[Transcript represents full sermon's text]

       Colossians 2, starting in verse 16: “Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ” (ESV).

       Last time we were discussing how God had disarmed Satan, making a mockery of him, making him out to be an utter fool, with his accomplishment of the atonement for people’s sins, the sins of all mankind, all persons from the beginning of time to the end. That was God’s accomplishment—that which Satan missed. Satan thought he was accomplishing something else, but it turns out that through what he did, God marvelously made a way for the whole human population to be forgiven of their sins, the predicament that each person has put themselves in. Yes, it is inherited from Adam and Eve, but it also true that each person sins. And that being the case, they bring about a quality of life that is lesser than what they could have experienced had they not sinned. It is a reduced quality of life, one in which misses out on good things. Satan would like people to believe the opposite, but it is actually God’s ways that are the best ways. That should make sense to us considering God created us to begin with. Doesn’t the Creator know how his creations should live? Certainly.

       One group that sought to pervert how God said Christians should live—under freedom—was the Gnostic forefathers. The early group that would become the Gnostics. They return for us again today. And so, Paul again touches on some of the things they tried to impose upon the church, beliefs and practices that weren’t in line with the new way that God has said Christians can live. What were some of these beliefs and practices? Well, they attacked the diet first and foremost. What people eat and drink. Said there had to be restrictions, as in the observance of the Old Testament dietary laws which were no longer relevant under the new way of Christianity. Those ways had served their purposes. Remember even Peter had to be pointed out this fact in Acts 10, when it says in verse 13: “And there came a voice to him: “Rise, Peter; kill and eat” (ESV). Of course, this was in a vision that Peter had, one in which God was pointing out to him that he no longer had to observe the Old Testament ways, ways that he had even taken pride in. For he responds, “By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean” (ESV). He would struggle with this, even when we come to Galatian 2, we see Paul rebuking Peter for trying to have it both ways.

       Apparently, there were other areas, such as festivals, new moons, and Sabbath restrictions, presumably, that the pre-Gnostic individuals were also trying to impose. This leads us into the whole debate as pertains to legalism and Christian freedom. It’s a big debate, and a lot of people hold differing opinions. It seems important to note here the attitude behind what the pre-Gnostics folks were teaching. We have to remember that Paul would say elsewhere, namely to the Roman believers, the following: “One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God” (Romans 14:5-6, ESV). Therefore, it can be tempting to think that, “Oh, all observances are wrong. Special days, observing the Sabbath, those types of things the Christian doesn’t have to do.” Actually, it is up to the person or group of people what they want to do and not to do. The point is that freedom is retained, and that nobody is told they “have” to do something in order to be considered a Christian.

       So, “the substance belongs to Christ.” “The substance belongs to Christ.” If we go over to Hebrews 9, we see a good cross-reference verse into what Paul is referring to. Hebrews 9, starting in verse 8: “By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet opened as long as the first section is still standing (which is symbolic for the present age). According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, but deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation” (8-10, ESV). We can see here that the Old Testament practices did not take away people’s sins. It seems that is understood by most, and it is an important fact to understand. For it means that if the Old Testament system was not the final and complete system, that it was just a directional arrow, “a shadow of things to come” as Paul put it. That means that those Old Testament practices aren’t complete and perfect, but that they were temporarily instituted until Christ would come. Pulling out Old Testament practices, old diet regulations, special day observances, Sabbath restrictions, whatever, that doesn’t make sense. These things were a shadow of the solution in Christ, not the final product to be used forever.

       Moving on. Verse 18: “Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, and not holding fast to the Head” (ESV).

       As Paul points out, this is serious business we are discussing at this part. Serious business. “Let no one disqualify you.” That’s bad. No one wants to be disqualified. What were the problems in Colossae? First Paul mentions asceticism. What is that? A big word here. Asceticism basically means taking away everything that the human desires, or taking away all the fun. Removing good desires and the fun included with those. In thinking about this, there are no particular Christians, or groups who try to say they are Christian, that are coming to mind which reach this level of asceticism. Indeed, in our modern-day American society, where people desire good things, from various possessions all the way to who they want to marry, asceticism just doesn’t seem like it would hold up. There are certain groups that are stricter in their practice of Christianity, but they don’t seem so far as ascetic. But Paul is going to come back to this point in a little while.

       Second, Paul mentions the worship of angels. Doesn’t seem we have a problem with that one either. And again, no churches are coming to mind in which this would be something that is practiced. Paul’s point here notes the fact that God is the only Being to be worshipped, and this would included God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Even though angels are holy, that doesn’t mean they are worthy of worship. Even we ourselves, when we depart this life and enter the next, when we lose our sin-natures, will become holy. Holy simply means that we are perfect. And another point of fact that is related to this area would be to be watchful toward any being claiming to have a word from God. When Paul spoke to the Galatians, he warned concerning this. It seems probable, and perhaps it happened with Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormons (or perhaps not), that a being trying to present himself could appear as an angle of light with a message. Not good. On the other side, the good side, whether giving a message or not, the writer of Hebrews did say, “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares” (Hebrews 13:2, ESV).

       Third in Paul’s list is sensuality with visions. Things the person thinks he or she has seen, and most likely truly hasn’t. Or if they have, it is probably from the wrong side. This one seems to be common. These ‘visions’ seem to be prevalent in charismatic churches, where sometimes during a service an individual will get up and proclaim to everyone a specific vision and its meaning. Perhaps they can happen to be true, but they seem more unlikely to be true. It seems as if you hear more bad stories regarding these kinds of things than good stories. And, of course, we are familiar with, at least most of us are (and this ties into the last point referring to angels), the fact the Mormons believe angels appeared to Joseph Smith with a new gospel—at least, that’s what he claimed. This rings in Paul’s phrase of “Let no one disqualify you” more than ever. And, it has been noted that the supposed angel named Moroni’s name appears in a Satanic version of the Bible (this information was learned from a YouTube fellow—a good one at that—named Robert Breaker. Indeed, this man knows way more about these subject matters than the speaker. You can search his name in regards to the charismatics as well as the Mormons if you desire to look into this further).

       Fourth and overall in Paul’s list, he says “not holding fast to the Head.” So, not keeping Christ in perspective with whatever it is. The practice of the church is just a bizarre practice that doesn’t possess any tie into the truth—into loving God and loving others. Any practice by a group of believers should have honoring Christ as center, whatever that practice is. It shouldn’t be that a church just does practices and activities because that’s what has always been done, or that’s what the world wants. There should be some kind of line that is able to be traced back to Christ. Of course, the obvious violators of this are those whom we’ve already been discussing in past weeks, namely the Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons, and even some charismatics, to name several major ones. These are groups that claim to have major revelations from God which are strange, and do not hold fast to Christ.

       Continuing in verse 19: “not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.”

       “Not holding fast to the Head” then would be death for the church. That’s apparent, for we have seen large Christian denominations over the years fading in part because of not practicing this concept. Let’s be real, and a couple obvious one’s we can point to are certain Methodist and Presbyterian denominations. Some of these have approved of sins which God is against. “Not holding fast to the head.” This is leading to their downfall. God won’t bless congregations that go against the truth and try to replace it with a more progressive, more modern truth, as they seem to think it is. But it can also happen, and this seems to be less common these days, among churches who are too legalistic. Of course, people differ on what they feel is legalistic, but this has been noticed as well. So, certain denominations have resorted to a change in leadership, or even a change in the rules (whatever those rules are). It should be noted, however, that just because a congregation is lower in numbers doesn’t mean they aren’t doing right, or following God the right way. We need to be careful with this, but, at the same time, sometimes it does mean they aren’t doing what they should be.

       Regardless, whatever the church is doing should lead to the whole body becoming “nourished and knit together.” Paul brings back that illustration we saw in the beginning of this chapter, where in he hoped the body would be “knit together in love.” Of course, love here doesn’t mean acceptance of anything and everything—for that really isn’t love. John said that “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son” (ESV). It’s not that God so loved the world that he just automatically accepted everyone as they are. That wouldn’t be love, because, after all, there is a problem, the problem of sin, That problem needs to be dealt with, as Paul has been discussing. And because of this sin, the church needs to be “nourished.” Both the issue of sin and simply regular living of life call for nourishment. This ties back into good teaching, uplifting teaching, teaching that promotes growth in individuals. That’s really important. And that’s why it’s important that a church follows sound doctrine, and not some crazy beliefs like the pre-Gnostics were trying to promote, or even in our time, the Jehovah’s Witnesses or the Mormons.

       When Paul brings up joints and ligaments, this is another illustration he is using to show the interconnectedness of the church. Just like that of being knit together in love. But it also adds an additional layer wherein it shows, to a simple degree, that there are different functions within the body. The joint’s purpose is different from that of the ligament. We could say that the joint is a spot within the body where two bones meet up and hold together. Similar to something that is woven together. The ligament then supports this junction of the joint. It’s almost as if the joint is male, where the ligament is female. It seems that would be a fair conclusion. Just like the human body grows, which means the joints and ligaments grow, means that collectively, we with each other, grow, again, as we go along the ‘experience’ of life with each other. Growth usually isn’t immediate or instantaneous, but usually it takes time, through that learning of knowledge, with produces wisdom. That which we are taught from teachers, and that which we learn from each other.

       The next three verses we will read consecutively as really they completely run together. So, starting in verse 20: “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” (ESV).

       We are again presented with the phrase, “elemental spirits of the world.” Now, one might wonder whether this has any reference to demonic spirits? This same phrase was seen in verse 8, when Paul stated, “See to it that no one takes you captive… according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ” (ESV). And it seems plausible. It seems plausible. That is said because of what Paul said to Timothy, in the epistle of 1 Timothy. There, he said, “Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer” (1 Timothy 4:1-5, ESV).

       Notice from that verse the tie-in to what is being discussed in this chapter, in Colossians 2. Paul talks with the Ephesians about strange teachings—the forbidding of marriage and the requirement for abstinence from certain foods. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? It sounds like what we have been discussing today. And Paul told the Ephesians, though he does not make it as clear here in Colossians 2, that these kinds of doctrines are the doctrines of demons. Serious stuff. It doesn’t appear teachings such as these would have demon tie-ins. But Paul told the Ephesians they do. It would seem that the demonic tie-ins are not simply from the practices themselves, but by what is behind the practices. That is, the trying to achieve righteousness before God through asceticism, through very strict rules that work to achieve that righteousness instead of counting on Christ’s righteousness. That’s the problem. In our time, this is what the Mormons appear to do, when they say that one transcends through multiple heavens to reach eternal life. This is what the Buddhists do when they say you can reach enlightenment without Christ,

       The problem is that all these things—these human ways of going about righteousness—do indeed have an appearance of wisdom. It seems like it could be true. Stay far from this, stay far from that, and one will be righteous, right? The problem is that one can deal with all the external they want to. Yeah, that can be dealt with. But what about the heart? Does dealing with the external take care of the heart? What did Jesus say? Matthew 15:16-20: “Are you also still without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone” (ESV). You see, the external can be dealt with until you’re blue in the face, but the internal, that which is in the heart, remains. Rather, one is transformed when, through the Spirit of God and fellowship with other believers, one puts to death the deeds of the body. This is done by following that knowledge we’ve been discussing—by doing what it says.

       It doesn’t seem entirely convincing that this point is made clear. What is meant is that one’s mind needs to match one’s external behaviors. Think about this example. For a person who wants to be moral, that person can avoid externally every opportunity to be immoral. That person can never be alone with a person of the opposite sex. That person can never watch movies or T.V. shows that might contain an inappropriate scene in them. But if the person thinks thoughts that are immoral, then all that external avoidance of what is perceived as bad doesn’t matter. It’s simply external rules which are seemingly protecting one from the supposed dangers all-the-while the internal mind is still acting like a wild animal. We’ve seen this. We know it can happen. This is how someone who was perceived as a very religious and moral individual can end up acting very irreligious and immoral. It almost always isn’t that the person was tempted and just fell, but it is that the person had an on-going problem within the mind that was never addressed. And then one day it manifested itself in the physical realm by the person doing something wrong. As has been stated in the past, sin always starts in the mind of a person. No matter what the external then, if the mind is bad, that’s what really matters.

       Paul would tell Timothy, “Train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance” (1 Timothy 4:7-10, ESV). The more modern Evangelical church is known to discourage rules. They’ve setup their religious worship to God as such, to be more and more informal. Yet, and again as stated in the past, rules can be good. They can be beneficial. They are there to protect, or really to discourage or minimize the power of temptation. That’s why certain things are avoided. Even the Evangelicals, whether they want to admit it or not, have rules. They have things that are typically unspoken—but not always—things of which they have setup in their Sunday morning services, Bible studies, expectations for members, etc. To use a specific example, Sunday morning services, now on two specific occasions, have been attended where secular music was played before or during the church service. Obviously, most Evangelical services that have been attended would not do that. These are unspoken differences.

       We should be careful, then, when thinking about having less and less rules. As Paul told Timothy, he basically said that rules are of “some value.” Obviously, the the internal character, the mind, is of greater importance, as Paul said, but practices and restrictions do have some value. When attending the Amish-Mennonite church that was spoken about a few weeks back, they had clearly defined regulations. They actually took the time to write them out. Now, it would not be right to say that all churches should go this far—to do as they did. One could argue that people like the Amish-Mennonites go too far in the other direction—that they have too many rules, and rules that don’t even necessarily line up with the Scriptures. The point, though, that is trying to be made here is that we don’t want to live in an imbalance when it comes to our practices. People can differ on what they feel too many rules are, but not enough, no lines drawn, no boundaries, no whatever, then that is a problem. So, careful attention needs to be paid on both sides. For the Mennonites, don’t get too into it. For the Evangelicals, don’t get too lax—don’t get too relaxed.

- Daniel Litton