The answer would have to be no! As these plants cannot grow without the proper environment, neither can a Christian grow without being planted in the right soil. Faith in Christ is a growing process. We are to grow up in all things into Him who is the Head-Christ, [Eph.4:13-16]. A Christian is to grow in the spirit, and we grow spiritually just like a plant grows naturally. Spiritual maturity comes by knowing and understanding who we are in Christ.
We are told by Jesus to; "Consider the lilies of the field, HOW THEY GROW". How a lily grows naturally is a picture of how we are to grow spiritually. Jesus said in John 6:63 "The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life." The story is a spiritual picture. Let us examine this and consider, how we are to grow. The first thing I see in the life of a lily, is that it must be planted in good soil.
We must be planted together in the likeness of Christ's death. 1Cor.6:17 says, "He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him." This is true and must be understood. When a person is born again, he is joined to Christ just like a branch is joined to the vine. The life that is in the vine, Christ, flows into the branch, us; we have the life of Christ in us at the new birth of our spirit. But walking out that life can sometimes be very difficult. What we must come to understand, is that in the spirit, life comes from death! If we want resurrection life, we must be planted in His death. There is a big If in Rom. 6:5. If we have been planted in the likeness of His death. Too many of God's children think that we must have a death also. We must be planted in HIS death. His death must be your death. His death was your death! This is what Paul meant when he said: "Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. (Romans 6:6, KJV). Notice that it is something that we must know. We must know this, our old self was crucified with Christ. I was crucified with Him and died with Him, His death was my death.
We do not need another crucifixion! We must be planted in the knowledge that Christ's death was our death. This must become revelation knowledge, an inward grasping, understanding in the spirit what happened at the cross on that dark day 2,000 years ago. If we think we must crucify our flesh to be more Christ like, we're missing the whole point of being planted in His death. The death of Christ was not just the death of one man: all men died in Christ. 2Cor.5:14 says, "If one died for all then all died." also in John 12:31-33 Jesus said, If I be lifted up (crucified) I will draw all men into myself. Jesus drew all of mankind into Himself; He took our "old man" to the cross, and there we were crucified with Christ. Our old Adam nature was done away with, nailed to the cross, with Christ. We are now a new creation man in Christ. But we must know this, and keep on knowing this, until the Christ life that is in us shows up on us. Salvation comes to us in three realms; first to our spirits, then to our souls, then to our bodies. "And the God of the peace Himself sanctify you wholly, and may your whole spirit, and soul, and body, be preserved unblameably in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ;" (1 Thessalonians 5:23, YLT).The spirit is the inward man of the heart, the soul is your mind, will, and emotions, and the body is the house that you live in.
Our minds must be renewed to the truth of the gospel. What is the gospel you ask? In 1Cor.15:1-4, Paul clearly states that the gospel is the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. "Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:" This is the gospel Paul preached. He said that the message of the cross is the power of God. He determined not to know anything, except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The reason Paul made statements like these, and many others, is because he had a revelation of Christ. And by this I mean that Paul had an inward grasping of the Person and work of Christ. A spiritual comprehension of Christ and the work of the cross, [ Gal.1:11,12 ].
The word "revelation" means, "to reveal, disclose, uncover, and unveil." Paul had a revelation, he knew something about the work of Christ that know one else knew. This was not learned knowledge of men, but was learned in, and by the Spirit of God. He didn't see Jesus die on the cross physically, like the other Apostles, he saw it in the spirit. And this is what he preached, and it is in all the fourteen books of the Bible he wrote, if you will search it out by the spirit. It is what others as well as I refer to "Paul's Revelation". It is the wisdom of God in a mystery...Christ in you.
Planted in His death!!! Like the lily we must be planted in good ground in order to grow up into full maturity. And the death of Christ is the good ground that we must be planted in. The more we know and understand the death of Christ, the less of us will be seen, and the more we will be like Him to a lost and dyeing world.
The next faze in the life of the lily, after it is planted, is to sprout roots. So too, the child of God. The plant sinks it's roots down into the soil, drawing the nutrients that it needs to grow up. Christ is the soil, we are planted in Him; in His death, we draw up out of His death to have His life flowing in us. "Rooted and built up in Him." Who are we to be rooted and built up in? In HIM, in His work. It's through the knowledge of Christ that we have all the things that pertain to life and godliness (2Pet.1:3).
The Amplified Bible renders it thus, "Have the roots of your being firmly and deeply planted in Him, fixed and founded in Him, being continually built up in Him." Sinking our roots deep down into the person and work of Christ is where we draw our nourishment from to be "... increasingly more confirmed and established in the faith" (Col.2:7 AMP).
For true spiritual growth, Christ needs to be the focus of all our learning. We can learn all kinds of "truths" and miss "The Truth" which is a person.
We can have an abundance of revelations, but unless we have the revelation of Christ that Paul had, the inward working of the cross in our lives, we will never grow up out of the carnal way of thinking that is so prevalent today.
This is why Paul prayed for the Ephesians to have a "spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of their understanding enlightened; that THEY MAY KNOW what is the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints" (Eph.1:17-18). He prayed that they would know the riches and the glory of Christ's inheritance in them. They had a need, as we do today, and that is to know the riches that we have, and the glory we have in Christ. We need to be firmly planted and rooted in Christ. To know what it means to be "IN CHRIST".
His history is my history! His story is my story! By this I mean that everything that happened to Jesus, in His work on the cross, happened to me in Him.
We were chosen to be holy and and without blame in Christ, before the foundation of the world (Eph.1:4). How is this possible you ask? Well it's only possible because of the work of Christ. In the first man Adam we were unholy, born of his seed we inherit the curse and everything that came with the fall of man. Adam's history was our history when we were born into this world. But when we are born again and placed in Christ the second Adam, we receive the judgment that fell on Him when He was lifted up on the cross. There He drew all men into Himself, and there God judged the world. "Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. This he said, signifying what death he should die." (John 12:31-33, KJV). This is where the old creation man is done away with, and we become a new creation man in Christ, perfect and holy without blame before the Farther. "Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen." (Jude 1:24,25, KJV). The in-Christed person is faultless before the presence of His glory, and we must grow up to act like the person we are in Christ. We will always act the person we believe ourselves to be. This is why we must be planted and rooted in what is true of us in Christ.
When we accept Jesus as Lord, His history [His death, burial, and resurrection] become ours (Rom.5:12-21). That is the gospel, the good news, that's "awake to righteousness and sin not" (1Cor.15:34). Awake to what is right with what God's standard of what is right, and go and be the person you are in Christ. And I am going to believe what God's word says about me, not what man says; how about you?
I want to be rooted in the truth of Christ! Now the word "rooted" means, "To cause to strike root, to strengthen with roots, to render firm, to fix, establish, cause a person or thing to be thoroughly grounded." Now that is awesome!
We are to be fixed, established, and thoroughly grounded in Christ. And the sad thing is, you almost never hear Christ preached from the pulpits in America, except on Easter and Christmas, and most of that is tradition. "Mr 7:13 Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye. Col 2:8 "Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ." Traditions rob us from the truth that can only be found in Christ. Lord teach us what it means to be in Christ.
The word "built up" means, "To finish the structure of which the foundation has already been laid, to give constant increase in Christian knowledge and in a life conformed thereto". Our foundation is Christ and we are to take heed how we build (1Cor.3:110-15). Jesus is the Alpha, Omega, the first and the Last. He is the beginning and the end of our faith. We grow up in Christ! Rooted in Him.
Now the next stage in the life of our lily, is to grow. If we are to be planted, and rooted in Christ, how do you think we should grow?
We are to grow in the KNOWLEDGE OF OUR LORD. More Christ. You just can't get away from Him and expect to grow up into Him in all things. Eph.4:15 "But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, [even] Christ:" He is to have the preeminence in all things (Col.1:18). In all of our worship, are preaching, our teaching, in all that we do Christ is to have first place.
The word "grow" means, "increase, grow up, become greater, of inward Christian growth." Wuests Expanded Translation renders 2Pet.3:18 thus, "But be constantly growing in the sphere of grace and in an experiential knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." We are to be continually growing in the grace and knowledge of Christ.
In the hour that we live in today, we need to really focus our attention on the Person and work of Christ, the power and wisdom of God. "But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God." (1 Corinthians 1:24, KJV). All the power and wisdom you will ever need is in Christ. Everything God has for you will be found in Christ, and your in Him.
To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.
To be continued...
" N
CHRIST "
Richard H. Morton
< rmorton@cswnet.com >
