Focus On Jesus
Colossians 2:8-15
April 21, 2019
This morning we gather here on what is a wonderful Sunday for the church.
It is the day where we commit ourselves to remembering that
Jesus Christ was crucified for our sins,
But on the third day He rose from the dead
Thus proving Himself righteous and confirming the effectiveness of our salvation.
So this morning we are going to take a moment to reflect
Upon the realities of Christ and His salvation.
And the passage we are going to use to do that is found in Colossians 2.
Just a brief BACKGROUND will help us grasp the text even better.
From the letter we know that PAUL NEVER PERSONALLY MET the Colossians.
Colossians 2:1 “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,”
Instead, while Paul was imprisoned their pastor Epaphras had traveled to find Paul to gain insight from him regarding the struggles of that church and region.
Colossians 1:7-8 “just as you learned it from Epaphras, our beloved fellow bond-servant, who is a faithful servant of Christ on our behalf, and he also informed us of your love in the Spirit.”
The church faced many dangerous heresies.
Perhaps the only difficulty for our understanding is that THOSE HERESIES ARE NOT SPECIFICALLY NAMED.
And in one sense the specifics of each heresy didn’t matter
• For they all had the same ultimate goal,
• Which was to pull your focus off of Christ and the sufficiency of His salvation
• And put the focus back on you the necessity of your works.
Paul saw this is as the most terrible theft of the ages.
So he wrote to remind the Colossians who their real treasure was,
And not to allow anyone to steal that treasure from them.
Colossians 2:1-2 “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, 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,”
Paul wanted them to know the wealth of Christ.
Colossians 2:18 “Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind,”
Paul wanted them to enjoy the prize of the sufficiency of Christ.
So basically what you have here is
• The apostle Paul writing a letter to a church he has never met
• To help them navigate through a culture filled with theological errors and problems.
• Reminding them that the key to overcoming all deception is to rightly know Christ and to focus on Him.
I think we can certainly find why this book would prick our curiosity.
This could be us…
And THIS MORNING I just want us to pick up in chapter 2 verse 8.
We pick up in 2:8 where we read:
“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.”
It’s an obvious warning to the Colossians
That there are dangerous belief systems all around them,
And such which they must continually be on guard against.
In fact, what Paul describes here are “SPIRITUAL PIRATES”
The Greek phrase “takes you captive”
Comes from a Greek word that many think Paul may have made up.
It’s only used here in the Bible, and it won’t show up in Greek literature
For some time after Paul’s life and ministry.
It’s a compound word that Paul just put together.
SULAGOGEO
SULE = “booty” or “plunder”
AGO = “to carry off”
Paul put the words together as “one who carries off plunder or booty, or even as one who kidnaps.”
We are talking about spiritual pirates.
And Paul says “See to it that no one takes you captive”
Make sure no one kidnaps you from the truth.
Make sure no one carries you away from what is true.
Paul just wants the church to be aware that around every corner
Is a deception that threatens to pull you away from the truth.
Don’t let the pirates steal you away.
And Paul even gives here one such threat.
It is “philosophy and empty deception”
“philosophy” is another compound Greek word,
It comes from PHILEO which means “to love” and SOPHIA which means “wisdom”.
Hence philosophy is the love of wisdom.
And in one sense everyone is a philosopher since everyone has an opinion,
But Paul here speaks of those who use philosophy
As an “empty deception”
Many a philosopher has tried to solve the problems of the universe
Simply by looking within himself for the answers.
He looks at his own logic and reason and seeks the answers for his existence.
It is ultimately futile and useless
Since we were created at the pleasure of another and for His purposes.
Paul explains this specific philosophy as that which is “according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world”
Everything that is being taught here is that which has been taught before.
It is passed down as true only because someone else first believed it.
Sort of like evolution in our day.
Never proven, not a fact, but passed down through tradition and so believed by many.
And Paul’s point is that at its very core it is elemental and worldly.
Now, we could discuss this a bit further but time would fail us.
The MAIN PROBLEM with this philosophy is seen at the end of the verse.
Namely that these pirates inundate you with philosophy
And empty deception and tradition and worldly principles
“rather than according to Christ”
And without all the nuances of the deceptions being permeated
The main problem is clear.
THROUGH THEIR DECEPTIONS THEY PULL YOU AWAY FROM CHRIST.
These pirates don’t take you from your ship or your parents or your job,
THEY SEEK TO PULL YOU AWAY FROM CHRIST.
• They seek to steal your focus off of Him.
• They seek to point your head to other things.
AND THIS IS FASCINATING
When Paul wrote a letter to a church he had never met
Facing an unknown number of deceptions
PAUL COMES IN WITH ONE MAIN ENCOURAGEMENT.
Don’t let anyone or anything or any doctrine or philosophy
Pull your focus off of Christ.
If anything or anyone or any teaching turns your head
Off of who Christ is and what He did…RUN!
That is the work of spiritual pirates.
“See to it that no one takes you captive…”
Don’t let anyone captivate you with anything other than Christ.
That’s really the message.
That’s really the point.
But to aid that point Paul then gives us
One of the most beautiful and profound statements on Christ
Found anywhere in the Bible.
The depth here is unsearchable…
There are more layers than we will ever get through…
But even on the surface with our simple understanding,
We can see here the beauty of who Christ is, what Christ did,
And why we should never let anything take our gaze off of Him.
And so this morning as Paul tells us to fix our focus on Jesus,
I just want us to walk through this passage
TO SEE WHO JESUS IS AND WHAT THAT MEANS FOR US.
There are 3 main points that Paul makes about Christ.
#1 HIS FULLNESS
Colossians 2:9
It is the most profound and concise statement
On the deity of Jesus in the entire Bible.
It is the verse which crushes every heresy which claims that Jesus is not God.
“For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form.”
In short, Jesus has it all.
• There is no attribute of God…
• There is no ability of God…
• There is no aspect of God…
• Which Jesus does not possess.
• Should we talk about God’s grace…Jesus has it.
• Should we talk about God’s mercy…Jesus has it.
• Should we talk about God’s holiness…Jesus has it.
• Should we talk about God’s power…Jesus has it.
• Should we talk about God’s wisdom…Jesus has it.
Jesus has it all.
Colossians 1:15-20 “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities — all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.”
Jesus has no limitation…
Jesus has no missing aspect…
He is God in human flesh.
All the deity is His.
“all the fullness” is a complete term.
All of everything.
Jesus is lacking nothing.
Can we see that?
Well what does that mean for us?
It means: IF YOU ARE IN HIM YOU ARE FULL
(10a) “and in Him you have been made complete,”
• “fullness” in verse 9 is PLEROMA
• “complete” in verse 10 is PLEROO
Jesus is full, and if you are in Him, then you are full.
In short, if you have Jesus, you have EVERYTHING.
There is nothing lacking.
He’s got it all, and if you’ve got Him, you’ve got it all.
Does that make sense?
John 1:16 “For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.”
2 Peter 1:2-3 “Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.”
Ephesians 1:3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,”
For believers who are in Christ, every possible need is met.
• Every shortcoming is satisfied.
• Every requirement is met.
• There is no more lack, there is no more inadequacy.
In Jesus, we have everything.
That is one of Paul’s main points to the Colossians.
Colossians 1:28 “We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ.”
• Paul said that we are “complete in Christ”
Colossians 1:21-22 “And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach”
• He reconciled us to make us “holy and blameless and beyond reproach”
Jesus has it all, and if you’ve got Jesus you’ve got it all.
In Him you have everything you need.
Not the least of which is the righteousness that He provides.
We read so many passages in Scripture
That remind us of the righteous expectation of God.
We are haunted by the phrase: “You shall be holy as I am holy”; “You shall be perfect as Your heavenly Father is perfect”
The Psalmist mocks us when he asks:
Psalms 15:1-2 “O LORD, who may abide in Your tent? Who may dwell on Your holy hill? He who walks with integrity, and works righteousness, And speaks truth in his heart.”
We grieve when we read
Romans 3:10-12 “as it is written, “THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE; THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD; ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS; THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE.”
All those verses do is remind us that we, (in and of ourselves), ARE NOT ENOUGH.
• We do not have what God requires.
• We do not measure up to His expectations.
• We are lacking, we are void, we are disappointing.
UNLESS WE ARE IN JESUS.
But when we are in Jesus, we have everything,
Because Jesus has everything.
Now you understand why Paul would say,
Don’t let some philosophy pull you away from Jesus
JESUS IS EVERYTHING!
Just consider His fullness.
#2 HIS HEADSHIP
Colossians 2:10b
“and He is the head over all rule and authority;”
This is another way of saying: HE IS LORD
• He is God’s King.
• He is the ultimate authority and head over all things.
Now, this will prove especially significant later in the letter
When Paul reveals more of the problem facing the Colossians.
Colossians 2:16-17 “Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day — things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.”
There were men who were acting as “judges”.
• That is to say, they were putting themselves in authority over you and
demanding certain requirements of you.
• Things like what to eat and drink, what festival to attend, or what to do or not
do on a Sabbath day.
• And they acted as your authority.
Later Paul will also reveal:
Colossians 2:18 “Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind,”
• Other men were claiming angelic visions and thus using celestial beings as
their supposed authority for making you do or not do certain things.
So what you had going on in Colossae was a group of men (pirates)
• Who came in with their traditions and philosophies and their angelic visions
• And were using those things as a way of telling you what to do.
• They were assuming authority and leading men away from Christ and after
themselves.
So Paul reminds the Colossians of something very important.
Christ “is the head over all rule and authority.”
What does that mean for you?
It means that: IN CHRIST YOU ARE FREE
You are free from the expectations of this world
And you are free to love and serve and obey Him.
When a pirate comes in telling you that
In order to be pleasing to God you have to abstain from this food,
Or attend this festival, or follow this angelic revelation…
Paul says, all they’re trying to do is pull you away from Christ.
• He is the Lord.
• He is the One you serve.
• You are free from all those other expectations.
AND YOU SEE THIS REALITY THROUGHOUT THE LETTER AS WELL.
Colossians 1:9-10 “For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;”
Listen to this next statement Paul makes and note all the times Paul gives you the motive for why you do what you do:
Colossians 3:17-4:1 “Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father. Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and do not be embittered against them. Children, be obedient to your parents in all things, for this is well-pleasing to the Lord. Fathers, do not exasperate your children, so that they will not lose heart. Slaves, in all things obey those who are your masters on earth, not with external service, as those who merely please men, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve. For he who does wrong will receive the consequences of the wrong which he has done, and that without partiality. Masters, grant to your slaves justice and fairness, knowing that you too have a Master in heaven.”
Did you catch all that?
• Why do husbands love their wives?
• Why do wives submit to their husbands?
• Why do children obey their parents?
It’s not because philosophy or tradition or some angel tells us to,
It’s because Christ tells us to.
WE ARE SERVING HIM!
WE HAVE NO OTHER WHOM WE STRIVE TO PLEASE, BUT HIM.
Christ is the One you strive to please.
It is seen in the answers of the apostles when they were told not to preach:
Acts 4:19-20 “But Peter and John answered and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge; for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.”
What a liberating thought!
• That I am not to be taken captive by human reason or cultural expectations.
• That the majority has no effect on how I walk or live.
• I serve Christ and Christ alone – He is the head!
• Don’t fret men.
• Don’t worry about being a man pleaser.
• Be a Christ pleaser.
• Keep your focus on Him, don’t let someone steal your focus on Him and force you to put it on some other standard.
So Paul’s admonition to the Colossians is
Don’t let a Pirate steal you from devotion to Christ.
Focus on His Fullness and in Him you are full!
Focus on His Headship and in Him you are free!
#3 HIS SALVATION
Colossians 2:11-15
Now, I’ll be honest, there is more beauty and depth here than we can cover in our remaining time together but that doesn’t stop us from grasping the simple and yet profound meaning of what Paul has to say.
He wants you to focus on the salvation of Christ.
NOW LET ME SHOW YOU
Some of the human expectations
That were being thrown at the Colossians.
Here is some of what those earthly judges and angelic messengers were telling the Colossians they had to do in order to be pleasing to God.
Things like: Get circumcised!
• This was the message of the Judaizers who were fine with Gentiles being
saved so long as they converted to Judaism through circumcision.
Things like: Follow the dietary restrictions!
• This by the way is what Paul was talking about when he mentioned those
“elementary principles of the world” back in verse 8.
Colossians 2:20-21 “If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!”
Things like: You need to pay off your debt before God with suffering
Colossians 2:18a “Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement…”
Colossians 2:23 “These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.”
So let me just simplify here a little some of the nonsense
That the Colossians were being taught by these Pirates.
If you want to please God then:
• You need to get circumcised
• You need to pay off your debt through self-abasement and penance
• You need to follow these angelic visions and abstain from certain foods, etc.
Now that’s a simplification, but that’s it in a nutshell.
Get circumcised
Pay off your debt through suffering
Listen to the angels and do without certain foods and stuff
Now listen to Paul address that.
1) YOU DON’T HAVE TO GET CIRCUMCISED.
WHY?
(11-12) “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; 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.”
Circumcision was a Jewish ritual.
• It was commanded by God as a physical sign of a spiritual reality.
• By removing the foreskin it was symbolic of the necessity of removing the flesh or killing the flesh.
Now the important thing to note is that removing the foreskin of a boy was merely a symbol, it didn’t actually make him live holy.
They were actually supposed to circumcise their heart
And merely use physical circumcision as an outward symbol.
Similar to that of baptism today. We are called to die to self; to believe in Christ and so be identified with His death and burial and resurrection.
And the outward symbol of that is water baptism.
WATER BAPTISM DOESN’T WASH AWAY SINS.
• We don’t even use soap.
• It can’t even wash away dirt, let alone sins.
It is just an outward symbol of an inward reality.
And so is circumcision.
AND HERE IS PAUL’S POINT.
You’ve got all these people telling you that to be pleasing to God you need to get circumcised.
And Paul says, well if you are in Christ you already were.
• Only in Christ you were REALLY circumcised, not just symbolically circumcised.
• In Christ your flesh was ACTUALLY removed, not just symbolically removed.
• In Christ your flesh was ACTUALLY killed, not just symbolically killed.
“in Him you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ.”
He did the real one, not the symbol.
You say, WHEN? HOW?
AND THE ANSWER IS: at the moment you BELIEVED in Christ by faith.
You were IDENTIFIED with Him before God.
And in that identification you were crucified with Christ,
Buried with Christ, and raised with Christ.
And when you died, your flesh died too.
Now I know this is a deep concept, but let me see if I can simplify it.
• We have spoken of being “in Christ”
• The means to being “in Christ” is faith.
• When we believe, we believe into Christ.
• That is, God begins to identify us with Christ, and Christ with us.
On the cross,
• God identified Christ with us, and therefore crushed Him for sin.
And at the same time
• God identified us with Christ and therefore raised us also from the dead.
That is what Paul is talking about in verse 12
“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.”
By faith we are identified with Christ.
We are in Him.
• When God looks at Christ, He saw us.
• When God looks at us, He saw Christ.
• We died with Him, we were buried with Him, we were raised with Him.
In a simple sense it’s like being in an airplane.
If you are in an airplane and that airplane goes to New York, where are you going?
Well, when we believed and were united with Christ,
That means His death became our death,
And His resurrection became our resurrection.
And when a man dies, his flesh dies too.
So, Jesus didn’t just symbolically free us from the flesh,
He ACTUALLY did it through death and resurrection.
Romans 6:5-6 “For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;”
Romans 8:11 “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”
AND SO THE SIMPLE POINT IS:
You don’t have to be circumcised, Christ already freed you from the flesh.
2) YOU DON’T HAVE TO PAY OFF YOUR DEBT THROUGH SUFFERING
• A second thing these Colossians were told to do was perform self-abasement and the severe treatment of the body and thus pay off their debt before God through suffering.
But Paul says, NOT NECESSARY, Jesus already took care of your debt.
(13-14) “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.”
We are reminded here that we were “dead” in our “transgressions”
THAT IS SPIRITUAL DEATH.
• We did not know God.
• We did not comprehend God.
• We were enemies of God.
And yet, even when we were dead, He made us alive.
But if a person is dead because they have sinned against God,
You can’t just make them alive without dealing with the sin debt.
SO THAT IS WHAT JESUS DID.
He made us alive, “having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us”
That “certificate of debt” is God’s perfect holy Law,
Which accurately describes the expectation of God.
For sinners it is a record and witness of judgment.
Picture a chalkboard
• With list after list of infractions and grievances and transgressions and marks against us.
PAUL SAYS JESUS ERASED IT.
That’s what the word “canceled out” means.
EXALEIPHO – which means “to white out”
Or “to white wash” or “to wipe away”
In those days paper was often animal skins and ink didn’t have acid
So you could literally wipe it away or wash it out.
THAT IS WHAT JESUS DID.
And He did it “having nailed it to the cross”
• He took our sin upon Himself, and He was crucified.
• He bore God’s wrath against sin and there paid our debt.
• And once our debt was removed we were free to come to life.
AND SO PAUL’S SIMPLE POINT IS,
Why would you have to suffer in the flesh to satisfy God?
Jesus already paid our debt in full through His suffering.
You don’t need to be circumcised, Jesus already freed you from the flesh.
You don’t need to pay off your debt, Jesus already paid it off.
3) YOU DON’T HAVE TO LISTEN TO SOME ANGELIC MESSAGE ABOUT DIETARY RESTRICTIONS…
• You don’t have to do is listen to some angelic being (demon) that tells you “do not handle, do not taste, do not touch”
And by the way, that is a demonic message:
1 Timothy 4:1-3 “But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron, men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth.”
Paul calls it “doctrines of demons”
BUT YOU DON’T HAVE TO LISTEN TO THEM
WHY?
Because those demons aren’t in charge.
(15) “When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.”
Jesus disarmed the devil for those who are in Him.
• He’s like a dog with no teeth.
• He can bark and he can growl, but he can’t bite any more.
Christ alone is the One you must please.
So let me zoom out now
And give you just the simple sense of the passage.
THERE ARE PIRATES who will come in and try to take you captive
By getting you to follow their philosophies and traditions and will turn your head away from the sufficiency of Christ.
• They will tell you to follow them into things like circumcision and dietary restrictions and self-abasement and angelic visions.
• They will tell you of all you must do if you are to be made pleasing to God.
• They will turn your head from Christ and put it on them and will ultimately steal from you the very prize and joy of salvation.
Paul says – DON’T LET THEM!
You focus on Christ!
Because Christ is full – YOU ARE FULL
You have everything you need.
Because Christ is head – YOU ARE FREE
Pleasing Him is your only concern
Because Christ is Savior – YOU ARE FORGIVEN
You don’t have to be circumcised or severely treat your body or listen to some demonic angel telling you not to eat bacon.
Jesus already did all that is required to reconcile you to God.
He is all you need.
And this morning on Easter I simply want to remind you of that.
Our world is filled with philosophies and wisdoms and teachings
They are deceptions meant to pull you away from the sufficiency of Christ.
But to this church, which Paul had never met, his command was clear.
JUST FOCUS ON CHRIST
• HE MAKES YOU FULL – in Him you have everything you need.
• HE MAKES YOU FREE – He alone is the One you serve.
• HE MAKES YOU FORGIVEN – He suffered and satisfied God, so that you
don’t have to.
Church that is your prize!
It is Christ! Focus on Him!
And to those here this morning who are not in Jesus.
• You have never believed in Him.
• You have never been identified with His death, burial, and resurrection.
You are either still living for yourself
Or you are busy trying to fulfill some man-made list of expectations.
This morning I invite you to place your faith in Christ.
• Drop all your efforts at the door.
• Repent of your sin by which you have offended God.
• Quit trying to pay off that debt through some religious effort.
Place your faith in Christ
And find His fullness, His freedom, and His forgiveness.
It’s available to all who will believe in Him.
Colossians 1:19-20 “For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.”
