Colossians 2:8-15

This section, considered the central section of the book, is obviously Paul responding to some false teaching that was going on. We don’t know exactly the nature of this teaching, but Paul’s diatribe here helps us see that the key issue, as it often was, was that Christ himself, or at least what Christ had done already, was not enough according to the false teachers

These were young Christians, likely struggling with the daily walk of Christianity, maybe not what they thought it might be, it seems that likely the focal point of the false teaching was that if they wanted FULLNESS, they needed to do thus and so – right? You’ve got the normal gospel stuff, but . . . diet change, celebrating certain days, denying certain pleasures like marriage or sex – these things will take you to FULLNESS

We are familiar with this aren’t we, we are constantly looking for the ultimate thing, yeah yeah ordinary plain church is fine and all but this ministry over here, this is where the fullness is, this activity is where the fullness is. We are constantly reaching out for the truer and better.

Paul says there is nothing to ADD! The real problem is that you have received Christ but don’t see the riches!

We’ll read the section as we go, but I want to make sure you see the big Theme

“Christian” – pejorative

“In Christ”

Salvation IS Union with Christ

That’s a sort of mystical thing, and we wonder how that works, but it IS what it is to be a Christian – IN CHRIST

Marriage as a picture of this OneNess

Head and Body

2 Cor 5:17

Acts 9:4 – Why are you persecuting Me

What does it mean to be united with Christ? Let’s look at our main passage and these IN HIM phrases

In Him all the fullness of deity dwells bodily

This is a summary statement of what has been said already – THAT JESUS

And it is setting us up for this massive about to be repeated truth that we are IN HIM, THAT ONE

You have been filled in Him who is the head of all rule and authority

This is the same as saying you have been Saved. To be saved is to be filled in Christ.

A crucial thing to see is the Past Tenseness of this entire section - Accomplished

You are not waiting on more of Jesus

Confusion of Union with Christ vs. COMMunion with Christ

COMMunion with Christ fluctuates, it is fluid, sometimes we feel closer, warmer . . . but Union with Christ is a Rock

Fretful anxiety based on my performance is replaced with stable joy based on Christ – If you are in Christ, the question now is not how righteous am I, but how righteous is Christ?

AND if you are in THAT JESUS, who is right now at this moment head of all rule and authority, what have you to fear, and who could come and remove you from that place?

If you are united to That Jesus, if Christ is yours, then you have ALL FULLNESS already in Jesus – how could there be more?

In Him you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ

Common statement from Paul that you are not right with God because of Jewishness or Gentileness, or in fact by anything outside . . .

Spiritual – not referring itself to baptism, but the spiritual action of the flesh being removed

Having been buried with him in baptism and Raised with him through faith

What has happened is that the believer shared with Christ in his death. The judgment of God fell upon Christ, and, in him, those who are his died too. Yet in Christ, he is raised to a new life.

There is no reference here to a future resurrection. Paul is speaking of present experience. This experience is the new life in the Spirit. 3:1 – Since then you have been raised with Christ! THAT HAS HAPPENED! There’s a sense in which, Christ’s work is so completed, that you are already there with Him. You experienced Death’s defeat for you, in Christ.

And we shouldn’t view our salvation as we are from afar and God calls us righteous over there, it is that in salvation we have Put On Christ, we have entered into Christ, the perfect and righteous one.

Rom 8:1 – There is therefore now no condemnation for those IN CHRIST

Why? Not just because you have been called righteous, but because you are now IN the righteous One.

Jump over now to chapter 3:3-4 - Listen to these words, drink them in. SLOW DOWN

A couple of things to notice

THAT’S HOW SECURE YOU ARE

You HAVE died.

Your life is HIDDEN WITH CHRIST, COVERED BY CHRIST, He hideth my soul in the cleft of the Rock

You are so securely in Christ, and so UNITED and ONE with him, that Paul can say Christ IS YOUR LIFE

THAT’S HOW LOVED YOU ARE

Massiveness of His love for you – The Grand story of the Bible is about Christ’s love for Us. It is a tale about a Groom and a Bride, culiminating in the marriage supper of the Lamb.

He is the Groom who has been given a bride and who has given everything for her, for us, and to become ONE with us.

When he appears, we will appear with Him!

Sinclair Ferguson says of this passage that it is as if to say that Jesus, the bridegroom, when he returns, turns to the Father and says “I’m not going without them”

Woah, not me. YES YOU! US more specifically. We will be there, because we are his beloved.

See who you are – IDENTITY politics

You are THE Beloved, You are UNITED to Christ, that is the truest thing about you.

Nicholas Wolterstorff – “Lament for a Son”

Story of how his son died in his early 20’s and how it changed him at the deepest possible level.

“Now, if anyone wants to know who Nicholas Wolterstorff is, he must know that I am a man that lost his son.”

One of those experiences that marks you for the rest of your life, so that you live in a kind of world on your own that most know nothing about, but if they ever want to really know you, they have to know this.

Identity that is Truest and Deepest and Defining

If anyone wants to know who I am, I am someone who died with Christ, was buried with Christ . . . my TRUE life is hidden with Christ in God. . . and when Christ appears, he Will Not appear without me.

How was it Accomplished? 13-15

Each thing said

Cancelled the record of debt, and disarmed the rulers and authorities to add any more debt to your account

One of the great problems in modern society is our inability to see our debt with any clarity or weight. You don’t think you owe that much.

“These terrorists from hell being stripped of their weapons”

Concerning the chief picture of verse 15 there can be no argument. The Roman triumphal procession …Shamed, and exposed to public gaze, everyone can see that there is nothing to fear from these once proud soldiers.

Ps 68:18(Quoted about Jesus in Eph 4:8) – Triumphal Procession

Col 1:15-20 ONE WITH JESUS, HE WILL NOT RETURN WITHOUT YOU