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Don’t stop Watching out ! Colossians 2:15-23
We continue from where we began in Colossians 2, All the Treasures of Wisdom and Experience, and the last post, Watch Out!
Verse 15 And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it (in the exposure (making a show) of Satan).
In Christ, Satan is stripped of his power and ability by being exposed to our minds. Lies only hurt us when we act on them, believing them to be true. Lies are real, but they are not true! (See Truth vs. Reality) Expose the lie and the liar, and Satan is powerless against us. Jesus got the devil to overstep his bounds by allowing himself to be crucified (which crucifixion was energized by Satan), and so the prince of darkness was exposed when God raised Jesus from the dead. By that exposure, the god of death has been defeated.
Verse 16, 17 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a holy day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbaths Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of the Christ.
There is no requirement to celebrate Christmas, or Easter. What about going to church on Sunday? Not required. At least on Christmas and Easter, go to church, right? Not required. What about coming to the fellowship meeting in my home? Not required.
Now Christ is come. He is the one who casts the shadow. In Christ, the need for going through the motions is no longer required. Being the (ex) angel of light, the devil is the god of appearance, and doesn’t care for the truth, only what things look like. Watch out for religious zealots that will bring their judgmental ways of what things look like and try to bring you into the bondage of having to behave in a certain way, needing to attend certain meetings, having to observe certain religious traditions. Watch out for these people, because you will run across them.
I remember attending a little church in our neighborhood, a few years back. The head pastor’s ministry had been transformed by the gospel of Jesus Christ which I preach, and he was turning a few heads (and hearts) in his small congregation with the power of his message. During the Sunday service, there would be a half hour of singing, prior to announcements and then this minister’s teaching. I was out in the vestibule during the singing, just outside the main area where everyone was singing. I was joyfully talking with two people who had the responsibility of greeting people as they arrived.
One of them said to me, “You know, you shouldn’t be out here. You need to be in there, worshipping God. There are people in other parts of the world that would give anything to be part of such a wonderful worship service.” See, she was judging after the flesh. She was judging in respect of a holy day. I wasn’t doing it the way she thought it ought to be done. My flesh just didn’t fit the mold she had in mind. Fortunately, I knew what she was doing, and the lie of it, and so I wasn’t negatively affected at all. I knew enough to watch out!
Verse 18 (from the Amplified version) Let no man defraud you by acting as an umpire and declaring you unworthy and disqualifying you for the prize, insisting on self-abasement and worship of angels, taking his stand on visions (he claims) he has seen, vainly puffed up by his sensuous notions and inflated by his unspiritual thoughts and fleshly conceit.
If you have been involved in a religious group, then you most likely have run across the individuals this verse is talking about. Judgmental, adamant in their spirituality, even though they are very unedifying. Lacking an understanding of Christ, they seek spiritual experiences, and so are deceived by the evil spirits with which they are influenced and led. They can quote the authors you’ll find in a Christian bookstore, but they don’t understand the simplest tenets of being in Christ. They strain at a gnat, but swallow a camel. Watch out for these people… you will run across them.
I remember being a part of a home fellowship for a while, of which I was not the overseer. We were going through a book which taught prayer, and the idea was that we would take turns reading one chapter, and then would discuss the truths of what we saw, so that the truth of prayer would be built into our understanding.
But there was this one woman who would come regularly. When we were done reading, and the time for discussion would come, she invariably would want to share a vision she’d received; not a single one of which ever had anything to do with the subject matter of the chapter we’d just read. She would share her vision, and then for the next hour we would waste our time guessing at what the vision might mean.
“I had a vision of a clown, and the clown turned to charcoal.” Seriously! But could she ever tell us what her vision meant? No! And did we ever really search out the truths of prayer while we were guessing at the meaning of one of her visions? No! And did her vision or our guessing at it’s meaning ever lead us into a closer relationship with God? No! And was this one big way Satan stole from every one of us? Yes! Total and absolute waste of time! A perfect example of what we just read in verse 18!
Verse 19 And not holding the head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increases with the increase of God.
Going back to this “vision” woman, I remember one time, after I’d just finished sharing some aspect of Jesus Christ. She looked at me and said, “Where did you learn this? Who taught you?” (She went to conference after conference, and was very proud of dropping names). Well, I looked at her and said, “The Lord Jesus Christ taught me.” And she dismissively exclaimed, “Ha!” Why? Because she didn’t hold to the head. She held to Pastor so-and-so, to the Right Reverend So-and-So, to Preacher such-and-such, to Author so-and-so. But she didn’t hold to Jesus Christ as her head.
Holding is an interesting word, especially to those who have heard me teach before. It’s the verb form of the Greek word kratos, and means “to have or hold power over.” In this use, we are to strongly hold to the Head (Christ), firmly and with conviction, not allowing anything or anyone talk us away from it.
Our spiritual nourishment is supplied by the lordship of Jesus Christ. When Christ is our head, we live rich, fat, spiritual lives. Our relationships with others are rich and nourishing, our thoughts concerning our own selves are rich and nourishing. Satan has to trick us away from the head, Jesus Christ, before he can steal from us, render us ineffective, even kill us. Hold strongly to Jesus Christ as your lord and allow nothing – no thought, no argument, no judgment, no reasoning (no matter how “spiritual”) – to lead you away.
Next time you go to a church service, listen to how much the lordship of Jesus Christ is being taught and proclaimed. You’ll know what is nourishing the congregation by what is being proclaimed from the pulpit.
Verses 20-22 Wherefore if you be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are you subject to ordinances, (Touch not, taste not, handle not), Which all are to perish with the using; after the commandments and doctrines of men?
Verse 23 (Amplified Version) Such (practices) have indeed the outward appearance (that popularly passes ) for wisdom, in promoting self-imposed rigor of devotion and delight in self-humiliation and severity of discipline of the body, but they are of no value in checking the indulgence of the flesh (the lower nature). Instead, they do not honor God, but serve only to indulge the flesh.
In Christ there are no motions to go through, no religious practice, no feast days, no religious observances, no vanity, no philosophy, no “spiritual experience” that must happen. In Christ you are completely completely complete, lacking nothing. Now, learning to be complete in our own hearts and understanding, and to walk in that completeness, bringing it to others, that is the challenge of our lifetime!!
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Related studies:
Spiritual Pinball
Aspects of the Mystery of Christ
Holy Spirit Sanctification
Satan Exposed
