EPIC: High-Impact Truths in the New Testament – Part 12

All right, well, we're continuing our series called Epic, and you know what Epic is, right? We're flying through the New Testament faster than a squirrel on caffeine. I mean, we are going from John, the Gospel of John, all the way to Revelation, and oh my goodness, we're hitting the hot spots throughout, and we've had a lot of fun, and today we're in Colossians chapter 2, and it is not going to disappoint, because it is jam-packed with incredible truths. Colossians chapter 2, we begin in verse 8, and Paul 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. All right, so first, you see some key words here, I mean, philosophy, it'll dupe you, and how about tradition? We end up as suckers for the sales pitch of tradition very easily. The Greeks 2,000 years ago, their idea of philosophy, you had the Epicureans and the Stoics, you had the Gnostics, you had all kinds of people that were teaching you how to live. Maybe you should live, you know, just factually and void of any emotion. Maybe you should live thinking that the spiritual is all that matters and the physical is the irrelevant. They were trying to give coping mechanisms, that's what they were doing. That's what philosophy really is. It props up the flesh. Philosophy, worldly philosophy, props up the flesh and gives the flesh coping mechanisms to make life work. And we can do the same thing in a lot of the movements that we see today. We're giving people strategies and mechanisms and ways to deal with pain in life. Not Christ, mechanisms. Not Christ, philosophies. Not Christ, but strategies. And that's why the self-help section of the local bookstore is filled with all kinds of ways to do life.

And apart from Christ, God looks at that and says, yeah, those are just 50 flavors. It's like Baskin-Robbins, right, 31 flavors of flesh. I mean, God looks at that and he says, it doesn't matter whether you have good looking strategies or bad looking strategies like crime and rebellion. I mean, sure, one is more peaceable than the other, but they are both coping with life apart from Jesus. And so the self-help division is filled, making billions of dollars every year because the unbelievers trying to figure out how to cope and how to make life work apart from Jesus. And Paul starts this section and he is saying, you could go for philosophy, you could go for tradition, or you could go for Christ. And I would argue that today, 2,000 years later, we're still making that decision, even in the Christian world. Maybe you might say, especially in the religious world, we are still making that decision, meaning that there are traditions, religious traditions here in the Bible belt and throughout the United States, really the world. There are traditions and we are tempted to do it the way mom and dad did it and just believe whatever ism they believed. If I grew up in this church or that church, well then I should go to this church or that church. I should continue in the movement in which I started because tradition is so important. And you'll find this argument in many avenues, many channels of Christian movement. People will say, well, you know, we have records of people in 300 and 400 AD, you know, the early church fathers did this, therefore we should do this. Well the problem with that is when you rewind to the early church fathers, you find that there were, again, 50 flavors of flesh. There were many belief systems that were downright false and unbiblical. The early church fathers, as we traditionally call them, disagreed with each other. Some of them arguing that you're justified before God by engaging in Greek philosophy and obeying the principles of Greek philosophy. Others arguing that you need to be baptized on your deathbed to get a last minute purification.

All kinds of belief systems in the early church and beyond because we were getting it wrong. We were getting it wrong very early, weren't we? Now we shouldn't be surprised by this because look, the people in the Bible were getting it wrong very early. Remember? The Galatians, they were getting it wrong very early. Paul says to them, and we've read it. Recently, you foolish Galatians, who has tricked you, who has duped you, who has deceived you? I taught you Jesus Christ. I clearly portrayed Him, the cross and the resurrection. I gave you the message and yet someone has tricked you, they've suckered you, they've swindled you. And today we're going to see Paul using that same language. He's going to say, don't let anybody defraud you. Don't let anyone trick you and defraud you out of your prize. So they were getting it wrong very early, the Galatians. And you might notice that the Corinthians, they too got it wrong very early. You might know some stories about Corinth. Remember Corinth? It's Vegas plus a spring break plus Mardi Gras on steroids, right? And so Corinth was a hotbed for sin and immorality and heinous and shockingly evil looking stuff. And so the early Christians were easily suckered into that. The Corinthians were getting things wrong very early. The Galatians were getting things wrong very early. So we need to be careful when we say, oh, you got to go with tradition, tradition. Because it's old, it must be true. See, that's the logic. Because it's old, it must be right. The Catholic church is built on that notion, is it not? That we've got the Bible and then we've got tradition running alongside of it. What do we do when they contradict each other? Well, we just kind of try to blend them together the best we can. And so tradition can be very alluring. Tradition can be very tempting. And Paul is saying, watch out, see to it that nobody takes you, and look at this word, captive. Don't let anybody put you in prison. Because that's what legalism is. Legalism is a prison. It is a bondage. And so Paul is not saying, oh man, this is optional theology and I kind of wish that you would pay attention to it. No, this is an urgent warning with exclamation points. I mean, they didn't have that punctuation in Greek, but I promise you that when Paul is writing this, he is concerned. He is deeply

concerned that they not be mired in legalism and held captive like being in a prison. Now, we move on to verse nine and you see him basically saying that in Jesus, all the fullness of deity dwells. Jesus is God and it dwells in bodily form, Paul writes, and in him you have been made complete and he is the head over all rule and authority. Now, you might ask yourself, why is Paul talking about the completeness of Christ and you being made complete in Jesus right after he talked about being in jail, being in prison, being in bondage, being in captivity, being deceived by tradition? Because tradition, get this, tradition and religious rules tend to tell you something a little like this. They say, you're not complete. You're not enough. You don't have fullness. You need more of Jesus. You need more of the Spirit. You need more forgiveness. You need more cleansing. You fell out of fellowship. You're out of God's will. You need to get back in. Your heart is deceitfully wicked. You need to clean your heart. You're not complete. You're not full and you're not enough in Jesus. Therefore, you need. Now, those two words could summarize a lot of the sales pitches of religion. You need, and you could fill in the blank there. It might be you need a second baptism. You need a second portion. You need more of the Spirit. You need more forgiveness. You need a balance of law and grace. You need, and you fill in the blank, and there is a buffet of choices in religion today. Pick your poison, because that's exactly what it is. Pick your poison. Oh, it's great that you believe in Jesus, but let me give you an ounce of poison for your tasty lemonade. And so, Paul is basically saying, don't be duped. Don't be tricked. Even an ounce of poison, even a little leaven is going to leaven the whole lump. It's going to ruin everything. The recipe is a disaster at that point. So, you're complete, and the assurance is that you got everything you need. You remember the sales pitch, you need, and God's answer is you don't need because you have. Religion says, hunger and thirst for more of God. Jesus says, you'll never hunger and thirst because you're filled. Religion says, beg and plead and hope and wait for more forgiveness. Jesus says, it is finished. You are a totally forgiven person.

Religion says, knock yourself off, kill yourself, die to self, get rid of you. You're ugly and detestable to God. It needs to be all of God and none of you. Jesus says, you're complete in me. You have everything you need. I invite you in. I want you to be a part of this. It's all of you and all of him together in a beautiful union. Religion says, you need and Jesus says, you have all you need. And so we've got some celebrating to do but it's hard to celebrate when people are trying to trick you and defraud you of the prize that you possess in Jesus. Some of them are knocking at your door. Some of them are knocking at your ear, the door of your mind with false teaching. And so he says in verse 11, and in him, you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ. Now, we're not gonna get graphic here but it seems like Paul is happy to get graphic. I mean, first of all, these are Colossians. Second of all, they're not Jews. Third of all, circumcision was not their tradition. So why is this Jewish author writing Colossians

telling them about circumcision? What he is saying is that your connection to life in the world, life in the flesh, your connection to worldly thinking and worldly ways of coping, you remember that philosophy? Your connection to the way of the flesh has been severed and cut off and you are in the spirit, you are separate. In fact, in another letter, Paul says, I've died to the world and the world has been crucified to me. Now, the world is not saved but this terminology, I've been crucified to the world and the world has been crucified to me, it is a severing, it is a separation, it is a cutting away so that we can say, yeah, sometimes I think that way but I am not in that way. Sometimes I walk that way but I am not in that way, I am in the spirit. And that's why maybe you're thinking of Paul's letter where he addresses this idea of being in the spirit and he says, if we live by the spirit, let us also walk by the spirit. In other words, if we have our life in Jesus and if we've been separated from the flesh and if we're in the spirit, then why not pay attention to the spirit? I mean, look at the lengths to which Jesus has gone to save you.

He pursued you, he saved you, he filled you, he sealed you, he gave you a new location, he put the counselor in you. So then the last thought is, okay, given everything he's done, why not pay attention? Why not pay attention to the coach? Why not pay attention to the counselor? You're in him, so why not listen to him? If we live by the spirit, let us also walk by the spirit. Now, I will have you notice that the flesh can still tempt you but it is tempting you from outside of who you are. You're cut off, you're not in the flesh, you're in the spirit, but the fiery darts, think of Ephesians, which we saw last time. I mean, Ephesians says there's fiery darts coming at you. Now notice those are from the outside. There you are at the computer, pornography is available to you, 24 seven, it's there. And so the thought comes to you and you think, well, I have done this 10 times, 100 times, 1,000 times, it's just who I am, it's just what I want, it's just where I wanna go, so I'm gonna, what God is saying is, would you interpret that whole scenario through a new grid? That those thoughts are coming from outside of you, that's not your heart, that's not your spirit, that's not. what you want. Those thoughts are coming from the flesh and the flesh is not you. Those thoughts are coming from the power of sin and the power of sin is not you. Your husband,

your wife, they do something that really ticks you off. It's not the first time they've done it and you've been keeping track. You have a clipboard and it's legal size because you've made room to keep score and make sure that your bitterness and resentment is justified. Amen? And so the thought comes to you for the thousandth time. I am going to win this. I'm going to win this one. I'll tell you what, I'm a good trial attorney and I'm going to win this one. And then God is inviting us to reinterpret the whole thing through a new grid. That thought of me justifying me, that thought of I've got to be right and that thought of I've got to win. You know what that means? Everybody loses. When I try to win, everybody loses. And so God is inviting us to reinterpret our thought life through a new grid and realizing that the temptations come from outside in, not from inside out. You are not the sum total of your thoughts. You are who God says you are. So it's incredible. Paul is talking about a surgery, a DNA swap, right? At the core of your being. Now we continue in verse 12. He says, Now this is more of the same. If you thought that Romans was the only place to talk about this, no way. If you thought that it was just Ephesians raised and seated, no way. Paul is peppering all of his letters, especially the beginning of his letters. He's peppering all of his letters with information basically that is a birth certificate. It is your new past, your new history. It's what happened to you at salvation. And in another letter in Romans six, he says, or do you not know? And you know what that tells me? That something could happen to you. The Lord could do something to you and you might not know it. You might not realize it. You don't know that it's happened in Romans six. He says, or do you not know that all of us, everybody in this room, everybody watching online, that all of us who are in Christ Jesus have been crucified, buried and raised. We died to sin. How can we live in it any longer? Or do you not know? Or have you forgotten? Because it's essential information. Now here in Colossians, he's note, he's bringing up, he's noting the burial. Burial is final. In most cases, when somebody's buried, they're done for. They're not coming back. Now, the burial here represents that your old self is gone, terminated, never to be heard from again. Yes, you're still learning. So your mind is lagging behind. You hear that? Your mind is lagging behind, but you got a new heart, but your mind is lagging behind. Your mind is being renewed, but you got a new heart, but you got a new spirit, but your mind is lagging behind. So the religious world says, no, no, your old self is still around. It's like a weekend at Bernie's

theology. You got Bernie next to you. You guys have heard of this film. Of course, none of you have seen it, right? But you've heard of it. Weekend at Bernie's. Bernie, he owes a lot of money to some mafia and they decide the best remedy is just to kill him. Well, so they do kill him and he's dead. But the teenagers who know Bernie, they want to have a party at his house, but Bernie has canceled the party because of his death. Now the teenagers decide, well, here's the best plan. The best plan is to prop Bernie up and to pretend like he's still alive. And so they, you know, they put a drink in his hand. They put him in the back of the convertible with his arm up on the back of the seat. They prop him up and make him look alive. Then the mafia, the mafia gets wind of this. And what do they do? They try to kill Bernie all over again, but Bernie's dead. Bernie's so dead. said that he can't die again, but they're still trying to kill what's been killed. Now you see where I'm going. You got a weekend at Bernie's Theology. I did a special guest broadcast all week in Detroit this week, and one gentleman did not like what was being said. And he called in, he said, this is dangerous. You got to be careful. He says, the New Testament says everywhere that our old self is still around, that our old self is a struggle. You need to be careful. And we said, well, where does it say that? Well, you got to be careful. Where does it say that, that your old self is still around? Because look at this, look at what I'm seeing, because what I'm seeing is Romans six. Your old self was crucified with him. What I'm seeing is Galatians 2.20, I've been crucified with Christ. What I'm seeing is Ephesians chapter two. What I'm seeing is all over the New Testament, the announcement is you got born again because your old self died first. You had to be born again if your old self died, because you got to be somebody. So we're confusing the stinking thinking.

We're confusing things when the mind is lagging behind, we're assuming that's the heart. When the mind is lagging behind, we're assuming that's the old self. But what we're learning now through the apostle Paul, it's not my idea or your idea, we're learning that we've got a new heart and a new spirit and there's new resurrection life pumping through our spiritual veins and we're alive with Christ, but my mind is lagging behind and I can sometimes walk according to the flesh or think according to the flesh. And what does God say? Let's grow, let's grow up together, let's grow in the grace and knowledge, but you don't need a new heart again, you don't need a new spirit again, you don't need a new self again, go ahead and live from your newness, count yourself alive to God and then renew your mind. So once we get that straight, it's not just semantics, is it? It's not just some detail of interest, it's not a trivial pursuit question for Bible trivia, it is something that radically changes how you view you. When you're all alone and no one is around and no one's watching, who are you and what do you want, what's in there? Are you somebody that wants to try to get away with stuff? Or are you married and bonded and fused to Jesus and are you different, are you really different from the guy next door? You're made for so much more, you really are different. At the core, you have been changed. So we continue here in Colossians 2, Paul says, when you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, what did God do? He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions. How many transgressions? All. Oh, that's dangerous. We can't teach this, that's dangerous. Watch out, that's greasy grace. Watch out, that's hyper grace. Watch out, that is some dangerous stuff.

You start telling Christians that they're forgiven of all their sins and boy, they're going to go nuts. They're going to just send up a storm, right? They're just going to set world records for sin, huh? See that's the fear. And that might be true if we had half a verse in verse 13. That might be a scary thing if we had half a verse. But the other half says, He made you alive together with Him. Now what do you want to do? See God is no fool. The foolish Galatians, yes, but foolish God, no. God knows exactly what He's doing with this freedom. He makes you free and He totally forgives you of all your sins, past, present, and future. But He doesn't leave you in the grave. He doesn't leave you buried. He doesn't leave you in the tomb. He made you, past tense, He made you alive together with Him. Are you good or bad? Let me hear that. Good. You're good. Man, them's fighting words in some places, huh? That Christians are now good? Well let me tell you, you were dead and now you're alive. You were a bad tree with bad fruit and now you're a good tree that can bear good fruit. You have to be good in order to walk in the good works that God prepared in advance. And He made you good. How? Five more trips to church, five more Bible studies, seven more volunteer projects. How did you get good?

It was through death and burial and resurrection and He did it and it's finished. So you're counting on your goodness. Do you hear this? You're relating to your kids. You're trying to figure out how to parent. You're counting on your good heart. You only got one heart. It's a good heart. You're a good parent. You might not always parent good, but you're a good parent. You might not always parent the way God is counseling you to, but you want to parent that way. Friendships, relationships at work, the way we do life, you're a good tree. You don't always bear fruit. You don't always bear good fruit, but you're a good tree. And knowing your nature makes a difference. Otherwise, again, think about the contradiction and how silly and pathetic and weak Christianity is. You're bad, but you need to act good. You're wrong, but you need to act right. You're wicked, but you need to be righteous. You have a dirty heart, but you need to act clean. If that's Christianity, good luck. You'll never do it. You'll never make it. But thank God that's not the truth. And I don't motivate Christians by shaming them. Legalism shames us. If you will feel bad for what you haven't done and then rise to the occasion, we'll have an accountability group that makes sure you get there.

And then next week, we'll give you three more steps and 10 more ways and five more this and seven more that. And we're shaming the church. We don't mean to do it. We're not trying to do things wrongly, but it's all we know. We're back at the beginning in verse 8 of this chapter, human tradition, philosophy. We believe the strongest, most powerful sermon is the one that makes the church feel bad. If the church just leaves feeling bad, then they've been convicted by the spirit. And so if we make them feel bad and we raise our voices and we yell and maybe even just a bit of screaming is permitted, God likes that. And then everyone is feeling called to the carpet. And then, oh, we just have the little lump in our throat and our head is buried in our chest as we walk out to the parking lot. And then we tell God something like, God, I am so sorry and I'm going to do it this week. I'm going to do it this time. And then 10 weeks and 50 weeks pass and eventually we decide we're either going to be a Pharisee and fake it till we make it or we're going to resign ourselves to feeling miserable. What I'm saying is there's a third way. It's not try harder or give up. There's a third way. Realize that God is good. Realize that the gospel does not shame you. It's not shame on you. The gospel says shame off you. Now do you see that we have a gospel that makes sense? We're made alive together and we're forgiven of all our sins. Finally, look at this gospel summation. Paul is so good here. He's canceled.

God has canceled 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. This ends all speculation, all speculation about law and grace. What has he done with the law for you? He's taken it out of the way. The law is not in the picture. He's nailed it to the cross. He's canceled your debt. You don't owe God anything. Now what? Now you're invited to enjoy him. Could it really be this simple? Could it really be this amazing? Folks, this is why the early church was fine. being tortured and killed and not backing off from what they believed. They were not dying and being tortured and killed for a self-improvement program. They were thrilled about the possibility that Jesus had actually done it all and made them clean and close for free, for free, so that nobody could mess with what they have in Jesus. All right, we're almost done for today. When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them. Is He talking about demons? Is He talking about the Pharisees? Maybe all of the above. People argue that. It doesn't matter. Jesus won. That's what the verse is saying. Jesus won, and He disarmed the Pharisees. What were they armed with? The law. The law was their bullets. They were armed with the law, shaming people, and Jesus disarmed them. What's the enemy armed with? The law. You don't measure up. Jesus disarmed the enemy. There's therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because Christ triumphed over them. All right, verse 16 and 17. Therefore, don't let anybody ruin the party in Jesus. Therefore, don't let anyone. No one is to act as a judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day. Why? Because these are things which are just a shadow, a mere shadow of what is to come,

but the substance belongs to Christ. So I guess I ask you, you want a shadow or you want the reality? You want the shadow or you want the substance? You know my dad, he passed away in 1998, and I just want you to imagine. It was a car accident that took his life. I want you to imagine that I'm up here telling old stories about dad. I got a photo album out. I'm telling old stories about dad, and I'm reminiscing, and then by some miracle, my dad walks in. He walks in at the back of this auditorium, and he comes up here, and he's standing right next to me. But me, so foolishly, I just keep telling old stories about dad. I keep looking at the two-dimensional photographs, and I keep looking down at the album, and my dad is, by some miracle, he's right here with me. You'd say, Andrew, don't be foolish. The reality is here. Quit looking at a shadow. Well, guess what? Jesus Christ is here. Quit looking at a shadow. You have the reality. The law and even resting on the Sabbath day was just a shadow, a picture, a symbol. You've got the real thing. Rest in Jesus Christ. They were cleaning out their cabinets, looking for purity, shadows, and symbols of purity that you possess in Jesus Christ, forgiven and cleansed of all unrighteousness. Don't settle for the shadow when you've got the substance. Let's pray together. Father, we thank you for this radical message of salvation and life and forgiveness and freedom. It just makes us fall in love with you all over again and to celebrate the fullness of what you've done. We're not hungering. We're not thirsting because we've been filled. We're not chasing because we possess. We're not seeking and hoping and waiting and begging because we have fullness in you. Thank you, Lord Jesus Christ, that you are our Savior and our Lord and our life and our everything. We just want to say, wow, you never shame us. You never tear us down. You always build us up. We love you. We thank you in Jesus name. Amen. you