Living Lawless Lives
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1 I solemnly urge you in the presence of God and Christ Jesus, who will someday judge the living and the dead when he comes to set up his Kingdom: 2 Preach the word of God. Be prepared, whether the time is favorable or not. Patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage your people with good teaching.
3 For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will reject the truth and chase after myths.
16 So don’t let anyone condemn you for what you eat or drink, or for not celebrating certain holy days or new moon ceremonies or Sabbaths. 17 For these rules are only shadows of the reality yet to come. And Christ himself is that reality. 18 Don’t let anyone condemn you by insisting on pious self-denial or the worship of angels, saying they have had visions about these things. Their sinful minds have made them proud, 19 and they are not connected to Christ, the head of the body. For he holds the whole body together with its joints and ligaments, and it grows as God nourishes it.
20 You have died with Christ, and he has set you free from the spiritual powers of this world. So why do you keep on following the rules of the world, such as, 21 “Don’t handle! Don’t taste! Don’t touch!”? 22 Such rules are mere human teachings about things that deteriorate as we use them. 23 These rules may seem wise because they require strong devotion, pious self-denial, and severe bodily discipline. But they provide no help in conquering a person’s evil desires.
Col. 2:16-
PRAYER
The Christian life is found in Jesus, is always connected to Jesus, and is all about Jesus.
IF WE STRAY FROM THAT UNDERSTANDING, WE WILL LEAVE ROOM FOR OTHER MISUNDERSTANDINGS OF THE GOSPEL TO SLIP INTO OUR CHRISTIAN LIFE.
Incredibles
Mr Incredible is at the headquarters of Syndrome!
He has just found our he has been tricked. working for the villain.
And he has just found some valuable information and is trying to escape.
And as he does he is trying to run across a suspended platform to the exit, when these massive guns open fire on him.
And they aren’t bullets, they are these sticky metallic balls that hit him, attach, then grow, and as they grow they seem to increase in weight as well, until his vision is obscured and the weight become too much for him to bear, until he is so weighed down and blind, that he falls to the ground as the villain approaches.
Paul in this text is giving a warning.
He is warning in light of the life altering truth of the Gospel. The life altering Truth, that Jesus was who he said he was and is the exact representation of God the father, and that in him and his death we have been redeemed. As Paul says in v14 of this chapter anything record of sin between you and your creator has been done away with on the cross, in light of all that, Paul is warning his listeners to be careful not to listen to other so called gospels. Things that sound spiritual but in reality are requiring you to say....Jesus is not enough. You need to add more to your life before you can live a life fulfilled by Christ.
And what Paul warns is that these belief will only add burden, where Jesus has promised life. They will stick to you, weigh you down, and they will tire you and they will blind you.
Paul hits on a few different philosophies of the day that have made their way into the church Colossae and others as well.
He mention teaching that condemns/judges, 16, condemns v 18, that enslave in verses 20-23 that tie you up with rules.
That’s not the Gospel Paul says!!!
If you’ve ever played games with kids or listen to kids play at the park, you will know this experience.
There is a straight forward version of tag being played. Everyone understands the rules. You run around, and when someone fast that you or with better jukes catches you and tags you, your it!!
Straight forward rules. Everyone knows them.
But then theres the kid. Who when he is tagged comes up with a new rule. Nuh uh he or she says, you have to tag me below the waste.
Nuhu uh. Yeah huh?
Or they decide that when they are it and the entire playground agrees, they want to play a different game.
I don’t like that kid.
I don’t like the rule changing kid.
That kids always tries to have the upper hand. And if they don’t have it they change the rules.
Paul is saying in this text beware of that kid!!
Beware of that Christian. Beware of those who would change the Gospel and say Jesus yes, but if you do not do this or that, obey these rules and those, you fall into a different category. That adds to the gospel.
as one scholar writes....
“Those who have been qualified by their baptism into Christ’s sacrificial death cannot be disqualified by unfit, self-appointed umpires blinded by their own prejudices.”
This was a bone of contention for Jesus.
1 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, 2 “The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees are the official interpreters of the law of Moses. 3 So practice and obey whatever they tell you, but don’t follow their example. For they don’t practice what they teach. 4 They crush people with unbearable religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden.
5 “Everything they do is for show. On their arms they wear extra wide prayer boxes with Scripture verses inside, and they wear robes with extra long tassels. 6 And they love to sit at the head table at banquets and in the seats of honor in the synagogues. 7 They love to receive respectful greetings as they walk in the marketplaces, and to be called ‘Rabbi.’
They love the rules because the rules divide up the holy to the lesser than.
from what Paul says we can see that there was an influence of 3 “isms”.....
1 I solemnly urge you in the presence of God and Christ Jesus, who will someday judge the living and the dead when he comes to set up his Kingdom: 2 Preach the word of God. Be prepared, whether the time is favorable or not. Patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage your people with good teaching.
3 For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will reject the truth and chase after myths.
In this text Paul says be careful of those who
Legalism
Legalism- rule based faith
Mysticism-
Asceticism- strength based faith
Mysticism- experienced based faith
Now like anything all of these errors are a warped version of something good.
Legalism is a warped version of obedience.
Christian obedience is not a path to acceptance, but to joy.
Mysticism is a warped version of a desire for spiritual maturity and reliance on Christ.
Asceticism is a warped version of discipline.
Mysticism is a warped version of a desire for spiritual maturity and reliance on Christ.
The goal of each is fellowship with Christ. More Jesus!!
But when they are not connected to Jesus they lose any and all worth!
They create a false spirituality which cause pride and burden.
And the truth I want us to grasp this morning is this...
And the truth I want us to grasp this morning is this...
When they become ways to gain favour, or to see ourselves or have others see us as moving up the spiritual hierarchy, all benefits are lost!
They all come unhinged when they are detached from Christ. From the head.
There is a straight forward version of tag being played. Everyone understands the rules. You run around, and when someone fast that you or with better jukes catches you and tags you, your it!!
Straight forward rules. Everyone knows them.
But then theres the kid. Who when he is tagged comes up with a new rule. Nuh uh he or she says, you have to tag me below the waste.
Nuhu uh. Yeah huh?
Or they decide that when they are it and the entire playground agrees, they want to play a different game.
I don’t like that kid.
I don’t like the rule changing kid.
That kids always tries to have the upper hand. And if they don’t have it they change the rules.
Paul is saying in this text beware of that kid!!
Beware of that Christian. Beware of those who would change the Gospel and say Jesus yes, but if you do not do this or that, obey these rule and those, you fall into a different category. That adds to the gospel.
I. LIFE IS FOUND IN JESUS. (vv.16-17)
16 So don’t let anyone condemn you for what you eat or drink, or for not celebrating certain holy days or new moon ceremonies or Sabbaths. 17 For these rules are only shadows of the reality yet to come. And Christ himself is that reality.
Do not get caught up in side issues.
Do not get caught up in side issues.
He says “So”, or as some translation say… “Therefore” and whenever we interpret scripture we always ask this questions when reading.....What is the therefore, there for.
Previously Paul has been saying..You belong to Jesus, you entire life is caught up in him.....He is the fullness of God.
v. 10 says “you are complete through your union with Christ”
Now if you are complete through your union with Christ.
You have right standing with God, you have an identity, you have forgiveness, and a relationship with God the Father.
It makes no sense to then say, yes but what else do I need.
What ritual, what daily practice do I need to do to please God.
It makes no sense to look at the cross and say, what do I need to gain the love of God, and it makes no sense to look a the resurrection of Jesus from the dead and say, what other power do I need in my life!
Paul points to celebrations of the past and says, these all have served their purpose, but they don’t have one anymore.
Some of you have had the joy of breaking a leg, or suffering an injury and needing a cast, or crutches of a cane. Each of those point to something, yearn for something and aid toward something better than limping.
When you are able to walk, you toss them aside, they are not needed anymore.
Paul is saying fullest spiritual maturity comes from knowing and living for Jesus.
So do not let anyone use these as a challenge to the authenticity of your faith.
holy days, new moon celebrations, sabbath- certain foods to eat.
All were put in pace in the OT to point to something better!
All were important to prepare your hearts and to stir in your hearts this day!! To cause you to look for the saviour. He is here now.
Don’t keep looking in the past.
Paul hints at the idea of Plato’s Cave.
In Plato’s Republic the character Socrates speaks of the wisdom of man without outside / divine help like people who have been chained up in a cave, staring at a cave wall, and seeing only shadows of real objects, cast by a fire.
never turning to see the real deal.
Here is the thing.
Until they are made free they will never understand true reality.
AND there reality was not meant to be experienced by the light of a fire in a cave, but by the light of the sun.
Paul is saying......anything other than Christ..is settling for shadows.
And what the gospel is meant to do is step into our darkness and remove chains and show us the truest light, not a fire in a cave, but the sun!!
Paul says don’t go back to chains!!! Don’t have your eyes focused on shadows, look to Jesus
Life is found in Jesus. He is the light through which all other things are properly seen.
I believe in Christ, like I believe in the sun-not because I can see it, but by it I can see everything else.
Secondly Paul says...
II. LIFE IS CONNECTED TO JESUS (vv. 18-19)
18 Don’t let anyone condemn you by insisting on pious self-denial or the worship of angels, saying they have had visions about these things. Their sinful minds have made them proud, 19 and they are not connected to Christ, the head of the body. For he holds the whole body together with its joints and ligaments, and it grows as God nourishes it.
Col. 2:
Paul is saying hey listen. There are those who are going to come around and HAVE come around who will say, “Listen I just read a book, by this new author, who tapped into a truth that the church has missed for 2000 years, who talks about how we can gain more, be more, have more, kind of tap into a power of prayer, we just need to say these words every morning for 30 days, and God will give us what we ask for.”
Or today we have facebook shares that say things like.....”Forward this message to 30 friends and God will bless you.”
What is interesting in many of these things is there drastic disconnection from Christ and the way he has revealed himself. They are meant to make us feel spiritual and connected to the spiritual and most importantly BLESSED by the spiritual realm, all the while disconnecting our spiritual health from the very person who gave his life for its ransom.
3 For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear.
The way to guard our minds and our paths as Christians in the books we read, the podcasts we listen to, the social media we consume....is to sk this very important question...
“What does this do with the person and work of Christ? Does it place him to the side as an option, does it flat out deny him?
Does it sprinkle his name in there to sound just close to right, but deny his power and identity.
Life is connected to Jesus.
Christ holds the church together. The way for a church to become disjointed, is for some to say in the church.....Christ is not my head!!
The way for a church to become malnourished is for many in the church to say. I like the church thing on Sunday, but my life is my own, and I rule it. I can come up with a few rituals that look spiritual and that will hold me.
5 They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that!
Our life is found in Jesus.
III. LIFE IS ALL ABOUT JESUS (vv. 20-23)
How can it be about ANYTHING else if .......
20 You have died with Christ, and he has set you free from the spiritual powers of this world. So why do you keep on following the rules of the world, such as, 21 “Don’t handle! Don’t taste! Don’t touch!”? 22 Such rules are mere human teachings about things that deteriorate as we use them. 23 These rules may seem wise because they require strong devotion, pious self-denial, and severe bodily discipline. But they provide no help in conquering a person’s evil desires.
he is saying why are you living as if you still need to fight these things. You have been saved from slavery. live in the joy and freedom of Christ.
the mystics thought holiness was about new and better experiences the ascetics about removing anything in your life that brings pleasure. Legalists thought there had to be a plethora of rules to keep us living holy separate lives.
About disciplining yourself through rules.
The gospel says it isn’t about pealing things off your life, it is about adding more of Jesus.
it is the pursuit of more of Jesus that causes these things to naturally be left behind. . purging our lives of sin comes not from looking at our sin and throwing rules at it. That has never been effective. It comes from .....
2 We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.
as the hymn writer Hellen Howarth Lemmel said it....
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.
How is your gaze?
the main picture we have here is of Paul saying… you have been given life in Christ,
Don’t, now that you have been shown what freedom from burden looks like, start piling on laws and rules, and stipulations that have nothing to do with the life that Christ has promised you.
New Living Translation Chapter 2
23 These rules may seem wise because they require strong devotion, pious self-denial, and severe bodily discipline. But they provide no help in conquering a person’s evil desires.
I have found that often when people say they are not experiencing the life that Christ promised, there is something they are holding onto that they believe is a requirement of faith that is really just a self created- or imposed burden that Christ never asked of them.
why? Because they deny that Jesus has taken care of it and say....I’ll redeem myself.
to accomplish, to meet a certain standard. Because you are one with Christ....you meet the standard.
materialism- you are what you accumulate , tribalism- you are somebody because of the group you identify with
what happens as Christians when we attach to these rather than Christ who is the head of the church, we find ourselves fighting like a cornered animal, with nowhere to run when these isms are threatened.
PAUSE
A. anything that judges and disqualifies others according to human measures
Should we live differently?
Of course. Should we live exemplar lives. Holiness should be the goal.
The problem is that we can worship the rules or our theological constructions more than we worship Christ. This process inevitably results in an ugly, smug arrogance and exacerbates the divisions between us rather than working to bring about reconciliation.
As one scholar writes...
NOW!! The obvious danger, or concern is.....aren’t we called to be holy?
16 For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”
13 So prepare your minds for action and exercise self-control. Put all your hope in the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world. 14 So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. 15 But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. 16 For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”
We are obviously called to changed lives. Lives that look different!!
B. anything that substitutes sham battles with asceticism for the real struggle with sin (3:5–11), which Christ has already won for us
There is a part of the religious life that loves rules.
They make it easy to judge people!!
There is an aspect of living that ought to naturally result from those who have encountered the living God.
The fruits of the spirit; love, joy, peace, patience, kindness
22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!
What is Paul’s point with these.
Well, first they are not rules to be followed but characteristics to be emulated.
From a rootedness and identity that comes from knowing Jesus.
The pursuit of holiness does not come from obligation, but from appreciation and affection.
we do not pursue rules for rules sake, for a badge.
I pursue time with my wife and kids because i want to experience more of them, not so they pat me on the head and say nice job! Good boy!
The prize isn’t their appreciation, it is them.
We pursue holiness in response to being accepted AS holy, and because we know that such a pursuit brings us to more of Jesus, More of his heart replacing our heart. Deeper experience of forgiveness, belonging, mercy and grace!
See...
C. anything that makes subjective feelings or mystic states the norm over the historical event of Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection.
the continual search for a spiritual high. Elijah- prophets of Baal and then waiting for God in a cave.
Paul says be careful. Here is the basis for your faith.....
1 Let me now remind you, dear brothers and sisters, of the Good News I preached to you before. You welcomed it then, and you still stand firm in it. 2 It is this Good News that saves you if you continue to believe the message I told you—unless, of course, you believed something that was never true in the first place.
3 I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. 4 He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said. 5 He was seen by Peter and then by the Twelve. 6 After that, he was seen by more than 500 of his followers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. 7 Then he was seen by James and later by all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as though I had been born at the wrong time, I also saw him. 9 For I am the least of all the apostles. In fact, I’m not even worthy to be called an apostle after the way I persecuted God’s church.
10 But whatever I am now, it is all because God poured out his special favor on me—and not without results. For I have worked harder than any of the other apostles; yet it was not I but God who was working through me by his grace. 11 So it makes no difference whether I preach or they preach, for we all preach the same message you have already believed.
12 But tell me this—since we preach that Christ rose from the dead, why are some of you saying there will be no resurrection of the dead? 13 For if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised either. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless. 15 And we apostles would all be lying about God—for we have said that God raised Christ from the grave. But that can’t be true if there is no resurrection of the dead. 16 And if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless and you are still guilty of your sins. 18 In that case, all who have died believing in Christ are lost! 19 And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world.
20 But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died.
21 So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man. 22 Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life. 23 But there is an order to this resurrection: Christ was raised as the first of the harvest; then all who belong to Christ will be raised when he comes back.
24 After that the end will come, when he will turn the Kingdom over to God the Father, having destroyed every ruler and authority and power. 25 For Christ must reign until he humbles all his enemies beneath his feet. 26 And the last enemy to be destroyed is death. 27 For the Scriptures say, “God has put all things under his authority.” (Of course, when it says “all things are under his authority,” that does not include God himself, who gave Christ his authority.) 28 Then, when all things are under his authority, the Son will put himself under God’s authority, so that God, who gave his Son authority over all things, will be utterly supreme over everything everywhere.
29 If the dead will not be raised, what point is there in people being baptized for those who are dead? Why do it unless the dead will someday rise again?
30 And why should we ourselves risk our lives hour by hour? 31 For I swear, dear brothers and sisters, that I face death daily. This is as certain as my pride in what Christ Jesus our Lord has done in you. 32 And what value was there in fighting wild beasts—those people of Ephesus—if there will be no resurrection from the dead? And if there is no resurrection, “Let’s feast and drink, for tomorrow we die!” 33 Don’t be fooled by those who say such things, for “bad company corrupts good character.” 34 Think carefully about what is right, and stop sinning. For to your shame I say that some of you don’t know God at all.
35 But someone may ask, “How will the dead be raised? What kind of bodies will they have?” 36 What a foolish question! When you put a seed into the ground, it doesn’t grow into a plant unless it dies first. 37 And what you put in the ground is not the plant that will grow, but only a bare seed of wheat or whatever you are planting. 38 Then God gives it the new body he wants it to have. A different plant grows from each kind of seed. 39 Similarly there are different kinds of flesh—one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish.
40 There are also bodies in the heavens and bodies on the earth. The glory of the heavenly bodies is different from the glory of the earthly bodies. 41 The sun has one kind of glory, while the moon and stars each have another kind. And even the stars differ from each other in their glory.
42 It is the same way with the resurrection of the dead. Our earthly bodies are planted in the ground when we die, but they will be raised to live forever. 43 Our bodies are buried in brokenness, but they will be raised in glory. They are buried in weakness, but they will be raised in strength. 44 They are buried as natural human bodies, but they will be raised as spiritual bodies. For just as there are natural bodies, there are also spiritual bodies.
45 The Scriptures tell us, “The first man, Adam, became a living person.” But the last Adam—that is, Christ—is a life-giving Spirit. 46 What comes first is the natural body, then the spiritual body comes later. 47 Adam, the first man, was made from the dust of the earth, while Christ, the second man, came from heaven. 48 Earthly people are like the earthly man, and heavenly people are like the heavenly man. 49 Just as we are now like the earthly man, we will someday be like the heavenly man.
50 What I am saying, dear brothers and sisters, is that our physical bodies cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. These dying bodies cannot inherit what will last forever.
51 But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! 52 It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed. 53 For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies.
54 Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.
55 O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”
56 For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. 57 But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.
1 Let me now remind you, dear brothers and sisters, of the Good News I preached to you before. You welcomed it then, and you still stand firm in it. 2 It is this Good News that saves you if you continue to believe the message I told you—unless, of course, you believed something that was never true in the first place.
3 I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. 4 He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said.
Anything that says you need more.......denies this truth!!
I Cor. 15
D. anything that places more importance on divine intermediaries, such as angels, than on the divine reality in Christ
different teachers, books that talk about someone with spiritual gift that you’ve never heard of but they say gives them an authority to speak spiritual truths that have been revealed to them.
beware of those who say.....
E. anything that cuts people off from Christ, the Head, or Christ’s people, the body
• It engenders religious tyranny over people, based on these arbitrary, human criteria. It tries to make people pay homage to supernatural powers, earthly authorities, or rules rather than to Christ, who has set us free from all these things.
Any teaching that says ....... place Christ aside for this aspect of your spiritual journey.
• It panders to human pride and egocentrism and results in puffing up and arrogance—
• It makes mystical experiences, rituals, the main emphasis
• It attaches too much importance on what is perishable—things that pass away.
• It cuts persons off from Christ by substituting something else for a deep personal relationship with Christ.
• It cuts persons off from the body of believers in Christ. When some are asked by Christian friends or leaders to seriously consider the merits of certain philosophies and how they line up with the Christian faith there is a danger for those who have bought into an ism to separate from the church
• It pretends to offer greater wisdom than the wisdom found in the cross of Christ. Its wisdom focuses on fulfilling the self rather than giving one’s life to God and for others.
• It places limits on or rejects the efficacy of Christ’s work in every area of life, suggesting that it is inadequate or that it needs to be augmented by other experiences, additional spiritual agents, or a regimen of ritual or ascetic observances.
• It is basically a do-it-yourself religion and refuses to believe that all we can hope to attain has already been accomplished for us by Christ.
Anything that says, Christ is here, your family is here, and you business life is here, is an anti-Christian way of looking at the world.
Christ is the head!!
All isms will lead to a burden. Growing, heavy, blinding, hard to unstick yourself from if left too long.
Whether it is legalism, mysticism, asceticism.
Or their modern day counterparts.
What are some of the isms we have today? See in Paul’s day the church hardly recognized that these isms had made it iinto the church.
Modern day “isms”:
humanism
materialism
tribalism
humanism- you are what you accomplish
self accomplishment
My worth and identity are mine to create. Follow your heart wherever it leads.
materialism- you are what you accumulate. the house the car, the holidays, the family,
you are what you have
Here is big one......
tribalism- you are who you associate with
your identity and worth is caught up in the group you identify with
Whether it is a political group, activist group, a sexual identity- all of these can work to move your identity off of Christ and onto a moving target.
What happens as Christians when we attach to these rather than Christ who is the head of the church, we find ourselves fighting like cornered animals, with nowhere to run when these isms are threatened.
If I am fundamentally a humanist and I do not accomplish all that I hoped to.....where do I find my footing?
If I am fundamentally a materialist, and I am behind on the latest gadget, I hit financial problems, relational problems, have to downsize.....it becomes a spiritual ordeal.
If I am fundamentally a tribalist, then I will never find a cause that satisfies me, never find true belonging because groups change their affiliations in a flash and I will end up losing my identity for the ideology of the group.
Jesus says there is no ism that brings you life, like I does.
The Christian faith relieves you of striving to be noticed.
1 O Lord, you have examined my heart
and know everything about me.
2 You know when I sit down or stand up.
You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.
3 You see me when I travel
and when I rest at home.
You know everything I do.
You are known!
The Christian faith
1 O Lord, you have examined my heart
and know everything about me.
2 You know when I sit down or stand up.
You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.
1 O Lord, you have examined my heart
and know everything about me.
The Christian faith says you are more than what you accumulate.
More than how good your day was!
1 See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are! But the people who belong to this world don’t recognize that we are God’s children because they don’t know him. 2 Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is. 3 And all who have this eager expectation will keep themselves pure, just as he is pure.
4 Everyone who sins is breaking God’s law, for all sin is contrary to the law of God. 5 And you know that Jesus came to take away our sins, and there is no sin in him. 6 Anyone who continues to live in him will not sin. But anyone who keeps on sinning does not know him or understand who he is.
7 Dear children, don’t let anyone deceive you about this: When people do what is right, it shows that they are righteous, even as Christ is righteous. 8 But when people keep on sinning, it shows that they belong to the devil, who has been sinning since the beginning. But the Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil. 9 Those who have been born into God’s family do not make a practice of sinning, because God’s life is in them. So they can’t keep on sinning, because they are children of God. 10 So now we can tell who are children of God and who are children of the devil. Anyone who does not live righteously and does not love other believers does not belong to God.
11 This is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another. 12 We must not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and killed his brother. And why did he kill him? Because Cain had been doing what was evil, and his brother had been doing what was righteous. 13 So don’t be surprised, dear brothers and sisters, if the world hates you.
1 See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are! But the people who belong to this world don’t recognize that we are God’s children because they don’t know him. 2 Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is. 3 And all who have this eager expectation will keep themselves pure, just as he is pure.
The pursuit of holiness does not come from obligation, but from appreciation and affection.
That is good news. It frees us from so much unnecessary burden, so many life-sucking isms.
PAUSE
So where will you find you identity. Are you attached to an ism. Like a growing lead weight weighing you down, blinding you, causing your footing to suffer, because you cannot hold up under the all the the ism requires of you.
Don’t let anyone or any ism condemn you Paul says twice in this passage.
20 You have died with Christ, and he has set you free from the spiritual powers of this world. So why do you keep on following the rules of the world, such as,
that is not the life Jesus has invite to into.