Hear the Word of God, as you find it, in Paul's letter to the Colossians, the second chapter, beginning at verse 16. So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or Sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ. Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the head from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God. If you died with Christ, from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations? Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle, which all concern things which perish with the using, according to the commandments and doctrines of men. These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh, the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Let us pray together. Father, please do grant us your help as we consider your word. Please do grant us your spirit. Please come by your spirit and prepare our hearts and then take this word and drive this word home to our hearts that our hearts might be set free, might be set to singing. Lord, may we gain a glimpse, may we know a taste yet again this morning of the unfathomable love which you have for your people, may we gain a glimpse, may we know a taste of the freedom which is ours in Christ Jesus. Lord, to these ends again, we ask for your spirit as we consider your word together in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. Here's the question that I asked you to think about last week in which I want to keep before us and want to encourage you to consider again this morning. Does your Christianity, does your faith in Christ feel like freedom to you? Does your Christianity, does your faith in Christ feel like freedom to you as you contemplate belief in Christ? Does it represent for you a liberation, a liberty, and a freedom? Does it set you free? Does it set you free from the fear of God, not the proper reverence which all of God's creatures owe to God because He is the Creator and we are the creatures and our proper place is to bow before Him and to reverence Him. That's an appropriate fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord, the Proverbs tell us, is the beginning of wisdom. Proper regard for God is where real wisdom begins. That's not what we're talking about. But we're talking about the threat of judgment, the fear of rejection. Does the gospel, does your faith in Christ set you free from the fear of God? Does it set you free from the fear of men, from the burden of having to satisfy their expectations? Does the gospel set you free of the burden of having to perform for people, seeking to gain their favor, gain their acceptance? Does the gospel set us free? And does the gospel set you free from your own conscience, from guilt, from shame, from despair? Does faith in Christ set you free at the level of conscience? I may have mentioned to you some time ago that on one particular vacation I took John Calvin's institutes of the Christian religion with me and for some reason I had this thought that I'd like to read what Calvin has to say about Christian liberty, Christian freedom. You know, I wanted to know what was permissible for me to do, and I wanted to go to the authority. What can I do? What can't I do? What am I free to do? What must I avoid? You know where John Calvin begins his discussion of Christian liberty, not with what I can do, not with what I must avoid, but with the conscience. My free Christian liberty begins in the conscience and does my consideration of the gospel set me free at the level of my conscience, from guilt, from despair, from shame, the point of the gospel is that it is meant to do these things for us. It is meant to do this. Jesus said, if the sun shall set you free, you shall be free indeed. Paul tells the Galatians to stand fast in the freedom, the liberty by which Christ has set you free and do not be entangled. Do not be entangled again in a yoke of bondage. That is what Paul is anxious to help these Colossian Christians understand. They have something. They possess something in Christ. It is theirs. It is multifaceted, and they are to live in it. Twice he says, don't let anybody cheat you. You know what it is like to be cheated? To be seduced by somebody, to be tricked by somebody, so that you lose something of value? Don't let anybody cheat you, he says. In 2.16 he says, don't let anybody judge you in 2.20 he says, don't allow yourselves to be put back into bondage again. Don't allow it to happen. You see, there is a liberty. There is a freedom which the gospel produces. This is the point. You possess something if you are a Christian this morning. You possess something. You are forgiven. Your sins are canceled. They are wiped away. You are dead. You are buried. You are now raised up. You are ascended with Christ. You are a victor over Satan, the great accuser who would cast you down in despair. He cannot trouble you again. Did you catch the hymn that you sang this morning? The last verse, we acclaim your life, O Jesus. Now we sing your victory. Sin or hell may seek to seize us, but your conquest keeps us free. These sing these things when you sing. Forgive me. Do you sing these things? When you sing these things do you find that you have to keep singing?
Sin or hell may seek to seize us, but your conquest keeps us free. Stand and try and stand and try and worship Christ the risen King. That is what Paul has been talking about. Up to this point in this letter to the Colossians, he is talking to these people about what they possess, but the gospel always has enemies. It always has enemies. They come in various forms. The enemies of the gospel come in various forms. There are always these influences that would draw us away. There are always these lies that would whisper to us. I can make you happy in a way that Christ cannot. I can set you free in a way that Christ cannot. I can give you a good in addition to what you possess in Christ. Here is something more. The gospel has enemies. The enemies of the gospel are like a new wife.
The enemies of the gospel are like a new car, a new house, a new job, a different experience and teasing, seductive, winsome, glittery, but the enemies of the gospel do not deliver. They cannot because they do not have life. They do not set people free. Paul's letter to the Colossians. It appears that he is dealing with four enemies. Four enemies or perhaps it is one enemy. Perhaps it is one enemy with four different contours, sort of like a rainbow with different colors in the rainbow. Or like a cord. Maybe that is the better word picture to have in mind as you consider this enemy. The cord with four strands woven together tied together. It is with that cord that this enemy would seek to return these people to a bondage and deprive them of their liberty in Christ. What are the four strands that make up the cord? What are the colors that form this seductive rainbow? Strand number one. Worldly speculative philosophy. Something that you need to know in addition to Christ in his gospel. I'm backing up a little bit. This is in the eighth verse of chapter two. Paul says, beware, let anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit according to the tradition of men according to the basic principles of the world and not according to Christ. Paul is a Hebrew. Paul is a Jew and he uses hebraisms. He uses hebraic forms of expression and one of those is in this passage in this particular verse. According to the tradition of men according to the basic principles of the world refers to the same thing, not two different things. Hebrew writers do that sort of thing. They'll say one thing in one way and then they'll recast the same thing using slightly different language. Psalm 19, the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul, the testimonies of the Lord are sure making wise the simple. It's a parallelism, a repeat of the same idea, but cast in different language. And that's what Paul is doing here. According to the tradition of men according to the basic principles of the world is a reference to human wisdom detached from the revelation of God. That's what it is. Traditions of men, wisdom of men, the wisdom of the world detached from the revelation of God. Basic principles of the world doesn't refer to a kind of ABCs of religious truth or religious life. But it refers to beliefs with which have their origin in the speculations of sinful men and women. That's what that's a reference to. Fallen, human, wisdom not reshaped and reformed by the revelation which comes from God. And this first strand of this cord that would bind people and put them back in bondage is this admonition to these collusion Christians that there is something in addition to Christ that they need to know, some knowledge they need to possess, some speculative philosophy that they need to hold on to. That will really clinch the deal for them. That will really feel their religious experience. If only they possess this knowledge. I got a Christmas present this last Christmas. Some of you have seen it in my house and you've wondered whether I've fallen off some kind of a cliff or something but it's three video tapes which were produced by national public radio and air television and air several months ago. And the series is called Quest. Maybe some of you saw it advertised. Maybe some of you even watched some of it. Quest, three videos, 50 minutes in length each. And it's interviews with people. People like Stephen Covey, remember Stephen Covey, the seven habits guy? David White who is an English poet, Marianne Williamson who is a spiritualist, Bernie Siegel who is a psychologist. And what these people did was gather eight or nine or ten of the best informed and most highly respected people they could find to talk about spirituality. To talk about matters of the soul and how one can find meaning in purpose in life. And as you watch this stuff, as you listen to this stuff, you find it very interesting. You recognize that these people are very smart. They're very winsome. They're very persuasive. They're very attractive. But you come away from what Paul describes in Colossians as smooth speech and persuasive words. You come away from that asking yourself the question, how do these people know this? How do they know that what they're trying to persuade need to believe is really true? They're winsome. They're persuasive. And thousands of people in our culture are being seduced into believing that these eight or nine or ten people or any number of other people possess some insight, some knowledge, some access to some information that will set their souls at liberty, that will free them. And my question is always how do they know that that's true? Who is the fact because they don't agree among themselves, you see? Who is the final arbiter in these matters? Paul wants these Colossians not to be seduced by these winsome and sexy voices. By this smooth speech, he says, what these people are presenting is not in accordance with Christ. It is not in accordance with Christ. The New Testament, Paul, Peter, all of the gospel writers, all of the rest of them, do not engage in speculative thinking about spirituality, the nature of the soul, religious experience. They deal with Christ and they ground Christ in events. A person and his work in behalf of sinners, not speculation. How do we know that something is true? How do we know that something someone is advocating is to be listened to? The answer to that question is by asking another question, is it in accordance with Christ? With what is revealed about him in his person and in his work? He is the final arbiter in matters regarding the soul, regarding religious experience, regarding spirituality. Don't allow yourselves to be seduced in the thinking that there is some bit of information, some piece of information that you need to have in order to be set free. Paul is saying it's all in Christ. Go to Christ. It is in knowing him that you are set free. That's strand number one, strand number two. There are these people who are advocating adherence to moral and ethical codes. Something you must do. The first branch or the first strand, something you have to know. The second strand, the second bunch, something you must do. Adherence to moral and ethical codes. Listen to what he says, 16 and 17. Don't let anybody judge you in food or in drink or regarding a festival or a new moon or Sabbath. Switch are a shadow of things to come. It seems that there were Jewish adherence in Colossi and around Colossi who were advocating Jewish dietary laws and who were advocating adherence to the annual festivals, the monthly celebrations, the new moon celebrations, and the weekly Sabbaths of Judaism. Again, it's fine that you have Christ. But you see, Christ is not enough. What you need in addition to Christ is adherence to some moral code, some standard of behavior. And in this case, it appears that it was a particularly Jewish code. The counter this Paul reminds these folks that the Sabbaths and the festivals and the new moon celebrations and all of the dietary laws and all of the rest of the laws that have to do with Judaism are not ends in themselves. And they are not the basis upon which we stand. They are not the ground upon which we stand when it comes to gaining assurance regarding our acceptance before God. But the substance of all of those things is Christ. Christ is the fulfillment of the weekly Sabbath. Christ is the fulfillment of the new moon, the monthly celebrations which are detailed in the old testament. Christ is the fulfillment of the annual feasts of Passover and of Pentecost, the first fruits and the feast of weeks which is the culmination of the Jewish year. Christ is the fulfillment of all of these things. It is the finished work of Christ in its twofold nature that the Christian stands upon and which is the ground of the Christian's assurance. This is critical. For your experience of the freedom that Christ has secured for you, the ground upon which you stand, the basis of your assurance, the basis of your acceptance with God is not something you do but what Christ has done. But Christ has done both in his life of perfect obedience. He has fulfilled the law. In its dietary manifestations, in its priestly manifestations, in its celebrative manifestations, Christ has fulfilled it all. And that finished work, his obeying the law is the ground upon which you stand. You don't stand on the ground of your own performance. You stand on the ground of Christ's performance. A furthermore, Christ has been thrust up onto the cross. It's what Paul has talked about in 11 and following. He was circumcised. He was cut off. That's why that whole argument is so important in his flesh. He bore all of your sins and being thrust up upon the cross and having the wrath of God visited upon him. He has secured forgiveness for all who will believe in him. The ground upon which you stand is Christ's having faithfully performed all of the requirements of the law. And he's having faithfully gone to the cross bearing all of your sins. That's the ground upon which you stand. Not something you do, his performance, not yours, don't let any man, any man, require anything of you for your assurance in addition to Christ. That is the violation of the gospel. That is the violation of the gospel. Strand number two, adherence to a moral or ethical code, something you must do. Strand number three, a religious experience of some kind. Or say teen, don't let anybody cheat you out of your reward, taking delight in false humility and the worship of angels, introducing or intruding into those things which he has seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind and not holding fast to the head. It seems that in Colossians, while it's difficult to ascertain exactly what it is that these folks were advocating, it seems that they were claiming a unique religious experience, a unique religious experience. And they were making that religious experience again, a ground upon which to stand. It was a religious experience which either included witnessing the worship of angels. In other words, some sort of ecstatic experience by which people were given access into the heavenly realm and allowed to peer into the worship of the angels as they worshiped God. Or it was an experience which included their own worship of angels as intermediaries between themselves and God. But in either case, they were claiming to have seen things. They were claiming to have had an experience which the Colossians had not had. The effect of this was the appearance of great spiritual humility. You're been around people like that? You've been around folks like that. I remember when I was a young Christian, very young Christian, didn't know anything, knew nothing, just knew that something had happened in my life. And I went to this Bible study and these people were teaching and it was a very interesting phenomenon. It was perplexing to me for a long time. They would do some teaching and then two or three of them would go off into a back room and they'd have a special prayer meeting with a couple of people and then they'd come back out and they'd do some more teaching and then they had another little special prayer meeting and they'd bring people into that special prayer meeting and they'd pray for them. But not everybody gained access. You see, there was some sort of experience that was going on back there and there were initiates. There were those who had access into that back room and there were others who were excluded from it. And the appearance that these folks gave was one of great humility and the more you were around them, the more it became evident that they weren't humble at all. They were extraordinarily proud of their peculiar religious experience. And the effect of it was to create a separation, a division among Christians, a two-class system where there are initiates and non- initiates. And it is this experience, whatever it was, that gets you into the inner loop on the inside of the real workings of the Gospel and the Church. No, Paul says, Christ is the head and here he means that he is the source, not simply an authority, but head can be translated either as an authority or as a source. And here he means for people to understand that Christ is the source. He himself, not some additional religious experience. Something over and above Christ. Christ, again, is all you need. How many times has Paul tried to remind these folks that Christ is the fullness, two-nine in him dwells all of the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Christ is all you need. You don't need another religious experience apart from Christ. Do we need experiences with Christ? Yes, yes, but not an experience apart from Christ. That is what these collarsions were hearing. And strand number four, very quickly, religious asceticisms. They were advocating a strict separation and a strict separation from association with the world. A strict divorcing of their lives from the world. Don't touch, don't taste, don't handle. There's a progression in that. Touch means to embrace, to lay hold of, to grasp. They say, don't touch, don't embrace, don't lay hold of and don't taste these things and don't even handle these things. Don't have any contact at all with things that might contaminate you. A strict religious asceticism, a withdrawing from the world and from any contact with the world that might even hint or suggest that one is contaminated by the world. Folks, asceticism has never worked. Paul makes that clear in verse 23, says, these things have the appearance of wisdom in a self-imposed religion and humility and then neglected the body, but they are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh. How many of you have said, I'm never going to do that again. I did that once and I'm never going to do that again. I'm going to deny myself. I'm going to deny myself. I'm going to cut myself off. I'm going to remove myself. I'm going to get myself away from this or from that or from the other thing. How many of you have done that every single one of us? I'll never do that again and we cut ourselves off and remove ourselves from these things, but have you seen the bumper sticker? The bumper sticker that says, no matter where you go, there you are. Religious asceticism has never worked because no matter where you go, there you are and you are the problem, not the world and you need the Christ who saved you in the first place to be the one who mortifies puts to death the sin that is in your flesh gradually over time. Wherever ascetics have gone in the life of the church, they have taken themselves with them. There's sinful inclinations and so an attempt at strict religious asceticism cutting myself off, separating myself from the world doesn't work. It never has worked and it is not religious asceticism that will secure a piece between me and God, a piece at the level of conscience. See what Paul is pressing home here again. Is this question? What is the ground of your acceptance? What is the ground of your acceptance with God? What is the foundation upon which you stand? Is your assurance to be found in what you know? Is your assurance to be found in what you do? Is your assurance to be found in some religious experience? Is your assurance to be found in some denial? Is peace with God accomplished by these things? Paul would say no, no, a thousand times no. The problem here, the problem that these Colossian Christians were being confronted with in a nutshell is this, they were being encouraged to focus upon themselves rather than upon Christ who was their sufficiency in his person and in his work. You know what happens? When we focus upon ourselves, we start performing and you know what happens when we start performing one of two things it will always happen when you focus on yourself, when we focus upon one another rather than the work of Christ, one of two things will happen. You will grow smug and self-righteous because of your success or you will be crushed by your failure. You will grow smug and self-righteous because of your success or you will be crushed by your failure. You see what Paul is pressing home is that the ground of our acceptance with God and I have to press this down to the level of our fellowship as well. The ground of our acceptance with God and hear this, the ground of our acceptance with one another is not our performance but Christ himself. I am accepted by God on the basis of the finished work of Christ and brothers and sisters. I accept you and you accept me. We embrace one another on the same ground, not. Performance, not performance. I have been greatly encouraged by the game of baseball recently. Someone mentioned the other day that people are paid millions and millions of dollars to fail 70% of the time. I have been greatly encouraged that a person could be paid so much money to fail but you know as a Christian it is greatly encouraging to me to know that at every level and you know this is true and I know this is true. It is not a 70% failure with me and the ground of my acceptance with God and with you and the reason I get an extended contract is not because I succeed 30% of the time but the ground of my acceptance with God and with you is the perfect righteousness and sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Let no man judge you regarding what you know, what you do, what you experience or what you deny. These are not the basis of acceptance before God or with one another but it is that the finished work of Christ. Let us pray together. Father God give your people a great apprehension of the sufficiency of Christ, what he has done, what he knows, what he has experienced and what he has denied himself, that for us there might be freedom and liberty and joy in the gospel. Set your people's hearts to singing as we gather about this table and now, O Lord, we do come. And the one hand is those who have been entirely and completely forgiven and yet as those who know that their sins are real but because of the finished work of Christ we come with gladness freely acknowledging before you that we are sinners and glad to come to this table where we may be reminded yet again of the sufficiency of your Son. Here are prayers as we confess our sins together.