This recording is from Christ Kingdom Church in Avalon Park, Orlando. Visit us online at ChristKingdom.org for our calendar driving directions and more audio recordings. So as Scott mentioned participating in this week, please stand with me and participate in the reading of God's Word. This is Colossians 2 passages here. Colossians 2, 6 through 15, and then Colossians 3, 1 through 4. We'll be reading from the English standard version. So Colossians 2, 6 through 15. 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 and thanksgiving. See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in Him, the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily. And you have been filled in Him who is the head of all rule and authority. In Him also you are circumcised with a circumcision made without hands by putting off the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through faith and a powerful working of God who raised Him from the dead. And you who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all of our trespasses by cancelling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This, He set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphant over them in Him. Now, Colossians 3-1-4, if then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God, set your minds on things that are above, not in the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God, when Christ, who is your life appears, then you will also appear with Him in glory. You may be seated. Thank you, Dave. Good morning, as has been made, mentioned already that today is Palm Sunday, and from the beginning of the year, Scott has been preaching from the Gospel of Mark. We're going through that Gospel. So, if you were expecting a sermon from the Gospel of Mark, I'm sorry to disappoint you, and if you wanted a Palm Sunday sermon, I am also sorry to disappoint you. However, and I can't believe I can do this, I believe this time last year that I preached a Palm Sunday service from the Gospel of Mark. So, free of charge, nothing in the offering plate, you go to our website and you can listen to that. So, I can meet those expectations very easily. So, if you wanted to hear Scott preach, however, I could do nothing for you. You would just have to be disappointed. In our Colossians passage at hand, there's a lot that can be said, and a lot can be said about baptism. Our daughter, my wife and I Aaron, who is in the back, our daughter will be baptized after the sermon. So, Scott and I thought this would be an appropriate time to consider the doctrine of baptism according to Scripture. Now, baptism is such a loaded subject, there's no way that we can cover all what could be said in a 30-minute sermon. So, we're looking at one specific passage in Colossians that deal with one aspect of baptism. And what might that mean for us who have been baptized, for those that have not, and what it means for Mary Hannah, as she anticipates hers. In Colossians, and you know I like to do this, a little background is helpful. What is going on? What's the background to the saints at Colossi? Why is Paul writing this letter? What are some problems he's dealing with? And like all of his letters, he's usually answering specific questions. There's this Evan flow of who God is and what he has done and then how we are to respond to each other and to our neighbor. This constant Evan flow of Paul describing who God is, what he has done through Jesus Christ, and what that means for his people. What Dave just read, he gets into some pretty practical things. As you notice in verse 6, therefore as you receive Christ, Jesus the Lord so walk in him. So, you can hear the practical nature of his argument at this point. And he's kind of exhorting the church, here are some things to do. But even in that little phrase, Jesus as Lord, that's a loaded statement. And Paul has already described Jesus in beautiful terms a chapter earlier. So, even when Paul says Jesus as Lord, he's already elaborated on this just prior. So, I just want you to hear what Paul says about Jesus. This is in chapter 1 of Colossians. He is the image of the invisible God, the first born of all creation. For by him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible. Whether thrones or dominions are rulers or authorities. All things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the first born from the dead that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. And through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by blood of the cross. So, you can see that Paul has done a wonderful job of explaining who Christ is. And if you're paying attention to scope of Jesus' work and who he is, touches everything. He is the image of the invisible God, the first born of all creation. That who Christ is matters to everything. In a particular way he is the head of the church. There's a group of people that belong to him in a special particular way. So, indeed this means something for us. If you were gathered here as part of the church, if you're visiting, you're not. This means something for you too. But everything that Paul says hinges on the person of Jesus Christ. Some of you who are artists, if you are a painter or a drawer or something of that nature, which I am not, despite my parents putting me through, I don't know, two years of art school. Is that about right? My mom and dad are here. Feel free to say, hey to them after the service. You know, you know, a vanishing point. If you're trying to draw something realistic, you have to have a vanishing point on the page where everything is in relation to that. And if it is not set in relation to that, the picture will look out of joint. Well, Jesus kind of is that vanishing point for everything. Everything hinges in relation to him. Okay? Y'all with me? So, the preemnance of Christ must be well established before we move on. So, having said that, we look at Colossians chapter 2. So, what is Paul saying to us? Well, practically speaking, verse 6 and verse 7 are fairly straightforward. Therefore, as you receive Christ, Jesus the Lord so walk in him, rooted and built up in him, established into faith just as you were taught, abounding and thanksgiving. And the saints at Colossi, the church there, it was a predominantly Gentile audience. And this will come into place soon. But the gospel has gone forth through Paul's ministry, not himself, but the saints, the people have heard the gospel. They have received it. They have believed the gospel. So, Paul exhaust them to continue. As you look to Jesus Christ when you first heard him, he exhausts you to continue to look to Christ. Very straightforward. In verse 7, more so, abounding and thanksgiving, that since so doing and looking to Christ, that we would give thanks for what God has done in Jesus. So, I have a whole lot to add to that from what Paul says. As you have received, continue to walk, giving thanks to God for what he has done. And then you look in verse 8, see to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty to see, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. Now, why is that in there? There has been a great deal of scholarship written on this collusion heresy is what it's sometimes called, or what were the saints here dealing with. That had false teachers moved in, maybe there was a mix of Greek religion with Christianity and Paul's trying to correct their understanding. And that scholarship is fair. And it's fair to say, we have to be careful as far as what we embrace as the church of how to make sense of life and who we are. And it should almost be comforting the sense that, of what they struggle with, there's nothing new. That we also struggle with human traditions, philosophies, and things of that nature that kind of creep in and try to, in my estimation, take away from the pure gospel of Jesus Christ. And do you think about what some of those things might they be? Well, I spend a lot of time thinking about this, and it's really hard because people have their own. But there is no, for the record, political ideology, there is no laissez-faire economic system, there is no national patriotism, there is no world view that can make sense of creation and who we are besides that of Jesus Christ. There is nothing that should have such preeminence, there is no tradition, no philosophy that can rival Jesus Christ and the flesh as the Son of God crucified to reconcile you to Himself. Okay, that's the world view. Anything else that is vying for your supreme awe is an idol. Jesus Christ can only be that. Now, in verse 9, we see for in Him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily. And you have been filled in Him who is the head of all rule and authority. Interesting language, and we're going to come back to this. What does it mean to be filled in Him who is the head of all rule and authority? I think it suffice to say for now that Jesus Christ and light of these human traditions and light of philosophies that are trying to corrupt the collotions understanding of the gospel, that Jesus is over them all, that Jesus is supreme, that anything vying for such attention, that Jesus is already over them. In verse 11 and 12, this is where Paul gets a little weird. We're going to park it here for a while. When I say a little weird, because it seems like Paul, all of a sudden, brings up something random. He writes this, in Him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands. By putting off the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ. Now, why does Paul and kind of in the midst of some practical exhortation and the midst of some practical warnings like don't heed these philosophies? All of a sudden circumcision comes into play. Why does he do that? Even more weird, why does he seem to connect circumcision to baptism? Those are fair questions. What is going on here? Well, like I said, the saints in Colossi were Gentiles. And we hear that all the time as far as the Jewish versus Gentile tension that the Bible is filled with. Jesus comes on the scene, which Paul Sunday recognises, he's coming into Jerusalem and he is rejected by his own. He's fulfilling the Jewish law. He is the king of Israel. He is working in a very Jewish context because that's who he is. He is the true Israel. Well, as the gospel goes forth and Gentiles are brought in, Paul is always dealing with these problems. But what is our relationship now to each other? As the Jewish culture was one of a culture unto itself with their own dietary laws and ways of dressing and cleansing and worship. Now, it seems like everybody is coming into Israel through the gospel. How do we deal with these differences? Well, interestingly enough, Paul makes it very clear I want you to look at verse 13 and 14 and 15 before we come back to 11 and 12. In 13, Paul writes, in you who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh. So, in past tense, the Colossians stood condoned because they were outside of the covenant community. They were not circumcised. They were not Jews. 14 by canceling the record of death that stood against us with its legal demands. They weren't law keepers. They didn't know the law of God because they weren't the covenant community, much less where they keeping it. So, in two counts, already condemned. Then in verse 15, he disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him. Most scholars interpret that the rulers and authorities as referencing demonic powers. I think that's actually fair to say that not only were they outside the covenant community, not only were they ignorant of the law of God and breakers of it. They were also subject to whims of Satan. So, things look really, really bleak for the Colossians. On all accounts, they have very little hope. Now, what happens through Christ? In verse 11, in him, also, you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands by putting off the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ. All this is very key to understanding this text. Why does he all of a sudden mention circumcision? We just saw that Colossians stand condemned because they're outside the covenant community on circumcised and flesh. They are law-breakers, ignorant of it, and they are subject to the rulers and authorities of Satan. But all of a sudden, he says they've been circumcised. Somehow, the Colossian Church has been circumcised. And how has that happened by the circumcision of Christ? Some of your translations might read by the circumcision by Christ. I think the circumcision of Christ is a better translation. So, is Paul saying Jesus as a Jewish boy who was circumcised on the eighth day, which he was, and that is important, but is that what he's saying? Because Jesus was circumcised, is that what he's talking about? What does that mean for us? Well, what was circumcision? Now, I noticed an interesting topic that I was thinking about in church. It's probably going to be getting into creepiness here, but this is OK. This is the word of God. Circumcision was a bloody ritual where flesh is cut off, and then people are brought into the covenant community of God with its promises of blessings and curses for those that spurn such blessings. I'll say it again. A bloody ritual where flesh is cut off and people are brought into the covenant community. So, how does that happen for the Colossian church? And for us, who I don't believe anybody here is a Jewish origin here, how are we brought in? Well, Christ is the circumcision. What circumcision was pointing to Christ fulfills Christ through a bloody sacrifice. He is cut off. He is cut off from the Father's love. He is cut off for the sake of the church. And what happens when Jesus is cut off, the world is brought into covenant community. That those who were Gentiles are hope, and those who were Jewish, of Jewish words in their hope too, now is Christ, but Christ himself was cut off. That circumcision was the shadow to which was pointing to Christ. Now, if you've heard that language before, you know, the types and shadows and the Old Testament point us to Jesus, I think that's fair language. I usually think of a, you know, alien invasion movies, Independence Day, maybe Mars attacks, views that are like into the campier stuff. I don't see battle-offs Angeles. There's usually a moment in those movies to where, you know, you're on the ground level and a shadow kind of looms over the character, the music swells, and like that. Okay, that's a big deal, something's about to happen, but when the eyes to behold kind of the object that is casting that shadow, all of a sudden it is much more overwhelming. Then in the same way, circumcision, a bloody ritual where flesh is cut off and people are brought into covenant community, Christ Jesus fulfills that. The fancy term is he is the eschatological realization of circumcision. He is cut off so that we can be brought into the covenant community of God. And then why does Paul connect this to baptism? What is the connection there? You see in verse 12, having been buried with him in baptism in which you are also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God who raised him from the dead. Now, this is where it even gets more interesting. Notice Paul's language, having been buried with him in baptism, do we really believe that? Or do we try to spiritualize the Bible? So this cannot mean water baptism. There is no way that water does this. Magic water, we know better, that's not what's going on here. I am convinced, and I'm not the only one, that when Paul says baptism, he means baptism. That's what he is talking about. You have to do great hermeneutical gymnastics to explain all these baptism references away of Paul to say he's not talking about water baptism. In Romans 6, Paul uses something very similar, those that you've been baptized into Christ have been baptized into his death. Those that have been baptized into Christ, you have put on Christ. This is a strong language. Baptized into his death, buried with him, have put on Christ. Does it really mean that for your water baptism? You are now in union with Jesus Christ and his death? Does it actually mean that? Well, Christ's kingdom, I submit to you that it does. And I submit to you that you don't have a hard time believing this along other means. Take my wedding ring, for example, which you've seen me sometimes nervously twitching up here as I preach. You know, with this ring, I thee wed. Gold can't marry anybody. Silver can't marry anybody. Well, yes, that's not what that is. A ritual or ceremony was undergone using this, and now of a sudden you're married. You know what sex is before marriage, fornication. You know what sex is after marriage, honoring the marriage bed. That somehow through this ceremony, a status has been changed. And we have no problem believing that. The priest and the Old Testament, same way. If they go into the holy of Holies before they ordained his priest, they die. They go through the ordination process to where they are anointed rightly. They can go in now. That God is well pleased to use means all the time where status has changed, because this is the way the Lord made the world. And his church is certainly no different in that regard. That through our baptism we are joined to Christ in his death. It is strong language, but it's not just water. It's a baptism. It is a ritual. So to say that nothing happens, I don't believe Paul would, that is not the picture that he wants you to see. Something happens. I think an interesting point to be brought up. And I have to thank my good friend Dan over here for reminding me this. He uses the word absurdity. I like to use almost foolish simplicity. You can think of the Passover, right? If you were to say, you know, God says, I'm going to smite the first born child on every household unless this blood is over your door. Right? And what would you think of an Israel that said, I'm not going to put the actual blood on the door. It's just going to, it's in my heart. In my heart of hearts, you know, the blood is over the door, but I didn't actually do it. That would not fly. The Lord is well pleased to use the simple foolish, almost absurd means to save his people. But we can't stop there. We can't just stop and say, okay, this simple act of baptism, as foolish as it looks to the world. Even if you're convinced, and okay, John, I see your point, that we're baptized into his death. We are united with him through that. One typical response is, okay, what about nominalism or apathy? Paul wants you to see, oh, you've been baptized, just take it easy. You've been united to Christ, it's all well and good. Is that what Paul is saying? Absolutely not. And he says it in verse 12, coming right off the heels of that, in which you were also raised with him through faith and the powerful working of God. Faith should also be present. And our whole lives are spent, in my opinion, improving our baptism, which is a very odd phrase. We're going to look at that in just a minute. But I do just want you to know that the sin of apathy or the sin of nominalism is rampant everywhere. But I think Paul would call it a mind, your baptism speaks a great deal about your status. But who you are, who have you been united to, what is your standing with the Lord Jesus? And we're about to close in a few minutes. Before we do, I do just want to say, after the sermon, if I have offended anyone or confused anyone, I love to talk about the sacrament. So please come and talk to me. This is deep, good stuff for the Lord's people. I just throw that out there to say, I love to talk about this stuff. Dave read chapter three, verses one through four. Why did I ask him to read those verses? I think that is a natural application to what we've just discussed in baptism. And as he says in chapter three, if then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is. In verse 20, which I know you don't have in your pamphlet, Paul says, if with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world. So Paul immediately after following his baptismal language he uses if with Christ you died, then he comes to chapter three, if then you have been raised. Where do we see death and resurrection? In chapter two, right around baptism. Having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith and the powerful working of God. Do you see the picture? If you've been buried with him in baptism, look to Christ. If you've been joined to Christ in your baptism, continue to look to Him. This is where improving your baptism comes into play. In in verse four of chapter three, when Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. The Christ who is your life. Aaron and I will do our best to raise Mary-Hannins such a way to where Christ is indeed her life, as that is her only hope. But Christ, kingdom, I would remind you, if you've been baptized, Christ is your life. And you were called by your baptism to continue to look to Him in faith. Those waters remain on you as it were. There is an ancient tradition when a baptism took place, the one doing the baptism, but not only baptized the participant, they would fling water out into the crowd. And as you felt the water hit you, you would be reminded of your own. It's not a bad practice. The reason we preach on baptism, or I really wanted to, was that I think it is interesting that there are many days that we hold dear in our lives that make us who we are and give us our identity. We have birthdays. We have anniversaries. Some tragic and some good. We have wedding anniversaries, and we are 9-11. I'm sure still haunts many of us, because you know where you were, who you were with, what happened that day. There are days that make us who we are. Often neglected day, I believe, is the day we were baptized. That should be a big deal to us. That it is there that Paul says we have been buried with him. And how much does that sink into our bones? How much of our identity do we connect to our baptism? Paul would say a huge part of your identity is in your baptism, because it is through that we are united to Christ in his death. So Christ, kingdom, I hope you feel the weight of your own baptism. As you see, Mary Hannah baptized. Be reminded of your own. This is where we get the wonderful doctrine of improving your baptism. Angel, if you'll place this up, this is in your pamphlet as well. This is one more interesting question in the catechism. How is our baptism to be improved by us? Some of you have probably never heard that mentioned. This is from the Westminster catechism, which is our ecclesial document. I'm going to read this out loud fairly quickly. Read along with this as to what this was being said. How is our baptism to be improved by us? The needful but much neglected duty of improving our baptism is to be performed by us all our life long. Especially in the time of temptation and we were present at the administration of it to others. By serious and thankful consideration of the nature of it and of the ends for which Christ instituted it, the privileges and benefits conferred and sealed thereby in our solemn vow made therein. By being humbled for our sinful defilement, our falling short of and walking contrary to the grace of baptism in our engagements. By growing up to assurance of parten of sin and of all other blessings sealed to us in that sacrament. By drawing strength from the death and the resurrection of Christ into whom we are baptized, for the mortifying of sin and quickening of grace. And by endeavoring to live by faith to have our conversation and holiness and righteousness as those that have been given up their names to Christ. And to walk in brotherly love as being baptized by the same spirit into one body. Christ, kingdom, who are you? What is your identity? You have been buried with Christ and His baptism. Continue to look to Him in faith and may your baptism be the start, or may you see it as a start of a glorious entry into the new covenant people of God into resurrection life. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank You for the waters of baptism. We thank You for what You were pleased to do. There's such simple means. We ask that You would help us all to remember our own baptism. To where indeed we would improve our life long, being built up in the faith, looking to Jesus Christ as our only hope. While we give You thanks from Mary Hannah, we ask that She would never know a day outside of You.
And that Father, as You were pleased to continue to include children in Your new and better covenant, that She would grow up faithful in that. We ask this for all of those who hear us that have been baptized, that we would look to Christ and Him alone. As Your Holy Spirit would help us in these matters to the glory of the Father. Amen.