What Does it Mean to be Rooted in the Gospel?

To be rooted in the gospel is to be like the banyan trees of the tropics. The trees’ roots are many. They shoot out from all over and reach down toward the nutrient-rich soil. The trees thrive because of their many roots and the luscious soil. The soil is just right—exactly what these organisms need. The nutrition causes the trees to grow tall and broad and to reproduce. The far-reaching roots enable the trees to stand firm in the midst of hurricane-force winds, which lash the tropics every year. Even the fiercest storms cannot uproot the banyans.

The banyan trees’ roots connect the trees to their life source, the soil. We too must be rooted in our life source, which is the gospel. As Christians, we know that the gospel is the good news of salvation. It is our rescue from hell and deliverance to heaven.

But the gospel is also the truth that propels us and compels us in all things. It is the very foundation of our lives and worldview and understanding of reality. The gospel is the most basic and important truth for all people. Sending our roots into any other soil causes us to wither.

John Calvin writes, “For true doctrine is not a matter of the tongue, but of life: neither is the Christian doctrine grasped only by the intellect and memory, as truth is grasped in other fields of study. Rather, doctrine is rightly received when it takes possession of the entire soul and finds a dwelling place and shelter in the most intimate affections of the heart.”[1]

In other words, to believe the truth about the gospel, one must do more than mentally assent to it. The truth of the gospel is meant to transform us. And if it does not, then we do not really believe. The gospel has something to say about how we spend our time, where we spend our money, the goals we pursue, the careers we seek, the hobbies we enjoy, the food we eat—everything.

The gospel says that we are not our own.

PAUL PRAYED THAT THE CHURCH WOULD BE ROOTED

The word rooted appears in two places in the Bible. Both are found in letters written by Paul to two different church communities, which he helped to establish. One is to the church at Ephesus and one is to the church at Colossae. In both contexts, Paul urges his readers to be rooted in the gospel.

First, in his letter to the Ephesians, Paul says, For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:14–19)

You can hear Paul’s labor and love for the Ephesians in these words. First, he says he earnestly prays for them. He prays to the Father of every family, meaning we are all created by God. Paul says that he asks God to fill them with power from the Holy Spirit, so that Christ may dwell in them. He wants them to be rooted and grounded in love—not just any love, but the love of the Father, who gives us his Son and empowers us by the Spirit—which is the gospel.

The love of Christ that surpasses knowledge is communicated radically in the gospel message, which the Ephesians believed by faith and Paul longed for them to comprehend. He desired that they (and you and I!) be filled with the fullness of God. The gospel is not peripheral. It is not secondary. It is meant to be the very center of our lives as followers of Christ.

Paul closes his prayer with these powerful words: “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen” (Ephesians 3:20–21).

When we believe the gospel by faith, when we are empowered by the Holy Spirit, when Christ dwells in our hearts, when we are filled with the fullness of God, then God is able to do far more abundantly than all we could ever ask or imagine! This is the power of the gospel in us. And when this power is at work, it brings glory to Jesus throughout all generations.

When we are rooted in Christ and built up in Christ, we will be established in Christ. This leads to rest in the gospel—a rest that can do far more than we ever ask or imagine.

Second, in his letter to the Colossians, Paul says, “Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving” (Colossians 2:6–7).

This prayer points to that moment when the Colossians surrendered to the Lord and believed the gospel by grace, through faith. Paul says if you have received Christ, then be rooted in Christ, be built up in him, be established in him and grow from that foundation.

Receiving Christ, being rooted in the gospel, is a water-shed moment. It changes everything. It takes possession of all who believe.

ROOTS IN THE GOSPEL, NOT IN THIS WORLD

Interestingly, Paul continues from this urging of the Colossians to be rooted in Christ with this exhortation: “See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ” (Colossians 2:8).  

The age of self says that life and meaning begin and end with us. But this is empty deceit and a human-centered tradition.

Like the Colossians, we must be aware of the philosophy of our culture and measure it against the truth of the gospel. The cultural air we breathe says to believe in yourself and you will be saved. But the true gospel says, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31).

The gospel truth that God is both our Creator and Redeemer is the only soil that will nourish us. When we come to the end of ourselves, we must examine the soil in which our hearts have taken root. Are we rooted in ourselves and this world, or in the power of him who made us and longs to save us? Does the one true God nourish our souls? Does he equip us for life and enable us to bring him glory? Or is our soil toxic?

Only God can make us aware of what is toxic in our soil. Only he can show us that we must seek sustenance that comes from him alone. When we are rooted in him, rooted in the gospel, our whole being is forever changed.

[1] Calvin, Little Book on the Christian Life, 12–13. Emphasis added.

Content taken from Enough About Me by Jen Oshman, ©2020. Used by permission of Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, crossway.org.

Author’s Note: This excerpt first appeared here at Gospel-Centered Discipleship.