If you’ve ever suffered from any long-term illness, you learn many lessons along the way. You learn what makes you better and what makes you worse.
Take diabetes, for example. There’s a figure that’s measured at every clinic visit, it’s called HbA1c. If it has come down, the medical staff will sit down and ask “What did you do differently to make this improvement?” so that they can identify the causes of the improvement and keep doing what they were doing.
The basic idea is, “Whatever you’ve been doing, let’s keep doing it. As you’ve begun, so continue.” The last thing you’ll hear is, “OK, this and that change has led to improvement, so let’s do the opposite now!”
The same idea applies to progress in our spiritual lives. We want to ask, “How did I begin to know Jesus?” so that we then say, “As I began, so let me continue.” The worst conclusion we can come to is, “OK, I began with Jesus this way, so let’s do the exact opposite now.”
What would the opposite look like?
- We began rooted in Christ, but we go on by pulling our roots out of this soil!
- We began on the foundation of Christ, but we go on moving away from this foundation.
- We began by building with Christ, but we go on by building with self-made bricks.
- We began by overflowing with thank-fulness, but we go on by complaining.
It’s ridiculous isn’t it? We began by welcoming Christ, but we go on by walking away from Christ? Of course not.
How then do we grow spiritually. How do we go on in the faith? We go on in faith as we began in faith. It’s that simple. As we began, so we go on. We’re going to look at how we began with Christ in order to learn how to go on with Christ.
For more, see my sermon notes from my seventh sermon in the Colossians series entitled Complete in Christ (download pdf here). Scroll down a bit further and you’ll find a one-page sermon summary infographic. Index to previous sermons here.
