continue walking in Christ. Not a general intention. One concrete way, in writing.
Practice

Explore what it looks like to take your next step at crosschurch.link/rr. Then tell one person in this group which step you picked so they can ask you about it before you meet again.

Close in Prayer

Father, thank You that we received Christ Jesus as Lord by grace, and that You never asked us to hold ourselves up. Keep us from stopping where we started. Sink our roots into Christ and into each other. Strengthen us, not so we can sit, but so we can serve. And make us people who overflow with thankfulness, whose maturity shows up as fruit borne and gifts used. In Jesus' name, amen.

Notes & Reflection