WEBVTT 00:00:00.479 --> 00:00:00.959 Good morning. 00:00:01.120 --> 00:00:06.480 Today's scripture reading comes from Colossians chapter 2, verses 16 through 23. 00:00:06.959 --> 00:00:08.400 My name is Emma Cross. 00:00:08.480 --> 00:00:12.560 I serve on the Connections team, and it is my joy to read God's word in our gathering. 00:00:13.039 --> 00:00:16.719 Once again, this is Colossians 2, 16 through 23. 00:00:18.559 --> 00:00:27.679 Therefore, let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. 00:00:28.239 --> 00:00:33.920 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. 00:00:34.240 --> 00:00:56.640 Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, and not holding fast to the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God. 00:00:57.200 --> 00:01:07.519 If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations? 00:01:08.000 --> 00:01:17.840 Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch, referring to things that all perish as they are used, according to human precepts and teachings. 00:01:18.239 --> 00:01:31.040 These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. 00:01:31.359 --> 00:01:33.200 This is the word of the Lord. 00:01:33.840 --> 00:01:34.239 Amen. 00:01:34.480 --> 00:01:36.239 Good morning and welcome to Harbor. 00:01:36.319 --> 00:01:37.280 My name is Trevor. 00:01:37.359 --> 00:01:43.760 And if we haven't met yet, I hope to get the opportunity to meet you today at our connection lunch here after the gathering. 00:01:43.840 --> 00:01:50.560 And if you're new, uh, we are on week five of the sermon series we're calling It's All About Jesus from the Book of Colossians. 00:01:50.640 --> 00:01:56.400 And this week we turn our attention to Paul's warning against false teachers. 00:01:56.719 --> 00:02:04.480 As you remember, Paul is writing to people who are hearing about Jesus for the very first time, just like perhaps some of you. 00:02:04.640 --> 00:02:16.000 And his main concern for this fledgling church is that they would uh that the gospel would bear fruit and increase among them, just as we pray that it would among ours. 00:02:16.240 --> 00:02:21.360 And in last week's passage, Paul explains what the Colossians need to do if they want to grow in the gospel. 00:02:21.759 --> 00:02:24.319 Well, this week's passage is the opposite. 00:02:24.560 --> 00:02:28.319 Paul's explaining what we need to avoid if we want to grow in the gospel. 00:02:28.479 --> 00:02:36.400 So, likewise, in Colossians chapter 1, verse 15 through 23, Paul really focused on the supremacy of Jesus. 00:02:36.560 --> 00:02:40.639 That Jesus is first and most important in all things. 00:02:40.879 --> 00:02:45.680 Well, here, in today's passage, we learn about the sufficiency of Jesus. 00:02:45.840 --> 00:02:51.280 That Jesus is more than enough for anything that we have going on in our lives. 00:02:51.520 --> 00:02:59.199 And the reason that Paul directs his attention to the sufficiency of Jesus is because the false teachers were saying that he wasn't sufficient for them. 00:02:59.599 --> 00:03:03.919 These false teachers are what we may call Jesus plus people. 00:03:04.159 --> 00:03:10.800 They're people who think that we need to add religion to the gospel in order to earn our righteousness with God. 00:03:11.120 --> 00:03:15.680 And these particular false teachers are guilty of what we might call syncretism. 00:03:15.840 --> 00:03:27.360 They're cherry-picking different parts of different religions, and then they're mixing it together in this nice little cocktail of religious belief that's something actually very different than Christianity. 00:03:27.599 --> 00:03:43.840 People in our day, for example, might take the concept of enlightenment from Buddhism, they might mix it together with the concept of forgiveness from Christianity, and then they might mix it together again with concepts like healing crystals and manifesting from pagan practices. 00:03:44.479 --> 00:03:51.199 People in our day like to celebrate this as if it's progressive and good, but it's actually not good at all. 00:03:51.360 --> 00:03:56.719 In fact, it's incredibly dangerous to be mixing anything with the good news of Jesus Christ. 00:03:56.960 --> 00:04:10.560 Instead of ending up with a magic elixir that makes us more spiritual, what we ultimately end up with is a poisonous cocktail that enslaves us to what Paul calls man-made religion and empty deceit. 00:04:11.120 --> 00:04:16.720 Now, last week, Ryan gave us two really helpful phrases to kind of understand how this works. 00:04:16.800 --> 00:04:22.959 He said that Jesus plus anything equals nothing, and Jesus plus nothing equals everything. 00:04:23.120 --> 00:04:32.560 But in today's passage, Paul actually takes that concept even further, and he would say, Jesus plus anything ruins everything. 00:04:32.959 --> 00:04:36.720 Jesus plus anything ruins everything. 00:04:37.199 --> 00:04:45.120 For a quick visual, just consider what happens when you start to mix different kinds of drinks together that don't belong to each other. 00:04:45.439 --> 00:04:50.079 When I was in probably elementary school, middle school, some of you understand this. 00:04:50.240 --> 00:04:55.839 You go out to eat with your family, and uh your kids start pouring things together in their drinks. 00:04:56.000 --> 00:05:05.120 Well, every once in a while we'd go out to eat with my cousin and his family, and before the gatherer or the meal was over, he started mixing everything together in his water. 00:05:05.439 --> 00:05:20.720 He might take a little bit of tea and pour it in there, and then he'd stir it up real good, and then he might take a little bit of coffee and pour that in there and stir it up real good, and then he might take a little bit of grape juice and pour that in there and stir it up real good. 00:05:20.879 --> 00:05:27.519 And then he might take some melted ice cream, right, and just pour it right in there, nice and thick. 00:05:28.480 --> 00:05:34.079 And then we'd all sit around the table laughing and giggling, daring each other to drink it. 00:05:34.560 --> 00:05:36.319 Pinky up, right? 00:05:37.199 --> 00:05:42.000 And of course, none of us would, because even when you just look at it, it looks disgusting. 00:05:42.240 --> 00:05:44.959 But not only is it disgusting, it's bad for you. 00:05:45.120 --> 00:05:49.680 They call this thing a gut buster for good reason because it's gonna totally mess up your stomach. 00:05:50.000 --> 00:05:56.000 It makes your parents mad, and it totally frustrates all the bus boys who are trying to clean up after the mess that you've just made. 00:05:56.319 --> 00:06:00.399 But uh the point is, doing that offers no health benefits. 00:06:00.560 --> 00:06:04.160 It's not nutritious, it tastes bad, and it's bad for you. 00:06:04.319 --> 00:06:11.600 Because mixing different grease drinks together doesn't make his beverage better, it ruins it. 00:06:12.079 --> 00:06:17.920 Well, in the same way, the same thing happens when we try to add anything to Jesus. 00:06:18.240 --> 00:06:22.560 Because Jesus plus anything ruins everything. 00:06:22.879 --> 00:06:30.639 To say that another way, when you add religion to the gospel, we don't improve our faith, we ruin it. 00:06:30.959 --> 00:06:36.000 So this morning I want to talk to you a little bit about how not to ruin your faith with religion. 00:06:36.240 --> 00:06:42.639 So to avoid ruining your faith, you need to reject three specific false teachings. 00:06:42.800 --> 00:06:47.839 You need to reject legalism, sensationalism, and asceticism. 00:06:48.000 --> 00:06:49.040 So that's where we're headed. 00:06:49.199 --> 00:06:56.480 If you have your Bible, go ahead and grab it, turn to Colossians chapter 2, verse 16, and we'll pick up right there. 00:06:57.120 --> 00:07:05.920 It says, Therefore, let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. 00:07:06.399 --> 00:07:14.160 Okay, so to understand this passage, you guys have to understand something about the Colossians, and you need to understand something about uh the false teachers. 00:07:14.319 --> 00:07:22.240 Concerning the Colossians, they were Gentiles, non-Jewish people who had come to trust in Jesus Christ for their salvation. 00:07:22.480 --> 00:07:25.439 The false teachers, on the other hand, they were Jewish. 00:07:25.600 --> 00:07:32.720 They were ethnic descendants of Israel who thought that they could earn their righteousness by keeping what's called the Mosaic Law. 00:07:32.879 --> 00:07:44.000 And each of the things that are mentioned here, food and drink, festivals and new moons, Sabbaths, they're all related in some way to the old covenant and the Mosaic law that God's people had to keep them. 00:07:44.319 --> 00:07:47.199 Food and drink are references to dietary laws. 00:07:47.360 --> 00:07:52.879 Festivals and new moons are references to religious festivals that Israel kept under the old covenant. 00:07:53.040 --> 00:07:59.360 And Sabbaths referred to a 24-hour period of rest mandated in the Ten Commandments. 00:07:59.680 --> 00:08:06.959 And what was wrong with the false teachers is they were essentially saying, hey, Jesus isn't enough for your righteousness. 00:08:07.120 --> 00:08:14.160 You need to add the Mosaic law to Jesus in order to really be righteous before God. 00:08:14.319 --> 00:08:17.360 And we might call these false teachers legalists. 00:08:17.519 --> 00:08:23.759 They're teachers who are saying that you have to earn your righteousness through some form of rule keeping. 00:08:23.920 --> 00:08:29.519 And in verse 17, Paul explains why we need to reject this particular false teaching. 00:08:29.680 --> 00:08:36.720 He says, These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. 00:08:37.200 --> 00:08:45.759 Okay, so to understand this passage of scripture, it's really, really helpful to use an interpretive principle called scripture interprets scripture. 00:08:46.000 --> 00:09:01.039 What that basically means is when you come to a passage of scripture that's confusing or hard to understand, you need to go to other passages of scripture that use similar phrases and concepts to see how it's used there so you can better understand how it should be used in a given passage. 00:09:01.200 --> 00:09:02.879 And so that's what we're gonna do this morning. 00:09:03.039 --> 00:09:08.799 We're gonna take a little theological detour and we're gonna jump over to Hebrews chapter eight. 00:09:08.960 --> 00:09:15.039 So if you have your Bible, place your finger in Colossians chapter two and turn over to Hebrews chapter eight. 00:09:15.279 --> 00:09:22.159 And uh, if you're unfamiliar with your Bible, don't have a Bible, uh you can follow along on the screen as well. 00:09:22.240 --> 00:09:30.720 But we're going to Hebrews chapter eight to use the principle how scripture interprets Scripture. 00:09:32.399 --> 00:09:47.600 Um so in Hebrews chapter eight, uh, what we have here is the author is comparing and contrasting the old covenant where Israel lived under the Mosaic law, and the new covenant, where the church lives according to the gospel of Jesus Christ. 00:09:47.759 --> 00:09:59.039 And if you look at verse five, the author says that the institutions of the old covenant are given in the law to serve as a copy and shadow of heavenly things. 00:09:59.279 --> 00:10:04.879 Then in verse six, he says that Jesus has obtained for us a new and better covenant. 00:10:05.039 --> 00:10:16.159 And then if you jump down to verse 13, it says that this new and better covenant makes the old obsolete and ready to vanish away. 00:10:16.480 --> 00:10:24.159 So shadow means a copy that is no longer needed because it's been replaced by something better. 00:10:24.639 --> 00:10:30.720 In other words, the old covenant is to the new covenant, what blueprints are to a building. 00:10:30.879 --> 00:10:31.279 Right? 00:10:31.360 --> 00:10:33.200 My kids like Legos. 00:10:33.519 --> 00:10:39.919 When they get that bag of Legos, the first thing they do is they pour it onto the table and they get out the instructions. 00:10:40.080 --> 00:10:44.399 And they are meticulously looking at those instructions while they're building that Lego. 00:10:44.639 --> 00:10:48.399 But once the Lego is completely built, you know what they do with those instructions? 00:10:48.799 --> 00:10:49.679 Throw them away. 00:10:49.840 --> 00:10:51.600 They don't need them anymore, they don't want them anymore. 00:10:51.919 --> 00:10:54.879 They actually keep them in a box in case it breaks and then you go back and repair it. 00:10:55.039 --> 00:11:02.399 But they're still helpful, just not in the way that they were when the Lego was being constructed. 00:11:02.559 --> 00:11:11.840 Well, in the same way, the old covenant is not necessary for our righteousness because we now have the new covenant, which is better. 00:11:12.080 --> 00:11:21.759 So now turn over to Hebrews chapter 10, just two pages uh to your right, probably, and we'll look at how this language of shadow substance is used there. 00:11:22.879 --> 00:11:33.519 There you see in verse one that the author says, For since the law is but a shadow of the good things to come, instead of the true form of these realities. 00:11:33.759 --> 00:11:39.120 He goes on then to talk about how the priests had to offer time and again sacrifices for sin. 00:11:39.279 --> 00:11:51.039 And then he turns around and he says that they were ultimately fulfilled in Jesus Christ, who is himself the great high priest who offers himself as the ultimate sacrifice for our sin. 00:11:51.279 --> 00:12:01.200 So in Hebrews chapter 10, what we see is that the law no longer functions as it did because the realities that they point to are finally here. 00:12:02.000 --> 00:12:08.480 To better understand this, imagine that you're standing in an alley at sunrise. 00:12:08.720 --> 00:12:17.039 I'm not sure why you're there at sunrise, uh, but there's a man at the other end of the alley, and the sun is rising behind him. 00:12:17.279 --> 00:12:21.440 The further away that man is, the more obscure his face is. 00:12:21.600 --> 00:12:27.360 And the sun behind him is casting a long shadow down the corridor of that alley. 00:12:27.519 --> 00:12:29.759 And at first, all you can see is the shadow. 00:12:29.919 --> 00:12:32.159 It doesn't tell you much about the man. 00:12:32.320 --> 00:12:41.759 You get a basic understanding of maybe his size, his shape, whether or not he has a beard, perhaps other features about him, but you don't know what he actually looks like. 00:12:41.919 --> 00:12:50.639 But the closer the man gets to you walking down that alley, the more his shadow vanishes, and the more his face becomes clear. 00:12:50.960 --> 00:12:58.080 And what we see here is that the old covenant is to the new covenant, what the shadow is to the man. 00:12:58.480 --> 00:13:08.399 Like a long shadow cast towards us from eternity, the law begins to fade as the person of Jesus Christ comes into view. 00:13:08.720 --> 00:13:18.799 To say that another way, we no longer live according to the shadow of Christ in the law, because we have the substance of Christ in the gospel. 00:13:19.519 --> 00:13:29.759 So this is why Paul can say in Romans chapter 10, verse 4, that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness for everyone who believes. 00:13:30.000 --> 00:13:33.679 That phrase end of the law means culmination or fulfillment. 00:13:33.840 --> 00:13:39.039 It's the idea that the law reaches its climax and its fulfillment in Christ. 00:13:39.200 --> 00:13:51.679 Like a custodial bank account that's put in place while a kid is a minor, but uh expires when the kid becomes an adult, the law begins to expire in light of the gospel. 00:13:51.840 --> 00:13:53.840 That's the decisive phrase. 00:13:54.000 --> 00:13:58.399 And it's exactly what Paul is referring to here in Colossians 2. 00:13:58.720 --> 00:14:13.360 By using the shadow substance language, Paul is saying that righteousness is not earned through the Mosaic law, it's received through faith in Jesus Christ. 00:14:14.000 --> 00:14:20.080 Notice, however, Paul is not denying the fact that the Mosaic law is good. 00:14:20.480 --> 00:14:27.840 He's not delaying that it's meaningful, he's not denying that it has value, he's not denying that we can learn from it. 00:14:28.080 --> 00:14:34.159 What he's saying is that we can't earn our righteousness by keeping it. 00:14:34.399 --> 00:14:43.519 Because you don't achieve righteousness through legalistic rule keeping, you receive righteousness through faith in the work of Christ. 00:14:44.320 --> 00:14:49.279 Now, at face value, that might seem completely irrelevant to most of you. 00:14:49.440 --> 00:14:57.519 I mean, I highly doubt that any of you are bothered right now by the fact that you didn't celebrate the Day of Atonement last Sunday or the Feast of Booze on Friday. 00:14:57.759 --> 00:15:01.200 Most of you probably didn't even know that those things were on the Jewish calendar. 00:15:01.440 --> 00:15:11.120 Um, because we're so far removed from the old covenant that it doesn't even bear any weight on most of our minds whether or not we're keeping it. 00:15:11.679 --> 00:15:15.840 But that doesn't stop us from being legalists. 00:15:16.080 --> 00:15:29.039 Because whether you're trying to keep the old covenant law or a law that you're making up, every single one of us have a tendency to try to earn our righteousness through some form of rule keeping. 00:15:29.279 --> 00:15:42.080 If we're religious people, the rule we keep might be spiritual disciplines, it might have to do with our ministry role or our place in the church, it might have to do with the way we choose to educate our children. 00:15:42.320 --> 00:15:51.600 Where we come up with some particular rule, some value that by which we judge ourselves righteous and everybody else unrighteous. 00:15:51.919 --> 00:15:57.039 But the interesting thing about legalism is you don't have to be religious to be legalists. 00:15:57.279 --> 00:15:59.759 You can be irreligious and be a legalist as well. 00:16:00.080 --> 00:16:02.000 We just use different things, right? 00:16:02.240 --> 00:16:08.720 The law or the rule we keep might have to do with the political party or the candidate that we vote for. 00:16:08.879 --> 00:16:16.639 It might have to do with an income bracket where we condemn certain kinds of people as unrighteous and people of a different income bracket as more righteous. 00:16:16.799 --> 00:16:25.279 It might have to do with our intellect, where we judge those who are woke like us as righteous, and everybody else is ignorant and unrighteous instead. 00:16:25.519 --> 00:16:28.240 But it doesn't matter if you're religious or irreligious. 00:16:28.320 --> 00:16:38.480 We all have some law, some rule that we hold on to that we try to keep by which we judge ourselves righteous and condemn everyone else as unrighteous. 00:16:38.720 --> 00:16:43.519 And so the problem, though, with rule keeping, with legalism is twofold. 00:16:43.759 --> 00:16:46.159 For one, it leads to pride and despair. 00:16:46.320 --> 00:16:51.679 It goes to a big head when you're doing well, and it leads to a broken heart when you're not doing well. 00:16:52.000 --> 00:16:55.759 But two, it exposes our unrighteousness. 00:16:56.000 --> 00:17:02.720 If we're honest with ourselves, it doesn't really matter how hard we try to keep, even the rules that we make up. 00:17:02.960 --> 00:17:07.359 At some point we all fail to live up even to our own expectations. 00:17:07.759 --> 00:17:12.240 And that's why Paul says that we need to reject legalism, because it doesn't work. 00:17:12.480 --> 00:17:20.160 When you try to earn your righteousness through rule keeping, you end up breaking whatever rule it ever is and just condemn yourself instead. 00:17:20.400 --> 00:17:27.920 Because no amount of rule keeping, whether religious or irreligious, is ever enough to achieve true righteousness. 00:17:28.079 --> 00:17:36.960 And that's why we need Jesus, because Jesus fulfilled the law on our behalf so that we could receive our righteousness through him. 00:17:37.359 --> 00:17:38.799 And that means we're free. 00:17:39.119 --> 00:17:45.359 We're free to obey and worship God, not out of guilt, fear, or pride, but out of love. 00:17:45.759 --> 00:17:54.720 Not because we're afraid of what God will do to us if we don't obey, but because we're grateful for what God has done for us through Jesus. 00:18:01.200 --> 00:18:11.119 You might confessionally agree that your righteousness comes through Jesus, but maybe functionally you live as if it depends on you. 00:18:11.759 --> 00:18:18.480 You believe that you're saved by grace, but you feel like you need to earn your way back into God's grace when you've had a bad week. 00:18:18.799 --> 00:18:25.119 You know God loves you, but you feel like he's disappointed in you every time you sin or fall short. 00:18:25.359 --> 00:18:33.039 You know that salvation belongs to the Lord, but somehow every time you tell your story, you end up being the hero. 00:18:33.599 --> 00:18:40.240 And if that's you, you need to know that your righteousness doesn't come from your ability to keep the rules. 00:18:40.559 --> 00:18:44.400 Your righteousness comes through Jesus Christ. 00:18:44.559 --> 00:18:55.440 And that means that you can live with incredible security because you're no less righteous when you fail, and you can live with humility because you're no more righteous when you succeed. 00:18:55.759 --> 00:19:10.000 You can confess when you sin and fall short, and you can rejoice when you obey, because it's Jesus' righteousness that declares you forgiveness, forgiven, and it's Jesus' righteousness that empowers you to obey. 00:19:10.720 --> 00:19:17.599 And so Paul is saying that we get our righteousness from Jesus and not from rule keeping. 00:19:18.160 --> 00:19:21.200 That's why we have to reject legalism. 00:19:22.079 --> 00:19:25.440 But the second thing we need to reject is sensationalism. 00:19:25.920 --> 00:19:28.559 Look with me again at verse 18. 00:19:29.920 --> 00:19:38.160 It says, let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions. 00:19:38.799 --> 00:19:47.440 So if the first ideology that the teachers are promoting is legalism, then the second ideology that they're promoting is what's called sensationalism. 00:19:47.680 --> 00:19:53.599 Sensationalism is simply chasing spiritual highs through some form of religious experience. 00:19:54.000 --> 00:19:59.440 Now, apparently these false teachers were saying that it wasn't enough to believe the gospel. 00:19:59.759 --> 00:20:10.960 Jesus was good, but what they really needed was some form of religious experience that could give them a little spiritual buzz to liven things up a bit, to make Christianity a little bit more exciting. 00:20:11.119 --> 00:20:24.880 And in this particular case, they're trying to get their spiritual high through encounters with angels and prophetic visions, boasting about their religious experience before other people as if they're more righteous because of the experience that they had. 00:20:25.119 --> 00:20:34.880 Now, if you come from a more Pentecostal background, you might be familiar with the kind of forms of this that Paul is describing here in this particular text. 00:20:35.279 --> 00:20:39.119 People who claim that you need to speak in tongues in order to be saved. 00:20:39.359 --> 00:20:47.680 Or people who go on and on and on about some crazy vision that they claim that they had, but who never actually get around to talking about Jesus. 00:20:47.839 --> 00:20:57.039 People who care a great deal about their supernatural experience, but who could care less about their personal holiness. 00:20:57.599 --> 00:21:03.519 And if that's you, you probably understand the sensationalism that Paul is describing here. 00:21:03.680 --> 00:21:20.960 But if you don't come from that kind of background, um you might be more familiar with a more domesticated version of sensationalism, which looks a little something like this: going to retreats, camps, and conferences to have a mountaintop experience. 00:21:21.119 --> 00:21:30.799 High production Sunday services that manipulate our emotions using lights and sound and technology rather than helping us to grow our affections in Christ. 00:21:31.119 --> 00:21:37.359 It could be the latest and greatest ministry experience that promises to revolutionize your faith and change the world. 00:21:37.680 --> 00:21:48.559 Anything that's using a sense of emotionalism or sensationalism to draw our attention to an experience more than it's drawing our attention to Christ. 00:21:48.720 --> 00:21:52.079 And at face value, that kind of seems relatively harmless. 00:21:52.240 --> 00:21:57.119 Like, what's the big deal about lights and music and sound and different experiences? 00:21:57.359 --> 00:21:59.119 Well, at face value, nothing. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:02.160 Does reveal to us a fatal flaw. 00:22:02.319 --> 00:22:18.640 It's in verse 18 and 19, it says, it leaves you puffed up without reason by a sensuous mind, not holding fast to the head, from which the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God. 00:22:19.599 --> 00:22:31.519 In other words, when we make spiritual highs and religious experiences the central focus of our faith, we end up growing proud and drifting away from Jesus. 00:22:31.920 --> 00:22:33.920 Now, I don't want you to get me wrong in that. 00:22:34.160 --> 00:22:37.359 There's nothing inherently wrong with a spiritual high. 00:22:37.599 --> 00:22:42.400 There's nothing inherently wrong with having an emotional experience during a Sunday gathering. 00:22:42.559 --> 00:22:45.839 There's nothing inherently wrong with religious experiences. 00:22:46.079 --> 00:22:48.240 They're actually can be really, really helpful. 00:22:48.400 --> 00:22:56.559 They can stir your affections for Christ, they can deepen your worship, they can cement in you a real sense of commitment to God. 00:22:56.799 --> 00:23:00.160 And they there's we can appreciate them when they happen. 00:23:01.039 --> 00:23:10.079 The problem is when we pursue spiritual highs and religious experiences when we should be pursuing Christ. 00:23:11.279 --> 00:23:17.200 When you pursue Jesus, sometimes you do have spiritual highs and religious experiences. 00:23:17.519 --> 00:23:23.839 But when you pursue spiritual highs and religious experiences, a lot of times you end up abandoning Jesus. 00:23:24.559 --> 00:23:28.960 You end up either manufacturing religious experiences that aren't really real. 00:23:29.359 --> 00:23:39.119 You embrace any kind of religious experience that feels good, even if it doesn't have anything to do with Jesus, and you end up presenting religious experiences altogether. 00:23:39.359 --> 00:23:51.759 And all three of those things leave us spiritually malnourished, disconnected from the body of Christ, and losing sight of Jesus, who is our only source of hope and righteousness. 00:23:52.240 --> 00:23:57.359 For an extreme example of this, just consider NFL quarterback Aaron Rogers. 00:23:57.599 --> 00:24:12.559 Aaron Rogers in the documentary Enigma talks about how he was involved in a very sensationalized version of Christianity that highly valued spiritual highs and religious experiences, going on and on and on about supernatural things. 00:24:12.720 --> 00:24:20.240 But by the time he made it to the NFL, he completely forgot about Jesus, rejects Christianity, but he's still pursuing the spiritual highs. 00:24:20.400 --> 00:24:24.799 He's now just doing it through psychedelic drugs and Native American practices. 00:24:25.039 --> 00:24:29.279 He's pursuing the high, but he's rejecting Jesus. 00:24:29.839 --> 00:24:35.119 Now, I don't know that any of you in this room are particularly in danger of going that route. 00:24:35.359 --> 00:24:38.720 So let me give you maybe a more ordinary example from my own life. 00:24:39.119 --> 00:24:42.240 When I was in college, I was a relatively new believer. 00:24:42.400 --> 00:24:49.200 I was still kind of like enjoying the afterglow of my conversion, kind of like the spiritual high hadn't worn off. 00:24:49.279 --> 00:24:51.839 I had lived a pretty distant life from Jesus. 00:24:51.920 --> 00:24:55.599 And when I came to faith, it completely changed everything about me. 00:24:55.759 --> 00:25:00.000 And I was just riding the wave of my conversion on into college. 00:25:00.160 --> 00:25:02.000 So I did what I was told to do. 00:25:02.160 --> 00:25:06.240 I went to the, you know, the fair at the university on the first day of classes. 00:25:06.400 --> 00:25:10.960 I found the first campus ministry that seemed like it was legit, and I jumped right in. 00:25:11.200 --> 00:25:14.240 I read my Bible and I prayed just like I was told I should. 00:25:14.400 --> 00:25:17.599 I got involved in this campus ministry and in a local church. 00:25:17.680 --> 00:25:21.200 And I think I was even discipled by a pastor for a little while. 00:25:21.440 --> 00:25:24.319 But after a month or two, you know it began to happen. 00:25:24.559 --> 00:25:27.759 The spiritual discipline started to feel a little bit ordinary. 00:25:28.000 --> 00:25:33.200 The Bible study I was going to was kind of starting to be a little routine and the novelty had worn off. 00:25:33.279 --> 00:25:40.079 And the discipleship relationship that I was in just didn't quite seem to have the same degree of excitement that it once did. 00:25:40.319 --> 00:25:50.559 And so, in an effort to keep that spiritual high going, I felt like the best thing for me to do was to leave that campus ministry, to break off that discipleship relationship and to find a new one. 00:25:50.720 --> 00:25:52.720 And so I jumped to a different ministry. 00:25:52.799 --> 00:26:01.279 I did all the same things, and the spiritual high would come back, and then when it would fade, I jumped to another ministry, and then I'd go to another church, and then I'd try another ministry. 00:26:01.599 --> 00:26:07.680 And uh after a month or two, the spiritual high would always wear off. 00:26:07.839 --> 00:26:09.200 So I'd go to another one. 00:26:09.279 --> 00:26:12.319 And the same cycle continued for my first year of college. 00:26:12.400 --> 00:26:20.000 And by the time I got to the end of my first year of college, I realized I'd been in three churches and four campus ministries, and my relationships were shallow. 00:26:20.240 --> 00:26:24.799 My theology was very questionable, and my faith was incredibly weak. 00:26:25.039 --> 00:26:33.920 Because I spent all of my time trying to chase the spiritual experience and not enough time actually pursuing Christ. 00:26:34.319 --> 00:26:42.319 Looking back now, I would have been way better off if I just would have picked a local church, got involved, committed to those people, and sat under that teaching. 00:26:42.480 --> 00:26:48.640 But instead, I reset myself every three months by chasing spiritual highs. 00:26:49.039 --> 00:26:59.680 Um, and as I've reflected on this, I've tried to ask myself, like, what's the reason why we're prone to pursue sensationalism so much in our culture? 00:26:59.920 --> 00:27:05.519 And I think so much of our pursuit of sensational just comes down to a fear of missing out. 00:27:06.480 --> 00:27:16.559 Deep down, we're afraid that some other church ministry or religion has some experience that's gonna be more meaningful or fulfilling than what we're experiencing right now. 00:27:16.720 --> 00:27:29.200 There's gotta be some style of music or teaching, or maybe a philosophy of ministry or a service flow, or maybe a new activity or a retreat or something that I can get involved in that's just gonna happen to scratch my spiritual itch. 00:27:29.440 --> 00:27:35.440 And like the Colossians, we convince ourselves that what we actually need is novelty and activity. 00:27:35.680 --> 00:27:41.359 And so we jump from thing to thing to thing looking for the next spiritual high. 00:27:41.680 --> 00:27:48.960 But the truth is that no amount of religious experience is ever going to be enough to satisfy you. 00:27:49.440 --> 00:28:00.720 Every spiritual high will wear off, every trend will get old, every celebrity fat pastor will eventually be forgotten. 00:28:01.039 --> 00:28:06.799 And at the end of the day, the only thing that won't get old is Jesus Christ. 00:28:07.359 --> 00:28:10.000 So if that describes you, let me just say this. 00:28:10.319 --> 00:28:15.039 If you have Jesus Christ, you're not missing out on anything. 00:28:15.279 --> 00:28:21.200 In fact, everything you could ever need, you already have in Jesus Christ. 00:28:21.440 --> 00:28:24.720 The righteousness you need, that's found in Jesus. 00:28:24.960 --> 00:28:36.799 The forgiveness that you need, that's found in Jesus, the fulfillment that you need, that's found in Jesus, the change that you need, that's found in Jesus, the freedom that you need, guess what? 00:28:36.960 --> 00:28:38.960 That's found in Jesus too. 00:28:39.279 --> 00:28:44.720 Because everything you need for spiritual growth is found in Jesus Christ. 00:28:44.960 --> 00:28:54.640 It might not be flashy, it might not be trendy, it might not be sensational, but it is sufficient because Jesus is enough. 00:28:55.440 --> 00:29:02.880 And we can't let the world convince us that what we need is the next best ministry or the next spiritual high. 00:29:03.119 --> 00:29:09.279 Because God has given us everything we need for spiritual growth and the basic ordinary means of grace. 00:29:09.519 --> 00:29:14.880 A Bible reading, a prayer, a fellowship, the local church. 00:29:15.200 --> 00:29:21.200 We already have everything we need in Jesus and the body of Christ. 00:29:21.519 --> 00:29:25.039 And so we must reject sensationalism. 00:29:25.920 --> 00:29:29.359 The last thing that we need to reject is asceticism. 00:29:29.759 --> 00:29:33.039 Look with me at verse 20 through 22. 00:29:34.559 --> 00:29:43.200 It says, If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations? 00:29:43.519 --> 00:29:53.279 Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch, referring to things that all perish as they are used, according to human precepts and teaching. 00:29:53.920 --> 00:30:05.279 So in this section, Paul's describing what's called asceticism, depriving yourself of physical pleasures to achieve spiritual enlightenment or intimacy with God. 00:30:06.160 --> 00:30:16.480 This particular false teaching is very easily recognized by that little phrase, do not, do not taste, do not handle, do not touch. 00:30:16.640 --> 00:30:25.359 And the basic premise of asceticism is that a person can attain spiritual enlightenment by mastering physical appetites. 00:30:25.519 --> 00:30:38.400 That if you can just master your appetite for hunger or sex or greed or ambition, then we can grow in righteousness because we're eliminating the things that are distracting us from spiritual realities. 00:30:38.640 --> 00:30:43.759 Now it's important that we not confuse this with ordinary spiritual disciplines. 00:30:44.000 --> 00:30:49.759 The ordinary spiritual disciplines are means of grace that God has given his people so that we can grow in Christ. 00:30:49.920 --> 00:30:57.519 And they are things that make us more dependent on Jesus, more aware of Jesus to help us commune with Jesus. 00:30:57.759 --> 00:31:12.000 Asceticism, on the other hand, is an extreme form of self-denial, what Paul calls severity to the body, that we use as a replacement for Jesus by punishing ourselves for sin. 00:31:12.480 --> 00:31:20.480 Or things like crazy things throughout church history, like locking yourself in a closet with no lights on for 24 hours every time you lost. 00:31:20.960 --> 00:31:27.680 Or fasting from food and water for three days because you took a second helping of dessert at dinner. 00:31:27.920 --> 00:31:33.279 Or taking a 30-minute ice bath every time you lose your temper with your roommate or your kids. 00:31:33.519 --> 00:31:38.079 Extreme practices that are meant to punish ourselves into righteousness. 00:31:38.319 --> 00:31:42.240 But in verse 23, Paul explains why we need to reject these things. 00:31:42.480 --> 00:31:51.039 He says, they have an appearance of wisdom, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. 00:31:51.519 --> 00:31:55.680 That's Paul's verbose way of saying they don't work, right? 00:31:56.240 --> 00:31:56.880 Why? 00:31:57.359 --> 00:32:03.119 Because they try to modify our behavior, but they don't actually change our heart. 00:32:03.519 --> 00:32:05.119 I can personally attest to this. 00:32:05.279 --> 00:32:09.119 For those of you who know me well, you know that I love sweets. 00:32:09.279 --> 00:32:12.240 I mean, I like become a totally different person when I'm around sweets. 00:32:12.319 --> 00:32:16.480 You can even like, and when I talk about sweets, like it makes me come alive in a new way. 00:32:16.799 --> 00:32:19.920 And uh I I just there's I don't know what it is. 00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:22.000 They they have they're my kryptonite. 00:32:22.079 --> 00:32:23.359 Uh especially ice cream. 00:32:23.519 --> 00:32:25.920 If you really want to make me feel loved, give me some ice cream. 00:32:26.079 --> 00:32:35.119 But anyway, uh when I was in college, uh that became a problem because I would just gorge myself on sweets all of the time. 00:32:35.279 --> 00:32:42.319 And so I decided because I had a problem with sweets, uh, that I was just gonna fast from sweets for an entire year. 00:32:42.640 --> 00:32:52.079 I figured that if I were to just starve my body of the physical sensation of sugar, that I would never have an issue with sweets ever again in my entire life. 00:32:52.240 --> 00:33:00.880 And I actually made it eight months until somebody sent me a box of like five dozen monster cookies. 00:33:01.119 --> 00:33:02.640 They arrived in the mail. 00:33:02.799 --> 00:33:05.200 I'm pretty sure they were like maybe even still hot. 00:33:05.279 --> 00:33:08.960 They must have been like overnight delivery or something, but they were they were good. 00:33:09.359 --> 00:33:17.119 And I thought to myself, I'm gonna test my progress here in kind of like overcoming my temptation with sweets. 00:33:17.279 --> 00:33:19.359 And so I thought, I'm gonna eat just one. 00:33:19.519 --> 00:33:22.480 I'm gonna leave the other 59 cookies sitting there on the counter. 00:33:22.720 --> 00:33:24.240 Not gonna touch a second one till tomorrow. 00:33:24.319 --> 00:33:26.720 I'll eat one a day for the next 60 days. 00:33:26.880 --> 00:33:27.759 And I was like proud. 00:33:27.839 --> 00:33:29.200 I was like, yeah, I'm gonna do this. 00:33:29.279 --> 00:33:30.480 I'm a champion. 00:33:31.039 --> 00:33:40.160 And then I ate one cookie, and 36 cookies later, I'm having an awkward conversation with my neighbors as to why I'm giving them two dozen cookies. 00:33:40.400 --> 00:33:41.680 I couldn't stop. 00:33:42.799 --> 00:33:45.039 All it did was make my appetite angry. 00:33:45.119 --> 00:33:47.119 It didn't actually change my heart. 00:33:47.359 --> 00:33:56.000 And the reason is because I tried to modify my behavior, but I did nothing to actually address the underlying reason why I was addicted to sweets. 00:33:56.480 --> 00:33:58.400 And that's what asceticism does. 00:33:58.559 --> 00:34:03.359 It addresses the external, but it never actually gets to the heart. 00:34:03.519 --> 00:34:08.159 And that's why Paul says that it's of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. 00:34:08.400 --> 00:34:13.119 And so the question is: if asceticism doesn't work, what does? 00:34:13.599 --> 00:34:21.119 Well, I'd suggest that the antidote to asceticism is what John Piper calls Christian hedonism. 00:34:21.360 --> 00:34:24.960 It's the discipline of delighting yourself in God. 00:34:25.519 --> 00:34:40.719 If the problem is that indulgence of the flesh and physical pleasures is leading us into sin, then the solution, argues Piper, isn't to punish yourself, it's to indulge the spirit with the superior pleasures of God. 00:34:41.360 --> 00:34:49.599 This is what first century, 19th century Scottish uh minister Thomas Chalmers calls the expulsive power of a new affection. 00:34:49.840 --> 00:34:55.440 It's the idea that your heart is like an empty bucket that needs to be filled with something. 00:34:55.679 --> 00:35:03.440 And if you're uh used to filling it with the temporary, fleeting pleasures of this world, you can't just dump those out of your bucket and remain empty. 00:35:03.679 --> 00:35:08.000 If you do, your heart is just gonna go back and look for something else to fill itself up with. 00:35:08.159 --> 00:35:12.480 And usually it just goes right back to the thing that you dumped out of it before. 00:35:12.719 --> 00:35:25.679 And so the idea is that the way to get earthly pleasures out of your heart isn't just to dump them out, it's also to replace them with better, superior delight in the living God. 00:35:26.159 --> 00:35:34.480 And so the key to change isn't just to stop gratifying your heart with sinful pleasures, it's to satisfy your heart with God. 00:35:35.360 --> 00:35:38.079 Because Thomas Chalmers understood something. 00:35:38.320 --> 00:35:44.320 That the root of sin is a heart that is not satisfied in God. 00:35:45.039 --> 00:35:46.960 That's the reason why we sin. 00:35:47.199 --> 00:35:52.719 Because deep down in our gut, we're just not satisfied with who God is or what he's done for us in Christ. 00:35:52.800 --> 00:36:00.639 And if that's the case, then change happens, not when we punish ourselves for sin, but when we indulge ourselves for Christ. 00:36:01.119 --> 00:36:06.239 So take, for example, what happened to me just the other day, also in relationship to sweets. 00:36:06.400 --> 00:36:18.320 The other day I was at Laszlo's eating with uh some members from our church community after a little conference that we were a part of, and uh we all ordered our food, and one of the person's food came out uncooked. 00:36:18.639 --> 00:36:23.280 So the waiter was immediately apologetic, took it away, was gonna bring back one that was fully cooked. 00:36:23.360 --> 00:36:28.800 And of course, the manager shows up and says, apologizes profusely and offers us a free dessert. 00:36:29.039 --> 00:36:32.639 Well, nobody else at the table wanted the free dessert, so what did everybody do? 00:36:32.800 --> 00:36:38.000 They turned and looked at me because they knew that usually I'm the guy who does not turn down dessert. 00:36:38.320 --> 00:36:46.880 Um, but the thing was I had just had a massive salad, and so my stomach was so full of protein and fiber that dessert didn't even sound good. 00:36:47.039 --> 00:36:50.320 It was one of the few times in my life that I looked at the waiter and said, you know what? 00:36:50.400 --> 00:36:50.800 I'm good. 00:36:50.880 --> 00:36:52.880 You can keep it, I don't need it. 00:36:53.119 --> 00:37:03.679 And the reason was I had no room in my gut for cheesecake because my my stomach was already filled with the satisfying, fulfilling food of a nutritious meal. 00:37:03.920 --> 00:37:08.000 Cheesecake didn't even sound good because I was already full. 00:37:08.320 --> 00:37:10.719 And so that's how Christian hedonism works. 00:37:10.880 --> 00:37:16.000 When you're satisfied in God, you won't be tempted to gratify your flesh. 00:37:16.480 --> 00:37:21.920 Now, I would imagine at this point you're kind of like, okay, that sounds kind of good. 00:37:22.159 --> 00:37:26.320 There's something worshipful about that, that God is my all-satisfying delight. 00:37:26.480 --> 00:37:28.079 I can I can get in on that. 00:37:28.239 --> 00:37:30.079 But how does it actually work? 00:37:30.400 --> 00:37:34.079 How do you actually satisfy your soul in God? 00:37:34.320 --> 00:37:35.760 And uh, that's a great question. 00:37:35.840 --> 00:37:36.800 I'm glad you asked that. 00:37:36.880 --> 00:37:42.880 So I'm gonna give you a couple practical steps that are gonna help you satisfy your soul in Christ. 00:37:43.039 --> 00:37:46.639 Number one, discover what your soul longs for. 00:37:47.039 --> 00:37:54.159 Um, beneath every sin is some kind of spiritual good that you're longing to fulfill with some temporary pleasure. 00:37:54.400 --> 00:38:04.480 So whether it's pornography or anger or um some other form, gluttony, some other form of sin, find out what is it that you're actually trying to get? 00:38:04.639 --> 00:38:06.880 What spiritual good are you after? 00:38:07.119 --> 00:38:08.079 Is it approval? 00:38:08.320 --> 00:38:09.440 Is it significance? 00:38:09.599 --> 00:38:10.639 Is it comfort? 00:38:10.800 --> 00:38:11.679 Is it control? 00:38:12.239 --> 00:38:14.400 Uh what are the things that you're after? 00:38:14.559 --> 00:38:18.639 Um, number two, identify what your soul runs to. 00:38:18.880 --> 00:38:28.159 Whatever that deep longing in your soul is, what habitually do you instinctively turn to to try to scratch that spiritual itch? 00:38:28.400 --> 00:38:33.199 Is it sex, food, money, video games, sports? 00:38:33.440 --> 00:38:42.079 What is the thing that you try to use to gratify your flesh in order to meet those spiritual desires? 00:38:42.400 --> 00:38:46.880 Number three, consider how Jesus is better. 00:38:47.199 --> 00:38:52.559 Teach yourself to look to Jesus for the spiritual goods that you're prone to get from other things. 00:38:53.039 --> 00:39:01.360 Ask yourself, how do I find in Jesus the approval or the freedom or the approval or the significance that I'm trying to get from somewhere else? 00:39:01.599 --> 00:39:07.280 How is Jesus a better means of satisfying that spiritual need? 00:39:07.760 --> 00:39:12.800 Number four, confess and repent of your misplaced desires. 00:39:13.199 --> 00:39:22.400 I think where most of us tend to go wrong in our repentance is we repent of surface level behavior, but we don't actually repent of heart-level idolatry. 00:39:22.639 --> 00:39:33.280 We repent of pornography, or we repent of gluttony, or we repent of uh saying something that we shouldn't, but we never actually repent of the sin beneath the sin. 00:39:33.519 --> 00:39:41.280 We never repent of the desire that we've misplaced from God onto some other superficial material good. 00:39:41.519 --> 00:39:50.559 And so learn how to repent, not just of your surface level behavior, but how to repent of the deeper things that you are after. 00:39:50.800 --> 00:40:00.880 Repent of looking to certain things for approval, repent of looking to your family for freedom, repent of the deeper reality that you are after. 00:40:01.119 --> 00:40:04.400 Um, number five, remember God's promises. 00:40:04.880 --> 00:40:10.400 Find specific passages where God promises to be and do for you the very thing that you are after. 00:40:10.639 --> 00:40:14.159 Find the passages where he promises you his love no matter what. 00:40:14.320 --> 00:40:20.960 Find the passages where he promises to satisfy you, find the passages where he promises that he's sovereign and good. 00:40:21.199 --> 00:40:25.119 Memorize those things, meditate on those things, get those into your heart. 00:40:25.280 --> 00:40:30.000 So they're not just a part of your mind, but they're actually a part of who you are. 00:40:30.320 --> 00:40:32.079 And number six, this one's different. 00:40:32.320 --> 00:40:40.880 This is not something that's often talked about in evangelical Christianity very often, but I think it's necessary, and that's do the things that stir your affections for Christ. 00:40:41.599 --> 00:40:47.519 Find the actual physical activities that make your heart worship God. 00:40:47.840 --> 00:40:57.360 Like if the computer is tempting you to lust, get outside and take a walk and enjoy the beauty of creation and see how it stirs your affections for your creator. 00:40:57.599 --> 00:41:15.119 If that person you're around is tempting you to pee-pa, please, because you need their approval, go to, you know, find something that reminds you that God loves you, something that you enjoy that that reminds you, man, this is a gift from God that I don't need anything from anyone else. 00:41:15.280 --> 00:41:22.960 For me, it's things like uh a cup of loose leaf tea sitting on the sunroom on a rainy day, just watching the steam come up off the cup. 00:41:23.119 --> 00:41:27.599 I don't know why, but there's something about that that makes my heart worship God. 00:41:27.760 --> 00:41:42.800 Uh it's a difficult hike in the woods, uh, which is hard to find in Omaha, but there's something about that that stirs my affections, that when I get out in creation, I forget about all the things that are tempting me, and my heart begins to worship God. 00:41:42.960 --> 00:41:46.480 So find the things that stir your affections for Christ. 00:41:46.719 --> 00:41:49.519 And number seven, ask for help. 00:41:49.760 --> 00:41:52.719 Ask for help from God and ask for help from other people. 00:41:52.960 --> 00:42:03.360 Tell God about your need to find in Him the things that you're trying to get from other places and invite Him to replace those desires in you. 00:42:03.519 --> 00:42:10.719 Uh also tell other people, tell a friend, tell somebody in your harbor group, tell a family member, don't fight the battle alone. 00:42:10.960 --> 00:42:22.719 Let other people carry you along in that journey as they pray for you, as they encourage you, as they help you identify misplaced desires and turn your affections back to Jesus. 00:42:23.039 --> 00:42:30.320 Because if we want to be the kind of people who reject asceticism, we need to embrace Christian hedonism. 00:42:31.039 --> 00:42:38.719 By satisfying our souls in Jesus, we won't be tempted to gratify our flesh with earthly realities. 00:42:39.440 --> 00:42:43.280 So as I land this plane, I hope you're beginning to see what Paul is saying. 00:42:43.440 --> 00:42:43.599 Okay. 00:42:44.239 --> 00:42:47.280 Jesus and religion don't mix. 00:42:47.599 --> 00:42:55.199 It might be tempting to add religious experience to your Christianity as if that's going to make it better, but the reality is that it doesn't. 00:42:55.679 --> 00:43:02.079 So let's fight sin, not by rule keeping a religious experience or self-inflicted punishment. 00:43:02.559 --> 00:43:05.840 Let's fight sin with the gospel of Jesus Christ. 00:43:06.320 --> 00:43:11.679 Because everything we need, we already have in Jesus. 00:43:12.000 --> 00:43:15.039