Back in Edinburgh during the rugby season on Saturdays I often went to support my local rugby team, Boroughmuir. The final season before I moved to Switzerland was frustrating, the team would often start the first half really well and build up a decent lead. However, come the second half, they sort of faded and often ended up being well beaten. Few things are more frustrating than supporting a team that starts well and then fades.

As well as rugby teams I have noticed some Christians also start well but then fade. Its not a new problem, the Apostle Paul addresses it in the book of Colossians. I want us to hear what he has to say because I suspect some of us are in danger of fading.

⁶ So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, Col 2:6

Paul there describes people who had come into a real living relationship with Jesus, they had “received Christ as Lord” These weren’t “cultural Christians” just showing up at church out of habit, they had a real genuine encounter with Jesus and had surrendered their lives to his Lordship. Paul says great start, but now don’t fade

continue to live your lives in him, . Colossians 2:6

The word “live” in the NIV is literally “walk” in the Greek original and I think I prefer that word. You see we meet Jesus, surrender to his Lordship but then we have to “walk in him”, That is about living out our decision to live under his Lordship step by step, day by day. That is what discipleship is all about.

The way we do that is to be

⁷ rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness Col 2:7

If we put our roots down deep into Christ, if we are built up in the faith, then we will have the strength not to fade and continue our walk with Jesus as we started it.

How exactly do we do that?

There are no short cuts to being rooted and built in Christ.

It’s about being alone with God, its about prayer, it’s about reading and reflecting on God’s Word, it’s about fellowship in small groups, its about gathering with believers for worship.

Can I be honest?  

I am worried about some of us at Westlake. I am worried that because you are not doing the stuff, we have just talked about the basic habits that root us in and build us up in Christian life, that you are going to fade in the second half like Boroughmuir.