The Foundation for Life
9.30am Sunday 5 August 2007
Readings: Matthew
7:24-27; 1 Corinthians 3:10-15; Colossians 2:6-15
When
tramping
it is not
always easy to know
at the beginning of each day what is in store
weather-wise. Usually if the sky is clear
or there is a morning mist you have a fair idea that it is going to be a
brilliant day, but one can never be certain as conditions can change very
rapidly. That is why it is foolish not
to be prepared for every eventuality.
While it is possible to have some indication about the weather, the same
is not true about what you will see, and especially if the area where you are
tramping is new to you. At times the
scenery is so stunningly spectacular, I find myself saying over and over again,
"Wow!" Seeing a photo does not
capture the thrill of actually being there and seeing it with your own eyes,
feeling the wind on your face and the warmth of the summer sun. Tramping with a pack on your back always
takes effort, but when you get vistas of the horizon like this
it is
worth the steep climbs and all the scratches, aches and pains that come with
it. The same was true when we were in Germany in
2005. After virtually sliding our way up the icy path to the ???? Bridge we
were rewarded with this spectacular view of
Neuschwanstein Castle basking
in the afternoon sun. I felt that God
even overruled in the timing of when we got there, as it was at the time of day
when the sun best showed its features.
All I could say quietly to myself was, "Wow!" Having seen a picture of it hanging on my
office wall for fourteen years, now I was seeing the real thing. These are memories to treasure.
(Blank screen)
At
times I have the same feeling when I come to the Scriptures. After reading and meditating on a verse or a
passage I find myself sitting quietly and saying to myself over and over,
"Wow! That's amazing. Is that really true!" Reading Colossians is like that. It contains such lofty and profound
statements about who Christ is and of what he has done that as I delve into its
meaning and begin to appreciate what it is saying, the only appropriate
response is to worship him. Like with
photos, one can never communicate the whole of the experience, but at least one
can try, which is what I plan to do this morning with the passage read to us.
Paul's in
this letter is deeply concerned for the welfare of the church in Colossae. He knows how easy it is for them to be led
astray and sidetracked from the truth with all the false teaching going
around. Time and time again we find him
writing to believers passionately exhorting them not to be duped into forsaking
the truth as they received it from him and other trustworthy men like
Epaphras. We saw this when we studied
Galatians, where Paul says,
"You foolish
Galatians! Who has bewitched you?"[1] The Colossians were heading down a similar
path, and this was the main reason for Paul writing this letter. When you think about it, is it not exactly
what is happening today. There are all
manner of teachings that have a smattering of the truth and are very cleverly
presented and packaged, but which subtlely undermine the confidence of
believers in Christ as their complete Saviour.
They teach Jesus plus, and bring a works component into our salvation. We need to have our spiritual senses
constantly on the alert for such things.
Paul
says,
"So then, just as you have received Christ
Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him,
strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness."[2]
The phrase
"continue to live" literally means to
"walk in Christ," to think his thoughts and do what he would do, to
"abide"
in him, as Jesus encouraged his disciples to do.
[3] It is through keeping in step with him, being
on the same wavelength, the same page, staying close to him, that we do not go
astray, or leave the right path. Are
you "walking with Jesus, walking every day, walking all the way..."
Paul then
uses four participles to describe what living, or walking, with Jesus means,
the words
underlined in the verse.
The first one
"rooted" is past tense,
"having been rooted," which is what happens when you receive Christ. The image Paul uses here gives the sense of
being transplanted when, picking up the thought in the passage we looked at two
weeks ago, we were
"rescued ... from the dominion of
darkness and brought (or transferred)
... into the kingdom of the
Son he loves."[4] We are now in different soil,
and not just planted but rooted which speaks of the hold we now have in Christ
and he in us. Although the tense is
past, it also has present application in that once something is rooted in the
ground it then can grow and grow well.
This is Paul's desire for the Colossians, and what, of course, Jesus
wants for us, to allow the roots of our new life in him to grow deep into the
rich and fertile soil of his love.
[5]
The
next three participles are present continuous, "being
built up," "being strengthened, confirmed, established" introducing the analogy of a
building, and then "overflowing" with thankfulness. What this means is that you cannot stand
still in your walk with Christ. You must
be continually and prayerfully nurturing and developing your relationship with
him and your understanding of his will and purpose for your life. Otherwise you begin to backslide. The last participle, "overflowing with thankfulness," is particularly important. Gratitude for all Jesus Christ has done for
us and is to us confirms that there is no need to look anywhere else to be
complete, all God intended us to be.
What Paul
states positively in verses 6 and 7, he now states negatively in verses
8-10.
"See
to it that no one takes you captive though hollow and deceptive philosophy,
which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this
world rather than on Christ. For in
Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you
have been brought to fullness. He is the
head over every power and authority." The
words
"takes you captive" literally means 'to rob.' So Paul is saying, "Don't let anyone rob you
of the life you have in Christ. Nothing
even remotely compares with what you have in him." When he writes of
"hollow and deceptive philosophy" he is meaning teaching that cannot provide
what it promises. It might sound good,
like many of these 'get rich quick' schemes you hear advertised, but it is
empty. It cannot 'deliver the
goods.' What they teach is not part of
the tradition passed down by the apostles, but rather the theories of humankind
that is alienated from the life of God.
Paul then
goes on to tell them of the glorious fullness and adequacy that is found in
Christ.
"For
in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you
have been brought to fullness." In Jesus we have the concrete
expression of God. He is exactly like
God. All the essential essence of who
God is, is concentrated in him. Paul
says in him you reach the source from whence flows the blessings that supply
whatever you need both for this life and the next. He will pour these blessings on you to the
very utmost of your capacity to receive them.
It is one blessing after another.
[6] Christ is not like the broken cisterns of
which Jeremiah spoke when he said,
"My people
have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and
have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water."[7]
Christ is the spring that never fails.
He the one from whom
"rivers of living water"
flow.
[8] Paul is saying, "Do not allow yourselves to
be carried away by any teaching that is contrary to what you have been taught
in Christ, for he will supply all your needs, since in him all the fullness of
the Godhead dwells bodily, and since he is the supreme Ruler of all."
In
verses 11-12 Paul goes on to talk about two kinds of circumcision, one physical
and the other spiritual. Circumcision was what God commanded Abraham to do to
every male in his household as a sign of his covenant with Abraham and his
descendants. In the new covenant, which
Christ established through his death on the cross, this was no longer a
requirement. However, in Colossae those bringing
false teaching were demanding the observance of this outward rite, which had no
spiritual benefit whatsoever. In fact,
it would lead the Colossian believers back into the slavery from which Christ
had delivered them. When you make a
comparison between the two kinds of circumcision it becomes immediately clear
which is superior. Paul says,
"In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed
by human hands. Your sinful nature was
put off when you were circumcised by Christ, having been buried with him in
baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the
working of God, who raised him from the dead."[9]
The
Points
of Difference between the two circumcisions are as follows:
Paul says
that they were circumcised with
"a circumcision
not performed by human hands" but by the
1.
Work of
the Holy Spirit.
In comparison the other circumcision was but
Minor surgery. Think about it for a moment. Which circumcision is likely to have the
greater and deeper and more lasting effect on a person? The answer is obvious. That which is the work of the Holy
Spirit. Secondly, this circumcision
performed by the work of the Holy Spirit is an
2.
Inward circumcision, a circumcision of
the heart, the inner springs of a person's life. The other form of circumcision is
Outward. It
is the heart that needs to be changed.
Jesus said,
"What comes out of
you is what defiles you. For from within,
out of your hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft,
murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and
folly. All these evils come from inside
and defile you."[10]
It is as Jeremiah says,
"The heart is
deceitful above all things. Who can
understand it?"[11]
Your life and mine need radical invasive surgery if they are to be
changed, and only God can do that. Only
he can take our hard hearts of stone that resist his will and transform them
into hearts of flesh that are responsive to his commands.
[12] Only he can make you and I
"a brand new person"[13] inside. It is an 'inside' job that is required. The third difference is that with the
circumcision that God performs it entails the
3.
Putting
off, a casting
away of
the sinful nature, and being changed as God's Spirit
works on us and in us to make us like Jesus.
In comparison the other circumcision is just the
removal of excess
foreskin. The term we use for this
process of putting off the sinful nature and being changed to become more like
Christ is called "sanctification," which simply means 'being made holy,' set
apart to God, and it is a process. While
in a moment of time we can be rescued from the dominion of darkness and brought
into the Kingdom
of God's Son, becoming a
child of God is progressively realised.
It is like the work of the potter with the clay. It takes shape and form gradually. But the one thing we can be certain of is
that whatever God starts, he finishes.
Paul says,
"...being confident of this, that
he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of
Jesus Christ."[14]
The saying, "Be patient; God has not finished with me yet," is true of
every Christian without exception. We
are a work in progress, and the end result if we cooperate will be, without any
sense of exaggeration, simply glorious.
The simple truth is that if you are a Christian, God is at work in you
"to fulfil his good purpose."[15]
The final difference is that the circumcision Christ performs is
4.
Christian, so it is yours because you are
now in a relationship with Christ that is real and vital. The other has its source in the
Abrahamic
covenant, and that given to
Moses on Mt Sinai. The old covenant has been superseded. Jesus established a new covenant, and the
outward form of marking out God's people through the physical act of
circumcision is no longer necessary because God's Spirit brings about a
circumcision of the heart by which we can be made right with God through
Christ's death and resurrection. Paul
says in Galatians,
"For in Christ Jesus neither
circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value.
The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love."[16] And this all comes about when we
are
"buried with him" through our baptism,
"raised with him" as we yield to his Spirit working within us, and
"made ... alive" with him.
In the
closing two verses of this passage Paul lists three things that happen as a
result of our being
"made alive in Christ."
Let me mention them briefly.
1.
You are
FORGIVEN. "He forgave us all our sins..."
Before you and I can stand before a holy and righteous God all our sins
must be removed. Forgiveness is
something that every human being needs, because everyone has sinned.
[17] This is why Paul emphasises forgiveness in this
letter by mentioning it in each of the first three chapters. The forgiveness God offers us in Christ is
gracious, completely unmerited on our behalf; it is generous because he
forgives us in accordance with the riches of his grace lavished on us in Jesus;
[18]
it is eager as he urges us to be reconciled to him;
[19]
it is certain because
"...if we confess our sins,
he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and purify us from all
unrighteousness;"[20] and it is basic, in that it is the first of
all the blessings we receive when we come to Christ.
How
do we receive this blessing?
a)
By
being genuinely sorry for our sin, for the many ways in which we have grieved the Spirit of God. This is something that God brings about in a
person's life. Secondly,
b)
by deciding
to turn from sin,
everything that is contrary to the way God would have us live. As the Sunday School boy replied when his
class was asked what repentance means:
"It means being sorry enough to quit doing what is wrong." And thirdly, we receive this blessing
c)
by
forgiving others. Jesus always made forgiveness conditional
upon this. As he taught in his prayer,
"Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors."[21]
The word
'debts' leads us to the second thing that happens as a result of being
"made alive in Christ."
2.
Your
debt, what you
owe,
is CANCELLED. "...having cancelled that charge of our legal indebtedness, which
stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the
cross."[22]
Literally the words say that the handwriting that was contrary to us has
been wiped out, erased. Before Jesus'
death you were guilty of a debt far too great for you to pay. Now you are free! This is why Jesus, just before he died, cried
out,
"Tetelestai - It is finished," a Greek business term meaning
the debt, all that you owed, is paid, paid in full. There is now no charge against you. You owe nothing. Is not that something to get excited
about? You do not need to pay the
penalty for your sins. It has been paid
for us, paid in full. But not only has
the penalty for your sin been paid,
3.
You are
freed from sin's POWER.
This is
what the words mean,
"having disarmed the powers
and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by
the cross."[23]
Paul uses an image here that was very well known at that time, for when
a military general won a great victory over his enemies, crowds would line the
streets to welcome him home, and he would be in his chariot at the head of the
procession bringing those he had conquered in chains behind him for all to see,
thus making a public spectacle of them.
What a wonderful picture of the victory over the evil One Jesus won at
the cross. The power of the ruler of
this world has been broken, and it is only a matter of time before he and all
his demonic host will be cast into the lake of fire referred to at the end of
the Book of Revelation.
[24] Jesus has not only set you free from the
penalty of sin by cancelling the debt you owed, but has set you free from the
power of sin in your daily life so that you can live a holy life, a life
overflowing with gratitude to God and love for others. Words cannot adequately express what God has
done for us. It is simply wonderful and
marvellous, and it is why the Scriptures urges you
"not
to receive God's grace in vain..."[25] for
"how shall we escape if we ignore so great a salvation?"[26]