The Tenth Sunday after Pentecost
July 24, 2016
Colossians 2:6-15
So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as LORD, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. 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. For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. 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, 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. 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, 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. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. (NIV1984)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
“That’s just your interpretation.” That is a statement that I have heard far too often from far too many people. Usually, I hear that statement from someone who doesn’t want to hear what the Bible says because they don’t like what the Bible says. And so in a desperate yet feeble attempt to try and convince themselves that they can go on believing whatever they think the Bible says, they cling to the watery hope that what you or I are sharing with them is just our “interpretation” of what the Bible says.
“The God that I believe in would never….” While I haven’t heard that statement quite as often as, “That’s just your interpretation,” it is a statement that I have heard on more than a few occasions by more than a few people. Usually, I hear that statement when someone disagrees with God’s perfect justice. “The God that I believe in would never send anyone to hell.” “The God that I believe in would never say babies are born sinful.” “The God that I believe in would never say that you have to believe in Jesus in order to be saved.” The more open we are about our faith, the more often we talk about Jesus the more likely we are to hear opinions such as, “That’s just your interpretation” and “The God that I believe in would never….”
As we continue our study of Paul’s letter to his brothers and sisters in Colosse we focus our attention on a very simple and a very practical truth: When Guarding Against False Teaching— Always Emphasize the Centrality of Christ! There are two things that we want to see this morning. First, we want to see that Jesus is the center of everything we believe. Second, we want to see that Jesus is the center of everything God has done for us.
If you were here last Sunday then you will remember that I said that guarding against false teaching by emphasizing the supremacy of Christ will automatically lead us to guard against false teaching by emphasizing the centrality of Christ. If you were here last Sunday then you may also recall that I saw the transition from the supremacy of Christ to the centrality of Christ in the words of Colossians 1:28, “We proclaim him (Christ), admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ.” The key word here is the word which is translated as “perfect.” The word which Paul uses here in our text comes from the same family of words as the word that Jesus used when He said from the cross, “It is finished,” or “It is complete,” or “I have reached my goal” (John 19:30). The only way for us to be “perfect,” the only way for us to be “complete,” the only way for us to “reach our goal” is to be “in the sphere of Christ.”
Paul expands on that very same truth here in our text for today as he points us to the centrality of Christ in everything we believe as well as the centrality of Christ in everything God has done for us. Every false teaching— without fail! — both detracts from the supremacy of Christ and removes Christ from the center of what is believed. Every false teaching— without fail! — both detracts from the supremacy of Christ and removes Christ from the center of what God has done for us. Therefore, the only way for our beliefs to be “complete” and “perfect,” the only way for everything that God has done for us to “reach its goal” and be “finished” is to have Christ as the center of it all!
Paul’s emphasis on the centrality of Christ in everything we believe is brought out in the opening portion of our text. He writes, “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. 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.”
You may have noticed that the picture that Paul paints for us here is very similar to Jesus’ picture of the vine and the branches. (See John 15) As Christians we are like plants. Our faith, that is everything we believe, is “rooted” in Christ Jesus. Our faith, that is, everything we believe, is “built up” and “strengthened” by what we have been taught— “the word of God in its fullness” as Paul told us last week. (Colossians 1:25)
Unfortunately, there are those who want to take us, our children and our grandchildren “captive.” Their goal is to enslave us by leading us to believe and accept false teachings, teachings that directly contradict the Truth as it is revealed to us in the Bible. Paul describes these false teachings as “hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.” Here we might think of the tremendous emphasis that the unbelieving world puts on science and logic. If something can’t be proven on the basis of accepted scientific principles, if something does not “fit” into the parameters of what “makes sense” to us— then the world says that it cannot be believed. The theory of Evolution then trumps the Biblical account of Creation. The virgin birth of the Christ-Child and the physical resurrection of Jesus Christ are dismissed as stories that were made up long after the “historical Jesus’ was dead and gone. Over and over again Christ is removed from the center of what is being taught. Over and over again Christ is being replaced by “hollow and deceptive philosophy,” by “human tradition” and by “the basic principles of this world.”
By the grace of God we recognize the extreme danger inherent in removing Christ from the center of everything we believe. I say “extreme danger” because of what Paul goes on to tell us in verses nine and ten of our text. Look at what he says, “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.” No matter how sincerely or how deeply a person believes and trusts in a false teaching it cannot and it will not change the reality that Jesus is the Lord’s Christ, the eternal Son of God who came into this world to save us from our sins, the Almighty God who will one day return to this earth to judge all people on the basis of the Truth— which He has revealed to us right here in His holy Word. (See John 12:48)
The fact that “in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form” then leads us directly into the second point we need to take home with us from this text: Jesus is the center of everything God has done for us! While the list of wonderful things God has done for us is— thankfully! — extremely long, Paul highlights just two of those things here in our text. Look at verses eleven and twelve. In the Old Testament era the Lord God entered into a personal covenant relationship with His people through the Rite of Circumcision. In the New Testament era that same Lord God enters into a personal covenant relationship with us, His people, through the Sacrament of Holy Baptism. Some churches teach— falsely I might add— that Baptism is all about you. They teach that Baptism is a symbol of your dedication and your devotion to Jesus. However, both here in Colossians 2 and in Romans 6 Paul emphasizes the centrality of Christ in the Sacrament of Holy Baptism— just as Paul emphasizes the centrality of Christ in everything God has done for us!. Through Baptism we are buried with Christ. Through Baptism we are raised with Christ. Christ is so central to Baptism and to what God has done for us that without Christ the waters of Baptism remain just plain water.
Now look at verses thirteen through fifteen. When it comes to the centrality of Christ in everything God has done for us it doesn’t get much clearer than this! We know from Scripture that death is the direct result of sin. (See Romans 6:23a) The only reason anyone dies is because of the reality and the power of sin. And yet, Paul assures us here that “God made you alive.” How did God do this? How did God make us poor, wretched, “spiritually dead” sinners “alive”? Paul puts in very simply, doesn’t he. He says, “God made you alive with Christ”! God achieved this miraculous, mind-boggling, glorious reality by taking all of our sins, by taking all of the times that we have defiantly broken God’s holy Law, by taking the all of the times that we have “fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 6:23) and nailing them to the cross on Calvary’s hill. And then, once Christ had completely paid for all of our sins by dying in our place, once Christ removed the “wages,” the penalty that we deserve to receive because of our sins— He raised Himself from the dead! Then He made a “public spectacle” of Satan and all his minions by descending into hell to proclaim His victory— His victory over sin, over death and yes, over the devil himself! Then He physically rose from the dead on Easter Sunday to declare to the world that God’s Plan of Salvation for sinful mankind, a Plan which from all of eternity has been centered 100% on Christ and Christ alone— is “finished”! It is “complete”! Through faith in His Plan, through faith in what Christ has done for us God has made us “alive with Christ”! (Pointing to the cross)
The practical applications of emphasizing the centrality of Christ in everything we believe, the practical applications of emphasizing the centrality of Christ in everything God has done for us are limitless. Your family, your friends, your neighbors, your co-workers all know that you are a Christian. They know this from the way that you talk, from the way that you conduct yourself, from the numerous times you have invited them to church. One day when a group of people is together they ask you what you think about the fact that same sex marriage is now legal in our country and that the State of California has now legalized doctor-assisted suicide. How do you respond? Your dear friend, someone you have known for many years, confides in you that their daughter or their granddaughter is pregnant and no matter how hard they try to convince her to have an abortion so that she does not “ruin” her life, she stubbornly refuses. How do you respond? Your new neighbor asks you if you have been “born again.” When they see a little confusion on your face they follow it up by asking, “Have you made your decision to accept Jesus as the Lord of your life and then showed your love and devotion to Him by being immersed in the waters of Baptism?” Again, how do you respond? Many people would tailor their response according to whatever the latest public opinion poll reveals. Many churches will tailor their response according to what makes sense to our sinful human minds. We need to make sure that our response is always centered on Christ— what Christ reveals to us here in His Word, what Christ has done for us on the cross of Calvary’s hill. (Pointing to the cross)
“That’s just your interpretation.” “The God that I believe in would never….” Both of those opinions have led countless people as well as entire church bodies into believing and teaching things that directly contradict the Truth of God’s holy Word. May the good Lord grant that as you and I continue to guard against false teaching in our hearts, in our minds and in our lives that we will always emphasize the centrality of Christ— both the centrality of Christ in everything we believe as well as the centrality of Christ in everything God has done for us!
To God be the glory!
Amen