Series in Colossians - Freedom Found in Christ

 

Freedom Found in Christ

Col. 2:16-19

Legalism has been smothered over religious life from its earliest inception. Don’t do this, do that's have plagued the lives of believers who truly are trying to live in the all sufficiency of Jesus Christ. It has added requirements and rigid covenants to the salvation in Christ and living for Christ. This was part of what Paul had encountered in the Colossian heresy, as well as the mystical element of false humility and veneration of spiritual beings and the prominence of  dreams and visions to guide their spiritual journey instead of the Word of God and the Holy Spirit connectedness to the direction and guidance of Jesus Christ as the head of the church and the body.

So let’s begin with the first portion of the text, “Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.”

The Judizer as Paul labeled them were always calling into question the lack of lawfulness of Christianity. For they saw the keeping of the dietary laws and the religious days as a requirement for a true believer. They couldn’t see that the law was fulfilled by Christ for salvation, Christ's work on the cross was sufficient for salvation and that many new believers desired to keep the first day as holy as other days. Paul had had to deal with the same mindset in his letter to the Romans. (Rom. 14:1-8) For the Colossian church sought out the liberty in Christ, the freedom from sin’s hold on them and they were being judged. They were alive in the Spirit of God to live in the authority of Christ and the freedom to worship and grow in the Truth of their new faith. As Jesus stated “And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:27-28) But there was the other side of freedom, those who used their freedom to live according to the flesh and in doing so, they damaged the faith of new weaker believers. “You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Gal. 5:13-14)

For Paul understood the body of Christ needs to be under the headship of Christ, and living for Christ they died to the flesh and were to obey the Spirit who speaks the words of Jesus, for they belonged to Christ and were all joined in the body of Christ. “"For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God"” (Rom. 8:13-14)

Application - Freedom, as screamed by Sir William Wallace in defiance of tyranny is one form of freedom that the world holds on too. “...just one chance to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they'll never take our freedom!" Tyranny came in various forms, even in the religious realm. Legalism is a control mechanism created by man, and is used to dictate uniformity to a creed or covenant. In churches today, legalism can be blatant or it can be more subtle. Especially when it comes to salvation, many have tried to add some form of works into the achieving salvation, but Jesus’ atoning work on the cross was all sufficient. It was a gift from God to all who would believe in Christ Jesus. It is by His grace through faith that we are saved. God had made it plain to the apostles that what he called clean was clean, there was no need for judgment, or self-abasement as a means to religious piety. Peter saw the sheet of unclean meat as a sign from heaven to accept all things that God deemed clean. 

The reality in Christ is that God has created all things for His glory. “For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.” (Col. 1:16), and in His plan of salvation, it is for all to come to Him through the Son. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”  “But God demonstrates his own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (2 Cor. 5:21;Rom.5:8) and reckoned righteous by the blood of His Son. “And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation.” “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Rom. 5:9 NLT; Gal. 2:20 NIV )

So has Paul exhorted the church, let us throw off the legalism that entangles us from living in the truth and freedom of Christ, this is Christ’s reality for his church.

Next, there were the gentile believers who held onto the mystic realm of talking with angels and spiritual authorities as well as some others. So let’s read the next portion of the text, “Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you. Such a person also goes into great detail about what they have seen; they are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind. They have lost connection with the head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.”

Paul also contended with people who influenced others into asceticism, they gave themselves over to privation, puritanical self discipline, and abstaining from all forms of flesh (early Gnosticism), the belief that the only way to overcome the flesh was by secret knowledge that led to true salvation from the material world. 

It was this false teaching that was practiced and taught in false humility. Paul exhorted the Colossian church to avoid these teachings of worshiping of spiritual beings (angels) and the practice and spreading of a false gospel (Gal 1:8 NLT). Paul even went as far to warn them of being disqualified from Christ’s body. Through their parade of false humility, these teachers had gone into great detail of what they have seen and heard in their visions and dreams. They were inflated with conceit and self aggrandizement. “...they are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind.” Their veneration of their spiritual and mystical understanding and enlightenment puffed them up rather than leading them to Christ, the head of the church and His plan for the church. They  have no vital connection with Jesus Christ, and they lack the spiritual vitality of abiding in Christ. 

Application - There is still today a form of the mystical in false humility, the veneration of spiritual beings, and the prominence of dreams and visions to guide their spiritual journey instead of the Word of God and the connectedness to the direction and guidance of Jesus Christ as the head of the church for the body. Christ warned us of the deception that would come into the church. I’m not saying that all dreams and visions are not of God, but they must align with the Word of God and they cannot substitute for the Word of God, nor for the guidance of the Holy Spirit we receive through Christ and the Word of God. “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.” “So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh… But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.”(John 16:13; Gal. 5:16,18)

There is no secret knowledge or spiritual understanding and enlightenment to add to God’s Word, these are usually brought through the guise of a new revelation or a new teachings. Paul addressed this in Hebrews,  “Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings.” “so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.” (Heb. 13:9a; Eph. 4:14) 

Paul warned us as did Jesus about deception and false teachings. ““Watch out that no one deceives you… and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.“Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons.” (1 Tim. 4:1; Matt. 24:4,11)

As Paul stated, letting ourselves be duped by teachers who come in false humility and “goes into great detail about what they have seen; they are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind.” Let us instead stay connected and firmly mounted in our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the head of the Church. Let us listen to His voice through His Word and Spirit. And the Word of God will build us up “until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.” (Eph. 4:13-15 NIV) and let us grow “as God causes it to grow.” (Col. 2:19b)

I’m again including the ABC’s of salvation for all those who have not yet received Jesus Christ for salvation. For Jesus, God the Son, came to this world to save all who would believe and trust in him. He desires to reveal himself to you, He is the Light that overcomes the darkness of this lawless world. He hears your prayers, and all authority in heaven and earth have been given to him. He will answer you if you will truly believe. If you haven’t asked him to be your Lord and Savior, today could be that day.

 First, A - Admit that you are a sinner. This is where that godly sorrow leads to genuine repentance for sinning against a righteous God and there is a change of heart, we change our mind and God changes our hearts and regenerates us from the inside out. Romans 3:10 - As it is written: "There is none righteous, no, not one." Romans 3:23 - For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (We are all born sinners which is why we must be born spiritually in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven). Romans 6:23 - For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. The bad news is that the wages of sin is death, in other words our sin means that we have been given a death sentence, we have the death penalty hanging over our heads, that's the bad news. But here's the good news: The good news is that the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Ephesians 2:8-9 - For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith —and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. Second,

 B - Believe in your heart that Jesus Christ died for your sins, was buried, and that God raised Jesus from the dead. This is trusting with all of your heart that Jesus Christ is who he said he was. Romans 10:9-10 - That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. Third, 

C - Call upon the name of the Lord. Every single person who ever lived since Adam will bend their knee and confess with their mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord, the Lord of lords and the King of kings. Romans 14:11 - For it is written: "As I live, says the Lord, Every knee shall bow to Me, And every tongue shall confess to God." Don't wait until later — do this now. Romans 10:13 - For "whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved." "O God, I am a sinner. I'm sorry for my sin. I want to turn from my sin. I believe Jesus Christ is Your Son; I believe that He died on the cross for my sin and that He was buried and You raised Him to life. I have decided to place my faith in Jesus Christ as my Savior, trusting only in His shed blood as sufficient to save my soul and to take me to heaven. Thank You, Lord Jesus, for saving me. Amen."

Please share this with someone this week, the Lord knows that we and they need it.

If you would like other lessons, please go to http://pmdinhisservice.blogspot.com 

Until next week, In His Service Mike Davis

I have revised my webpage on Spiritual warfare. Please give it a look. Thank you. http://uss-warfare3.webnode.com