Sermon Brief
Date Written: Sept 25, 2014
Date Preached: Sept 28, 2014
Where Preached: OPBC (AM)
Sermon Details:
Series Title: We Serve the SAME God
Sermon Title: We Serve the SAME Purpose!
Sermon Text: Colossians 2:1-23 [ESV]
Introduction:
Over the past few weeks we have learned that Paul was excited about the church at Colossae. He had heard about their faith and how they had been serving Christ and penetrating that city with the Gospel.
He wrote this letter to speak to some problems Epaphras had raised in a letter to him and Paul instructed these believers that they ALL served the SAME God and that they were all on the same team…
Paul told them that God had called all of them out of sin and had also called ALL of them to ‘get in the game’ in serving God. God had called them but God provided a leader FOR the church in Jesus Christ!
Jesus was the centerpiece of God’s ultimate plan for redemption of His creation! Jesus completed God’s plan when He died on the Cross of Calvary and was raised to life for the eternal life of those who would trust in Him.
Paul stressed that Jesus WAS and IS our leader in the church, and2 weeks ago we heard how:
Paul revealed that Jesus is our Creator…he is God!
He also revealed that Jesus is our deliverer and has delivered us from the dark domain of the Evil One.
Then Paul taught that Jesus is the very cornerstone of our faith
Paul let the church know WHO Jesus WAS but he then went on to let them know WHAT He had done FOR them!
Jesus is the ONE who has reconciled us!
Jesus is the ONE who restores us from our broken, sinful state back to our original created order.
Jesus is the ONE who is revealed to the world around us when we are reconciled and restored!
We have learned that we are on the same side, & Jesus is our leader. We know WHO He is and WHAT He has done as our leader… but what is our PURPOSE in serving God? Why do we follow our leader, Jesus?
This morning we are going to look at Col 2 and we will see our purpose for serving Jesus? Turn with me to Col 2 as I read from the ESV…
Now in 1:27 Paul states the purpose of his ministry to the church in Colossae. His purpose was to reveal to the Gentiles the mystery of God which IS Christ Jesus!
So, when we get to Ch2 we see in the 1st 5 verses Paul actually restates his purpose, but he adds something to it… he adds what he knows to be benefits OF His ministry…
Paul purpose was to share Christ with a lost/broken world, and he understood that the Church was God’s instrument to share Jesus with the world so… the church must be healthy. In ch 2 we find Paul calling on the church to be…
ONE Body GROWING Spiritually v1-5
1For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, 2that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ, 3in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 4I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. 5For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ.
Now already know that Paul had laid out WHO Jesus was and WHAT He had done for them! This was Paul’s purpose, to reveal Christ…to make known the mystery of God. In 2:2 Paul restates his purpose for ministry…
But in 2:2 we find Paul emphasizing 3 results in knowing Jesus:
…that their hearts may be encouraged… Knowing Jesus as Paul had revealed Him served to encourage and uplift the hearts of those in the fellowship. Jesus was deliverer, creator, and cornerstone of our faith. This was a message of encouragement!
This encouragement by Paul was not a shallow labor to make them feel better about themselves, but it was a strategic effort on his part to bring about a unity in Christ among the fellowship.
I don’t know about you, but I find it a great joy and encouragement to know I am going to come together as ONE voice to worship on Sundays! It comforts my soul!
It IS a joy to come together & worship Christ & to hear the message of Jesus and WHAT He has done for us! AMEN! Does knowing who Jesus is and what he has done encourage your heart today? Can I get an amen up in here?
When we focus on Him, we are encouraged! When we are encouraged, we feel the unity of His love and it reveals a sense of family among the believers! It is then when we see each other as brothers and sisters IN Christ!
However, Paul did not only desire to encourage but he also desired to bind them together in love…
…being knit together in love…
Paul was always echoing the teaching of Jesus in his ministry. Jesus taught that the world should know the church by their love for one another and Paul calls these believers to rally them around each other in love.
When we find ourselves in a group where love overflows, we work better together, and God is glorified! However, where love does not flourish, division comes easy and God is NOT lifted up… and Jesus is NOT revealed through our lives!
Paul knew that unity only came thru the love of Christ reflected in the lives of those who serve Him! Unity only comes thru the love of Christ.
Paul encouraged them and sought to unify them in love, but finally Paul wanted them to UNDERSTAND and KNOW Christ because in knowing the real Christ, no false teacher could lead them astray!
…to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ…
Paul’s mission was to make known the mysteries of God… Jesus WAS God wrapped up in flesh and Jesus was God’s redemptive plan for humanity. So many were confused about God’s plan for redemption.
They were looking forward to a Messiah that was going to free them… but they did not see the Messiah as God had planned… they had put their own view on the Messiah.
He was going to be a physical King who delivered them in battle and re-established Israel as a superpower in the world… just like David and Solomon had done.
However, Paul preached a much different message. He preached about this man named Jesus! Jesus said in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth and the life, no man comes to the Father except through Me.” To know Jesus was to know the TRUTH! Paul knew this and taught this and he wanted the believers in Colossae to understand that TRUTH was only found IN Christ…
Paul wanted them to see Jesus for who He truly was and he had tried to put forward a far different picture than the Jewish leaders were teaching OR what these false teachers were putting forth… he wanted them to see Jesus as he saw Jesus… In Jesus we have all we need, he shares that in v3:
3in whom [Jesus] are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
He did not want these believers seeking for truth from anyone who did NOT preach Jesus as Messiah! He wanted them to know Jesus as Messiah and he wanted them to know that Jesus was ALL they would need. He makes this clear in: 4I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments.
Paul called the believers to be encouraged, drawn together in love and unity AND to truly KNOW Jesus. Paul stressed that, as believers, we are ALL on the same side, that we are all serving the same God, that we are all celebrating the SAME Savior! So Paul calls them to grow in the knowledge of that Savior who is Jesus!
He wanted them to grow spiritually by knowing Jesus, but he also want to make sure they…
KNEW where they had come from v6-15
6Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. 8See 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.
First Paul speaks about the glorious deliverance we receive in Jesus. He points out to the Colossians that they had come to know Jesus and that any teaching that diminished Jesus as Savior should NOT deceive them…
He describes that kind of teaching as “…philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ…”
The philosophy Paul speaks of here is defined by his use of the Greek word, phil-oss-oh-phee-ah which is a thirst for knowledge. The focus of this discipline is MORE about the accumulation of knowledge than it is truth… In Philosophic thought truth often is relegated to subjectivity and context… often not thought of as an absolute!
Paul also uses the phrase ‘empty deceit’ which literally means DEVOID of spiritual truth… in other words, the philosophy of man does not lead you to God. It is only the TRUTH found in Christ that can lead you to God! Paul says DO NOT be fooled by the empty philosophy of humanity…
Why? Because human philosophy is founded on the ‘elemental principles of this world’… Human philosophy is not grounded in the supernatural truth of Christ but on the earthly and worldly traditions and thoughts of humanity…
Jesus was and IS the only truth we need and in v9-12 Paul reveals that all we need is what we have in Christ!
9For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. 11In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.
When we come to Jesus as Savior, we are made WHOLE and restored to our Creator! However, Paul wants to remind these believers that their deliverance was FROM an eternity without God!
They had been delivered by THE deliverer! Reconciled by the One who is able to reconcile! Restored by the ONLY One who can restore us back to our state of innocence and purity before God!
In v13-16 Paul once again describes what our deliverance looks like: 13And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.
…And you, who were dead in your trespasses...
First we were DEAD…lifeless without hope… the picture here is that of a lifeless body at the bottom of the ocean. There is NO hope for such a situation, and this is what we were when we were outside of God’s grace!
Second, Paul says…and the uncircumcision of your flesh… He is saying that we were part of the ‘UN-circumcision’ which means those who were OUTSIDE of the covenant of God. God’s covenant with Israel was made evident thru circumcision of the flesh. God’s covenant thru Jesus is made evident in the circumcision of the heart!
Paul is saying that without Jesus we are OUTSIDE of God’s grace filled covenant made possible thru what Jesus accomplished on the Cross and thru His resurrection!
Third, Paul tells us that our lifeless spiritual existence has changed because of what Christ has done and we are brought TO life thru Him. Paul says we are …made alive together with him… meaning that God himself thru Jesus has granted us LIFE from death!
We were DEAD in our sin, we were OUTSIDE of God’s covenant, but God in His love for us made us ALIVE through Christ Jesus!
Fourth, Paul speaks of the forgiveness of our sin. …having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. Our separation from God IS because of our sinful nature. Sin brings death, but Christ brings forgiveness of sin and forgiveness of sin brings spiritual life! Our eternal life in Christ is only possible through the forgiveness of our sin!
Paul explains that the forgiveness of sin is the canceling of our sin debt! Jesus paid the price we owed in our sinful state. Jesus took the weight of our sin on his shoulders and received on himself the punishment of all sin…
Scripture tells us that HE became sin for us… He took the sin of our heart and canceled it out by his work on the Cross!
Paul tells us that Jesus TOOK our sin and set it aside, nailing it to the cross! Meaning that it was GONE forever from our hearts, never to be seen again. Our sin is crucified on the cross… Our sin dies a death when it meets Jesus. We are freed FROM our sin.
Finally Paul speaks of Jesus’ actions on the Cross and how they demoralize and torment Satan and those who follow him. Satan knows that there is NOTHING he can do about those who receive Jesus as Savior…15He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.
Jesus has stripped Satan of all his power against us. When we come to know Christ as Savior, Satan is helpless against us! Like Paul says in Rom 8… WHO CAN SEPARATE US? No one, no power… in heaven or earth.
So, we have come from hopeless and lifeless death to be set apart by God as victors over the rulers of this world… victors because of Christ Jesus our Savior!
Paul wanted these believers to 1) be one body growing spiritually and 2) to remember WHERE they came from, but for the body to grow and be healthy, Paul also wanted them to be able to…
DISCERN Godly from Religious v16-19
16Therefore 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. 17These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. 18Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, up without reason by his sensuous mind, 19and 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.
Living out our Christian faith and serving Jesus is about a relationship with Him, far more than it is about observing some set of rules and regulations…
These false teachers were trying to influence the church were all about the THINGS they did, the rituals they held, the actions they took… things like what you ate, where you worshiped, and what days you celebrated! These men were more focused on what to believe in that they lost sight of WHO they believed in! The what of our faith can NEVER trump the WHO!
So Paul is warning these believers that serving God is not about the ‘what’…things like rules and regulations but it is all about the ‘who’… meaning we are submissive to Christ and seeking to grow our relationship WITH Christ! 16Therefore 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. 17These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.
Paul reveals that all the ‘things’ these men were teaching were mere ‘shadows’ of who God was… However, IN CHRIST the true substance of God can be found! In other words, your relationship with Christ is ENOUGH!
In v18 Paul said, 18Let no one disqualify you… meaning that they discounted your relationship with God because you were not doing what they deemed necessary to do…
Paul wants to encourage the Colossian church that in Christ they did NOT have to rely on what the false teachers taught as pathways to God, in fact he tells them they cannot rely on things like:
…insisting on asceticism… Asceticism or a life filled with meaningless gestures seeking to win the approval of God.
…and worship of angels… Worship of angels but do not worship the One who created the angels
…going on in detail about visions… Focusing on their own visions, and not seeking God’s guidance
…up without reason by his sensuous mind… Our own sensuous mind, which focuses on our own pleasures instead of seeking to please the ONE who saved us
That Jesus was not central to redemption/salvation…19and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished These false teachers rejected Jesus Christ as the Head of the Church!
Don’t let anyone disqualify you based on these false indicators…
Don’t let anyone tell you that Jesus is NOT enough!
Paul wanted the church to understand it was about a relationship with Jesus NOT rituals or adhering to regulations. In other words, it is NOT about being religious… it is about being godly.
When it comes to the difference between being religious or being godly, it is always matter of the heart. It comes down to WHY you are doing what you are doing…Is it for Jesus or is it to fulfill an obligation? A religious life seeks to ‘do’ things to fulfill an obligation, hoping gain God’s favor!
A godly life seeks a closer relationship with Jesus enhance and improve their walk with Him… it is a Spirit empowered walk, seeking to know, and grow closer to Jesus.
Are you seeking to live a religious life OR are you pursuing a godly life? Your focus will reveal what kind of life you are living! Living a godly life is NOT about checking a box, but its about being Spirit filled and seeking Christ in all we do…
Finally, Paul speaks to another aspect of our mutual purpose in Christ and that is that we FREE in Him! Look at v20-23 with me:
We must UNDERSTAND Freedom in Christ v20-23
20If 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— 21“Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” 22referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? 23These 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.
In v20 we find Paul looking at the believers at Colossae and asking them the question, “Why would you entangle yourself in regulation when you have freedom in Christ?” in v21 he details what most ritual or regulation require when he says: “Don’t handle, don’t taste, don’t touch…”
Paul is saying that You have died to your old self and have identified with Jesus… and what Paul is saying here is that if you have identified with Jesus in this manner…why would you feel you need MORE than Jesus?
Paul then explains his question by stating in v22 22referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? In other words, all the things these teachers are saying is necessary to be ‘spiritual’ & connect you with God… ALL of those things are temporary & meaningless in the eternal scope of things.
23These 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.
These things may seem important and appear to be the wise thing to do… but only to human tradition! But Paul states that these things are self-made religion and have NO value for your walk in Christ…
What Paul is saying here is that we are free in Christ and we should NOT get entangled in seeking after useless things. We must put aside those meaningless things and focus on what is eternal!
Why? Well Paul gives the reason: …but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh…
What does Paul mean when he says that these things are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh? He means that the human condition naturally indulges our desires and the things these men were teaching would not prevent them from indulging in their desires… or sinning.
Paul says that in Christ we are changed and redeemed and have the power from Him to keep us from indulging in these selfish desires of the flesh!
So if we are FREE in Christ why are we weighing ourselves down with needless and useless ritual or regulation?
My friends, what does your life look like… the final 2 points for this sermon are really overlapping points. We are free in Christ so we don’t have to weigh ourselves down with needless/useless ritual… this frees us to live a godly life instead of being forced into a life of ritual and regulation and RELIGION! Religion does NOT save us… GOD saves!
Conclusion:
We are ONE body and have ONE purpose… to serve Christ by making Him known to the world around us… as Paul stated, we are called to reveal the mystery of God which is Jesus Christ!
We are ONE body, serving the SAME purpose and we must be focused on growing as a body, which is knowing Christ more and more! When we know Christ, we are encouraged and it enables us to grow in love with one another as we seek HIM and not our own selfish desires!
We are ONE body serving the SAME purpose, but we must remember where we came from and what we were delivered FROM by Jesus. We were once OUTSIDE of God’s grace, Paul calls it the ‘uncircumcision’… Paul says we were ‘dead in our trespasses’ a lifeless soul going NO where but God in his grace rescued us and brought us into His kingdom.
One Body serving the SAME purpose thru growing in Him and remembering from where He has rescued us, but we are also ONE body serving the SAME purpose understanding the difference between being religious and living a godly life!
In Christ we can also discern that by living a godly life we don’t put stock in religion but on our relationship with Jesus. This frees us to serve Him in areas where ‘religion’ or ‘religious restriction’ will hinder how we serve him…
We are no longer a slave to ritual or regulation for we have come to know the freedom that IS Jesus Christ. Jesus paid the price and has called us to live FOR Him…
Jesus tells us that we are to take HIS yoke upon OUR lives… for it is not heavy but light… Jesus does NOT bring ritual and restriction, but brings freedom to serve God as He deserves you to serve!
So what can we learn from chapter 2 of this letter? We can understand that this was Paul clarifying some points he had already made in this letter… YES we are called by God to the same team! Yes we are called by God to ‘get in the game’! Yes, Jesus is the leader and cornerstone of our faith!
So, because our calling and who Jesus is and what He has done, we can know we are ONE body called to grow in Him, to never forget where God rescued us from, to seek godliness and not religion and finally to realize and experience our freedom in Christ (don’t allow Satan to box you in with ritual or regulation)
This morning you have heard the Gospel message in many ways. You have heard it through the songs we have sung… songs like Hosanna, O Worship the King, and Lord I need you…
You have heard the Gospel message through the Lord’s Supper revealing what Christ has done for you!
You have heard the Gospel message through this sermon as Paul stresses love and unity within the fellowship and how we are called to live holy/godly and not religiously! You have heard that ‘in Christ’ you are free…
The question this morning is do you know Christ as Savior? Give evangelistic invitation:
Give believer’s invitation
