Jesus is Enough

Read 2:16-23

Pray

INTRO

Crest commercial

Grandfather and grandson, he shaves and applies after shave

The burns says it’s working

If it burns, it’s working

Then the crest doesn’t burn, but it’s obviously working

We all have this built in belief that anything that takes effort, or if is difficult, is ultimately good.

No pain, no gain.

not true for everything

Hard work is not bad, giving something your all is good.

This idea has been proven wrong many times

Following Jesus, being a Christian is no different

This False teacher is adding works, teachings, self-made religion to the gospel that is actually leading people down the wrong path, disqualifying the people

Jesus did the work, and attempting to add to the completed work of Christ has negative returns.

transition

Colossians 2:16 ESV

Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath.

Therefore

Chapters 1-2 we have learned

Justified, debt paid by Jesus

Qualified for eternal life in chapter 1

Fullness of God was pleased to dwell in Jesus Christ

Alive together with Christ

Rooted, built up, established, thankful

Having put off the flesh

Festivals and Sabbaths

Celebrated by the Jewish people, passover, booths, unleavened bread, Purim,

Sabbath friday night to saturday night, no work, rest

These are good things

False teacher was condemning people if they did or didn’t participate Judging them based on performance and attendance

Paul is saying “do not let anyone impose on you a program of spiritual development that does not have Christ at its heart”

Colossians 2:17 ESV

These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.

transition

Jesus is the Point

Festivals, reasons to celebrate, are just a shadow.

They were enacted so that the people of God would stop, and remember how God has been faithful, patience, kind, powerful, generous

Mark 2:23–28 (ESV)

One Sabbath he was going through the grainfields, and as they made their way, his disciples began to pluck heads of grain.

And the Pharisees were saying to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?”

And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.

So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”

Their objective is to Point to Christ

Substance

Jesus is the Point

Transition

English Standard Version Chapter 2

18 Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind,

Adding to, or subtracting from the gospel makes it a false gospel

2+2=4. Let’s add just something small to it. 2+2+.1 now equals 4.1 and it is no longer true

This false teaching was a deceptive combination of many things: Jewish legalism, Oriental philosophy, pagan astrology, mysticism, asceticism, and even a touch of Christianity.

Warren W. Wiersbe

Paul says in Galatians 5 and also 1 Cor “A little leaven leavens the whole lump”

Leaven makes bread rise when baked. It is a spreading thing, and left alone it will permeate the whole lump and multiply itself

What was this man adding to the truth?

Asceticism A voluntary abstention from the satisfaction of bodily and social needs, including food, drink, sexual activity, sleep, clothes, wealth, and social interaction.

1 Timothy 4:8 ESV

for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.

1 Corinthians 9:27 ESV

But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

NOT punishing yourself because you’re a sinner as an attempt to conquer the evil within you.

Matthew 6:16–17 ESV

“And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face,

Fasting removes obstacles and distractions as you seek God and God alone through prayer.

Not eating, because hunger is a sign that sin in you is diminishing, is a lie.

These things are helpful, for glorifying Christ in your body. To realign your heart mind body to Jesus. But, only when we know that

Worship angels: they are created spiritual beings,

messengers of God, ministers to God’s children

anything created does not deserve worship

“go on in detail” or “insist on” these visions that they have seen

added mysticism

PUFFED UP: Arrogantly teaching things contrary to the Bible.

Plausible argument

Colossians 2:23 (ESV)

These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.

Other churches struggled with this too

Galatians 1:6–8 (ESV)

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.

But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.

Paul calls for eternal consequence

Ultimately these things and teachings are wrong because Christ is not at the Center of it

Colossians 2:19 (ESV)

and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.

Christian holiness is not a matter of painstaking conformity to the individual precepts of an external law code; it is rather a question of the Holy Spirit’s producing His fruit in the life, reproducing those graces which were seen in perfection in the life of Christ.

F. F. Bruce

Jesus is the Power

Colossians 2:19 (ESV)

and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.

Just like our brain is the conductor of all our growth, function, learning, regulating, so Christ is our only hope of spiritual nourishment and growth. Only by holding fast to, clinging to, abiding in him do we produce fruit and change

John 15:4–5 ESV

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

Hold onto Christ,

Hold fast,

cling to,

grasp, Christ and him alone

We want so badly for it to be harder or more tangible than this. I fight it, yeah yeah abide, spend time in God’s presence, but what else?

Surely there’s more to this formula

Jesus is Enough

Paul Knows we are thinking this, so he says it all over again

Colossians 2:20–22 ESV

If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings?

READ FROM YOUR BIBLE “IF” all that is true

IF ALL THAT IS TRUE......WHY IN THE WORLD WOULD ANYTHING NEED TO BE ADDED

especially man-made ideas

Especially food and drink that is literally gone the moment you eat or drink it

Colossians 2:23 (ESV)

These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.

Sober on my own

Disciplined, I’m growing and doing better

I can bear pain and suffering, I cannot stop my own flesh

I can bear hunger while my stomach is making noise, but I cannot tell my body not to be hungry.

During exercise, I can push myself further than I think I can go but I cannot make the pain stop

I can succeed daily to not have a drink, or not look at pornography, to not overeat, to chose ot buy something for another person instead of myself, but I cannot stop make those urges dissapear.

asceticism and celebrations and checklists

cannot stop sin in my heart

CANNOT PERFECT ME

ONLY Christ in me through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Purchased, promised to you.

Sins in my life I thought would be a struggle forever, and i stand here 10-15 years in the future and some are a shadow of what they were in my heart

CLOSING

1 Thessalonians 4:3 (ESV)

For this is the will of God, your sanctification

God doesn’t want you to simply stop sinning, he wants to make you WHOLE

Wreched man that I am who can save me from this body of Death?

Jesus

His the Point of everything

Jesus is the power that saves and transforms us

Jesus is Enough

Confess you have been trying to fix yourself

prayer, get in the Word, Christ is the word of God

Confess you need saving, through salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ