May 14, 2010

CHRIST ABOVE ALL!

Colossians Summary and Overview

I have two goals in my message this morning. First of all, I want to give a challenge with a special focus on those who will be baptized at the end of the service. Secondly, for the rest of us, before we leave the book of Colossians, I want to step back from the letter and do a final overview of the contents of this powerful little epistle, to fix in our minds the big picture. Fortunately, these two goals are not incompatible. In fact, if I could give one strong message as a challenge to those being baptized, it would be the strong message and theme of this wonderful letter: Christ Above All!

I am not going to do a detailed review, or even go over a chapter by chapter outline. I just want to paint with very broad strokes the key issues of this letter. To focus our thinking, let me raise and answer two questions.

First of all, why was Colossians written? What was the driving purpose in Paul’s mind when he instructed his scribe to take up quill and papyrus and begin to record his thoughts? Remember, writing and sending a letter was not easy. There was no text messaging or e-mail in those days!

Secondly, why was the letter to the Colossians included in our Bibles? From references Paul makes in some of his epistles, we know that he wrote other letters which were not preserved or included in Scripture. So why did God preserve and include this one?

I believe the answer to the first question is fairly easy to discover. Paul wrote this letter because the church in Colosse had been exposed to false teachers and to false teaching.

One of my very earliest memories is a traumatic one. It takes me back to my third birthday. We were living in Tanzania. For my birthday, my mother made me a large, stuffed, black and white bear. This bear was huge! At least it seemed huge to me. It was as big as I was. I only had the bear a couple days and then I forgot it outside overnight. During the night, the white ants, or termites discovered my bear. By the time I found it the next morning, there was very little left of him. The stuffing poured out of numerous holes in his cloth skin.

Termites, in the form of false doctrines and false teachers were attacking the church in Colossians. They were attempting to chew holes in the gospel message which had been preached to them. Paul is writing to mend these holes, to warn them, to refute the false teaching and to call the church to hold close to the gospel they had received in the beginning.

Let’s look at Colossians 2:4: I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments.

Let’s read verse 8: See to it that no one takes you captive…

Down to verse 16: Therefore do not let anyone judge you…

 Finally, in verse 18: Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize.

Do you see the repeated warnings? Look out for termites! Teachers who might deceive them, take them captive, judge them as disqualified. So that is why Paul wrote the letter to them. But why was it preserved and included in the Scriptures? I think it is safe to assume that it is because the same termites of false doctrine have continued to attack the church and are still attacking it today. It may not be the same complete system of Gnostic teaching, but many of the individual elements and errors of the system are still abroad in the church.

It is important to understand that Paul was not warning the church against atheists, or agnostics or other avowed unbelievers who denied Christ completely. These were people who called themselves Christians and set themselves up in the church as teachers and preachers. Such people often carry theological degrees; they preach and teach and write books and broadcast on TV and the radio and on the internet. This letter warns us that we must be discerning. We cannot blithely assume that just because we bought a book in a Christian bookstore or heard something said from a pulpit by a Christian preacher, it is necessarily true.

So, what particular termites was Paul warning about in this letter? I believe there are two key areas: false teaching about the person of Christ and false teaching about the work of Christ.

Let’s look first at the false teaching about the person of Christ. This teaching can take two forms, which are actually simply the two sides of the same coin. One side is teaching that takes away from the fullness of the New Testament teaching about Christ. Typically, two areas come under attack. In the Colossian heresy, the tendency was to question the humanity of Christ. Was he truly human? The Gnostic philosophy was dualistic. It taught that spirit was good, but matter was evil. So if Christ was good, if Christ was divine, how could he actually be human? How could he actually have a body? How could he actually die? Down through history there have been various forms of this heresy. Jesus was a kind of mirage. He wasn’t real. The “Christ spirit” just rested on the human Jesus, and then left him when he was put on the cross.

The other error (one that is more common in our day) is to question the deity of Jesus. He was a good teacher. He was a great man. Efforts have been made to “de-mythologize” the New Testament and to “rediscover the historic Jesus” by discounting and explaining away all the supernatural or “superstitious” elements in the Gospel accounts. We are told that we must understand him on a purely physical or human plane.

So, taking away from the Biblical teaching about Christ is the first side of the coin. The second side is teaching that adds to Christ. As I said, this is the reverse side of the coin. If Christ is not proclaimed in his completeness, then the next step is to add to him. If Christ is not complete, then he is not sufficient. The Gnostic heresy which was taking root in Colosse added other levels of spiritual beings, called emanations. Since Christ was not truly human, he remained out of reach and unapproachable. To compensate, they imagined an entire hierarchy of spirit beings and angels necessary to create a link between God and man and between the physical and spiritual worlds.

Through history, others have added the necessity for additional mediators. If Christ is not sufficient, we need other mediators, we need other intercessors, we need priests or we need new prophets in order to approach God. Regardless of the form it takes, the bottom line is always the same. When we take away or depart from the Biblical teaching on Jesus as the Christ and his full identity as both God and man, then he is no longer adequate or complete or sufficient. If he is not sufficient, then we must add to him. And when we add to him, we take away from him the place which God has given him. This has been an ongoing battle throughout church history, and it continues in our day. The termites are still with us.

Let us listen to Paul’s words in Colossians as he confronts these errors. Keep in mind the truths of both his deity and his humanity as I read Colossians 1:15-19:

¹⁵ He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. ¹⁶ For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. ¹⁷ He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. ¹⁸ And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. ¹⁹ For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him.

Let’s go down to Colossians 2:9-10: ⁹ For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, ¹⁰ and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.

This is one of the most complete expressions of Paul’s Christology found in any of his writings. I urge all of you as Christians, especially those of you who will be baptized this morning, to come here again and again. Compare every teaching you receive about Christ to these great statements. Flee from any teaching that would take away from this, or seek to add to it in any way. False teaching which erodes our doctrine of Christ is a termite which gnaws away at the very heart and core of our faith.

There was another termite which was attacking the church in Colosse. That is false teaching about the work of Christ. When I speak about the work of Christ, I am speaking primarily about Christ’s saving work, his work in being the sacrifice of atonement for our sins. Taken together, the person of Christ and the work of Christ constitute what Paul refers to as the mystery of the gospel.

When we come to the gospel and the doctrine of our salvation, once again we find that false teaching can take two forms. Once again, they represent opposite sides of the same coin.

The first is false teaching which takes away or diminishes Christ’s saving work. This is teaching which say that Christ did a great deal. What he did was important. But he didn’t do it all. He only did part of the work. We must do the rest.

Because the value of Christ’s saving work is diminished, we immediately see the other side of the coin. That is false teaching which adds to Christ’s saving work. If Christ didn’t do it all, then we must make up what is lacking. We must do our part in order to complete our salvation.

The reasoning goes like this: You have believed in Christ. That is a necessary thing. That is a good beginning. But now, to be a real Christian, to be truly pleasing to God, to be fully accepted by him, there are things you must do. In Colossians we see some of the attempts of the false teachers to add things on to the Gospel.

Let’s read Colossians 2:4: ⁴ I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments. And then down to verse 8: See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ. Do you see what is being added in these verses? Philosophy, fine sounding arguments, human tradition, ideas originating from a human source.

Let’s look at verse 16: Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. What is added here? Religious observance and celebrations, rituals, religious acts, rules, prohibitions.

Now down to verse 18: Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions. Here the focus is on mystical experiences; visions, dreams, spiritual experiences.

The key here is that anything we add to Christ’s work diminishes his work. Look back at 2:8 again: See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ. We really need to stress that last phrase; “rather than on Christ.” Anything we add as a necessary part of the gospel will ultimately take our focus away from Christ and his sufficient saving work on our behalf.

Let’s listen as Paul expounds the sufficiency of Christ’s work, starting in Colossians 1:13-14: For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, ¹⁴ in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Let’s continue in verses 20-23: Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. ²² But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— ²³ if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.

Once again in Colossians 2:11-15: In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, ¹² having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. ¹³ When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, ¹⁴ having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. ¹⁵ And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

It’s all about Christ. Christ has done it all! There is nothing to add. We can only believe in him and in the salvation he has provided. Beware of any teaching which tells you that to be fully saved, fully accepted by God, fully right with God, fully sanctified in his sight, you must add something to Christ; whether it be some certain mystical experience or act of religious observance or membership in some particular church. This is a termite which gnaws at the heart and soul of our faith.

These, then, were the errors that Paul wrote his letter to counteract. They were the termites which were attacking the faith of the Colossian believers. In different forms and under different names, they have continued to attack the faith of the church down through the ages. Colossians helps us to recognize them and counteract them. The most powerful antidote to false teaching is a consistent contemplation of Christ and his finished work. This is what Paul urges in Colossians 3:1-2: Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. ² Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

I offer this to those of you who will be baptized this morning. “Keep your head in the clouds!” Keep your eyes on Christ and the reality of who he is and what he has done.

We would be remiss, however, in our overview of Colossians if we do not ask an additional question: Now what? Now that I’ve been baptized, now that my Christology is intact, now that I have taken my stand on the true gospel, what now? Paul always follows his doctrinal expositions and explanations with practical exhortations. This letter is no exception. Let me read just a few of them:

Colossians 1:9-10: For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. ¹⁰ And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God.

Colossians 2:6-7: So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, ⁷ rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

“Walk worthy. As you received Christ, continue to walk in him.” This is expanded in the rest of chapter 3 and 4, as he described the things we are to take off and the things we are to put on; as he describes the Christian’s responsibilities in different relationships. We are called to an obedience which grows out of our salvation. This obedience is not the root of our salvation. That is and must always be Christ and the gospel. But this obedience is to be the fruit of our salvation. We are to bear fruit and grow.

To those of you who will be baptized, your baptism is a reflection on the completed work of Christ. It is a mark of your initiation into the body of Christ and into the gospel. This is what Christ has done for you and in you. Christ is sufficient. His work of redemption is sufficient. There is nothing to add. But as you emerge from the water, you emerge with a new calling and with new responsibilities. You are called to walk in a manner that is worthy of Christ and of his Gospel, not in order to be saved, but to accurately reflect the reality that you have been saved and that you now belong to Christ.

Well, we have done it. We have finished Colossians. Christ above all! In the universe and in our lives. Christ is supreme. Christ is sufficient. Let us keep our eyes on him, and our minds fixed in heaven. “Head in the clouds.” But never forget, our heads are connected to our feet. “Feet on the ground.” “Walk worthy of the Lord, pleasing him in every way.”