SPIRITUAL CIRCIMCISION AND WHAT IT MEANS TO THE CHILD OF GOD
COLOSSIANS 2:9-15
Greenmount and O’Leary Churches of Christ
November 27, 2016
Audio link to listen to this sermon: http://chirb.it/b6NFAL
INTRODUCTION:
1.) As the Church of Jesus Christ, we usually do not address the subject of Circumcision.
2.) Usually that is a subject that we think as applying more for Jews and for Jewish Christians rather than for most of us who are in the church today.
3.) Yet today we continue our series of messages from the book of Colossians.
A.) One of the things which Paul addresses is the matter of spiritual circumcision.
B.) Today I want us to look at Spiritual Circumcision and what it means to the Child of God.
I) THOSE WHO ARE IN CHRIST HAVE BEEN GIVEN THE FULLNESS OF GOD IN CHRIST.
1.) We have already seen that in Christ all the fullness of deity lives in bodily form.
A.) The powerful truth that God has come to this earth in the form of a man is truly part of the greatest event that has ever happened for the human race.
B.) In Chapter one of Colossians, Paul has established that Jesus is “the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation (Col. 1:15), and that God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him.” (Col. 1:19)
C.) Certainly it is an encouragement to every child of God that Jesus came to this earth bringing the fullness of the godhead in himself.
ca.) The human race was in a desperate situation.
cb.) Man had sinned and had no way back to God.
cc.) What a blessing that God became a man so that we could go back into forgiveness and fellowship with God.
D.) I think even the very Apostles of Christ at times had trouble with this concept.
da.) They knew, worked with and had come to love Jesus.
dab.) Yet as great of a relationship as these men had with Jesus, it was still difficult for them to understand God and His love for them.
dac.) It was only after this when they saw the love of God on a cross that they could understand who Jesus was, and at least a degree of God’s love for them.
.01) Shortly before Jesus went the cross for his crucifixion, Jesus and Thomas had a bit of a discourse which we find in:
.011) John 14:1-9a.
.0111) We can rejoice in this truth.
db.) Jesus did not come to this earth as merely a man, but he came as the earthly presence of God Himself.
dba.) As great as this news is, it gets even better.
2.) If we are in Christ we have been given the fullness of Christ.
A.) The significance of that is that as children of God we who have come to Christ now have the fullness of God dwelling within us.
aa.) We do not have a partial measure of the presence of God, but rather we have the fullness of the person of God, and His presence within us.
B.) God has chosen us as His personal temples upon this earth.
ba.) Certainly the generations that have come and gone since Jesus was on this earth are the most blessed of all generations.
baa.) I say this because previous generations looked forward to the coming of the Messiah, and wondered at what that would mean.
bab.) Since the time of Christ, Christians have not had just the hope that one day God would come to this world, but the greater reality that the God who created this world is dwelling within us today.
II) THOSE WHO ARE IN CHRIST HAVE RECEIVED A SPIRITUAL CIRCUMCISION.
1.) Spiritual circumcision is not done by human hands or by men.
A.) Certainly in the first century the concept of physical circumcision was very familiar to all.
aa.) The earliest converts to the Christian faith had come from Judaism.
ab.) From the time of Abraham onward, God had required every Jewish male child to be circumcised on the eighth day of his life.
aba.) The requirement of God was so rigid that any male child who had not received this would be cut off from among God’s people.
B.) Even while Circumcision was being carried out in the Old Covenant era, God had prophesied a new day coming when circumcision of the body, would be replaced with a circumcision or transformation of the heart.
ba.) This transformation of the heart would not be for just the Jewish people, but for all of mankind, and would be accomplished through God’s Son coming to this world.
bb.) When Jesus came to the cross he completed the old system, and initiated a new circumcision of the heart.
C.) Spiritual circumcision is the putting off of the sinful nature.
ca.) The putting off of the sinful nature can only happen when a person receives a new heart -- that is a heart given over to Jesus Christ.
cb.) Those under the law often would follow a list of dos and don’ts without ever having a change of the heart that actually caused sin.
cba.) A relationship with Christ is not merely outward obedience, but having a heart that desires intimacy with God.
2.) Spiritual circumcision is of the heart and by Christ.
A.) That is a big difference with the new Covenant.
aa.) The old Covenant depended on man’s ability to keep the law of God, and therefore it was always a failure.
ab.) The New covenant depends not on our ability to obey the law, but the fact that Christ has perfectly obeyed the law on behalf of all of mankind.
aba.) Our salvation is now based on the grace of God through a saving faith in Jesus Christ.
3.) The timing of this spiritual circumcision:
A.) Colossians 2:9-12
aa.) I want you to notice a few details from this passage of Scripture:
aaa.) As Christians we have received the fullness of Christ sometime in the past.
.01) Paul explains that this happened when we received a circumcision not done by the hands of man, but by Christ.
aab.) The exact timing of that circumcision is further explained to us in our text:
.01) Paul states it was when we were buried with Him in Baptism.
.001) There are many today who choose to deny or sidestep this truth.
.0011) They will speak of it at some other time or in some other way, but the inspired Apostle makes it very clear that this spiritual
circumcision occurred when we were buried or completely immersed in the waters of baptism.
.0012) It is here that our faith and obedience come together in a declaration of faith leading to salvation in Christ.
.002) Paul goes on to show it was not just the action of baptism alone, but speaks of being raised again from the waters of baptism through faith in the power of God.
.003) Here as elsewhere in the Word of God, Paul makes it very clear that this spiritual circumcision and salvation through Jesus Christ when we have put faith and obedience together in the waters of baptism.
III) THOSE WHO ARE IN CHRIST HAVE UNDERGONE A COMPLETE TRANSFORMATION.
1.) They were dead in sins.
A.) That is the description of anyone who has never received the spiritual circumcision of the heart.
aa.) Physical death is basically the separation of the physical body from the living spirit of an individual.
ab.) In the same way, spiritual death is the separation of the soul from fellowship and life with the living God.
aba.) Spiritually that was and is the condition of anyone apart from salvation in Jesus Christ.
2.) They were uncircumcised in their sinful nature.
A.) In Scripture any time we hear the term uncircumcised, it is a way of stating that person was apart from a relationship with God.
aa.) It is the description of a person who has never experienced the forgiving grace of God through Jesus Christ.
ab.) It is also a term which speaks of the lost and the dreadful state they are in before God.
aba.) Dreaded as that is, it does not have to be the final chapter.
3.) God has made them alive.
A.) That life is not in us, but in Christ.
aa.) Colossians 2:13
ab.) While it is true that we have to come to faith, and have pledged our lives to Jesus Christ in the waters of baptism, it is still the act of God that makes us alive through Jesus Christ.
4.) God has forgiven our sins.
A.) As a result of that circumcision of the heart God has forgiven us our sins because of Jesus the Christ.
5.) God has cancelled the written code.
A.) The written code is still in existence and always will be at least until the return of Christ.
aa.) What has changed is the status of the code.
ab.) Being the standard of God, it has always stood as the report card showing the extent of our wickedness before God.
B.) It was against us and stood opposed to us.
ba.) It stood against us and opposed us because it showed us only the standard of God which we could never achieve.
baa.) By its very design it lacked the power of salvation.
bab.) The law while being the perfect standard of God condemned us in our own sinfulness, while pointing us to God’s Son as our only
hope.
C.) He took it away.
ca.) He took it away as the standard of our righteousness, because the only standard of righteousness that counts for anything is the
righteousness of Jesus Christ.
caa.) The success of the law is that it shows our own inadequacy, and that salvation can only come through God’s Son, rather than ourselves.
cb.) It is not my righteousness, but the righteousness of Christ that allows me to come before the throne of God without fear of the Judgment of our God.
D.) He nailed it to the cross.
da.) Colossians 2:14
db.) That is a term that may sound strange to us.
dba.) We ask why would he nail it to the cross?
dbb.) The answer to that question comes from a custom of the first century.
.01) If you borrowed a sum of money from someone they would write up a hand written contract with the terms of the debt, and what it would take to repay that debt.
.02) When that debt was finally paid off, the one who had given credit would take that document and write across the paper that the debt had been paid in full and would sign his name to it.
.03) To make it official the creditor would nail it to the doorframe of your house, or perhaps in a public place declaring to all the debt had been paid.
.04) When the scripture tells us that Jesus nailed it to the cross it is saying he paid in full a debt of sin we could never repay.
E.) He disarmed the powers and authorities.
da.) Colossians 2:15
db.) That is Satan and the demons of hell.
dba.) When Jesus went to the cross he not only defeated Satan, but wherever the gospel has gone forth since that time, the power of
Satan has been greatly destroyed.
.01) John 12:31
.02) Not only did Jesus defeat the forces of evil on the cross, but:
db.) He made a public spectacle of them.
dba.) The cross of Jesus Christ made a laughingstock of the plan and power of Satan to draw all of mankind into hell.
dbb.) Scripture states that Satan now stands defeated and condemned, and when Christ returns he will finish destroying the power of the evil one for all of eternity.
dc.) He triumphed over them by the cross.
CONCLUSION:
1.) Today, anyone who is a child of God can rejoice in Jesus Christ and what he accomplished on the cross.
2.) Those of us who are Christians have learned what it means to experience spiritual circumcision and to live as a child of God.
3.) If you have never yet come to that place in your life, I challenge you to come today, and through faith in Jesus Christ to be immersed into the waters of baptism.
If you are outside of Christ today, I challenge you to Come, that you too may experience that spiritual circumcision of the heart that Christ wants to do for you.
