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.

1. RESISTING RULES –20-23

Paul now deals with the enemy of relationships, rigid rules and regulations. There are few drives stronger in human beings than the drive to know the rules, everywhere humans go, they make rules. Our legislature debates and creates new laws every day in this country. The answer to every problem seems to be to draft a law that will make something else against the rules. Even people who hate rules want to know what they are so they can break them! Rules reveal our limits, they give us boundaries. Rules in and of themselves are not the problem, the danger becomes when we bring this need for rules into our understanding of God. When rules get their hands on spirituality we end up with RELIGION! Religion is the do’s and don’ts of spirituality. Wear these clothes. Listen to this kind of music. Say these words. Avoid these places. Do these things. Don’t do those things. Even in Paul’s day there were those who wanted to use rules to become righteous, their lives were characterized by abstinence from various worldly pleasures in an attempt to become pure. They insisting on pious self-denial, detachment from the things of the world including material and physical desires, the building of new paths to replace the old ones that were rejected. The purging and purifying, on the outside seems good who wouldn’t applaud a purged and purified life? But the problem is that the being good became a product of their work not Christ’s. Cleansing is a result of the cross, Jesus canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. You can’t punish yourself into Purity, it comes though the Savior’s death not self-denial. Today there are a lot of me martyrs, trying to gain meaning. They go without and punish themselves in an effort to feel close to God and they insist on others joining in. The way to a better life is not found in beating yourself up its found in believing. The problem is that instead of a pure life we have a puffed up life. The product of all our purging and purity is pride where we see ourselves as better than others, more holy. Instead of becoming more spiritual we put on a SHOW. We will begin to focus only on outward appearance rather than inward reality. “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness” (Matt. 23:27-28). 

Rules don’t lead to righteousness, you can’t legislate the love. Jesus came to Redeem us because rules couldn’t. Is your life rooted in rules or a relationship with Jesus? Jesus is the foundation to freedom. The difference between rules and a relationship is revealed by the motive behind your obedience. If you obey God with the belief it will improve your standing with God, or that He will love you less if you don’t, then you’re going to run to rules. But if you obey God because you love Him and know you are deeply loved, then you are motivated by His mercy and grace. Our relationship with God is not based on what we do its based on what He has done. I open the door for my wife because I am moved by love not legalism, I’m motivated by I get to instead of I have to. I learned a long time ago that I fail when I fall into rules but I succeed when I step into relationship. You want to know why Love wins and legalism loses? Its because love makes it about the relationship, rules make it about being right, and in order to be right someone has to be wrong, legalism leaves us with losers. 

TEST

I’m going to close by giving you a diagnostic test to see if you are leaning toward legalism or the Lord.  How does God feel about you today? I’m not asking you how you feel about God; I’m asking you how you think God feels toward you right now. There is only one grace answer: He is passionately in love with me.

“What is your Christianity like?” Is it focused on yourself or on Christ? Are you a list-keeper, or a grace-giver? Has it set you free or tied you up?