CHRIST VERSES LEGALISM
Text: Col. 2:16-19
Introduction
1. Illustration: "What must I forsake?" a young man asked.
"Colored clothes for one thing. Get rid of everything in your wardrobe that is not white. Stop sleeping on a soft pillow. Sell your musical instruments and don't eat any more white bread. You cannot, if you are sincere about obeying Christ, take warm baths or shave your beard. To shave is to lie against him who created us, to attempt to improve on his work." Quaint, isn't it -- this example of extra biblical scruples? And perhaps amusing. The list has constantly shifted over the 1,800 years since this one was actually recorded (Jim Peterson, Living Proof, 106).
2. Sound familiar to anyone? Ever had someone tell you were unspiritual because you hair was too long or too short? Ever had some doubt your faith because of what you wear or don't wear? It actually kind of sad that we in the church treat each other in this fashion.
3. The good news in this is that God doesn't treat us that way.
4. 1 Samuel 16:7 (NLT2)
"People judge by outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”
5. In our text today, Paul warns us against legalism. He tells us...
A. The Only Rule We Need To Follow Is Christ
B. If It's Not In The Bible Don't Believe It
6. Let's stand together as we read Col. 2:16-19
Proposition: Christ has not only set us free from sin, but he has also set us free from religious rules and regulations.
Transition: The most important thing to remember when it comes to legalism is...
I. The Only Rule We Need To Follow Is Christ (16-17).
A. Shadows Of The Reality Yet To Come
1. First of all, let's define what we mean by the term "legalism." There two slightly different definitions concerning legalism...
A. The doctrine that salvation is gained through good works.
B. The judging of conduct in terms of adherence to precise laws.
C. The second of these is the one we will deal with today. It's the idea of judging someone on a list of regulations that are harsh, strict and unbiblical. It's a strict adherence to the letter rather than the spirit of the law.
2. To this Paul says, "So don’t let anyone condemn you for what you eat or drink, or for not celebrating certain holy days or new moon ceremonies or Sabbaths."
A. The word "condemn" means to "to judge a person to be guilty and liable to punishment - (Johannes P. Louw and Eugene A. Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Symantic Domains,Under: "56.30).
B. Paul tells the Colossians to avoid this, don't let them do this to you.
C. Because Christ had canceled the record of the charges against us (2:14) and had disarmed evil powers (2:15), believers have been set free from legalistic rules about what they eat or drink or what festivals they observe.
D. Although it is most likely that Paul was referring to Jewish laws about diet and festival observances, pagan food laws and celebrations, or a combination of the two, cannot be excluded as a possibility.
E. Paul's point was that the believers should not give up their freedom for legalism. They must not let anyone condemn them by saying that certain actions would exclude them from God's people.
F. If the Colossians submitted to any of the regulations imposed by the false teachers, they would be saying that evil powers still held authority over them. They needed to remember that Christ had set them free (Barton, Life Application New Testament Commentary, 880).
G. Our worship, traditions, and ceremonies can help bring us close to God, but we should never criticize fellow Christians whose traditions and ceremonies differ from ours.
H. More important than how we worship is that we worship Christ. Don't let anyone judge you. You are responsible to Christ (, Life Application Study Bible, 2032).
3. Then Paul tells us why we shouldn't let people judge us for such things. In v. 17 he says, "For these rules are only shadows of the reality yet to come. And Christ himself is that reality."
A. Paul did not condemn the keeping of some Old Testament dietary laws or observing some of the celebrations. Instead, he condemned doing so in order to somehow earn credit with God.
B. The Old Testament laws, holidays, and feasts were shadows of the real thing. The law pointed to the future to Christ himself. Anything that is not Christ or found in Christ is, by contrast, a shadow or unreal.
C. Therefore to cling to the shadow is to hide the spiritual reality of those things that are yet to come. "The reality" belongs to Christ. In him, the things to come have arrived (Klien, The Expositor's Bible Commentary - Volume 11: Ephesians through Philemon, 204).
D. At one time these laws were needed as God prepared a nation for himself. These people would be keepers of his laws and ancestors of his Son.
E. The ceremonial and civil regulations of Judaism set God's people apart from the world. Through Christ, however, God was preparing a new people for himself a worldwide family.
F. What the Old Testament promised, Christ fulfilled. If we have Christ, we have what we need in order to know and please God (Barton, 880).
G. When Christ came, he dispelled the shadows. If we have Christ, we have what we need to know and please God (, Life Application Study Bible, 2032-2033).
B. Stay Free
1. Illustration: C.S. Lewis wrote about this in Mere Christianity. He said, "One of the marks of a certain type of bad man is that he cannot give up a thing himself without wanting everyone else to give it up. That is not the Christian way. An individual Christian may see fit to give up all sorts of things for special reasons, marriage, or meat, or beer, or the cinema; but the moment he starts looking down his nose at other people who do use them, he has taken the wrong turning."
2. Stop letting people judge your inside based on your outside.
A. Galatians 5:1 (NLT2)
1 So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law.
B. I new a lady once who had been out of church for a long time. She desperately desired to get back to a strong relationship with the Lord. So she went to a local church, went in and was worshipping the Lord with all her heart. Suddenly, two older ladies came and sat behind her and started berating her for wearing makeup and earrings.
C. For far too long we have been judging a person's spirituality based on what people wear, how long or how short their hair is, and what they wear on thier face.
D. Personally, I don't think God cares as much about what a person looks like on the outside as much as he is concerned with what you're like on the inside!
E. God doesn't judge by outward appearance; he judges what's in your heart.
F. God's more concerned about the content of your character, the kindness of your spirit, and the sincerity of your heart.
G. In your life you will meet people with holes in their jeans, shirts with stains on them, and oily hair, but they will be some of the nicest people you'll ever meet.
H. On the other hand, you will meet people dressed to the nines, hair and makeup is impeccable, but they will take advantage of you and stab you in the heart every chance they get.
I. We shouldn't judge people on their outsides and we shouldn't let others judge us on our outside either.
Transition: Furthermore...
II. If It's Not In The Bible Don't Believe It (18-19).
A. Pious Self-Denial
1. People will also try and judge us for things that aren't even in the Bible.
A. I had someone leave the church once because we served coffee!
B. Others have left because we speak in tongues, and that's actually something that is in the Bible!
2. That's what Paul is talking about in v. 18, where he says, "Don’t let anyone condemn you by insisting on pious self-denial or the worship of angels, saying they have had visions about these things. Their sinful minds have made them proud,"
A. The false teachers were insisting on self-denial, meaning that not only did they enjoy their acting as though they were humble, but they also attempted to impose it on the Colossian believers.
B. The false humility, revealed by self-humiliation and self-denial, came from observances of rituals and regulations that had no bearing on salvation.
C. The command used in this verse is translated best in the NIV as "Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you from the prize."
D. Colossians 2:18 (NIV)
18 Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions.
E. Seemingly, Paul was encouraging the Colossians not to allow anyone to divert them with false teachings, because doing so would cause them to waste precious time that should be used in making spiritual progress, progress which ultimately would bring them reward
F. This sort of humility was self-absorbing and self-gratifying, a kind of flashy piety.
G. In addition, these teachers' false humility said that the people could not approach God directly, he could be approached only through various levels of angels.
H. They taught, therefore, that people had to worship angels in order to eventually reach God. This is unscriptural; the Bible teaches that angels are God's servants, and it forbids worshiping them.
I. Hebrews 1:4 (NLT2)
4 This shows that the Son is far greater than the angels, just as the name God gave him is greater than their names.
J. The false teachers took great pride in what they had seen in visions most likely these were part of an initiation rite that climaxed in some sort of vision that supposedly revealed great secrets of the universe.
K. While the false teachers may have thought that they had a "corner on God," their thoughts and actions betrayed a mere human origin.
L. Their desire for attention from others showed that, in reality, they were proud. They were putting their confidence in their visions and rule keeping, and not in Christ (Barton, 880).
3. In fact, Paul says in v. 19, "and they are not connected to Christ, the head of the body. For he holds the whole body together with its joints and ligaments, and it grows as God nourishes it."
A. The fundamental problem with the false teachers was that they were not connected to Christ, the head of the body of believers.
B. If they had been joined to him, they would not have taught false doctrine or lived immorally.
C. Just as a limb that is detached from the body loses life, so these false teachers, detached from the body of Christ and no longer under his headship, had lost the most vital connection.
D. The joints and ligaments, by connecting all the members of the body to one another, allow body to get nourishment and strength and thus to grow.
E. This phrase stresses the necessity of a continuous relationship with Jesus, the One who will cause every part of the Body to function properly as it remains connected to Him (Rossier, 265).
F. The body of Christ can only grow when the believers are connected to one another under Christ (Barton, 880).
B. All Scripture
1. Illustration: Wayne Grudem summarizes this conclusion: "The sufficiency of Scripture means that Scripture contained all the words of God he intended his people to have at each stage of redemptive history, and that it now contains all the words of God we need for salvation, for trusting him perfectly, and for obeying him perfectly" (Grudem, Systematic Theology, 127).
2. The Bible gives us everything we need to know to be in a right relationship with Jesus!
A. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NLT2)
16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.
17 God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.
B. If the Bible tells you to do it - do it!
C. If the Bible tells you not to do it - don't do it!
D. If someone tells God doesn't want you to eat meat, don't believe it because the Bible doesn't say it!
E. If someone tells you that God loves white people more than black people, don't believe it because the Bible doesn't say it!
F. The Bible is our measuring stick, our instruction manual, and our guide for life.
G. If someone tries to tell you you need to do this or that, ask them where the Bible says that, and it they can't tell you don't buy it!
Conclusion
1. Paul warns us against legalism. He tells us...
A. The Only Rule We Need To Follow Is Christ
B. If It's Not In The Bible Don't Believe It
2. TWO THINGS TO REMEMBER...
A. GOD IS MORE CONCERNED ABOUT WHAT'S INSIDED YOU THAN ABOUT WHAT'S OUTSIDE YOU.
B. GOD GAVE US THE SCRIPTURES TO GUIDE US, LEAD US, AND DIRECT US. DO WHAT THEY TELL YOU TO DO, AND DON'T DO WHAT THEY TELL YOU NOT TO DO AND YOU'LL BE IN GOOD SHAPE
