24.04.08
Colossians (11): The Charter of Christian Freedom - Colossians 2:16-23
Yesterday must have been a slow news day. Despite the fact that wars are raging in Iraq and Afghanistan, George Bush is visiting the Middle East and Kenya is in a state of unrest, the lead story on the BT Yahoo News Website was that Tony Blair has sent his first ever text message. Everything else is relegated to second place – the really important thing is that Tony Blair doesn’t know how to use a mobile phone. As amusing as the story is, do you ever feel as if really important things, in life as well as in the news, are somehow relegated to a lower place, whereas really unimportant and insignificant things are promoted to the highest place?
That’s the situation here in Colossians 2:16-23. The whole tenor of this passage revolves around the question of the Greatness of Christ and the utter superiority of His Way of Salvation compared to any other. Other things are trivialities in comparison with the sheer awesomeness of Jesus Christ and His Salvation. And that, in itself, is I suppose, the primary message of the whole Book of Colossians.
We have been working our way through this book and have been seeing, from Chapter 1, the greatness of who Jesus is, as the one in whom all the fullness of God dwells in bodily form – the one through whom the universe was created, in whom it is sustained from moment to moment, and for whom it exists. We have also seen, in the latter parts of Chapter 1 and into Chapter 2, the wisdom and glory of the salvation He has won for us on the cross at Calvary by dying for our sins – winning the victory over the powers of darkness and reconciling sinners to a Holy God through His blood shed for us. There could be no greater message than the message of Christ and Him Crucified. And yet, how easy it is to be sidetracked and to fall into thinking that there are other things just as significant for the Christian as Christ. Things like what we may eat, what religious festivals we observe – perhaps the kind of clothes we wear, the kind of things we touch and taste. But alongside the wonder of Christ, what exactly is the significance or the worth of these things? In fact, is it not an insult to Jesus and to all He has done to raise these things on a pedestal and to make them of equal significance in our Christian lives as Him – to say in effect, ‘Christ is important, but you must also eat the same kind of foods I eat, you must observe exactly the same kind of festivals I observe in the same way I observe them’.
Compared to Christ, these things are indifferent and a distraction at best, and a blasphemy to the honour of Jesus at worst. But when you add the fact that the foods eaten and the festivals being observed in Colossae by some false teachers who were living there were far from being even Christian, you have a recipe for disaster. Christians in the Church were being guilted and shamed – their freedom to follow Christ was being compromised by those who raised things of very little significance way beyond how important they should be. The freedom of Christians to know Christ and to grow in their faith is in jeopardy. Do you think that there are times when our Christian freedom can also be in jeopardy – when other things are imposed upon us which reduce our ability to follow Christ as we know we should – when other people say to us that we need Christ, but more besides?
This attack therefore on Christian freedom amounts to a reduction in the value of all Jesus has done for us and all Jesus is; and a promotion in the value of human effort and works-based religion. I want to look at two things tonight, realising that this is a difficult text due primarily to the fact that we don’t really know for certain what the exact situation in Colossae was at the time Paul was writing with regards to what the false teachers there were actually teaching. I want to look briefly first at what the text means – Christian freedom explained, and then I want to move on to look at some applications of the teaching of this text.
[A] Christian Freedom Explained
The Church in Colossae had a problem. It was afflicted and pestered by false teachers – teaching that knowing Christ was not enough for salvation – there needed to be others things. For example, they taught that between heaven and earth there were an infinite series of angel like beings, each of which required worship. They taught that the material world was evil and needed to be shunned. Their teaching was a strange mixture of Judaism and Greek Philosophy. This led to them condemning (in vs. 16) genuine Christians. These genuine Christians, who believed that knowing and loving Christ, and having our sins forgiven through His blood on the cross, was what made them acceptable to God, were being judged and condemned on the basis that they did not hold to the strange Jewish food laws and the strange Jewish religious ceremonies that the false teachers were advocating. But in vs. 17 Paul blows these false teachers apart – do they not realise that these food laws and ceremonies were just a shadow, and that Jesus is the reality to which all these things were pointing? Do they not realise that these food laws and these ceremonies have now passed away since the reality has now come. They were worshipping shadows and ignoring the reality and significance of the coming of Christ. Imagine that you say you love your wife, but you ignore her and concentrate on her shadow – what does that say about your love for her (and your sanity)? It says that you don’t really love her at all.
These false teachers, according to vs. 18, in some strange ecstatic frenzy, dreamed dreams and saw visions and tried to make everybody else conform to their weird ideas. But in vs. 19, these dreams weren’t drawing Christians closer to Jesus, but denying them the support and nourishment (which is what the ligaments and joints imagery points to) of really knowing Jesus and being part of His body – the Church. I often hear people saying, ‘what you believe isn’t really important; it’s whether you are sincere in what you believe – that’s the really important thing.’ But you see that’s just not true – because these false teachers were very sincere in what they believed, but they were sincerely wrong. Their religion was Christ-less and anyone who followed them and was duped by them because Christ-less too.
In vs. 20, Paul does his best to rid the Christians in Colossae of any temptations towards following the false teachers. These false teachers were teaching what amounted to ‘the basic principles of this world’ – a phrase which I would suggest amounts to the way of thinking which suggests that salvation depends upon what I do or what I don’t do – that God will save me just as long as I am a good person, or give money to charity or do nice things and go to church. But, when Jesus died on the cross, He died for sinners – people who aren’t nice and good. And He has taken away their sins and has changed them on the inside so that they no longer think that way. Salvation is all of Christ and what He has done, and not about how good or otherwise I am. And so we need no longer obey this world’s rules – not to say we must be anarchists – but we need no longer think that it is by the good things we do that we can be saved. We need not think that just because we handle something, or touch something, or taste something, that this automatically nullifies our salvation or renders us beyond the grip of God’s grace. To think that is to follow the teaching of men and not of God. True religion is something very different – it’s not about the severe discipline of the body or self-imposed worship ceremonies – it’s about a living, growing, loving relationship with God through Jesus Christ. That is what will make a real difference in life – knowing Jesus. Everything else is useless and valueless.
In a nutshell, that’s the fast and furious meaning of this text. Don’t let anything, anyone, any teaching, detract and distract you from living for Christ. Having died with Christ on the cross, we are free from the petty principles of this world – thinking that somehow we can win our own ways to heaven. True freedom in Christ. And it’s worth living for and it is worth dying for.
[B] Christian Freedom Applied
Admittedly, this text is one of the most difficult passages in the New Testament to understand or to preach on – not just because many of the concepts and ideas it covers are hard but also because we don’t really know what the exact situation in the church in Colossae at the time was. However, I believe that there are at least four solid questions which arise out of the text and its meaning which we can take with us into this week and into the rest of our lives – four applications which require us to think about who we are as Christians, and why we do the things we do – four ways in which we can ensure that we don’t give into those forces and pressures which try to limit our freedom as Christians and enslave us once again. Now I’m not saying that I have all the answers – rather, you have to take these questions and pray over them and answer them for yourselves.
1. By What Authority do I Live my Christian Life? (vs. 18, 20-22) – you will notice a rather strange clause in the centre of vs. 18 – ‘such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen.’ This clause reveals much about the kind of religion the false teachers in Colossae practiced. They thought that by their rigid ascetism – their self-denial and the restraining of their sensual appetites – they could somehow elevate their consciousness from earth to heaven – they could free their mind to wander in the courtrooms of God Himself – to talk with the angels and to hear God’s real deal for the world. And so, having come back from their frenzied visions, they made up commands and teachings (talked of in vs. 22) – things which they had heard spoken of during their ecstatic visions and means by which they had freed their minds to engage in this celestial wandering – ‘if you want to speak with angels, ‘do not handle, do not taste, do not touch’; ‘an angel told me in a vision ‘do not handle, do not taste, do not touch’. And so, they made the foundation of their authority for the way they lived their lives what they had seen and heard during their ecstatic, deprived state visions. And then they imposed that authority upon the Christians saying to them, ‘because I have seen these things in a vision, you must obey them’.
Now this may seem all very New Age to you, and rightly so because that is what we are being consistently drip fed by the New Age movement and its so-called spirituality. It tells us of mediums and clairvoyants experiencing the spirit-world, and on the basis of their experiences, we must behave in a certain way. Witness the rise in Psychic interest in our society – with Psychic channels on Sky TV and Psychic agony aunts in the papers. On the basis of their experiences and hunches, people are being asked to change their lives. In the Christian Church the danger is far more subtle. There are many who would make the foundation of their authority in life their own experiences, or the experiences of others. ‘I feel this, so it must be true’; ‘I have experienced this, so it must be true’. So called Christian teachers talk of visions and dreams and base their authority both for the way they behave and for the things that they teach upon them. They bind the consciences of other Christians based upon what they have seen and heard during ecstatic vision.
Now whilst I think we should avoid boxing God in, we should also acknowledge that these teachings are the commands and teachings of men – they are the ‘basic principles of this world’ as Paul talks of in vs. 20 and in Christ you have died to them. They are not, and can no longer be, your source of authority, guidance and behaviour. You want to know how to behave – don’t listen to a man who has seen angels in a vision – read the Word of God – the Bible. Read what God says about Himself, about you and about the world in which you live. Obey Him and be satisfied with His wisdom for your life. If someone comes to you with an experience they have had, don’t just accept it hook, line and sinker – rather, subject it to what the Bible says. Ask yourself whether it agrees with or goes against the Bible’s teaching – if it agrees with it, cautiously accept it; if it goes against it, without being nasty, reject it. But please, make your authority for life not what you think, what you feel, what you like and dislike, or what you have experienced, but make it the Word of God. In other words, you want to know how to live and behave tomorrow – read, listen and do what the Bible says.
2. Am I a Member of Christ’s Body? (vs. 19) – vs. 19, as we have already said seems to be a reference to the Church of Jesus Christ – the Church of whom Jesus Christ Himself is the Head. We are His body, He is our head. The support, nourishment and growth of this body is the work of God. But just as a body with no head is dead, so the body of Christ, if it is not connected to Him through faith and trust, is dead also. To be joined to Christ, is to be in His body. It is there, in His body that you will find the support, nourishment and growth which only God can provide. I’ve never heard tell yet of a finger which can live by itself – no – it needs both the body and the head; and yet today there are so many who say – ‘all I need is Jesus, I don’t need or want His Church’. How they impoverish and endanger themselves with such words!
Are you a Christian tonight? Have you believed and trusted in what Jesus Christ has done on the cross by dying to take away your sins and rising to give you new life? If you are, do not run away from the body of Christ – rather, join us and enjoy the support, nourishment and growth that God can provide. Perhaps you feel that your faith isn’t strong enough to do that; but then see that the support, nourishment and growth you need is really only to be found in vital connection with the body and the head. In other words, don’t wait until you grow in the faith before you come; rather come and then grow in the faith.
But perhaps you aren’t a Christian at all – perhaps you have never come to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. You are still driven by the ‘basic principles of this world’ – its taboos and rules. Your self-worth and hope is vested in how you perform according to the principles of this world. In Christ Jesus, you can die to this – you can find true meaning and freedom in the new life which Jesus, by His Holy Spirit, brings.
3. What Kind of Religion Impresses Me? (vs. 23a) – I wonder what kind of religious appearance impresses us? Back in the early church there was a man called Simon Stylitus, who literally sat on top of a pillar in the middle of the desert, for years on end, just meditating and praying. What about the Indian Fakirs who lie on beds of nails; the Buddhist monks who burn themselves to death or the priests who self-flagellate to do penance for their sins? Does this impress you? You look at someone like that and think – ‘he’s a real saint’. Are we impressed by those who harshly treat their bodies and go about like religious eye-ors? Don’t be so easily impressed because it can all be so much of a sham.
The kind of religion which is truly impressive is that which, even in the face of pressure and opposition, grows. That religion interacts and lives with other people and allows itself to be challenged by difficult questions, but brings its confusion to God and His Word. It’s the kind of religion which needs God’s help to cope with screaming children and over-demanding bosses – the kind of religion which manages to attain a successful work-life balance – the kind of religion which trusts God with its money and its future – the kind of religion which makes time for being alone with God even in the midst of a hectic lifestyle – the kind of religion which makes mistakes but knows where to go to find forgiveness – the kind of religion which doesn’t set higher standards for others than it has for itself – the kind of religion which lives in the modern world, asks relevant questions and gives relevant answers. A Stylitus-type religion is no real use to man or beast Paul is telling us – by contrast, we need to get down off our pillars and get back to our homes, our churches and our workplaces and live out the gospel there. That is truly impressive religion.
5. How Can I Restrain my Sensual Indulgence? (vs. 23b) – this is the most searching application of this text; an application which we will briefly look at just now and as we come across it later on in the book of Colossians, spend time understanding and applying again. The point is this: for all the harshness of the religious practices of the false teachers in Colossae, for all their supposed self-denial and self-flagellation, nothing of what they are doing has any value in the restraining of the sensual indulgence. It might change how they feel on the outside, but it doesn’t change how they feel on the inside, and after all, sin comes from the inside. You see, these false teachers were spending so much time thinking about externals, they completely ignored that God is a God who looks at the heart. It is only when the heart is changed that we will be able to overcome our sensual indulgence – our desire after the things of this world. Legalism, that idea which restrains our external natures and desires, it never really changes who we are on the inside. It is trying to change our hearts by changing our behaviour. But that is exactly the wrong way round. You can’t change who you are on the inside by changing who you are on the outside – rather, you change who you are on the outside by being changed first of all, on the inside. The heart changes the behaviour, not the other way around.
Tell me, concerning any New Year resolutions you have made –are they efforts to change who you are on the outside, or who you are on the inside? If they are the former, efforts to change who you are on the outside – have you managed to keep any of them? I don’t suppose so. That’s the fallacy of trying to control your flesh just by concentrating on it. The true path to change comes by saying not just no to the flesh, but yes to Jesus. When we trust in Jesus and point our lives in His direction – that’s when real fireworks take place in the Christian’s life, he becomes a new person, and true change is possible.
In what direction is your life pointing? I’m not asking whether you are a Christian or not, I’m predominantly asking Christians whether their lives are pointing towards Jesus Christ? Will people remember you for being someone who loved Jesus and spoke about Him, or will they remember you for being someone who ate the right things and always kept the right religious festivals? By God’s grace let Jesus be your top priority and let nothing get in the way of getting to know Him better. Amen