Guiltless By Association
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Guiltless by Association
9 For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. 10 So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.
11 When you came to Christ, you were “circumcised,” but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision—the cutting away of your sinful nature. 12 For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead.
13 You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. 14 He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. 15 In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.
PRAYER
I don’t want to boast, and it is not something I talk about all the time, because I don’t want to be that guy, but I am a card carrying
“Gold Star Costco Card” - gold member.
It’s true!!
And even though I’ve made this public, I don’t want you to think that you have to act differently around me!!
I’m just a regular guy....(I mean I think we all realize that both a star and gold signify something important) but I’m just a regular guy!
Who doesn’t get a sense of accomplishment and joy when they find they have been found worthy of being pre-approved by MasterCard!!??
I mean even Capital One’s phrase “What’s in your wallet?” Implies that there is a prestige that comes with having the right method of payment.
I mean even Capital One’s phrase “What’s in your wallet?” Implies that there is a prestige that comes with having the right method of payment.
We all want to be associated with something! Right we want to be a part of a group, or a community (even if it is a virtual online community)
We associate ourselves with people and groups by what we click like one online, by the shirts we wear and the events we go to.
If it is accomplishment at work, we will find ourselves enslaved to our work, and eventutally it will chew us up and spit us out.
If our worth is found in our association with sexuality, sexual preference or political party, we will find ourselves following a brand, a label, a group ethic in spite of obvious failures in its worldview.
And you and I right now are in the middle of a bit of a cultural war that says you MUST pick a label, and once you’ve attached yourself to a label, it will be assumed what you believe on every subject because of your association. It is assumed if you are a conservative Christian, you must support all that Trump says and does, hate homosexuals, and cuddle up with your riffle at night!!
I am a Christian and would not say any of those things about myself.
But there is guilt by association.
And there can also be ignorance by association, because..
If we establish anything imperfect as the light of our life, we will tend to ignore the long dark shadows it casts.
without a willingness to soberly judge
And one of the things that happens when our lives are not first and foremost built on our association with Christ and the cross, we find ourselves attaching ourselves to other identities without a willingness to soberly judge them.
Many of us have found ourselves in relationships with others in whom we find so much to like; they tell how great we are, they make us feel good about ourselves, ....and so even when we see hints of shadow we ignore it. We even sacrifice part of who we are in order to appease them sometimes because we find so much of our worth in our association with them.
Often to our own detriment!!
Paul says in this text, be careful who and what story you associate with. What you unite yourself with and find you worth in.
Whether it is a community, a belief, a lifestyle. Be very careful which story you associate with.
There is no story like the story of Christ and his cross.
Paul uses these words and this theme I’ve tried to point our over the last month of “union with” Christ.
you are complete through your union with Christ (v.10)
you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life (v.12)
Being attached to /associated with Christ....
God made you alive with Christ (v. 13)
So let’s unpack what that means.
Being attached to /associated with Christ....
Union with Christ means we move from ....
empty to full
lost to found
stained to sanctified
deflated to elevated
A. Empty to Full (vv. 9-10)
9 For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. 10 So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.
As God fills Christ, you too can be filled by Christ.
The head of all creation in your corner, AND dwells within you.
The head of all creation in your corner (9-10)
If that is true than the most fulfilled a human can be is when he or she belongs to Christ.
This is such a hard message to hear, and I don’t mean because it is painful, I mean because there are so many voices promising fulfillment that come with glamour, a declaration that you are good the way you are, that you deserve the world that the proclamation of a cross entering the picture ruins the delusion!!
Like a photobomb in all the worlds promises!
Years ago I was in Venezuela part of a massive youth event in Caracas. And before my group went on a magician took the stage. And if you think about the stereotypical cheesy magician....you got it!!
We were back stage feeling so sorry for this guy.
Every trick he did, you could hear people saying....we can see what you’re doing?
I mean when he did saw the lady in the box in half, the feet on the bottom half were wearing different coloured socks than the lady that stepped into the box.
Trick after trick the kids got closer and closer and from the side of the stage we could see hm sweating more and more.
To the promises of the world, the gospel is like that annoying kids at a magic show, who continually points out inconstancies and asks questions that irritate the magician.
to the promises of the world, the gospel is like that annoying kids at a magic show, who continually points out inconstancies and asks questions that irritate the magician.
Unable to deal with deeper issues of sin, of belonging, of good and evil, of morality, and ultimate hope.
Only the cross properly and fully deals with that!
The questions of belonging, identity, fullest expression of love, purpose. they are found in Christ.
other movement
Paul says the fullness of God dwells in Christ and Christ dwells in you.
19 May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.
the most fulfilled a human can be is when he or she belongs to Christ.
the most fulfilled a human can be is when he or she belongs to Christ.
That is why the point of the gospel is never just about a new philosophy or an idea, it is Christ himself!!
Union with Christ means we move from empty to full.
Union with Christ means we move from empty to full.
It also means we move from....
B. Lost to found (v 11)
—you are marked as belonging to him (11)
11 When you came to Christ, you were “circumcised,” but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision—the cutting away of your sinful nature.
Now in order to understand what circumcision is …I made a few doodles...
I am going to assume you know what circumcision is....
In , with the Father of the Jewish nation, God established that as a sign of belonging to God, male Jews would be circumcised.
Literal circumcision was a minor operation that removed a small portion of flesh, but it had major significance for Jews as the sign of obedience to God’s covenant. It meant that one was incorporated into the people of God and a beneficiary of the covenant promises to Abraham. and signified inclusion in God’s chosen nation.
I’ve Literal circumcision was a minor operation that removed a small portion of flesh, but it had major significance for Jews as the sign of obedience to God’s covenant. It meant that one was incorporated into the people of God and a beneficiary of the covenant promises to Abraham. Circumcision was the sign God gave to Abraham as a covenant in the flesh () and signified inclusion in God’s chosen nation.
In the ESV it translated v 11 this way.
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,
This holds a very visual picture in the Greek
Pauls point in verse 11 is that by Christ’s sacrifice, by the fact that his flesh was cut, literally by Christ’s flesh being severed, you and I are given belonging into covenantal relationship with God.
pictures?
Not by your work
That your marks of covenantal relationship with God are on Christ’s body! Not in circumcision but in complete destruction of his body on the cross to purchase our way into relationship with Christ.
And that means that a work done, not by you, makes you right with God!!
That is a relief.
Because not only did Christ’s act bring you in, it keeps you in.
It was feely given without you earning it, so it cannot be removed by your failures!!
Union with Christ means you are no longer lost you are found, and you cannot be less found!
Thirdly, Union with Christ means we have moved from...
C. Stained to Sanctified (vv. 12-13)
Means your past doesn’t stick to you (12-13)
11 When you came to Christ, you were “circumcised,” but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision—the cutting away of your sinful nature. 12 For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead.
Sainthood is not gained it is granted.
I have bought in AND I AM A beneficiary of all that God promises his people!
And this is important and Paul hints at it here and makes it very clear elsewhere. Baptism is the sign of our alliance with God new covenant in Christ.
Th
The reason that some get confused by the wording of Paul sometimes when he talks about baptism as if he is talking about salvation and belief, is that he cannot fathom the idea of coming to faith in Christ and not immediately getting baptized as a declaration that you are one with Christ and a beneficiary of all that he has promised those who believe!!
Garland, David E.. Colossians, Philemon (The NIV Application Commentary Book 12) (p. 147). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
26 For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes.
Baptism is the outward sign of your union with Christ. As he died, you go under the water, as he rose, you are raised to new life in him and a foreshadowing of the eternal life that you have been gifted because of his death and resurrection.
2 Watch out for those dogs, those people who do evil, those mutilators who say you must be circumcised to be saved. 3 For we who worship by the Spirit of God are the ones who are truly circumcised. We rely on what Christ Jesus has done for us. We put no confidence in human effort,
That is why the Apostle Paul and Luke who authors the book of Acts do not separate salvation with the act of baptism. It is not because they believe there is salvation in baptism, but the idea in the early church that someone would say they are a Christ follower and not immediateily get baptized is a forign concept they had no category for it. Today we say, when I feel prepared for it.
Really???
It has been washed. (Ill. Label that won’t stick ).
When I fully comprehend the fullness of God’s love and the full impact of what it means to call him saviour and friend I’ll get baptized!!
That’s like saying when I understand women I’ll get married!
When I fully comprehend the fullness of God’s love and the full impact of what it means to call him saviour and friend I’ll get baptized!!
Today like in everything we lack commitment, in the early church..they said I’m saved, find me some water.
If you have not been baptized, Paul would seriously question your salvation, your commitment to Christ, because he cannot fathom an excuse to wanting to physcially display and proclaim Christ.
In , the apostle Philip comes across a servant of the Queen of Ethiopia reading the prophet Isaiah.
He takes this opportunity to share the good news of the Gospel.
34 The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, was the prophet talking about himself or someone else?” 35 So beginning with this same Scripture, Philip told him the Good News about Jesus.
36 As they rode along, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “Look! There’s some water! Why can’t I be baptized?” 38 He ordered the carriage to stop, and they went down into the water, and Philip baptized him.
Acts 8:34-
“Why can’t I be baptized!!??”
Today we say… “Why should I be baptized?”
We are happy to separate our salvation from its declaration.
I would love to be baptizing people here every week.
I would be willing to go down to the river with you any Sunday and make it happen.
Man we have roses here
I have spoken to the city and there is nothing keeping us from setting up our baptismal outside the theatre here and baptizing!! So if you are a Christ follower, you have by faith placed you life in his work on the cross for your sake....
in the words of the Queens servant..
Why can’t you be baptized?
Talk to me after the service, and we will get you baptized in the next few weeks.
he close association between baptism and salvationThrough faith in the power of God!!But what a bout this mistake and that mistake? Hey figure out how you can repair what you’ve broken, but as far as your identity with a Christ goes, your belonging.... the severing of you from your past as any sort of marker of who who are now is cut but the power of God!!
To be baptized is to say that what once stuck to me sticks no longer!!!
Those labels are behind me they are washed away!!
To be baptized is to say, I am breaking away from my past.
I have a new label!!!
I am found, and I am full.
So if you are wondering whether or not to get baptized....
PAUSE
Now as one bishop said
“In baptism we take the old man and put him under. But the old man can sure swim.”
So we work to live out our new identity, but our position of child of the living God is secure.
And Paul explains the ridiculous simplicity of our salvation...So how does this union with Christ come about. it is simple.
We place our trust in him.
12 For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead.
Sounds simple
We place our trust in him.
We strip ourselves of every label we think we have created for ourselves, every accomplishment!!
We strip ourselves of every label stuck on us, by those who told us we would accomplish the impossible. placed burden on us to succeed.
We strip every label stuck on us by those who told us we’d accomplish nothing, we strip ourselves of all the stuff we didn’t accomplish and have allowed to pile up as a sick case against ourselves and we say.....”I am yours” and that’s enough!
My faith will be solely placed in you and what you have already done.
12 For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead.
Martin Luther said is this way...
“Thou Christ art my sin and my curse, or rather, I am thy sin, thy curse, thy death, thy wrath of God, thy hell; and contrariwise, thou art my righteousness, my blessing, my life, my grace of God and my heaven.”
You took my stains and you have given me sanctification. You have given me belonging.
Garland, David E.. Colossians, Philemon (The NIV Application Commentary Book 12) (p. 152). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
Those labels are behind me they are washed away!!
This truth is dramatized, played out, declared in baptism. Saying . as you gave up your life for me, I give up mine for you.
I have a new label!!!
I am found, and I am full.
Lastly....union with Christ means we move from...
D. Deflated to Elevated (vv.14-15)
14 He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. 15 In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.
There are two very powerful images here:
Bishop Bergrav of Norway who said, “In baptism we take the old man and put him under. But the old man can sure swim.”
The first is the idea of debt..
Garland, David E.. Colossians, Philemon (The NIV Application Commentary Book 12) (p. 168). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
The word translated “record of charges” (care o graphone) literally means an IOU, a note that acknowledges the obligation to pay a debt and is signed by the debtor, or be punished.
The IOU exacted a penalty for nonpayment—death. The note was not simply torn up and thrown away, however. The full penalty was exacted in Christ’s death. The metaphor of nailing it to the cross may allude to the practice of placing the charge against the criminal on his cross ().
19 And Pilate posted a sign on the cross that read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” 20 The place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek, so that many people could read it.
21 Then the leading priests objected and said to Pilate, “Change it from ‘The King of the Jews’ to ‘He said, I am King of the Jews.’ ”
22 Pilate replied, “No, what I have written, I have written.”
Jesus was the iou note for you and I. He took the entire debt, and didn’t simply tear it up and say lets forget about that.....He PAID IT. He nailed it to the cross in his own body.
Author Henry Grady Davis says it this way....
The cross is the point chosen in time where all the evil in time and space, all the defiance against God can be concentrated into one visible decisive action against him. The cross is the wisdom of God to choose this point to make this attempt manifest and to defeat it. The cross is the power of God to absorb the ignorant blind rage of humanity into himself and avert its deadly consequences.
The second image that Paul gives us here is of a conquers parade.
After the Romans would defeat a foe, the general of the army would parade in to Rome with his captives behind him, tied together and humiliated in defeat.
14 But thank God! He has made us his captives and continues to lead us along in Christ’s triumphal procession. Now he uses us to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere, like a sweet perfume.
Paul is saying that through the work of the cross, Jesus has taken the powers of sin and bound them and has paraded them in defeat!
CONCLUSION:
Sin once carried us behind. Enslaved. chained.
Jesus through his cross has reversed our position in the parade.
He has taken the evil one and his power he has stripped them of their power, grabbed them by the neck and thrown them to the grounds, tied them up and placed them behind his chariot, then grabbed you and I, by the hand and lifted us to his side! and we now, sit next to Christ, as he triumphantly parades his victory over darkness before the cosmos, with you and I, by his side!!
Theologian David Garland says it this way...
On the cross, Christ has triumphed over everything that stands over against us—the damaging charges against us and the threatening powers and authorities. Christ’s victory has defeated and disarmed them, and Christians need not fear, appease, or take any account of them at all.
Christ extends his hand to lift us up.
Garland, David E.. Colossians, Philemon (The NIV Application Commentary Book 12) (p. 139). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
And many of us have continue to define ourselves by the past. empty, lost, staines, and impoverished.
Holding tight to all those things that never gave us anything, embracing them like they bring us all the things that only Christ can!!
When I was a toddler, I wandered. I would get up and walk around and frustrated my parents.
So in an effort to keep me in my room, my mother found a rope and tied my ankle to the bedpost!
It was not uncommon to find me in the morning asleep reaching for the door.
After a while of this…I got used to it and I would submit myself to the bondage!. I would raise my leg for it to be tied.
THEN one night my mom was leaving the room and she did not tie my ankle to the railing. And I asked for it to be done.
When she told me that she didn’t think I needed it anymore…I started crying and said, but I wanna be tied to the bed!!
This is the unsaid cry of many of us.
When we say, Jesus we thank you for the victory on the cross, but union with you is not that important to me.
I will take some faith on the side, but Im going to continue to pursue identity in my work, idealize association with some group, pursue pleasure over purpose.
We are saying, I don’t want to sit next to you on the triumphal chariot. I’ll go back to being tied up and defeated. Defined and reliant on whatever circumstance I find myself in.
in doing so we say---I’m happy with empty- because the fullest we can be is filled by Christ
I’m happy to drift from one attachment to the next for recognition.
I’m happy to allow past accomplishment and failures be the rule by which I measure my life.
I’m happy to ignore all that union with you has bought me.
Tie me up.
PAUSE
What Paul wants us to realize is that there is no future in those associations. They are the very source and fuel of empty, lost, stained, deflated people.
And that nowhere else will you find a solid foundation, union, association that can bring fullness that cannot be stolen, belonging without condition, a sanctification that does not require perfection, and an elevation to the very presence of the living Christ.
Pray
I don’t want to sit in the chariot next to you, I’ll go back to being defie