Sermon Tone Analysis

Paul has given these Colossian believers two commands that are vitally important in order for the church to avoid the false teaching that was creeping its way into their midst.

Command #1-

Command #2-

So they are to walk in dependent faith in Christ for spiritual growth, and they are to watch out for empty, deceptive philosophy.

Why should we do that?

Paul gives the theological reasons for why one should obey these commands in -

Reason #1- Christ is our sufficient Savior

Look at all that is accomplished in Christ

The full measure of deity dwells in Christ bodily

You are fully complete in Christ

Spiritual circumcision- the domination of sin has been broken in Christ

Spiritual baptism- you have identified with the power of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection.

Spiritual life- you have been raised together with Christ so that you might walk in newness of life

All of this is possible because of the Cross

God made us alive by forgiving us all our trespasses.

How did he do that?

He blotted out the record of our sin debt that stood against us with its legal demands, by nailing it to the cross!

Reason #2- Christ is our sovereign Savior

Christ is head over all other rulers and authorities, and the Father has disarmed the rulers and authorities, he has put them to open shame, and he has triumphed over them and He did all of it IN CHRIST.

So Paul has given us the why- why should we follow these commands.

Now, Paul is going to give us the how.

How do we follow these commands.

Because it is in Christ that you have spiritual fullness, Paul is saying, do not let anyone impose upon you a program of spiritual development that does not have Christ at its heart.

Paul wanted the Colossian believers to know how to avoid empty deceptive philosophy in their Christian growth.

It is vital that we know how to avoid empty deceptive philosophy in our own spiritual growth.

In Paul gives to these Colossian believers several guidelines that they must follow if they are to keep themselves from being spoiled by empty deceptive philosophy.

I. Do not allow anyone to condemn your spiritual growth with standards that do not have Christ at the center

A. Do not let them find you at fault

*16 Μὴ οὖν τις ὑμᾶς κρινέτω

Therefore do not let anyone pass judgment on you

Do not let anyone judge you

Judge- pass an unfavorable judgement upon you, criticize you, find fault with you, condemn you

This is an imperative- it is a command.

Paul is so concerned about this that he commands them- do not let these false teachers with their empty deceptive philosophy that is according to human tradition, do not let them find you at fault.

By this Paul means more than they were simply criticizing the Colossian Christians, they were actually pronouncing God’s judgment on them.

They were taking upon themselves the role of judge that only God can exercise.

This is especially true because these false teachers were using standards that did not have Christ at its center.

It is one thing to admonish a fellow believer on the basis of God’s Word, this is right and we should do this, but there were using man made criteria and thus placed themselves in the position of judge that only rightly belongs to God.

i.

The false teacher’s criteria

Food and Drink

In meat, or in drink

In meat, or in drink

ἐν βρώσει ⸀καὶ ἐν πόσει

in eating and in drinking

These false teachers were advocating complete abstinence from certain foods and drink.

We are not told what kinds of food and drink were being prohibited.

The later mention of holy-days and the new moon and the Sabbath would lend us to see an OT or Jewish theme to their criteria.

So perhaps these false teachers were placing a ban on all unclean foods, or upon meat sacrificed to idols (as is mentioned elsewhere in the NT), or to wine.

We are not entirely certain.

They could also be combining OT Jewish commands with other pagan religious rituals and coming up with their own unique list of foods and drink there were sinful to consume.

The point is- their criteria was according to human tradition- it was not Scriptural- and it did not have Christ as its center.

There are some today who try to somewhat follow OT diet laws- they won’t eat pork.

If they want to avoid pork because of health reasons, OK that’s fine, but when someone starts to think, “Hey, I am way more spiritual that other people because I don’t eat pork and they do,” then we have a problem.

Why?

Because they are now taking on the role of judge.

And they are seeking to become more spiritual by human, man-made tradition.

Some people who get on the whole organic food craze, think it is horribly sinful to eat at McDonald's.

Now if you don’t want to eat at McDonald’s for health reasons fine, no problem.

But don’t become a judge of other people, don’t consider yourself more spiritual than other people because of your human, man-made criteria for spiritual growth.

And do not allow these kinds of people to pass judgment on you.

Now, you can’t stop them from saying these kinds of things, that is impossible.

The point is, don’t give it any authority over your life.

Illustration: Parade with mock 50 cal machine gun- one guy yelled out mockingly, “Fight Isis.”

This really bothered me for a long time, I felt guilty for daring to show respect for our military, ohh the horror.

I was allowing him to pass judgement on me.

I was giving his man-made human philosophy (guns are evil), to find me at fault.

I needed to say, wait a minute, God is my judge.

Romans

2. Observance of special religious days

ἢ ἐν μέρει ἑορτῆς

or in things concerning a religious festival

ἢ νεομηνίας

or in a new moon celebration

ἢ σαββάτων·*

or in the Sabbath;

These religious festivals could include things like Passover/Unleavened Bread; Booths/Tabernacles and Weeks/First-fruits and other special times of community observance.

It could als include other pagan holy-days that these false teachers may have used to create their own program.

In any case the idea was these false teachers were condemning the Colossian Christians because they were not following the same kind of religious days as they were.

Illustration: Coming to church through 12 in of snow- I am way more spiritual than you.

Or carrying over OT Sabbath laws to Sundays- no work, no TV, only certain kinds of books or games.

Now, if you or your family does things like this (sometimes we will tell our kids not to read secular books on Sundays), but we do it to keep our minds focused on the Lord- if you do some of these things for good reasons, fine.

But, when we place ourselves into the position of judge over other peoples lives we get into trouble.

I am way more spiritual because I stay at home and take nap on Sundays and how dare those people go out on the lake on a Sunday afternoon- they are so carnal.

Now we have problems.

Why?

Because we are trying to impose a program of spiritual growth on others that does not have Christ at its heart.

ii.

The problem with human-centered standards

17 ⸀ἅ ἐστιν σκιὰ τῶν μελλόντων,*

These things are a shadow of the things to come,

These things- most likely referring to OT Jewish laws for food and drink, and for observing the special religious days- these things are just shadows.

They were never meant to be the reality.

They were never meant to and end, they were all means to an end.

They all pointed ahead to Christ.

τὸ δὲ σῶμα τοῦ Χριστοῦ.*

but the substance is Christ.

BUT- the body is of Christ.

The body or the substance (substantive reality, the thing itself, the reality in imagery of a body that casts a shadow, in contrast to shadow)- the reality is Christ.

The OT law was a shadow of the good things to come, it can never make those who would come to God perfect, but guess who can? Christ!

This empty deceptive philosophy that was according to human tradition was ineffective- it can never make one perfect or complete or mature.

Only Christ can do that!

B. Do not let them disqualify you

18 μηδεὶς ὑμᾶς καταβραβευέτω

Do not let anyone pass judgement on you

Do not let anyone beguile you of your reward

Beguile you of your reward- to rob of a prize, condemn, to decide against as an umpire or to declare unfit especially performed by a sports official who is expected to ensure fair play.

Illustration: Swimming- a race had several officials alongside the pool watching every part of the race to ensure the rules were bring followed.