Sermon for Trinity Eleven – Sunday September 1, 2019

Calvary/Marquette ● Soli Deo Gloria

Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus, the Christ. Amen.

Colossians 2:11–23 (NKJV)

¹¹ In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, ¹² buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. ¹³ And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, ¹⁴ having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. ¹⁵ Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.

 

¹⁶ So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, ¹⁷ which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ. ¹⁸ Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, ¹⁹ and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God.

 

²⁰ Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations—²¹ “Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,” ²² which all concern things which perish with the using—according to the commandments and doctrines of men? ²³ These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.

In the Name of Jesus, the Christ,

   Who fulfilled the Law of God for us,

      Who paid our debt of sin against it,

         In whom alone we are declared righteous,

             Dear Fellow Redeemed in His Precious Blood –

 

Have you ever been blindsided by someone’s religious comment?

 

ü  Easter - You are discussing the celebration of Jesus’ Resurrection, when someone declares that Easter is based on a fertility goddess ritual and that those who celebrate Easter are involved in it.

ü  Trinity – You are discussing God as he reveals Himself in the Bible, when someone says, “How can you believe that God is Triune when the word isn’t even found in the Bible?”

ü  Trick or Treat – Our kids don’t ‘trick or treat’ because it’s an activity that is part of an ancient druid ritual.

 

Suddenly, the seed of doubt is planted and you wonder…is it true?

(Well, NO, Easter isn’t based on the worship of a fertility goddess. YES, the word ‘triune’ isn’t found in the Bible but it’s certainly taught in the Bible. NO, collecting candy from the neighbors isn’t an ancient druid ritual.)

 

The Colossians Christians were in much the same situation.  Many of them were born unbelievers, but by the grace of God came to trust in the God of the Bible and to believe that Jesus had solved their problem of sin.  Then all of a sudden, someone suggested that they were short of true spiritual wisdom and understanding.  They were told that they were gullible simpletons to believe that all they needed was found in Christ Alone.

The Holy Spirit directed the Apostle Paul to write to them to show them that they were rich in spiritual wisdom and knowledge.  For in Christ are found all the treasures of wisdom and understanding.  He warned them about being enslaved by Human Philosophies and Empty Deceit, all models that deny Christ.

The Colossians were also being told that they were not the Christians that they could be – because they didn’t observe certain rules and regulations. 

 

ü  They were told that unless men underwent the religious operation of circumcision, they couldn’t be sure they were part of the family of God.

ü  They were being told that they should add to the work of Christ by continuing in Old Testament Dietary Laws and by rigidly observing the festivals of the Jews and the Sabbath Day.  It was even suggested that they humbly worship angels to be right with God and grow up into mature Christians.

These were human additions – which appeared to be valid because God had once commanded some of these things of the Jews.  God had never demanded that the Gentiles observe these rules and regulations.  They were never intended as an addition to Christ, but a shadow, a picture of Him to be discarded when the Christ Himself appeared.

They were being told to replace Christ – not only with empty human philosophy – but also with other religious rules and regulations.  This isn’t only a matter of concern for the Colossians.  It’s a matter of concern for us today, especially as conservative Lutheran Christians. Legalism is a trap designed for us, for those in whom the conscience works, for those who are concerned about obedience to God.

It is less likely that we will suddenly lapse into liberalism…but to go the other way…to be ultra conservative…to add requirements that God has not.  Therefore, we pray that God the Holy Spirit bless our study of these words so that we are led to cling to the life, death and resurrection of Christ alone and add nothing to Him.  Amen.

+++++++

 

Why don’t we do all the things that first century Jews did?  Why don’t we pattern our lives after 1^st Century Christians?

Why don’t we insist on the practice of circumcision?  Why don’t we avoid ham and practice the other dietary rules that are recorded in the book of Leviticus?  Why don’t we worship on the 7^th Day of the week, on the Sabbath, Saturday?  Why don’t we insist that every member of the congregation tithe or give 10% of all their possessions back to the LORD?

Well, the simplest answer is, ‘because these commands were given to the OT Israelites.’  They have not been restated as commandments intended for New Testament Gentiles or non-Jews.  Those commands were given to the Jews to separate them as a people until the Christ came, who is pictured in those ceremonial laws.  It may sound like a good idea, except that if God didn’t apply the rule to us…it’s our rule.

There were some in Colossae who were suggesting that it was necessary to observe all those rules…to be complete Christians.  The Holy Spirit systematically dismantled the suggestion, beginning with the matter of circumcision.  The truth was that what Christ had done for them was far greater than a minor surgery to remove a strip of flesh.  

 

¹¹ In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, ¹² buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.

After God promised Abraham that He would make of Him a great nation and that the Promised Savior would arise from his family, He gave them a reminder of the promise.  He established with Abraham and his descendants the practice of circumcision, the removal of a strip of flesh.  It was a picture of the removal of the sinful flesh and a reminder of what the Christ would come to do.

Unfortunately, in the course of time the meaning and promise was largely forgotten.  Many of the Jews of Jesus’ day saw it as a right (not a rite), a ‘get into God’s family free card.’ They took pride in themselves and looked down on those who didn’t have the strip of flesh removed.

Finally, the time was right and God kept the promise and the Savior appeared.  He was an Israelite and was circumcised according to the Law.  He was more than a man; He was and is the Son of the Living God.  He established a new covenant, a new arrangement that is empowered by His own death on the Cross…which we know as Baptism.  The Holy Spirit here calls Baptism – the Circumcision of Christ.

In circumcision a strip of flesh is removed; in Baptism our sinful nature is put to death.  In baptism the old man is crucified with Christ, dies and is buried and a new man arises as we are raised up from spiritual death to spiritual life. When you were baptized in the manner specified by Christ, you were cleansed of sin, separated from sin and dedicated to God.

It’s personal…God did this for each of us!  He didn’t only separate us from sin and make us alive, He wiped out the written requirements that stood against us.  He fulfilled – in Christ – all those other commandments.

  

 

¹³ And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, ¹⁴ having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

 

We didn’t add anything…because we were spiritually dead in trespasses. God made us alive together with Christ and forgave you all trespasses, all sins.  Please notice that little ‘three letter word’ – All.

This past week everyone of us disobeyed God.  We took pride in ourselves. We had wicked thoughts of anger or lust.  We desired things that we’d have to sin to get.  We used our tongues to tear down the reputation of others.  If you are honest with yourself, you don’t have to try very hard to come up with a list.  We can’t balance the scales; we can’t make up for our sins – but at times we are tempted to try.  There is only one person who can make it right.

God has forgiven you – in Christ – all your sins.  It doesn’t say, ‘most of your sins’ and then prescribe that you accomplish certain rituals to make up for those left over.  It isn’t just in this passage but in other places (1 John 1:7):

“…the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.”

He has wiped out the handwriting of requirements (thou shalt, thou shalt not) that was against us.  He has Himself fulfilled those requirements by keeping every commandment of God for us as our God-Appointed-Substitute.  All of those requirements, those demands and all of our failures were nailed to the cross.

Jesus didn’t only pay the debt…He fulfilled the requirements…He took them out of the way once and for all.  He posted the paid bill on the Cross.  It is finished.

What about our spiritual enemies?

¹⁵ Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.

Human beings are often a superstitious lot.  It isn’t just thinking that wearing your ‘lucky hat’ or parking in the ‘lucky spot’ will affect the outcome of the game.  There are people who still imagine that their futures can be determined or divined from the stars – and daily consult their horoscope.

It seems that the false teachers in Colossae tried to capitalize on this tendency, this human weakness.  It seems that they were suggesting that the Colossians should ‘cover all their bases’ by making friends with and maybe even worshipping angels or demons as a way to protect themselves from evil.

Satan (the Devil) and the evil angels (demons) are very real beings.  They are here referred to as ‘principalities’ (rulers) and ‘powers’ (authorities).   There is no reason to ‘make friends’ with them or consult them (Ouija board) because they have been defeated and their accusing power has been taken away.  When Jesus died on the cross, He took away their ‘fuel’ and their ability to accuse – by making atonement for every sin.

In fact, he made a public spectacle of them – in the Cross – and I can’t but also think of His descent into hell in which He proclaimed his victory in Satan’s own back yard.

 

What does this all mean? It means that Christ has set us free from the flesh, from the Law’s condemnation and demands and from our every enemy. You are set free in Christ.  So, when seemingly ‘religious people’ tell us that we must do something or keep some observance to make our freedom sure, we may dismiss it on the basis of these words:

¹⁶ So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, ¹⁷ which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ. ¹⁸ Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, ¹⁹ and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God.

Let no one judge you. Let no one ‘sit in judgment’ of you because of…

 

ü  Food or Drink -- No one can tell you that you are doing wrong or doing right if you eat meat during the season of Lent. When ‘religious people’ make these commandments, they are the commandments of men and not of God. No one has a right to tell you that you are sinning if you eat food that God once forbad to the Jews.

The Lord Jesus Himself said (Mark 7:14-15: cf. also 1 Timothy 4:4):

“Hear Me, everyone, and understand: ¹⁵ There is nothing that enters a man from outside which can defile him; but the things which come out of him, those are the things that defile a man.”

ü  A Festival, New Moon or Sabbath – No one can tell you that you are sinning because you do or don’t observe one of the Jewish Festivals.  When ‘religious people’ like the 7^th Day Adventists say tell us we sin because we do not worship on the 7^th Day – Saturday the Sabbath or even when some suggest that we must worship on Sunday as if it were the new sabbath…they are establishing rules that God Himself has set aside.

Manna in the wilderness, the showbread in the temple, the festivals of the Jews and the Sabbath Day itself all picture Christ, who is the true bread from heaven, the true sabbath that gives rest to our souls. If we were to return to these things it would be like worshipping the shadow of the cross while turning our back on the means of our redemption, the Cross itself.

Our growth in faith comes from God who has established our faith and who nourishes and causes it to grow and bear fruit by word and sacrament. 

 

²⁰ Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations—²¹ “Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,” ²² which all concern things which perish with the using—according to the commandments and doctrines of men? ²³ These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.

We died with Christ…and when we died, we were separated from sin and set free from the demands and condemnation of the Law.  We still strive to live in accord with the Law of God, but not to make certain our salvation…but because it is complete, finished in Christ.

Religious rules and regulations, be they new or old, unless established by God Himself add nothing to Christ.  These things may appear to be humble, to appear wise, even religious…. but they are of no value against the flesh.  Rather, these additions turn from Christ to self and enflame human pride.

In Christ alone are you set free!  Why go back to bondage?

 

God grant we remain forever free…

by faith in Jesus and what He has done!

Amen!