What Does It Mean To Walk In Christ
Colossians • Sermon • Submitted
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Don’t Loose Focus!
Don’t Loose Focus!
Colossians 2:8-
Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.
For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily;
and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.
There is a danger in loosing focus in our relationship with Jesus Christ. Paul’s desire was to present every man complete in Christ. The Gospel is something that divides. That forces us to make a choice and choose who it is that we will live for. We will either choose to follow after Jesus, or to serve self, or something else in this world.
The world is not ok with us making this choice. To choose Christ is to choose against the world and there will always be a pull trying to bring our attention away from God and back onto the things of this world.
In verse eight, Paul lays it out. There is an attempt in progress trying to draw Christians away from the faith that they have placed in Jesus. He tells us to beware. That is to be on guard.
He does not give specifics as to what the church in Colassae were experiencing, but he does describe some of its characteristics.
First, it was Human - that is it depended on human tradition. The focus of this teaching is our own attempts to arrive at truth. There is a difference between Christianity and religion. Christianity is God revealing Himself to man. Religion is man grasping to understand God and his place in the world. The philosophy lacked the revealed truth of God.
Second, it was elementary. It was basic - that is it referred to the four basic elements of the world: earth, fire, wind, and water. Some believed that by understanding how these worked in harmony and conflict with each other was the key to real life and understanding.
Third, they were not from Christ. The teaching was incompatible with Christ and His words. Those who would try to draw Christians away from Christ were going about living their lives with natural insight alone.
The answer was to Focus on Christ.
Again, in Christ we have God in the flesh. He was fully God in the form of a man. It is a wonder that God - who fills all of creation with His presence would choose to become man and dwell in flesh. Jesus is God. In Him we have the reality of God.
Not only does Jesus fully represent God, we are complete in Him. There is nothing lacking in our relationship. No hidden task to complete, no special knowledge to gain. We are complete in Him and Paul reminds us that He is above all principalities and powers. There is no other knowledge or authority that we have to answer to. He is the authority!
All things are created by Him and for Him. They owe their existence to Him and are to be subject to Him as well.
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In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ,
buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.
And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses,
having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.
Here Paul addresses two things that were very important to those with a Jewish Background. Circumcision and the Law. Circumcision centers around the entrance to the legal relationship with God and the Law addresses how that relationship is to be lived out.
Paul talks about this as Baptism in Jesus, and living a life by faith.
Circumcision was the entry point for a relationship with God through Judaism. Every Jewish boy was circumcised and it was the first responsibility of a male proselyte.
Look at what Paul says in verses 11-12
In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ,
buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.
What does it mean to be a part of the circumcision of Christ? First, we see that it is not the physical circumcision that the Jews were accustomed to. It is not a physical act that we can do for one another. To be circumcised in Christ, involves putting off the body of sins.
We understand that we are sinners, confess and repent of our sins and trust in Jesus. This is when we are separated from the world by the work of Christ Jesus.
but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.
By faith, we are buried with Him in baptism and given life by God Himself. Baptism is a picture of three things. It is a picture of what Christ has done for us . . . It is a picture of what He has done in me . . . and it is a picture of our future . . .
We remember that the penalty for sin is death and in Christ we have also died to ourselves and are risen to a new life.
confess our sins before God and
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses,
having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.
And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses,
Paul then also reminds the Gentiles that they were not circumcised and yet God has made us alive together in Christ, Jews and Gentiles the same.
Paul then also reminds the Gentiles that they were not circumcised and yet God has made us alive together in Christ, Jews and Gentiles the same.
having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.
Colossians 2:14
In Verse 14 Paul addresses the warning he gave earlier. There were those who wanted to bring these Gentile believers under the Jewish Laws and regulation. Paul clearly understood that the law was not a way to receive the blessings of God. It assumes that our relationship with God is only as good as our efforts.
In Verse 14 Paul
Paul tells us that the handwriting of requirements - the law was wiped out - nailed to the cross. All that was once required to pursue a relationship with God in trying to keep the law was wiped away. They were nailed to the cross - that is that Jesus had completely satisfied the requirement of the law. The result is freedom for those of us in Christ.
Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.
Again, Paul is emphasizing Jesus being above all other principalities and powers. The wisdom and power of God is vastly above the wisdom and power of man and every other created being!
So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths,
which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.
Paul now turns his attention to how this works out practically. It may be a surprise to you that there are people around us who have strong opinions. Sometimes we, in our beliefs, desire to have everyone else follow them as well. This is what Paul is addressing - in the context of food and drink, in festivals, new moons or sabbaths.
We ought to be led by the Spirit of God to fulfill the work of God in our lives. We are not to be brought back under regulations that seem spiritual as if they, in of themselves could bring us closer to God.
What you can and can not eat, when you should be a part of a festival, or observe the sabbath are all matters that were important under the law, but not in christ.
Diet was important to the Jews. The dietary laws defined what was clean and unclean. Peter’s vision on the rooftop was a revelation by God that everything in his cultural heritage had been replaced by Christ. The church had already answered this, but there were still those who were teaching that they much come under the Old Testament Dietary Laws.
This also addressed the issue of meat that had been offered to idols. Many had emphatically declared that it was against Christian principles to eat meat that had been offered to idols in this way. Others said it really did not matter because an idol was not real. Paul’s only admonition in this is that if it offended a brother it was not worth doing.
the other issue was the special days. Some said you worship on the sabbath, some said the Lord’s day. What about the festivals, aren't we to keep those?
Again, the requirements for special days grew out of the Old Testament and the relationship with God and keeping the Law. We are not under these regulations to keep the law for the purpose of securing or enhancing our relationship with God. Our spiritual life is found in our relationship with Christ and our heart’s commitment to Him. Human effort would not gain us favor nor merit with God - only fiath in Christ.
Verse seventeen reminds us that these things were a shadow of things to come. It was something that was temporary until the real thing was revealed. A shadow is a glimpse of the real article, but could never be taken in place of the real article.
Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,
Paul says that we should not let anyone cheat us from our reward. We have Christ. All we need is in him. Paul says we need to beware of those who would talk about the worship of angels and introduction to thoughts of unseen things.
There are some who would try to teach a higher form of worship or spirituality that involves angels or hidden knowledge. God’s Word is plain. His Holy Spirit leads us to understand his word. The same spirit will not give us black and white interpretations.
Both of these have the idea of moving our focus away from Christ.
and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God.
Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations—
“Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,”
which all concern things which perish with the using—according to the commandments and doctrines of men?
These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.
-24
These things have an appearance of wisdom - but do not come from the father.
How then do we walk in Christ?
We walk in faith.
We observe His Words.
We follow His example.
We abide in Christ
And a voice spoke to him again the second time, “What God has cleansed you must not call common.”