From the Ask Pastor John podcast inbox comes this question. Hello Pastor John, my name is

Joshua Chapman from Memphis, Tennessee. What does it mean to be rooted in Christ? I know

Colossians 2, 6 talks about being rooted and built up in Christ, but what exactly does

that mean? Let's go to Colossians. I mean, there is another usage of it over in Ephesians

that's really full of implications, I think, but mainly I think we'll just stay here

with Colossians and maybe tossed in a thought from Ephesians. Here's what it says, Colossians

2, 6. Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted. Now there's

the word rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith just as you were taught a bounding

in Thanksgiving. So let me take it a phrase at a time because every one of these phrases

in these two verses sheds light on the meaning of rooted. So number one, walk in Him, rooted

and built up. So rooted and built up are partisciples modifying the word walk, that is, live

how we walk in life, how we move through life. So walk rooted, walk rooted. Being rooted

is describing how we live our lives as Christians, live as rooted in Jesus, in His

person, in His work. And this is not abstract. This is a how-to. Paul means first to really

get practical here. This is how you get up in the morning. This is how you eat breakfast,

how you go to work, how you come home, play with the kids, cut the grass, have sexual

relations, sleep, do it all rooted in Jesus. That is, do it all by drawing up nourishment

from Jesus. Do it all in the confidence that you are firmly planted in Jesus. That's

the way to live. Don't live a wobbly, unnerished life. Number two, walk in Him, rooted and

built up. Isn't it interesting that He mixes His metaphors? Rooted is what a tree is.

Built up is what a building is. And you can see that even more clearly in the Greek.

So we are rooted. Our roots are sunk down in solid, nourishing soil. And we are built

...