The Substance is of Christ! [Colossians Pt. 13]

The Substance is of Christ

“We must start with the doctrine, and out of that will come the life, the experience, everything we need.” I just read this great quote from Martin Lloyd-Jones. He says this in one of his sermons from the Gospel of John. How true it is and yet how ill thought of by most Christians these days.  In contrast, I think of a popular song being played on the Christian Radio Stations that says, “Love, is the only thing that matters.” Without proper doctrine, (an accurate knowledge of who Christ is, what He has done on our behalf and the proper response to it) we cannot even know what real love is. Love is hugely important, but it is so far from “the only thing that matters” that this song and this line of thinking takes us from the Christian truth into gross error by emphasizing one attribute of the Christian over others that are just as important.

This is the problem that Paul is dealing with in Colosse. Not an overemphasis on love, but the need of some there to add to what Christ has done in order to feel secure in their faith; the neglect of the Person and Work of Jesus Christ in favor of man-centered external religion that makes them feel more like Christians. In this case it takes the form legalism, but those who resist legalism and tell us that we cannot be Christians (or at least “good Christians”) unless we follow their skewed version of the Faith are just as guilty. We need to move in and focus on what Christ has accomplished on behalf of His people and revel in that amazing Gift. We need to understand the profound nature of our Justification and all that it entails. Once we arrive there and live out of God’s great and gracious goodness, we will begin to live a life of love and one of obedience. That is why the Apostle is calling these Believers back to the fundamental understanding of what happened on the Cross in order to correct their errors with regard to the way they conducted their religious observances.

Colossians 2:13-17  And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses,  14  having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.  15  Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.  16  So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths,  17  which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.

Here is the Doctrine that supports everything else that we do. It begins with an honest assessment of our sin! That is true love. But the most amazing love that is demonstrated is that while we had pushed ourselves away from God’s standard (in trespasses) and His Person (in the uncercumcision of our flesh), He came to us and He “made us alive!” He took on human flesh and died as the Sacrifice for Sin in order to re-instate the rebels who would trust in Him. His work on the cross was so complete that every trespass that I have made (or will make) was dealt with as He was nailed to the Cross.

The interesting conclusion that the Apostle makes from this in verse 16 seems like a stretch at first. He tells these Christians that no one can hold them to any religious observance in addition to being held to the eternal consequences of their moral failures.  Christ satisfied the Divine demand for ultimate justice, but He also removed the necessity of temporal rituals. No once can say you need to worship Christ and in addition, perform any ritual related to the Old Covenant. Paul goes on in this section and mentions other “self-imposed” religious observances as well. There is no ritual that Christ has not given that can be added to simple trust in Christ.  This does not mean that we don’t need to go to church or that we can live an immoral life. We have been saved from sin, not to it. We have been saved from our own brand of false religion, and cannot continue in self-styled religion, either legalistic or licentious.  Paul goes on in chapter 3 to talk about those parameters.

Suffice it to say that we cannot fellowship with one who claims Christ and lives immorally, neither can we fellowship with anyone who says, “If you do not worship the same way I do (music style, Bible translation, dress code) you are not saved or have an inferior faith. It is actually the one who adds to Christ whose faith is inferior.  Paul puts it this way in Colossians 2:18  “Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,”
The point of all of this is that our Christian life is based on what God has accomplished for us through Christ. It is His sufficiency that creates and maintains my standing before God. If I think I have to add to it in any way, I have demonstrated that I do not believe His perfect gift of forgiveness and imputed righteousness is enough. If I think that I can earn or keep His favor my wearing the right clothes, listening to the right music or by marginalizing those who disagree with me though embrace the Savior,  I need to realize that all I am doing is adding to my condemnation by holding a standard higher than the one that was given to me by Christ.

Calvin puts it this way as he comments on verse 16; ” He says, therefore, that it is not in the power of men to make us subject to the observance of rites which Christ has by his death abolished, and exempts us from their yoke, that we may not allow ourselves to be fettered by the laws which they have imposed. He tacitly, however, places Christ in contrast with all mankind, lest any one should extol himself so daringly as to attempt to take away what he has given him.”

And so we must must ask whether this is the case with ourselves? Is there anything that we add to our faith in Christ in order to feel secure in our faith? Is there anything that we try to impose on others and judge them as lacking if they do not comply to our standard? Again, this is not just the “legalist” who looks down on the person who does not hold their standard, but any Christian who looks down on the person who does not walk and worship like them.

Audio of this message is available by clicking the link below.

Substance is of Christ – AUDIO

In Christ!

Kevin

And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it. 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.
Colossians 2:13-17

Right Use of the Law [1 Timothy Pt. 4]

Right Use of the Law

A couple of weeks ago we considered the Wrong use of the Law. This time we took on the other side of the issue. How is the Law to be used in the New Testament Church?  As the Apostle Paul instructs the pastor, Timothy, charging him to stop false teachers from corrupting the church he tells him this,

1 Timothy 1:7-11  desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm.  8  But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully,  9  knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,  10  for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine,  11  according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust.

Although there is an issue in the church with putting people under legalistic restrictions and Paul wants to confront that issue, that does not mean that we should throw out the baby with the bathwater. There is a proper use for God’s moral commands and the Apostle says that it is to used, not with righteous people, but with sinners.  I think that the most amazing phrase in this passage is in verse 11,

…according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God…

According to the Gospel, the law is to be used in the confrontation of sinners and the Apostle gives us a typical laundry list of behaviors that he classifies as sin. Notice that there are extremes like murder and sexual sin that are included with others that we would consider less sinful such as lying. According to the standard of God, there is no difference. The problem here is common in the church, probably more so than the legalism that we discussed last time. Not calling sin, sin is the result of the culture telling the church how to think about things. Certainly the average “sinner” does not want to consider himself as such. But sin is the human problem.

Sin is THE problem that humanity has more than any other. All other problems have sin as their source either directly or indirectly. Unless and until we come to grips with it we will never see our need for the Savior. Speaking to the Ephesian Church at another time the Apostle reminded them of where they had come from and how they had gotten there;

Ephesians 2:1-5  And you, who were dead in trespasses and sins,  2  in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,  3  among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.  4  But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,  5  even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

He tells the Romans after two chapters of educating them about the  nature and origin of sin;

Romans 3:19-20  Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.  20  Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

If this is the case and God has given us the tool to bring the knowledge of sin and bring conviction over it, if Paul says that it is so, “according to the glorious Gospel of the blessed God,” then to leave this tool unused in our preaching of the Gospel is to mistrust God’s judgment and consider ourselves smarter than He. Author Ian Murray says in an article on Puritan, Thomas Hooker‘s understanding of conversion, “If repentance means turning one’s back upon sin, and if conversion entails turning from sin to holiness, no one is going to see the need for such a change who has not first felt sin to be a burden. Faith is more than reason but it is not irrational. It is a response to truth, and where faith is not the act of a person who understands his need of the saving power of Christ it is not scriptural faith.” And so, it is our responsibility to use the Law to bring conviction of sin in order that men will see their need of the Savior.

This is the way to love people. This is the way to bring rebels to reconciliation with a Holy God. The alternative is to leave them to their destruction and that is not love.

You can listen to the audio of this study by clicking on the link below.

The Right Use of the Law – AUDIO

In Christ!

Kevin

Out of Darkness [Colossians Pt.4]

Out of Darkness

Gratitude is the fuel that drives the Christian Life.  It is not duty or the desire to find God’s approval. If you have trusted Christ as Savior it is because of His love to you and the great work of Redemption that He has accomplished. We have to begin where He begins in talking about ourselves. We cannot imagine that we are good people who need a push in the right direction; or that He is a God who is not concerned with how we live our lives. If we are to accomplish what the Apostle Paul prayed for those Colossian Believers in Colossians 1:9-11, then we need to build it on the foundation that he built it on in Colossians 1:12-14.

Colossians 1:9-14 For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;  10  that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;  11  strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy;  12  giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.  13  He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love,  14  in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

Considering what Paul prayed for those Christians we might ask,

“Do I really need to be FILLED with the knowledge of God’s will?”

“Can’t I just know the important stuff?”

“Do I have to please Him in EVERYTHING?”

“Can’t I just do the basics?”

Many in the Church would like to take issue with this idea and tell us that “Christianity is a relationship, not a religion.” I have to say it is really both. Our “religion” is how we relate to God. It is what we know about Him and what we do with that knowledge. Is God and your relationship to Him so unimportant that you do not care what He thinks? If so, you do not know Him.

The thing is, that we do not do the right things out of some legalistic necessity, rather as the Apostle Paul prays for the Colossians, it is in response for what He has already done for those whom He loves.  What we do for God is to be based on what He has already done for us.

Colossians 1:12 giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.  13  He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love,  14  in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

We begin life as the enemies of God. Giving ourselves to His enemy and living for self and under the authority of the devil. That is why He had to rescue us from his power or domain.

2 Timothy 2:24-26 And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient,  25  in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth,  26  and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.

Sure, we are captives, but we are willingly deceived and led captive because it seems better to our fallen will than submitting to the God of the universe. Scripture is clear Ephesians 2:1-3, Romans 3:9-21, and just a few verses further on in Colossians 1:21. Jesus is willing to come into the domain of the devil and rescue those who He made in His image, yet who rebelled and took the side of his enemy. He did that for all who would trust in Him. He rescued us from the trouble that we got ourselves into by rebelling against Him. He did it at the expense of His own life!

This is the foundation of obedience. Not to win or to keep favor with God, but because He has already shown favor when we were absolutely unworthy of it. So Paul, after he has prayed for the Christians in Colosse to be filled with the knowledge of God’s will and to live lives to His honor and glory in all areas, including suffering well, he brings them down to the foundation of it all. That foundation is God doing a work in us and for us that we would really not even have wanted. But through His love and goodness, He breaks our heart for our sin and we see His infinite benevolence as He takes out the the domain of darkness and establishes us as citizens of His kingdom with all of the rights of Sons. What an amazing God we have!

I encourage you to listen to the audio of this message and I pray that when you see His amazing love, it would make living for His glory rather than for your own pleasure make absolute sense!

Out of Darkness

In Christ!

Kevin

God is in Control [Jonah, Pt. 2]

God Is In Control

Does God Care? Is He able to overcome evil in the world? Does He limit His intervention because He does not want to infringe on human free will? These are questions that many ask about God and His interaction with the world. Evil, both moral and physical (i.e. calamity), are a regular part of our existence. Many believe that the existence of evil proves that either God is not there, or that He is either not loving enough or not powerful enough to deal with it. As we look at Jonah’s story we see that God is at work in the life of His prophet. He is there. He is interacting with evil, both moral and natural. He is acting contrary to Jonah’s will, which is to run from His command.

You know the story, God commands Jonah, His prophet, to go and preach to the Assyrians in Nineveh. Jonah can’t even stomach the thought because these are the enemies of his people and the greatest and most aggressive nation in the region. So God says “Go!” and Jonah says, “No!” Does that leave the Lord in a bind? Is He now helpless until Jonah decides of his own accord to change his behavior? Should God start working plan B?

Jonah 1:4-7 But the LORD sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship was about to be broken up.  5  Then the mariners were afraid; and every man cried out to his god, and threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea, to lighten the load. But Jonah had gone down into the lowest parts of the ship, had lain down, and was fast asleep.  6  So the captain came to him, and said to him, “What do you mean, sleeper? Arise, call on your God; perhaps your God will consider us, so that we may not perish.”  7  And they said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this trouble has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah.

Here we see that God takes some extreme measures to stick with the plan that He has. Jonah is dead set against it (quite literally as we see in Jonah 1:12). From the wind to the roll of the dice, God sovereignly brings about His intended purpose. He brings Jonah to account with the sailors and forces his hand. Still obstinate, Jonah tries to end it by sacrificing himself but God is one step ahead of him.

Jonah 1:17 Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

Knowing what he would do, the Lord had already prepared the final circumstance that was needed to change the mind of His prophet. And maybe you are saying, “That is an extreme example. Certainly God would never go to that length to work in my life. I have never been that disobedient.” And I would tell you that we are all disobedient and self seeking on some level. The reason that most of us feel that we have never disobeyed to the degree that Jonah did is because we, like he did, manage to diffuse the command of God in our conscience because we interpret it through our own cultural and personal grids. God has command us to preach repentance to our enemies and we can refuse and seek our own comfort without bating an eye because that is what most people in our culture who call themselves do. And God brings chastening into our lives if we truly belong to Him (Hebrews 12:7-8).  1 Peter 4:12-13 “Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you;  13  but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.”

Believe it or not we all need correction. James 1:2-4 “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,  3  knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.  4  But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” It is what God uses to conform us to the image of His Son. It is also what He uses to call to account those who reject His will. All circumstances from the wind to the roll of the dice are under His control. If you are serving Him He will bring the appropriate circumstances, tailor made for you, into your life to help you grow. If you are in rebellion, He will bring those circumstances and they will either break your stubborn will or become a testimony against you when you stand before Him on the last day.

God does care. He cares so much that He is active in the smallest details of your life.

God can overcome evil. He does it everyday by using calamity for good purposes, to mature and develop our faith. He even uses moral evil. He is not the author of moral evil because evil is really rebellion against His will and purpose. God cannot do evil in that sense, it would be impossible. But even when men do evil, He still uses it in His sovereignty for producing good results (Acts 2:23-24, Romans 8:28, Genesis 50:20).

Finally, Human free will does not limit God in His actions. The Scriptures clearly set God’s sovereign action and man’s moral accountability side by side. We may not be able to reconcile that in our minds, but God is able to act in a sovereign capacity, exercising control over the smallest details and yet allowing man to act freely. (Acts 2:23-24, Acts 4:27-29). However, at times He overrides our freedom and acts to change our will as He did in the case of Jonah. Left to our free will we would all be like him, running from the command of God. We should be thankful that He works in us to change our will (Philippians 2:13).

When it is all said and done, God is here and is working, even in the pain and suffering of life. He is able to make what is horrible in this life work out for good in an eternal sense. Romans 8:18 “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” So let us bow to the sovereign Hand of God and look for His purpose in our suffering. Is it our own rebellion? It is our need to be conformed to the Image of His Son? Is He using us for the benefit of someone else who needs to see us trust Him even when life is most difficult? He has a reason and a purpose that He is working out.  The big question is, Do you trust him?

You can listen to this sermon by clicking on the link below. I would love to discuss it with you if you want to make a comment.

God is in Control

In Christ!

Kevin

Freedom and Truth

FREEEEEEEEDOM!   The cry of the human heart. We all love to watch Braveheart and feel the quest for personal freedom in our own breast when we hear William Wallace cry out. It is part and parcel of our nation and the sole basis of many a patriot’s call to action. What is freedom? How do we get it? Where does it come from? 

Freedom is really a relative term. We are all free in some sense and bound in another. Can there be such a thing as total freedom? Freedom carries with it obligation, the need to act a certain way in order to preserve that freedom, the need to preserve the freedom of others so that my freedom will not be infringed. But this is political freedom.

As we consider the idea of FREEDOM today, on the 4th of July, let us consider what true freedom is. Our country, as great as it is, is just a country. It may be a symbol of freedom to many in the world, but it is also a symbol of vice and corruption to many others. This is because we, even as Americans, do not understand what freedom is. Freedom is not being able to do whatever I want. That is a huge error. Freedom is being free to act as God has created me to act, according to TRUTH, which is His Word. In John 8, Jesus is talking to the Jews at the Feast of Tabernacles. This is much like our 4th of July; a celebration of their deliverance as they lived in tents in the wilderness following their emancipation from Egypt. The feast is coupled with the ingathering of their fall crops in order to tie their prosperity to God’s deliverance. Jesus is teaching at this feast and telling the Jews that He is the source of the water that gives life, that He is from heaven, that His words are the words of God and that ultimately He is God Himself. The Jews reject Him completely saying that He is a Samaritan (the ultimate derogatory remark for a Jew) and that He is demon possessed.

As they celebrate their independence (while under foreign domination by Rome) they scoff at Jesus and His words. They reject the true Deliverer while celebrating their deliverance!  Jesus tells them: John 8:31 “Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.  32  And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”  33  They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can You say, ‘You will be made free’?”  34  Jesus answered them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.  35  And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever.  36  Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” 

The Jews of Jesus’ day, much like the rest of us have a wrong idea of what freedom is. We think in terms of political freedom or personal freedom. The Apostle Paul tells the Romans that this is not the way Christians are to live, Romans 6:19 “I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness.  20  For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.  21  What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.  22  But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life.  23  For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  Autonomy (i.e. self-rule) is not freedom, it is bondage to desire, culture and sin. Autonomy is what true freedom is free from! True freedom is freedom from sin’s power and penalty. This is only had through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Once we are free from the performance trap of other religions and the pull of sin that comes from our fallen nature we are FREE to serve God with our whole heart, with body, soul and mind. This is where and only where, true freedom can be experienced. This was the desire of the pilgrim’s that first came to the American continent, to be a “City on a Hill” for the Gospel. Certainly they sought the freedom to worship God according to their conscience. This came from a wholehearted commitment to the Gospel.

Celebrate your freedom today! But remember as you watch the fireworks and listen to the National Anthem that the freedom that you have, political or spiritual, is a gift of the God of Heaven. Thank Him for it and use it to worship Him in Spirit and in Truth! Ahhhh TRUTH, that is another matter altogether. We will talk about that next time!

You can hear audio of this message by clicking on the link below.

Freedom and Truth – John 8:31-36

In Christ!
Kevin