All right, the book of Colossians, this is
the series, this is lesson number six in that series. And today, Lord willing, we'll
cover chapter two, verses one to 14. A little bit of review here before we start. In our
last lesson we talked about the idea that Paul completed his explanation of
his main theme that Christ is first or preeminent. And in the first few passages
he describes Christ as being preeminent in all relationships. In other words, in a
chain. And I remember giving you this image last time, in a chain that links God
to man, Jesus is every link. For example, He's linked to God as one of
the divine beings in the godhead. He is linked to the creation as the force that
not only brought it into existence and maintains its existence, but also the
purpose for its existence. Jesus is also linked to mankind as mankind's only hope
for salvation from sin and death. And then, He is linked to the saved as the
head of the body into which the saved are placed by God. And, of course, the body
is the church. So you see, He's the connection between every one of these
realities, if you wish. So whatever the relationship, whatever the point of
linkage, Paul shows that Jesus has the first, excuse me, has the credentials to be
the first and preeminent individual at every point of contact, whether it be in
the heavens or in the material world or among human beings, in general, even
the church. Now into this idea or on to this idea he adds the thought that as
the minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ, Paul, also has the credentials to
be a teacher and a minister of the church. First,
he demonstrates Jesus' credentials, establishes that. Now he's
going to talk about his own credentials to be a teacher. He mentions his
sufferings, the fact that he was appointed by Jesus, and that he teaches
only the words of Jesus. These are the credentials that he has to qualify him
for the task. Now I mentioned that Paul was building his case for the
preeminence of Jesus Christ in order to refute the position and the doctrine of
false teachers that had crept into the church. He's not teaching this
thing in a vacuum, he's not just teaching this because, hey, here's a good thing to
teach about Jesus. He's teaching this with a specific purpose. He's aiming this
at this particular group because they are laboring under certain difficulty,
certain false ideas that have been brought in by these false
teachers. So in the last section of chapter 1 Paul goes from talking about
Jesus, to references about himself as a legitimate teacher of Christ's doctrines.
Now we're going to see that this is a transition that Paul uses to begin a
section about Jesus's teachings. So Jesus is preeminent. And then he
says, and I am a teacher of Jesus. And speaking of teaching, let me tell you
about Jesus' teachings. If there's always a link, he's always building a bridge from one idea to another. So this leads us into the
second major part of our theme for Colossians, and that is, Jesus Christ
preeminent in doctrine, preeminent in doctrine. So the first part was Jesus
Christ preeminent in relationships, the linkage. Second part, Jesus
Christ preeminent in doctrine. So this chapter is going to zero in on the
teachings of Jesus and their preeminent place in comparison to other religious
doctrines. Now remember those false teachers. You always have to
keep your eye on the ball. Even though he doesn't mention them all
the time, they're always there. He's always talking about in relationship to
these people here. So first Paul shows how Christ, Himself, is preeminent in
comparison to them. Now he's going to demonstrate how Jesus' teachings are
superior to their teachings as well. So in verses one to three he begins by
summarizing in the first three verses the thought that he's going to explain in
detail in the entire chapter and four verses of the next chapter. So let's read
verse 1. Chapter 2, verse 1, he says, "For I want you to know how great a struggle I
have on your behalf and for those who are at Laodicea and for all those who
have not personally seen my face." So remember, Paul is writing to people
who know of him, but whom he has not personally met. There's another barrier. At least if he had contact with them, if he knew them, but he's writing to
people he's never met and he's writing about important things. So this church was
originally established by Epaphroditus and Timothy. We mentioned that in
the introductory lesson. So Paul, while he's writing this he's in prison in Rome
for having preached the gospel. The very gospel that he's trying to protect among
them with this letter. And I, kind of, have to think - just in a little
parenthetical, not only has he never met them, not only is he fighting people that he's never met and never seen, but he's doing it from inside
of a jail cell. Talk about credibility issues he might have had. But
he goes forward anyways and he writes his epistle. so the struggle that Paul
talks about is his ministry and his imprisonment and his prayers. And now
this letter of instruction to people he has not met. That's all part of
his ministry. All of this is a great effort that he makes for them, as well as
other churches for whom he feels a personal responsibility. The idea is, hey,
I'm a teacher of the gospel and look I'm in jail for teaching the gospel. If
you're looking at, if you're trying to find out how credible I am, how much I'm
willing to give for my ministry, take a look at the postmark on this
envelope here, Roman jail. And I'm doing this not for myself.
I'm doing it for you and other churches. Verse two, "That their hearts may be
encouraged, having been knit together in love and attaining to all the wealth
that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true
knowledge of God's mystery that is Christ Himself." So in this verse Paul
describes what his struggle is, for what it is that he strives for in this work
that he talks about. He describes his objective for them as a series of
attainments that have a final outcome. So he wants the results of his work, first of
all, to be a source of encouragement to them. In other words, he wants them to
be encouraged when they see the effort that he's putting forth on their
behalf with the gospel and in jail. I've suffered for the gospel on keeping on I'm
unfaithful also he wants it that he wants that his preaching and the
teachings of Christ promote a loving unity among them. And then thirdly, that they experience real hope. In other words, an assurance of
understanding that's real hope. He wants them to experience real hope that comes
from knowing the true revelation of God and the true revelation or that and
another word for this sometimes translated in English, maybe in your
Bibles, mystery. The true mystery. The true revelation of God is Jesus Christ.
There's no - these teachers are teaching they know certain mysteries,
they know certain things, hidden things that they'll reveal, superior.
And he's saying, no, no, no. If you know Jesus as the Son of God, you
know the mystery, you know the greatest knowledge that there is to
know. So here Paul compresses all the information about the gospel into one
word - Christ. I've mentioned that before, right. He explains things at length and
then as he goes on he compresses them into words like grace or salvation, here
Christ. In other words, if you believe in Christ, you have the key to
understanding all of the Old Testament as well as all the teachings
of the Apostles. Because remember, the false teachers were saying, hey, we got
more knowledge here. We have some later revelations. We have things that you
don't know and that Paul, he doesn't know, that we're willing to
share with you, if you, kind of, follow us. And so, in response to them, he doesn't
even mention them, but in response to them he said, look, if you know Christ
you have the mystery, you have all the knowledge, you have the key that unlocks
everything. Well, what's everything? Well, not the key that unlocks
math or how many stars there are in the sky. No. The key that unlocks
the mysteries of God's Word, the Old Testament, the New Testament, what it
means. In verse three he says, "In whom are hidden all the
treasures of wisdom and knowledge." So he repeats the idea in verse three where he
explains that all wisdom and knowledge, again, all wisdom and knowledge about
God's plan about the salvation of man. All this wisdom and knowledge is
contained in Jesus' life, and teachings, and cross, and resurrection. It's all
there. It's not earthly wisdom about science or math. I mentioned
that before. It's heavenly, spiritual wisdom that pertains to man's
condition and man's salvation. So as I said, Paul begins by stating that as far as
wisdom and knowledge and teaching is concerned, Jesus is the
embodiment of all revelation; something that man, regardless
of his intelligence, cannot compete with. It doesn't matter how smart you are,
you can't figure out Jesus Christ unless it's revealed to you
by God. No matter how smart you are, you can't figure out God's plan of
salvation by sending His Son, vicarious atonement, all those things.
You can't figure that out through wisdom and knowledge. And we have the proof of
that, because the Jews, probably the most educated nation of their time, they
didn't figure it out. They rejected Him. So in verse four, five, he says, "I say this
so that no one will delude you with persuasive argument. For even though I am
absent in body, nevertheless I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good
discipline and the stability of your faith in Christ." So Paul
states that he has established Jesus' teachings as revelation so that
they will not be persuaded to abandon these teachings from other forms of
doctrine. Remember the false doctrine that's swirling around them, persuasive
argument is the manner in which these false teachers were drawing brethren away
through arguing, through smooth talk. They didn't have a new
revelation, but they were smooth talkers. They were good debaters. They would use
these tactics to fool and confuse and delude the brethren, and thus make them
begin to doubt the gospel. So even though he warns them, Paul's quick to also
commend them for their personal discipline. In other words, they have
self-control. And I don't mean self-control as to food or sex or
whatever, no, no. They have self-control because they're remaining steady in their
faith. They're not you know when every wind of doctrine right. They're not
bouncing around from one idea, they're steady. They're holding steady. They're
being attacked, but they're holding steady. And he commends them for holding
steady in the faith. So they were being penetrated by false teachers, but so far
they were holding on to the truth. Even though Paul is far away, he rejoices with
them in this fact. Verse six and seven, he continues, "Therefore, as you have received
Christ Jesus the Lord, so walking Him having been firmly rooted and now being
built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and
overflowing with gratitude." So the best way to prove doctrine is to live it.
They have been taught about Christ, about His teachings. Now they need to practice
that teaching in their everyday lives, if it is really to take effect. Christianity is not just head knowledge, not just what you find out in your head, which you can
figure out in your head. Christianity is life knowledge. You have to
put it into practice. You have to test it. So they've been well
taught, he says here, rooted. And they've been encouraged. Now they need to put into
practice those teachings that dealt especially with faithfulness and
thanksgiving. Now that they're being challenged, now that things are becoming
difficult, they're being tested to see if their faith is true. And Paul encourages them to
hang in there. There's a saying that the only two things that are
true in life, the old saying, death and taxes. Which, yeah,
of course, death and taxes. But for Christians, there's a third thing that's
true. And that is, if you're a faithful Christian, you'll be tested, you'll be
tested. You may not be tested every day. You may hit a nice smooth patch there
that'll go on, it may go on for months, years. Nice smooth patch.
Just normal life. But sooner or later, you'll be tested in some way. And
I've realized in my own life, the best and most effective first step when you
are tested is the realization that you're being tested. Oh, this is what
this is. I don't know about you, but I tend to have a bit of a temper when things were going so smooth. Why does this have to happen, God?
What's wrong with You? Not now. Can't you see I'm busy? Can't you see I got all this
other stuff going on? That's usually my first reaction. But if the
teaching is any good, if my spirit is right, eventually it'll come. Oh wait, wait,
wait. Oh, this is the day, this is what this is. And the moment that I realize, oh,
this is what this is, it doesn't make the thing easier, but it puts it
into context. Okay, I know what this is. I know what I need to be
doing. Not whining and moaning and complaining and being angry at God, angry at
so-and-so. I need to realize this is what he said would happened to me.
Verse eight, he says, "See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy
and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the
elementary principles of the world rather than according to Christ." So verse
eight is another summary statement where Paul will briefly outline a new thought
and then take several verses to explain in detail what he has just said. Again,
he uses a compression word or the compression word Christ,
according to Christ. Christ is the standard. In this case, not
simply the person of Christ, but the teachings and the commands and the
examples of Christ, this is the standard by which all things need to be judged. Now
the objective of the false teachers is slavery. Slavery to their doctrine.
Slavery to their religious authority. Christ sets one free from ignorance and
fear and slavery, this kind of slavery. Their tactics are the teaching of ideas
and concepts from a variety of sources other than Christ. And Paul mentions a
few philosophies or concepts that are really an empty show or deception, based
on lofty notions about man-made rules concerning the way the world works. We
call it philosophy today. Not all philosophy, but much of philosophy is
what? Explaining the world without God. Explaining the world without God. Now,
during this time there was speculation that the angels somehow controlled the
basic elements: fire, rain, thunder. And that these should be
worshiped, and they should provide some sort of oversight, the worship
of angels. So these Judaizers, these false teachers were not
necessarily educated men, but they were making a show of their learning by
putting forth these, quote, new ideas based on manmade philosophies involving
angels and the manipulation of nature. Well, the manipulation of nature, you know
what that is. That's magic. You try to manipulate the unseen world so that the
unseen world will give you advantage in the seen world. And from this new
worldview they were inventing rules for living, which robbed the
Colossians of their freedom in Christ. One of the reasons I love this epistle,
me personally, is the fact that this is the clarion call of freedom for
Christians. Colossians, if you know the book of Colossians, no
one will ever imprison you intellectually or religiously, as these
people were in danger of being at that time. So Paul says that the Colossians
should not be held responsible to any teaching that does not have as its
source the teachings of Christ. Verses nine to 15, he's going to give four reasons why
this should be so, why should you not ascribe to any other teaching other than
the teachings of Christ, four reasons. Number one, Jesus is divine. He says, "For in
Him, all the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form." Anybody who says to you,
where does it say in the Bible that Jesus is the Son of God, that
Jesus is divine? Colossians 2:9. Memorize Colossians 2:9. "For in Him all
the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form." You can't make that say something
else. It says what it says. So the teaching of Jesus, therefore, is the
teaching of God. Why? Because Jesus is God in human form. To follow His
teaching is to follow God's teaching. And it shouldn't be
replaced with the false doctrine of these other teachers, no matter how
spiritual they seem to be. Secondly, four reasons why they should remain free, two,
they are complete in Christ. Verse 10a, "And in Him," this One in whom the fullness of
deity dwells, "and in Him you have been made complete." By connection to Christ,
who is divine, they have access to all that divinity offers. And what does
divinity offer? Revelation, wisdom, salvation, blessings, eternal life.
We can just list them all. They have no need of additional teaching,
additional saving. They have everything they need spiritually in relationship
to Christ. This is why we don't need Mohammed. He brings nothing to the table.
And if we live long enough, I mean, if we do live long
enough, there'll be some other person that'll come in. It's always the same thing.
Someone comes up and has a special knowledge. Oh, they had a vision, they had
a revelation, they got some new news about God in some way and they attract
followers. There always saying, a billion people follow Muhammad. So what? A couple of billion people are atheists. Does that
make them correct? It's not a numbers game. Jesus told us, the way is narrow. If
you would have said, the way to eternal life, the way to
Christ is very broad, very wide. Well, okay. I'd get a little nervous. But He
didn't say that. He says it's narrow and few find it. That was back in
the first century. In the fifth century it was true. In the ninth century, in the
16th century, in the 21st century, and it'll still be true in the 25th century
if we last that long, if Jesus doesn't return. Don't you know that by the 25th
century there'll be some new guru, some new religious leader, some new prophet
that'll pop up and say, oh i've got the knowledge.
I've got what you're missing. And yet, 2,000 years ago Paul said, no no,
no. You're complete in Christ. It's done. It's done. No need of additional
teaching, additional saving. Everything you need concerning your salvation, your
eternal life, everything you need, you have it in Christ. Four reasons they are
free, number three, Jesus is ruler of all. Verse 10b, "And He is the head over all
rule and authority." Notice here he's not saying, he's the head of the - he's the
head over all rule and authority. One day Mr. Putin will answer to Him. And the
dictator in North Korea will answer to Him. As will Abraham Lincoln, answer to Him.
As will President Obama, answer to Him. Because if I'm not mistaken here, it
says that He is the head over all rule, all authority, from the president of the
most powerful nation on earth to the leader of a tribe in some developing nation. All rulers, all authority answer to Him. So by saying,
head over all rule and authority, Paul says, in effect, that Jesus is Lord of
Lords, King of Kings, sovereign over everything. If Jesus is their head as
Lord, then there's no need for another head, no need for anyone else to take
that position, as the Judaizers were trying to do. Remember, keep your eye on
them. That's what they were trying to do. They were trying to become the leaders,
the head over these Christians. And they were doing it with talk of angels
and secret knowledge. You have everything you
need. Most times people who are converted away from Christianity to some
other religion, usually it's because they don't even know their own religion. They
don't really know about Christianity. Number four, Jesus is the savior. Finally,
Paul explains the most important reason why they should only follow the
teachings of Christ, He is their Savior. The Judaizers, the false
teachers, they were boasting that their circumcision and their adherence to laws
on feasts and food made them superior, made them holier than their Gentile
counterparts, who simply trusted in Christ, and thus they were worthy to be
obeyed and followed. So Paul shows that the salvation they have in Christ has a
greater value than the mere boasting and circumcision made by the Judaizers. For
example, circumcision, it was of God, yes. It was the sign of the promise
that God made to Abraham, which Jesus fulfilled with His appearance. But these
men were using it as a kind of a badge to boast of their religious superiority.
Those who are circumcised, they're with us. And these people,
we have the secret knowledge. We're the superior ones. So
let's read how he says it, "And in Him," he says, "you were also circumcised with a
circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh, by the
circumcision of Christ, having been buried with Him in Baptism, in which you
were also raised up with Him through faith, in the working of God
who raised Him from the dead." So fleshly circumcision removed an
actual piece of flesh from the body as a sign of a spiritual promise of God. Paul
says that through Christ what is cut away is the body of flesh. Meaning, the
old person of sin. Remember, I've also mentioned to you that in the Bible, many
times, they refer to the same thing with different terms. Well here
he's using the idea of the body of flesh. In another place he's
talking, he uses a different term - the old person
of sin, the old man. In other words, the old man is taken away, is separated from
you. The old nature that loved and served sin, this is removed by Christ through
His efforts on our behalf. He then describes the physical or the historical
moment when this spiritual circumcision takes place, and that's baptism.
Physical circumcision took place eight days after the the male child was born. We
read about that in Genesis 17, verses 10 to 14. There was a specific time,
historical moment when that circumcision took place, eight days after birth. Well
baptism here is not just a promise or a symbol, it's the actual moment when the old
man is removed and the new person is raised. It's where and how our faith in Christ
is properly expressed. Paul says that what happens to us in baptism is
verified and guaranteed how? By the resurrection of Jesus. I mean, I'm
baptized because I believe and I obey Jesus. And I have hope in what He's
promised me. And why is my hope secure? Well, because He raised from
the dead and He's told me, you see what happened to me? That's going to happen to
you. That's what will happen to you. So Paul says that what happens to us in
baptism, again, guaranteed by the resurrection of Jesus, we are raised and
renewed in baptism, by the same godly power that raised Jesus from the dead.
Paul talks about that in Romans chapter eight, continues here to say, "When you were
dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, he made you
alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having
canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees
against us, which was hostile to us. And He has taken it out of the way,
having nailed it to the cross." So these two verses, Paul explains the value and
the importance of this spiritual circumcision that we receive at baptism. It
transforms them from death to life. He equates uncircumcision with being
spiritually dead. In the same way, in the Old Testament right, if you weren't
circumcised, you were not part of the people of God. And so you were
spiritually dead, you were not an inheritor of the promises. What he
explains that they were spiritually dead, because they were guilty of
transgressing God's law, God's decrees, which said in effect, if you sin, you die.
So Paul says that they were made alive through the power of forgiveness. And
what this forgiveness does is cancel or pay the debt of sin, which constantly
accused and condemned them before God. In a trial, the prosecutor gets
up, right, he reads what the person is accused of. This person is accused of this
and that - murder, aggression. And reads all the things and then
they bring the proof. What Paul is saying, in a trial like sense, our sins, our
transgressions, they're the prosecutor. They're constantly accusing
us of being guilty. We have another way of referring to that. We call
that a guilty conscience. Our conscience is always accusing us. So he says here, the
cross of Christ, it cancels that debt, it pays that off, it defends us. So Jesus
took all of these sins and atoned for them once and for all, so that they no
longer stood between God and man. For the Christian who has a conscience that's
accusing him, only two things can be true about that: one, he's actually guilty of, he or she, guilty of something and needs to repent, make it right;
or Satan is simply using his past to torture him, to make him doubt the
effectiveness of the cross. And most of the times with Christians, the second
thing is usually what's going on. Because if Satan can shake our faith in the
cross of Christ, he might be able to bring us back into the world. So
the graphic imagery is that the sins which he describes as a certificate of
indebtedness, a bill, an invoice, he says, it's been nailed to the cross along with
His own body. Not Paul's body, but Christ's body. So Paul explains that the
spiritual circumcision that takes place at baptism was made possible by Christ's
sacrifice on the cross, and received by them through faith at baptism. So we go
into the water as sinners, condemned by the law that accuses us of our sins, and
two things happen in that watery grave. Number one, the bill of certificate or the certificate of debt or the mortgage,
whatever, the thing that we owe God for our sins, is paid for by the cross of
Christ. It's at the point of baptism that forgiveness for our sins takes effect
for us. And then number two, the old nature of sin, the old man of sin is cut
away and we're given a new spiritual nature. It's at the point of baptism that
we receive the Holy Spirit who enables us to live as spiritual people. Baptism
is the objective expression of our subjective faith in Christ. I have faith
in Christ that's subjective. I can see that. I know that. But no one
else does. But when I accept baptism, that's the objective expression of my
subjective faith. God gives us something physical, visible, to do. Not just for
other people, but for us. Those moments that I feel the worst, when Satan is just
accusing and accusing. And usually I've messed up in one thing and
he takes advantage, oh boy. Now he's going to pull
out all the old, the old accusations. Well, you remember this, and this here. You're starting to do the
same old thing. Those moments there, that's that's when I feel at my lowest, but I
can remember November 1977. I said, I do believe that Jesus is the Son of God. And I
was buried in the waters of baptism. I remember that objective reality and the
promise that God said that in those waters of baptism you're forgiven. So
when Satan puts up all his stuff, I draw the image of November 1977,
and I put it here to cancel that out. Peter explains the same phenomenon,
but in a much shorter way in Acts 2:38, right? "Repent, let every one of you be
baptized in the name of Jesus," what for? "the forgiveness of your sins." And what else?
"And you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." What's the gift the Holy
Spirit? The Spirit living in you. The Spirit now giving you the power to live
spiritual lives, alright. So we're going to continue with this passage next week. It's
too long to do it in one shot. In the meantime, remember that the importance
and necessity of baptism is not something that was
invented by the church of Christ. Some people say, oh yeah, church of Christ, you
people you baptize. No, no, no. The Bible asks us to baptize. We're just
trying to do what the Bible says. So remember Jesus, Peter, and Paul, each
emphasized that baptism was the moment that salvation and forgiveness and
regeneration took place. We, in the church of Christ, we only emphasize what
the New Testament emphasizes. That's it for this morning. Thank you for
your attention. We will continue and read ahead. Please read ahead in Colossians.
