St Theodore's

Wattle Park

     

  Sermon of the Week  
  29/11/98  

Life in Christ

Col 2:6-3:2

   

  The most dangerous time for someone under attack is when they don't realise it. Just think of the damage inflicted on the Americans at the start of the second World War, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour. The Americans were totally unprepared. And the result was that a large part of their Pacific fleet was put out of action. The same could be said of Britain before the second World War began. Their desire for peace was so great that they couldn't see the disaster that was coming. Well, the people of Colossae were in the same sort of danger. They were under attack but were unaware of it. So Paul writes to warn them, and to remind them how they were taught to live the Christian life.
  He begins with three principles, then gives three warnings, then sums it all up, in 3:1,2 with an overriding principle for Christian living, "Since you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth."
  Well, I thought we'd start by looking at the warnings he gives, and then we'll look more positively at 3 principles that might help us avoid the pitfalls.
  The first warning is in v8: "See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe, and not according to Christ."
  You know, the problem with reading a letter like this is that it's a bit like listening in to a telephone conversation. All you hear is one side of the conversation, which, depending on who you're listening to or who they're talking to, may or may not tell you much. You might hear something like this: "Really! No! She didn't! What did he say?" And so forth. And you have to try from that to work out what's being said on the other end of the line.
  So the problem for us is to work out what the situation was that Paul was confronting. Now this isn't quite as hopeless a case as the one I just mentioned, because he does give us some clues in the way he describes the dangers they face and in the way he refutes their false teaching.
  So let's think about the sorts of things he mentions.
  Don't be taken captive
  His first warning is that we not be taken captive. That in itself is a clue. Why does he talk of us being taken captive? Was it that something in what they were teaching would undo the work of Christ in freeing them from the bondage of sin? Would instead bind them once more to the law. We'll see more about that in a moment. And what is it that threatens to capture us? "philosophy and empty deceit", "human tradition", "the elemental spirits of the universe". There's a combination here of human invention and the influence of spiritual forces that are opposed to Christ. That's what I take him to mean by the elemental spirits of the universe. Those spirits of evil whose aim it is to oppose the work of God.
  But still, we need to look further to see what this false teaching was. Look at vs 9&10: "For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10and you have come to fullness in him, who is the head of every ruler and authority." Paul emphasises at least four things here.
  First the full deity of Christ. Think for a moment what deity means to the Christian. It means the creator of the universe. It means the great "I AM", who is from the beginning, is now, and forever shall be. It means the King of kings and Lord of lords. So when Paul says "in Christ the whole fullness of deity dwells", that's what he's talking about. Jesus incorporates all that. There's no other who can compare with him.
  It may have been that there were some in Colossae who were suggesting that Jesus was just another prophet. Sure, he was a great teacher, but no more. Perhaps even his rising from death was being played down, because, after all he was only human. There were certainly some in those days who argued that bodily existence was incompatible with spirituality. That flesh and spirit were opposed to each other. So either Jesus was truly human but not God or truly divine but not really human. That would explain why Paul says: "in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily." In fact this seems to be an important part of Paul's argument throughout the letter: that it was in the body, or the flesh, that God has made himself known to us.
  Thirdly, the Colossians, as believers in Christ have come to fullness in Christ. Were these false teachers perhaps arguing that there were other ways to reach the heights of spiritual experience? We saw a bit of that last week. That would certainly fit with the warning about empty philosophies and human traditions. As we found last week, there are no end of traditions and techniques for achieving spiritual experience. But this sort of philosophy overlooks the message of the gospel, that Christ being in us and us being in Christ means that we've already entered into all the fullness of God.
  Finally, he says Christ is the head of every ruler and authority. It seems that some of these false teachers were arguing that there we needed to go through certain spiritual powers in order to come to Christ. We find more of this in v18, where there are some who insist on self-abasement and worship of angels, who dwell on visions, who are puffed up without cause by a human way of thinking. Again, this is something that's been rife at various times in the history of the church. People who teach that we have to go through angels or through saints or through the Virgin Mary in order to have our prayers heard by God. But Paul reminds them that Christ is head over every ruler and authority. And Christ is in us. We've received fullness in Christ and Christ is head over all, so why would we need to go through any other intermediary.
  So a picture begins to emerge, of teaching which sets up rules and techniques for achieving spiritual heights, looks to angelic or spiritual intermediaries for communicating with God and so ignores the teaching of the gospel that Christ has done everything necessary to bring us to God.
  But it seems that not only were there those who were suggesting this sort of spiritual hierarchy, to the exclusion of Christ, but there was also an element of Jewish teaching coming in. The sort of teaching that suggested that these Gentile Christians really should be circumcised if they wanted to be the real thing; who suggested that they really should follow the rules and regulations that God had set down for his people, particularly those concerning foods and festivals, Sabbaths and fast days etc. We'll look at the latter in a moment, but first look at what he says about circumcision. He says "In Christ you were circumcised with a spiritual circumcision, by putting off the body of the flesh in the circumcision of Christ." You see, what was the point of circumcision? It was meant as the sign of the covenant between God and Abraham. It was an outward, obvious sign, to the males at least, that their relationship with God was different from other nations. It was a sign that they'd put behind them the worship of other gods and were a nation dedicated to the Lord. But now Christ had come and all that was old hat. Here's how Jeremiah had foretold it: (Jer 31:31-32 NRSV) "The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 32It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt -- a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the LORD. 35But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, "Know the LORD," for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the LORD; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more." We don't need an outward reminder because God's law, his new covenant is written on our hearts. We've been buried with Christ in baptism and raised with him through faith in the power of God. We've been given God's Spirit to dwell within us, to remind us of what God wants us to be. The power of the law to condemn us has been cancelled, our record erased, set aside, nailed to the cross. It's all changed.
  And just in case you were worried about the principalities and powers, the elemental spirits of the universe, Christ has disarmed the rulers and authorities and made a public example of them, triumphing over them through the Cross.
  Can you see how futile this sort of teaching is? Yet we still see it all around us. People who look to spiritual powers apart from Christ; who fear them, who try to use them to contact the spirit world. People within the church who want to take us captive to rules and regulations, to techniques for spirituality. People who fail to recognise the power of the cross, or the centrality, the pre-eminence, of Christ.
  Don't let them condemn you.
  Of course the corollary to this emphasis on rules and regulations for spiritual living is that it's so easy to be condemned if you don't follow the rules. So Paul says: "do not let anyone condemn you in matters of food and drink or of observing festivals, new moons, or sabbaths. 17These are only a shadow of what is to come, but the substance belongs to Christ." Again, these people make the mistake of taking OT rules and regulations and reading them as absolutes. But what they miss is that these things were only a shadow of what was to come. We don't have time to go into this now, but what we find as we read the NT, particularly books like Galatians or Hebrews is that all these were meant to point us to Christ. When Christ comes they find their fulfilment. Let me give you just one example. If you look in the early chapters of Hebrews you find a long discussion on the idea of the Sabbath rest. The conclusion he comes to is that the Sabbath rest was a pointer to the promise of eternal life in Jesus Christ. And so the observation of the Sabbath is now redundant because we've already begun to experience that eternal life in Christ.
  But the trouble is, most Christians, most people in fact, are by nature confirmed legalists. We actually like the idea of laws. It's much simpler to organise your life if you know what the rules are. That's why diet programs are so popular. Because people want to be told what they can or can't eat rather than thinking it out for themselves. This is particularly a problem for Christians who listen to sermons regularly. Imagine I preach a sermon on prayer, and sometime during the sermon I say what a good thing it would be if we all took the St Theo's prayer list and put it on our bedside table and prayed through it each morning as we got up. The natural inclination of some would be to take that and make it a rule. So they go home and get out the blue tack and stick it on the side of the bedside table, and begin using it every morning. But with what result? Well, more prayers are said, possibly. That would be a good thing. But then they begin to feel like they're doing well as a Christian. Their righteousness meter begins to rise. Or they forget or are too busy one morning and they start to feel guilty; feel like they've failed. I used to know a man who told us all about how he'd get up at 5:30 or 6 in the morning and spend an hour at prayer, praying for all sorts of things, for people he knew, etc. But all that did was to leave me feeling guilty that I didn't do the same thing. I mean I have enough trouble getting up at 7:30! But that's the trouble with people who set up rules for Christian living. All the rules do is provide a basis for judging others. What's more, as we go down to v23, although these rules we set up may seem to be wise, they in fact don't help us restrain our sinful urges. The only thing that will do that is the presence of Christ within us.
  Don't let them disqualify you.
  Finally, there are those who would disqualify you from being a member of Christ's body. These are the people who have a certain enthusiasm about their faith. They always have great stories to tell about their spiritual experiences, or about their victories over sin, or their great spiritual insight, perhaps even messages from the Lord. But the mistake they make is to fail to recognise the body of Christ. What matters in the Christian life is not the experiences you have or the victories, or the insights, but whether you're connected to the head, that is to Jesus Christ. Paul expands on that theme elsewhere of course, particularly in 1 Cor 12 where he points out that there are a whole range of gifts, corresponding to a whole range of parts of the body. No-one can disqualify you simply because you don't conform to their particular model of Christian experience. That would be like the hand telling the foot it didn't belong because it wasn't a hand. No, your qualification for being part of the body is that you have a connection with the head from whom the whole body grows with a growth that is from God.
  Well, those are three dangers for Christians, but let's think about the three principles Paul gives for living the Christian life? In each of them we find a statement about who we are and an encouragement to live that way.
  1. As you received, So live
  He says, (v6) "As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to live your lives in him." What does receiving Christ mean? Well, it means freedom: from guilt, from slavery to sin, freedom to grow and be changed. The exact opposite of what these false teachers were offering. It means an experience of Christ's presence with us every day. It means a sense of joy and acceptance, of being loved. Most of all, it means accepting Christ as Lord, as our head, as having supremacy over all things (1:18).
  2. As you were rooted, be built up.
  It's not enough to say you accepted Christ some time ago. It's not enough to simply be rooted in Christ. We also need to grow in him. We need to continue to grow in the same soil in which we've been planted, seems to be the implication. It's no use being rooted in Christ but then trying to grow through some other philosophy or human tradition. Our growth has to be from the Head because that's where God's power to grow comes from.
  3. As you were taught, be established, abounding in thanksgiving.
  Again, don't leave the fundamentals behind in order to achieve some new spiritual high. Keep on going back to what you were taught so your faith can be established. That is, so it will be firm, unshakable. This is a call to deeper understanding of your faith. You see unless you understand your faith, unless you know your bible, you won't be able to discern the truth or otherwise of what people teach. Unless you know what the NT says about the Sabbath or the OT regulations on food or worship, and unless you understand the OT background to them, you won't be able to work out whether or not to follow those regulations. So be established in the faith you were taught, and the result will be overflowing thanksgiving as we realise how Christ has fulfilled all that OT law and brought us into the very fullness of God's presence.
  This is all summed up in 3:1&2: "if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth." Don't be led astray by worldly wisdom. Don't be taken captive by human inventions or mythologies. Don't allow yourself to be judged or worse still be disqualified according to human rules. Rather look to Christ, seated at the right hand of God, and remember that in Christ you are there as well. If you're at God's right hand with Christ, no-one can disqualify you. If you're at God's right hand with Christ you have all the motivation you need to grow as a Christian rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

     
 
Contact us
Preaching Program
Home
 
Last Week's Sermon