The Scripture reading this morning comes from Colossians chapter 2, beginning at verse 16. Please stand for the reading of God's Word. Therefore, let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. 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. 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. These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. If in you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. You may be seated. Father in heaven help us in the moments that we have to see that liberty that we have in Christ, that we have been set free from all of the images we have of what it means to be constricted and constrained in our Christian living and instead to be free to love and to live for you. Help us to see that our greatest happiness comes this way. Help us to see that the rules don't work and why they don't work and help us to live with the one true rule, the rule of Christ raining in our hearts for we pray in his name. Amen. Well, this passage sounds pretty negative, doesn't it? It seems that when you first read it, it's telling us a lot of things we should not do. Don't touch this. Don't look at that for heaven's sakes. Don't go near that. Or as Paul says in chapter 2 verse 21, do not handle. Do not taste. Do not touch. Now, I'm going to try and show you, however, that though there is this decidedly negative tone, it appears to the passage. Paul's actual point is something very positive and very, very thrilling. And it's about your happiness and about the ability of Jesus and the gospel to provide to you more of that happiness than you might ever have thought. But first, let's just make sure we understand the general flow of what is here. What are the negatives that Paul is talking about? He is speaking out against those ways of doing church that had taken hold of the people in Colossi. There was a kind of overheated spirituality that was basically saying that if you're going to be a Christian, you're going to have to learn to live it out in two ways prescribed by these very spiritual teachers that were there. The first way concerns food and drink and holy days. And some were saying that if you want to be a Christian, you had to eat and drink certain things or more likely not eat and drink certain things. And you had to go to church or otherwise make a big deal of certain probably Jewish holidays. The second thing that some were pushing on the Colossians was what Paul calls a satisism and the worship of angels going on about visions that they add and generally being quite arrogant, super spiritual people who definitely come out sounding very holy and certainly holier than now. Perhaps you know the type I do. I don't like them. Christians who know better have always been on their guard about such whooped up spirituality and the rules that go with it. It is right to be suspicious of man-made ideas that aren't in the Bible about how we're to live. Though wisest teachers in the church for the last many hundreds of years have said that it is always best not to require what the Bible does not directly command. In other words, if the Bible does not teach us that something is expressly forbidden we have no right to forbid it. Now I suppose that is simple and somewhat easy example is smoking. Smoking is a dumb thing to do but the Bible doesn't forbid it so neither can we. Some say the Bible tells us to take care of our bodies and since the bodies the temple of the Holy Spirit that's a pretty good argument against smoking. Yes it is but it would be a stronger argument when the Bible speaks directly about some unhealthy thing like for example drinking too much alcohol. Alcohol is not forbidden by scripture. Indeed arguably the moderate use of alcohol is actually recommended in some cases but drunkenness and the excessive need for my evening cocktail that's a problem but arguing against legalism and especially getting into debates about whether it's okay to have a second glass of wine with dinner. Isn't really very helpful and it would distract from what is Paul's central teaching here which I've already tried to tell you isn't the negatives it's the positives and here they are this is where Paul is going with two positive points that he speaks against the legalists in colossi one what is the one thing you need for your happiness and two how do you hold on to this one thing first what is the one thing you need for real happiness or what the old Puritan writers used to call spiritual exhilaration what is the one thing you need to be that kind of person Paul says it is the difference between the shadow and the substance as he puts it in verse 17 these are the shadow of the things to come speaking of all these rules and regulations but the substance belongs to Christ all man-made rules are a shadow of the real thing they imitate the real life but they're not real think about the image of a shadow for a moment me and my shadow that's a song we still sing with our Becca maybe it's a good song for all of us to sing now and then if it would help us understand that the shadow is transitory when the sun goes behind the cloud the shadow is gone so Paul is saying that all of these teachings about food about drink about holidays angels and visions they have no permanence they have no relationship to the real thing they belong to the old order of things a transitory order that does not help us today that's what he's saying he is saying that a shadow is anything that you put at the center of your focus of faith and living anything that you put in the place of Jesus or in addition to Jesus anything you could call this as my colleague Bill Lambert reminded me this week the Jesus plus anything you of the Christian life Jesus plus the right house in the right neighborhood Jesus plus success and prominence in my career Jesus plus happy popular achieving and well-behaved kids Jesus plus that perfect beach which I for one have been looking for for the last 30 years Jesus plus being beautiful Jesus plus performing up to the expectations of others now some of these are better or worse in themselves but the problem is is that all of them are only shadows they're not the substance and therefore if we hold on to them too tightly they become new legalisms Jesus plus beauty or wealth for the right house as the measure of my happiness or Jesus plus well-behaved kids as a standard of my Christian maturity now don't get me wrong there's nothing wrong with well-brushed kids there's nothing wrong with having a well-decorated home the problem is when these things become what you need in order to live and experience what Paul calls in this larger section fullness or the full life to the degree that any good thing or any bad thing for that matter is tacked on to Jesus then to that degree we are living in the shadow and not the substance and the problem is you see that Jesus plus anything is a prescription for unhappiness shadows are fun but they're not real base our lives on them and we are in trouble when trouble comes on the cloudy day when the kids disappoint us or or even embarrass us with their their their their behavior or when the family financial picture changes or when we're not as pretty or as handsome as we used to be on a cloudy day like that what good is the shadow the permanent substance belongs to Jesus Christ and he is described by Paul in verse 19 as the head the head from whom the whole body nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments grows with a growth that is from God now this is what Paul's famous body image he uses it at least four times in the New Testament Romans 1 Corinthians Ephesians and here but why does he bring it in precisely here because Christians who live by Jesus plus anything are patterning are patterning their lives in such a way that the end result is they're going to lose their head without the head the body can't live but you can get along without a finger or even an arm or a leg or one kidney or one lung or your gall bladder but you cannot get along without your head it's Christ who gives life and leadership like the head does to the whole body and by the way that's what the word head means and if we had more time we would go into it life and leadership come from the head and so Paul says if you have Christ's head then verse 18 let no one disqualify you the way we might put it today is let no one put you down because your kids your bank account your yard artists together or full or pretty as someone else's we live in a world where it is absolutely impossible not to compare yourself to the people around you I suppose that is true anywhere in the world but frankly dear friends in north Dallas we have made it an art form
comparison with one another is the way we live out our ordinary days you cannot take a pleasant evening walk down your street with your wife or your children without your mind constantly being filled with comparisons oh look at that they just had their yard redone oh but you know I mean on and on and on let no one put you down hold to the head the substance the one person who really matters why because nothing else really works to change us nothing else gives us real happiness if you're caught in a comparison game you already know how really unhappy that is because the minute you think you've got something that's better than the ones that you were comparing yourself and what you got to last week there's something else to look at that turns your head
and it doesn't help us in the most substantial and real issue of all which is me and you and what's really going on in our hearts look at verse 23 the end of chapter 2 all these rules he says all these regulations all these Jesus plus anything they indeed have the appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh now don't misunderstand Paul here Christian liberty doesn't mean you're just free from all these old rules and you should never care about what you do or how you live or how you really do keep under control the work of the evil one in using your own flesh no he's going to go on to talk more about that in chapter 3 but what he says here is all of our Jesus plus ways of thinking have the appearance of wisdom i mean i mean after all who can argue with having well balanced children that's wise but it actually misses the real issue to become something that is a self-made religion means that it has no power to change me and the problem therefore with all of the rules don't touch don't drink don't look and all the Jesus plus things is that they do not work in the end they do not slow down the indulgence of the flesh i am all for Christian discipline and we're going to talk more about that as we move back into chapter 3 and especially into chapter 4 i'm all for doing the things that help us grow in Christ that are the disciplines that set the limits on our lives but don't misunderstand Paul's point all of those disciplines are the shadow not the substance unless they are intricately linked to Jesus himself Paul's first point is Jesus plus anything will not work to give you happiness the second point is much shorter and it's to be continued next week point one what is the one thing you need for real happiness or spiritual acceleration and the second point how do you begin to hold on to this one thing and Paul's answer is by deliberately substituting the one thing you need in the place of all those things you think you need to be happy by deliberately developing a discipline of mind first that says every time you move in your mind toward thinking i want i need i must have you always stop and say no i'm going to substitute another thought the end of the last service someone pointed out to me this won't work for the people upstairs that are watching on tv but for the rest of you i want you to think about that banner that's right there now i want you to stop thinking about it stop looking at it stop thinking about why i ask you to look at it stop giving it any regard at all actually it's very hard isn't it the issue is the only thing that works to help you stop thinking about one thing is to start thinking about another and the only thing that's going to get you to stop thinking about the anything in the anything plus Jesus equation is the Jesus part of the equation it is only understanding your relationship to Jesus Christ that can slow down the indulgence in the flesh and here you need to hear me it is not just that you have a relationship with Jesus i've been around the evangelical church for over 40 years and i will tell you that if you ask a hundred people what it means to have a relationship with Jesus you will get a hundred different answers i am concerned about the biblical answer to that issue the biblical definition of what it means to have a relationship with Jesus and what it means is expressly given in this passage in two verses chapter 2 verse 20 and chapter 3 verse 1 220 if with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world chapter 3 verse 1 if then you have been raised with Christ keep seeking the things that are above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God you have died with Christ to all the shadowy elemental things you have been raised with Christ to seek better things that he calls here heavenly things and we'll talk more about what that means next week what makes you a Christian is not that you're living in a certain way though change will and should happen if we are true Christians what makes you a Christian is that you are in Christ hidden with Christ as we said from chapter 3 verse 3 is the theme of a whole book it means that when God sees you he sees you as one with Jesus that he looks at you as one who has already died with Jesus and already been raised with Jesus you died with Christ this means that God sees you as free from the guilt of wrong as if you had paid the price by dying on the cross yourself that's the way he views you right now it is already paid there is no condemnation you were raised with Christ what does that mean obviously it's a metaphor because I know that I'm still I know I haven't died I know I haven't risen again in a literal sense but in an actual sense in God's eyes I have I have been raised to the place where Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father and this right hand that's of course a metaphor too think of what happened when a king would send out his son on a mission and the king comes back victorious in the old days he was noble he was brave he was wise he's competent he accomplished the mission what does the king do the father's heart bursts with pride and delight and he puts his son to his right the highest and best place of honor in the kingdom now Jesus has this place in the kingdom to the right of the Father but now he says you are with him there you've been raised with him that means that God delights in you as if you had done everything his son has already done listen to this next sentence a billion years from now God will not love you one tiny bit more than he does right now if you are in Christ it has already happened it has already been accomplished Christians today do not understand this they think of their relationship with Jesus as a warm feeling in their heart when they pray to him or sing or something but we do not understand the substantial teaching of the New Testament which is that what makes you as a Christian is that you have been united to Christ in his death and resurrection so that what happened to Jesus has actually happened to you in God's eyes and unless you know these things and unless they begin to grip your heart then yourself image or the approval you have from others or your kids behavior or your own appearance will form your sense of yourself everyone has a sense of themselves everyone does of course the question is where does it come from the answer is it comes from the gospel which is not just that I give God a good record and he then gives me a new life of course not know the gospel is that God gives me in and with Jesus Christ and because of Jesus Christ a perfect record and we begin to live an altogether new life a life of delight and desire because we're changed you have to know that these things are true of you you have to substitute these true substantial things for all the shadowy things all the Jesus plus anything that you think will make you happy the house you want to build in Colorado will not make you happy it won't buying a new car every year will not make you have spiritual exhilaration it will not I promise you on the basis of God's word now we're going to have to talk more about this next week than if you decide to show up after this because in some ways what I've been saying here is only a tease I've been saying you have to substitute your true identity for this false shadowy one but we really have to talk more about how to do that but still you've got enough to think about here don't you because you have died and been raised with Christ you are a new person because you've substituted by God's grace something else someone else for the anything plus model you can begin to think about what it means to stop indulging your flesh not out of duty but out of delight that's why you can be happy in Jesus is because serving Jesus no longer becomes a duty I do in order to earn God's favor but it becomes the delight out of the favor I have already been given and that difference is the difference that will start a revival in this country because evangelical Christians don't understand it and if we get a whole of that idea it will begin to change the way we relate to everything so I laid a little guilt on you before I started about the hurricane release thing didn't I Jesus plus volunteering for hurricane relief that's it isn't it no Jesus is everything now out of the delight of what Jesus has done for you and who you are in him as united with him in his death and resurrection and because a billion years from now he won't love you anymore now go waste your life for Jesus give it away out of joy and delight there's a wrong way and there's a right way to try to stop indulging the flesh the wrong way is with rules look some of you know I've been through one heck of a few months and it's been a great few months but it's been a hard few months and one of the things that is a resolve of that is that I now go to the gym three times a week I am so tough now you wouldn't believe it but you know what all of the self discipline about what I eat and making sure I eat enough protein and making sure I lift the right weights and even got this cute little Christian girl as a trainer who's helping me to do all of that it's great it's great but it doesn't do a thing for dealing with the indulgences of the flesh and where my heart is and what I'm giving my heart to you know what the best way to do it is I want to work out because I want to be strong so I can love the one who has loved me from the other months that's a better way to think about physical exercise or the things you eat or the disciplines that you have in your life there's a right way and a wrong way to try and stop the indulging of the flesh the wrong way is with rules you turn over a new leaf and you find out the leaf is just as dirty on the other side the right way is knowing that Jesus shines brighter in your heart than anything else and that because he lives you live too and you can begin to live on all together new life I got an email this week part of a list of others who received it an account from an Alabama trucker let me read it to you I was stuck in traffic on interstate 81 near Bristol Tennessee due to a traffic accident which involved a tanker truck hauling hazardous material that developed a leak which meant that we weren't going anywhere for several hours I sent my brakes on the trucking dot out to stretch my legs other truck drivers did the same and at one point there were five of us standing there by my truck complaining sitting right next to me in the left lane were two elderly people in a solverado pickup truck which was loaded quite well the man Joe lowered his window and asked what was going on regarding the traffic situation ahead soon we were all talking with this couple the lady Anna said that she had plenty of water and soda and the cooler in the bed of the truck and offered everyone present something while she was back there she said she had plenty of tuna salad made up and asked if we would be interested in a sandwich after submerging from Joe we agreed to a sandwich while Anna was making the sandwiches on the tailgate of the truck she was singing like a songbird she must have been close to 80 I guess but she had a remarkable voice when she finished making the sandwiches and putting everything up Joe raised the tailgate of the truck to close it I noticed a Mississippi license plate on it and inquired as to what part of Mississippi they were from Joe said Baloxie knowing that Baloxie had been ravaged by Hurricane Katrina I ask if they sustained any damage Joe said they lost everything but what they had on and what was in the pickup all of us drivers unsuccessfully tried to pay them for their drinks and the sandwiches they would have none of it Joe said that their son was living in Harrisonburg for gin and they were going there to start over starting over at their age wouldn't be easy I soon will be 48 years old and I have to tell you that I have never eaten a tuna sandwich with side orders of reality and humility like that before these people lost everything except the pictures most important documents and some clothes Joe had managed to get their antique grandfather's clock into the bed of the truck and Anna got her china and silverware but that was all these wonderful people lost practically everything they owned and still they would not accept any money for their food and drinks Joe said it was better to give than it is to receive he also said that they had sought refuge during the hurricane in a small block building on their property that he had built years ago and they watched their belongings their home everything they had disappeared in the winds of Hurricane Katrina Joe said that during all of this he had one hand holding on to Anna and the other holding on to God only their truck what was in it and themselves came out of Katrina unscathed as I said before Anna was singing a song while making the sandwiches the song is titled because he lives it's an old gospel song she knew every word and was quite a gifted singer have you heard it the chorus of this song goes like this because he lives I can face tomorrow because he lives all fear is gone because I know he holds the future and life is living just because he lives there is no doubt in my mind who was holding Joe and Anna's lives in his
and not just during the hurricane the trucker adds but now too and tomorrow too being a Christian isn't just believing in Jesus it is knowing that you died with Jesus and that you have been raised with Jesus so that God looks on you as if these things have already and actually happened to you and then and then life is worth living just because he lives