Shadow or Substance
Colossians • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Introduction
Introduction
Today we are going to talk about shadows.
What is a shadow? A shadow is something you can see, but it’s not something you can hold or touch. It is cast by something or someone else.
Sometimes shadows can be confusing and even deceptive. Let me give you a few examples:
What would you say is casting this shadow?
How about this one?
Here’s one more…
In the passage we have before us in Colossians 2, we see Paul talking about shadows. Specifically he mentions “reflective” shadows as well as “deceptive” shadows.
More importantly he talks about SUBSTANCE. There were some false teachers who wanted the believers here to focus on the “reflective” shadows and other false teachers who wanted them to focus on “deceptive” shadows, but Paul reminds them they do not have to try to embrace “shadows” because the SUBSTANCE of the LORD JESUS CHRIST has already come and they can embrace Him!
We too can learn some things from this passage today. First...
We Do Not Have to be Confused About Reflective “Shadows”
We Do Not Have to be Confused About Reflective “Shadows”
Notice what Paul says in
So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.
Explanation
It’s really important to notice the little word “SO” that introduces this verse. Some translations use the word “THEREFORE.” In other words what Paul is going to say in verse 16 and following is based upon what he has already said previously.
Since Christ has nailed our past and our sins to His cross, He is to have our total allegiance! With His sacrifice He has provided FREEDOM to us…
We are not bound by the Old Covenant, but we have been set free through the New Covenant! We are no longer under the dominion of the Law, but now live under grace.
Paul mentions a couple of things that the false teachers were focused upon. First, there was the focus upon ceremonial food and drink, and what was considered clean and unclean. The other issue was focused upon certain holy days, festivals, and the Sabbath.
Unfortunately these false teachers had made the kingdom of God about ceremonial food and drink, when it is actually about “righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.” Notice what Paul said in
for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. For he who serves Christ in these things is acceptable to God and approved by men.
Paul was not condemning those who reflected upon or even observed things in the Old Covenant. Paul’s concern, I believe, was twofold:
Those who depended upon these things in place of Christ or in addition to Christ and His sacrifice
Those who tried to impose these regulations on others to be “saved” or to be “spiritual.”
Daryl Ellis said that these things are not “badges of spirituality.”
What are our badges of spirituality?
If these things are not “badges of spirituality” then what are they? Paul said they were just “shadows of things to come.” Notice again Colossians 2:17
which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.
The word “shadow” means “the image or outline cast by an object.” These OT regulations were not the OBJECT, but rather just the shadow cast by the object. They weren’t the substance, but just the shadow cast by the substance.
Once the substance arrived (the Lord Jesus Christ), we no longer need to settle for the shadow!
Daryl Ellis would go on to say:
The reality has now come in Christ. Therefore the shadow no longer is necessary. The Law and other O.T. teachings have value in their timeless morality. The ceremonialism has value in our appreciation of the symbolism. But its status as a shadow limits its application now that Christ has appeared as the head of the church.
For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect.
The problem was these false teachers were measuring everyone else by the “shadow standard” and Paul said to the Colossians, “NO, DO NOT ALLOW THEM TO JUDGE YOU IN THIS WAY!”
I love what Max Anders said:
measuring your own or someone else’s spirituality by the ability to keep man-made rules—is a rigid, confining, and lifeless way to live. It is easy because all it requires is a list of rules coupled with dutiful compliance...Legalism is not only rigid and lifeless, but it also fosters hypocritical pride...A focus on conformity to a code can cause one to forget things like arrogant pride, smug judgmentalism, anger, and a host of other dark sins that never seem to make the list.
Argumentation
Paul would make a similar argument in Romans 14 and notice what he would say in Romans 14:17-19
for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. For he who serves Christ in these things is acceptable to God and approved by men.
Therefore let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another.
Illustration
What person in their right mind would want to settle for the shadow of someone they love, when they can hug a living, breathing human being?
How foolish would it be for two lovers, on their Honeymoon, spend the entire week texting each other back and forth, never embracing, never speaking to each other. Why would they settle for the shadow, when they can enjoy the substance?
Application
The same was true for the Colossian believers. They had Christ. They had embraced Him as Lord and Savior. They could communicate with Him through prayer, they could walk with Him by faith, but there were false teachers that were encouraging them to leave the substance and go back to the shadows!
As we will see soon Paul will tell the Colossians this in Colossians 3:1
If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.
We aren’t to seek those things which are BEHIND or which are BELOW…we are to SEEK THOSE THINGS WHICH ARE ABOVE!
We aren’t to seek those things in the past, but we are to, as Paul said in Philippians 3:13-14
Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Paul put it this way in
Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.
Be careful dear Christian friend that you do not become confused about the REFLECTIVE SHADOWS. Do not go BACK to the OLD COVENANT and believe that keeping the Law or a list of MAN-MADE RULES can make you a Christian or even make you spiritual.
As we will see in just a few minutes, only faith in Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit can do that!
The second thing Paul addresses
We Do Not Have to be Victims of the Deceptive “Shadows”
We Do Not Have to be Victims of the Deceptive “Shadows”
Paul had dealt with the “REFLECTIVE SHADOWS” now he deals with “DECEPTIVE SHADOWS.” Notice what he has to say in...
Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God.
Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations—
Warren Wiersbe has this to say about this passage...
all of this mystical ceremony was wrapped up in a false humility that was actually an expression of pride. “I am not good enough to come directly to God,” the gnostic would say, “so I will start with one of the angels.”
Trying to reach God the Father through anyone or anything other than His Son, Jesus Christ, is idolatry. Jesus Christ is the one and only Mediator between God and man (John 14:6; 1 Tim. 2:5). The person who worships through angels or saints now in heaven does not prove his humility, for he is not submitting to the authority of God’s Word. Actually, he reveals a subtle kind of pride that substitutes man-made traditions for the Word of God.
We can come DIRECTLY to God through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! We do not have to come through an angel, a saint, through Mary, through a priest, through a church, through the stars, through channeling, through psychics…we can come BOLDLY TO THE THRONE OF GRACE AND FIND HELP IN OUR TIME OF NEED!
Sadly there are many who believe that they are “unworthy to come directly to God through Jesus” so they look to some other “intermediary” rather than Christ alone, but there is NO ONE ELSE who can brings us into the presence of God the Father, except God the Son!
Notice again Colossians 2:19
and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God.
We are to HOLD FAST to the HEAD of the body…which is none other than Christ! It is He that nourishes us, and knits us together, and strengthens us, and enables us to grow!
Not the angels, not the saints, not some other religious figure…it is CHRIST and it is HE that we must KEEP A FIRM GRIP ON!
Then in Colossians 2:20 Paul asks a very important question that leads to our next point...
Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations—
All of these man-made regulations are DECEPTIVE SHADOWS! If the REFLECTIVE SHADOWS had turned into LEGALISM the DECEPTIVE SHADOWS had turned into ASCETICISM.
The Bible Knowledge Commentary says this about ASCETICISM:
Asceticism is a man-made system of rules (often taken out of context from God’s Law) based on human commands and teachings...Living by such regulations or self-made religion has a certain appearance of wisdom, but it has absolutely no value in restraining sensual indulgence...denying the body its desires merely arouses them, as is well known by many who have tried to lose weight by sticking to rigid diets. Neglecting the body, Paul argued, does not nourish the spirit.
We are not to deny our body its desires, we are to deny our body its SINFUL DESIRES and there is a big difference.
Our body has a God-given desire for food, but it may have a sinful desire for gluttony.
Our body has a God-given desire for hydration, but it may have a sinful desire for drunkenness.
Our body may have a God-given desire for intimacy, but it may have a sinful desire for fornication, immorality, or adultery.
Our body have have a God-given desire for companionship, but it may have a sinful desire for bad company that will corrupt good morals.
The ascetics were PROMOTING staying as FAR AWAY from ANY DESIRE (GOOD OR BAD), as possible. As a result they made up all kinds of crazy and even ungodly regulations and self-made religion to deprive themselves of desires…even the ones that were God-given.
But a person who is an ASCETIC isn’t wrapped up in Christ, they are WRAPPED up in RULES!
The discipline and self-control we need is a RESULT of being SURRENDERED to the POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, not from trying to keep a list of “do’s” and “don’ts” in our own power!
As Warren Wiersbe implied:
Fleshly discipline has no sanctifying value.
As we move forward...
Notice Colossians 2:20-23:
Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations—“Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,” which all concern things which perish with the using—according to the commandments and doctrines of men? These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.
This passage remind us...
We Can Focus on the Substance
We Can Focus on the Substance
Our focus does not need to be on the SHADOWS.
Our focus does not need to be on the RULES.
Our focus does not need to be on the REGULATIONS.
Our focus does not need to be upon a PASTOR, a PRIEST, a RELIGIOUS leader of the present or the past.
Our focus does not need to be on ANGELS, or DEMONS, or even on WORLD EVENTS...
Our focus needs to be on CHRIST!
Take a look at this same text from the Christian Standard Bible
If you died with Christ to the elements of this world, why do you live as if you still belonged to the world? Why do you submit to regulations: “Don’t handle, don’t taste, don’t touch”? All these regulations refer to what is destined to perish by being used up; they are human commands and doctrines. Although these have a reputation for wisdom by promoting self-made religion, false humility, and severe treatment of the body, they are not of any value in curbing self-indulgence.
Let’s think about these questions that are posed by the Apostle Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit:
If we have died with Christ to the world, why do we still live like we belong TO the world?
If regulations and human commands will one day perish, why do we submit to them?
If self-made religion, false humility, and severe treatment of the body, do not curb self-indulgence…what good are they?
These false teachers were seeking to make people think that by abstaining from certain things and following certain rules and regulation that people could become holy and some even taught these actions could bring salvation.
The problem is following rules and man-made regulations in order to be HOLY or in order to be RIGHT WITH GOD do not lead to sanctification or salvation…
THEY ONLY LEAD TO FRUSTRATION!
After Jesus told the crowds that He is the “BREAD OF LIFE” in John 6 and insisted that to be right with God they had to “by faith” feed on Him and trust Him as the water of life they said it was a “hard saying.” Then notice what Jesus said next...
John 6:63 (ESV)
It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.
The Spirit gives FREEDOM, the flesh only leads to MORE BONDAGE!
You might be able to “fight fire with fire” but YOU CANNOT FIGHT FLESH WITH FLESH!
Paul understood this when he said in Romans 7:18
For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.
Trying to be “GOOD” to earn “BROWNIE POINTS” with God is a waste of time. God wants us to FALL in love with Jesus and FOLLOW HIM and His goodness will begin to FLOW THROUGH US! Trying to be GOOD to get to God is a helpless waste of time!
We must depend on the GOODNESS OF CHRIST, not man made rules and regulations and trying to be good enough!
Paul put it this way in...
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
I appreciate the fact that in Luke 9:23 Jesus said, “Follow Me”—not “Follow the rules,” or “Believe the creed,” but “Follow me. Let’s walk together.” Christianity is a relationship, not a religion. It is exciting to follow Jesus.
Dave Earley
How about you today?
Are you chasing shadows or have you embraced the SUBSTANCE that is Christ?
Are you trying to “do better” or “get better” or trying to “stop doing this or that” in your own energy and power, or are you looking to Christ and His Spirit to change you from the inside out?
Have you been BORN AGAIN by God’s Spirit or are you depending upon YOURSELF?
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