Freedom In Christ
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Paul is writing this letter to the church in the city of Colossae because they wondering from the gospel. They were beginning to think that Jesus was not enough and that they needed to add on to what Jesus had done.
Sometimes it’s easy for us to lose sight. We’re prone to wonder.
Paul pulls our vision back into clear focus with this letter.
Keep Christ as the center.
Lets pray...
The Text
The Text
“Giving thanks to the Father”
Paul prays to God giving thanks to the Father for what He (God) has done for the people of the Colossian church and for all Christians:
God has Qualified us
God has Delivered us
God has Transferred us
God has Redeemed
The apostle Paul here is using language that might seem strange to us 21st century Christians, but to 1st century Jews, these words would resonate deeply with them. Paul is using powerful, OT language here.
For us to understand the depth of what God has done for us, through Jesus, it helps us to look back into the OT. The amazing thing we see here is the continuity of the Bible!
God, before creation, had a plan for His creation - that bringing glory to Himself - he would bring about a plan for redemption for all people who love Him. Anyone who puts their faith in Him.
And that’s the story that unfolds as we read our Bibles. We might call it, redemptive history. We don’t find all of human history in Scripture, but we find God’s revealed history - how He works all things for His purposes. And ultimately, for our good.
(Ancient Mesopotamia)
Short Survey
Short Survey
To help us better understand what Paul is talking about here, we can do a quick survey of a couple of key moments in OT history:
Abrahamic covenant/promise: Gen 12, 13, 15
Isaac & Jacob: Abrahams family are “fruitful and multiply”
End up in Egypt through Joseph
430 years
Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. And he said to his people, “Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us. Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.” Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with heavy burdens. They built for Pharaoh store cities, Pithom and Raamses. But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad. And the Egyptians were in dread of the people of Israel. So they ruthlessly made the people of Israel work as slaves and made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and brick, and in all kinds of work in the field. In all their work they ruthlessly made them work as slaves.
Is that the end? Does Pharaoh put an end to God’s plan?
God speaks through Moses
Say therefore to the people of Israel, ‘I am the Lord (YAHWEH), and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment.
giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
The language used is not the same by coincidence.
Slave to sin
Slave to sin
What was it like for the people of Israel to be in slavery to the Egyptian Pharaoh?
“they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with heavy burdens”
“they ruthlessly made the people of Israel work as slaves and”
“made their lives bitter with hard service”
“In all their work they ruthlessly made them work as slaves”
The people of Israel were in bondage - slaves to the Egyptians. They were under “taskmasters” and were not free to do as they chose.
Maybe a Hebrew man wanted to do right by his family and earn a living as a shepherd - but no - because he was a slave - he would do as he was told and make bricks.
When you are a slave, you are not free.
Did you know that you were born a slave?
God says of all of us, we are all born slaves to sin. We are not free to do what is good and just in the eyes of God.
Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
Is there anyone here who does not practice sin?
Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.
That’s a heavy weight...
We are all born slaves to sin. Very few of us would say that they were sinless. Jesus says, “everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.”
What is sin?
Sin is the breaking of God’s law - His perfect and just law.
If you look at God’s law and say, “I don’t like it! I don’t agree with it.” That’s all of us to some degree or another.
How was I a slave to sin?
I was rude and disobedient to my parents
I lied. And when I was caught in a lie, I lied about lying
I was angry - I had hatred towards some people
I had impure, lustful thoughts - I would look at a woman who was not my wife and lust after her
I was arrogant - I thought I was better than other people
I put all my faith in myself
I was selfish. I was only interested in something if it benefitted me
I was rude to people
I might have taken pleasure in other peoples suffering - “So and so deserved what he got!” (Speeding ticket)
But then, if I had the opportunity and I knew I wouldn’t be punished, I would break the laws of the land. I might have cheated on my taxes, or drove faster than the speed limit
In my sinful heart, I would justify my sin. Or deny that it was sin at all.
And if I did feel convicted, I might have tried my hardest to stop. But after a while, I would go right back to doing it - my conscience seared. I didn’t like to feel guilty. No one likes to feel guilty.
I might have gathered together with others who suffer from the same sinful behaviour and find comfort that I wasn’t the only one who was gossiping, or getting drunk, or watching impure movies.
In every way, in every aspect of my life, I was a slave to sin.
Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.
We lived in darkness:
for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light
Look back at our passage from Colossians:
giving thanks to the Father, who has
qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.
He has
delivered us from the domain of darkness
and
transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,
in whom we have
redemption,
the forgiveness of sins.
The more we meditate on this, the more amazing this should sound!!
The 12 tribes of Israel were to share in the inheritance of the land promised to Abraham’s children.
We share in the inheritance promised to those who put their faith in Christ.
and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,
Foe those of us who are qualified, what unimaginable life does God have in store for us in the next life? Do you ever just sit and wonder? The more you come to know God, the more you will understand how amazing He is, and how amazing the next life will be.
[Col 1:12-14]
Qualified: made sons just as Christ is the Son. He is the firstborn (we’ll look at that later).
Who shares in the inheritance when the parents die? God has made you, through Jesus, His child that you might share in the “inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.”
Delivered “from the domain of darkness” - from the world that is ruled by evil and sin. Just as the Hebrew people were delivered out of the hands of the Egyptian taskmasters. We are delivered - rescued from the realm of darkness - in bondage to our sin.
Transferred to the kingdom of His beloved Son - out from the hands of an evil king, Pharaoh came the Israelites - rescued - delivered - transferred to a new kingdom, with God as their king. We are transferred to a new kingdom and call Jesus our King. The King of Kings
Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
Redeemed: Bought back for a price.
Lexham Theological Wordbook ἀπολύτρωσις
The act of freeing or the state of being freed from bondage, such as that of a prisoner or slave, by payment of a ransom.
Jesus paid the price that was required so that we would no longer be slaves to sin.
For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
A slave cannot free themselves, but must be redeemed - bought - paid for. We cannot save up enough of anything to set ourselves free - Jesus paid the price, so that we could be free from slavery to sin.
Redeemed—how I love to proclaim it!
Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb;
Redeemed through His infinite mercy,
His child, and forever, I am.
Redeemed, redeemed,
Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb;
Redeemed, redeemed,
His child, and forever, I am.
How do we take hold of all this?
How do we take hold of all this?
How do we take hold of all this?
How do we become qualified, delivered, transferred to the kingdom of the beloved Son? How can you, too be redeemed?
By taking hold of the one who redeemed you!
First you must recognize and accept that you are indeed a slave to sin, and look to Jesus as your redeemer. Have faith in him, that he indeed, did pay the price for your sins on the cross. He actually did indeed live a perfect, sinless life that was necessary - not breaking any of God’s commandments. Jesus was not a slave to sin. Yet he took the punishment as if he made every sin!
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
What a price was paid for my sins...
What do we do in response?
What do we do in response?
If you are qualified - if you have taken hold of Christ - how do you respond. What does that life look like after you have been made new in Christ.
Paul says we “walk in a manner worthy of the Lord” v.10
In a way that reflects thanks to God for what He has done for you. In a way that honours Him. Being reminded that he saved us to something. To a life that has been changed - holy and acceptable to God.
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
“Reasonable service” or reasonable response. We have been bought and paid for by the blood of Jesus.
Be transformed, be made new. Behave like one who is no longer a slave to sin.
Give thanks...
[Col 1:12-14]
What an amazing thing has been done for us.
