Holding Fast to Christ
Notes
Transcript
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Scripture Reading : Colossians 2:16-23
Opening Prayer Introduction
Exposition One
16 Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath.
Therefore - refers back to Paul’s teaching on the fullness and sufficiency of Christ
and our having been “filled in Him (10)” “brought into covenant with Him (11)” “buried and raised with Him (12)” and “made alive with Him (13)”
by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
Through all of that
He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.
So basically, because you are free from slavery to sin and, by extensions, its consequences and authorities
let no one pass judgment on you
Explain… (Judgment is in the authoritarian sense, think, place a sentence on you)
Relate to Christ as the “head of all rule and authority (vs. 10)
One commentator puts it, “do not let anyone impose upon you a program of spiritual development that does not have Christ at its heart” (Moo)
in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath.
Two categories of judgment
Food/drink
Special religious days
(Strong/weak in Romans 14)
What are these regulations?
Not sure exactly
Food/drink were prohibitions (vs. 21)
Special religious days were false teachers advocating for certain Jewish rituals to be observed but could also include adapted pagan celebrations
17 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.
These seems to refer to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath and food/drink issues
Shadow/substance (Plato) = contrast between appearance and reality
Substance = soma = body
18 Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind,
19 and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.
I. Hold fast to Christ (16-19)
I. Hold fast to Christ (16-19)
Illustration
Shell fish
Application
When you doubt
When you are challenged
While at work
While handling your business
Exposition Two
If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations—
“Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings?
These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.
asceticism - an attitude of humility
severity to the body - “severe self-control”
II. Not all that appears wise is of Christ so be an guard (20-23)
II. Not all that appears wise is of Christ so be an guard (20-23)
Illustration
Jonestown (1978)
Did not begin as it became
Indiana
Jim Jones - comunism
decided to use religion as a toll to spread communism
formed church
orchestrated fake “healings”
Application
Be aware of religious rules