Colossians 2:4-23
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
[PRAYER]
[ILLUS] When I was in college, our Sunday School class helped clean up the yard of an elderly couple in our church.
We mowed, cleared the fence line, and removed all the weeds from this cluster of small trees in their front yard.
I wouldn’t find out until much later that those weeds were actually filled with poison ivy.
When the itchy blisters began to show up, I first tried to ignore them.
When they got worse, I tried home remedies.
When they got even worse, I tried over-the-counter topical ointments.
When the blisters finally covered my legs from mid-thigh down to my ankles, I went to the doctor.
He said, “This is the worst case of poison ivy I’ve ever seen.”
He pulled out a needle, game me a shot, and a prescription, and the poison ivy was gone within a week’s time.
Fighting the poison ivy on my own seemed like a good idea at first, but it only made the problem worse.
My sickness needed a stronger medicine.
This is basically what Paul communicates to the Colossians in our passage this morning.
[CONTEXT] The Colossian believers began well.
They were taught the Gospel by a brother named Epaphras.
They received Jesus as the Christ, the one who lived for them, died for them, and rose for them.
They were reconciled to God…
…but then some false teachers came in saying that in addition to faith in Christ, one had to also follow certain rules, embrace certain ideas, and adopt certain traditions…
…if one embraced these things as the false teachers did and had faith in Christ, then one would be truly reconciled with God.
But Paul stressed the preeminence of Jesus Christ to the Colossians.
Because Jesus is preeminent, He alone saves.
And because Jesus is preeminent, He alone sanctifies or makes holy.
Jesus is the stronger medicine that clears up the sin that still bubbles up in our flesh (i.e., in our fallen human nature).
[TS] As we see this truth in Colossians 2 this morning I want to give you three DIRECTIVES that I believe Paul gives the Colossians—three DIRECTIVES that will help us embrace Jesus as the stronger medicine.
Major Ideas
Major Ideas
DIRECTIVE #1: Walk in Christ (Col. 2:4-8)
DIRECTIVE #1: Walk in Christ (Col. 2:4-8)
4 I say this so that no one will delude you with persuasive argument. 5 For even though I am absent in body, nevertheless I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good discipline and the stability of your faith in Christ. 6 Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, 7 having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude. 8 See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.
[EXP] The Colossian Christians were doing well spiritually.
Paul had heard about and thanked God for their faith in Christ Jesus and their love for all the saints (Col. 1:4).
He believed the grace of God had been bearing fruit in their lives since the day they heard the Gospel and embraced it (Col. 1:6).
He believed that the Colossians had been reconciled to God through the bodily death of Jesus on the cross, and he believed that Jesus would present the Colossians believers before God the Father holy, blameless, and beyond reproach (Col. 1:22).
The Colossian believers wanted to be presented before God holy, blameless, and beyond reproach, but for that to happen, the Colossian Christians would have to continue in the faith and not move away from the hope of the Gospel (Col. 1:23)—the hope of the Gospel that looks to Jesus Christ alone not only for salvation but also for sanctification (i.e., holiness).
But this is precisely where the false teachers attacked.
This is where they tried to delude the Colossians with persuasive argument, worldly philosophy, and empty deception—things built on human tradition and worldly principles rather than on Christ alone.
This is where they tried to say, “Jesus may have saved you, but now you must hold to this argument, adhere to this philosophy, believe this deception in order to be truly enlightened, in order to be truly holy before God.”
But Paul wanted to rejoice in the good discipline of the Colossians (i.e., he wanted to rejoice in their orderly living in the way of Christ), and he wanted to rejoice in the stability of their faith in Christ (Col. 2:5), so Paul told the Colossians to walk in Christ.
He essentially said, “If you want to be holy, don’t adopt man-centered philosophies and deceptions; look to Christ alone.”
[ILLUS] The conversion of Charles Spurgeon is well known. The man who would go on to be called “The Prince of Preachers” and be considered by many to be among the greatest preachers in history did not come to faith in Jesus Christ until one snowy evening he stepped into a little church with only a few in attendance.
The pastor hadn’t made it for the evening service due to the snow, but a faithful man in the church took to the pulpit to deliver God’s Word.
The nervous impromptu preacher took as his text Isaiah 45:22…
22 Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: For I am God, and there is none else.
The nervous man looked intently at Spurgeon as he called him to look intently to Jesus Christ alone for salvation.
That night Spurgeon received salvation by looking to Christ alone.
That’s how the Colossians also received salvation—by looking to Christ alone...
…but now Paul wants the Colossians to understand that, contrary to the arguments, philosophies, and deceptions of the false teachers, they also only receive sanctification by looking to Christ alone.
This is why he says, “…as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him…” (Col. 2:6).
By looking to Christ alone, the Colossians had been firmly rooted.
Now by continuing to look to Christ alone as they walked in Him (i.e., as they lived their lives in Him—in His way of holiness), they would be built up and established in the faith.
This is what Epaphras had taught them at the beginning of their walk with Christ in regard to salvation—look to Christ alone…
…and continuing in this walk of looking to Christ alone for sanctification would leave them overflowing with gratitude to God (Col. 2:7).
[APP] Brothers and sisters, like the Colossians we need to want to be presented before God holy and blameless…
…but like the Colossians we must understand that sanctification (that becoming holy and blameless) is like salvation in that it only comes by looking to Jesus alone.
The world comes to delude you with persuasive arguments, godless philosophies, and empty deceptions.
It tells you that you can be a better you if you walk in it’s teachings, but their is no better you apart from Jesus Christ.
To be holy, we must walk in Him alone.
[TS]…
DIRECTIVE #2: Rest in Christ (Col. 2:9-15)
DIRECTIVE #2: Rest in Christ (Col. 2:9-15)
9 For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, 10 and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority; 11 and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; 12 having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. 13 When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, 14 having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15 When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.
[EXP] Paul told the Colossians to walk in Christ alone for sanctification for several different REASONS...
Reason #1: We should walk in Christ alone for sanctification because in Jesus all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form (Col. 2:9).
In Jesus, God took on flesh and dwelt among us. He was sinless but tempted in every way as we are, so He sympathizes with us in our weakness, and we are encouraged to come before Him to find mercy, grace, and help as we fight against sin.
Reason #2: We should walk in Christ alone for sanctification because in Him we have been made complete or full (Col. 2:10a).
All that we need for salvation and sanctification we have in Christ Jesus. Although the world tries to persuade us otherwise, we don’t need to add anything to Jesus in order to become better.
We are completely holy… fully sanctified… in Him.
Reason #3: We should walk in Christ alone for sanctification because He is the head over all rule and authority (Col. 2:10b).
Jesus has total authority over the forces of darkness that actively tempt us.
We should look to Jesus for holiness because He can dispel the darkness that tempts us.
Reason #4: We should walk in Christ alone for sanctification because He has cut us off from the power of the flesh (Col. 2:11-12).
Paul uses circumcision and baptism to make this point.
In the old covenant rite of circumcision, the Jewish people cut off a piece of flesh as a symbol of being set apart to God.
When Jesus died on the cross, His flesh was (in a manner of speaking) cut off so that all who trust in Him will be set apart to God.
When we trust in Jesus, we are spiritually circumcised—the power of the flesh (i.e., the power of the sin nature) is cut off by the death of Jesus Christ.
But Paul also mentions the new covenant rite of baptism, which symbolizes not only our burial with Christ in His death but also our life with Christ in His resurrection from the dead.
Spiritually speaking, when the flesh of Christ was laid in the tomb, our sinful flesh was buried in the grave…
…and when the resurrected flesh of Christ emerged from the tomb, our sinful flesh was left behind in the grave, and now we live in the newness of life just as the risen Jesus does.
Reason #5: We should walk in Christ alone for sanctification because He rescued us from the condemnation of the law (Col. 2:13-14).
While we were yet sinners transgressing and breaking the law of God in accordance with our sinful flesh, God made us who were spiritually dead alive together with Christ.
He forgave all our transgressions.
He took our record of broken commandments and nailed it to the cross of Jesus Christ.
In ancient times, when someone’s debt was paid in full, a notice would be posted in a public place.
When our sin-debt was paid, the notice was spiritually nailed to the cross and stamped “Paid in full.”
Reason #6: We should walk in Christ alone for sanctification because He disarmed the rulers and authorities (Col. 2:15).
Behind the persuasive arguments, godless philosophies, and empty deceits of the false teachers were demonic forces—demonic rulers and authorities.
Even so, they weren’t to be feared by the Colossian believers—and they aren’t to be feared by us—because God has put them to open shame by triumphing over them by way of the cross.
The Colossians had no reason to fear; they could rest in Jesus because in Him they had divine power over Satan, sin, and death.
[ILLUS] I wonder if its hard for you to rest in Jesus when it comes to your holiness, your sanctification, your spiritual maturity.
Is it easy for you to walk in Him trusting that He will grow you in sanctification or do you worry that if you don’t work on yourself the work won’t get done?
I was once at the dentist’s office, laid back in the chair, mouthed pried open, with the dentist and his assistant doing their work.
The dentist would occasionally ask me if I was OK or tell me something about what they were doing, but he would also speak to his assistant in the same voice, so I sometimes couldn’t tell if he was talking to me or to her.
At one point, he asked, “Can you hold this for a second?” and I thought he was talking to me, so I reached up to hold the drill or whatever tool he was using.
When I did that, he said, “Mr. Pugh, are you OK? Are you in pain?”
I said, “No, I thought you wanted me to hold the drill.”
He knew then that I was moron and said something like, “No, I was talking to my assistant. You just relax while we finish up.”
[APP] When it comes to the pursuit of holiness, we must do likewise—we must rest in Christ while He finishes up.
In Philippians 1:6, Paul wrote...
6 For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.
The pursuit of Christian spiritual maturity is a striving while resting.
It is a disciplining ourselves for the purpose of godliness while all the while resting in the belief that Christ has and will make us perfectly godly.
[TS]…
DIRECTIVE #3: Hold on to Christ (Col. 2:16-23)
DIRECTIVE #3: Hold on to Christ (Col. 2:16-23)
16 Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day— 17 things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ. 18 Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind, 19 and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God. 20 If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, 21 “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!” 22 (which all refer to things destined to perish with use)—in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men? 23 These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.
[EXP] Apparently the false teachers were in condemning the Colossian believers who didn’t subscribe to their dietary laws or religious calendar.
Its very possible that these false teachers were Judaizers who were telling the Colossians that the only way to grow in holiness was to not only obey the law’s moral commands but also its dietary and ceremonial commands.
Paul, however, says that all those dietary and ceremonial commands—all those festivals and Sabbaths—were shadows pointing to the substance, which is is Christ Jesus Himself.
All the Colossians need is Christ alone.
Therefore, Paul tells the Colossians that should let no one defraud them of their prize—they should let no one defraud them of the holy freedom they have in Christ—by insisting on self-abasement or the worship of angels (Col. 2:18).
Self-abasement refers to false humility like that of the Pharisees who used to fast but make their faces look gaunt to show everyone their supposed holiness.
The worship of angels involved asking angels for help and protection from evil spirits. Some Catholics still do this today in addition to praying to dead saints.
Those who do such things do so based on their own fleshly minded visions and not on based on the revelation of God in Jesus Christ.
This is why the true church holds on to Jesus, the head, because in Him alone the whole body of believers is nourished and held together; it grows with a growth which is from God (Col. 2:19).
When someone comes to us saying, “You will be made more holy by following the principles or the world...”
Or “You will be made more holy by submitting to old covenant dietary laws...”
…we have to say, “No. I will be made more holy as I hold on to Christ alone; for He is the head and as I hold on to Him I will grow with a growth which is from God.”
[ILLUS/APP] As Paul says in Col. 2:23, the practices of man-centered religion, false humility, and severe bodily discipline have the appearance of wisdom (i.e., these practices look like they should work if we are trying to make ourselves better)…
…but the truth is they are of no value against our flesh.
Our flesh (i.e., our sinful nature) wants to indulge in sin, and only Jesus is of any value against our fleshly indulgences.
That’s why we hold to Him.
[TS]…
Conclusion
Conclusion
[PRAYER]
Sin is our sickness, and our sickness needs a stronger medicine.
Our sin-sickness can only be cleared up by Jesus.
He who began a good work in us will carry it to completion the day of Christ Jesus.
We are and we will be perfectly sanctified in Christ Jesus because great is His faithfulness.