Sermon Tone Analysis

Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

It continues to be an honor and privilege to share the Word of God with this congregation.

Today we are entering the second half of our look at man made religion.

I do think that is important to be reminded of what we looked at last week.

We began with the fundamental premise that all people are religious.

Every single person on this planet, from Christians to Buddhists, to atheists and every flavor in between, every single person is religious.

And we know that because every person has beliefs and religion is simply the outworking of belief.

The actions you take in response to the beliefs that you hold are religious in nature.

We should take notice that these religious actions can be very obvious and intentional, such praying to a statue whilst lighting incense.

But they can also seem less harmless or unnoticed, like wearing your “lucky shorts” or sitting in a particular chair every time kentucky plays basketball.

In that case in particular you may even tell yourself you know it doesn’t make a difference but then a big moment in the game comes up and you go ahead and sit there anyways… just in case.

Religion is the outworking of belief.

Everyone has religion.

Everyone hold some form of beliefs that guide their behaviors, actions, attitudes, and practices.

This is why I took issue with the popular Christian saying, “I don’t have religion, I have relationship.”

Now I admitted to the church I've said this before.

And I understand the intent of the phrase, but if we were to really think about what this phrase means, it would be like saying, “My relationship with Christ has no effect or influence on my attitudes, beliefs, and practices.”

No Christian in this room would agree with that statement!

So instead of saying, “I don’t have religion.”

the Christian would be better off saying “My religion is informed, reformed, empowered, and sanctified by my relationship with Christ.”

Now, if you were hear last week your thinking, Brad you told us all of this already.

Well bear with me because this is important!

Open your Bibles to Colossians 2. I didn’t have the time last week to go into all the detail I wanted to about verse 19.

This section that we began looking at last week and are continuing to look at today is all about religion.

There are manmade religions seeking to distract and dissuade the Christians in Colossae.

We looked at the false beliefs systems of legalism and mysticism in verses 16-18.

In a few moments were going to look at third manmade system.

But before we get to that, let us really explain what it means to say the Christian’s religion is informed, reformed, empowered, and sanctified by our relationship with Christ.

Look back at verse 19.

In this verse we see Christ is called the Head.

This refers back to Colossians 1:18 in which we are shown that Christ is the head of the body which is the church.

So when we say that the Christian’s religion is informed by their relationship with Christ it is an acknowledgement of His rightful place as the Head!

Christ is the Head of the Church.

The Church is collection of those in relationship with Him, willfully and joyfully submitting to His Command.

Christian, if you know Christ, He should be informing every bit of every way you live out your life.

The way you love is informed by the way you understand He has loved you.

The way you give is informed by the way He gave Himself for you.

The way you live is informed by the model He lived and the instructions He has given.

The difference between false, manmade religion, and pure and undefiled religion, is that first that religion is informed by Christ!

Then I said that Christian religion is reformed by relationship with Christ.

This is proved by the fact that everyone has religion, but without Christ it is worthless.

It is action upon belief, but that belief is in lies that lead to destruction!

When we say that something it is reformed we are saying that it has, “relinquished an immoral, criminal, or self-destructive lifestyle.”

In verse 19 of Colossians 2 we are shown that through Christ, body is nourished and knit together.

Through Christ believers, who were once lost and destitute in their sin have been taken out of that destruction and united together.

What better reformation could there be than taking this sinner, dead in sin, set on a course of immoral, self-destructive lifestyle, and by the power and glory of Jesus Christ being folded into the vibrant body of Christ.

Christ has reformed our religious tendencies that are dead with out Him!

We also say that Christ has empowered our religion.

That can be seen clearly in the end of verse 19. the body “grows with a a growth that is from God.” Through our relationship with Christ we are empowered to grow.

As we press on in the faith we see more of who God is and what He is has done.

We grow in our likeness to Christ.

It is a glorious thing.

And God gets all the glory for it!

It is by HIS power that we grow!

God has given believers the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit.

As we live out our lives in response to the grace He has shown to us, we owe all the credit to the one from whom all blessings flow!

Through our relationship with Christ we are empowered to have true religion.

Then lastly we can say that Christ has sanctified our religion.

This whole verse really defines the sanctification that Christ brings to our religious efforts.

In the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 Sanctification is defined as, “Sanctification is the experience, beginning in regeneration, by which the believer is set apart to God's purposes, and is enabled to progress toward moral and spiritual maturity through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in him.

Growth in grace should continue throughout the regenerate person's life.”

Through our relationship with Christ we are given direction, taken out of our old lives, into His body, and empowered to grow.

There are bumps and faults along the way, but through Christ we are enabled to mature in faith.

The outworking of our growth and maturity is a religion that is informed, reformed, empowered, and sanctified by our relationship with Jesus Christ.

This pure religion is juxtaposed to false, manmade religion in Colossians 2:16-23.

Last week we walked through the follies of legalism and mysticism as presented in verses 16-18.

If you remember last week I asked you to highlight a word in verse 18, stating that we would come back to it this week.

It is now time to look at this third manifestation of manmade religion with the intent of helping those saved by the grace of God NOT get dragged into a false system as well as calling anyone stuck in such a system out of it and unto Christ.

This is the manmade religion of Asceticism.

Read with me verses 20-22 and then we will begin to unpack asceticism.

We can gather from these verses and the rest of chapter 2, that the Colossians Christians were surrounded by legalists, mystics, and ascetics.

There is some debate in the theological world as to if these are three separate groups, all influencing the church independently, or a hodge-podge assimilation into one heretical group.

In practicality it does not matter which is the case because all three manmade manifestations of religion are to be rejected whether they are in conjunction with one another or not.

Here we are specifically confronted with asceticism.

Asceticism is the religious philosophy of depriving the body of normal desires as a means of gaining approval before God and attaining the appearance of holiness.

Paul here in verse 21 shows the various limits the ascetics had in regards to the things they touched and tasted.

Asceticism goes hand in hand with Legalism in some regards and beyond it in others.

The logical conclusion of asceticism is monasticism.

That is to be a monk.

Cut off from the rest of the world, living with only the most basic of necessities and sometimes not even then.

Ascetic Christianity has been around for a long time.

Anthony of Egypt was born around 250 AD.

He began practicing asceticism when he was 20 years old and after 15 years, at the age of 35 he withdrew from society completely and went to live on a mountain near the Nile river.

The legend around Anthony says that in his isolation he had literal bouts with the Devil.

He would, through prayer, fight of vile temptations.

After nearly 20 years of isolation, he emerged from his retreat to instruct and organize the monastic life of the hermits who imitated him and who had established themselves nearby.

Now for some of us, maybe many of us, this is the picture we have of “true” religion.

We look at the monks, including Christian monks like Anthony, and while we might not get it, we think that they have must have some sort of spiritual enlightenment that we don’t have!

We applaud them for the piety and put them on a spiritual mountaintop higher even than the mountain they secluded themselves on.

So what then is the problem with asceticism?

Well, that is shown to us in verse 23.

Following ascetic practices appears really religious.

It looks wise.

It looks so unattainable to us depraved cretans that we promote the ascetics to a place of spiritual superiority when asceticism and spiritual maturity really have nothing to do with one another.

Asceticism is a central part to most false eastern religions but can be found in secular naturalism and even instructional TV shows like Marie Kondo’s Tidying up and Sparking Joy that caught viral attention in 2019.

There is nothing wrong with having a tidy home.

However it needs to be known that you will never find joy simply by removing physical objects from your life.

The basic tenet of asceticism is suggesting that the inner soul is good while physical reality is bad.

It is a philosophy of dualism.

Shedding off physical belongings is an attempt to free the spirit from the prison of the body.