In Christ Part 3

Intro

Last week we looked at verses 11-12 of and I was not able to wrap them up as well as I had hoped so I would like to begin this morning with that.

Col. 2:11-2

Colossians 2:11–12 ESV

11 In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.

In looking at these verses and asking ourselves the question, Why does it matter that we are in Christ? we come to a couple of conclusions.

First of all, to be in Christ, means to place our faith in Him.

That we believe fully in His saving work on the cross.

That he alone offers true forgiveness.

It is only when we are in Christ, that the change within our hearts begins to happen.

This is important, and this is needed because without this change of heart, our focus will always be ourselves.

Our focus will always be the bigger, better, badder self. What can I do to grow myself.

This is the exact opposite of what Christ calls us as Christians to do.

About 1/3 of the one another commands in scripture deal with unity in the church

Be at peace with one another ()

Don’t grumble among one another ()

Be of the same mind with one another (, )

Accept one another () to name a few.

Another 1/3 deal with instruct Christians to love one another.

Love one another (, , ; ; , ; ; , , ; )

Through love, serve one another ()

Tolerate one another in love ()

About 15% deal with an attitude of humility.

Give preference to one another in honor ()

Regard one another as more important than yourselves ()

Serve one another ()

Wash one another’s feet ()

Don’t be haughty: be of the same mind ()

Be subject to one another ()

Clothe yourselves in humility toward one another ()

The rest deal with other relationships and actions between believers that come from these first 3 categories.

Do not judge one another, and don’t put a stumbling block in a brother’s way ()

Bear one another’s burdens ()

Speak truth to one another ()

Don’t lie to one another ()

Comfort one another concerning the resurrection ()

Encourage and build up one another ()

Stimulate one another to love and good deeds ()

Pray for one another ()

Be hospitable to one another ()

The key to all of this is the circumcised heart that is done so by a circumcision made without hands.

The heart of stone that has been replaced with a heart of flesh.

This of course is displayed outwardly through baptism.

We are buried and raised with Jesus into new life.

Baptism is an important step for a believer.

It is a statement, a commitment that you now follow Christ.

That He is in you.

That your heart, your desires, your innermost being, is being changed and molded into the likeness of Jesus.

When we are in Christ, we have a that is more than simply in Jesus, it is a faith in the power of God, who raised Jesus from the dead. It is faith to believe that God raises from the dead.

It is a marker that we belong to a new world, where the rulers of the old world have no authority.

Colossians and Philemon: An Introduction and Commentary b. Already Circumcised in Christ (2:11–12)

The ‘heavenly’ life which Christians now enjoy does not escape the rigours and temptations of earthly existence, but becomes on the contrary more than ever committed to working out the meaning of Christ’s death and resurrection in practical human life

That is what I had hoped to say last week but my mind was not all with me last week.

Today I would like to continue on through our passage asking the same question.

Why does it matter that we are in Christ?

Read

You who were dead in your trespasses. V. 13

Have you ever been caught red handed?

I remember when I was little, I must not have eaten my dinner or something and was sneaking out of my room to get a snack bar.

My dad caught me and sent me back to my room without a snack.

Maybe you have had a similar experience, caught with you hand in the cookie jar so to speak.

That is a description of where we start off in our passage today.

And you who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh.

This really helps us to see the importance of our question.

Why does it matter that we are in Christ?

It matters that we are in Christ because of the forgiveness that we find in Him.

Whether we acknowledge it or accept it or not, we are all sinners, each and every day.

We have no hope apart from our status in Jesus.

We read in scripture that we know sin because of the Law.

The Law reveals our sinful nature.

Romans 7:7–8 ESV

7 What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” 8 But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead.

Ro. 7:7-

Romans 7:18–20 ESV

18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

Ro. 7:18

This is the importance of Christ in you, and Christ in me.

That as the end of verse 13 says

God made you all alive together with Him, showing himself to be gracious by forgiving us all our sins.

The verb there for God made you all alive together is in reference to

A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed. συζωοποιέωThe ref. is to people who were dead in their sins, but through union w. Christ have been made alive by God together w. him.

There is truly some irony here in our minds though.

How is it that we are made alive when we are already living?

We must understand the effects that sin truly has on us.

We must have a perspective on sin and death.

Without Christ, we are nothing more than dead men walking.

Charles Ryrie writes in his basic theology book

Ryrie’s Basic Theology IV. The Penalty Connected with Inherited Sin

Cut flowers well illustrate living human beings who do good things but who nevertheless are spiritually dead. Is the blossom that has been cut from the plant alive or dead? At first it is beautiful and fragrant, and in combination with other cut flowers, it may grace the finest home, church, or occasion. It looks alive; it is useful; but it is in reality dead, for it has been severed from the life of the plant that produced it. At this point the illustration breaks down, for it is not possible to give the flower new and eternal life, something God can do for the one who believes in the Lord Jesus.

That is the reason when we look at the text, the word for forgiven,

A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed. χαρίζομαι

to show oneself gracious by forgiving wrongdoing, forgive, pardon

This shows us the the love, the mercy, the grace that God has.

The word also carries the idea of canceling a sum of money that is owed which leads us into our next verse where Paul continues to show why it matters that we are in Christ.

The record of debt canceled. V.14-15

Verse 14 begins giving us a metaphor from the legal world.

The word for record of debt has a literal meaning of a hand written document, specifically a record of indebtedness.

Paul is using this word picture here for his readers to show each person’s indebtedness to God because of sin.

It is a sort of IOU note that shows a obligation to pay a debt.

If we were to take a blank sheet of paper and make a mark on it every time we sin, how quickly would it fill up?

Sin is sin, no matter how we look at it.

If we perform at a 99.99% rate of obedience, we still earn a failing grade.

Romans 3:23 ESV

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

In keeping with the legal metaphor when a law is broken, what is required?

When a wrong is commited against us, we generally desire justice.

In the concept of human justice -

The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, Volumes 1–5 1. Human Justice

In a larger sense justice is not only giving to others their rights, but involves the active duty of establishing their rights.

Easton’s Bible Dictionary Justice

JUSTICE—is rendering to every one that which is his due. It has been distinguished from equity in this respect, that while justice means merely the doing what positive law demands, equity means the doing of what is fair and right in every separate case.

We see from Romans that

The word justice

Romans 6:23 ESV

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, Volumes 1–5 2. Justice of God

God’s justice, or righteousness, is founded in His essential nature. But, just as with man, it is not something abstract, but is seen in His relation to the world. It is His kingship establishing and maintaining the right. It appears as retributive justice, “that reaction of His holy will, as grounded in His eternal being, against evil wherever found.” He cannot be indifferent to good and evil

God’s justice is set forth and part of his nature and often it is placed in contrast with his mercy. Which we see in this verse.

The key is that God’s justice is not merely gracious, but redemptive.

God’s justice does not simply apportion rights, but establishes righteousness.

The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, Volumes 1–5 2. Justice of God

It is by the forgiveness of sins that God establishes righteousness, and this is the supreme task of justice. Thus it is that God is at the same time “just, and the justifier of him that hath faith in Jesus”

1 John 1:9 ESV

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Looking to our passage in Colossians

He set aside that note with all the marks of sin and the demands for punishment that come with it and nailed it to the cross.

Think of that blank sheet of paper that I mentioned early, think of taking it and placing a mark every time you sin.

God then takes that paper and nails it to the cross.

It is not simply torn up and thrown away but nailed to the cross.

The penalty is paid in Christ’s death.

The NIV Application Commentary: Colossians and Philemon What God Has Done (2:13–15)

If we die with Christ, who took the verdict of condemnation against us, then our debt has been paid in full. Those who are in Christ are no longer in default

This is why it matters that we are in Christ.

Romans 8:1 ESV

1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

This is how the cross solves the problem of sin.

God literally takes away the record of transgression, nailing it to the cross, crucifying it.

This action is further described in verse 15.

Colossians and Philemon: An Introduction and Commentary c. Already Free from the Law’s Demands (2:13–15)

the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us, on the one hand, and the powers and authorities on the other. God has apparently cancelled the former and disarmed the latter.

Paul moves forward in verse 15 to now show the cross as an image of triumph rather than a symbol of destruction.

The NIV Application Commentary: Colossians and Philemon What God Has Done (2:13–15)

Jesus’ captors dragged him through the city, stripped him naked, held him up to contempt, and nailed the charges against him to his cross; but all along God was doing it to them. God made them a public example by showing how utterly impotent they were before this divine demonstration of love and forgiveness and how utterly helpless they were to deter the divine power that raises the dead.

The verse literally reads he made an example of them in public he exposed them to shame.

Jesus through his death and resurrection disgraces the powers and authorities that were trying to be over Him.

Paul and Timothy in this verse end the string of metaphors that we see with a note of triumph.

This is all building up to the advice that follows.

The New International Greek Testament Commentary: The Epistles to the Colossians and to Philemon The Scope of Christ’s Accomplishments on the Cross (2:8–15)

The force of the sequence of images of what happened on the cross is powerful: a spiritual circumcision achieved and body of flesh stripped off, a burial with Christ and resurrection with Christ, a being made alive with Christ from a state of death, and a wiping out of the record of transgression and destruction of that record. But the final one is boldest of all: a stripping off of the rulers and authorities as discarded rags, putting them to public shame and triumphing over them in him.

Conclusion

The cross is not a moment of shame, but rather a moment of triumph.

The cross and the resurrection of Christ constituted a turning upside down of peoples expectations.

As Christians we can find significance in the fact that we are united in baptism with the death and resurrection of Jesus, thus by faith we have exchanged our previous status of guilt for that of forgiven sinners.

We are welcomed into a family beyond the reach of legal accusation.

Colossians and Philemon: An Introduction and Commentary c. Already Free from the Law’s Demands (2:13–15)

Paul is drawing out the significance of the fact that the new Christians have been united in baptism with the death and resurrection of Christ, and so have exchanged their previous status (Gentiles, outside the people of God) for that of forgiven sinners, welcomed into a family circle beyond the reach of legal accusation or previous national loyalties

So why does it matter that we are in Christ?

This is our hope.

It matters that we are in Christ because it is only because of Him that our hearts are changed and our sinful flesh can be put off.

It matters because by placing our faith in Jesus, we are united with Him in his death and resurrection. This is shown through our baptism.

It matters because our record of debt, all the things that come against us, are taken and nailed to the cross.

It matters because this is the hope that we have in Jesus.