Sermon Tone Analysis

Colossians 2:9-3:1

Good morning church!

We are so glad that you have joined us this morning, whether in person or online.

We are in Colossians 2 this morning if you want to begin turning there.

Those of you watching this this morning, or perhaps at a later date, we want to encourage you to join us in person if at all possible.

And if you live too far away, please consider a local fellowship in your area, if you don’t know of a good one, email the church and we will try to find one with you.

I’m thankful for the technology that allows us to do what we do.

Most of us have benefitted from it at one time or another when we were sick, or vehicles broke down, but much of the work the Lord intends to do in us, and through us, occurs when we physically gather together.

Speaking of that, I was contacted by a couple that have recently moved from the Eddington area to Orono, Maine and they are unable to drive.

If you are able to provide transportation to them, or are willing to be put on a rotating schedule for that, please let Nick or Andy know that.

SO, let me encourage you to fellowship, to pray, to minister to one another right after our service.

We have a cafe, right behind you with coffee and snacks.

All of that has been provided by the Lord, so we don’t charge you for it.

We just want you to enjoy it and to be the church to one another.

Please join me in prayer...

Let’s pick up where we left off, look at verse 9 with me church…Colossians 2:9-10

Vs. 9

For in Him, who is Paul talking about?

Jesus.

So in Jesus, dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.

This was a declarative statement from Paul concerning the deity of Jesus.

I’ve mentioned the issue of Gnosticism a few times already in this study, understand that this was written before Gnosticism was even formally developed or designed, so when I say that, I’m comparing the mysticism that was going on, the separation of flesh and spirit, in these early forms, to what we later see in the heresy of Gnosticism.

But make no mistake here, Paul is saying Jesus is fully God.

God the Father, God the Spirit, are in Him physically, not just a spirit or an essence, but in bodily form.

Vs.10

Paul says you are complete in Him.

I mentioned when we started this book that the first two chapters were doctrine and the last two application or how to walk in that doctrine as a follower of Jesus.

There are some things that I pray stick out in your head from this passage the first is this…You are complete in Him… Understand again that Paul was dealing with a multitude of issues within this church that he had never been to, didn’t plant the church, and had not yet visited the church.

Last week we talked about intellectualism.

You had to study under this person, or at this institution, or in our world have a certain level or particular degree.

Remember from verse 3 Colossians 2:3

and we ended on a warning in verse 8 Col 2:8

If you go off and get a degree from a secular university today what are you likely to receive?

An education of the philosophy and tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.

Again, I’m not knocking education, I’m an advocate of it, just understand that truth is found in Jesus…and Col 2:10

And He is the head, above all principality and power.

Some want to argue the spiritual side of that and say it speaks of angels, fallen angels, and spiritual beings, others argue that Jesus is the authority above all power, earthly rulers, spiritual and civic leaders, regardless of separation of church and state…the heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord.

I think the argue ends…where is says is the head of all...

Now in verse 11 Paul transitions to a different topic and he does so using language that we might not be totally comfortable with, but understand the language he uses here in context is so important…let me read a couple of verses…Col 2:11-12

Doesn’t that seem a little awkward?

How he uses the word baptism…that’s not what I’m talking about is it....Circumcision...

Now if this were our men’s breakfast…this would be pretty easy, and probably handled differently.

Honestly, I thought of a whole bunch of ways to put this to them, that I thought would make sense, and stick in their hearts and minds…but it wasn’t right for us.

You remember how I always encourage those that are teaching to ask the Lord, for this group of people, for this time, what is it Lord that you want to say…well, I really, really, had to do that here and I’m glad I did because it forced me to listen and to look at this in a different way.

Do you guys remember the summer before last, we had a couple of midweek studies on studying our Bibles?

It was a miniature hermeneutics class.

That’s what theologians call the proper method of studying and interpreting the scriptures.

If you were with us this hopefully will sound familiar, if you weren’t I’ll summarize a couple of weeks of teaching with the basic principles.

What does is say?

What does is mean?

and How does is apply to us?

What does it say?

To us, this is what is says....CIRCUMCISION!!!

We see the word and things begin to get a little uncomfortable am I right?

Especially like that.

More than once as a pastor I’ve thought man I wish a different word was used here, or it was explained in a different way.

But remember the What does it say?

question… it’s not always what does it say to us in 2022 in Old Town, Maine, because Paul wasn’t living in our time, our culture, or even our geography.

To us circumcision is an optional medical procedure done at the time of the birth of a biological male, happy to explain that if I need to after the service.

But it is based on the feelings and impressions of the parents, and their perceived medical advantages or disadvantages, but more important than all of that, it is very, very private.

Something that we don’t talk about or discuss.

None of us in this room know the percentage of males that are circumcised here and those that are not.

That is how our culture used to be about most medical things, and I think that is good, and that includes your vaccination status, and other peoples vaccination status.

I mean who cares which of us over 50 have had the shingles shot, it’s none of your business!

Sorry, back to circumcision.

It’s a private thing, typically not something that is discussed, even among young parents.

Why?

Because our kids grow up and down there is none of your business.

What we forget is that our culture was not theirs... and circumcision in Paul’s time, in Paul’s culture, in Paul’s geography it was something entirely different.

Paul was a studied Jewish Rabbi.

Circumcision in Paul’s time, in his day, under the Old Testament covenant with God was a big deal.

It was part of the covenant that God made with Abraham, the father of Israel, when he, and every male living in his household was circumcised.

It was a physical mark of the covenant in their flesh.

Gen 17:13 says...

After this every male baby born to Jewish parents was circumcised on the eighth day after birth, and it was a celebration.

It was a mark that made this little boy different from those that were not part of the covenant people of God.

He was set apart, he belonged to God and was under His covenant, His protection.

Even in families that weren’t strictly religious, culturally, it was a big deal and on the eighth day, the new son was circumcised in the presence of their godparents, friends, and relatives.

He now had the mark of a Jewish male, the same as his father, and his father before him.

He took the mark of his father.

Huge significance to all of this when Paul was writing.

Except now, Jesus had made a new covenant, and He died and rose again for both Jew and Gentile, but the gentiles hadn’t received the mark.

And there were some in the church that were saying, OK, we get it.

You guys can be saved now too, but first line up there’s something we need to take care of.

Yes, Jesus died on the cross to save you from your sins, and in that He defeated death, but if you don’t drop your drawers its no good for you…and Paul is saying, wait!

Hold on, no circumcision, no feasts or festivals, no religious rituals, all that stuff was just a shadow of the one to come, all of that was fulfilled in Jesus!

So again he says in verse 11 Col 2:11

The mark, the setting apart for God has already been done for you.

No longer in a physical sense, but in a circumcision not made with hands.

That sinful nature, the sin of the flesh, in Christ that has been cut away.

Someone told me recently that I had been really putting an emphasis on being a new creation in Christ…and that reminded me of what a great picture of this that is....2 Cor 5:17

That is exactly what Paul is describing here for us…Col 2:11-12

putting off the body of the sins of the flesh…if you are in Christ, you are a new creation; old things have passed away....verse 12 Col 2:

A new creation, old things buried with Him in baptism and raised new with Him through faith, in the working of God, not a cutting away of the flesh.

Paul is saying here that all of us before Jesus, and any of us without Jesus, are dead in our trespasses, remember trespasses are crossing a boundary set by God.

He draws the lines, not us...

notice a couple of things here, they matter very much he says you…that means you, if you hear my voice, or are somehow reading these words, you without Jesus you are dead.

In Romans Paul says all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, and later in the same book he says the wages for that or the cost of it is death.

He simplifies it for us here and says, you being dead, not struggling, not sick in need of treatment of ill in need of a doctor, no he says you being dead needed a Savior, and in Him you were circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, and now, and only now because Jesus made us alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses… verse 14 Col 2:14

Do you guys get the picture that Paul is drawing here.