He agrees to teach him all he knows about karate under one condition: Daniel must submit totally to his instruction, and never question his methods.
Daniel shows up the next day, eager to learn. The first thing Mr. Miagi has him do is paint a fence. Mr. Miagi demonstrated the precise motion for the job: up and down, up and down until the job is finished. It took him several days to finish the job.
Once he was finished painting the fence, he showed up again wanting Mr. Miagi to teach him all he knew about Karate.
Mr. Miagi asked him to scrub the deck using a circular motion, over and over, until the deck was clean.
This job also took several days to complete. Daniel wonders, “What does this have to do with karate?”
Finally, Daniel reaches his limit. He said to Mr. Miagi, "I thought you were going to teach me karate, but all you have done is have me do your unwanted chores!"
Daniel had broken Mr. Miagi’s one condition, and the old instructor became angry. He said. "I have been teaching you karate! Defend yourself!"
• Mr. Miagi thrusts his arm at Daniel, who instinctively defends himself, with an arm motion exactly like that used in painting the fence.
• Mr. Miagi unleashes a vicious kick, and again Daniel averts the blow, with the circular motion of scrubbing the deck
After Daniel successfully defends himself from several more blows, Mr. Miagi simply walks away, leaving Daniel to discover what the master had known all along: skill in karate comes from repeating the correct, but seemingly boring, actions over and over again.
The same thing is true in the Christian life. Skills in the Christian life are developed, when day after day it seems like we are doing the same thing.
This is why the Lord said in Galatians 6:9, “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”
The devil is constantly making all kinds of attacks on us, and God wants to teach us how to defend ourselves from these attacks.
Let’s look at this passage, and discover how we can daily live a victorious life in Christ.
There are two things for us to consider, first …
I. THERE IS SOMETHING WE NEED TO BE AWARE OF
Look at verse 13, “And you, being dead in your sins…”
The reason we Christians do not live in sin like the lost world does, is because we are DEAD to sin. A dead man no longer does what he once did. HE IS DEAD.
Illus: Dr. Bill Kanoy tells that in the small town where he was raised, the local funeral home was on Main street. As strange as it may sound, it was not only a funeral home, but it was a place where some of the men would gather from time to time, and talk, and cut up with each other.
In that same town, there was a man that was not so bright, and everyone in town knew it. Often, people in the town would take advantage of his childish mind.
This man had a routine he went through each day. He would dress up and walk around town for his daily exercise.
These men knew about this daily routine, and decided, with the owner of the funeral home, to play a trick on him.
One of the men got into an empty casket, and pretended he was dead.
The owner of the funeral home saw the man coming, and asked him if he could do him a favor. The man said, “What kind of a favor?” He said, “I have to leave the funeral home for a short time, and a family is suppose to come and look at this body in the main parlor. Would you mind sitting in the parlor, and show them where he is when they come?”
The man felt very honored to be asked to do such a thing. He was brought to a large room where the casket was. A man was laying in the casket, and the cover was open. The man picked up a newspaper, and sat across the room, and read the newspaper, while the other men were hiding in another room watching.
While he was reading, he heard a noise, and he looked across the room and saw the “dead man’s” arm had fallen out of the casket. He walked over and put it back in the casket.
He went back to reading the newspaper, and in a few minutes he heard some noise again, and the man’s leg had fallen out of the casket. He walked over and stuck his leg back in the casket.
The men in the other room were laughing so hard, they could hardly control themselves.
The man went back to his chair and started reading the newspaper, when he heard some noise. He looked, and the man was sitting up in the casket. He walked over with his newspaper in his hands and said, “Now lay back down, you are suppose to be dead.” He shoved him back down and said, “Stay there, you are dead!”
Dr. Bill Kanoy tells this story, and whether it is true or not, I do not know. But I do know this, to those of us who are Christians, it reveals a lesson we all need to learn. WE ARE SUPPOSE TO BE DEAD TO SIN.
Paul tries to make it as personal as he can, by using the word “you”.
Look at verse 13. He says, “And YOU, being dead in your sins…” We, who are saved by the shed blood of Christ, are dead to sin.
PAUL DEMONSTRATES THE CHRISTIAN’S DEATH. HOW?
Since salvation is getting rid of sin, Paul relates it to circumcision.
Illus: The Jewish men were circumcised, and the cutting of the foreskin and doing away with it represented the cutting away of sin from our life.
He wanted to make them AWARE that they are dead and buried in Christ. Every day in the Christian life, one of the things we have to keep reminding ourselves of is that we are dead to sin.
We may get tired of exercising the faith day after day that shows that we are dead to sin, but that is how we grow in the Lord.
As Christians, we have to become AWARE that we are DEAD TO SIN. But something equally important, we are to be AWARE that we are ALIVE UNTO THE LORD.
Look at the word, “quicken” in verse 13. This word means to make alive, to bring to life.
How does that happen? The Bible says this is what has happened to us. We have been “….quickened TOGETHER WITH HIM, having forgiven you all trespasses.”
Illus: Have you ever had a dead battery? It was so dead your car would not do a thing. But someone came along with some jumper cables, and connected their live battery to your dead battery, and all of a sudden your battery had life flowing though it again.
This is what the Lord has done for us. We were dead, but He has quickened us “Together with Him.”
The life that now lives in us, is Christ living within us. THIS LEADS TO VICTORY OVER SIN.
This is why the apostle Paul said in Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”
We are to be AWARE of our DEADNESS TO SIN, and our ALIVENESS TO CHRIST.
THERE IS SOMETHING WE NEED TO BE AWARE OF, but also-
II. THERE IS SOMETHING WE NEED TO BEWARE OF
Look at verses 14-17, we read, “Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it. Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.”
One of the biggest problems in the early church, was that many Jewish Christians felt it was necessary for Gentile Christians to be circumcised, and to keep the Law of Moses, in ADDITION to following Christ.
We see a good example of that in the book of Acts.
Look at Acts 15:1-5, we read, “And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved. When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question. And being brought on their way by the church, they passed through Phenice and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles: and they caused great joy unto all the brethren. And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church, and of the apostles and elders, and they declared all things that God had done with them. But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying, That it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.”
Notice, this sect of Pharisees rose up saying, “In order for anyone to be saved, they must be circumcised.”
The apostle Paul deals with the problem by pointing out:
• In Colossians 2:11-13, through baptism into Christ, we experience the "true circumcision", which is a cutting away of the sins of the flesh.
• In Colossians 2:14-15, through His death on the cross, Jesus has fulfilled the Old Law that condemned us.
• In Colossians 2:16-17, therefore, since Christ has done all this for us, we are to let no one try to judge (condemn) us in matters of the Old Law.
These false teachers tried to say that we are saved by circumcision, but also two more things:
(1) THEY HAD WRONG TEACHINGS ABOUT ANGELS. (In verses 18-19)
Mankind has always felt that God is far out in space, in some unreachable dimension. Mankind feels unworthy, and incapable of approaching God, so they have to have intermediaries to stand between them and God.
But notice the false humility of these who claim they approach God this way. They claim that through:
• Angels
• Spirits
• Visions
They have had encounters with God.
Listen, to hear some people talk, you get the impression that somehow, through angels, spirits, or visions, they have an encounter with God at least once a month, while most of us would admit we have never had such an experience.
WHY DO THEY MAKE SUCH CLAIMS?
They do it because it makes them look more spiritual than anyone else. It is a false humility. They are not worthy to approach God, but yet they claim to have all these experiences that no one else has.
There is only one way to God, and it is through the all sufficient Christ, who states, “I am the door” or “I am the way”.
(2) THEY HAD WRONG TEACHINGS ABOUT ASCETICISM. (Saved through self-denial)
Illus: It use to be, years ago, that you could tell people who belonged to Holiness churches. Especially the women, because they would stack their hair on top of their heads so high, it would amaze you as you sat in church and wondered how they did this. They had long hair, long-sleeve dresses, and long dresses. Now I am not condemning them for doing this, it certainly is better than what we see some women wearing today. I would rather see that extreme in the church, than the extreme we see in the church today.
But I do want to say this; a woman can keep her hair long, wear long sleeve dresses, and wear her dress down to her ankles, and still die and go to hell. Why? Because we are not saved by self-denial. We are saved through the ultimate sacrifice that the Lord Jesus made for us on Calvary.
Look at the word “beguile” again, in verse 18. It means to rob, to defraud, to cheat.
This means that if we who are saved by the grace of God aren’t careful, we can allow someone to cheat us out of our eternal rewards. How? By following false teachings.
Conclusion:
No wonder Paul brings this sermon to a close by saying, in Colossians 2:20-23, “Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, (Touch not; taste not; handle not; Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men? Which things have indeed a show of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body; not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh.”
But let’s look at one more passage of scripture.
Look at Romans 7:1-6, where we read, “Brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man. Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.”
As we live the Christian life, we must be AWARE that we are DEAD IN CHRIST. Also, we must BEWARE of teachings that say we are saved through ANGELS and/or ASCETICISM. We are saved through Christ.
Anytime someone suggests that Christ is not sufficient, and suggests that we need more than Jesus Christ, we need to remember, Christ is THE WAY, not A WAY! John 14:6
We are COMPLETE in Him!
(1) In "Jesus Christ" we find ALL the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. - Colossians 2:3
(2) In "Jesus Christ" we have the FULLNESS of the Godhead bodily. - Colossians 2:9
(3) In "Jesus Christ" we are COMPLETE. - Colossians 2:10
Once we get this straightened out in our lives, we have something to build our Christian lives on.
I. THERE IS SOMETHING WE NEED TO BE AWARE OF
II. THERE IS SOMETHING WE NEED TO BEWARE OF
Note: You can hear Dr. Odell Belger preach some of his sermons on youtube. Just type Youtube Lykesland
