Moments in the life of a Pastor

Colossians 2:13-23

¹³ When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, ¹⁴ having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. ¹⁵ And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. ¹⁶ Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. ¹⁷ These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. ¹⁸ Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you. Such a person also goes into great detail about what they have seen; they are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind. ¹⁹ They have lost connection with the head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow. ²⁰ Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules: ²¹ “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? ²² These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings. ²³ Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.

Paul has taught us about praise, prayer, the preeminence of Christ, God’s purpose and plan, proactively pursing Jesus and now he warns us about the poisonous practices of piety. Paul is getting ready to reveal the facts to a free life, the first thing he does is expose and dispose of the lies. The truth that sets us free, are you ready for truth? There are many crazy laws that are still on the books that make no sense and while we may laugh, or groan, at them what about all the rules, expectations, and laws that are on the books in many churches and Christian homes today? Most of these religious regulations are not written down anywhere but many of us either attempt to keep them, or expect others to do so. Paul after stating everything that Jesus has done for us warns us to resist trusting in our own work and instead rest in a walk with Jesus. Paul deals with the lies of legalism and reminds us that we have to resisting following rules and instead respond to following the Redeemer. The Christian life is about being free in Christ instead of chained to feelings and the following of manmade rules. We can be sidetracked in our walk, stunted in our growth or even choked to death by the lies of legalism. 

Our relationship with Christ removes the bondage and condemnation. Paul reminds us of everything that Christ has done “The sufficiency of the Savior” then he says “don’t let anyone condemn” The basis for our freedom is found in the finished work of Christ, because of His death and Resurrection we have the forgiveness of sins, a resurrection life and victory over our enemies. Christ’s complete sufficiency. Paul presents the gospel of Christ + nothing

Colossians 2:4-15

⁴ I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments. ⁵ For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how disciplined you are and how firm your faith in Christ is. ⁶ So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, ⁷ rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. ⁸ See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ. ⁹ For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, ¹⁰ and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority. ¹¹ In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, ¹² having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. ¹³ When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, ¹⁴ having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. ¹⁵ And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

1. CUTTING Vs 11

Circumcision is an outward sign of belonging to God. But what’s the use of an outward sign if nothing is happening inside? If I buy a tin of value dog food, take off the label and cunningly replace it with one saying “Cream of chicken soup” then the label is pointless. Circumcision was designed to be a badge, marking out a people who were to be dedicated to God but what point is there in a label if it doesn’t describe what’s on the inside. The Old Testament prophets spoke about Uncircumcised lips (Exodus 6:12), Uncircumcised hearts (Leviticus 26:41) and Uncircumcised ears (Jeremiah 6:10). In other words, people who had an external mark on their body declaring their commitment to God, but people whose lips were not committed to God – gossip, foul language and deceitful words; people whose hearts were not committed, and people whose ears were not committed because their ears were closed to Him. For us today circumcision of the body is irrelevant; but circumcision of the heart is completely relevant. It involves open heart surgery so that we will have an open heart to God and to His Will. It is ‘the circumcision done by Christ’ the cutting away of your sinful nature and for us there is an external sign. It is not done with a knife, but it is done with water, and that sign is Baptism. If you love Jesus and you desire to have an open heart to him have you been baptized? In baptism we are immersed or dipped into water to represent being ‘buried with [Jesus]’, and we are ‘raised with [him] through [our] faith in the power of God’ (2:12). Cutting away the sin should lighten our load, but its not just about the cutting away its about the commitment. 

• CANCELED Vs 13-15

When Jesus died on the cross, was buried and rose from the grave He did two things:

1. He destroyed the debt of sin defeating “The wages of sin is death.” Rom. 3:23

Gathering the Guilt puts a burden on our backs, most of us are ladened down in our walk not light.

2. He disarmed the dominion of Satan (15)

We win with Christ when we walk in His victory. Today Christians walk around defeated, we live like the war was lost. You and I share in Christ’s victory over sin, death and the devil. We ought to walk as conquerors in victory. Is your head lifted up? Are you walking in victory?

CONCLUSION

How deep is your relationship with the Lord? How stable and strong are you in the faith?