If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. Col. 2:20-23, ESV.
We serve a risen Savior! I pray that your hearts and your homes were filled with this truth yesterday. It was an odd Easter, but it was a good one for many as home worship services spilled over into a day of celebrating the risen Christ. Now it’s Monday. And on Monday we have a fantastic opportunity to show that Sunday was true. We can move from the celebration of our risen King to servant obedience toward Him. And Colossians 2:20-23 is extremely helpful in making that transition. Back in Colossians 2:15, we were told that Christ defeated the demonic powers that ruled over our lost hearts. He defeated them on the cross. Well, Sunday has come, and Christ is risen, and we are “alive in Christ.” So, on Monday, and every day thereafter, we should live like those old spirits no longer have power over us. We have, with Christ, died to them. To be dead to these spirits and alive to Christ means not living according to the rules of men who still serve them. What are their rules? Paul lists a few, but the best way to identify them is this: They have “an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.” They look good, but they are useless. The world teaches that self-sacrifice and suffering in acts of religion will make you good. That is at the core of almost every world religion. But, in the end, it does not work and you still sin. There is the key. Only the self-sacrifice and suffering of Christ have any power to deal with your sin, make you righteous in God’s eyes, and give you a heart to follow Jesus. To be right in God’s eyes, you trust in Christ. You trust that he took your sin and paid for it on the cross and that His righteousness is now accounted to you. Then, with a new heart, you step out to serve King Jesus. You don’t do it to earn His favor by keeping His rules, but because that is who you now are. You don’t do it to look good to men, but to glorify Christ. I am praying for you. May your Monday reflect your Easter Sunday. Pastor Don And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. Col. 2:13-15, ESV.
We are currently engaged in a struggle. Most people are social distancing and wearing masks when they go out in public. Businesses are shuttered. Society is battling an enemy virus. But there are other battle-lines. Jobs have been lost. The market is in the tank. Isolation is taking an emotional toll on people everywhere. This is a multi-front war. The battle on the virus-front has opened up other battle-lines: political, economic, and emotional. This is not strange. Rarely does war have but one battle line. So it was on the cross. As Christ set aside our sin debt, forgiving us of our trespasses, He also “disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.” Christ’s death not only won the battle over sin and death and hell for His people, but it also won the battle against the spiritual forces of darkness. Grant Osborne describes how Paul uses battle-language to describe this second front in verse 15: “The subjugation of the “powers (literally, ‘rulers’) and authorities” by God is pictured as a Roman triumph (as also in 2 Cor 2:14–16). After a victory the conquering general, wearing the toga picta (a purple emperor’s robe with gold ornaments), would ride through the streets of Rome in a war chariot drawn by four horses. Marching behind in chains was the defeated army as captives, with the generals to be executed and the soldiers sold into slavery. Thus many interpreters translate this clause in 2:15 “made public display, leading them as captives in his triumphal procession.” Christ is exalted and demonstrates his glory publically for all the heavens to see by stripping the satanic forces of their power and leading them captive behind his victory chariot on his way through the heavens.” [1] Christian, Christ bought your forgiveness on the cross. He also defeated those spiritual powers that wage war against Him and His people. In these challenging days, you may find yourself battling against dark spiritual powers. If so, remember that Christ won both battles on the cross. Your sins are forgiven at the cross. Christ’s enemies are defeated at the cross. Your foe is a disgraced failure. Hallelujah for the cross! Looking forward to Sunday, Pastor Don [1] Grant R. Osborne, Colossians & Philemon: Verse by Verse, Osborne New Testament Commentaries (Bellingham: Lexham, 2016), 78. From then on Pilate sought to release him, but the Jews cried out, “If you release this man, you are not Caesar’s friend. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.” So when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Stone Pavement, and in Aramaic Gabbatha. Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, “Behold your King!” They cried out, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” So he delivered him over to them to be crucified.
So they took Jesus, and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them. Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” Many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek. So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but rather, ‘This man said, I am King of the Jews.’ ” Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written.” When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier; also his tunic. But the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom, so they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be.” This was to fulfill the Scripture which says, “They divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.” So the soldiers did these things, but standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home. After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. Since it was the day of Preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who had been crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. He who saw it has borne witness—his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth—that you also may believe. For these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken.” And again another Scripture says, “They will look on him whom they have pierced.” John 19:12-37, ESV. Today it is my prayer that you would know Christ and Him crucified. Pastor Don And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. Col 2:13–14, ESV.
Certain events in life change us. My father died on February 2, 2002. I was 35 years old. Dad was 63. We had always been close. He had a brain aneurysm while getting ready for work, slipped into a coma, and within days, he died. That changed me. I never looked at the world the same way after that. Lots of things that seemed big before now seemed small. COVID-19 is changing us. Families are changing as some are forced together by a stay-at-home order, while others are forced apart because mom or dad work in a hospital and can’t come home. Huggers and sports fans are learning to do without. We are not robots. The big events in our lives change us. If you are a Christian, Colossians 2:13-14 reminds you of the life-changing event that happened almost 2000 years ago, on an executioner’s cross, just outside of Jerusalem. Before this event, you were spiritually dead. Your sin brought death to your soul. You, as a Gentile, not raised under the covenant God made with Israel, were cut off from the benefits of the people of God. Your dead soul deserved no kindness from God, no rescue from its lifeless state. Then it happened. The event. The cross. The crucifixion of the sinless Son of God. This event changed everything. God made you alive together with Him. From death to life! Trespasses forgiven. That which brought death to your soul is yours no more. The sin-debt is canceled. It has been set aside. It is no longer on your permanent account for it was transferred to Christ’s account on the cross. The law has nothing against you. You were declared, “Innocent!” Looking back, I can tell you how my dad’s death changed me. It won’t be many years before we look back and talk about how the COVID-19 crisis changed us. Are you able to look to the cross of Jesus and see how that event has changed you? Let me encourage you to spend some time thinking about that today. Tomorrow will be Good Friday and we will think of this together, but a day’s head-start would do us all some good. I am praying that God will keep your eyes on Jesus as you deal with whatever this pandemic event is throwing at you. In Christ, Pastor Don See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. Col 2:8-10.
Sometimes we need a good warning because we have become complacent in the face of danger. Debby and I like to watch cooking competition shows, and it is rather amazing how often the competitors, people who cook for a living, cut themselves. They are so used to using sharp knives to slice vegetables that they forget the danger and slice a finger, too. We live, every day, in a world filled with danger. With the internet, our access to dangerous philosophies and spiritual lies is greater than it has ever been in human history. The danger is everywhere. And the danger is real. These philosophies and empty lies pull us toward worldly thinking and godless spirituality. This is dangerous because they also pull us away from Christ. He is fully God, the sovereign God over all creation, and God over these foolish philosophies and empty lies. As such, He will one day reveal them for what they are, and those who have embraced them will suffer more than a cut finger. Believers must not embrace these philosophies and lies because we have been filled in Christ. We have been made complete in Him. We need nothing that these worldly snake oil salesmen are selling. When we have Christ, we have the perfect source of holiness and hope. There is no need to look elsewhere. We cannot be sure who penned these words, but I pray that they are encouraging words for you, as you strive to heed Paul’s warning: How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word! What more can He say than to you He hath said, To you, who for refuge to Jesus have fled? "Fear not I am with thee; O be not dismayed, For I am thy God, and will still give thee aid; I'll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand, Upheld by My righteous omnipotent hand. "When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie, My grace, all sufficient shall be thy supply; The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design Thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine. "The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose I will not, I will not desert to his foes; That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake, I'll never no never no never forsake!" In Christ, Pastor Don |
From Pastor DonWriting about the Bible and praying that it will be of some good for someone. Archives
June 2021
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