WEBVTT 00:00:08.400 --> 00:00:12.640 This morning, our text to study is Colossians and chapter 2. 00:00:12.720 --> 00:00:14.320 So let me begin by reading the passage. 00:00:14.480 --> 00:00:18.320 Colossians chapter 2, beginning in verse 16 down to the end of the chapter. 00:00:18.480 --> 00:00:21.039 Would you follow with me as I read from the Word of God? 00:00:24.640 --> 00:00:32.079 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 Sabbath. 00:00:32.640 --> 00:00:38.079 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. 00:00:38.560 --> 00:00:56.880 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. 00:00:57.520 --> 00:01:14.959 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, 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. 00:01:15.200 --> 00:01:26.159 These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, that they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. 00:01:26.560 --> 00:01:28.400 This is the word of the Lord. 00:01:30.719 --> 00:01:48.000 The Book of Colossians is written to a group of people in what is modern day Turkey who had grown up in an what we could call a religiously pluralistic environment, an environment in which it was just run-of-the-mill ordinary practice to incorporate the insights and traditions of different religions and philosophies and ways of life. 00:01:48.319 --> 00:01:59.359 And yet these people had come into contact with the gospel, the proclamation that there is one God who made the heavens and the earth, and this God stands in holy and right judgment over all sin and human evil. 00:01:59.519 --> 00:02:07.599 And this God has provided a way of salvation through his eternal Son, who came into the world, taking on human nature and living a perfect and sinless human life. 00:02:07.840 --> 00:02:17.039 He then died as a substitute in the place of sinful human beings, dying the death they deserve to die for their sins, and bearing all the judgment that their sins deserve. 00:02:17.280 --> 00:02:27.520 He then resurrected from the dead and went back into heaven, where he now offers forgiveness and salvation to all who turn and offer their life to him, calling upon his name and faith. 00:02:27.680 --> 00:02:30.240 The Colossians heard this and they believed it. 00:02:30.400 --> 00:02:35.360 They'd come to a point of clarity where the truth claims of the gospel resonated with them. 00:02:35.520 --> 00:02:36.479 They knew they were true. 00:02:36.639 --> 00:02:41.599 They'd come to a place of spiritual clarity where they knew that by believing in Jesus, they had salvation. 00:02:41.759 --> 00:02:42.960 They had all that they needed. 00:02:43.120 --> 00:02:44.400 They had relationship with God. 00:02:44.479 --> 00:02:45.919 They had eternal life secured. 00:02:46.080 --> 00:02:48.000 They had the gift of the Spirit. 00:02:48.479 --> 00:02:56.000 And yet, as they continued to live their life in this world, trusting in Jesus got a little bit more challenging. 00:02:56.240 --> 00:03:00.080 You might think of their situation a little bit like somebody who's learning how to water ski. 00:03:00.400 --> 00:03:11.919 Imagine yourself bobbing up and down in the water behind a stationary boat, and your friend from the back of the boat tosses you a rope and says, it's really simple, hold on to the rope. 00:03:12.319 --> 00:03:15.120 And you say, This is really clear, my friend, is trustworthy. 00:03:15.280 --> 00:03:18.159 I understand the truth claims of water skiing. 00:03:18.319 --> 00:03:19.680 Hold on to the rope. 00:03:19.919 --> 00:03:20.639 Got it. 00:03:21.360 --> 00:03:24.560 Once the boat starts moving, it gets a little bit more challenging. 00:03:27.759 --> 00:03:38.560 They had been told that Jesus is the image of the invisible God, that he is the only Savior, the only one who can make you right with God, and by trusting in the gospel, you have everything that you need in Christ. 00:03:38.800 --> 00:03:41.840 You just need to hold on to Christ. 00:03:42.319 --> 00:03:49.919 But as life just kept going along, they found out that holding on to Christ was more challenging than they had at first imagined. 00:03:50.159 --> 00:03:53.599 It's both because there were external temptations they encountered. 00:03:53.759 --> 00:04:01.680 They lived in a world where people said, It's great that you believe in Jesus, but you also need these other things in order to have a fully vibrant spiritual life. 00:04:01.919 --> 00:04:18.560 But it was also true because of the internal temptations of the human reality, that as you go through life, your moods change and your emotions fluctuate, and what what once seems so clear and real seems to fade in your memory as you go through life and moods and emotions swing. 00:04:19.120 --> 00:04:30.399 Paul wrote to these people, experiencing the difficulty of holding fast to Christ as life keeps on moving, with a very simple mission, to anchor them deeper in their connection to Christ. 00:04:30.639 --> 00:04:35.920 We looked at chapter 2, verse 6 last week, where Paul gives what is really the thesis statement of the book of Colossians. 00:04:36.079 --> 00:04:37.040 Notice that verse again. 00:04:37.120 --> 00:04:39.759 Look in your Bibles at Colossians 2, verse 6. 00:04:40.000 --> 00:04:51.199 Paul says, Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. 00:04:51.360 --> 00:04:58.160 This is what you need, to be deeper in your roots in Christ, to grow deeper in your connection to Jesus Christ. 00:04:58.240 --> 00:05:02.240 For in him and him alone are all your spiritual needs supplied. 00:05:02.480 --> 00:05:09.759 And there are genuinely, Paul recognizes, dangers in the world, dangers that would pull you away from Christ or add something to Christ. 00:05:09.839 --> 00:05:14.800 And Paul says that those dangers really are dangers that would lead you into spiritual captivity. 00:05:14.959 --> 00:05:16.399 That's what he says in verse 8. 00:05:16.560 --> 00:05:28.879 But we saw last week in verses 9 all the way through 15, he gives the Colossians reasons to know for sure that if you have Christ, you have all that you need for a fully vibrant, satisfying, meaningful spiritual life. 00:05:29.120 --> 00:05:30.319 All that you need is in Christ. 00:05:30.399 --> 00:05:33.759 Because Paul says in verse 9, in him the fullness of deity dwells. 00:05:33.839 --> 00:05:35.920 There's nothing of God outside of Christ. 00:05:36.079 --> 00:05:39.040 All of Christ is in God, and all of Christ is God. 00:05:39.279 --> 00:05:46.000 So that if you need spiritual satisfaction, meaning fulfillment and truth and direction and righteousness and holiness, it's all in Christ. 00:05:46.160 --> 00:05:48.399 What you need are deeper and deeper roots in Christ. 00:05:48.480 --> 00:05:59.759 And Paul says, when you put your faith in Christ, you are united to him in a real, eternal union, so that you died with him on Calvary, and you were raised with him from the tomb, and you're seated with him in heavenly places. 00:05:59.920 --> 00:06:02.800 Your life belongs everlastingly to Christ. 00:06:03.279 --> 00:06:10.639 Spiritual life, then, grows fuller and more vibrant as your roots grow deeper into Christ, who is the fullness of God. 00:06:11.040 --> 00:06:23.199 What Paul does in verse 16 and following is he alerts us to three specific spiritual dangers that would seek to distract from or detract from Christ, and in so doing, lead us into spiritual captivity. 00:06:23.439 --> 00:06:26.319 So I think that's a helpful heading to study this passage. 00:06:26.560 --> 00:06:30.319 Three spiritual dangers that would detract from fullness in Christ. 00:06:30.480 --> 00:06:33.759 The first danger Paul alerts us to, we can just call shadows. 00:06:34.000 --> 00:06:34.560 Shadows. 00:06:34.639 --> 00:06:35.920 That's in verse 16. 00:06:36.240 --> 00:06:44.720 Verse 16, Paul says, 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. 00:06:45.199 --> 00:06:52.079 And we might be reading through verse 16, and all the way up until the last word say, well, this could be talking about a number of different religious or spiritual groups. 00:06:52.240 --> 00:06:56.959 But once you're at the last word, you know that he is talking about Old Testament, Old Covenant worship. 00:06:57.040 --> 00:06:58.800 He's talking about, we could say, Judaism. 00:06:59.040 --> 00:07:06.800 And it seems that what had happened is that the Colossians, who are largely a Gentile church, you see that in chapter 2, verse 13, where he refers to their uncircumcision of their flesh. 00:07:06.959 --> 00:07:16.959 So it seems that they were probably largely a Gentile group of believers who had encountered the gospel and come out of their religiously pluralistic environment to believe in the Jewish Messiah. 00:07:17.120 --> 00:07:31.279 And upon believing in the Jewish Messiah, that He's the only appointed God, He's the Son of the God of Israel, the Colossian believers had encountered what was a historically we understand to be a vibrant Jewish group, a Jewish community in Colossae. 00:07:31.439 --> 00:07:44.720 And as these Colossian believers had come to believe in the God of Israel and worship the Jewish Messiah and were encountering a Jewish community, they were discovering that they had a thousands-of-year-old tradition and beautiful forms of worship to connect them to God. 00:07:44.800 --> 00:07:48.160 And they started to feel like maybe there's something there that I'm lacking. 00:07:48.319 --> 00:07:55.040 Maybe in order to worship the God of Israel fully, I need to participate in these Old Testament religious forms. 00:07:55.279 --> 00:08:00.399 And what Paul says in verses 16 and 17 is a couple things that I want us to notice first. 00:08:00.720 --> 00:08:07.839 I want us to notice that he doesn't say a single negative word about the religious rituals that he mentions in verse 17. 00:08:08.079 --> 00:08:14.560 In fact, in all of Paul's ministry, there's not a single negative word uttered about the Sabbath or the festivals or the food laws. 00:08:14.720 --> 00:08:30.240 In Romans chapter 7, Paul says that the whole law, the whole law of Moses, and that's where all of these rituals come from, they're revealed by God on Sinai through Moses to the people of Israel, in order to constitute them as a people, in order to give them access to him through religious worship. 00:08:30.560 --> 00:08:34.080 Paul says in Romans 7 that the law is holy, righteous, and good. 00:08:34.320 --> 00:08:43.279 Leviticus chapter 23, which is the chapter in the Old Testament that gives us all of the feasts summarized, starts with in verse 2 saying, These are my laws. 00:08:43.360 --> 00:08:44.559 They belong to God. 00:08:44.960 --> 00:08:49.120 So the religious rituals that we're talking about in verse 16 are holy, righteous, and good. 00:08:49.200 --> 00:08:53.759 They're divinely revealed forms of worship to constitute Israel as a people. 00:08:54.639 --> 00:08:57.519 Paul has not a word negative to say about them. 00:08:58.159 --> 00:09:18.320 But he does have a negative word to say about the person who would pass judgment, particularly on a Gentile believer in Christ, standing in judgment over that person and saying, It's good that you believe in Jesus, the Jewish Messiah, but if you don't also practice Old Testament forms of worship, then you're incomplete. 00:09:18.559 --> 00:09:22.559 Christ is not sufficient to fill you and commend you entirely to God. 00:09:22.799 --> 00:09:32.559 Paul does have something negative to say about that, because he says in verse 17, these are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. 00:09:32.720 --> 00:09:34.960 And we all understand what a shadow is. 00:09:35.200 --> 00:09:39.519 A shadow exists because there is a solid substance behind it. 00:09:39.919 --> 00:09:44.480 The shadow points you to the solid substance that issues the shadow forth. 00:09:44.720 --> 00:09:47.840 That's what Paul says all of old covenant worship was. 00:09:48.000 --> 00:09:52.480 Old covenant worship was holy and righteous and good, revealed by God Himself. 00:09:52.879 --> 00:10:07.919 But it was always intended in constituting Israel as a people and giving them the law and revealing God in his character and the appropriate way to approach him in worship was always intended to produce the Messiah who would fulfill all of the forms of old covenant worship. 00:10:08.080 --> 00:10:20.080 And once the Messiah has come, any Gentile or any Jewish believer who believes in the Messiah of Israel is full and complete, brought into relationship with God through the work of the Messiah, Jesus. 00:10:20.559 --> 00:10:28.159 So Paul says, if you would like to use the old covenant rituals and worships in worship, that's wonderful. 00:10:28.320 --> 00:10:38.000 In fact, we see in texts like Acts chapter 21, Paul sometimes did make use of temple worship and the sacrificial system as acceptable forms of worship to God through Christ. 00:10:38.399 --> 00:10:51.759 But it would be inappropriate, Paul says, to enforce them as a necessary regulation in order to be commended to God, because they were always shadows pointing to Christ, and if you have Christ, you have the fullness. 00:10:52.000 --> 00:10:55.120 So I just want to give you a couple cross-references along these lines. 00:10:55.200 --> 00:10:59.519 In 1 Corinthians in chapter 8, verse 8, Paul says, Food will not commend us to God. 00:10:59.679 --> 00:11:03.039 We're no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do. 00:11:03.200 --> 00:11:09.919 And in Romans in chapter 14, he says, One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. 00:11:10.159 --> 00:11:12.480 Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. 00:11:12.639 --> 00:11:16.080 The one who observes the day observes it in honor of the Lord. 00:11:16.240 --> 00:11:24.559 The one who eats eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains abstains in honor of the Lord, and he gives thanks to God. 00:11:24.720 --> 00:11:26.559 Now that could not be said in the Old Covenant. 00:11:26.720 --> 00:11:34.480 In the Old Covenant, observance of the food laws and observance of the festivals and the days was a requirement to offer God acceptable worship. 00:11:34.799 --> 00:11:40.559 But those all of those laws were pointing to Christ, who is the fullness of God. 00:11:40.720 --> 00:11:46.080 And now that he has come, the Mosaic Law has been fulfilled. 00:11:46.240 --> 00:11:50.399 And it's what he calls another text in Galatians, indifferent. 00:11:50.639 --> 00:11:54.320 You can use it to offer worship to God, but you're not required to. 00:11:54.639 --> 00:11:58.080 Why would you go back to the shadow when you have the substance? 00:11:59.200 --> 00:12:10.159 Now, I stress this point just because I think that there is a tendency in American evangelicalism to kind of denigrate the Old Testament as though it's something that was bad and needed to get rid of. 00:12:10.240 --> 00:12:12.399 Oh, it was inherently flawed. 00:12:13.120 --> 00:12:15.919 That's so silly and so disconnected from the scriptures. 00:12:16.399 --> 00:12:23.919 The New Covenant so emphatically states that every single word of Old Testament is breathed out by God, holy, righteous, and good. 00:12:24.159 --> 00:12:26.639 Paul doesn't have a single negative word to say about it. 00:12:26.799 --> 00:12:34.960 What he does say, though, is as good and wonderful as Old Testament ritual forms were, Christ is infinitely better. 00:12:35.200 --> 00:12:38.080 What he's doing is saying, How great is Christ? 00:12:38.240 --> 00:12:41.519 Why seek fullness anywhere else than Christ? 00:12:42.320 --> 00:12:52.639 Now, I think that in Emmanuel Bible Church, it's probably not a strong and ever-present temptation for most of us to say, I'm really lacking in my spiritual life if I don't practice sukkot or Shabbat. 00:12:53.279 --> 00:12:59.279 But I do think that there are a number of ways in which the principles that Paul is teaching in these verses would certainly apply to us. 00:12:59.600 --> 00:13:06.639 One obvious low-hanging fruit would be the ever-present human tendency to elevate form over substance in worship. 00:13:06.960 --> 00:13:18.799 What I mean is this New Covenant community, constituted by Jesus' death and resurrection, is a body that organizes itself and local churches, where you become a Christian, you get baptized into Christ and His church. 00:13:18.960 --> 00:13:26.320 You join the church, and the church is a community led by elders and deacons that gathers to worship God, and our worship takes certain forms. 00:13:26.480 --> 00:13:33.600 We worship God through songs and prayers and the preaching of the word and the reading of Scripture and the ordinances and giving. 00:13:33.759 --> 00:13:37.440 Every Lord's Day, this is what the Lord's Church has been doing for 2,000 years. 00:13:37.759 --> 00:13:46.320 All of our worship to God has to take certain forms, and there's an ever-present human tendency to elevate the form of our worship over the substance of our worship. 00:13:46.480 --> 00:13:53.840 So, for example, the easiest example to list of this would be elevating the form of our music over the substance of our music. 00:13:54.480 --> 00:14:04.399 That is, it's an ever-present tendency in our hearts to make more important the style of music over the substance of our music. 00:14:05.039 --> 00:14:06.559 Isn't that always a tendency? 00:14:06.720 --> 00:14:13.919 One of the first things that you do if you walk into a new church is you just reflexively, instinctively are like, do I like this? 00:14:14.240 --> 00:14:16.159 Does this jive with me? 00:14:16.559 --> 00:14:17.440 You can't help it. 00:14:17.519 --> 00:14:18.799 It's just in our natures. 00:14:19.039 --> 00:14:24.879 But as soon as you begin to think along those lines, you need to grab hold of yourself and ask the question, why do we sing? 00:14:25.039 --> 00:14:26.639 I mean, I have Spotify. 00:14:26.879 --> 00:14:28.480 I have heard of a smartphone. 00:14:28.720 --> 00:14:30.080 I can sing just fine by myself. 00:14:30.240 --> 00:14:36.320 In fact, I'll maybe I'll even be unencumbered in a new way when I don't have strangers around me in this new church. 00:14:36.639 --> 00:14:37.840 So why do we sing? 00:14:38.000 --> 00:14:41.679 And the reason that the church sings is because we have something to sing about. 00:14:41.840 --> 00:14:45.840 God's called us to sing, commanded us to sing, as we'll see in Colossians 3. 00:14:46.000 --> 00:14:47.039 We have something to sing about. 00:14:47.120 --> 00:14:54.639 So the real question is not, do I like the style of the songs, but is the substance of the songs doing what it's supposed to do? 00:14:54.799 --> 00:14:56.879 Namely, leading me to Christ. 00:14:57.120 --> 00:15:02.720 The question to ask is, is the substance of the musical worship opening my eyes to more of the glory of Christ? 00:15:02.879 --> 00:15:07.120 Are the lyrics of the songs directing me to more of the glory of God in Christ? 00:15:07.279 --> 00:15:15.440 And is the music channeling and helping to train me to respond emotionally appropriately to the glory of God revealed in Christ? 00:15:15.840 --> 00:15:22.879 We are constantly in danger of elevating form over substance in worship because we're fallen human beings. 00:15:23.039 --> 00:15:25.919 We do this in every part of our worship, even the preaching of the word. 00:15:26.240 --> 00:15:31.759 A natural human tendency that you are always doing whenever you hear a sermon is, do I like this? 00:15:32.080 --> 00:15:33.679 Do I connect with the preacher? 00:15:33.840 --> 00:15:36.799 And that could mean a million different things to a million different people. 00:15:36.960 --> 00:15:38.639 But that's not the point of preaching. 00:15:38.799 --> 00:15:42.080 The point of preaching is to reveal the glory of God in the face of Christ. 00:15:42.240 --> 00:15:53.759 So you have to constantly be actively and intentionally drawing your own attention back to what am I getting from the sermon in terms of beholding the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ? 00:15:54.000 --> 00:15:58.559 Am I being drawn deeper into the infinite riches of Scripture? 00:15:58.720 --> 00:15:59.759 Am I being trained? 00:15:59.919 --> 00:16:04.240 Is my heart being compelled to love Christ more, to obey Christ more? 00:16:04.480 --> 00:16:11.039 Is the unfolding of God's word in the preaching of his word helping to conform me to the image of Christ? 00:16:11.360 --> 00:16:15.519 The substance of worship is what is of significance and lasting value. 00:16:15.759 --> 00:16:19.039 The form is just your personal, your personal preferences. 00:16:19.200 --> 00:16:24.000 I like you, I care about your preferences, but that's not what we're doing here. 00:16:25.039 --> 00:16:33.679 A constant danger is to elevate style over substance, and Paul would call us back to what he says in verse 17, shadows. 00:16:34.399 --> 00:16:36.399 But the substance belongs to Christ. 00:16:36.799 --> 00:16:45.200 I think there's maybe an even closer analogy to what the Colossians were experiencing that I just want to note before we pass on to the second point. 00:16:45.440 --> 00:16:50.000 And that is this if you would think for a moment about, kind of put yourself in the shoes of the Colossians. 00:16:50.080 --> 00:17:07.680 They are largely a Gentile congregation who's lived in this pluralistic religious environment, they've heard the gospel, they've believed in Christ, He's the Jewish Messiah, they now worship the God of Israel, they encounter this vibrant Jewish community that has this thousands-of-year-old tradition and these beautiful forms of worship. 00:17:09.359 --> 00:17:26.240 As they learn about the history of Israel, they learn that every time that this small little people group had their enemies assailed against them, God preserved them, and God Himself revealed on a mountain with thunder and glory, these perfect forms of worship, means of approaching God and knowing the only holy God. 00:17:26.400 --> 00:17:37.519 And as you learn about this, you think, man, so much of my life is so transient and the culture I'm in is so fleeting and frothy, but this is something that has endured through the ages, and I want to be connected to that. 00:17:37.759 --> 00:17:42.319 I think that there's something very human about that, wanting to be connected to something that is transcendent. 00:17:42.480 --> 00:17:47.119 And that's what I think some of the Colossians were encountering in the Jewish forms of worship. 00:17:47.440 --> 00:18:08.960 I think a closer analogy for us would be it is a phenomenon, a kind of subset phenomenon within modern evangelicalism, that there are a minority of people, particularly folks who would probably say that they're somewhat intellectually inclined, who look around the evangelical landscape and say so much of it is so frothy and kind of illegitimate children of Christianity. 00:18:09.119 --> 00:18:15.519 Like so many evangelical churches just don't seem connected to the great tradition that was founded on the apostles and prophets. 00:18:15.920 --> 00:18:27.039 And then they look to Roman Catholicism or orthodoxy, and they see something that has beautiful forms of worship and says that it has an ancient tradition, and their hearts are drawn to that form of worship. 00:18:27.920 --> 00:18:34.480 Now, if you experience that, I think that there is something in your heart, you're seeking something natural, normal, good, and healthy in your heart. 00:18:34.720 --> 00:18:37.759 But I want to appeal to you on a two basis. 00:18:38.079 --> 00:18:45.599 One is much of what is in the evangelical landscape in America is kind of illegitimate Christianity. 00:18:45.920 --> 00:18:46.400 Sure. 00:18:47.359 --> 00:18:52.480 But there is in genuine Protestantism a rich intellectual doctrinal history. 00:18:52.640 --> 00:19:08.880 And it would be good, healthy, and helpful for you to discover that churches like Emmanuel Bible Church and our doctrinal commitments trace our roots back through the Reformers and the Middle Ages and the patristics, right back to the apostles and prophets, the foundation upon which this 2,000-year-old ancient tradition was built. 00:19:09.039 --> 00:19:13.519 We all partake in an ancient tradition by confessing the truths that we confess. 00:19:14.160 --> 00:19:18.000 It would be good, healthy, and helpful for you to learn a little bit more of that. 00:19:18.160 --> 00:19:21.279 But here's a second basis on which I want to appeal to you. 00:19:22.240 --> 00:19:24.799 Look at what Paul's referring to in verse 16. 00:19:25.599 --> 00:19:31.440 He says, Let no one pass judgment on you in regard to food and drink and festivals and new moons and sabbaths. 00:19:31.839 --> 00:19:35.440 These are a shadow, but the substance belongs to Christ. 00:19:36.160 --> 00:19:42.000 Paul's referring to something so much better than any particular group you're going to discover in ancient history. 00:19:43.519 --> 00:19:49.920 There's no group in Italy in the 700s that you're going to read about in a textbook that is more important than the Sabbath. 00:19:50.559 --> 00:20:02.960 Paul can look at the forms of worship revealed to Israel on Mount Sinai and say, those are so much better than anything you're going to read about in a high church tradition, and yet in comparison to Christ, they're nothing but a shadow. 00:20:03.279 --> 00:20:10.160 What Paul is doing is he's saying, you need to focus your attention like a laser beam upon Christ, Christ, Christ. 00:20:10.240 --> 00:20:13.279 And Christ is unveiled for you on the pages of Scripture. 00:20:13.440 --> 00:20:19.279 In Christ, the fullness of God is accessible to you, and the fullness of God accessible in the pages of Scripture. 00:20:19.440 --> 00:20:20.640 What you need is Christ. 00:20:20.799 --> 00:20:22.559 You won't find more of Christ. 00:20:22.799 --> 00:20:28.720 By seeking all of these different forms that you're seeking, you'll find more of Christ in the pages of Scripture. 00:20:29.519 --> 00:20:30.480 Shadows. 00:20:30.720 --> 00:20:32.319 Don't succumb to shadows. 00:20:32.559 --> 00:20:35.119 Hold fast to Christ, who is the substance. 00:20:35.279 --> 00:20:37.680 Here's the second danger Paul alerts us of in this text. 00:20:37.839 --> 00:20:40.240 Let's summarize it by saying it's visions. 00:20:40.400 --> 00:20:41.839 Look at verse 18. 00:20:42.160 --> 00:20:50.319 In verse 18, Paul writes, Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions. 00:20:51.039 --> 00:20:52.559 Let no one disqualify you. 00:20:52.640 --> 00:20:57.359 It's a word that means to stand in judgment of you and to pass a judgment that says you're lacking something. 00:20:57.519 --> 00:21:01.519 So you can't live a full, whole human life because you're lacking something. 00:21:01.599 --> 00:21:03.599 What's the thing that they would say you're lacking? 00:21:03.839 --> 00:21:05.200 Look at the rest of what Paul says. 00:21:05.279 --> 00:21:06.240 There's three little phrases here. 00:21:06.400 --> 00:21:08.400 Number one, insisting on asceticism. 00:21:08.480 --> 00:21:14.480 That is some particular religious practice that would enable you and prepare you to have some mystical great experience. 00:21:14.640 --> 00:21:16.160 And what kind of experience would that be? 00:21:16.240 --> 00:21:20.799 Well, it might be something like worship of angels, which could refer to one of two things. 00:21:20.960 --> 00:21:27.759 It could be people who are talking about, I go through these rituals and practices, and it enables me to worship along with the angels in heaven. 00:21:27.839 --> 00:21:38.160 There's certainly ancient texts, and even people in the modern world who would say that they have religious experiences in which they get caught up into the heavens and they participate with angelic worship in the heavenly places. 00:21:38.480 --> 00:21:52.319 Or it could be referring to actually worshiping angels, in the sense that there were certainly other ancient groups that would say, It's great that you worship Jesus, little pat on the head, but I have access directly to angels to help me in every particular circumstance that I have in life. 00:21:52.480 --> 00:21:53.759 And you need that. 00:21:54.160 --> 00:21:59.759 In either case, what's happening is that there are people who are coming into the lives of the Colossians and saying, It's great that you worship this Jewish. 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:03.440 Messiah, wonderful, but we have something even more. 00:22:03.759 --> 00:22:11.039 And the effect it was having was a sense of intimidation that I'm lacking something because I'm just trying to be faithful and following Jesus. 00:22:11.279 --> 00:22:17.039 Paul summarizes this phenomenon in the middle of verse 18 by saying that they're going on in detail about visions. 00:22:17.200 --> 00:22:24.960 But you might have a footnote on the word visions in your Bible, because uh visions is very specific, and I think Paul's talking about something just even broader. 00:22:25.119 --> 00:22:28.559 He says, going on in detail about things they have seen. 00:22:28.720 --> 00:22:30.640 That's the summary about what these people are doing. 00:22:30.720 --> 00:22:34.319 They're coming to the Colossians and going on in detail about things that they have seen. 00:22:34.480 --> 00:22:36.640 Now that happens in the modern day all the time. 00:22:36.880 --> 00:22:39.680 All kinds of different forms of this in the charismatic movement. 00:22:39.839 --> 00:22:42.960 There was a video doing the rounds a couple of years ago. 00:22:43.119 --> 00:22:47.440 Well, it's been a number of years ago now, but I'm getting to be an older youth pastor. 00:22:48.400 --> 00:22:51.759 And in this video, it became popular among young people. 00:22:51.920 --> 00:22:58.400 There was a very famous leader of a contemporary Christian band giving this testimony of something that happened to her. 00:22:58.480 --> 00:23:05.680 And she says, For weeks I was trying to like grow in my faith in Christ by going to a prayer house early in the morning, and I was just being faithful. 00:23:05.839 --> 00:23:08.319 Show up at the prayer house and just read my Bible and pray. 00:23:08.480 --> 00:23:13.519 I'd go in there every day, every morning, just being faithful, just being faithful, and it was okay. 00:23:14.079 --> 00:23:22.240 And then one day, while I was reading my Bible and praying in the morning, the door of the prayer house opened and Jesus walked in. 00:23:23.039 --> 00:23:27.119 And Jesus walked up to me and I asked him, Jesus, do you love me? 00:23:27.279 --> 00:23:30.240 And I he started to laugh and say, Yes, I love you. 00:23:30.319 --> 00:23:32.400 And I asked him, How much do you love me, Jesus? 00:23:32.559 --> 00:23:37.359 And he spread out his arms and his arms began to get longer and longer and longer and just wrap around the building. 00:23:37.440 --> 00:23:46.880 And he said, This much, and my heart, she began to explain how she was overwhelmed and just absolutely ravished with comfort and peace. 00:23:47.680 --> 00:23:52.640 What's the effect that that kind of video would have on a young believer? 00:23:52.960 --> 00:23:55.920 For many people, there's a sense of intimidation. 00:23:56.079 --> 00:23:58.880 They probably wouldn't even use that word, but that's what's happening. 00:23:59.039 --> 00:24:00.880 This sense that, hey, I'm doing that. 00:24:01.039 --> 00:24:09.119 I'm trying to just be faithful, read my Bible, I'm trying to figure out colloquial, I'm trying to read Revelation, I'm trying to figure out what in the world, trying to be faithful to Jesus. 00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:11.279 But I don't have that. 00:24:11.440 --> 00:24:13.359 I must be missing something. 00:24:14.160 --> 00:24:16.880 You see that this comes at us in a million different ways. 00:24:17.440 --> 00:24:19.759 One more that I just have to mention. 00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:37.119 It is a phenomenon in American society that not a week goes by which you could check the list of best-selling Christian books in America, and within the list of the top few best-selling books in America, there will inevitably always be a book about a trip to heaven, a near-death experience. 00:24:38.559 --> 00:24:46.640 I mean, if if that's not the textbook definition about going on in detail about things that they have seen, I don't know what is. 00:24:46.799 --> 00:24:52.480 There's no limit to the number of people who will sell you 300 pages of what they have seen. 00:24:53.279 --> 00:25:04.559 And the effect of reading and consuming that can be feeling that reading the Bible, spiritual disciplines, membering being a member of the church, sharing the gospel, worshiping with the congregation is just not enough. 00:25:04.720 --> 00:25:06.160 I need something more. 00:25:06.880 --> 00:25:10.559 When you have that experience, this is what Paul would say to you. 00:25:10.720 --> 00:25:13.519 Look at the end of verse 18. 00:25:13.759 --> 00:25:19.359 You need to know that such people are puffed up without reason by their sensuous mind. 00:25:19.519 --> 00:25:24.640 And that translation, sensuous mind, could also be rendered mind of flesh, would be a very literal translation. 00:25:24.799 --> 00:25:25.920 Paul's being ironic here. 00:25:26.000 --> 00:25:32.799 He's saying there's people coming to you, going on in details of the things that they have seen, saying that they have access to the heavenlies that you don't have access to. 00:25:32.960 --> 00:25:34.400 You need to listen to what they're saying. 00:25:34.559 --> 00:25:38.559 And Paul says, actually, that's just coming up from their puffed up imagination. 00:25:38.720 --> 00:25:40.799 Their mind actually has no access to the heavens. 00:25:40.960 --> 00:25:43.519 They're stuck on earth, just spinning stories. 00:25:44.079 --> 00:25:44.720 Why? 00:25:44.960 --> 00:25:45.920 Verse 19. 00:25:46.160 --> 00:25:54.480 Because they're not holding fast to the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with the growth that is from God. 00:25:54.720 --> 00:26:04.960 This is the only kind of growth that is divine, that's real, that's lasting, and it's because it's coming from someone who's holding fast with two hands, holding fast to Jesus. 00:26:05.200 --> 00:26:10.799 Anyone who's going on in details of things that they have seen and not holding fast to Jesus would be illegitimate. 00:26:10.960 --> 00:26:13.759 And how do you know that it's not holding fast to the real Jesus? 00:26:14.000 --> 00:26:18.640 Because the real Jesus is revealed to you in Scripture and nowhere else. 00:26:19.039 --> 00:26:24.160 Now I could show that to you in a number of verses, but I can show it to you right here in Colossians. 00:26:24.319 --> 00:26:25.839 Look at verse 18. 00:26:26.799 --> 00:26:29.359 Look at the command in verse 18. 00:26:29.519 --> 00:26:32.960 It's rendered in the English Standard Version as let no one disqualify you. 00:26:33.039 --> 00:26:35.839 It's a fairly rare word in Greek that just means to judge. 00:26:36.079 --> 00:26:37.599 To stand over in judgment. 00:26:37.759 --> 00:26:41.440 And in the sense of judging, you could, you're, when you're judging someone, you're kind of ruling over them. 00:26:41.519 --> 00:26:44.640 You're determining and dictating their outcomes in their life. 00:26:45.039 --> 00:26:54.400 In this sense, in verse 18, it's a negative judgment where someone is standing over in judgment and saying you lack something, and so I'm disqualifying you, saying you don't qualify for the fullness of human life. 00:26:54.640 --> 00:26:56.559 But Paul uses that word again. 00:26:56.640 --> 00:27:00.799 In fact, it's only used one other time in the rest of Scripture, and it's in this passage. 00:27:01.039 --> 00:27:04.079 Look over in Colossians 3 in verse 15. 00:27:04.720 --> 00:27:08.400 In chapter 3 and verse 15, we get the one other instance of this verb. 00:27:08.640 --> 00:27:11.359 Paul writes, Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts. 00:27:11.519 --> 00:27:12.720 That's the same verb. 00:27:12.960 --> 00:27:17.440 Because this idea of judging, you could, depending on the context, has the significance of ruling. 00:27:17.519 --> 00:27:21.680 If someone's standing in judgment and determining outcomes in your life, they're having rule in your life. 00:27:21.839 --> 00:27:25.839 Paul wants not someone going on in visions to have rule over your life. 00:27:25.920 --> 00:27:29.599 He wants the peace of Christ to have the say and the sway in your heart. 00:27:29.759 --> 00:27:31.359 Well now look at the rest of this text. 00:27:31.599 --> 00:27:33.359 This is something supposed to be going on in your heart. 00:27:33.519 --> 00:27:39.839 In fact, in fact, verses 15 and 16 are really a summary of Paul's practical spiritual life teaching that we'll look at in the weeks to come. 00:27:39.920 --> 00:27:41.759 But look at what Paul wants happening in your heart. 00:27:42.000 --> 00:27:45.039 Verse 15, the peace of Christ is to be ruling in your heart. 00:27:45.200 --> 00:27:48.960 And then at the end of verse 16, there's supposed to be thankfulness in your hearts to God. 00:27:49.039 --> 00:27:50.480 So that's supposed to be the Christian life. 00:27:50.720 --> 00:27:54.880 Peace of Christ ruling in your heart, thankfulness characterizing your heart. 00:27:55.119 --> 00:27:57.440 What is going to enable you to do that? 00:27:58.400 --> 00:28:00.079 Look at verse 16. 00:28:00.640 --> 00:28:04.319 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. 00:28:04.640 --> 00:28:25.680 When the word of Christ, which reveals Christ to you, is dwelling in your heart, when the word of God is taking up residence and just living and active in your life and controlling what you think about and controlling how you understand yourself and controlling your ambition and controlling your goals, then when the word of Christ is living and active in your life, then the peace of Christ is going to rule and determine outcomes. 00:28:25.759 --> 00:28:28.480 And thankfulness is going to characterize your heart. 00:28:28.960 --> 00:28:34.079 The fullness of Christ is revealed to you in the word of Christ in the scriptures. 00:28:34.559 --> 00:28:47.920 Fullness of spiritual life, then, is accessed by holding fast to Christ, not to someone going on in details of what they've seen, but by holding fast to the word of Christ and letting it dwell in you richly. 00:28:48.160 --> 00:28:50.720 Here's a third danger that Paul shows us in this text. 00:28:50.960 --> 00:28:51.920 Let's call it dogmas. 00:28:52.160 --> 00:28:53.279 Look down at verse 20. 00:28:53.440 --> 00:28:56.079 Look in your Bibles at Colossians 2 and verse 20. 00:28:56.400 --> 00:29:00.480 Paul says, If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world. 00:29:00.640 --> 00:29:02.079 Now, pause for one moment. 00:29:02.319 --> 00:29:05.119 Paul's already taught us that we have died with Christ. 00:29:05.279 --> 00:29:09.680 If your faith is in Christ, then it's a reality that you are united to Christ in his death. 00:29:09.839 --> 00:29:17.759 The old you died and has been risen again, and it now has eternal, immortal human life coming to you when Jesus comes to bring the kingdom of God. 00:29:17.920 --> 00:29:18.880 That's real for you. 00:29:19.119 --> 00:29:20.640 It's the most real thing about you. 00:29:20.799 --> 00:29:30.160 But what Paul is doing in verse 20 by putting it in this conditional form, if you died to the elemental spirits of the world, is he's inviting you to think about the implications. 00:29:30.400 --> 00:29:34.319 If you say you're a Christian, what does that mean? 00:29:34.640 --> 00:29:37.920 It means that your old person died to this world. 00:29:38.079 --> 00:29:42.079 Now actually think about how then should you live your life? 00:29:42.400 --> 00:29:44.880 What is the significance of that reality? 00:29:45.039 --> 00:29:49.039 What should it look like in your life if you died to this world? 00:29:49.680 --> 00:29:52.319 Let's walk through Paul with his logic here. 00:29:52.480 --> 00:30:02.559 Verse 20, if you, with Christ, died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations? 00:30:02.799 --> 00:30:11.279 Now that little expression, submit to regulations, it's one word in the Greek, and it's the word from which we get our word dogma, which is why I've used dogma for our outline. 00:30:11.599 --> 00:30:13.680 The idea is, why do you submit to dogmas? 00:30:13.839 --> 00:30:16.880 Now, dogma, of course, isn't inherently some kind of naughty word. 00:30:17.039 --> 00:30:18.079 Christian dogma is a good thing. 00:30:18.160 --> 00:30:22.880 A Christian dogma would be a truth revealed by God in the scriptures and received by the church. 00:30:22.960 --> 00:30:25.519 So Christian dogma would be our bread and meat. 00:30:25.599 --> 00:30:28.240 It's our spiritual food, it's the truth of God in Scripture. 00:30:28.480 --> 00:30:35.680 What Paul's concerned about is submitting to dogmas, look at verse 22, that are according to human precepts and teachings. 00:30:35.839 --> 00:30:38.799 That is, the dogmas, the teachings that come from this world. 00:30:38.960 --> 00:30:43.759 He calls them in verse 20 that they're according to the elemental spirits of the world. 00:30:44.319 --> 00:30:47.279 Those kinds of teachings you shouldn't submit to anymore. 00:30:47.519 --> 00:30:50.079 Now, what are the elemental spirits of the world? 00:30:50.319 --> 00:30:56.319 It's a word that Paul uses to refer to what some what someone call the Zeitgeist, the spirit of the age. 00:30:56.480 --> 00:31:05.519 That is the principles and the values and the assumptions and the priorities of the world and the culture in which you live and move and have your being. 00:31:05.759 --> 00:31:08.480 Paul says, you died to this world. 00:31:08.640 --> 00:31:11.920 Those values shouldn't have any more import for you. 00:31:12.160 --> 00:31:15.200 Now, how does the spirit of this age operate on our lives? 00:31:15.440 --> 00:31:18.640 Verse 21, it offers us a bunch of regulations. 00:31:18.799 --> 00:31:21.279 Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch. 00:31:22.240 --> 00:31:28.799 Every spirit of every age is going to offer you rules and regulations and principles in order to achieve happiness. 00:31:28.960 --> 00:31:31.680 If you want to be happy in life, here are all the things that you need to do. 00:31:31.839 --> 00:31:40.160 And human beings are really attracted to a list of things that you can do so that you can take control of your life, and then you can have a full, happy, wonderful human life. 00:31:40.400 --> 00:31:45.519 I mean, everybody who operates on social media knows that the key to good clickbait is you need that number in it. 00:31:45.759 --> 00:31:48.799 Five things in order to get this, ten ways to achieve X. 00:31:49.519 --> 00:31:58.799 The spirit of our age offers all kinds of different principles, rules, and regulations in order for you to be a fully, happy, and flourishing person in this world. 00:31:59.200 --> 00:32:00.960 Paul says, here's the problem. 00:32:01.920 --> 00:32:03.680 You died to this world. 00:32:03.920 --> 00:32:08.480 So even if their regulations work, what does that matter to you? 00:32:08.720 --> 00:32:09.920 You're dead. 00:32:10.160 --> 00:32:11.759 You don't live here anymore. 00:32:12.000 --> 00:32:15.440 If you're a Christian, you died to this world. 00:32:16.240 --> 00:32:18.240 This is what he says in verse 23. 00:32:18.400 --> 00:32:28.319 They have appearances 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. 00:32:28.400 --> 00:32:31.759 They can't stop you from sinning, and that's what you're after. 00:32:32.000 --> 00:32:35.599 Your values are to no longer displease your Lord. 00:32:35.759 --> 00:32:39.279 Your value is to please the Lord. 00:32:39.759 --> 00:32:40.880 That's it. 00:32:41.599 --> 00:32:46.079 So you don't need principles that teach you how to live a fully flourishing life in this world. 00:32:46.240 --> 00:32:49.200 You're dead to this world and alive to Christ. 00:32:49.440 --> 00:32:56.079 All you need is Christ to speak into your life and say, beloved child, this is what I want you to do. 00:32:58.000 --> 00:33:03.920 Now, why is it that the principles of this world, the spirit of our age, would have influence on us? 00:33:04.079 --> 00:33:07.119 And I think the spirit of this age attacks both from above and below. 00:33:07.279 --> 00:33:08.400 This is what I mean. 00:33:08.640 --> 00:33:18.960 It's an inevitable reality that when you become a Christian, whether it's as a young person or in your adulthood, you come to clarity and convictions where you believe the gospel. 00:33:19.119 --> 00:33:26.400 And like I said at the beginning, the Colossians had come to a place where they had clarity and believed the gospel, and you know that you know God. 00:33:26.640 --> 00:33:34.319 As John says in 1 John chapter 2, you're a spiritual babe and you cry out, Ah, but Father, you know God is your father, you know Jesus has saved you. 00:33:34.559 --> 00:33:51.279 But as you walk through your life, it will inevitably happen that no matter who you are, you'll find someone a whole lot smarter than you, a whole lot more successful than you, who will say to you, I love that you love Jesus, that's wonderful for you. 00:33:51.599 --> 00:33:56.559 But if you really want to have a fully flourishing life, you need this. 00:33:57.359 --> 00:34:01.200 And he's smarter than you, she's smarter than you, what are you supposed to do? 00:34:02.559 --> 00:34:12.719 Paul wants you to recognize if you have died to the elemental spirits of the world, why as if you were still alive in the world would you submit to their regulations? 00:34:12.880 --> 00:34:21.679 You don't need to incorporate their insights into the world in order to live a fully vibrant spiritual life, because you're dead to this world and their insights only pertain to this world. 00:34:21.920 --> 00:34:27.679 You need more of Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 00:34:27.920 --> 00:34:38.079 So, yes, they might be a lot smarter than you and more successful than you, but you're hidden in Christ, who is the fullness of divine wisdom. 00:34:38.400 --> 00:34:39.679 He's your identity. 00:34:39.840 --> 00:34:43.519 You don't need to incorporate anything from the spirit of this age. 00:34:43.679 --> 00:34:45.119 You need more of Christ. 00:34:45.360 --> 00:35:01.519 I think the spirit of this age, though, comes at us from below, and what I mean is this: another of the kind of very popular Christian genres of literature, um, not just of books, but also of social media, we could just kind of broad brush call Christian self-help. 00:35:01.599 --> 00:35:05.679 That is influencers and authors and speakers who would say, believe in Jesus. 00:35:05.840 --> 00:35:09.360 This is a Christian book out by a Christian publishing company. 00:35:09.599 --> 00:35:16.239 And if you believe in Jesus and follow my rules for life, you'll both have Jesus and all of your goals in this world. 00:35:16.400 --> 00:35:30.239 Whether it's parenting, you want to be a certain kind of parent, or career goals, or monetary goals, etc., etc., etc., you can have Jesus and you can have my program of regulations and you can achieve your goals in this world. 00:35:30.400 --> 00:35:33.039 There should be red flashing lights in our mind. 00:35:37.519 --> 00:35:46.400 Paul says, If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why would you submit to regulations that offer you anything in this world? 00:35:46.639 --> 00:35:47.840 There's nothing in this world. 00:35:48.000 --> 00:35:49.760 Look at verse 22. 00:35:50.159 --> 00:35:52.239 They refer to things that perish as they're used. 00:35:52.320 --> 00:35:54.559 Why are you pursuing things that perish as they are used? 00:35:54.719 --> 00:35:56.239 Why are you pursuing the perishable? 00:35:56.400 --> 00:35:57.920 You've been called to the imperishable. 00:35:58.079 --> 00:35:59.679 Why are you pursuing the transient? 00:35:59.840 --> 00:36:01.519 You've been called to the eternal. 00:36:01.760 --> 00:36:05.440 The nature of all Christian self-help is what Paul says in verse 23. 00:36:05.519 --> 00:36:07.119 They have an appearance of wisdom in this. 00:36:07.280 --> 00:36:08.000 Listen to this. 00:36:08.239 --> 00:36:10.079 Promoting self-made religion. 00:36:10.239 --> 00:36:12.320 That's an incredible word that Paul made up. 00:36:12.480 --> 00:36:19.280 It was there's no attestation of this word prior to Paul, and after Paul, it becomes a major word in the history of Christian tradition. 00:36:19.519 --> 00:36:20.480