Centered in Jesus, the All in All, Part 5
Notes
Transcript
Handout
We all struggle with “shoulds” - the idea of promoting “self-made religion”. It is my observation that some personalities struggle with the “shoulds” of legalism more. The use of the word “should” in our thoughts and speech is an indication that we are functioning in a cycle of condemnation and shame, rather than the cycle of forgiveness and grace.
“Shoulds” rule in our hearts from a place of condemnation, which, when believed, produces shame. Many of us find ourselves in this condemnation-shame cycle.
It is a hard cycle to break since many of the “shoulds” we have in our lives are commands and disciplines given to us in Scripture. It becomes difficult to parse the “shoulds” from responding to God’s love and grace extended to us in the commands and disciplines.
We are often deceived into thinking that this cycle is spiritual - it is how we appease God when we do not do what we think we should. This cycle of condemnation and shame we often find ourselves in does not appease him.
Today I invite you to freedom through death with Jesus - freedom from the cycle of condemnation and shame, freedom to live in the cycle of forgiveness and grace. Please turn to Colossians 2:20-23.
20 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—
21 “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch”
22 (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings?
23 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.
The first phrase, “If with Christ you died”, communicates a concept that is central to Paul’s philosophy of soteriology and sanctification. You can read more about it in these passages (Romans 6; 7:4; 2 Corinthians 5:14-15; Galatians 2:20 Colossians 3:3; 2 Timothy 2:11).
“With Christ you died” is a statement of reality for those who have believed in Jesus. It happened in the past through the cross when we believed. It continues into our present and will be fulfilled when we see Jesus.
Hendriksen writes “When one dies with Christ, in that very act he/she also makes a complete break with the teachings that present anything other than Christ as the basis for hope and salvation.” I would add “sanctification” since it is in our daily spiritual growth that the “shoulds” creep in. Hendriksen, William. Exposition of Colossians and Philemon. New Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker, 1964.
If this is our reality, then why do we still struggle with the power of “shoulds” - self-made religions in our day to day life?
One would think that things we are dead to have no power over us. Paul also uses the analogy of circumcision, where the foreskin is cut away and no longer a part of the body. Christ has cut away the fallen nature in the circumcision of our hearts. Therefore it has no power over us. Why then does it exercise so much control in our lives?
We struggle with the power of “shoulds” for two root reasons.
The first reason is a theological one. It is the idea that we live in an “already-not-yet” reality. We are on this journey of faith where the Trinity chooses to work through the circumstances of life to conform us to the image of Jesus. We call this process sanctification, and yes, that includes our struggle with the power of “shoulds’” hold on our life.
The second reason is a mental and emotional one. We, in our lives, have developed patterns of thinking to process the world around us. Many of us have thought processes that affirm the cycle of condemnation and guilt. These present themselves as spiritual - parading as humility, but are false humility. As a result they are interwoven into how we identify ourselves and how we cope with the world around us.
These thought patterns fail us regularly. Yet, we are deceived into believing that they are spiritual. So often our conclusion is to try harder. Trying harder doubles down of the cycle of condemnation and shame we find ourselves stuck in.
The result is we often find ourselves in depression with feelings of despair. We struggle to understand how a God of love who extends grace and mercy would bring so much guilt, shame and pain into our lives. In our deception we are unable, with out the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, to see that we are not worshiping God at all but a self-made religion rooted in the cycle of guilt and shame. I know you are thinking, “Wow, Pastor, that is depressing.” And it is, without Jesus’ death and resurrection bringing us freedom from these thought processes. That freedom is now, but also a journey that will be fulfilled when we see Jesus.
How do we step into the freedom he has given us now?
It is all packed into the “if, then” concept. If we have died with Christ to the “shoulds”, then we choose God’s reality and reckon ourselves to be dead to the “shoulds”. Yet the rub is we struggle with choosing to die to them. They seem to have a death grip on how we process and cope with life. A death grip on our very identity. In many ways it feels like to lose them is to lose our very selves. Perhaps this is why Jesus said in Matthew 16:24–25.
24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
Now I know that this potentially started the whole cycle of condemnation and shame. You immediately thought, “You are right, Pastor. I “should” die to myself, I just need to try harder and then I will be free.” You see how spiritual this appears and yet it is not, because it is living out of a system of the world, specifically the system of condemnation and shame.
We began to step into this freedom by partnering with the Holy Spirit in reflecting on what Christ has done and allowing gratitude to well up in our hearts for God’s grace and mercy expressed to us (Colossians 2:6-7).
The temptation here will be to feel guilty because gratitude is not welling up fast enough, or the cross and resurrection seem so impersonal or I should do more since he has done so much. I encourage you to give those feelings to the Lord. They have been nailed to the cross and you need not bear them any more.
Once you are in place of gratitude for God’s grace and mercy in your life, then choose to act out of that gratitude. In doing so you will be partnering with the Holy Spirit to live in the cycle of forgiveness and grace. The result will be a journey of freedom from the “shoulds”.
Will you partner with Holy Spirit to reflect on the cross and resurrection, resulting in gratitude for God’s grace and mercy, and then choose to live in the cycle of forgiveness and grace?