Freedom through Submission to Christ or Bondage through Submission to Religion

Good morning. This morning we are going to continue working our way through Colossians 2 and start Colossians 3. What we will be discussing today is how difficult it is to separate ourselves from man made traditions and the power that we allow these traditions to have in our lives. Specifically our religious traditions that add to the Gospel. These religious traditions are problematic because they keep us from being free to serve God the way He wants us to serve Him. This was a problem then and is still a problem now.

Read

Colossians 2:20–3:4 (LSB)

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:

“Do not handle, nor taste, nor touch”?

Which deal with everything destined to perish with use, which are in accordance with the commands and teachings of men;

which are matters having, to be sure, a word of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.

Therefore, if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.

For you died and your life has been hidden with Christ in God.

When Christ, who is our life, is manifested, then you also will be manifested with Him in glory.

The Gospel was being shared. People were believing and becoming followers of Christ. This was great! But people were having a hard time embracing the new and letting go of the old…especially the Jews.

For centuries the Jews were practicing a religion of works and traditions. Keep the commandments and you will earn your salvation. Keep the Jewish traditions and you will be righteous. When these Jews heard the gospel, they had a hard time accepting that salvation was through faith alone in Christ alone. They wanted to add to it or more accurately, they wanted to combine the gospel with their religion of works and traditions.

We see this happen early on in the Church. Acts 15:5 captures this event.

Acts 15:5 LSB

But some of the sect of the Pharisees who had believed stood up, saying, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to command them to keep the Law of Moses.”

Here we are talking about what to do with gentiles who came to believe in Christ. The Jewish believers wanted to circumcise them and have them follow the Law of Moses. However let’s see how this was handled.

Acts 15:6–11 LSB

Both the apostles and the elders came together to look into this matter. And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles would hear the word of the gospel and believe. “And God, who knows the heart, testified to them giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He also did to us; and He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith. “Now therefore why do you put God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? “But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they also are.”

Did you catch that? God made no distinction between the Jew and the gentile. The gentiles heard the gospel and believed. Their hearts were cleansed by faith. Adding the circumcision and commandments would be a yoke around their necks. A yoke that even the Jews have not been able to bear.

The problem with being yoked to a works based religion is that work is all you do. Work work work and hopefully you do enough to earn your salvation…but you won’t know if you have done enough until you have died. Imagine what that does to your approach to life. I have to do this or else I might not get into heaven. It stresses people out. It robs them of the joy of being in a relationship with Christ. It is a burden that they can not bear. There are several religions nowadays that still practice this works based salvation.

Now if believe that we are saved by faith alone in Christ alone, we are set free from this yoke. We are set free from this yoke to glorify God. To rejoice in our eternal security and to share this truth with others. These are the good works that God has for us. Not for our salvation but for the salvation of others. We are freed to not focus on ourselves but to focus on God and others.

Unfortunately, Paul had to reiterate this over and over. Works based religion was like a gum stuck to the bottom of our shoe; it just wouldn’t go away!

Back in Col 2:8 Paul warns the believers “ 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, and not according to Christ.” Paul warns us to not be taken captive. Captive, that is such a strong word. It signifies being captured or enslaved. Don’t let someone enslave you or yoke you through philosophy, empty deception according to the tradition of men. A very strong warning.

Now that Paul has warned us, In Col 2:20-23, Paul makes the believer self reflect with this warning in mind. Paul reminds us of the process of becoming a Christian. He reminds us that we died with Christ and when we died in Christ, we died to the things of the world. We died to the traditions of man. And here is the statement that is designed to make you pause… Therefore if we died with Christ then why do we behave as if we are still living in the world and submitting to the decrees of the world, the decrees of man. The key word here is submitting. To submit to something is to allow that thing to rule over you. As Christians we we can not submit to 2 masters. Here we are being told that we have believers that are submitting to Christ but also submitting to these man made decrees. You can’t have both so why are you doing this?

The examples of the decrees mentioned in this passage, “Do not handle, nor taste, nor touch” are not specific. We don’t necessarily know the exact objects that Paul could have had in mind. It could have been Bacon, Shrimp or Coffee but the identity of the object or objects is not the important part. Paul is using this as and example of a decree that is not from God but from man.

Paul also tells us that these decrees are meaningless; they are destined to perish. They are in accordance with the commands and teachings of men and that superficially they might look good but really are not. To understand this, we must first understand what these man made decrees were intended to do.

These decrees were aimed at making people “more” holy. Or at minimum they were used to boast on how holy these people were. But what they were really doing is taking away from the power of the Gospel. Jesus is not enough so let me add this. These decrees did not add any merit to your spirituality, in fact they probably took away from your spirituality.

What might these man made decrees look like today? What might these man made decrees look like in you life? Are you abstaining from certain drinks or foods to be more holy? Are you wearing special garments to make yourself more holy? Are you engaging in repetitious prayers to hit a quota? Why are you really coming to church? I challenge us to reflect on this and truly understand the motives behind the things that we do.

In Chapter 3, Paul transitions from the things we should not focus on, to the things that we should focus on. From the things that don’t matter, to the things that do matter. And his transition is great! He reminds us that we are still in Christ. But instead of having died in Christ and dying to the things of the world including the decrees of man, he tells us that we have been raised with Christ, that we have a new life in Christ. For what purpose? To seek the things from above. To set your mind on the things from above not on the things from the world. The important things. The things that won’t perish, the things that come from God.

There are 2 action words in this passage that I want to point out. The first action word is seek. And what comes to mind is obviously the game Hide and Seek. The person that is “it” has to seek out the people that go and hide. You have to go out and look for these people. Paying attention to the details. What’s that bulge behind the curtains? Did I hear someone giggle under the bed? That door was not closed? You get it. Now let me tell you something. As believers we are IT! And we have to go seeking the things from above. And just like the game, we have to go out looking. We can’t seek from our couch in front of our TV. We have to get out and seek. We got to play the game!

There is an 87 year old lady that is going to our bible study in Lordsburg. Angelita. She shared with us a story on how God used her. She was walking home back from Church one day and heard God telling her that she needed to talk to people about Him. So for the next few day’s she stayed home waiting for someone to come and visit so she could talk to them about God. Well after a few days of no visitors, she prayed. God you want me to talk to people about You but no one is coming and visiting. God spoke to her again. Angelita, “they are not going to come to you, you have to go to them.” And for 30+ years Angelita walked the streets of Lordsburg, going to people’s homes and talking to them about God. About God, not religion. Now she was IT and she was playing the game.

The second action word is set. Set your mind on the things from above, not on the things from this world. Now when I read this word in this context, what comes to mind are the huge stones that were set in Egypt or in Machu Picchu. These huge stones weighing several tons and so perfectly set that you can’t get a credit card between the stones. These stones were not ment to be moved. They were set and were staying in place. That is the image that you need to have in your mind when Paul says “Set your mind on the things above.” You set it with the intent that nothing is going to move your mind once it is set on Christ!

Vs 3 & 4 are beautiful!

For you died and your life has been hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is manifested, then you also will be manifested with Him in glory

You have died and your life has been hidden with Christ in God. What a powerful verse! This like having Superman as your body guard while you are inside of Fort Knox. Nothing is getting to you! We are secure with Christ in God! Nothing can separate you from Him. Romans 8:38–39 “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” But you have to realize that. You have to believe that and put your faith in that.

And it gets better! Jesus will return. Not in humility or suffering but in glory! As our King. And because we are in Him, we will also return with Him in glory. I don’t know what this is going to be like but I bet it will be Glorious!

In closing, as we leave here today, take some time to reflect on your life using this passage. Ask yourself if there is any part of your life that is still yoked by decrees of man. Let those go! Submit yourselves fully to Christ. Seek and set your mind on the good things from above and not the things of the world.

Lets pray.