[MUSIC PLAYING] The Bible from 30,000 Feet. Soaring through the Scripture
from Genesis to Revelation. The book of-- Colossians. --Colossians. Let's turn there. Four chapters like
Philippians, so an easy, fun book to get through on our
Bible from 30,000 Feet. Can we pray before we
start though for that? Father, before we even
take off in this overview, we pray, Lord, that you
would capture each heart, that we would not be
distracted by other thoughts, that we wouldn't let competing
ideas or thinking patterns get a hold of us
during this time, but we would devote ourselves
to what your Holy Spirit-- whom we believe to be very
present and very active when your Word is open-- would break the Bread
of Life to our hearts, that we might learn,
that we might grow, that we might apply,
that we might mature, and that we would
become sharpened it tools for your glory. In Jesus' name, Amen. I specifically remember
what I was going to college. And at weekends I would drive
but an hour to see my folks. I remember feeling
exhausted sometimes after a after a week of study. And I was interning in
radiology at the time. And so there were
long days, long hours. And I would drive over
to my parents' house. And so in the dark,
especially in the wintertime, on the freeway, I'd find
myself almost nodding off. Yeah, uh-oh is right. So I start finding
myself nodding off. I start swerving
on the road until I hit those little raised bumps. By the way, they're
called Botts' Dots. They were invented by a guy
named Botts in California who'd thought, you know,
this is a problem, people falling asleep-- people like that
Skip Heitzig guy. So we need to invent
something so if they indeed do fall asleep and
start swerving, the noise of those little
Botts' Dots against their tires will wake him up and get
him straight on the road. So I found myself doing this
quite a bit when I'd see them. And I became very
thankful for my friends-- the Botts' Dots-- to keep
me going down the road. And then I got a good night's
sleep at my folks' house. Think of the book of
Colossians like that. They are given to us--
these instructions-- these four chapters-- given
to the church at Colossae-- like the Botts'
Dots to keep them from swerving off of what they
needed to be driving toward. And that was Jesus
and Jesus alone. Not religion, not a
system not an ideology, not some teacher who brought
some new truth, that just makes them swerve all over the road. But just to focus
on Jesus Christ, that's really what this
book was designed for. It's a group of
Christians in Colossae, a thriving, growing
church threatened by a number of things that
would get them to swerve away from the main thing. There's always a
temptation to do that. I remember in the 1970s-- this goes way back. And some of you weren't-- how
many of you were not alive in the 1970s? So now I'm speaking to
you about ancient history. [LAUGHTER] So when I came to faith
in Christ, which was 1973, I remember during this period
of time that historians called the Jesus Movement-- it was like
a revival on the West Coast-- that we were-- those
involved in this thriving, young church at Calvary
Chapel Costa Mesa-- were being sidelined,
minimalized, by the traditional church--
the denominational churches. And there were news
articles about it. And their comments on us-- because they didn't
understand how can a bunch of young
smelly hippies ever have a real relationship with
God that's worth anything, especially something
that will make a difference in this world? So it was the Jesus Movement. We were all excited about
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. So I remember reading an article
in either Look Magazine or Time Magazine-- or maybe even a
local Orange County newspaper-- that was talking about our
church and our movement. And one of those
denominational church leaders tried to minimize what was going
on and said, and I'm quoting, "Well, all they have is Jesus." Meaning us-- all
they-- all we have-- all they have is Jesus. I remember reading that. And I tried to figure out
what did he mean by that? And I didn't know because I
couldn't get into his heart. But I walked away from
the article going, what else do you
need, but Jesus? [INTERPOSING VOICES] All you have is Jesus. Good. If all you have is Jesus,
then you have all you need. Amen. So the Colossian
church had Jesus. They were following Jesus. The fulfillment of Old Testament
prophecy, the Jewish Messiah, though largely most
of them were Gentiles, Paul wanted them to
know, don't swerve. All you have is Jesus. And all you need is Jesus. Now having said that, there's
a reason he said that. There was a belief system-- let's call it the
Colossian Heresy for lack of a better term. The Colossian Heresy was
a hybrid belief system from a number of
different strains that were causing these
people to swerve off the road. Part of it was Jewish legalism. We've confronted that before,
like in the book of Galatians, the book of Acts. You have to be circumcised
and keep the law of Moses to be saved. You remember how Paul
dealt with Jewish legalism. So part of it was
Jewish legalism. Part of it was
gnostic mysticism. Ever heard of the Gnostics? Some of you have. If you haven't
hold that thought. I'll explain it in a minute. So part Jewish legalism
part gnostic mysticism and part religious asceticism. And what that is is a person
who believes if I deny myself certain pleasures in life--
certain things in life-- God will like me
more, love me more, and I'll be closer to God. That's asceticism. So I'm going to
treat myself harshly. And I'm going to
do harsh things. And that proves my love. Really it's done for pride
because you see how harshly I live and treat myself. And oh, that guy is holy. And that's really what I
want you to say or think. So that is asceticism. Legalism, we understand. We saw how Paul dealt with it. Now the Gnostics. I mentioned gnostic mysticism. There was a belief
system from later Judaism and early Christianity
known as gnosticism, from the Greek word
gnosis or knowledge. They believed that-- I won't tell you all
that they believe, but just enough to
get through this book. They believed that everything
spiritual was good. Everything material was evil. Anything in the
material world was evil. So because the
material world is evil, God could not have created
the material world. Because he's good why
would he create something that is inherently evil? So they also denied
the deity of Christ. He wasn't God. He was a human being. And then deity came upon
him and then left him. But some of the Gnostics
believe that Jesus only looked human but actually was not. It was a phantom because Jesus-- some thought-- was indeed
this perfect, wonderful being. And if he was he couldn't
be in a material body. So he would walk on the sand
but not leave footprints. They just made
stuff up like this. It was just this
mystical, weird thought. So the Gnostics believe that
God didn't create the material world. God is perfect. But there were emanated beings-- or beings that God created-- several of these lesser
gods that God created. And eventually God created a
being that was so far from God, it didn't even know God. And it was that deity that
created the material universe. That belief system
was quite prevalent. And it was starting to
infect the churches. It becomes really prominent when
John writes First John, Second John, and Third John. Now I'm setting
that up because some of the language in
this book lends itself to that kind of an explanation. Here's the thing about Colossae. Paul never visited the
town, as far as we know. He did not start the
church in that city. But he did go to a
place called Ephesus. We talked about Ephesus
a couple weeks ago. In Ephesus he spent--
if you remember-- three years there. And while he was in
Ephesus, that whole region heard the Gospel. Included in that region
was the town of Colossae. Now Colossae was 100
miles inland from Ephesus. It was part of the
area known as Phrygia in the Roman area of
Asia Minor and located in a beautiful valley
called the Lycus Valley. I had the opportunity
to visit that area a couple of different times. But Paul never visited there. But while he was
in Ephesus, it is believed that
somebody from Colossae came to visit Paul
in Ephesus while he was teaching for three years
in the the school of Tyrannus. And it was a guy by
the name of Epaphras. Epaphras was from Colossae. Epaphras listened to Paul,
latched on to the Gospel, went back as a transformed man-- let's just put it modern
terms-- started a Bible study in his home, and it grew. And that became the church. He became the founding pastor. He's mentioned here. So he was with Paul
for a while in Ephesus. Goes back to Colossae, that's
how the church started. But because of the Jewish
legalism, gnostic mysticism, and religious asceticism
that is already infiltrating the
church at Colossae, he goes now to
visit Paul in Rome. Remember No is in
prison in Rome. He writes four prison epistles,
Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon. He goes there between 60 and
62 AD-- let's just say 61-- cut it in the middle-- and tells Paul, Paul,
we've got some problems. This is what people
are believing. So he writes this letter
to give back to Epaphras to take it back to Colossae. So that is the
background of this book. There are four chapters. You could divide the book,
as I have, into four-- though not precisely
by the chapters, but there are four sections. And I never liked, personally,
the way the Bible is divided. I've told you before
that the Bible chapters and verses are not inspired. The text is, of course. But much later on-- like 1227-- when Stephen Langton,
Archbishop of Canterbury, said, we've got to make
it easier for people to get through their Bible. So he came up with numbers of
chapters and numbers verses. Sometimes he did a great job. Who am I to ditch the
Archbishop of Canterbury? But here I am doing it. So he did a good job. But in some cases he did
not do a very good job. I would have placed
the chapter heading much differently than he did. So there are four
sections or four themes, the way it is divided-- though they're not precisely
by chapters but around them. And I'll explain them as we go. First is the personal,
second is the doctrinal, third is the practical, and
fourth is the relational. That's how I've
divided the book. So the book begins in Chapter
1 with personal intercession. And I'm saying that generally. When Paul wrote
most of his letters, he would have an introduction. And then he would have
a prayer for them. He would let them know
what he specifically has been praying for for
that church, as he does here. So "Paul, an apostle of Jesus
Christ by the will of God, and Timothy, our brother, to
the Saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are in Colossae:
grace to you and peace from God our Father and
the Lord Jesus Christ. We give thanks to
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
praying always for you." Now, he didn't just say,
I'm praying for you. God bless you. He says, this is what
I'm praying for you. "Since we heard of your
faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the
Saints because of the hope which is laid up for you in
heaven, of which you heard before in the word of
the truth of the gospel, which has come to you, as
it has also in all the world and is bringing forth fruit." He had never been there. He had only heard
of the fruit that was being born in that
area because the seed that Epaphras planted
in fertile soil. It was bringing forth fruit. And he said, it is
bringing forth fruit "as it is also among
you since the day you heard and knew the
grace of God in truth, as you also learned
from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant who is a
faithful minister of Christ on your behalf,
who also declared to us your love in the spirit." I love fresh fruit. I love to see spiritual fruit. Now on a literal level,
I consume a lot of fruit. It's one of the
mainstays of my diet. But you know what happens when
you leave fruit for a while? It attracts bugs. Fruit attracts bugs. Truth attracts bugs. I've watched over
the years as truth goes out and impacts people's
lives, that other people-- not well-meaning people--
come around fruitful believers and bug them. [LAUGHTER] Like when you turn on a light
and the bugs swarm around it, or you leave the fruit out and
the bugs swarm toward it, when you get a fruitful
believer, there's others who will bug
the fruitful believer. You don't have enough. You need more. Good start now that
you're born again. But let me tell you how to have
a deeper walk, a deeper life. Sometimes it's a deeper life. Sometimes they just want to
take you off the deep end. [LAUGHTER] And that was happening
here in Colossae. So "For this reason"-- verse 9-- "we also, since
the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you
and to ask that you may be filled"-- here's the
specific prayer-- "that you may be filled with
the knowledge of his will." It's a good prayer. It's a prayer that I
often pray for you. I figure Paul did it for them-- I take the prayers of
Pastor Paul for the churches he founded, and I often
pray them for you. Lord, may they know your will
today on a personal level, in their families, with their
businesses, in the community, if they're going to move,
or with their children. It's a good prayer to pray. "That they might be filled
with a knowledge of his will and all wisdom and
spiritual understanding that you may walk
worthy of the Lord, pleasing him, being
fruitful, in every good work, and increasing in the
knowledge of God." Now I want you to go back
to those last couple verses and notice some key words. There are key words-- I'll explain why. Look at the word knowledge-- he mentions it in verse 9
and mentions it in verse 10-- and then the word wisdom
and spiritual understanding. I'm drawing your
attention to those because I believe
when Paul wrote these words to the Colossians,
they were key words. These were buzz words that
the Gnostics loved to use. Gnostic means knowledge. And they believe
they had tied into-- tapped into-- a
deeper knowledge, a certain kind of wisdom-- certain kind of understanding. And if you could be
initiated into gnosticism, you too could have
that knowledge and wisdom and understanding. So Paul is using terminology
that the Gnostics have taken from Christianity
and reapplied it to their own weird system. And so Paul uses these terms,
I believe, very intentionally. I've noticed something
about Satan in general. Satan loves to use
Christian vocabulary. The problem is,
he doesn't consult the Christian dictionary. He uses words that we use. But he means something
different by them. The world loves the
term born again. I can almost guarantee you
when the world says born again, they do not mean what Jesus
said in John chapter 3, to be born [NON-ENGLISH]----
from above-- a spiritual reawakening--
a spiritual rebirth. When the world uses
the word saved, they probably don't
have what you and I have in mind when we use the word. For that matter when the
world uses that word Jesus, they don't define Jesus like
the New Testament defines Jesus. Same vocabulary,
different dictionary. So that is why when
you engage a cultist or you engage a worldly
person, and they use words you're familiar with-- God, Jesus, salvation,
born again-- stop them. And demand nicely
that they explain what they mean by that
word because people will pour different meanings
into the same receptacle, the same word. It's important for
understanding and a conversation that you get an idea
of what they mean by the vocabulary they use. So Satan uses same vocabulary
but has a different dictionary. So Paul takes back these
words and prays something for the Colossian church
that was much more meaningful than the way the
Gnostics were using. If you go over to verse
15 now of chapter 1, we come to the second section. After personal intercession
comes doctrinal information. Now to me chapter one, verse 15
down to around verse 19 or 20 is really the central part
of chapter one certainly-- but perhaps of the entire book-- because he is taking
Jesus and exalting him to his proper place. He gives-- and some translation
will even set it out like this-- but it really is a poem. It is a poem with a couple
of different stanzas that talk about Jesus-- who He is, that he's
God, the deity of Christ, and exalts him. Why? Because a couple of reasons. Remember, I mentioned that
you have this hybrid theology in Colossae? You have Jewish legalism. You have gnostic mysticism. You have religious asceticism. So the Jews did not believe
Jesus was the Messiah. They certainly did not
believe he was God. The Gnostics simply
believed Jesus was at best an emanation of God. So he corrects that in
this poem in verse 15 to defend the deity and
the place of Christ. "He"-- Jesus, because
he says in verse 14, "we have redemption through
his blood, the forgiveness of sins"-- "he is the image of
the invisible God, the first born over all creation. For by him"-- him being Jesus-- "for by him all things were
created that are in heaven, that are on earth,
visible or invisible"-- the material world and
the spiritual world-- "whether thrones or dominions
or principalities or powers, all things were created
through him and for him. And he is before all things. And in him all things
are held together"-- or the word consist-- "and he is the head of
the body, the church, who is the beginning, the
firstborn from the dead, that in all things he may
have the preeminence." Go back in verse 15
to the word image. This bothers a lot of people. He is the image of God. What does that mean? The Greek word eikon. You know what an icon is. It's an image. It's a representation
of something. The Eastern Orthodox
Church worships by looking at icons that
they say tells the story or that even embodies
different personages, including Christ himself. The word Paul uses for the
image of God is the word eikon. It means copy. It means representation. It could be translated exact
representation or likeness. We have manuscripts
from Greek soldiers, one writing to his
father saying, I have enclosed an icon of myself-- eikon, the word used here. That is, I've drawn a picture. Or I've included an
artist's rendering of myself and sent it back to his father. So the picture, the
portrait that was drawn is an icon, a visible physical
representation of himself. So Jesus is the icon of God-- the representation--
the manifestation. Jesus said, if you've seen
me you've seen the Father. Even though very separate
from the Father, they're one-- one in purpose, part
of the one true God. Now I had a thought. I hope it fits. I'm going back a little bit. I'm stretching my
analogy a little bit. Once upon a time cameras-- this is before iPhones. Did any of you have
an actual camera? Good. Well, you never know. Most people have phones now. Any of you have cameras at
home that have film in it? So for the uninitiated,
before there were sensors and cameras-- before there were iPhones-- we had to capture
images on film. And the film had to be put
in an enlarger and enlarged onto a piece of paper. Both the film and the
paper had a substance on it that was called silver bromide. When you expose silver bromide-- either in a motion or
on paper to light-- it would leave what is
called a latent image-- completely invisible. You couldn't see it. You'd open the
shutter and close it, an image was placed on the film. If you open the
camera to look at it, you wouldn't see anything. You'd see a grayish, yellowish
substance but no image. If you put that
film in an enlarger and enlarge it onto a piece of
printing paper in a darkroom-- like I used to do-- you'd also create
a latent image. How do you get the latent
invisible image to be visible? Well, you use a substance
called developer. D-76 was a common
black-and-white developer. You soak it in the developer. And the latent image
becomes visible. The invisible image
becomes visible. God was invisible. He stamped himself on creation. But if you really wanted to
see God, good luck, until Jesus came along. He developed the image. You could look at him--
if you want to see what God is like, watch Jesus. You want to see how
Jesus reacts to sin, oppression, anxiety, watch him. His reaction, you
are seeing God. He developed the image of God. Jesus is the image
of the invisible God. He is God made visible. So he is the image
of the invisible God. I don't want to
belabor this because I gotta get through the book. [LAUGHTER] But notice the next keyword,
first born over all creation. The cults love this word. The Jehovah's Witnesses
love this word. What they'll say is
say, Jesus isn't God. He's God's firstborn. He's born. Well they would only say that
if they didn't understand, A, the concept of
primogeniture-- I'll explain that--
and the Greek language. The Greek language, first born-- the Greek word is prototokos. And it means first in rank-- first in importance, often. Now sometimes it actually
means first in chronology. So for example
Joseph had two sons. Any of you remember
his first born son, the one that came first? Manasseh. Manasseh was born first. He was the first born. The second born son-- not the
first born-- second born son was a guy by the
name of Ephraim. So you've got two sons-- first born Manasseh,
second born Ephraim. But then you get to Jeremiah 31. And God says, "For Ephraim
is my first born," meaning, I have taken the second
one born chronologically and moved him up in rank
or status to be number one. So though it means
first in chronology, it often is a word-- prototokos-- to mean
first in rank, first in importance, first in order--
the highest ranking order. So God can say of
somebody born second, I'm making it my first born. He's important in rank. That's the word prototokos. God uses the word in
the Book of Exodus to speak of the
children of Israel. And if you were to read
a Greek version of that-- the Septuagint version-- It would use this term. I have called Israel
my son-- my first born. Now they weren't born
from God, like you and I know natural birth. God is giving them the highest
rank of all the peoples that he would ever
make a covenant with. Israel is my first born. Psalm 89 uses that
word, firstborn, to refer as a prophecy to
the coming of the Messiah. I will make him my
first born, higher than the kings of the Earth. So it's about first in
rank and Importance, not well, see, he was never
God because he was born. It just means he is first
in rank or priority. "All things were
created through him, for him, he is
before all things, and in him all things consist." Now notice this. He's before all things. So it's not like he was
born first and he's not God. He's before all things. So go back as far as you want. And put your pig there. And Jesus will step out of
eternity to meet you there. Jesus is the only person who
ever lived before he was born. Before Abraham was, I am. I am. In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God,
and the Word was God. All things were
made through Him. Without him nothing was
made that has been made. So he is before all things. In him all things consist. They're held together. He holds the universe together. And he is the head of the body. So he's saying Jesus is
number one because he created everything. He is God's highest
in rank and order. And not only is he
before everything, not only does he hold
everything together, but when it comes to
these people on the earth, he is the highest. He is the head of
the body, the church. Who is the beginning, the
first born from the dead-- meaning again the highest
rank from the dead. It didn't mean he was
the first person whoever was raised from the dead. There were plenty of people
in the Old Testament that were raised from the dead before
Jesus ever came on the scene. So again, the term prototokos-- firstborn-- highest in
rank, highest in order, most important one ever to
be raised from the dead. "That in all things he might
have the pre-eminence." It makes logical sense. If he is the originator
of everything that exists, if everything was
made through Him, if he pre existed
before all time, before anything ever, if he's
the head of the church, then of course he should
be number one. He should have the preeminence
in everything else. So he's directly attacking
gnosticism, directly attacking mysticism, directly attacking
asceticism by these comments. So he's ahead of the
body, the church. He was the beginning the
first born from the dead that in all things he might
have the pre-eminence. All of that to say
Jesus Christ is not some second-rate emanation. He is the first-rate revelation
of the invisible God. He makes the
invisible God visible. That's the punch. That's the sense of this. And I take you over
now to chapter 2. Still dealing with
doctrinal information. "I want you to know"-- verse 1-- "what a great conflict
I have for you and for those in Laodicea"-- a neighboring area-- "for as
many as have not seen my face in the flesh"-- we never met. I didn't found that church. I didn't start the church. I've never visited you before. But I love you. I have conflict for you
and for the Laodiceans "to see that their hearts may be
encouraged, being knit together in love and attaining to all
riches of the full assurance of understanding to the
knowledge of the mystery of God"-- you can see
those buzz words again-- "both of the Father and
of Christ in whom"-- in Jesus-- "are hidden
all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." I want you to see the importance
of this with the background of gnosticism. Oh, you you have to buy
into our philosophy. If you do, you'll get wisdom. If you do, you'll get knowledge. Paul says, mm, don't need that. In Jesus are hidden
all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. If you have Christ, you
have everything you need. "Now, this I say lest any
one should deceive you with persuasive words." Go down to verse 8. "Beware lest anyone cheat
you through philosophy and empty deceit, according
to the tradition of men, according to the basic
principles of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him dwells
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily." Another very key word the
Gnostics used was pleroma. By the way I don't know if you
research this stuff like I do, but there is a neo
gnostic movement today. And modern day Gnostics
believe in this. They believe that the
gods came from the area called pleroma, the fullness. They came from the fullness. And they have a whole
theology based on this. So Paul uses that
Greek word pleroma-- fullness. In Christ dwells
all the fullness of the Godhead in bodily form. Again foreign to the Gnostic
thinking, God who is perfect would never dwell in bodily
form because it's evil. Paul says, no it's not. It became evil by sin. But God created it. It's good. "In him dwells all the
fullness of the Godhead bodily. And you are complete in him." go back to that comment
I read in the newspaper, all they have is Jesus. You are complete in him. I read that article. And I thought, wow, do
I need more than Jesus? It says, all you have is Jesus. I wish I had just read this
verse right after that article. "And you are complete in Him who
is the head of all principality and power." Now here's the thing
about Gnostics-- and here's the thing about
cultists, for that matter-- be they Mormons or
Jehovah Witnesses or a number of other cults that
call themselves Christian-- they're not out to win souls. They're out to
wrangle the saved. They're out to wheedle their way
into existing church assemblies and come alongside
well-meaning born again on-fire Christians are
growing in their faith. And they put their little
arm around them and say, you're off to a good start. But you need more. And I have what you need. That's the approach of cultists. I've seen it for years. So they're not out
to just say, give me a good old fashioned pagan-- just a straight up
atheist or agnostic-- let's begin there and
win them to Christ. No they want to take people
who have a bent towards spirituality, like y'all, and
draw you away into their belief system. So that's why Paul says three
times early in this chapter, beware lest anyone cheat you. Now the more ignorant a
person is of Scripture, the more susceptible they
become to false teaching. If you know the Scripture,
you have discernment. I'm not worried about you. And you are the fruit of
just being taught week by week, year after year. You expose yourself to
the Scripture like I do. And so I'm not afraid. I'm not worried. The more you know the Bible,
the better off you are. The less you know
the Bible, the more ignore you are of scripture,
the more Scripturally illiterate you are, the more susceptible
you are to believing anything. E. Stanley Jones was
a missionary to India. And he has fascinating books
and fascinating stories of his time in India. When he was 83 years of age,
he wrote an autobiography. He was looking
back over his life. And he said this, "Christ has
been and is to me the event." You have to know a
little bit about Jones. Jones was an
intellectual and wrestled with the intelligentsia
of the Indian subcontinent and really worked his
way with elite circles and sought to persuade
them to follow Christ. But he said, "Christ has
been and is to me the event. In his light I will
try to see life." In his autobiography he says
when he was a young evangelist, he was impressionable. He saw the danger of
becoming sidetracked. He wrote this, "I
once traveled during my formative evangelistic
years with a very great man. I learned much from him. But when his emphasis shifted
from Christ to various emphases-- like anti-war
programs, social justice, birth control, spiritualism-- he was less than effective. He was a blur." Very strong words--
he was just a blur. "He would exhaust these
emphases in a year or two and have to shift to a new one." He continues, "But you
do not exhaust Christ. He is the inexhaustible. Events come and go. But the event remains
unchanged amid the changeable." Paul knew that. So he says to them, don't
let anybody deceive. Don't let anybody cheat you. Be on the lookout for
these numbskulls who are infiltrating your midst. That's the NSV, the
New Skip Version. [LAUGHTER] Verse 11. Now he drills down a little bit
with his doctrinal information. And he says, "In Christ
every ceremony is completed." They were big on ceremonies. The Jews were big on ceremonies. The Gnostics were big on
an initiation ceremony. "In him you were also
circumcised with a circumcision made without hands,
by the putting off of the body of
sins of the flesh, the circumcision of Christ,
buried with him in baptism in which you were raised
with him through faith in the working of God who
raised him from the dead." Some people are obsessed
with ceremonies. In verse 14 he
continues, "Not only as every ceremony completed, but
every requirement is depleted. Having wiped out the
handwriting of requirements that was against us
which was contrary to us, he has taken it out of the way,
having nailed it to the cross." Paul spent a lot of time in
Romans talking about the law. He said, you can never
be justified by the law. The law just simply lets you
know you're in bad shape. It points to how bad you are. It shows your need. It exacerbates the need. Paul said, I would not
have known sin at all unless it was
because of the law. So in effect-- this
is a common practice-- if you had a debt and
you paid the debt-- you had a list of things that
you owe-- once it was paid off, there was a public notice nailed
to some public building or door post. In effect Jesus
nailed everything you owed God to the cross. Paid in full. He paid it for you. So every requirement
is depleted. Also, verse 15, every
enemy is defeated. "Having disarmed the
principalities and powers"-- speaking about spiritual
ranks of demonic beings-- "he made a public spectacle of
them triumphing over them"-- and you have to know a little
bit about how Romans had war. When Romans won wars, they would
have a triumphal procession. They would take spoils of war,
dragging slaves behind them-- what they took from
those areas behind them-- in public. The crowds would cheer. Jesus made a public
spectacle of them with his death, burial,
and Resurrection, and your lives bearing fruit. That's the background of that. Verse 16, "So let no one
judge you in food or in drink or regarding a
festival or a new moon or Sabbaths, which are a
shadow of things to come. But the substance is of Christ." Those rituals can't save. At best they only symbolize. How do you know you're saved? I was baptized. All you're telling
me is, I got wet. [LAUGHTER] I took a bath. The baptism is the shadow. Jesus is the substance. Hold your hand up. Can you see the shadow
of your hand anywhere? Can you do that? Sometimes the light is
so egalitarian in this-- you can see it, yeah. So when you look at the
shadow, the shadow means-- I'm seeing the
shadow down there-- the shadow means there's
something that made the shadow. The shadow didn't
appear by itself. That shadow means
there's a substance. My hand is the substance. The shadow is a representation
or symbol of the substance. So it is Christ who
saves, not baptism. It is Christ who saves,
not the circumcision. These rituals are simply
shadows of the reality, which is Christ. Which begs the question, why
does anyone settle for less? If you can have Christ, why
do people settle for baptism, settle for circumcision,
settle for church membership, settle for Sabbath keeping? I think I know the answer. Mankind is incurably addicted to
working for his own salvation. I think that's the reason. I think there's
something in us that we-- surely I can do
something to contribute to my eternal
well-being, my salvation. Yes there is
something you can do. Sin. [LAUGHTER] You've already done that. Because you're a sinner,
you must be forgiven. That's God's business. And God will save you. Your only contribution
is to go, I believe that. I really believe that. I believe that. That's it. You believe. He takes you out of darkness,
places you into his kingdom, as Paul does mentioned
in this letter. But I've got to go on. Let's go down to
chapter 3 and give you the third section of
this letter, which is the practical instruction. Paul always does
this in his letters. As Matt shared-- he did such
a good job in summing up. I almost thought, Matt
summed up the book so well, let's just go home. [LAUGHTER] Let's sing a song and go home. He just tied it all together. Good job, Pastor Matt-- Reverend Matt. [LAUGHTER] Here's the practical
instruction. "If then you were
raised with Christ"-- which you were-- "seek
those things which are above, where
Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on
things above not on the things of the earth." This is the practical
instruction. Be in experience what
you are in grace. Or if I were to put
it a different way, be in your spiritual growth what
you already are in God's grace. This is what God says you are. This is the reality. Now develop that latent
image and live it out. You have the power to do it. It is a reality. Set your mind on things above. As part of that-- verse 5-- "Therefore put to
death your members, which are on the earth,
fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire,
and covetousness, which is idolatry. Because of these
things the wrath of God is coming upon the
sons of disobedience, in which you yourselves once
walked when you lived in them. But now you yourselves are
to put off all these things-- anger, wrath, malice,
blasphemy, filthy language-- out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another
since you have put off the old man with his deeds." This is the practical
instruction. Now going to take all the way
to verse 18, which is so good tonight, that interview. "Wives submit to
your own husbands as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands love your wives and
do not be bitter toward them. Children, obey your parents
in all things for this is well pleasing to the Lord. Fathers, do not
provoke your children lest they become discouraged. Bond servants,
obey and all things your masters according to the
flesh, now with eyes services men pleasers but insincerity
of heart, fearing God. And whatever you do, do
it heartily as to the Lord and not to men." Paul does this in Ephesians and
Colossians, goes to the home. Why? He wants to show
you what transformed humanity looks like in a
first-century Roman home that's been touched by the Gospel. He wants to go to the
basic element of society and show you what a Christian
husband in the first century, and a Christian wife,
and Christian children and parents-- and even in the slave trade-- since half the Roman
Empire, or at least a fourth or third of it were
involved either as slaves or owning slaves-- he wants to show you that
there's no part of life that isn't affected when those
people receive Christ as savior. It touches everything. So in first-century Roman
homes, husbands, fathers, were authoritarian. They had [NON-ENGLISH]. They had the right of ownership
and complete authority. That was the Roman
law, [NON-ENGLISH].. What that means is by law,
if I don't like my kid, I can just kill him. It's perfectly legal. It's not morally right. But it's perfectly legal,
sort of like abortion. It's legal. It's morally wrong. But you can do it today. In those days, you
could kill children. You kill your wife. Plenty of people did. They had an authoritarian rule. But Christian husbands
should love their wives. Christian wives should
allow their husbands to bear the brunt of
responsibility before God and submit to him because that
husband has to submit to God. He sees the authority of God-- the Son, Christ--
the husband is head of the home calling the shots
but responsible before God. The wife in loving submission
to her husband, children et cetera, all the way
down to bond servants. So no part of life
is to be unaffected. The point for all of these
people-- all these roles-- if you're a Christian
wife, Christian husband, focus on Jesus. He's preeminent. If he's preeminent
as creator, if he's preeminent over
the church, then he should be preeminent
in your marriage. That makes sense. See where he's going with
the practicality of this? That that's how he works
his way all the way down to the practical. I've known skilled carpenters. I am not one. That's why I have to
say I've known them. [LAUGHTER] And I've watched somebody who's
really good at their trade. They can hold a nail. They don't even have to-- I have to go like this-- till it stands up. Then I can start hammering. They can hold it,
get the hammer back, let go of thumb and forefinger,
and drive the nail-- sometimes one hit-- all the way down. I bet you can do that, Sam. All the way down. Now we have nail guns. But somebody really
skilled can do that. Here's their secret. I said, what is your secret? He said, never
look at your thumb. Always look at the
head of the nail. I go, well, why is that? He goes, because you'll
always hit what you look at. Whatever you're aiming
at is what you're hit. I go, oh, that's been
my problem all along. That's why my thumbs
look the way they do. [LAUGHTER] Well there's a great
analogy in that. Aim at Christ in your marriage. Aim at Christ in your ministry. Aim at Christ in your parenting. Aim at Christ in the workplace. Live to please him. Then you don't have
to worry about, am I spending too much
time on social media while they're paying
me at work to do a job? You'll sort that
out because you're aimed at pleasing him, not
the boss-- not with a service. So that is his
theme in the letter. And we come now to the final
section in chapter 4, which is relational interaction. Now beginning in verse
7, he lists 11 associates that were part of his ministry. If you ever see a
successful ministry, it's not because there's
one talented guy or gal. But he or she is managed to get
a whole lot of skilled people around him or her. Paul was brilliant. And Paul was effective. But Paul knew it
because he had a team. And he would often mention
them at the end of the letter. So he mentioned several here. But that's an
important principle. Honestly-- and I'm
speaking honestly-- I play a very small part in the
effectiveness of this ministry. And people walk up
to me and go, wait, I just heard joined the radio
and now I'm talking to you. Well, it's not like I was
actually on the radio. That's been copied from a
message I gave a while back. And it's on that radio
and at that time. But how do you have to be on
the radio and then be on TV and then write books? A lot of skilled people
that are really good. Honestly. So same with Paul. He had a-- we often don't think
of those hidden but important saints. You've heard of
Charles Lindbergh. But who was his mechanic? [LAUGHTER] That was his secret. Martin Luther-- but
Phillip Milanchthon-- so important to his ministry. That's the principle with Paul. So verse 7, Tychicus-- who? Tychicus, mentioned five
times in the New Testament, who is he? He's a beloved brother,
a faithful minister, fellow servant in the
Lord-- "will tell you the news about me. I am sending him to you
for this very purpose that he may know
your circumstances and comfort your hearts." Tychicus joined Paul on the
third missionary journey. And Paul describes
him as faithful. Somebody once said the greatest
ability is availability. Tychicus was available to Paul. He was faithful to the ministry. Paul mentions him. Verse 9, "With Onesimus, a
faithful and beloved brother who is one of you"-- that
is he's a Colossian-- "they will make known
to you all things which are happening here." I want you to remember Onesimus. I want you to remember
it because his name will be explained to you in a
book a little bit later on, called the Book of Philemon. Philemon was somebody
who lived in Colossae. Onesimus was a criminal? Isn't that cool? You're going, no. It's not cool. Let me tell you why it's cool. Onesimus was a runaway
slave-- ran away from his master, Philemon,
ran to Rome to blend in, Paul found him, preached
the Gospel to him, led him to Christ. He's going to write a letter
back to Philemon saying, now he's your brother. Receive him not as a
slave but as a brother. Give him his freedom. So I wish I could explain more. But I'm overtime. So I'm going to keep going. [LAUGHTER] "Aristarchus"-- verse
10-- "my fellow prisoner, greets you with Mark,
the cousin of Barnabas, about whom you
received instructions. If he comes to you welcome him." John Mark was on the
first missionary journey. Things got hard. He missed mama. He left Paul and Barnabas. Said, I've got go
home to Jerusalem. Went back to home to mama. [LAUGHTER] When the second missionary
journey came up, Uncle Barney-- Barnabas-- said, hey,
let's bring John Mark. Paul said, no way. I don't want that little-- [LAUGHTER] --guy coming with us. It split Paul and
Barnabas up over this guy. But eventually in 2
Timothy, he says, send Mark. Mark is profitable to me. So there was a reconciliation. He is profitable to me. That's the John Mark. I wish I could-- I have some things to say,
but don't have time say it. Verse 11. "And Jesus who is
called Justus"-- very different than the Jesus
that you and I serve a Savior. Know that Jesus-- Yeshua-- was a very common name
a couple thousand years ago in Judaism. A lot of people named Jesus. These are my fellow workers,
et cetera, et cetera. Verse 12. Epaphras, who is one of you,
a bond servant of Christ, greets you always
laboring fervently for you in prayer that you
may stand perfect in complete and all
the will of God." That's the guy who
started the church. And he came to find Paul in Rome
because of this gnostic problem and mystic problem. And so Paul writes this letter. And he's sending it back. "Luke"-- verse 14-- "the
beloved physician"-- I want you to get this
name-- "and Demas greet you." Demas was an
associate with Paul. Something happened to him. He did not end well. He started well. He didn't finish well. This is the case
for finishing well. 2 Timothy chapter
4, Paul says, "Demas has forsaken me, having
loved this present world." He started well, was with
me in my first imprisonment, but now he has left me, forsaken
me because this world has grabbed his heart. And he's not willing to suffer
with me for the sake of Christ because he wants the
pleasures of this world. What a sad ending. And then for Paul to
write that forever. The dude is going down
in history in infamy. Demas has forsaken me having
loved this present world. And so with that
will end the book. The salutation, verse 18,
"By my own hand, Paul, remember my chains. Grace be with you. Amen." Let Demas be a lasting,
lingering lesson. You can have a veneer. You like you're solid. But it's just a veneer. Have you ever seen
a piece of wood and you go, oh,
that's solid oak. It's really press board. But it's got a
nice veneer on it. Very, very thin piece of wood
that looks like it's solid oak. But it's just a lot
cheaper than solid wood. Sometimes as people we
can be veneer Christians. We're not very deep but
look good on the outside. With Demas, he looked
good on the outside. He had a good veneer. He didn't stand
the test of time. There was no endurance. Collapse in the Christian
life is seldom a blow out. It is usually a slow leak. When somebody falls,
I can't believe it. It's been there all along. It's been there all along. They're just good at the veneer. Father, with that in mind, we
pray that you would deepen us. Put us deep in the soil so
our fruit would be not just sporadic, but long lasting. And those who are bearing
fruit, may you bear much fruit. We know with that comes pruning. But, Father, we invite
that pruning, Lord, that we might abide
over the long haul and finish well, as
well as start well. In Jesus' name. Amen. Enough said. Let's stand and worship again. [MUSIC PLAYING] We hope you enjoyed this message
from Skip Heitzig of Calvary Church. For more resources,
visit CalvaryNM.church. Thank you for joining us for
this teaching from The Bible from 30,000 Feet.
