Sermons – Grace Evangelical Free Church // Wyoming, MN

Colossians 3:5-10 –

5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

It is relatively common in the OT for God to command His people to put things to death.  Animals as sacrifices (Exodus 29:38-39), disobedient children (Leviticus 21:18-21), blasphemers (Leviticus 24:15-16), adulterers (Leviticus 22:22-23), and entire nations (Joshua 6:21) are among them.  In the NT we’re told that God has granted death-penalty authority to the governing authorities (Romans 13:4).  

Killing is not something most people want to be around, which means all of that probably sounds at least somewhat disturbing (or at least strange).  But it probably also seems at least somewhat tolerable since all of that God-ordained death is a considerable distance away from most of us, most of the time.  

But what if God commanded you to kill?  What would you do then?  We’re about to find out because the first verse in our passage brings killing up close and personal for all of us.  In it, Paul demands that Christians actively and continually take part in killing, “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you.”  Kill sin.  

The heart of this sermon is asking and answering four questions about what it means in concept and practice to put to death what is earthly in us.  The four questions are: (1) What is Paul’s main charge (and who is it for)?  (2) What are earthly things?  (3) Why does it matter?  (4) How do we do what Paul commands?

In addressing these questions, we’ll find ourselves familiar territory.  Paul’s line of thinking is essentially this: You have a new nature in Christ, so live like it by faith; in part, by killing whatever remains of your old nature.  Or, negatively, you are dead to earthly things so put to death any appetite for them; stop living as if you’re still alive to them.  Or, as those redeemed by Jesus, by the powerful working of God, pursue knowledge of Christlikeness, and gladly conform to it by embracing your new self and killing what’s left of your old self and its practices. 

Grace, if your hope is in Jesus, you are a new creation and you have a new nature.  However, it takes time to understand all that means.  It takes time to learn what’s new about the new you.  It takes even more time to learn to love what’s new about you and live in light of it.  But as you grow in the knowledge of God and His will, with the Spirit’s help, work to renew the new you.  With the Spirit’s help, put to death all that was a part of your non-Christian (earthly) self.  That’s Paul’s charge and mine.  Let’s pray.

For Paul, there are two (and only two) ways to live.  Either we live for the world and the things of the world or we live for God and the things of God.  The first way of life is ours by nature, from birth.  Adam’s sin ensured that.  The second way of life is a gift from God, to be received by faith.  Jesus’ death and resurrection ensured that.    

In that way, to become a Christian is to begin to see (by the grace of God) the disordered and deadly nature of the world and to forsake it.  It is also to begin to see the goodness and glory of God and seek it.  

Once again, this passage and the four questions of this sermon are primarily a reminder that we have already chosen to live for God, a charge to do so with increasing fullness, and a God-given means of help to obey the charge.

With that, the first of the four questions: What is Paul’s main charge (and who is it for)? 

Once again, we find it right at the beginning of our passage.

5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you…

There’s a parallel version in v.8 as well.  

8 But now you must put them [that is, earthly things] all away…

Before we examine the charge itself, let’s make sure we understand who it’s for.  Who was Paul addressing?  Who is meant to put to death what is earthly in them in this way?  

As you know, the whole letter is addressed to the church in Colossae.  In v.7 he describes his intended audience as those who “once walked” in sin and as people who “were living in them [in the sins he specifically names]”.  And in v. 10, he says of the people he charged to kill sin, that they have already “put off the old self with its practices.”  

In other words, Paul’s charge is to Christians.  There are times to worry about the sins of non-Christians, but this isn’t one of them.  In that way, as we make our way through this passage, our minds aren’t meant to go to the frustrating sins “out there,” but to those “in here;” in our own hearts and church.  

That’s a big deal for a number of reasons, but chief among them is the fact that (as I hope you remember) Paul’s imperatives flow from his indicatives.  His charges to us comes out of his declaration of what’s already true of us.  That’s why he can at the same time command his readers to “put to death what is earthly in” them and declare that they have already “put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self.”  

As has been the case for the past few weeks, understanding how both of those things can be true at the same time is critical to grasping Paul’s point and to getting all the help we’re meant to have from it.  

Remember, then, as a Christian, you have a new nature in Christ (indicatively).  You are dead to earthly things (indicatively).  Therefore, you can heed Paul’s charge to conform to your new nature and put to death all that’s left of your old (imperatively).  

Paul’s main charge, then, is for you and me (and all professing faith in Jesus) to kill the sinful appetites and practices that remain in us.  In His death, Jesus decisively atoned for our sins and freed us from their enslavement.  And by His resurrection from the dead, He guaranteed our sanctification.  But God’s good design is that our lives, from the moment we first trust in Jesus until we go to be with Him, are meant to be gradually sanctified (made holy; renewed; transformed).  

As we’ll see throughout chapter 3, there are two main aspects of our gradual sanctification: (1) Putting off the old self (killing sin) and (2) Putting on the new self (seeking the renewal of our minds, that we might be continually transformed into Christ’s likeness).

Again, this sermon is primarily about the first aspect (putting off the old self).

Paul’s language in Romans (8:13) gets us quickly to the heart of the matter, “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.”  

Our charge, then, Grace Church, is not merely to stiff-arm sin.  It’s not merely to suppress it.  It’s not merely to hold it back with self-control.  It’s not merely to internalize it.  It’s not merely to stop acting sinfully.

We do those things whenever we simply cut off access to a sin.  This is like canceling our internet to deal with the sin of pornography, or getting a brick phone to help with our sin of wasting time, or changing jobs to get away from a temptation toward greed, or giving up our credit card to remove the possibility of gambling online, or just keeping our mouths shut instead of gossiping, or gouging out our eyes because we struggle with lust.  

Almost certainly we should do all of those things, but absolutely certainly we shouldn’t stop there.  All those things do is push our earthly things further down in our heart, when what we really need is to put them to death and be “renewed in knowledge after the image of [our] Creator.”  

And for that, we need to (kill, mortify,) put to death (the sin, the deeds of the body,) the earthly things that remain in us.  Jesus already paid for them all.  They are no longer credited against our account.  We do not put them to death because we must earn God’s favor, but because we already have it with the new natures He’s given us in Christ.  

The main point is that the main charge is for every follower of Jesus to kill “what is earthly in” us, not simply suppress it.  That leads to the next question.  What, exactly does Paul mean by “earthly” things?  

I hope it goes without saying that if we are going to kill something, it’s absolutely critical we understand it.  Killing is an irreversible act.  Therefore, it’s clearly critical to make sure we kill the right thing.  

Hunters, you know this on some level, right?  You need to know what zone you’re hunting and its specific regulations.  Bucks only?  4 point and up?  Harvest tags available?  Rifles allowed or shotgun only?  You don’t want to get it wrong or a DNR helicopter might track you down and confiscate your dear, your firearm, and your license (as happened to our former pastor).

And more importantly still is making sure you’re shooting at the right animal.  Every year it seems like someone accidently shoots a doe, thinking they saw spikes.  Or, worse yet, uncle Jerry because they mistook him for a deer.  

In other words, if it’s important to know what you’re after in hunting, how much more important is it to know what you’re after when it comes to putting to death spiritual things?

To that end, let me warn you of two ditches often associated with sin-killing.

The ditch on the right is the ditch that works really hard at putting things to death that God’s Word never explicitly prohibits—playing cards, watching movies, dancing, and consuming alcohol, for instance.  The Bible does say there are sinful ways to engage in each of those things, but they are not inherently sinful and should not, therefore, be put to death by themselves (indeed, two of them are required for godliness in a very real sense).  We can’t honor God, live consistently with our new selves, or benefit anyone when we’re in this ditch.

The left ditch is just as futile and dangerous.  It ignores or minimizes or explains away or outright denies sinful things the Bible explicitly prohibits.  There are many examples, but the one that seems to be the most prominent today is the sin of homosexuality.  It seems almost more likely than not today to see a non-Noah rainbow flag as the most prominent design-feature of the churches we drive by.  But we cannot honor God, live consistently with our new selves, or benefit anyone when we are in this ditch either.  

God alone defines the things that He commands us to kill.

What, then, are the things Paul commands us to put to death?  Collectively, he refers to them as “earthly” (v.5) and “the old self with its practices” (v.9). Individually, he names eleven things: Sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, covetousness, anger, wrath, malice, slander, obscene talk, and lying (5, 8, 9).  

Those are not, of course, all the earthly things we need to put to death, but they are a good start and a clear example of what he has in mind.  

On one hand, I don’t love the idea of rattling off a list of words and definitions, but on the other hand Paul does list them and, more importantly, it seems increasingly critical that we not only use the same words, but mean what God means by them.  

Sexual immorality.  This is a broad category that encompasses anything outside of God’s design.  Sex is designed and given by God to be exclusively within the context of a covenant union (marriage) between one man and one woman.  It’s given for procreation, protection, and pleasure within marriage.  It is to be mutual, beneficial, and edifying.  Everything else is sexual immorality.  

One pastor (Tommy Nelson, in his series on the Song of Solomon), likens this to having a fire in your living room.  There’s exactly one place in which it is good to do so.  Every other place brings destruction and death.  

Grace, because you are a new creature in Christ, put whatever sexually immoral appetites and practices to death.

Impurity.  This is probably an extension of the last one (sexual immorality) in that they (impurity and sexual immorality) are closely connected in passages like Romans 1:24. But impurity also broadens the scope, referring to anything that veers from the practice of moral uprightness.  

Where you find any impure desires, kill them, Paul demands.

Passion.  This refers to especially strong emotional/internal desires.  When our passions are appropriately set on the things of God, they are good (even necessary).  We ought to be passionate about worshiping God and bringing the gospel to the lost and fighting for the cause of the oppressed.  But in this context, clearly, it refers to unsanctified passions.  It refers to intense desire, untethered from the nature and Word of God.  

Kill it, Grace.  By grace, kill sin!

Evil desire.  Where impurity is the practice of evil, “evil desire” refers to the desires that led to the impure actions.  It is a less-intense desire than passion.  In Matthew 5:28, Jesus speaks of a man with an unacted-upon evil desire for sexual immorality.  In 2 Samuel 13, we read of Amnon who was so filled with the passionate evil desire for sexual immorality that he is described as “tormented” and making “himself ill” because of it.  Evil desire is bad.  Passionate evil desire is worse.  But we are to put them both to death equally.  Kill them wherever and whenever you find them in yourself.

Covetousness (which is idolatry).  This refers to the insatiable desire for more and more stuff.  Covetousness, unlike jealousy, is not even about something that belongs to us, but something we want to belong to us and feel like we can’t live without.  It is never good.  And the worst form of it is when the thing we covet takes a place in our lives that belongs to God alone, which is idolatry.  

Again, Paul’s main charge is to put those things to death.  To forsake them, down to the appetite level.  

As you can see in your Bibles, there’s a bit of a break in the list at this point (after v.5).  In fact, it’s probably more accurate to say that Paul has two lists in this passage.  We just looked at the first list, the first five earthly things.  The second is found in vs.8-9.  

Before we come to the second, I’d like you to consider the connection between the two lists.  The first list is related to the wrong things we want and do, while the second list focuses on the ways we often feel/react when we don’t get what we want.   

I’d like you to consider that for a minute.  I know that all of you (all of us) deal with the things Paul names in v.5 (sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, covetousness).  Ask yourself, then, what happens when the desire for any of those things is particularly strong in you, but you can’t act on them?

What happens when you are filled with unfulfilled lust?  What happens when you really, really want something of your neighbors but they won’t let you have it?  What happens when you long to be rich, but remain poor?  What happens whenever an earthly desire builds in you, but remains unsatisfied?

Chances are, as long as your desires escape your grasp, you’ll progress in some way through the dispositions Paul names in his second list.  Test this in yourself.

Anger.  “The emotion of instant displeasures on account of something evil that presents itself”.  Like passion, this is not necessarily bad.  God is an angry God (2 Kings 17:18).  There’s a good kind of anger that we don’t want to kill (Ephesians 4:26).  It should make us angry when we, or people around us, fail to honor God as God.  But anger is bad when it’s not truly aimed at evil, when it is out of proportion, and when it is primarily shaped by the inconvenience some evil causes us rather than by its distorting of God’s glory.   

When we aren’t free to act on our earthly desires, we tend to become angry.  And when we aren’t free to act on them over time, we tend to move past anger to rage.  

Rage (I think “rage” is probably a better translation than “wrath”).  Rage is to anger like passion is to desire.  Rage is a more intense anger.  And like anger, rage is not always wrong.  God is a God of rage/wrath (v.6).  When our rage is good and bad, it’s good and bad for all the same reasons that anger is good and bad.  

But put to death the bad anger and rage, Grace.  Paul urges us not to tolerate it even in seed form, lest it bear much wicked fruit in us.  

I know a man who was abused as a child.  He is right to b angry about that.  But for the last 60+ years, it has festered into hot rage to the point that it has consumed him.  It has been so hard to watch it eat him away for decades.  Without a doubt, it progressed in him to the next item on the list as well, malice.  

Malice.  As sinful rage builds in us, it often becomes increasingly aimed at a person (or people).  And when that happens, untethered from the fruit of the Spirit, it quickly turns to malice.  To have malice is to sinfully desire harm to befall someone.  Jesus brought together malice and hatred when He taught that to have hatred toward someone is to be a murderer (1 John 3:15) and it doesn’t get more malicious than that.

Put malice to death, Grace.  It is earthly.  It is not of the Lord.  Kill it.

Slander.  To slander someone is to maliciously speak negatively of them with the intent of doing them harm.  All kinds of things might keep us from giving full vent to our malice.  Often, one aspect of our lesser-venting is slander.  Rather than doing the physical harm we desire to the person who keeps us from our earthly lusts, we might simply talk about them in ways intended to wound them (even if we disguise our attempts; as a payer request, perhaps?).  That is slander.  Don’t tolerate it.  Don’t accommodate it.  Kill it, Paul demands.  

Obscene talk. Slander probably falls under the larger umbrella of “obscene talk,” but even beyond being a more general concept, obscene talk is different in that it isn’t disguised at all and in that it need not be directed against a particular person.  Another distinction is that slander might be true, even if it’s shared for ungodly purposes, but obscene talk has nothing to do with truth.  Its aim is simply to give vent to filth.  In fact, “Filthy language” is another way to say it.  We usually call it “trash talk” in our house.  In Ephesians 5:4 Paul says something similar, “Let there be no filthiness or foolish talk or crude joking, which are out of place.”

Again, when we allow our earthly lusts to flow freely in us and that’s combined with them being unfulfilled, our hearts will overflow and that often takes the form of obscene, filthy, trash talk and, finally, of lying.   

Lying.  Lying, of course, is purposefully communicating untrue information to someone.  It is explicitly prohibited by the ninth Commandment (Exodus 20:16).  When we allow what is earthly to live in us, we’ll eventually do whatever we need to do to satisfy it, including lying to others.  

Every item on that second list, as well as every item on the first one, Paul commands his readers to put off and to put to death. Grace, don’t try to foster, justify, deny or excuse them.  Don’t even try to tame them or domesticate them.  Don’t try to merely try to stuff them down or hold them at bay.  Kill them.  By the Spirit that dwells richly in you, determine to bring about their death in you.

That leads to a critical question: Why?  Why does this matter?  Why does Paul insist on such violence of action?  

He gives two reasons.  The first we’ve considered at some length already: Because we must live consistently with who we are in Christ; with who God says we are; with what God designed us for.  We were earthly, but now we are not.  It matters, then, because by continuing to live in earthly ways we are living inconsistent and disordered lives.  Even more significant, though, is the fact that when we live in earthly ways, we are calling God a liar.  All of that is serious, of course, and the first reason all of this is deadly serious.  

In v.6 we see a second reason why it matters as well: Because “On account of these the wrath of God is coming.”

There are three keys for us to grasp here.  First, of all the wraths you don’t want coming, God’s wrath is in a class of its own.  He is a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:29).  Nothing can stay His hand (Daniel 4:35).  In the end, rivers of blood and unending tears will flow when the full measure of the wrath of God comes upon His enemies.  You don’t want that wrath upon you.  

It is no small thing to say that the things on our list bring about the wrath of God.  Which means they are not small things.  You must take them seriously, Grace.  You must kill them or they will kill you.  

That leads to the second key: The wrath of God is not for Christians.  Jesus absorbed every ounce of the just wrath of God for all the sins of those who trust in Him.  Paul says this explicitly in 1 Thessalonians 5:9-10, “God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us…”.  He says the same in Romans 5:9, “Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.”

There is no wrath of God for the saints of God in Christ.  

The third key, then, is in recognizing the significance of the fact that this warning (v.6) was written to Christians.  If this is written to Christians, and there is no wrath for Christians, then why does Paul mention it here?  The reason is simple, yet truly profound.  While there is no wrath for Christians, as we saw throughout John’s Gospel, there are many who believe themselves to be Christians who are not; they are unbelieving believers.  

Paul’s point is that true believers will, by the Spirit, increasingly hate these things and put them to death.  Unbelieving believers will not.  They might try, but will inevitably fail and succumb to the frustration of trying to do spiritual things apart from the indwelling Spirit.  

At one point I was meeting with 6-7 young men who were not Christians and knew it.  They wanted to understand Christianity.  I think they had a genuine desire to consider it honestly.  As we talked through the gospel and the nature of the Christian life, I encouraged them to put into practice what they read—confess and repent of sins, gather with God’s people, serve the lowly.  

As time went on, two of them came to faith in Jesus (one of them is here today), but the rest were eventually crushed by their inability to do what God required of them and refused to trust in Jesus to do it for them.  A couple of them professed faith for a while, but their walking away showed that the wrath of God was still on them.  This is a warning for those among the Church, who are not yet truly in the Church.  

That’s the heart of Paul’s warning in Ephesians 5:5-6 (and Galatians 5:19-21), “you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.”  

As I said earlier, all of us deal with all of the things on Paul’s list on some level.  God’s design is that our sanctification will not be complete until we die or Christ returns.  Paul’s warning is not for those who struggle against these things, but for those who don’t struggle in faith.  

Again, then, the third key is that this is a warning to us all to consider whether or not our lives line up with what God’s Word says is true, which is the proof that we really are in Christ.  Heeding warnings is the proof that our faith is genuine.  Failing to do so is proof that we remain under God’s wrath.  

Finally, how do we do what Paul commands?  How do we put our dead self to death?  How do we renew what’s new?  How do we put off what’s off?  How do we put to death what is earthly in us?

For the most part, this is the sermon in two weeks.  For now, though, and in conclusion, let me say one simple thing from v.10.    

Putting off the old self and putting on the new is something God is already doing in us.  We are “being renewed in knowledge after the image of [our] creator.”  As we seek to put to death the lingering earthly appetites and practices in us, and as we seek to put on the new self and the appetites and actions that accompany it, we do so by faith in the knowledge that God is already doing them in us.  

More specifically, we fight specific earthly appetites through specific promises of God—things God is doing or will do for us.  Let me close with two simple examples of what I mean.  

How do you put to death the earthly impurity Paul commands us to kill?  You do so by remembering that you are already dead to it and by believing the promise of God in Matthew 5:8, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”  

Likewise, how do you put to death earthly, evil desire for pleasure through sexual sin?  You do so by remembering that you are already dead to it and by believing the promise of God of true pleasure that is found in Him alone (Psalm 16:11), “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”  

Again, we’ll unpack that even more in two weeks when we consider 3:12-15.

As we turn now, to the Lord’s Supper, another means of God’s sanctifying grace, remember, we must put to death what is earthly in us, because we are already dead to it in Christ.  And, more importantly, remember, we must live in the newness of life that is ours already in Christ.  For, “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” 

Colossians 3:1-4 –

1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. 

If you were here for our time in Ecclesiastes, you certainly remember that the invaluable gift of the book is its description of a nearly exhaustive and futile search for satisfaction “under the sun”.  In other words, Ecclesiastes is the story of a man (“the Preacher”) who unsuccessfully tried everything there is among the “things that are on earth” in an attempt to find true and lasting joy in them.  He tried excessive amounts of money, work, sex, wisdom, entertainment, servants, houses, gardens, etc., and while they provided a quick buzz, they all ultimately proved to be empty.    

Of all that, the Preacher wrote, “I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind” (Ecclesiastes 1:14).  

Ecclesiastes is a gift in that it shows us that as long as our eyes are on the things of earth, we will not find genuine joy; always lust, never fulfillment; always winter, never Christmas.  It’s a gift in that it frees us from wasting our time in looking for meaning and purpose and significance and joy where they cannot be found.  

But if not among the things “under the sun” or “that are on earth,” where are those things found?  As true as the Preacher’s conclusions were, they’re only half the story.

If the Preacher of Ecclesiastes had the full revelation of God, Colossians 3:1-2 would have been his grand conclusion.  In that way, our passage is like answer to the lingering question of Ecclesiastes.  The two passages are a perfect complement to one another.  

Therefore, with a fuller revelation from God, “the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints” (2:16), Paul answered, “seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth” (3:1-2).

True satisfaction is not found among “things that are on earth,” (as the Preacher rightly, albeit painfully observed), but in “things that are above.”  

Paul’s main plea is for the Colossian Christians (and you and I), is to lift our eyes above the earth; to look for the source of all satisfaction where He is found and in what He has done.  And in God’s loving-kindness, He inspired Paul to explain a bit of how and why He means His people to do that.

In a word, it’s this simple idea: By grace, through faith in Jesus, you died to your sins, your soul has been raised with Christ, your life is hidden in Christ, and you will appear with Jesus in glory, therefore, let your eyes (your appetites and thoughts) follow.  

Look up, Christian!  Because of what God has done and will certainly do for you in Jesus, lift your eyes above the temporary buzz of earthly joy and the light momentary affliction of your troubles and trials.  Look up to the One who is risen and who gives resurrection.  And then live entirely in light of what you see.

Let me repeat the logic of this passage before working through the various components of it.

By grace, through faith in Jesus, you have died to your sins, your soul has been raised with Christ, your life is hidden in Christ, and you will appear with Jesus in glory, therefore, seek Christ with all you’ve got.  Know what is true of you, know what God has done for you in Christ, and then live entirely in light of that.  

There are imperatives (commands) to follow, but we’ll never honor God in our obedience to them if our obedience isn’t rooted in the indicatives (objective truths) and promises of God.  

That is exactly how everyone in Christ ought to think all the time, but it is especially true when we find ourselves in times of difficulty, as the Colossians did.  

So, what is true of us in Christ?  The first indicative (chronologically) is found at the very beginning of v.3.

3 For you have died…

But what does that mean and how is it the kind of good news that draws our eyes up to Christ?

There are two senses in which it is true.  We need to understand both, but it is the second sense that Paul primarily has in mind in v.3.  

What are the two senses in which Christians have died?  We were dead and then we die. 

The heart of the gospel involves life and death.  God is life.  He created us, making us alive together with Him as His living image-bearers.  And from the beginning, God was clear on the fact that as long as His people remained in Him, they would know only life and love and order and fellowship and joy.  

However, God was equally clear from the beginning on that fact that sin is death.  Should His people turn from Him in sin, they would surely die—spiritually (immediately) and (eventually) physically as well.  

Tragically, just three chapters into the humanity’s story, our first parents, Adam and Eve, turned from God to sin and therein brought inescapable and unimaginable death to themselves and all their offspring.  

The first sense in which it’s true that we have died, then, is in the fact that we were born physically alive but spiritually dead (separated from God and under His wrath) on account of Adam’s sins.  All people, conceived by men, are born into this same death.  

That’s what he means in 2:13 when he declares that the Colossian Christians “were dead in [their] trespasses.”

That, of course, is not good news.  But what about the second kind of death?  

We were dead (in the sense we just considered) and then (curiously) we died.  What does that mean?  How can we die again?  

As I said earlier, we are all born physically alive, but spiritually dead.  And yet, the full wages of our sin is the combination of the two.  In other words, as tragic as it is that we are born spiritually dead and enemies of God, there’s worse news still.  Once our spiritual death is united with physical death, we will know the full measure of God’s justice for our sin.  We must die again because our sin and God’s holiness and justice require it.  It can’t not happen.  We must die twice.

There are only two ways for that to happen.  Either the just course of events will continue on and we’ll die again, such that our physical death will come together with our spiritual death unto eternal death (hell) or we will be united with Jesus in His death, such that His death becomes ours.  

That’s what Paul means in 1:21-22 when he wrote, “And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds [first death], 22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death [second death on our behalf]…”

Paul’s point (in declaring that the Colossians “have died”) is that they had chosen the second kind of second death; the kind which receives Christ’s death as their own.  

Grace, the good news of the gospel is that we need not die the second death of hell.  By grace, through faith in Jesus, Jesus died the second death on our behalf, in our place.  God put on Jesus the second death we all deserve as a substitute for all who will receive Him in faith!  He is both just and justifier (Romans 3:26)!!!

O, what awesome news that is.  Do not be OK with being casual about this…either for yourself or for those who have not yet received this news in faith.  There is no greater terror in all reality than experiencing the second death apart from Christ, even as there is no greater joy than knowing that He took it for you.  

And that objective reality must dominate everything about our hearts, minds, and lives.  We’ll come back to that soon.  

The second objective reality is actually the first named by Paul in this passage.  It is good news that Jesus took our second death upon Himself, but it is better news that we are also united with Him in His resurrection.  

1 If then you have been raised with Christ…

Quickly, and to be clear, while this sounds like Paul might have been questioning whether or not the Colossians had been raised with Christ (“If then you have been raised”), that’s not the case.  He wasn’t suggesting that their resurrection was undetermined.  The following paraphrase probably captures Paul’s actual meaning more clearly, “Since you have been raised with Christ…”.   

The question, then, wasn’t whether or not they had been raised, it was about what that meant and what they were to do about it.  

In this, we see even more clearly that God is not only holy and just, but also gracious and merciful.  It is remarkable indeed that in the same chapter in which we read of mankind’s fall into sin and death (Genesis 3), we read of God’s promise to provide salvation through one of Eve’s offspring (Genesis 3:15).  And God always keeps His promises.  

God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son… (John 3:16).

… while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly (Romans 5:6).

God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ… (Ephesians 2:4-5).

… you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead (2:12).

The moment we place our faith in Jesus, we are united to Jesus’ death and to His resurrection.  They become ours.  God counts them to us.  Grace, to be a Christian is to have been saved by this amazing, raising grace of God in Jesus.  

What does it mean to share in Christ’s resurrection?  Ultimately it means, as we will soon see, that we too will rise from the dead at His return.  But Paul doesn’t say here “you will rise.”  He says “you have been raised.”  What does that mean?  To ask the same question from another angle, what does Paul mean in v.4 when He says “Christ…is your life”?

It means that He made us spiritually alive (which is why we can see the gospel for what it is and receive it in faith).  And in that, He made it so that our physical and spiritual death will never/can never meet!  That’s a whole lot of glory and a whole sermon.  Praise God, Grace.  

Having been raised with Christ and having Christ as your life also means recognizing that He is the purpose and significance of your life.  He is the greatest treasure and highest reward.  That is what led Paul to emphatically declare, “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21).  That too is a whole lot of glory and a whole sermon.  

You have been raised.  Christ is your life.  And that objective reality must dominate everything about our hearts, minds, and lives.  We’ll come back to that soon.  

Christian, know what God has done for you in Christ, that you might live consistently with that which is true.  By God’s grace, through faith, you are united with Jesus’ death and resurrection and, third, hidden with Christ in God.  

3 …your life is hidden with Christ in God. 

I think there are two senses in which this is true.  The most immediate and evident is captured in 1 John 3:2, “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared.”

The idea is simply this: All of these remarkable aspects of our union with Christ are invisible.  

The life of faith, to which we are all called, is a life built mainly on things unseen.  We cannot see Jesus.  We cannot see our second death in Jesus.  We cannot see the resurrection we share with Jesus.  All of those things are hidden from us.  But they are hidden with Christ in God.  

A life of faith is not naïve hope in the unlikely (wishful thinking).  It is “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).  It is rock-solid trust in the invisible, but certain work and promises of God.  

But I think Paul probably has a second idea in mind as well.  It is captured in passages like Psalm 27:5. As his enemies pursued him, meaning to do him great harm, King David reminded himself of the truth that “[God] will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will lift me high upon a rock.”

I think Peter had basically the same idea in mind when he described the inheritance of the saints, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Peter 1:3-5).  

There is no safer place for your life and mine to be hidden.  It is kept in the Lord God Almighty Bank and Trust.  No one is able to bypass His security.  That is, no one can take from us the life that was given to us through faith in Jesus.   

As the Colossians were surrounded by hardship from within and without, what a comforting reminder it would have been that their union with Christ not only leads to God’s salvation, but also His protection.  What a comforting reminder it would have been to hear that their life was under God’s protection

Christian, know what God has done.  Turn to Him in your trials, right now.  Like David in Psalm 7, declare, “O LORD my God, in you do I take refuge.”  In you do I hide myself for in you am I already hidden.  

There’s one more aspect of God’s certain work highlighted by Paul in this passage.   The first three happen to us immediately when we first trust in Jesus.  They are already done.  The final work of God mentioned by Paul is ours in the future.  It is no less certain, however.  For God (alone), future promise as certain as present realities.  Therefore, when we read of God’s promise of what’s yet to come, they are as certain as the things that have already come to pass.  

What, then, is the future promise made by God and reported by Paul for all Christians?

4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

What was invisible, will become visible.  What we received by faith, we will receive by sight.  This great promise is all over in the NT.  

Titus 2:13 …waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ… 

1 John 3:2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.

Philippians 3:20-21 …our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body…

Ephesians 2:4-7 ButGod, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

On the day of Jesus’ return, we will be glorified with Jesus.  Our bodies will rise from the dead, fully sanctified, and be reunited with our fully sanctified souls that we might live forever, fully satisfied in the Righteous One who purchased for us a righteousness of our own.  

By grace, through faith in Jesus, you died to your sins, your soul has been raised with Christ, your life is hidden in Christ, and you will appear with Jesus, resurrected in glory.

These things are true of every Christian.  They are all entirely true of every Christian.  They are all always true of every Christian.  They can’t not be all true, for all Christians, always.  

There is no question about any of that, according to the finished work of Christ in His death and resurrection.  

What there is a question about, though, is whether or not the Colossian Christians, or the Grace Wyoming Christians will live in light of all of that, or if we’ll return to the elementary principles of the world; to the things that are on the earth.  That’s where we now turn, to the question of how we will respond—or, rather, how we should respond—to these things that are ours in Christ.  

Again, then, what are we to do in light of all that?  Christian, know what God has done and will do, and then lift your eyes.  Turn your gaze off of the things of earth and onto Christ who is by far greater.  For only then can you see Christ or the things of earth properly.  

If you truly believe the indicatives of Colossians 3:1-4, then the imperatives will not be hard.  God-honoring obedience always begins with and is fueled by loving what is true.  

But what does that mean?  In our passage, Paul describes two aspects of having our eyes lifted to Christ: (1) Seeking the things that are above and (2) Setting our minds on things that are above.    

I wonder, what do you imagine an objective, outside observer of your life would say you are seeking the most?  What is it that you are going after more than anything else?  And why that thing?

1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above…

It is an inescapable aspect of human nature that we seek what we love.  

To have died and been raised with Jesus, to be hidden in Jesus, and to trust that we will be glorified with Jesus, means understanding that He graciously set His love upon us.  Understanding that He graciously set His love upon is to set our love upon Jesus above all.  To love Jesus above all is to seek Him above all.  And to seek Him above all is to seek “the things that are above, where Christ is.”

To seek the things above, where Christ is, as Paul means it, means desiring Jesus and the things Jesus desires, in the way He means us to desire them.  

It means seeing Jesus in His glory in such a way that all of the good things of earth stop competing with Jesus for supremacy and start highlighting it.  They stop seeming like alternatives to Jesus and start revealing His uniqueness to satisfy.  They stop distracting us from Jesus and start pointing us to Him.  

To have our appetites (our desires) trained upon Jesus isn’t, as so many have mistakenly believed, to choose the lesser, but righter path.  It is to choose that which is beautiful, good, and true above all else.  It is to choose treasure over trash.  It is to choose the greatest over the least.  

Embedded in the same sentence as the command (“seek the things that are above”), are two aspects of Jesus’ nature that compel us to treasure Him above all.  Consider v.1 once again.  

1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

What are the aspects of Jesus’ nature that testify to Him being the greatest treasure and worthy of being sought above all?  

How can we do that if we spend hour after hour after hour scrolling social media or binging shows or streaming soul-numbing music or listening to the thoughts and advice of godless friends or engaged in worldly entertainment or chasing riches (the things of the earth, the things the Preacher sought in futility)?  Those things take our eyes off of the things above and numb us to them.  

Grace, let us instead seek the things of God in Christ, which are by far better.  Let us meditate on God’s Word and commend it to one another.  Let us ask God in prayer to refine our appetites.  Let us sing songs together with the saints that tell of the wonders of Christ.  Let us eat and drink the Lord’s Supper.  Let us seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God for He is alive and seated in the place of honor and victory.  

The second and final imperative is found in v.2.  It is a specific aspect of the last one.  We cannot seek the things above if we do not set our minds upon them.   

2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.

I’ll say more about this as we make our way through chapter 3.  For now, hear this.

Philippians 4:8 whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

Grace, this is like what we saw last week.  By grace, through faith, we have been united with Jesus in His death and resurrection, are hidden in Him, and we will be glorified with Him.  These things are objectively true of every Christian.  At the same time, however, our eyes and appetites need to be retrained to follow, to be lifted up with our lives.  Paul implored the Colossians to do just that.  

Again, if the Preacher of Ecclesiastes had the full revelation of God, Colossians 3:1-2 would have been his grand conclusion.  He saw the vanity of seeking things below.  He just didn’t quite understand what it meant to seek the things above.  

(By grace, through faith in Jesus,) you died to your sins, your soul has been raised with Christ, your life is hidden in Christ, and you will appear with Jesus in glory, therefore, let your eyes (your appetites and thoughts) follow.  Look up, Christian!  Because of what God has done and certainly will do for you in Jesus, lift your eyes above the temporary buzz of earthly joy and the light momentary affliction of your troubles and trials.  Look up to the One who is risen and who gives resurrection; who is glorious and makes glorious.  And then live entirely in light of what you see.

Lift your eyes, Grace.  It doesn’t change the reality of the mess that is on earth, but it does change our perspective on it and empower us to persevere through it in faithful joy.    

Colossians 2:16-23 –

16 Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. 17 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. 18 Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, 19 and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God. 

20 If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— 21 “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” 22 (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? 23 These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.

Good morning.  Thanks, Kyle for taking us back into the Psalms.  I appreciate your trans-Psalm reminder that God-honoring emotions flow from God-honoring truths and lead to God-honoring lives.  In addition, earlier in the week I mentioned to Kyle that I was especially helped by a few lines from his sermon.

With that, once again, welcome back to this familiar passage in Colossians.  Throughout the two weeks we’ve already spent in it, we’ve seen that all of life is a continual choice between living according to elemental spirits/principles of this world and living according to Christ.  Everyone sees the world through a particular lens, and our lens is either Christ or anything else.  And within all of that, Paul’s main focus was on urging the church to hold fast to Jesus; to live according to Jesus; to look see the world through the lens of Christ.  

Why did Paul write so emphatically about this?  He gave three main reasons: (1) Elemental principles are by definition, mere human constructs; mere self-made religion with only an appearance of wisdom (but are folly); and will ultimately come to an unsatisfying and destructive end. (2) The world is Christ’s.  It is from, for, and to Him.  In Him alone are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge and He alone is preeminent over all things.  So why would we live according to anyone or anything else?!  (3) To be a Christian is to have chosen to reject worldly ways of thinking as the lies they are; it is to have rejected all competing claims to Christ’s imperium; it is to have accepted Christ as the way, the truth, and the life; and it is to have died to the world with Jesus.

Having seen all of that, there’s a phrase in the middle of the verse in the middle of the passage that I want to unpack a bit more.  In v.20 Paul wrote, “If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, [do you live] as if you were still alive in the world…?”  

Paul’s clear implication is that Christians are no longer “alive in the world.” And by that curious sounding phrase he was asking the Colossians to consider why they were thinking and acting like they did before they trusted in Jesus.  In particular, he was asking them to consider the various ways they were seeing the world through anything other than the lens of Christ.  

Once again, I want to slow down a bit and consider on a deeper and more practical level what it means to live as if we are “still alive in the world” today.  What are our primary temptations to see things apart from Christ?  If Paul were writing to the church in Wyoming in 2026, how would he finish the verse, “Why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you _____?”

As we do, we’ll see the big idea of this message: In Christ alone, and through God’s Word alone, can we see the world and our place in it as they truly are.  Looking through any other lens always leads to a distorted perspective and a disordered life.  The main takeaway is to carefully consider where we’re seeing the world through a worldly lens (and therefore acting as if we were still alive in the world) and replace it with the lens of Christ. 

The main question, once again, is this: Are we living as those who are alive in the world or as those alive in Christ?  Are we seeing the world through a distinctly Christian lens or some type of a worldly lens?  

Paul will make that even clearer in the next section of his letter (next week), when he commands, “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.”

In just a minute, we’ll consider eight alive-in-the-world ideas that are wreaking havoc on the world and Church today.  Before we get there, though,I’d like to say a brief word on two aspects of the relationship between being alive in the world vs. being alive in Christ.  For Christians, they’re simultaneously (1) mutually exclusive and (2) experienced on a sliding scale.    

Being alive in the world is mutually exclusive from being alive in Christ in that only one or the other can be true of us at one time.  If we are alive in the world, then we are entirely dead in Christ.  And if we are alive in Christ, then we are entirely dead in the world.  

Of the Colossian Christians, Paul objectively declared, “…with Christ you died to the elemental spirits [principles] of the world” and later, “you have died [to the world], and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”

In the middle of chapter 2 we find out how the transition takes place in us, “…you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross” (2:13-14).

We are either dead to Christ and alive to the world in our sin (which is everyone from birth) or alive in Christ and dead to the sins of the world (which is ours by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, accomplished by the cross alone).  

And yet, as we all know, our objective reality does not always shape our hearts, minds, and daily lives as it ought.  And in that way, on a practical level, as Christians we live on a sliding scale between seeing the world as we did when we were alive in the world and seeing as it truly is now that we are alive in Christ.  

The most illuminating example I’ve heard concerns the perspective the slaves freed by Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation.  At the Proclamation, as a matter of objective fact, Southern slaves were immediately declared “forever free.”  However, as you can imagine, that did not mean that they immediately saw the world in the same way as those who had never been enslaved.  Being a freeman and learning to think and function like a freeman are two different things.  Becoming a freeman is instant.  Thinking and acting like one is a process.  

And so it is for Christians.  We pass from death to life the moment we first place our faith in Jesus (like a light switch—either off or on; all one or all the other), but we spend the rest of our lives being transformed by the Spirit to live consistently with what’s already true of us (like a dimmer switch—varying degrees of brightness).  

In more practical terms, while non-Christian can only see the world through a worldly lens, because we are being but are not yet fully sanctified, Christians always see the world through some combination of worldly and Christianly lenses.  Paul’s charge to his readers (including us) is to recognize that there is lingering worldly thinking in all of us and to do everything we can to weed it out.  Again, helping with that is the main aim of this sermon.

As we saw, there were three primary alive-in-the-world ways of thinking (or elemental spirits/principles) Paul warned the Colossians of: Asceticism (don’t do certain things) and legalism (do certain things) to earn or keep God’s favor and mysticism (visions and dreams) to know God’s will.  Those were the ideas that the world had come up with in contradiction to the world as it really is; in contradiction to Jesus.  

Therefore, Paul warned them of the futility and danger of continuing to live in light of them as they once had.  Indeed, at the heart of the Colossian heresy was the idea that God’s favor could be earned or maintained through anything in us.  And in response, he commended to them the mind of Christ; namely that God’s favor is ours only by grace, through faith, in the uniquely sufficient merit and sacrificial death of Jesus.

If those were their alive-in-the world temptations and Paul’s alive-in-Christ responses, what are ours?  Where are we prone to think and feel and act as if we “were still alive in the world”?  Where are we likely to look at the world with the mind of the world rather than Christ?  If Paul were writing to us, what worldly ideas would he warn us of?

What follows is by no means meant to be considered a definitive or exhaustive list or a definitive or exhaustive answer to any item on the list.  It’s not in any particular order.  It’s not even mainly my list.  But it is an important start if we truly mean to recognize the temptations common to all of us in our current cultural context; and that, in order that we might weed out the lies and replace them with truth; that we might put off our worldly thinking and put on Christ’s; that we might think and act in accordance with the world as it really is.  

Let me give you a quick example of what I mean.  When I first came to faith in Jesus, I didn’t even understand that being a Christian meant anything beyond believing the simple truths of the gospel.  I had no sense that to be alive in Christ is to see everything in Christ—art and science and marriage and work and nature and money and family and entertainment and friendships and everything.  

Over time, without really understanding what was happening, I began to see certain things differently.  One of the first that I remember concerned whether God meant women to be pastors.  It was entirely disorienting to realize that my thinking on matters like that needed to be rooted in something beyond my semi-sanctified common sense. 

Next came things like the nature of the Bible, God’s relationship to creation, and dating.  

I began to lean what the Bible teaches on an increasing number of individual matters, but they were all separate in my mind.  I still hadn’t realized that I needed a comprehensively Christian view of reality (or that there even was such a thing).  

In God’s kindness, over time, I did begin to see that what was true in all the individual issues I’d traversed, was true of all reality—it is all rooted in Christ and understood only with the Spirit’s interpretive help as we study God’s Word and creation.  At the same time, I began to see that it is one thing to recognize that and something else to actually weed out all the lies and discover all the truths.  

What follows, then, is a list of eight ways I think we are particularly prone to living as if were still alive in the world.  Actually, what follows is three lists that I compiled into one.  The first five ideas are from two different books (Five Lies of Our Anti-Christian Age by Rosaria Butterfield and The Pandemic of Lunacy by J. Budziszewski; who actually lists 30 lunacies of our modern times) and the final three are things I’ve seen the most among us.  

My aim, once again, is to point you to the kinds of things that are leading many astray, even inside the church.  My aim is to help you recognize them, that you might turn from them to that which is good, beautiful, and true—to the mind of Christ.  My aim is to help you no longer live as if you were alive in the world in these ways.

Again, this isn’t meant to be an exhaustive list.  There are other equally significant lies believed and taught by those alive in the world.  And again, this isn’t even a particularly well-ordered list.  

My main point isn’t even any of these points.  My main point is that there is a distinctly Christian way to think of, understand, and live in response to everything we encounter.  That is, to be a Christian is to believe that God alone created, named, ordered, sustains, and ultimately judges all that has been made.  Which means that all things are and are for what God says they are and are for, and that every alternative is some degree of untruth, disorder, and corruption.

And all of that collectively is what Paul means by “set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.”  And failing to do so is what he means by “If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, [do you act] as if you were still alive in the world…?”.  

The big idea of this message is that in Christ alone, and through God’s Word alone, can we see the world and our place in it as they truly are.  Looking through any other lens always leads to a distorted perspective and a disordered life.  The main takeaway is to carefully consider where we’re seeing the world through a worldly lens and replace it with the lens of Christ.  

But this is no mere intellectual exercise.  This is not mainly about intellectual integrity or consistency.  It’s certainly not mainly about yelling at the world for their corrupted thinking.  It’s mainly about rejoicing in and living in light of the facts that God is infinitely glorious and His design for His world is perfectly good.  It is mainly about God’s kindness in revealing to us what it means to live the abundant life that Jesus came to bring (John 10:10).  It is mainly about treasuring Christ, who came to restore all that our worldly thinking has destroyed.  As Kyle says, God-honoring truths are meant to lead to God-honoring affections and lives.

God has given us His Word, His Spirit, and His people to help us with these things.  May we seek them, therefore, with even greater zeal, greater reliance on the Spirit, greater dependance on His Word, and greater support from one another; for the glory of God and the good of the world.    

Psalm 33 –

1 Shout for joy in the Lord, O you righteous!
    Praise befits the upright.
2 Give thanks to the Lord with the lyre;
    make melody to him with the harp of ten strings!
3 Sing to him a new song;
    play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts.

4 For the word of the Lord is upright,
    and all his work is done in faithfulness.
5 He loves righteousness and justice;
    the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord.

6 By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,
    and by the breath of his mouth all their host.
7 He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap;
    he puts the deeps in storehouses.

8 Let all the earth fear the Lord;
    let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him!
9 For he spoke, and it came to be;
    he commanded, and it stood firm.

10 The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing;
    he frustrates the plans of the peoples.
11 The counsel of the Lord stands forever,
    the plans of his heart to all generations.
12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,
    the people whom he has chosen as his heritage!

13 The Lord looks down from heaven;
    he sees all the children of man;
14 from where he sits enthroned he looks out
    on all the inhabitants of the earth,
15 he who fashions the hearts of them all
    and observes all their deeds.
16 The king is not saved by his great army;
    a warrior is not delivered by his great strength.
17 The war horse is a false hope for salvation,
    and by its great might it cannot rescue.

18 Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him,
    on those who hope in his steadfast love,
19 that he may deliver their soul from death
    and keep them alive in famine.

20 Our soul waits for the Lord;
    he is our help and our shield.
21 For our heart is glad in him,
    because we trust in his holy name.
22 Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us,
    even as we hope in you.

During our parenting in the early years, one of our daughters was not having the right attitude in a certain situation. Johanna told her to go to her room and spend some time by herself so she could find her happy heart. Our daughter responded in exasperation saying, “I can’t find. It is lost forever.” The reality of what that three-year old deeply felt in that moment is really a struggle for every Christian who wants to take the commands of the Bible seriously. We are commanded to have joy (verse one). If you are anything like me, you have a strong bent towards melancholy, gloominess, and even despondency. How am I supposed to create joy in my heart? 

The point of this psalm, and the other 149 psalms in this book is to help you have proper, God-exalting feelings that have their roots in powerful, God-revealed truths, for walking the path of God-glorifying obedience. Your feelings (emotions, affections) are powerful motivators to obey God, if they are grounded in the rock-solid foundation of God’s truth that we find in the Bible. Emotions and affections are scattered throughout the book of Psalms and this whole book is here to help you know what good emotions you should have and identify what wrong emotions you shouldn’t have…and what your response should be with those good or bad emotions. 

Psalm 33 is the first psalm of 150 psalms that explicitly mentions musical instruments and singing, and it highlights the importance of music in the life of his people. God cares about how you sing. He cares about how you sing and what is happening in your heart when you sing, right here, in this room each Sunday morning. He cares about how our musicians play their instruments on this stage. We know that because Psalm 33 gives commands on how you are to sing and how our musicians are to play. Psalm 33 is meant to cause us to stop and consider the place of music and singing as a means to stir your affections in fully-engaged, whole-hearted, joy-overflowing corporate worship. And I say corporate as a key word, because the original language of the first three verses is subtly plural, and the last three verses of this psalm are explicitly plural. We are to do this together. Here. So sing your guts out with one another. It is biblical. 

Martin Luther wrote that music “is a mistress and governess of those human emotions which as masters govern human beings or more often overwhelm them…For whether you wish to comfort the sad, to terrify the happy, to encourage the despairing, to humble the proud, to calm the passionate or to appease those full of hate- and who could number all these masters of the human heart, namely, the emotions, inclinations and affections that impel human beings to evil or good? What more effective means than music could you find?” 

I grew up being taught that emotions were something to be skeptical of, to keep at an arms distance, and something that didn’t have a central place in the Christian life. That is just totally untrue if you read the Bible with open eyes. You are commanded to experience joy, happiness, gladness, satisfaction and pleasure in God. And God in his kindness has given us the gift of music as a tool in which we can cultivate our emotions to grow in the rich soil of God’s Word. 

God’s people joyfully respond in communal music and singing when they are in awe of His word and His works, the accomplishment of His plans, and His total awareness of all things, and presence in all places of the earth. Therefore, no matter what may come in this life, God’s people will be marked by souls that wait for Him, and hearts that are hopefully glad in Him because of his steadfast love. That is what I intend to try and unpack in the time we have remaining together this morning.  

“Shout for joy in the LORD, O you righteous! Praise befits the upright. Give thanks to the Lord with the lyre; make melody to him with the harp of ten strings! Sing to him a new song; play skillfully on the strings with loud shouts.” 

The language of this passage is plural imperative. That phrase might make your eyes glaze over, but all it means is that in the original language that this psalm was written, it was implied that this command was for God’s people to do together. Kids, I can remember when I was a kid, having to diagram sentences in my grammar class. I hated it. You may hate it too, but just like taking a medicine that tastes bad when you are sick will help you get better, learning grammar is important because God wrote a book that uses grammar for us to learn more about who He is and what he commands of us. Grammar matters because God created it for us as a way to know Him and love Him. 

So we are to shout for joy together. Does this mean we literally need to shout? This word means to give a ringing cry of heartfelt jubilation. It does not mean cacophonies of noise. It is a meaningful response that comes out of your throat because of a heart that is satisfied in God. So when you rise up in your pew to sing songs of worship, what happens? Vibrations happen in your throat as your vocal chords snap apart and come back together really fast. You exhale chopped up air that takes the form of sound waves. That physical act that takes place in your body is not in and of itself pleasing to God. What it ought to be is an outward expression of an inward disposition of joy in the Lord. 

I am a baseball fan and unfortunately I am a lifelong Minnesota Twins fan. A team that has been marked by being just good enough to get your hopes up only to crush them into pieces once you allow some good feelings to start to gain momentum in your heart. Several years ago, two of my sons and I were at a Minnesota Twins game. They were playing the Baltimore Orioles. We were sitting in the left field home run deck, and everything about that game was the stereotypical reason why people describe baseball as terribly boring. It was a low scoring, low hitting game and we were down by a score of 2-1 going into the ninth inning. A Twins batter draws a walk and up to the plate walks Byron Buxton. He then hits a towering shot into left field, about five rows below where we were sitting. A walk off home run. What do you think our response was? Shouts of happiness was the appropriate response!

Now, as much as my emotions enjoyed that moment watching my favorite player, with my favorite team, in my favorite sport, with my two sons jumping up and down by my side; that moment cannot compare to the deep, satisfying delight that I have each Sunday praising God next to each of you in this room. Praise befits the upright. It is a suitable, appropriate and beautiful response to all that the LORD has done. Who is this LORD? He is Jehovah. The personal name for the one true God. The self-existing, eternal One. 

Praise is an expression of adoration and thanksgiving in response to the works and attributes of God. Is that what is really happening in your heart when that chopped up air comes out of your mouth? Or is it just detached, cold, numb noise coming from your vocal chords wondering what is for lunch after the service? For the people of God, those who are the righteous, the response is shouts of joy, giving of thanks, and singing and playing music of praise to Him. The physical, spiritual, visible and invisible realities all meet here in this room, in the gathering of the righteous which culminates in a sound that is an offering of praise to our great God. When church starts and the call to worship is given, lean in. Prime the pump of your heart with the tool of your mind to think about what is to happen. Pray and ask God to do the work in your heart that is commanded in these verses. 

Verse three says we are to sing to him a new song. How wonderful it is that throughout generations God’s people have created new songs that point us to the same God and the same truths. What a joy it is to discover new melodies that proclaim unchanging truths. I remember coming to Grace Church for the first time in 2010, and hearing the song “All I Have is Christ” for the first time and feeling a deep thankfulness for the gospel anew. That song is forever linked to my first Sunday in this place. 

Lastly in this section, we see the reference to skillful musicians. I am so thankful for the excellent musicians and vocalists we have up here week after week. It was not always like this. For years we had a very shallow bench of skilled musicians at Grace Church. I would say it reached a low point when Pastor Dave called me one week and said they did not have anyone available to lead worship for the upcoming Sunday, and asked if I could lend my pathetic guitar skills in a moment of desperation. Thankfully, the situation changed, and one of the actual musicians was available. We prayed for years for God to bring skillful musicians to our church, and what a wonderful answer to prayer that is visible every Sunday when I look up here and see our musicians helping us praise God in music. 

AW Tozer famously said that what comes to your mind when you think about God is the most important thing about you. It is not your looks, your intellect, your bank account status, your physical ability, whether you have abs and big biceps, how fast you can run, how high you can jump, what school you went to, who your friends are, where you live, what work you do, what kind of house you live in, who you are married to, whether you are single, married, or divorced. None of that is the most important thing about you. What specific, concrete, Bible-based truths come into your mind when you think about God is the most important thing about who you are. Imagine struggling to climb the face of a sheer cliff, barely being able to hold on for dear life. The truths about the LORD in verses 4-19 would be like giant crags in the cliff that you stick your hands into, and sink your feet into, to keep you from falling to your death. These verses contain life-giving, joy-producing, awe-inspiring descriptions of the self-existing One, our LORD, Jehovah, that will help you set your mind on who God is, to serve your heart in taking joy in Him. 

“For the word of the LORD is upright, and all his work is done in faithfulness (v. 4).” The word of the LORD is upright. The LORD is completely and totally right. There is not a shred of minuscule falseness in Him. Not a drop of crookedness. Not an iota of deceit. Not one molecule of a lie within his nature. He is purely upright. Look around the world. Everything is broken as a result of sin. Our world is crooked and jacked up, but the LORD is upright. This word, upright, is also the word used to describe the LORD’s people in verse one where we saw that praise befits the upright. For those who are in a covenant relationship with the LORD, His uprightness is bestowed on them. The LORD makes them upright. The LORD’s word has the power to make right that which is broken and crooked. 

Also by His word, The LORD made the heavens, “and by the breath of his mouth all their host. He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap; he puts the deeps in storehouses…For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm (vs. 6-7, 9).” These verses are the echo of the creation story. By His word the heavens were made. The LORD’s word is His work. There is no separation. What He says, He does. What He declares, happens. All the hosts were made. That is the sun, moon and stars. Light travels 186,000 miles per second. That is 7 1/2 times around the world in one second. The Milky Way is 100,000 light years in diameter. It contains 100-400 billion stars. Now consider this- the Milky Way occupies 0.00000000000000042% of the universe. That is what the LORD’s word created by the breath of his mouth. What happens when you breathe? When God breathes, unfathomable expanses burst forth from nothing. Billions of stars are created. Planets swirl into orbit. The sun begins burning at a heat of 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit on the surface, and 27 million degrees Fahrenheit at its core. 

The Mariana Trench, located in the Pacific Ocean, is the deepest point of the earth. It is 36,000 feet below sea level. If you were to put Mount Everest inside of it, you would still have over a mile of water to go before it would break the surface. The pressure at the bottom is 16,000 pounds per square inch, which is the equivalent of 50 jumbo jets sitting on top of your chest. 

Most of the ocean has never been seen by humans. Sunlight disappears after 650 feet. Beyond 3,300 feet it is permanently dark and many creatures below that level have never experienced daylight. The ocean has 332 million cubic miles of water. Imagine a cube of water where each side of the cube is 690 miles long (about the distance from Minneapolis to Denver). That is how much water there is in the ocean. God gathers this vastness into a heap, just as a child gathers sand in a sandbox to build a castle. I put my lawnmower in my shed to store it. God puts 332 million cubic miles of water and the Marianna Trench in his storehouse. 

The universe that was created by the word of the LORD is also full of his steadfast love (verse 5). “He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the steadfast love of the LORD.” Where you can see righteousness and justice on display, there you will see the display of his love towards us. Yes, this world is broken and evil happens continually. Yet, at the same time it is full of God’s acts of righteousness and justice. Where wrong is made right, where evil is punished, where you see displays of virtue, there you see the display of love from the LORD that we do not deserve. If God loves righteousness and justice, this is what we ought to long for and desire as well. Look for ways to see again and again his faithful work through displays of righteousness and justice for that is the display of his steadfast love. 

We can’t wrap our heads around the glory of these words and works. The magnitude of the universe and the fullness of the earth with His steadfast love is meant to bring you into fear and awe of the LORD (verse 8). We are the inhabitants of this world that God made. Every person in every place in this world should stand in awe. We are fragile, mortal humans. The wealth of Elon Musk, the athleticism of Michael Jordan, the speed of Usain Bolt, the genius of Albert Einstein is at kindergarten levels compared to the riches, power, strength, and wisdom of the LORD, our great God. He speaks. Stuff happens. He commands. Things stand firm. 

Plant your hands in the giant crag of the LORD’S works and words for a life-giving, joy-producing, awe-inspiring description of the self-existing One. Use these verses to help you set your mind on who God is, to serve your heart in taking joy and gladness in Him. 

“The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the peoples. The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations (vs 10-11).” Here we see the contrast between the counsel (plans and decisions) of the nations and the counsel of our LORD. The LORD’s counsel will stand forever and impacts all the generations of humanity, and He crushes and breaks the plans of nations as He sees fit. What God has spoken will come to pass and what He has purposed He will do. 

Consider David in 2 Samuel 17:1-4, when he had to flee Jerusalem because of the uprising rebellion of his son Absalom. Ahithophel, who was at one point David’s trusted advisor, betrays David to join with Absalom. When David flees, a close friend of his, Hushai, stays behind in Jerusalem and pretends to support Absalom, but actually wants to get information and influence with Absalom as a way to protect David. Ahithophel wants to immediately chase down David and kill him so he is no longer a threat to Absalom’s reign as king. This is a solid plan, but Absalom wanted a second opinion so he asks Hushai what he should do. Hushai plays up to Absalom’s pride and recommends a strategy of waiting until he could gather more soldiers together in his army to ensure an overwhelming defeat of David and his men. Absalom goes with Hushai’s decision and this allows David time to escape and disappear. His life is spared. This story concludes by saying in 2 Samuel 17:14, “For the LORD had ordained to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, so that the LORD might bring harm upon Absalom.” That is Psalm 33:10-11 played out in reality. 

From our limited, human perspective, we often are aware and notice the stories where we see evil and wickedness seeming to prevail; the counsel of man seems to succeed instead of being brought to nothing. We may feel like God is having a hands off approach. It has felt like that for me when I have prayed again and again for God to strike down the violent acts of gangs in Haiti that terrorize innocent people and run roughshod over the government. That is why we need biblical truths and biblical stories to saturate our hearts so that we are reminded of this declaration made in verses 10 and 11. 

The LORD’s counsel stands forever across all generations. No asterisk. No qualifiers. No nuance. We live for maybe 80 years. God sees all of human history and is standing outside of the constraints of time and space. We see the micro-stories. Pieces of the story. Yet God is working and planning and orchestrating all the events of human history for his glory. Fight to see the world through the lens of Scripture and not through the lens of a news feed, social media posts or political commentators. Page through your Bible more than you scroll through your phone that you may delight in the plans and counsel of the LORD for you do not know and cannot see all that he is doing in this moment. 

Plant your hands in the giant crag of the LORD’S counsel and purposes for a life-giving, joy-producing, awe-inspiring description of the self-existing One. Use these verses to help you set your mind on who God is, to serve your heart in taking joy and gladness in Him.

“The LORD looks down from heaven; he sees all the children of man; from where he sits enthroned he looks out on all the inhabitants of the earth (vs. 13-14).” The LORD looks down and he looks out. He has the vantage point we don’t have. He has the high ground. He has the ability to see everything at all times and everyone at all times. What do you see each day? How much do you perceive and comprehend of what is happening across the world? In comparison, God sees it all. Every sin. Every righteous act done in quiet faith. All the things known in public and of that which is hidden in private. The good and the bad, to the ends of the earth. He sees it all.

The LORD is enthroned above it all as well. His throne is His dwelling place and it is the base of operations for all His plans and counsel. The LORD does not serve a 4 year term in office. He needs no votes to get re-elected. He has no term limits. He has no checks and balances to His power. His throne is absolute and total and eternal.

“He who fashions the hearts of them all and observes all their deeds (vs. 15).” The LORD observes all our deeds. Consider this reality. Each day 320 billion messages are sent over cell phones and there are 13.5 billion phone calls made. The average phone conversation is between 3-5 minutes long which works out to anywhere between 675 million to 1.1 billion hours of conversation. A day. God sees and observes every word of every text and knows every second of every phone conversation. The one who fashioned you, the one who formed your heart (your intellect, emotions, will) and the other 8 billion people on the earth, is not distant. He is present and aware. Enthroned in heaven accomplishing all his purposes. 

All the plotting and planning and deeds of man that have built up empires throughout human history have never been a threat to the LORD. “The king is not saved by his great army; a warrior is not delivered by his great strength. The war horse is a false hope for salvation and by its great might it cannot rescue (vs. 16-17).” The 850 billion dollars that is spent each year on the United States military, with its eleven nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, 13,000 aircraft, long-range bombers, ballistic missile submarines, carrier strike groups, and 1.3 million personnel, cannot protect you one bit from God’s plans nor can it keep your soul from heaven or hell. Verses 16 and 17 strip bare and expose the futility of any earthly strength to offer salvation from your problems and rescue from your fears. It is a false strength and false hope. 

Verses 18 and 19 come after that, showing where true hope and deliverance come from. “Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love, that he may deliver their soul from death and keep them alive in famine.” The word “behold” in verse 18 is meant to be an alert to the reader that something significant is about to be said. The same LORD who looks down from heaven with his eyes and sees all humanity in all of time, also puts his eye on the one person who fears Him and hopes in Him. The fear of those who belong to the LORD is not a fear that produces a running away from God but a fear that produces a reverence for God. Where else can we go? He has the words of life. 

Verse 19 says that He delivers his people’s soul from death and keeps them alive in famine. Yet, it is plain to see in the Bible and in our lives today that we still die. God’s people have experienced famine. This verse is not saying that those who fear and hope in his steadfast love will never experience hunger pains or taste death. The deliverance of the LORD is an eternal deliverance. The hope His people have is that one day famine and death will never touch them again. Famine and death don’t have ultimate claim on their souls. While an army, a warrior and a war horse may bring temporary reprieve from danger, it cannot ultimately and eternally bring deliverance. That only comes through the steadfast love of the LORD. 

What are you looking to as a means of false hope and false salvation? When you come into corporate worship on Sunday morning, the gathering of the saints, to sing and shout for joy; it is a time to remind yourself to turn away from those things that turn your heart away from the LORD who looks down from heaven and sees you. It is a reminder to look to the self-existing One who formed your heart (with all its intellect and emotions) by breathing life into you, and look to the hope you can find in Him and the steadfast love he offers. Though you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, you do not need to fear any evil. The famine may come. Death will come. But it can never have an eternal claim on the woman or the man, the boy or the girl, who has a heart that fears God. The last word does not belong to famine or death, to Satan or hell, for the people of God. 

Plant your hands in the giant crag of the LORD’S presence and deliverance for a life-giving, joy-producing, awe-inspiring description of the self-existing One. Use these verses to help you set your mind on who God is, to serve your heart in taking joy and gladness in Him.

This psalm comes to a close by telling us what we are to do with all this. We wait, we trust, we hope. “Our soul waits for the LORD; he is our help and our shield. For our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name. Let your steadfast love, O LORD, be upon us, even as we hope in you.” The waiting on deliverance that is marked by God’s people comes from a glad-hearted trust in his holy name. A glad heart waits on the LORD. Your soul is where your emotions and passions come from. Your soul needs to be fed the truths of verses 4-19 so that it can be shaped into right emotions and right passions in the waiting and hoping. 

Now, until now I have made something implicit and have assumed something up to this point in the sermon, that needs to be made explicit. The promise made in Psalm 33 of the LORD’s deliverance and salvation are not given to everyone. You may have noticed that even though we just worked our way through Psalm 33 verse by verse, we did not look at verse 12 yet. “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage.” At the time of this psalm being written, the people would understand this to be a reference to the nation of Israel whom God had established a covenant with starting with Abraham in Genesis 15, that was to be passed down to his offspring, which became the nation of Israel. Israel was chosen by God to be His heritage and the LORD was to be Israel’s God. So if this psalm was meant for Israel, why can we read it today and lay hold of these promises for us? 

The answer is found clearly in Galatians 3:29. “And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.” This is the glorious mystery of the gospel. Through Jesus Christ’s life, death, burial and resurrection, Gentiles are also allowed to be a part of the LORD’s heritage.

Satan’s counsels and plans were thwarted by Christ at the cross. Jesus, the word made flesh, did the greatest work in human history by being crucified and killed. His death and resurrection canceled the debt of sin by nailing it to the cross, and His deliverance was made available to those who who would put their trust in His word and His work. The LORD’s nation, His people, are not a bloodline. They are not a people marked by a geographical boundary. They are marked by a changed heart that has experienced the steadfast love of the LORD that is better than life itself. 

What Jesus accomplished at the cross was greater, stronger and more powerful than any military victory in all of history. The deliverance He purchased for His people at the cross can never be removed. Not by death and not by Satan. “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? (Romans 8:35)”

The darkness may linger. It may not lift for days, weeks, years or decades. The shadows may cast long over your soul. The valley may be deep. When we gather and worship in this place, we can fill up the reservoir of our souls with joy in the LORD that helps us in our waiting. We make melody here. The skilled musicians help us stir up our affections to look to the LORD as our help and our shield. In this place we can go to battle against doubts, unbelief, anger, bitterness, envy, greed, lust, anger, hate and any other sin that seeks to make war on us. We make war back on it by lifting up our voices in a glad battle cry of singing in this place for our joy and for God’s glory.

The songs we sing here put truths in a format that help stir the affections of our heart and help our mind remember the promises of God. Despite the changing emotions that may happen to me on Monday when I don’t feel glad in God, I can look back at Sunday and remind myself to hold on and to trust. I can look forward to next Sunday when my soul will yet praise him again. 

The final verse of Psalm 33 ends with a prayer and it teaches us that we can pray even as we sing. Our songs can also be our prayers and this is modeled for us in verse 22. “Let your steadfast love, O LORD, be upon us, even as we hope in you.” Sing. Pray. Hope in the LORD. 

God’s people are ones who have had a new song put into their hearts because they have experienced the redeeming acts of grace and mercy through Jesus Christ. God’s people are the ones who shout for joy in the LORD on Sunday mornings. And God’s people are the ones who will one day sing a new song in the new earth for all eternity when they say, “Worthy are you (Jesus) to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, they shall reign on earth.” 

Because of Jesus, the best is yet to come. So let us praise, let us sing, let us hope. Let us be a people that are marked by glad singing of praise to our LORD. 

Colossians 2:16-23 –

16 Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. 17 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. 18 Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, 19 and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God. 

20 If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— 21 “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” 22 (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? 23 These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.

This is the second sermon on this passage.  I think the heartbeat of this passage is a feeling common to every Christian: The feeling of missing something, of emptiness, of loneliness, of sadness, of confusion, of doubt.  The Colossians were experiencing those things just as we all experience them to varying degrees at different times.  And just like the Colossians, when we experience them, none of us wants to stay there for long.  We all want them to lift asap.  

If all of that wasn’t the case, if the Colossians weren’t experiencing those things and being tempted by those things, then the false teaching of the false teachers would have had no appeal and Paul would not have needed to write what he wrote.  

Again, then, the heartbeat of this passage is the tension we all feel between the alure of accepting the immediate (albeit temporary and ultimately hollow) relief certain things can provide from the hardships of this life and our trust in the promises of God that in Christ our sufferings are a means by which God provides true relief.   

The main question, then, is this: What will we do when those feelings come upon us?  That’s what Paul was primarily addressing in these few verses.

The big idea of this passage is that if you try to add anything to Jesus, take away anything from Jesus, or look to anything but Jesus for salvation or satisfaction, you will not get Jesus, salvation, or satisfaction.  The main takeaway is to do a careful inventory of what you are holding fast to and put off all that is not Jesus. 

In case you weren’t here last week (or if you just need a quick reminder), let me give a quick recap.  

The Colossians were faced with the choice between two alternatives, the same two alternatives that you and I are continually faced with today: Would they respond to their hardships by holding fast to Christ alone (to Him, His work, and His promises) as Paul admonished or to something else (to anything else) as the false teachers enticed?  

To see the alternatives offered by the false teachers in their proper context, we first reviewed what Paul had already written about holding fast to the justification, the sanctification, and the person of Jesus.  

Of the justification of Jesus, Paul wrote, “you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death…” (1:21-22).  Sinners justified by the grace of God, through faith in the sacrificial death of Jesus.  

Of the sanctification of Jesus, Paul continued, he has now reconciled [you] in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, 23 if indeed you continue in the faith” (1:22-23).   Sinners justified on the basis of Jesus’ righteousness, being given a full and certain righteousness of our own, by grace through faith.  

And of Jesus Himself, Paul wrote, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created… through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, …the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell…” (1:15-19).  Jesus Christ alone is all, and in all!

That’s all pretty remarkable, isn’t it?!  The false teachers must have offered something pretty special if it was legitimately going to compete with that, right?!

The alternatives offered by the false teachers were legalism, asceticism, and mysticism.  

Last week we considered legalism.  Legalism is seeking to gain or keep favor with God by obeying certain rules or traditions.  It is an attempt to escape our feelings of emptiness, loneliness, sadness, and doubt, by adding something to Jesus.   But this, Paul argued, is a poor, impotent substitute for Jesus.  

Therefore, in v.16 Paul warned them, “let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath.”  That is, let no one tempt you with their offers of a sense of worthiness or clarity if only you will celebrate certain holidays or eat certain things or perform certain rituals.  Let no one tempt you with the fake promises of legalism.  Let no one tempt you with “Jesus and, Jesus plus” heresy.  Let no one tempt you to try to hold onto the shadow, when you can have the substance, Christ Himself.  At best, legalism will provide a temporary sense of relief, but will only leave you in a worse spot in the end.  

That’s where we’ve been. 

Remember, Paul was urging his readers to hold fast to Jesus no matter what came their way, no matter what they experienced or felt.  He reminded them that Jesus alone is sufficient for forgiveness, holiness, eternal life, and eternal satisfaction, even though there were some among the Colossians who were teaching a different message and offering a different hope.  Their first alternative, legalism, as we saw, was empty and hollow.  

That leaves two other possibilities: Asceticism and mysticism.  Maybe they can provide what legalism can’t?  Maybe they can compete with the preeminence of Jesus?  

The false teachers encouraged the Colossians to legalistically add certain rules and traditions to Jesus.  And, ironically, they also encouraged the Colossians to seek spiritual growth by ascetically denying themselves certain things as well.  Paul was just as emphatic in urging them to reject asceticism as he was legalism.

18 Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism … 

Asceticism in this sense meant living a life of rigorous self-denial as a means of earning God’s favor.  He unpacks that a bit in vs.21-23.  

21 “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” … [which Paul refers to as] 23 asceticism and severity to the body”.

In v.16, the false teachers seemed to be encouraging the Colossians TO eat and drink certain things (probably in relation to the various Jewish feasts).  Here, they’re arguing that spiritual life and growth are about NOT eating and drinking (and touching) certain things.  But merely stopping doing something, merely exercising self-control to the point of discomfort, as righteous as it might even feel at times, cannot change our heart.  It cannot earn or keep God’s favor.  It cannot save.  

That’s why Paul referred to them as “things that…perish as they are used,” because just as nothing that comes into the body can make a person unclean (Mark 7:15), there’s nothing we can keep out of our bodies to make us clean.  

Paul had much to say about this in his other writing as well.  Let me give you two quick examples.

Romans 14:17 the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

1 Timothy 4:1-4  in later times some will depart from the faith by … 3 [forbidding] marriage and requir[ing] abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. 4 For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving…

Therefore Paul cried out, lamenting, “20 If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations.”  Which was an echo of what he wrote in Galatians 5:9, “How can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more?”

I read a version of this earlier in the week in 1 Kings 18.  In order to find favor with Baal, the prophets of Baal, “called upon the name of Baal from morning until noon… And they limped around the altar that they had made… 28 And they cried aloud and cut themselves after their custom with swords and lances, until the blood gushed out upon them.”

They thought that, perhaps, through severity to their bodies, through an extreme version of asceticism, they might garner the favor of their false god.  

Some people go even further still.  Early in his life, Martin Luther, the father of the Reformation, might have been among the false teachers advocating the very asceticism Paul prohibited.  Many have written of his severe, pre-conversion self-denial. 

The fear of death prompted him to become a monk. And it was the fear of the wrath of God that consumed him for the next five years—so much so, in fact, that he did everything within his power to placate his guilty conscience and earn the favor of God.

Of all of the monks in the monastery, he became the most fastidious. He dedicated himself to … fasting, and penance. He even performed acts of self-punishment like surpassing sleep, enduring cold winter nights without a blanket, and, in an attempt to atone for his sins, even whipping himself.

There are whole groups today who are convinced that our standing with God is largely tied to what we don’t do; to our willingness to abide by certain prohibitions.  Do not dance.  Do not drink.  Do not smoke.  Do not play cards.  Do not go to movies.  Do not listen to certain kinds of music.  Do not dress in certain ways.  Do not hang out with certain people.

As Paul makes clear, there is an “appearance of wisdom” (23) and spiritual maturity in this line of thinking, in this kind of “severity to the body,” in this kind of asceticism (23).  There’s a way in which voluntarily doing hard, painful things for God makes us feel good.  We might think that abusing, punishing our flesh might help us get our flesh under control.  But do so in the belief that they will get us or keep us in God’s favor is the essence of the kind of “human precepts and teachings… [and] self-made religion[s]… [that have] no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh” (23).  

Our need is so great that no matter what or how much we deny ourselves, it will not come close to providing for us what Christ alone can.  We will hold fast to Him or we will remain severed from God.  

The false teachers of Paul’s letter insisted that spiritual life and growth came from severe self-denial.  But Paul insisted that it comes only from holding fast to Christ.  Paul said exactly that in v.19.  Jesus Christ alone is…

19 … the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.

Spiritual life, sustainment, and growth is in Christ alone.  

We will seek to justify ourselves before God and fill in the emptiness we experience in this life through Jesus + things (various forms of legalism) or Jesus – things (various forms of asceticism), or we will acknowledge the absolute and utter futility of those things and instead hold fast to the only One who can. 

Before moving on to the third and final alternative offered by the false teachers in Colossae, let me say two quick words of clarification concerning godly self-denial (as distinct from ungodly asceticism).  The first (and main) clarification is one of motivation.  Those practicing asceticism are doing so as a means of gaining (or keeping) right standing with God.  The heart of the gospel is that right standing with God comes ONLY through Christ.  Those practicing godly self-denial, in the way of fasting for instance, are doing so according to God’s explicit command (Matthew 6:16) and for the purpose (or with the motivation) of living more fully in line with the world as God has made it (allowing the hunger we experience to remind us of our ever-present, deeper spiritual dependence on God).  

The second clarification is that there is growth from God that comes as we turn from sin.  There is a critical difference between the self-denial of repentance (good) and the self-denial of asceticism (bad).  Right repentance is in response to our right standing with God.  Asceticism is an attempt to gain it.  

Finally, then, the false teachers advocated legalism, asceticism, and, finally, mysticism.  

Mysticism concerns the manner by which the Colossians could know God’s will for their lives, and especially for knowing what it meant to trust in Jesus through their trials and confusion.

Where did the false teachers get their false teaching?  We’ve already seen that some of it came from traditions and some from self-made religion.  But Paul wrote that some of it also came from a kind of mysticism.  

Mysticism is the idea that God reveals Himself and His will to people through various subjective experiences, “often through extraordinary experiences and states of mind.”   

Asceticism was one way that people sought mystical experiences with God.  Things tend to look different when you haven’t eaten, drunk, or slept in days.  We tend to experience things differently when we’re in severe pain or discomfort.  

I still remember hearing of a tribe in Religion 101 that would dance around fire, chanting and taking mind-altering substances, hour after hour after hour, all in an attempt to experience a trans-like state, in order to gain some mystical experience.  They were so desperate for any encounter with the transcendent, that they were willing to do almost anything to get it.

Mystical experiences, which the false teachers, apparently, took to be revelations from God, also come from interacting with spiritual beings.  That’s likely why the false teachers made a big deal about their “worship of angels” and insisted that the Colossian church join them in it.  

The parallels between 1 Timothy 4:1 and the asceticism addressed by Paul in our passage makes me at least wonder if the “angels” spoken of by the false teachers were actually demons.  “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.”

Their dependence on mystical experiences is also why they went into great “detail about visions.”  They were convinced that they had the inside track on God and His will.  They were convinced that they knew what it meant to live godly lives in a way that no one else did.  And in that, they’d become “puffed up without reason by [their] sensuous mind[s]…” and therefore determined to judge the Colossians in light of those things.

Godliness is rooted in trust in the promises of God. Sensuous minds, the kind drawn to mysticism, must experience the thing themselves (with their senses, the meaning of sensuous).

But Paul warned them to “Let no one disqualify you, insisting on” (18) those things.  They neither true nor the basis of truth.  They were not from God and were not the will of God.  

But that begs a certain question, doesn’t it?  If we cannot know God or His will through mystical experience, how can we?  Or, more specifically, if not through mysticism, how did Paul know God’s will?

Paul’s message, as an apostle, commissioned personally and explicitly by Jesus, came directly from God.  The Colossians ought to have listened to Paul and not the false teachers because Paul and not the false teachers taught/wrote under the Spirit’s perfect and infallible inspiration.  

Grace, the simple and critical truth is that we only know the aspects of God’s nature and will that He’s chosen to reveal to us.  And He’s done so exclusively by His Spirit, through His chosen messengers (as was the case in Paul’s letter to the Colossian church).

It is a remarkable thing that we have not only Paul’s inspired letter to the Colossians, but also all of Paul’s inspired letters; and not only Paul’s inspired letters, but also all of the inspired letters of the apostles; and not only all of the inspired letters of the apostles, but also all the inspired letters of the prophets of old.  

That is, as gracious and critical as it was for the Colossians to have God’s Words through Paul’s letter (they probably didn’t have much/any of the OT as gentiles), we have so much more.  We have the whole counsel of God’s Word.  We have the completed and sufficient cannon.  We have the full measure of the revelation of God’s mystery that had been kept hidden for ages and generations.

Grace, God’s Word alone, given to us by God’s Spirit alone, through God’s chosen prophets and apostles alone, reveals to us what God requires of us.  

We earnestly believe, as Paul encouraged the Colossians to earnestly believe, that “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, [and] 17 that [by it alone] the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

Therefore, we reject mystical experiences as the source of God’s revelation and join with the Christian Church in affirming that…

We believe that God has spoken in the Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, through the words of human authors. As the verbally inspired Word of God, the Bible is without error in the original writings, the complete revelation of His will for salvation, and the ultimate authority by which every realm of human knowledge and endeavor should be judged. Therefore, it is to be believed in all that it teaches, obeyed in all that it requires, and trusted in all that it promises.

That’s what Paul offered (in part) to the Colossian church.  And in that, Paul offered Truth and Goodness and Beauty, sufficient to help the Colossians navigate their trials and difficulties and confusion, sufficient to honor God and grow spiritually and persevere unto eternal life and joy.  

In contrast, that’s not what the false teachers offered.  In their angels (demons?) and visions and traditions and self-made religions and legalism and asceticism and mysticism, the false teachers could only offer impotent, disqualifying, nonsense.     

So where do you look?  How do you determine how to respond to the trials that come?  We’re kidding ourselves if we refuse to acknowledge that there’s a measure of legalism, of asceticism, and of mysticism among us.  We’re foolish to miss the reality that there’s a more-than-insignificant amount of semi-sanctified common sense and altogether unsanctified worldly sense here.

Grace, it might not be legalism or asceticism that you are tempted toward when life is hard and the ordinary means of grace don’t seem to be working.  And it might not be mysticism that you turn to, to find alternatives. It might be something else entirely.  But the fact remains, everything Paul wrote about legalism, asceticism, and mysticism, equally applies to whatever your preferred alternative to Christ is…they are, at best, mere shadows and possess the mere appearance of wisdom.  They are disqualifying, they will perish, they are mere human precepts, they are self-made, and are of no value.  

But, thanks be to God, more than all of that is a shared belief in the unique authority and sufficiency of God’s Word to reveal God’s will.  More than all of that is a shared conviction to help one another know and live out of God’s Word alone.  I’m so grateful to be a member of a church that means to hold fast to Christ, together, through every trial and difficulty.  

It seems fitting to conclude with the same basic question as last week…

With even the most surface-level, honest assessment of the person and work of Jesus compared to the legalism, asceticism, and mysticism of the false teachers, why was this even a matter of temptation for the Colossians? 

It was a temptation for them for the same reason it is has been a temptation for every follower of Jesus since them, including everyone in this room: Because, at times, we value comfort over Christ, because we value quick fixes over God-honoring faithfulness, and because we trust in our own senses and sensibilities over God’s promises.  

In the end, all of this comes down to two simple facts:  

First, we will either hold fast to Jesus, unto eternal joy and life and in God’s pleasure or we will hold fast to anything else, unto temporary, hollow, emptiness and under God’s judgment.  

And second, if we are to hold fast to Christ, as we sang last week, it will be because He is holding us fast.  We would not choose to hold on to Jesus at all apart from Him first choosing us and we would not hold fast to him apart from His first holding fast to us.  From beginning to end, our right standing with God is owning to the grace of God in Jesus.  

While we were yet sinners, while we were yet dead in our trespasses and sins, while we were yet God’s enemies, in love, God determined to send His Son into the world to save the world.  He came as an example to the world of perfect righteousness and obedience.  And He came to give His life as a ransom for many, to die the death we deserve, and then to offer Himself to all who would trust in Him.  

The big idea of this passage is that if you try to add anything to Jesus, take away anything from Jesus, or look to anything but Jesus for salvation or satisfaction, you will not get Jesus, salvation, or satisfaction.  The main takeaway is to do a careful inventory of what you are holding fast to and put off all that is not Jesus.  

Which leads us not to the meal given to us by Jesus as part of holding fast to Him.  

Colossians 2:16-23 –

16 Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. 17 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. 18 Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, 19 and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God. 

20 If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— 21 “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” 22 (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? 23 These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.

Do you ever feel like your faith in Jesus is missing something?  Are there times when the abundant life Jesus offers feels somewhat less than abundant?  Have you ever had a stretch that you would describe as anything other than being filled with the love of Christ and the fullness of God?  Can you remember a time in which God’s Word made promises of joy and satisfaction that seemed dubious or elusive?

Of course you have.  We all have.  That’s the nature of this life.  We cannot escape experiences of incompleteness because in God’s plan of redemption we won’t be completely complete until Jesus’ return.  That’s not to say we cannot know true fellowship with God or genuine growth in holiness or real and increasing joy in Jesus.  But it is to say that we cannot know the full measure of the satisfaction that will be ours in the new heavens and earth while we are still living in the old heavens and earth.  

The real question, then, is not whether we’ll experience loneliness or despondency or emptiness.  The real question is what we will do when we do.  For non-Christians, there are all kinds of answers, spanning the entire spectrums of wisdom and folly as well as good and evil.  

But the point of our passage isn’t about what those outside the church do when they feel some measure of incompleteness.  It is about what those inside the church do.  It is meant to be a mirror for all of us, revealing to us what we are holding fast to when our lives aren’t as they ought to be.  

And so, Grace Church, before I share with you the big idea, and before I pray, let me invite you to pray silently, asking the Spirit of God to help you see where you are holding fast to Jesus and where you are holding fast to something else; where you are living by faith in the promises of God in times of emptiness and where you are living according to some form of self-made religion.  And I invite you to pray, asking the Spirit to help you see freshly and fully the uniquely sufficiency of Jesus to bring fullness.

The big idea of this passage is that if you try to add anything to Jesus, take away anything from Jesus, or look to anything but Jesus for salvation or satisfaction (legalism, mysticism, asceticism, or anything else), you will not get Jesus, salvation, or satisfaction.  The main takeaway is to do a careful inventory of what you are holding fast to and put off all that is not Jesus.   

The Colossian Christians were facing then, many of the same things that the Wyoming Christians face today.  They were weary and confused as they tried to sort out what to believe and what not to believe about Jesus and His will for their lives.  There were false teachers among them who were offering all manner of alternative to the truth of Jesus.  

In our passage for this morning, we find the clearest explanation of the content of the false teaching in the entire letter.  Paul’s aim in sharing it was to reveal its devastating emptiness and contrast it with the fullness that is in Christ alone.  He knew the Colossians needed to decide between holding fast to Jesus or the things offered by the false teachers and he wanted to help them see their choice for what it was.  

That’s my aim for you all this morning as well.  And to that end, I mean to share with you in plainest terms what Jesus offers and the first of the three alternatives offered by the false teachers in Colossae.  My prayer is that you will see each in appropriate contrast.  

Let’s begin, then by considering what Paul has already said concerning the justification of Jesus, the sanctification of Jesus, and the person of Jesus before considering the legalism of heretics.  

Regarding the justification of Jesus, Paul was clear concerning why we need to be justified in the first place.  We were all “once alienated and hostile in mind” (1:21), “doing evil deeds” (1:21), and “dead in [our] trespasses and the uncircumcision of [our] flesh” (2:13).  In other words, we were ruined in our sin and powerless to do anything about it on our own.  And much of the emptiness we feel is tied to this reality that is common to all mankind.  

But then Paul was equally clear on what Jesus did for us.  He effectively “[made] peace by the blood of his cross” (1:20), “reconciled [us to God] in his body of flesh by His death” (1:21), “set aside [our record of debt], [by] nailing it to the cross” (2:14), canceled “the record of debt that stood against us” (2:14), and on our behalf He “disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them” (2:16).  Once and for all, Jesus did those things on behalf of hopeless, lonely, and lost sinners like us. 

How do hopeless, lonely, lost sinners gain access to that saving work of Jesus?  Is it by working hard enough or doing enough good things to please God?  Is it by eliminating enough bad things from our lives to make up for our sins?  Is it by creating our own religion?  NO!!!  Paul explained that it is by hearing “the Word of truth, the gospel” (1:5), by having “heard and understood the grace of God in truth” (1:7), by placing our “faith in Christ Jesus” (1:4), and all that “through faith in the powerful working of God” (2:12).  In other words, it is by the grace of God alone, through faith in Christ alone, that we are justified, declared righteous in God’s sight.

But what does it mean to be justified?  It means, Paul wrote, being “delivered…from the domain of darkness and transferred…to the kingdom of His beloved Son” (1:13), receiving “redemption [and] the forgiveness of sins” (1:14), indeed, being “forgiven…[of] all our trespasses” (2:13), being “filled in [Jesus]” (2:10), being “circumcised with a circumcision made without hands” (2:11), “buried with Him in baptism” (1:12), “raised with Him” in newness of life (2:12), “made alive together with [Jesus]” (2:13), and, as we see in our passage for this morning, effectively dying “to the elemental spirits of the world” (2:20).  

That’s the gracious work of God, to ensure the promise of God, to justify sinners in Christ.  Again, ask the Spirit to help you marvel at these marvelous truths.  

But, as awesome as that is, that’s just the beginning of the gospel, the good news, of Jesus.  It gets even bigger and better than all of that.  It’s not merely a promise of justification based on the righteousness of Jesus.  It is also a promise to work true and complete righteousness in all of us.

So, how do we get the sanctifying grace of Jesus?  Is justification ours by grace, through faith, but sanctification ours by our own means?  That’s what the false teachers were saying to the Colossians.  Were they right?  No, the grace that justifies also sanctifies.  The faith that first unites us to Christ, keeps us united to Him and His transforming power.   

We will “toil” and “struggle” for our spiritual growth, but we will do so “with all His energy that He powerfully works within” us (1:29).  Ultimately, then, sanctification is ours as we “Continue in the faith, stable and steadfast” (1:23), as we refuse, in the Spirit’s power, to shift “from the hope of the gospel that [we] heard” (1:23).

But what does it mean to be sanctified?  What has God actually promised to work in us as we trust in Him?  He is, Paul declared, making us incrementally and increasingly “holy and blameless and above reproach” (1:22).  He is filling us with ever-growing “love in the Spirit (1:8) …for all the saints” (1:4) and causing our “hearts [to be] …encouraged, … [and] knit together in love” (2:2).  He is filling us with “hope laid up…in heaven” (1:5).  He is causing us to bear increasing “fruit” (1:6) “in every good work (1:10).  And He is enabling us to give “thanks to the Father” (1:11) in all our circumstances.  

He does these things by filling us with the “knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding” (1:9) and causing us to be continually “increasing in the knowledge of God” (1:19), until “the Word of God [is] fully known” by us (1:25) and we reach “all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (2:2-3).  He does so by empowering us to “walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him” (1:10) and strengthening us “with all power, according to His glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy” (1:11).  

The sanctifying work of Jesus means continually having “Christ in you” (1:27).  It means a growing burden to proclaim Christ to the world (1:28), “warning …and teaching” (1:28) everyone who will listen, no matter the cost.   It means having God-given “firmness of…faith in Christ” (2:5), that we might be deeply “rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith” (2:7). And ultimately, it means “putting off the body of flesh” (2:11), becoming truly “mature in Christ” (1:28) by being captivated by Christ (2:8-9), that we might continually walk in Christ “as [we] received Christ Jesus the Lord” (2:6).

Grace, if that’s not the most remarkable list you can imagine, your appetites are miscalibrated, your pallet is unrefined, and your desires are out of sync with reality.  More significantly, if those things aren’t more desirable than everything else in your life, you are necessarily and certainly missing out on the most joyful, satisfying, fulfilling, God-honoring, good, beautiful, and true things in all the universe.  Likewise, if you are seeking them in ways different from what God has commanded and promised, you will fail to receive them as you ought.  

And the point, once again, is that none of us see, delight in, or seek the sanctifying work of Jesus as we ought, and that’s why we feel empty, alone, discouraged, frustrated, and incomplete at times.  But the question remains, will we hold fast to the finished work of Jesus and the promises of God that flow from it, or will we create our own hope to hold fast to as the false teachers in Colossae advocated.

As remarkable as all of that is, there’s one more aspect of the gospel Paul proclaimed; the greatest part of all.  Paul was clear on the unmatched and entirely sufficient glory of the justifying and sanctifying grace of Jesus, but he was clearer still on the infinite and unparalleled glory of Jesus Himself.  

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven…” (1:15-20). 

Grace, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God, Paul told the Colossians that in Jesus “the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily” (2:9) and that He is “the head of all rule and authority” (2:10).

In our passage Paul added that Jesus alone is “the substance” of all good shadows (2:17) and “the Head” (2:19) of the Church—its power, source, and authority.  And Paul wanted his readers to understand that nothing compares to that, to Him, to Jesus.  

If that’s who Jesus is and that’s what He’s done and is doing for all who hope in Him, why, why, why would we hold fast to anything else?  Why would we cling to anything else?  Why would we put our hope in anything else?  Why would we seek to add to or take away from those things?  

That’s been Paul’s consistent argument throughout this letter.  And we need to have all of that in mind as we consider the three main “anything else’s” confronting the Colossians.  We’ll look at the first one this morning and the other two next week.   

All of that gets us right to the heart of this passage.  If all that we’ve just considered is the essence of Christianity, and if believing it through every circumstance and trial is what it means to hold fast to Jesus, then what’s the alternative and why would anyone choose it?  

Paul described the alternative in general terms as “shifting from the hope of the gospel” (1:23), as being “delude[d]…with plausible arguments” (2:5), and as being taken “captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world” (2:8).

But again, if Christ is the answer, what were the specific things being presented to the Colossians that threatened to shift them from the gospel, delude them, take them captive, pass judgment on them, and disqualify them?  What were the plausible arguments, the bad philosophies, the empty deceits, the human traditions, and the elemental spirits?  What were the alternatives to holding fast to Christ, the Head?

There are, of course, countless alternatives, but the Colossians faced three in particular.  Others have referred to them as legalism, asceticism, and mysticism.  

Colossae wasn’t a Jewish city.  The church there consisted primarily of Gentile believers.  And yet some among them were, evidently, pressing them to trust in Christ and Jewish laws/traditions, Jesus plus regulations.  That is, they were advocating various forms of legalism, for their spiritual life and standing before God. 

“Therefore,” in v.16, Paul warned them, “let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. 

Paul doesn’t tell us precisely what the false teachers were demanding in this regard.  What I mean is, he is unclear about exactly what food and drink, and what festivals, sacrifices (new moon), or Sabbath, issues were being taught.  But what we do know is that the false teachers were judging the Colossian church based on their participation in certain Jewish laws and customs.  

Paul’s point was not that those are irrelevant issues.  He wasn’t saying there’s nothing to be learned or gained from the traditions of God’s people.  And he certainly wasn’t saying that Christians don’t need to obey God.  His point was that the false teachers were wrong in legalistically suggesting any of those things were the basis of the Colossians’ right standing with God.  

One pastor says it like this, 

Paul says to these Colossian Christians, “Look, these people are … trying to judge you on [things like] what you eat, what you drink; whether or not you attend Passover, Pentecost, Feast of Tabernacles, Feast of Lights; whether you make your sacrifice on the first day of the month, which is new moon, and whether you subscribe to all of the laws and rules and rituals of the Sabbath day. They are saying it isn’t enough to know Christ, you have to know Christ and keep the Jewish law[s and traditions].”

Today, we might say that our standing with God is tied to having faithful quiet times or church attendance or prayer life.  We might say it’s tied to the number of ministries we’re apart of or the number of times we’re a part of them.  We might say it’s tied to how much money, or what percentage of our income, we give to the church.  We might say it’s tied to the doctrinal soundness of our church or our willingness to speak prophetically to the world around us.  We might say it’s tied to how we educate our kids or how many verses they’ve memorized.  We might say it’s tied to how often we share our faith or how many people we’ve seen trust in Jesus.  We might say that our standing with God is tied to any number of things in addition to Jesus.  

There are certainly people out there, and perhaps even in here, that would judge us for any of those things and pressure us to hold fast to them as the foundation of our standing before God.

Of these kinds of Jesus + things, of this kind of hoping in our ability to keep the law in its legal demands, Paul wrote elsewhere (Galatians 4:10), “You observe days and months and seasons and years! 11 I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain.”  And (Galatians 5:2-4), “Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. 3 I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. 4 You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace.”  And in similar fashion, he forbids his readers from “devoting themselves to Jewish myths and the commands of people who turn away from the truth” (Titus 1:14).

But Paul’s point, as he makes clear in the next verse, is that as good as any of those things might be in their proper context, they never were and never will be sufficient to save us.  Neither have they ever been or will they be sufficient to truly satisfy us.  Christ alone is truly sufficient and satisfying.  He alone is preeminent.  He alone can save.  

Why must we not allow others to judge us in these things, these areas of command and tradition? Because…

17 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.

Traditions and commands absolutely have a proper place in the lives of Christians, but their place is not to save or satisfy, it is to point to the only thing, the only One, who can!  

If we put good ideas or even God’s commands in the wrong place, we make a wreck of it all.  If we seek our justification or our sanctification by sufficiently keeping the terms of the law or the traditions of men, we make a wreck of it all.  If we look to add anything, even good things, to the death and resurrection of Jesus as the basis of God’s acceptance of us, we will make a wreck of it all.  That’s the first thing the Colossians were faced with and why Paul was emphatic in helping them keep them in the right place.

With even the most surface-level, honest assessment of the person and work of Jesus compared to the legalism of the false teachers, the contrast ought to be as clear as night and day.  But if that’s the case, why was this even a matter of temptation for the Colossians?  It was a temptation for them for the same reason it is has been a temptation for every follower of Jesus since them, including everyone in this room.  

Why is it a temptation common to us all?  Ultimately, it’s simply a matter of failing to see Jesus for who He is and His work and promises for what they are, and therefore, of failing to trust in Him as we ought.  We just don’t believe that Jesus is who God’s Word says He is or that He’s done/will do what He’s promised.  

More specifically, though, in my experience (personally and pastorally), the temptation goes something like this:

We feel some type of emptiness.  We consider what God’s Word calls us to do—remember the gospel, find a specific passage in the Bible that speaks to our emptiness and ask God to help us believe it, share our difficulty with a brother or sister in Christ and ask them for wisdom and prayer, listen to music that recalls and celebrates the glory and grace of God, and make use of the rest of the various means of grace.  But we also consider the inconsistent relief those things have brought in the past.  

More honestly and crudely, we lament the fact that doing what God says we ought to do just hasn’t always “worked” very well.  We do it as best we can, but the loneliness, the emptiness, the sadness, the dissatisfaction don’t lift.  And as soon as that thought germinates in our heads and hearts, we are primed to look for something, anything that will lift it (even if for just a few moments).

Because we often live as if this life is primarily about avoiding as much hardship as possible and escaping it as quickly as possible when it comes, the false teachers in Colossae and the countless false teachers today really do have something to offer.  

It is a fact that there are many things capable of providing us with an immediate sense of relief from the emptiness we all experience at times.  Drugs really will do that.  The romantic attention of a boy or girl really will do that.  Internet scrolling, social media, and online purchases really will do that.  Success in sports, business, school, and ministry really will do that.  Thrill seeking really will do that.  Expensive toys really will do that.  Pornography and extramarital sex really will do that.  Certain aspects of self-made religions, like legalism, really will do that.  

Pretending otherwise is an unfortunate and obviously misleading tactic that many parents and pastors have chosen.  

The Colossians were in a hard spot and holding fast to Jesus wasn’t providing immediate relief for some of their problems and so they were ripe for the genuine offer of immediate relief provided by the false teachers—just like you and I today.  

Paul’s charge to the Colossians, and my charge to you, then, is to not merely remember the claims of God’s Word concerning Jesus and what He’s done in contrast with the obviously inferior claims of everything and everyone else.  Likewise, it is not merely to consider which is most likely to provide the most immediate relief.  Paul’s charge and mine, is to consider more deeply what it means to have faith and to live a life of faith.  

There are two things concerning the life Jesus’ calls us to live, concerning the true nature of a life of faith, that I invite you to consider in closing.

First, please consider the simple biblical truth that hardship—including the feelings of emptiness, loneliness, incompleteness, and dissatisfaction that are common to all who are not yet fully sanctified (which is all of us)—is one of the most significant tools of God to reveal our need for Him and to sanctify those who accept that.  Grace, the emptiness that we try so hard to avoid is often the very means by which God works in us a full sense of fullness.  A life of faith, the kind of faith that God gives and requires, is continually learning to trust in that promise, and hold fast to Jesus, forsaking all offers of immediate (though temporary, hollow, and ultimately deadly) relief for the sake of the true and lasting relief that Jesus alone gives in His perfect timing.  

And second, a life of faith looks ultimately to what is to come.  It is not blind to what’s in front of us, but it interprets what’s in front of us in light of what will certainly be.  A life of faith, then, echoes Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians, “we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. 17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”

A life of faith is not ignorant of or indifferent to the hardships of this life.  But it does look to them as the means of grace they are and sees them in light of the eternal glory that awaits all who hold fast to Jesus, the justifier, the sanctifier, the preeminent one.  May it be so for us all, Grace Church, by the grace of God that is certainly in us through faith in Jesus.  

Philippians 1:18b-26 –

18b Yes, and I will rejoice, 19 for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, 20 as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22 If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. 23 I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. 24 But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. 25 Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, 26 so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again.

Do you ever get annoyed when people ask those “Would you rather_____” questions? They go something like this. Would you rather always have to sing instead of speak, or dance everywhere you go? Would you rather have no taste buds, or no sense of smell? Would you rather live an extraordinary but short life, or a long but ordinary life? One recent and particularly odious example at work provoked a surprising amount of passionate argument among my coworkers – Would you rather get beat up in front of your girl or run away from a fight in front of your girl? 

In this passage, Paul takes his turn at a Would you rather question: Would you rather live or die? 

Wait a minute, Paul. That’s too easy! I don’t think you understand the unwritten law of Would you rather questions – They need to be tough to answer. They produce pain either because both options are desirable or because both are awful. Answering should be hard. A good question should be like, Would you rather have to walk a thousand miles, or reach your hand in an adder’s den to grab the car keys? On the surface, Paul’s question seems a lot more like, Would you rather have coffee, or not have coffee? But, as we’ll see, Paul is able to turn seemingly obvious reasoning on its head. 

Before we get there, let me refresh your memory of this letter’s background. Since December 2023, this is my fourth sermon from Philippians. I last preached to you from Paul’s letter about 9 months ago. I also surveyed Philippians in Berea about 6 months ago. That said, I’ve previously provided a lot of background of the church and the circumstances that occasioned Paul’s letter. 

So this morning, I’ll give it just 200 words. Luke dedicated the whole of Acts chapter 16 to narrating the establishment of the Philippian church. He notes that Philippi was “a leading city of Macedonia”, a province to which Paul arrived in AD 50 after seeing a vision of a Macedonian man beckoning for help. Paul went, and thus, the Philippian church was born when he preached the gospel to some women gathered by the river to pray. Written some 10 years later, this letter reflects a warm ministry partnership. 

Philippi was a Roman “colony”. This means her citizens enjoyed special legal privileges like those in Rome. Acts 16 shows how deeply this identity ran, since opposition to Paul centered on threats to Roman customs. They were accused of advocating customs “not lawful for us as Romans to accept or practice” (Acts 16:21). This civic pride highlights the clash of allegiances the Philippians felt and orients us to Paul’s exhortation in Philippians 1:27 to “behave as citizens worthy of the gospel of Christ”, which occasioned the letter. 

Why does that matter this morning? An awareness of this background helps us because it’s the occasion for Paul’s frequent presentation in the letter of his faith, his reasoning, his affections, and his motives. He talks them through these to give them an example of gospel-worthy thinking, feeling, and behavior to imitate in their trials. We saw his example in the opening 11 verses, where he reflected on the past – framing not only their gospel partnership, but also, counterintuitively, his imprisonment and legal defense as grace. We saw his example again in verses 12 through (the beginning of) verse 18, where he considered the present – namely, the contribution of his imprisonment to the advance of Christ’s interests. And in our passage this morning, Paul will conclude his missionary report by reasoning aloud, so to speak, about his future. 

Next time, we’ll consider Paul’s exhortation to the Philippians to imitate his example. But for this morning, we’ll focus on Paul’s exemplary role modeling. Here he applies his chief hope for Christ to be honored in his body to the hypothetical question of whether it is better to live or to die. The big idea of this passage is that Christ should be the great desire of every Christian. Thus, the main takeaway is to let the desire to see Christ exalted rule our hearts and direct our response to every trial. 

Verse 18

In the first half of his ministry report, Paul shared his present joy that, even if it is at his own expense, Christ is getting glory. Verse 18 begins, “What then, only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice”. He is speaking there of his current circumstances. In the latter half of the verse, however, Paul turns to consider the future. “Yes, and I will rejoice” (v. 18b). He is rejoicing now over what he expects to come, namely, deliverance.

Verse 19

“For I know that through your prayers and with the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance”. Deliverance, or salvation, in simplest terms, means that God will come through on Paul’s behalf. Reading v. 19 in isolation, one might naturally assume he means getting out of prison and escaping a death sentence. However, that conclusion becomes much harder to maintain when we continue on to verse 20.  Before we do I’d like to consider the phrase, ‘[This] will turn out for my deliverance’. 

The Septuagint is the Greek OT translation that was Paul’s “Bible”. It was read routinely during the time of Jesus and apostles like Paul and of course it was the only translation most Greek-speakers could read. Here, Paul’s Greek is apparently identical to that of Job 13:16 in the Septuagint. It looks like Paul is quoting from Job. It serves to cue his readers in on his perspective.  He views his circumstances through the prototypical lens of Job’s story. 

Most of you are familiar with that story. But if not, let me summarize briefly. In the book of Job, Satan is allowed to wreak calamity on Job’s property, his servants, and his children. This destruction comes upon Job, not because egregious sin warranted it, but because of God’s sovereign purposes, which ultimately included greater blessings for Job in a new life yet to come. But Job could not have known any of the secret purposes of God. Therefore, he feels unjustly wronged because he assumes that since bad things happen to bad people, this shouldn’t have happened to him. Meanwhile, his friends labor for 30 chapters to convince him that he’s being punished because he has sinned, if unconsciously, and if he would only repent and admit it, God would relent. Job is compelled to appeal to God, to argue his case with his Maker and vindicate himself.  

Let me read to you from Job chapter 13 (vs 3, 14-18) to get the context of Paul’s quote:

3 “But I desire to speak to the Almighty
    and to argue my case with God…

14 Why do I put myself in jeopardy
    and take my life in my hands?
15 Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him;
    I will surely defend my ways to his face.
16 Indeed, this will turn out for my deliverance,
    for no godless person would dare come before him!
17 Listen carefully to what I say;
    let my words ring in your ears.
18 Now that I have prepared my case,
    I know I will be vindicated.”

As do all righteous persons in this age, Paul has detractors. We saw this formerly in vs. 15 and 17. These take gleeful, vindictive joy in the apparent embarrassment and shame of his chains, eager to see him humbled and fallen that they might rise in power and esteem. Harboring envy and rivalry, and to further their pride and selfish ambition, they frame Paul’s chains as evidence of God’s judgment. But Paul is eager for both God and himself to be vindicated. Like Job, Paul is banking on a righteous God. As Job says in 13:16, ‘this will turn out for my deliverance, for no godless person would dare come before him’. That is, I have the confidence to come before God because I know I’m innocent, He’s on my side, and He can be trusted. ‘He will surely slay me, I have no hope’, Job says, fully expecting to be slain in the presence of a holy God, yet expecting both ‘deliverance’ and to ‘be vindicated’ from blame for his present circumstances. 

What is the hope that Job maintains? That even to death, God’s righteous character can be banked on and thus, ultimately, I will be vindicated. My reputation will be restored; I’ll be justified, shown to be righteous. Paul shares this hope. Like Job, who was confident in God before the accusations of his friends, so Paul is confident in God before the slander of his detractors and the judgment of Rome. 

Verse 20

So, I ask again, what does Paul mean by ‘this will turn out for my deliverance’? Verse 20 provides his qualification for that statement: “as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death.” 

I thought we were talking about deliverance, Paul! What do you mean, “whether by life or by death“?! Will he be vindicated by life or vindicated by death? Doesn’t Paul’s deliverance hinge on being released from prison and saved from execution? No, he says, whether by life or by death. Then what is his expectation? When Paul says, “as it is my eager expectation and hope”, he means a deliverance that is in accord with the following expectation: “That I will not be at all ashamed”. 

What would it look like to be ashamed? No courage. What is it that undermines courage in such circumstances? In your own circumstances? Isn’t it this – that we are not living for Christ’s honor above all? Isn’t it in what we consider loss and what we consider gain? 

But Paul’s identification with Job clearly distinguishes his hope from an expectation of human favor and justice. Instead, it’s that he’ll be found faithful, and that God will do right. With his hope securely rooted in the providence and power of God, he’s freed from the fear of man and the fear of death. He can face uncertainty with courage. Thereby, Christ will be honored, whatever the outcome. 

Verse 21

In verse 21, Paul now explains why his eager expectation and hope is to honor Christ with his life and death. It’s “Because to me to live is Christ and to die is gain”. In light of the fact that Paul’s chief desire is to see Christ honored at any cost and by any means, what does ‘for me to live is Christ’ mean? And if to live is Christ, why is ‘to die’ gain? One commentator clarifies that the verb tense of ‘to die’ indicates not the process of dying, nor the state of being dead, but the act of dying. 

Why does that matter? Paul’s declaration that the act of dying is gain, indicates it’s a means to his chief aim – to glorify Christ, an apt punctuation on a life lived for Christ’s. And if the essence of my life is Christ, then Christ’s interests are my interests. 

What does death mean for the Christian? Rest, relief, restoration, and reward. Rest from unremitting obligations to please your wife, not fail your children, to live up to the expectations of your churchmates, your boss, your neighbors. Relief from maintaining a gracious disposition toward all of the above in spite of their sin against you, from the neverending onslaught of our own sinful desire, pride, and fear, and the end of all grief and guilt, melancholy, anxiety, and physical suffering. Undoubtedly, Paul shared a similar perspective, which he illustrates in 2 Timothy 4:7 – “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith”. The christian life is a fight. It is a race. We are grieved by sin and we struggle to persevere. 

Restoration of broken bodies, broken minds and hearts, broken relationships, the end of natural disasters and all forms of worldly suffering. Reward – pleasures forever more at God’s right hand in a glorified body that never ages nor ails. No one wants to ‘get old’. Yet every Christian should eagerly anticipate these good things. And, until Christ returns, they only come on the other side of death. 

Death is to be desired, true, but not primarily as an escape or an end in itself. Rather, Paul considers death as a means to the end that Christ is more fully and intimately known, and that he is most fully glorified. Christ is Paul’s reason for existence. What is your reason for existence? What do you live for? And how do you know? In a word, the choices we make betray the valuation we place between things. And if you don’t believe it’s way better to be with Christ than to be here, you’re not going to live rightly here.

To live – Christ, to die – gain. Paul’s Greek contains no verb “is”. One writer regards this “broken syntax” as evidence of Paul’s “intense feeling” (p. 80), saying, “We do not expect meticulous and lucid prose from a man when he is confronted with issues of life and death” (Martin, pp. 80-81). Although this is a delightfully worded take on Paul’s frame of mind, I think it’s ironically his “broken syntax” that is meant to hit us. Paul deliberately chooses terse language because it carries poetic force to drive his point home. ‘To live – Christ, to die – gain’ paints a picture worth a thousand words. Undoubtedly, many thousands of words have been dedicated to unpacking this profound statement. 

But is it really so helpful to unpack? What do you prefer when you go to fix something? Or to learn a new skill? Do you want to look at a parts diagram or read an instruction manual? Wouldn’t you rather watch the YouTube video? When we’re trying to stir affections, sometimes poetic punch is better than precise prose. It can be better to risk being misunderstood than to forfeit any real hope of being understood. 

We know what Paul means – He eats, sleeps, and breathes to see Christ honored. He is given to whatever gets him more Christ and he lives for Christ’s sake. Furthermore, he trusts God to orchestrate a devastating victory over his enemies. He trusts him even with his own death. The archetype for that plotline is the Cross. Like we saw in Dave’s sermon last week from Colossians 2:8-15 – all the authorities and powers in the heavenly and earthly places were defeated by the stunning, buzzer-beating triumph of Christ on the Cross. There he stripped them of their power, embarrassing them in what was supposed to be His moment of shame. 

In other words, Paul is confident because Christ is guaranteed to get glory. And since he lives to see Christ glorified, he is fully “alive” in a Roman prison! Ironically, more alive in death! What do you need to be fully alive? What barriers do you imagine make joy impossible? How does Paul’s confidence and example help you see them differently? 

For Paul, the equation is simple: to live – Christ, to die – gain. These are two sides to the same coin. This is the lub-dub beating of Paul’s heart. To live – Christ, to die – gain. To live – Christ, to die – gain. His inhalation and exhalation as he runs the race set before him. To live – Christ, to die – gain. To live – Christ, to die – gain.

Verses 22-24

After his striking ‘to live is Christ’ statement, we assume Paul’s mind is made up. Death is gain – end of story. Let’s go! But in verses 22-24 he introduces a dilemma: Though death is gain, life means fruitful labor. Would you rather live or die? Which is better? For the sake of the church, Paul reasons aloud through his processing of two possible outcomes – death or life, departure with Christ or fruitful labor. 

“If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account.”

A few points of clarification – 1) There’s no reason to assume Paul has a special foreknowledge of what will happen to him, 2) his “choice” doesn’t have power to effect whether he lives or dies, and 3) Paul is disposed to either life or death, whatever gives Christ the most glory and gets him more Jesus. He’s not choosing whether to live or die. Instead, Paul is considering the meaning of his life or death for himself and for the Philippians – its value. 

Paul’s example shows him reasoning on a level the Philippian Christians need to see and imitate. How do we know that? Because their behavior betrays what’s going on in their hearts in light of Paul’s imprisonment and their own situation – anxiety, rivalry, disharmony, grumbling, pride, and self-interest, to name a few. These attitudes are cause for shame because they proclaim to the watching world their unbelief and the apparent insufficiency of Christ. Paul’s preoccupation with Christ and his relative indifference to the circumstances show Christ as supremely worthy and stand in stark contrast to the fearful and defeated manner of the church in Philippi. 

Responding to trials and bad news like the Philippians did should throw up red flags that something is mis-calibrated in our hearts. How do you respond to trials? And who pays the price when your designs are thwarted – your wife, your kids, fellow churchmembers, co-workers or neighbors? 

What comes out of us when we’re squeezed? Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control (Galatians 5:22-23)? And if not, why don’t they? There’s really only two reasons: 1) We don’t trust in God’s wisdom, power, or willingness, and/or, 2) We don’t want what we should want. In other words, we don’t trust that God’s plan will be better than the one he just denied us. And in our unbelief, we are practicing idolatry.

Paul saw life as a fleeting opportunity to work for Jesus Christ. Commentator Ralph Martin says, “There is no purer desire than this, that the whole of our life and Christian service may enhance the glory and esteem of the one who alone is worthy” (Martin, p. 78). We exist to bring Jesus glory. “The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever” (Westminster Shorter Catechism Question 1). As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:15 – “he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised”.

We live that he might get glory, and we are most alive when we see him getting glory. Jesus said we are to take up our cross daily. So, whether our death is a daily death to self, or our actual physical death, we seek to bring him glory. 

“Because [as Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:1-10] we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling… that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life… God has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him.” 

We never punch the clock. Our heart, our soul, our mind, and our strength belong to our master, Jesus. They’re at his disposal. And this is to our advantage. In Romans 15:3, Paul quotes, Psalm 69:9, saying, “the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me”. 

Jesus also said in John 15(:18-21), “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you… all these things they do to you on account of my Name”. 

When the Master’s name is embroidered on your work uniform, any trial you endure ultimately falls on Him. The burden isn’t on us and the sin of others isn’t truly against us, but against the Master. 

When I’m charge nurse, I can face an unruly patient, or confront an erring coworker without fear because I come not in my name but in the name of my employer. And if my wife sins against me, I shouldn’t go to her for reparations, but to my Master. Or when I have to administer correction to my children, I do so not in my name, but as God’s steward. I’m compelled to do it, because “my aim is to please him”. Likewise, when pastoring, I might put my finger on something in your life. If you freak out or leave, I can’t take it personally. As Christ’s servant, it was against the Master. 

This mindset frees us from feeling entitled and pulls the rug out from under our excuses for mistreating others in any trial. We’ll see in chapter 2 that this servant-like fidelity drove even the Lord Jesus. We all share roles like church member, man, woman, husband, wife, father, and mother, employee, and so on. What is your eager expectation and hope in each of these situations so common to our daily lives? 

Verse 25

Having reasoned between the value and desirability of life and death in verses 22-24, Paul’s conclusion in verse 25 is stunning. Not because he’s eager to die. As he said in verse 23, death means “to depart and be with Christ, is far better”. His actual Greek is “much more better”. Death is gaining the unmediated presence of the One who is most satisfying and desirable, better than all the rest put together. And death, for Paul, was gain in vindicating the goodness and greatness of Christ. And (as we’ll see in chapter 3) death meant sharing in Christ’s sufferings that produces a rich fellowship and knowledge of Christ. 

In light of these, there’s much gain in death. For the Philippians, Paul turns the fear of death on its head. In essence, he’s saying, “My imprisonment and death, and the suffering that you’re so eager to avoid, I actually want because it gives me more of Christ (3:10) and it is the shortest path to being with Christ. In that sense, suffering and death is better than ongoing life. I’m only staying here for your sake”. 

He values a life of suffering and fruitful work over his own chance to be with the all-satisfying Christ so that the Philippians would be encouraged in their faith. He chooses life not because he loves the Philippians more than he loves Christ, but because he loves them more than he loves himself. He loves them for the sake of Christ. Christ’s interests are Paul’s interests. He rejoices in Christ’s glory-getting through his circumstances and he wants the Philippians to grow in the knowledge and magnification of Christ. Convinced that his fruitful labor on their behalf is in Christ’s best interests, he chooses life. 

In conclusion, Paul’s ministry report begins in verse 12 and ends in verses 26. On both ends he highlights the progress of the gospel through his life and theirs by means of the prayerful partnership they share. It’s through their prayers that he has experienced the provision of the Spirit, been owned by the worth of Christ, and has the courage to face death. 

Let’s grow in being a church that prays. What should be our prayer for brothers and sisters in the hardest places? G. Walter Hansen, in his commentary on Philippians recounts the final prayer request of a Cambodian church leader just before to his death during the genocide that took place there in the mid-1970’s. His letter reads:

“My dear friends,

‘For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain’. Please pray that this will be worked out in my life.

Your brother in Christ,

Tiang Chhric” [tee-AHNG CHREEK]

May that prayer be the lub-dub of our heartbeat and our prayer for our missionaries and our brothers and sisters in Christ. To live – Christ, to die – gain. 

Father, whose mercy are we at? For Christ has delivered us (2 Cor 1) and he will deliver us. May our hearts sing “to live is Christ and to die is gain”. And may that truth move us to love others more than we love ourselves, and to seek their welfare first. Grant us repentance from the entitled, idolatrous demand for certain circumstances. And give us faith to let you define what deliverance looks like. Make us glad that Christ would be honored in our body even at greatest cost. For His glory and our joy, Amen. 

Colossians 2:8-15 –

8 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. 11 In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.

Welcome back to Colossians.

Two weeks ago, we considered 2:8-10 and the consequences of ideas.  Paul warned the Colossian believers about the bad consequences of the bad ideas they were being confronted with.  He also reiterated the alternative; the good consequences of the good ideas of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  

In short, Paul explained that their choice really was binary.  Either they would be taken captive by the ideas of the world (philosophy, empty deceit, human tradition, elemental spirits of the world) or captivated by Christ.  His point is that a right understanding of Christ makes the choice as easy as it gets.  Jesus and nothing is infinitely better than everything without Jesus.  Living according to Jesus is eternal life, while living according to anything else is eternal death.  

This morning, we’re going to pick up where we left off.  That is, we’re going to look more closely at who Jesus is and what He’s done for those who receive Him in faith.  As we do, you’ll see the big idea: With even the most child-like understanding of the gospel, the choice between living according to Christ and according to anything else is entirely obvious.  The main takeaway is to learn and rehearse the gospel continually. 

To be captivated by something is to have it fill you with wonder and delight to the point that you feel enchanted by it.  Have you ever been captivated by something like that?  For whatever reason, God seems to cause me to be especially captivated by (I’m not really sure what to call it) certain landscapes (Glacier NP, the Canadian Rockies, the views of the North Shore of Superior from the SHT, the Utah NPs, etc.).  They give me a sense of God’s presence (and my smallness) that I don’t really experience anywhere else.  They really are captivating for me.

In some ways, that idea is at the heart of this passage for Paul.  He knows that the Colossians will be captivated by something.  For every reason, he urges them to be captivated by Christ.  

Remember, then, the question the Colossians were continually confronted with is the same question that continually confronts all of us: Will we be taken captive by the ideas of this world or will we be captivated by Christ?  

This sermon is meant to help you see the simple fact that nothing compares with Jesus.  At best, every alternative to Christ is a disordering of something which enables it to provide immediate, but temporary and tiny pleasure; pleasure of the sort that ultimately ends in far greater and lasting discouragement and difficulty.  

I was recently reading a book that enumerated and documented some of this in alarming detail.  The author wrote,

There is plenty of statistical support for the contention that people [who look to the empty and deceptive philosophies of the world] are unhappy. Levels of self-declared depression and clinically diagnosed depressive symptoms have skyrocketed in recent years… 

I wish I were merely talking about more adults confessing to being sad, but we are seeing an increase in depressed dispositions leading to an increase in behavior of desperation. The overall suicide rate increased a shocking 30 percent in the first twenty years of this new century. Roughly 5 percent of American adults have reported serious thoughts of suicide.

We know that alcohol and drug abuse has skyrocketed, and, in fact, deaths from alcohol abuse have risen precipitously, even for those over the age of sixty-five. Nearly one million people have died from drug overdoses in America since the year 2000, with a 30 percent increase in the number annually in recent years, and a 256 percent increase over that twenty-year period.  The escalation in the rate of growth of opioid deaths began just after the 2008 financial crisis. Separate from those who tragically die from drug and alcohol-related causes, a stunning fifteen million Americans regularly abuse alcohol…  The tragedy of lives consumed by drug and alcohol abuse is worsened only by deaths rooted in drug and alcohol abuse. 

The use of antidepressants has doubled over the last twenty years, with a 35 percent increase in the last six years alone.  It is estimated that thirty-seven million American adults regularly take an antidepressant medication (albeit at varying degrees of severity and dosage). We are talking about 15–20 percent of American adults needing medication for problems related to depression and anxiety.

I do not mean to say that becoming a Christian immediately eliminates all of these things or that mature Christians never deal with them.  

But I do mean to say that many of them are the direct result, the consequences, of being taken “captive to philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world.” 

I do mean to say that while the philosophers of this age promise much with all their offers of liberation and satisfaction apart from Christ, they simply cannot ultimately deliver anything but the kind of sadness and emptiness (ultimately death) described by the author I quoted.  

I do mean to say that Paul was not thinking mainly in the abstract when he wrote of the alternatives to Christ.  He knew that whenever we calibrate our minds or hearts to anything other than Jesus, our lives will reflect that in every manner of real-world pathology.  

And I do mean to say that many of them will change dramatically when we begin to live “according to Christ.”  

I do mean to say that living by faith in Jesus, and Him alone, only and always ultimately leads to fullness of eternal life and joy.  

Jesus spoke directly to this in Matthew 13(:44-45), “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. 45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, 46 who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.”

Grace, the rest of this passage and sermon are meant to help you see the simple fact that nothing compares with Jesus; to help you see that He is the greatest treasure and nothing else comes close; to help you see that to really understand who Jesus is and what He’s done for those who trust in Him, is to be shocked that we ever looked anywhere else.  

So, the million-dollar question is why would anyone believe that Jesus is the greatest treasure?  Or, how is Jesus the greatest treasure?  Or, what has He done that is so superior to all the alternative philosophies and traditions?

Paul answers those questions decisively, emphatically, and poetically by describing two aspects of who Jesus is and a handful of things He’s done for those who trust in Him.  

Seeing Jesus for who He is and trusting in Him for what He’s done is a gift from God.  We don’t deserve it.  If we receive it, it is by grace alone.  Therefore, as we make our way through Paul’s description of Jesus’ nature and work, my encouragement is to continually ask the Spirit to help you be as amazed by these things as they warrant.  Ask the Spirit to help you to see them for what they are and how they compare to everything else.  Ask the Spirit to shape your mind and heart, and cause you to live according to the truth and glory of these things above all else.  

With that, consider with me the two aspects of Jesus’ nature that Paul highlights.

In v.9, we read, “…in [Jesus] the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily…

That, of course, is a truly staggering statement.  In some ways it is the culmination of all that Paul wrote about Jesus so far.  He’s already described Jesus as…

The Son of God (1:3), Lord (1:3), the image of the invisible God (1:15), the firstborn over all creation (1:15), the author, means, and aim of the creation of everything that has been created (1:16), before all things (1:17), the sustainer of all things (1:17), the head of the Church (1:18), the firstborn from the dead (1:18), preeminent over all things (1:18), the one in whom all the fullness of God dwells (1:19), the reconcilier of all things (1:20), God’s mystery (2:2), and the one in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (2:3).

Again, collectively, all of those things describe what Paul means by “in Him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.”  

Be amazed, Grace.  With the Spirit’s help, consider your whole life—all of your desires, affections, ambitions, and decisions—in light of this and they will all look dramatically different.  What would it mean to truly live out of the reality that God sent His one and only Son to be born of a woman, truly God and truly man, and to dwell among us?  It would mean everything.  It would mean that nothing else could compete or compare.  

If you can imagine your whole life changing because you won the Powerball Mega Millions, how much more would it change if you truly believed that in Jesus the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily and He’s offering Himself to you?

Additionally, almost certainly, Paul wrote this of Jesus to combat some of the claims of the false teachers who were chirping at the Colossian Christians.  It’s possible they were denying the full deity or humanity of Jesus.  And Paul knew that the true antidote to the empty deceit of the heretics was the fullness of the truth of Jesus.  

The second thing Paul said of Jesus is no less awesome.  In the second half of v.10, we read that Jesus “… is the head of all rule and authority.”

Grace, consider what it would mean to have the mayor of your city determined to use all of his/her authority for or against you.  Consider how comprehensively that would affect your whole life.  

More than that, consider every president, king, and ruler on earth.  Consider every earthly power.  Consider what it would mean if one of them set their mind to your success or failure, to your life or death.  Concretely, imagine what it would mean if Donald Trump or Xi Jinping or Vladimir Putin decided to use every ounce of power at their disposal for your good or harm.  How much would that shape your life?  How much would that affect your thinking?  How thoroughly would that influence your every waking and sleeping moment?

It is, of course, impossible to imagine any aspect of your life unaffected by such a scenario.  Would the idea ever leave your mind?  Would you be able to do anything or go anywhere without that hovering over you?  Not a chance.

Now expand that to the spiritual realm—to every angel and demon.  Imagine all the power and authority of every spiritual being for or against you.  How significant of a portion of your life would that dominate?  Without question, all of it!

With all of that in mind, consider afresh Paul’s claim that Jesus “is the head of all rule and authority.”  Consider afresh the whole-life-altering reality that as powerful as any and all other earthly and heavenly powers are, Jesus is entirely, sovereignly, imperially above them all.  How much more ought that shape every aspect of your being?  

If God were to grant us genuine faith in the sovereign reign of Jesus, and the promise that all of it is aimed at the good of His people, whom would we fear?  Who else would we ever turn to?  What else would shape our thoughts with greater influence?  How would we ever give ourselves over to the captivity of something infinitely lesser?  What else would we treasure more?  

Paul meant to hold up Jesus in His divine glory and sovereignty for the Colossians to consider, knowing that if they were they to look with the eyes of the Spirit, every philosophy, tradition, and elemental spirit would be seen for what they truly are (empty deceit), Jesus would be seen for what He truly is (the fullness of deity and the head of all rule and authority), and the choice before them would be seen for what it truly is (the most lopsided choice in all reality).  

But Paul didn’t stop there for he knew that the contrast between life according to the world and life according to Christ is even greater when we consider not only who Jesus is, but also what He’s done for His people.   

Paul’s first description of the grace that is ours in Christ is meant to fill us with wonder at both our union with Jesus in His fullness and the emptiness of every alternative.  Remember that in Jesus is “the whole fullness of deity” and that in every philosophy of the world is only “empty deceit”.  

10 and you have been filled in him…

We’ll see shortly that we are in Him (in Jesus) “through faith,” but we see here that being in Him is not only to escape from the emptiness of our old selves, but also to be “filled with all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:19).  

What’s more, Paul told the Colossians that this had already happened for them.  They had been filled (not would be filled).  From the moment they trusted in Jesus, the fullness of Jesus was theirs.  The fullness of His grace, mercy, power, blessing, circumcision, rule, authority, death, resurrection, and victory were already theirs.  They were growing to understand and accept those things, but the fullness of them was already theirs…so why would they ever consider returning to the emptiness—the death, the sin, the debt, the uncircumcision, the slavery—of their former selves?

Grace, you too have been filled in Him if your hope is in Him.  How many empty internet searches and purchases would you avoid if you really believed that?  How many empty hours of worry and anxiety would you avoid if you were to truly accept that?  How many empty bouts with laziness and lust would you avoid if you really appreciated that?  How many empty dreams and ambitions would you avoid if you were really captivated by that?  How many empty attempts to find greener pastures and more immediate pleasure would you avoid if you fully embraced that?

Jesus came to bring fullness of life (John 10:10) and joy (Psalm 16:11) and that stands in stark contrast to every empty promise of the world that so easily entangles for all to whom the Spirit has given eyes to see.  

As strange as it may sound at first, the fullness that is ours in Jesus comes by way of circumcision.  

11 In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ…

Paul’s precise meaning with some of the words/phrases in v.11 is somewhat elusive.  Nevertheless, His overall point is clear.  Through faith in Jesus, we share in the fullness of Jesus, because Jesus provides for us what God requires of us.  Let me explain a bit.

As you may know, in the OT, the people of God were to demonstrate their ongoing faithfulness to their covenant with God (in part) by continually marking their children with the covenant sign, circumcision (the literal removal of the foreskin).  But as you may also know, the sign itself was utterly useless when their hearts were with foreign gods or their own sinful appetites.  

Paul wrote elsewhere that “circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision” (Romans 2:25).  In other words, when Jews circumcised their children as an expression of faithful obedience, it honored God, but when it was a faithless formality, it was entirely futile.  

In that way, circumcision with idolatry is like a serial adulterer who still wears a wedding ring.    

Circumcision (like a wedding ring) was always meant to be a sign of a devoted heart (where the devoted heart was the key), but it got turned into a box to check as a means of bypassing a godward heart posture. 

The point of all of that is that since Adam’s Fall, no one has been able to maintain a godward heart posture.  All of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.  None of us can, therefore, properly take the sign of the covenant on our own merit.  

But what we were powerless to do on our own, Christ did for us.  He perfectly obeyed God.  He perfectly kept every covenant term with a proper heart.  And because of that, He provided for us what God requires of us.  By grace, through faith, Jesus gives us new hearts and fills them with His fullness.  

Therefore, “circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter” (Romans 2:29).  

Jesus is the fullness of the deity of God and He is the head of all rule and authority and because He is those things, God is pleased to fill us in Him and to mark us as righteous through our union with Christ who alone is righteous.  

The next description of God’s blessings in Christ is a sort of continuation of the last one.  Where the OT covenant sign was circumcision, the NT covenant sign in Christ is baptism.  V.12, in part, is meant to expand on the nature of the circumcision of Christ.  You were circumcised…by the circumcision of Christ, 

12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.

More than likely, v.12 is not as much teaching something new from v.11 as it is describing it from another angle.  

In other words, just as circumcision is pointless apart from it being a genuine act of faith (of the parents), so too is baptism (of the one being baptized).  That is, Paul’s point is certainly not that faithless baptism merits our salvation any more than faithless circumcision.  Rather, his point is that just as circumcision was meant to be inseparably tied to faithfulness, so too is baptism in Christ.  In that way it both symbolizes and is an essential component of our union with Jesus in His death and resurrection.  

And yet, as true and critical as those things are, Paul’s main point is not to describe baptism’s relationship to circumcision or even salvation.  Rather, his main point is that the Colossians had been united to Jesus in His death and resurrection and both entirely on account of the powerful working of God and accessed only through faith in God.  

Again, then, given these radial, unmerited, gracious blessings that were theirs in Christ, why, why, why, why, why would they ever hand themselves over to captivity to something that can’t provide any of that, but only disorderliness, difficulty, disappointment, and death?!

Paul was pleading with the Colossians, as I plead with you, let go of the things that can only bring a death that leads to death and embrace the only thing (Jesus) that brings a death that leads to eternal life.  Be immersed in, entirely consumed by, baptized in Jesus that you might know the powerful working and resurrection of God.

As remarkable as all of that is, Paul still wasn’t done.  

13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him…

As we’ve seen, the Colossians were dead in their sins and uncircumcision, as is every mere man and woman since Adam.  Indeed, the wages of sin have forever been and will forever be, death.  And that, once again, is all that every philosophy of this world can actually offer.  

But as we also saw, the Colossians, having placed their trust in Jesus, were made alive together with Him.  Instead of death, they’d been given life.  Instead of trespasses, they were given righteousness.  Instead of uncircumcision, they were given the circumcision of Christ. Instead of being baptized into empty deceit, they were baptized into Jesus’ fullness and truth.

Why look anywhere else, Grace?  With even the most blurred eyesight, it is easy to see that nothing compares to Jesus and that which He alone offers to all who will receive Him in faith.  

But that’s still not all.  Paul went on to further explain the means by which Jesus was able to provide these blessings to mankind.  

13 … having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

Because God is just, He will never go back on His word concerning the consequences of sin (or anything else).  But because God is loving, He made a way to be both just and justifier.  Our salvation, then, is not about God overlooking our offense or ignoring its promised consequence, but about accepting Jesus as a substitute sacrifice.  The penalty for our sin is death and death was paid.

Among men, Jesus alone had no debt to pay.  At the same time, in Jesus alone was the fullness of the deity of God, and, therefore, Jesus alone was sufficient to pay the full debt of all who would trust in Him.  

God had a list of all the sins of all the Colossians.  Their record of debt was staggering.  He had an airtight, indefensible legal case against them.  He would have been perfectly just to execute judgment upon them at any moment.  And yet, in His patience, He waited until the fullness of time, until the mystery that had been kept hidden for ages and generations was revealed.  He waited until Jesus Christ hung on the cross, that He might poor out all His wrath for all the trespasses of all who would call upon the name of Jesus, that He might justly forgive and cancel and set aside our death-debt forever.  

O, what amazing grace, Grace!  

How can we chose anything else?

Finally, consider one more aspect of the grace and victory of Jesus.  

15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.

When we combine the fact that Jesus is the head of all rule and authority with the sacrificial death and victorious resurrection of Jesus, we should not be surprised to read that at the cross and empty tomb, He successfully disarmed all competing powers decisively. 

The word translated “disarmed” literally means “stripped”.  The picture is vivid.  He striped them of their robes of power, leaving them exposed in their shameful impotence for all to see.  

Why, then, would the Colossians, would we, would anyone, willingly subject themselves to the demands of disarmed, exposed, shamed, impotent rulers and authorities when the One who is head of all rulers and authorities offers Himself to us to be filled, spiritually circumcised, united with Him in His death and resurrection, made eternally alive with Him, and forgiven of our trespasses and the infinite and eternal debt we incurred because of them?!!!

In the remarkable paragraph that is Colossians 2:8-15, Paul gets a bit into the deep end of the pool concerning how and why the Colossians ought to do everything possible to avoid being taken captive by the empty and deceptive philosophies of the world.  

All of it, though, amounts to two simple things.  First, Jesus Christ is preeminent over all things.  And second, the gospel is the best news of all time.  Jesus is more glorious and His grace is more awesome than any of us can ever imagine.  

While we were born into sin and death and enmity with God, blinded to the glory of God, Jesus came in perfect righteousness and died and rose from the dead to atone for our sin and fill us with the righteousness God requires and the life that God is.  That atonement and righteousness and life are ours, not through sufficient obedience, through the act of circumcision or baptism, but through simple faith.  With spiritual vision that itself is ours only as a gracious gift of God, we can see that Jesus Christ is the greatest treasure, our only salvation, and infinitely superior to every alternative philosophy, human tradition, and elemental spirit.  And once we see that, we cannot not be captivated by Jesus and hold fast to Him who is above all and in all.  

Romans 5:1-5 –

1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

Its baseball season.  I loved playing baseball.  Do you know what we did on gameday?  We took batting practice.  The infielders took ground balls and turned double plays.  The outfielders would take fly balls, and practice throws to 2nd, 3rd and home.  We never ever started a game without doing these things first.  Why was that?  After all, we practiced on days when we didn’t have games!  Why was it necessary to take batting practice before a game?  Because some foundational things must be done well if we are going to play the game well.  And so, we rehearse the same thing again and again.  Several years ago, I took Shelli’s nephew to a Brewers game.  We got there early.  Guess what professional players were doing before the game?  Batting practice, fielding ground balls, and catching fly balls in the outfield.

I say this to you this morning because for the Christian, there are some foundational truths that we must practice again and again.  It’s not enough to hear and believe a foundational truth when we first become a believer.  There are foundational truths that we must rehearse and understand and apply to our real-life situations each new day.  The “game” of life is infinitely more important than the game of baseball, and so we must practice, practice, practice.

And one of those foundational truths that we must “practice” or rehearse, is the doctrine of justification.  

The focus of today’s sermon will be on how our lives are impacted and changed by being justified by faith.  We are not justified by works, but by faith.  We will talk about that more in a minute.  But first, to fully understand the significance of being justified by faith, we must first rehearse what it means to be justified.

Wayne Grudem defines justification like this: “Justification is an instantaneous legal act of God in which He thinks of our sins as forgiven and Christ’s righteousness as belonging to us and declares us to be righteous in His sight” (Systematic Theology, p. 723). In other words, God declares, once and for all, that our sins are forgiven (past, present and future sins), and that we are counted as righteous. All of this is because of Jesus, who took our sin, and gave us His righteousness. When we are justified, it’s not that we no longer sin, and that we are now innately righteous. Rather, when we are justified, God, from His heavenly courtroom as a just judge, declares that we are no longer liable for our sins, and declares the righteousness of Jesus to be considered as our very own. Christ’s righteousness has been imputed to us, or it has been credited to our account. When God sees us, He sees the righteousness of Christ.

God has the authority to justify, and it is His act or declaration. Justification is an act of God. It’s a gracious act of God. It’s an undeserved gift from God.

But we receive it by faith.  

Romans 5:1 begins by saying:  1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith…  In chapters 3 and 4 of Romans the Apostle Paul makes it clear that no one will be justified by obeying the Law, because no one (other than Jesus Christ Himself) has ever obeyed the Law perfectly.  We all fall short.  We all sin. 

That is why Romans 3:10 says “There is no one righteous, not even one…”.  And so, Romans 3:20–26 says this:   20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. The Law exposes our sin before a Holy God.  21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— (since we won’t be righteous by keeping the Law—news of God revealing His righteousness apart from the Law is really good news—but what is it?  Here it is…) 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.  

We will never be declared righteous because have kept the Law perfectly.  Never!  We will be declared righteous by God’s grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.  What Jesus did in His death for us satisfied the wrath of God for our sin—and we receive this by faith, not works.  When we are justified by faith we are forgiven and declared righteous by trusting in the person and work of Jesus Christ alone.  We are justified by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.  That is the exact opposite of us being justified by our keeping of the Law or our works.  

Chapter 4 establishes that even Abraham was justified by faith.  Romans 4:3 says:  3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” 

Before we talk about some of the blessings of being justified by faith, I want you to listen to an important word by Wayne Grudem: “Scripture never says that we are justified because of the inherent goodness of our faith, as if our faith has merit before God.  It never allows us to think that our faith in itself earns favor with God.  Rather, Scripture says that we are justified by means of our faith, understanding faith to be the instrument through which justification is given to us, but not at all an activity that earns us merit or favor with God.  Rather, we are justified solely because of the merits of Christ’s work” (Systematic Theology, p. 730).

We are justified to the praise of God’s glory alone!

Now…

We have received a rich gift from God. And within that gift, there are many other gifts. Not only are we declared forgiven and righteous in God’s sight, verses 1-5 mentions at least 4 other blessings that come from being justified by faith.

One is that…

“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”  The fact of the matter is this:  Sin separated us from God.  We were alienated from God.  Without hope.  Without life.   Because of our sin, we stood condemned before God.  We were enemies of God.  We were hostile towards God.    

But Jesus Christ changed everything.  Ephesians 2:14 says Jesus is our peace.  Jesus gave us peace with God.  This peace is a state of reconciliation with God.  In Jesus we are restored to a right relationship with God.  Through Jesus, we are brought back to God.  We are at peace with God.  This is a real objective peace.  We have this because we were justified by faith.  It’s not a subjective feeling that comes and goes.  This is an objective fact.  We are no longer under condemnation of God; instead, we are restored to God and at peace with Him.  We have this peace with God whether we feel it or not—because it is a result of being justified by faith.  Its objective and never changing.

Now, there is also a subjective peace OF God that we can also experience.  As Philippians 4:6-7 teaches us: 6 do not be anxious about anything, (sometimes that is what we feel or experience) but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.   This is a subjective peace that comforts us when we face troubles. 

At times we may feel more anxious, and at other times, we may feel or experience the peace OF God that guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.  This sense of well-being and quiet is the peace OF God—it’s a subjective experience.  Romans 5:1 is talking about Peace WITH God—it is a never changing objective reality because we are justified by faith.

But secondly…

2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand….  Through Jesus we have been given a way of approach to God.  We stand in His grace or favor.  And again, it is by faith in Jesus.  It’s not by works.  If it was our works, we would wonder if we were in God’s good favor or not.  If we are doing better for one moment, we may think we are in God’s good favor, and we can approach Him.  But if we were not doing well, we would feel or think God’s favor has been withdrawn, and we have to do something to regain it.  That, in fact, is what false religions face again and again.  They are constantly trying to regain or maintain favor with God.

But for the one justified by faith, NOT WORKS, we stand, always, in God’s good favor.  Amazing!  It is a great gift!

Hebrews 10:19–23 says it like this:  

19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 

We have been given a way of approach before a holy God.  We can enter His presence with confidence.  We don’t have to wonder IF we are in or out of His favor.  Through Jesus we stand, always, in God’s good favor.  

We live every day with the amazing privilege to approach God by faith and find mercy and grace to help us in our time of need.  

But it keeps getting better…

…and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.  We experience great joy because we are promised eternal life.  We are promised an eternity in the presence of God.  We have that certain and sure hope because of Jesus!  And it’s this hope that pulls us through dark valleys.  Because we are justified by faith, we are declared forgiven and righteous before God.  But we still battle with sin.  We still experience weakness and sickness and tears.  We feel pain.  We are hurt and persecuted.  We suffer.  But there is a day coming, when Jesus comes again, that we will be removed from all sin, and our sinful flesh will be no more, and we will feel no sorrow or sickness or pain or tears.  We will be in God’s presence, in our glorified bodies, enjoying God fully!     

Listen to how 1 Peter 1:3–9 says it:   3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. 

The promise of glory is cause for JOY!

BUT THAT’S NOT ALL…

We Also Rejoice in Our Sufferings (v. 3)

3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings…. We know Glory will be great.  But because we are justified by faith, we don’t have to wait till Glory to begin to experience the goodness and love of God.  We all experience suffering.  In various forms.  Jesus promised all those who want to follow Him will experience sufferings and persecutions, just like He did.  Jesus was tired.  Jesus was mistreated.  Jesus was rejected.  Jesus was falsely accused.  Jesus was abused.  Jesus was crucified like a common criminal.  

But because we are justified by faith, and we have peace WITH God, and we stand in His favor, and we are not without HOPE, we can also rejoice in sufferings.  We can consider sufferings a joy.  That makes no human sense.  That may not resonate with you.  But it’s true.  James 1:2 says it like this:  2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds.

Why is that?  It’s because…

Suffering produces endurance (v. 3).  …knowing that suffering produces endurance.  God is at work in our suffering to do something good.  We are not alone.  Suffering is not pointless.  In our suffering the Spirit is at work to change us and grow us, and verse 3 tells us one of the ways we will grow.  We will develop endurance.  It is so easy to quick when problems come.  And problems will come.  Times of suffering will happen.  But the Holy Spirit is at work to grow our endurance so that we will keep trusting Jesus with all our heart even when life is hard.

And then, added to that…

Endurance produces character (v. 4).  4 and endurance produces character.  There is so much that could be said here.  There are so many ways that the Holy Spirit is at work in our lives to develop Christ-like character.  One, I think of the Fruit of the Spirit:  love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  When we live in step with the Spirit, this is what we can expect the Spirit to produce in our lives.  Two, another passage that helps us see the kind of character that endurance produces is James 3:16-18: 16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.  (that is character that produces lots of problems.  In stark contrast, listen to verses 17-18) 17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. 18 And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. 

These are just two examples of that many ways God is at work in our lives when we don’t quit—when we endure through trials, God grows Christ-like character in us.

And with that, you will not be disappointed, for verse 4 says…

Character produces hope (v. 4-5).  and character produces hope,5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.  We can rejoice in our sufferings because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

How, you might ask, do we know God’s love has been poured into our hearts?

Romans 5:6–11 says:

6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. 

We rejoice in our sufferings because through Christ God dwells with us by the Holy Spirit.  We are not alone.  We are not abandoned by God.  And He is at work to use even sufferings to bring about endurance (the ability to continue trusting Jesus against all odds), and character (the condition of our heart and life is refined and transformed as the Spirit molds the character of Christ into our lives), and hope (we have eyes that keep looking at and for Jesus).

Colossians 2:8-10 –

8 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.

What’s the worst idea you’ve ever heard?  My early-mid teenage years were pretty much defined by bad ideas.  Sticking a bobby pin into a plug and then the plug into an outlet was one of the more innocent and innocuous ones.  On the other end of both spectrums was some really, really bad ideas I had while driving a car.  

On a more global scale, humanism, materialism, and all the various aspects of secularism are among the worst ideas mankind has ever conceived.  The extent of the devastation caused by them (both temporally and eternally) cannot be measured.  

Our passage for this morning is largely about bad ideas and their consequences.  But Paul’s point is not to merely wallow in how bad the Colossians’ world was, but to help them see the stark contrast between those things and the best idea of all time and its consequences.  And that so that they might continue to walk in Jesus.  

Stated another way, whereas our passage for last week, 2:6-7, gets to the heart of the solution to the Colossians’ problems (remember the simple truths of the gospel and then seek to become increasingly rooted, built up, established, and abounding in thanksgiving), our passage for this morning, 2:8-10, gets to the heart of the problems themselves (they were at risk of being taken captive by bad ideas and led astray from Christ).

The big idea of this sermon is that all ideas have consequences.  What we believe determines how we act.  False beliefs take us captive.  True beliefs, which are always rooted in Jesus, set us free.  The main takeaway is to see that no one takes us captive with false beliefs and to seek the freedom that is found only in the Truth of Christ.  

Once again, Paul’s letter to the Colossians is one part warning concerning the imminent danger they faced, and one part encouragement concerning God’s protection and deliverance that was theirs in Christ.  

In that is a critical reminder that the news of salvation in Jesus is only good when it’s shared in contrast with the bad news of death through sin.  When we share the gospel with the world, it is as important that we tell them what they must be saved from as it is to tell them what they are saved through and to.  A gospel without the sovereign holiness of God and the death-producing sin of mankind, is no gospel.  We must warn before we woo.  

But Paul is not mainly speaking of evangelistic efforts or to non-Christians here.  He is mainly speaking to a group of people who profess faith in Jesus, but are in danger of being led astray from the truths of the gospel by false teachers and their bad ideas.  And within that, he writes to them of the bad ideas, their consequences, and the manner in which the Colossians ought to respond.  

In a bit of reverse order (from Paul’s in v.8), let’s consider the bad ideas first.  Paul explicitly names four: (1) philosophy and (2) empty deceit, according to (3) human tradition, according to the (4) elemental spirits of the world.  These are more categories containing bad ideas, than bad ideas themselves, but they serve as important place holders for what’s to come in the letter.  

The first bad-idea category is “philosophy”.  It’s important to note that the term itself isn’t negative.  It simply means “love of wisdom”.  There is good philosophy, of course; philosophy rooted in genuine wisdom.  But there is also bad philosophy; philosophy rooted in the godless ideas of the world.  

There is, perhaps, no clearer example of the contrast between these two kinds of “wisdom” that what we find in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians.  Throughout the end of chapter one and into the beginning of chapter two, he writes of “destroying the wisdom of the wise,” God making “foolish the wisdom of the world,” and the inability to “know God through wisdom”.  But he also writes of “Christ crucified” as the “the wisdom of God” and his burden to “impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God,” which is the power of God to save.  

In other words, and once again, in the Bible, the word “philosophy” is used in both positive and negative senses.  In that way, the issue isn’t that the Colossians were at risk of “loving wisdom”.  The issue that Paul wants to Colossians to consider is the nature and content of the “wisdom” being presented to them.  

That leads to the second “idea” named by Paul, which is actually just a clarification of the first idea.  It answers for us the nature and content question of the philosophy Paul wrote about in v.8.  What kind of philosophy was being presented to the Colossian Christians?  “Empty deceit” philosophy; the first kind of philosophy I highlighted from 1 Corinthians 1-2; the philosophy of the world, the kind God destroys, the kind God makes foolish, the kind through which God cannot be known, the kind that promises much, but delivers little.  

Grace, have you ever considered how much empty deceit there is out there?  Have you ever considered how often you are bombarded with it?  Have you ever really tried to slow down and examine your own thinking to find elements of it?

It’s probably easy for most of us to name the empty deceits “out there”.  The world is so confused when it comes to issues of sex and gender, wisdom and folly, good and evil, life and death, love and hate, marriage and family, government and religion, ethics and morals, God’s nature and commands, and a whole host of other things.  

The world around us promises that we can work through those things however we want and find true satisfaction in whatever we come up with, but for the most part, we know that’s empty deceit, right?

While I don’t think the Church is as good on those things as we think we are, we are, for the most part, better at recognizing them for what they are than those outside of the Church.  

However, there’s plenty of empty deceit inside the Church as well.  As Jerry Bridges has pointed out, we often function according the empty and deceiving philosophy that treats ungodliness, anxiety, discontentment, unthankfulness, pride, selfishness, lack of self-control, impatience, irritability, anger, judgmentalism, envy, and gossip as “respectable sins.”  

In similar fashion, over the years, we’ve regularly been grieved as elders at how common it is for otherwise godly families to follow the empty and deceiving philosophies that kids’ sports/extracurricular activities ought to dominate family life, that skirting the edges of community with God’s people is an OK way to live, that worshiping as the gathered church on the Lord’s day is anything other than the pinnacle of the week in God’s design, that coming in and out of covenant membership in a local church is treated as a small thing, that husbands so easily abdicate and wives so easily complain, that non-evangelism is normal, and that God’s Word is minimized as the ultimate standard for significant aspects of our lives. 

Grace, if you are to receive Paul’s words as God intends, you will prayerfully examine every aspect of the ideas and philosophies that drive your life, seeking and destroying those that are ultimately composed of empty deceit; that is, those that promise joy or comfort or acceptance, but can only deliver the opposite.    

In just a bit, we’ll see what’s at stake for those who live according to these kinds of ideas, but first, let’s look at the final two “ideas” and the fact that they describe the source of the empty-deceit philosophies being put before the Colossians.  They are human traditions and the elemental spirits of the world.

Human tradition means exactly what you probably think it means.  It is the thing that Jesus rebuked the religious leaders of His day for.

6 And [Jesus] said to [the Pharisees and scribes], “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; 7 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ 8 You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.” 9 And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition!” (Mark 7:7-9).

Jesus said this in relation to the Pharisees critique of His disciples’ failure to wash their hands and dishes according to human tradition.  He also said this as a condemnation against the Pharisees’ tradition of refusing to care for their parents according to God’s command.  

The point isn’t the exact form the traditions took though or even human tradition itself.  The point is that their traditions came exclusively from the thoughts of people (rather than from God) and were often were in direct contradiction to the thoughts of God (as revealed in His Word). 

In other words, in the same way that philosophy isn’t the real problem, neither is human tradition.  Philosophy is only bad when it loves fake wisdom, just as human tradition is only bad when it overrides or contradicts God’s Word.  

In that way, having family worship after dinner is a “human tradition,” but it is rooted deeply in God’s Word and is generally an attempt to faithfully put God’s Word into practice.  The same can be said of monthly communion or celebrating Jesus’ birthday on December 25th or projecting the main sermon text on the screen.  They are human traditions in that none of those things are explicitly commanded by God.  But they are good in that they are an attempt to honor God by doing what He said.  

Again, there are good, God-honoring philosophies (as well soon see) and human traditions.  But those weren’t what was being thrust before the Colossians.    

Finally, then, the fourth idea and second source of the empty deceit philosophy named by Paul, is the “elemental spirits [or, perhaps principles] of the world.”  

A lot! has been written and little agreed upon concerning the precise meaning of this phrase for Paul.  What is clear, however, is three things.  

First, that their origin is something other than the wisdom of God. 

Second, that among the philosophies rooted in human tradition and the elemental spirits/principles of the world are the things listed in 2:16-23, “questions of food and drink…a festival, new moon, or Sabbath…asceticism… worship of angels…visions…regulations…and severity to the body.”

And third, that they are things that “have an appearance of wisdom…but are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.”  

The philosophies, consisting of empty deceit, and flowing out of human tradition and elemental spirits of the word, being put before the Colossians are the “plausible arguments” Paul wrote of in 2:4.  

These arguments were acceptable to many people outside the church and, tragically, even inside the church.  They weren’t, for the most part, explicitly evil.  They even seemed wise and plausible.  They were not arguments for atheism or child sacrifice or drinking animal blood or pagan worship.  

They were arguments and philosophies—ideas—that were ultimately misguided/false, but sounded like they might not be.  They were ultimately empty, but sounded like they might be substantial.  They were ultimately dishonoring to God, but sounded like they might be godly.  In other words, it was not necessarily easy to see that they were wrong, much less wicked.

If those are the “ideas,” what are the consequences for believing those ideas? 

In the opening lines of this passage, Paul warns the Colossians of being taken captive by these kinds of bad ideas.   When we hear that, it’s probably easy to think his warning primarily in terms of being duped or coned or tricked. 

In kindergarten, I remember a friend telling me the bad idea that if you added up a whole bunch of zeros (like a lot), it would eventually add up to something more than zero (albeit a really small number).  I really do remember almost believing him, almost being duped.  

Not that long ago, I did get tricked by a fake website while trying to buy an ice cream machine for Gerri.  We got our money back from our credit card company, but only after going through all the hassle of getting new cards. 

Is that what Paul meant by being taken captive?  Are those the kinds of consequences he was concerned with?  

That really is how most people seem to think of ideas—as if the worst thing they can do is inconvenience you a bit.  But the radical truth is that the very first evil act, as well as every evil act since, as well as all of the most evil acts ever performed were the product of ideas.  

The Fall in the Garden was the result of an idea (that it would be good to be like God in knowing good and evil).

The holocaust was the result of an idea.  Nuclear weapons were the result of an idea.  The Twin Towers was the result of an idea.  Every unjust war is the result of an idea.  And so is your mistreatment of your spouse, kids, siblings, friends, brothers and sisters in Christ, and non-Christian neighbor.  All we do is the product of an idea we have (even if we’re unable to articulate it as we are acting).    

In other words, as has been said by many, ideas have consequences.  

In “How Then Shall We Live,” Francis Schaeffer famously said it like this, “There is a flow to history and culture. This flow is rooted and has its wellspring in the thoughts of people. People are unique in the inner life of the mind — what they are in their thought-world determines how they act. This is true of their value systems and it is true of their creativity. It is true of their corporate actions, such as political decisions, and it is true of their personal lives. The results of their thought-world flow through their fingers or from their tongues into the external world.”

Or as another cultural commentator said in more succinct terms, “Belief controls life” (Dallas Willard, Divine Conspiracy).

Of course, some ideas have good consequences and some bad, even as some ideas have big consequences and some small.  But all ideas have consequences.  Everything we believe shapes our lives in some way.  That conviction is at the heart of this passage.  

Again, then, what are the consequences of the bad ideas being presented to the Colossians?  Or, more specifically, what does it mean to be taken captive by the bad ideas?

The word translated “captive” is a strong word that goes far beyond merely being tricked.    

“It vividly expresses the danger that the readers may be ‘carried off as plunder’ by an alien and fundamentally anti-Christian form of teaching.” (Moo, PNTC, 185).  In other words, Paul is concerned with far more than the possibility of his readers being inconvenient in some small way.  He’s concerned with them being imprisoned and enslaved by the ideas.  

Grace, it’s hard to word this with enough clarity and force to capture the seriousness in Paul’s warning.  It’s hard to word this in a way that doesn’t sound melodramatic.  It’s hard to say this in a way that doesn’t just feel like an unbearable pressure.

So, before we move on to the alternative (to being captured), let me say two things.

First, the divine, sinless nature, perfect righteousness, substitutionary death, and definitive resurrection of the man Jesus Christ are our only and certain hope.  And it is ours, not by eradicating all the wrong ideas in our minds, but by acknowledging that we can’t on our own.  We are united to His saving work, not by having only good ideas, but by trusting that He alone does.  That’s the good news Jesus came to accomplish and effect for all who will receive Him.

Second, none of that cancels out the seriousness of the danger of being taken captive to empty and deceptive philosophies that are rooted in human tradition and elemental principles.  Ideas have consequences and at best, these kinds of bad ideas inevitably (they can’t not) lead to the consequences of increasing disorderedness, difficulty, and discouragement…at best.  At worst, if they lead us entirely away from the gospel, it means that we were never truly trusting in Jesus in the first place, that we were unbelieving believers, and that we remain under sin’s condemnation; and there is, of course, nothing worse than that.

The consequences of bad ideas are as steep as they get, even as the grace of God is entirely sufficient to grant repentance, rescue, and restoration.  We honor God when we walk continually in the tension of those two truths.  

There are few things more serious than being captivated by unbiblical philosophies.  What, then, is the alternative? If Paul’s readers (the Colossians then and us today) were to heed Paul’s warning, where would that leave them?  If they were to reject the captivity-threatening ideas of the world, what were they to do?  

Paul names two aspects of the alternative—one defensive and one offensive.  

The first, the defensive aspect of the alternative, is found right at the beginning, “See to it that no one takes you captive”.

As simple as it sounds, we are to defend against the bad ideas that come to us (or form within us).  We are to set up watchmen and guards.  Doing so, defending against bad ideas, empty and deceptive philosophies, means at least:

That leads to the second, the offensive, aspect of the alternative to being taken captive by bad ideas.  It is rooted in an acknowledgement of the simple and universal fact that we can’t not have ideas.  No one is idealess.  Likewise, and again, we can’t not live out of our ideas.  

Stated positively, we all have ideas and we all live out of them.  The only questions are what are our ideas and what are their consequences. 

At the end of the day, there really are only two idea-options for mankind.  We either have the ideas of the world or of Christ.  There are countless worldly ideas, but they all amount to the same godless, false, empty, deadly thoughts.  

Consequently, defending against and getting rid of bad ideas is a start, but it is not the finish.  

Again, then, what were the Colossians to do after heeding Paul’s warning and rejecting the ideas of empty and deceptive philosophy which were rooted in human tradition and elemental spirits of the world?  Having avoided their captivity, what were they to do with their freedom?

They were to have better ideas; ideas that are good, beautiful, and true.  Paul names three such ideas.  All are rooted in Jesus, all are echoes of Paul’s continual message to the Colossians, and all are the subject of the next few sermons (so I’m only going to briefly name them this morning).   

What are the alternative ideas?  The alternative is the philosophy of Christ.  It is full and true.  It is according to the eternal wisdom of God.  It is according to the Word by, through, and for which all things were made and are now being sustained.  It is found in vs. 9-10.

For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.

Those are at the heart of the alternative ideas that Paul commends to us.  The alternative to the false, deadly ideas of the world is the truth that Jesus Christ is above all and in all!  It is the truth that Jesus is supreme, preeminent, sovereign, wise, and good.  He is God.  He is Head.  He offers Himself to all who will trust in Him.

I want to conclude with a something Paul doesn’t explicitly name in these few verses.  I want to conclude with the consequences of these ideas for all who believe.  

Quickly, there are two consequences.  First, as we’ve seen, the consequences are faith, hope, and love.  They are hope in heaven.  They are good fruit.  They are the grace of God.  They are fullness of knowledge and wisdom.  They are good works.  They are being strengthened with God’s power.  They are the inheritance of the saints.  They are being delivered from the domain of darkness and transferal into the kingdom of the beloved Son. They are redemption and the forgiveness of sins.  They are reconciliation, holiness, blamelessness, and being made above reproach.  They are the rights of God’s glory in Jesus.  They are spiritual maturity.  They are encouragement and all the riches of full assurance and all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.  And as we are about to see, they the consequences of these ideas are the circumcision of Christ, union with his death and resurrection, eternal life in Christ, forgiveness of sins, and the canceling of our debt against God!  How about those consequences?!  Imprisoned by bad ideas into death or brought to glory by the good ideas of Jesus?!

But there is a second consequence as well; one that I think is absolutely remarkable.  Grace, would you marvel with me at the fact that Paul was warning his readers to avoid being taken captive to bad ideas, by being captivated by good ideas, so they might be taken captive by bad people.  Paul was a captive to Christ and the enemies of Christ.  He was in prison!  

You will be a captive, Grace Church.  The only question that matters, Paul admonished the Colossians and admonishes us, is what we want to be captivated by—Christ or the world.  

For Paul, this was no question at all.  It is the easiest, most obvious choice around.  

That choice is every one of ours today.  Which ideas and consequences will you choose?