Christocentric 5 – Losing (vain) Religion

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We beheld His glory, the glory as the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. In Christ alone our hope is found. He is our light, our strength, our song. That's one of the songs we sing here at Cross Connection, and it expresses exactly what we're studying here in Colossians chapter 2 today.

Open with us in Colossians chapter 2 as we consider the fact that Jesus alone is the focus of our faith. Magic is the art of deception. It can be one of the most frustrating things to watch a talented magician or illusionist. Whether they're making something disappear through sleight of hand or appearing to read your thoughts with a deck of cards, it can be frustrating to watch, especially when you are the focus of their trick.

This frustration is compounded when you're surrounded by other people who are watching you as the focus of the deception. It becomes even greater when there's something on the line. Maybe the person says, "I'll bet you $10 that I can guess your card." When something's on the line and you can't figure out what it is that they did or how they did it, the frustration intensifies. Have you been there before?

I remember one time the frustration was kind of turned the other way, though. I was out with Pastor Josh. We were having lunch on the east end of town when this guy walked in, approached our table, and wanted to show us magic tricks. If you've lived in North County, especially the east end of Escondido or Valley Center for any length of time, you may have at one point met Left Eddie.

Some of you know who Left Eddie is. He's an interesting character. I don't even know if he's still around or still alive. I haven't seen him for years, but Left Eddie has an incredible scar on his face over his left eye. When he was in high school, he had a shop accident, and a two-by-four came up and hit him. He was in a coma for a long period of time and now has a glass eye.

Eddie wanted to show us some tricks, so he kept demonstrating magic tricks. Every time he showed us a trick, Josh would say, "No, I can do that." This made Eddie very angry. Finally, Eddie sat down at our table and said, "I got a trick you can't do." Josh replied, "Okay." Eddie picked up a knife and went ding, ding, ding against his glass eye. Josh admitted, "Yep, I can't do that one."

It's frustrating when you're the focus of the trick, especially when something is on the line. But what if it's something greater than just ten dollars? The frustration increases when there's something of more value at stake. The Apostle Paul was frustrated by the deception, the cunning, and the deceitful trickery of the enemy, our adversary, the devil, and of those who may be swayed or directed by him.

As he writes the passage of Scripture that we're going to be looking at today, Colossians chapter 2, I encourage you to open your Bibles there, near the end of your Bible. If you don't have a Bible, you can raise your hand, and one of our ushers will bring you one. It's right after the books of Ephesians and Philippians.

Let's look at Colossians 2, verse 4. Would you stand with me as we read this passage of Scripture? The Apostle writes, "Now this I say lest anyone should deceive you with persuasive words. For though I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in the spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ. As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world and not according to Christ. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete in Him."

Who is the head of all principality and power? In Him, you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by the putting off of the body, the body of sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ. You were buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.

And you, being dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses. He has 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. He has disarmed principalities and powers and made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.

So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival, or a new moon, or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ. 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, 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.

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: "Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle," which all concern things that perish with the using, according to the commandments and doctrines of men? These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and the neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.

Father, as we look at this important passage of Scripture, I ask that You would give us wisdom and understanding beyond what is just natural, that we would have a supernatural understanding by Your Holy Spirit. May Your Word and the work of Your Spirit be effective and active in our lives, transforming us today. Perform us by the renewing of our minds that we may show forth Your glory in a world that is in such need of light, grace, and truth.

Make us conduits through which Your grace flows. Make us beacons through which Your light shines. Make us salt to a world that has need of flavor and preservation. God, do work in us that can only be the work of Your grace and Your Spirit. We ask this in Jesus' name, and all those that agreed said amen. You can be seated.

It was there, as Paul was in prison in Rome 2,000 years ago, that word came to him from a minister, a leader, a pastor of the church called the Church at Colossae. Colossae was a city about 1,000 miles away from Rome, and word had come to Paul about the church and the Christians that lived there. Although he had never met them, his heart was with them because the one who had planted that church and pastored it had been a disciple of Paul's ministry. It was a fruit, the fruit of his work, and so his heart was with this church.

He heard a word that was not foreign to him in that day: false teaching and false doctrine had begun to infiltrate the church at Colossae. What we might refer to as unorthodox or heresy was shifting the focus away from Jesus. Any teaching that moves the focus away from Jesus is unorthodox; it's heresy. When he hears about this, that it is coming by cunning trickery and deception, he is gripped with what we might refer to as righteous indignation, but it's just anger. He's mad. He's mad that the enemy, our adversary, the devil, is described in the Bible as cunning and wily. He is angry that this adversary has been able to get into another church and is moving them away from the truth.

So, he wrote this letter. I am grateful, 2,000 years later, that we have this letter. I'm glad that he wrote it because the same problems they were facing 2,000 years ago are the very same things that the church has faced ever since and faces today. This is why it's so important that we be students of the Bible, because the Bible is relevant based on the fact that the enemy still works in the same way today that he did 2,000 years ago. His tactics have not changed.

And so Paul writes to this church and gives, in this passage, four cautions to the church at Colossae. These cautions would also apply to us here at the Church of California. The first one begins in verse four, where Paul says, "Now this I say to you, lest anyone should deceive you." Caution number one: don't be deceived.

The word "deceived" means to be deluded or cheated by false reasoning. This passage of Scripture, like all the other New Testament passages, was originally written in Greek. The word used here for "deceived" is "paralogizomai," with "para" meaning "with" or "in the vicinity of," and "logizomai" relating to logic. It is something that seems logical but is not. We should not be deceived by false reasoning—something that appears to be true. It is so close to the truth, and that is why it is so deceptive. The enemy is very skilled at this; he presents things that are just close enough to the truth to be misleading.

It sounds logical, it seems right, but it isn't. This is what we would refer to as a counterfeit. The word "counterfeit" simply means something made in exact imitation of something valuable or important, with the intent to deceive or defraud. There is not a week that goes by without my spam folder filling up with email messages about Ray-Ban glasses for $12.95 and Oakley sunglasses for $11. I can guarantee you beyond a shadow of a doubt that they are "Folkley's" and not "Oakley's," but they look just like the real thing.

Counterfeits are prevalent in this world, and they are so close to the original that it is hard to tell the difference. Paul warns us not to be deceived by these counterfeits. He emphasizes that we should not be misled by persuasive words. The question is, since these counterfeits are so close to the truth that they can be persuasive, how can we avoid being deceived or defrauded by these misleading arguments?

The easiest way would be to have someone like the Apostle Paul with you at all times. How great would that be? Going through life, and someone starts to tell you their philosophy, their idea, their thought on the world and where it came from, and their thoughts on God and what Jesus is all about. You would have the Apostle Paul, the guy who wrote Romans, standing right there. He could say, "Oh, hey, I object. In Romans chapter 6, verse 19, I wrote this." Wouldn't that be nice to have your own pocket apostle everywhere you go?

Unfortunately, we don't have that. None of us have that or will have that. So notice what Paul says in the very next verse, verse 5: "For though I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in the spirit." I'm not with you. I won't be with you everywhere you go. Every time you meet someone who may be deceptive, who is trying to give you some truth that isn't really truth—truth that looks like truth and seems to be close to truth—I'm not with you in the flesh to be able to say no, but I am with you in spirit.

He goes on, rejoicing to see your good order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ. I may not be with you, but I have joy. I'm filled with joy to hear about your foundation, your strong steadfastness, and your confident trust in Christ alone. We just sang, in the last song we sang, "In Christ alone, in Christ alone." Paul says, "I'm filled with joy because that's where your confidence lies. It is in Him and Him alone."

To not be deceived by counterfeit teachings, you must have a firm faith in Jesus Christ. Writing to another church around the same period of time, just a couple of books to the left of Colossians, you can turn there if you'd like, in Ephesians chapter four, verse 14, Paul writes this: "We, if you're a follower of Jesus today, this includes you, should no longer be children tossed to and fro, carried about by every wind of doctrine or teaching." We should no longer be children, which implies we should grow up.

This last summer was maybe the first summer that our oldest son, Ethan, who has just turned seven, started to get a little more courage to venture further out into the water at the beach. Even though Ethan is a gargantuan seven-year-old at four foot eight and 75 pounds, and still wants me to carry him upstairs from time to time, he began to venture out a little.

As we watch a smaller framed person, like a little child, being pushed around by the waves, it becomes clear that it takes experience to stand strong in those waves. We've all seen children tossed to and fro, and it's particularly interesting to observe a small two-year-old or three-year-old running into the waves. Even when the water only comes up to our knees, it can easily take them out.

Here, Paul reminds us that as followers of Jesus, we should no longer be like little children tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine. It's important to note that it's not just the different teachings that come from various places that can lead us astray. Paul goes on to mention the trickery of men and the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting. We need to recognize that there are deceivers among us. While I hope there are none in this room, it is very possible that deceivers exist within the church, seeking to spread what the Bible refers to as damnable heresies—destructive teachings, even doctrines of demons. These demonic false teachings aim to shift our focus from Christ to something else, diverting us from a Christocentric perspective to something that appears good, logical, religious, and right.

Paul warns us not to be deceived by persuasive words. There are destructive heresies that come through counterfeits. What Paul reveals in this passage is that our faith and confidence in Christ must be so steadfast and strong that we know the authentic so well that we can instantly recognize the counterfeit when it appears.

Years ago, our church ran a coffee shop on Grand Avenue here in Escondido called His Place. Does anyone remember His Place? I met my wife while working there, and Pastor Nick met his wife during his time at His Place as well. For no other reason, it was a great investment of our time as a church. I remember one afternoon while I was working, our manager at the time, Jason, was counting through $20 bills to prepare for a deposit.

Very quickly, he hit one and said, "Whoa, that one didn't feel right." I asked him what he was talking about. He went through it again, separating the smaller stack, and continued until he came upon one that felt different. In appearance, it looked identical to the other $20 bills it was with, yet it felt different, and indeed, it was a counterfeit. If you put it next to a real $20 bill and looked at it from a distance, unless you had an incredibly trained eye to spot a counterfeit, you would probably look at it and say, "No, it's real." However, the feeling of it was different. There was something about it that didn't feel right.

To put it another way, think of the smell test. Everyone knows the smell test, especially around this time of year, right after a holiday. You pack everything up after Thanksgiving into little Tupperware containers and put them in the refrigerator. Refrigerators have this devious nature where things just find their way to the back. I don't know how it happens, but they get a little too deep. You go through looking for something and think, "Oh, wow, that looks good." You open it, and then you realize, "Whoa, that doesn't smell right." We know the smell test. It might look good, but it doesn't smell right.

We need to reach a point in our walk with Jesus, as followers of Jesus, where we can judge whether something is right or wrong just because it doesn't pass the smell test or doesn't feel right. This doesn't always mean you know the exact chapter and verse to say, "This doesn't fit because of this verse here in Ecclesiastes chapter five." You may not be able to do that with perfection, but there is a sense in which you can say, "No, that doesn't feel right."

For example, when someone says, "God helps those who help themselves," you might respond, "No, that doesn't seem right to me. I don't think that's in the Scriptures." Or when someone claims, "God will never give you anything that you cannot handle," you might think, "Well, I don't know that that's actually biblical." It doesn't pass the smell test.

You might also hear someone say, "If you are a follower of God, nothing bad will ever happen to you." Has anyone ever heard that one before? You might respond, "Well, wait, no, that just doesn't seem to fit with the Scriptures." Sometimes, people say, "If you're a Christian, you'll be blessed with health and prosperity," and you think, "That doesn't pass the smell test."

My favorite is when someone says, "If you had more faith, you wouldn't be sick." These statements can sometimes be made in such a way that they sound convincing. There was a study done not too long ago by a research group, and they found that a vast majority—though I don't remember the exact numbers—of Bible-reading Christians thought that the Bible actually...

Cleanliness is next to godliness. If it's been said to you enough times and it sounds really good, and if you add a "thee" or a "thou" or a shout in there, it's probably in the Bible. We begin to think that these things are there, but we need to come to a place where we know the Scriptures well enough to recognize that some of these sayings are not actually biblical.

To avoid being deceived, Paul says in Colossians chapter two, verse six, "As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord." We need to pause here. If you have received Christ Jesus the Lord today, if Jesus of Nazareth, who died on a cross 2,000 years ago and rose from the dead, is Lord in your life and you believe Him to be Christ, the anointed Son of God, this message is for you.

As a Christian, you are called to walk in Him. Get to know Him and spend time with Him. How do you do that since He is in heaven now? You must be rooted and built up in Him. This means finding your depth of root in Him and being established in the faith. How do you grow in faith? By getting to know God through His Word, by spending time with God in worship, and by spending time with God's people in fellowship. As you engage in these activities, you will be established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.

Point number one in your outline: Be strong in your faith, and you won't be deceived. If you are a follower of Jesus today, you need to recognize this, even though it goes against the modern view of many in our world today. There is an enemy, the adversary, the devil, and he preys on the weak. He loves to go after easy prey. He goes about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. We've all seen the National Geographic or Discovery Channel documentaries about lions. They target the weak, the young, or those that are not mature in the herd.

Separate that one. The enemy, the adversary, the devil, goes about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. We need to be strong in our faith, rooted and built up in Him. I work very hard to ensure that this is solid and biblical teaching, but even I, your pastor, listen to solid biblical teaching all week long. I listen to great teachers online through podcasts and encourage you to do the same so that you would grow.

That's how you come to the place where, when someone says something that is off the wall, even though it sounds so close, you can say, "Well, wait a second. That doesn't seem right." When someone knocks on your door and says, "Let me show you this passage here in my Bible, in John chapter one," and there it says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a God," you can respond, "Well, wait a minute. That doesn't seem right." Why doesn't it seem right? Because you've read John chapter one, verses one through four, so many times that you can confidently say, "That's not correct."

There are those who will deceive, and the Scriptures say that there comes a time when even those who may be deceived or even those who are the elect, those who seem to be strong, can be led astray. Therefore, we must be strong in our faith, not just strong in religion. Here’s the thing: you can be religiously strong and weak in faith. You can do all the right religious things, say "and also with you" at the same time, stand and genuflect at the right moments, partake in the right way, and be baptized in the right method. You can do all these things religiously just right and still have a weak faith, making you easily swayed by persuasive words.

So, Paul here is encouraging us to lose our religion and strengthen our faith. His first caution is: don't be deceived. The second, in verse eight, is: don't be cheated. Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. The word "cheated" here means to be seduced, carried off, or led away. Do not be seduced, carried off, or led away.

I love the way the New Living Translation puts it: "Don't let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense." Have you heard any high-sounding nonsense lately? Don't let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from spiritual powers of this world rather than from Christ.

Don't let anyone capture you with vain, deceptive philosophy and high-sounding nonsense. What is vain, deceptive philosophy and high-sounding nonsense of human tradition and worldly wisdom? Well, Paul answers it for us. Look at verses nine and ten. For in Him, Jesus, all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily. You are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.

High-sounding, nonsensical, vain philosophy can be summed up as any teaching that says that Jesus is not enough. Any teaching that claims what He did on the cross is insufficient is misguided. Here, Paul states that in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete in Him. Any teaching that suggests you are not complete unless you have something else—"I'm glad you have Jesus, but you need this also"—is high-sounding, nonsensical, empty philosophy.

We could go on and on about examples of what high-sounding, empty philosophies are, but Paul gives us some. Look at verses eleven through fifteen. In Him, in Jesus, you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by the putting off of the body of sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ. You were 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.

And you, being dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses. He has 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. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.

Vain human traditions and worldly wisdom—what are they? Well, there are at least three things that I see Paul cites here in this passage. The first is circumcision. I realize that to us, sitting here coming up on 2016 in a purely Western culture, circumcision may seem like an odd thing for Paul to center on. However, two thousand years ago in the Church of Colossae, it was a big deal because every first follower of Jesus for about the first twenty years of the Christian faith was a Jewish person. Christianity first started there as Christ died on a cross in Jerusalem and rose.

From the dead, the gospel began to spread among Jewish individuals. As it moved out towards non-Jewish Gentiles, how many Gentiles, non-Jews, are here today? Raise your hand. God bless you; that's most of us.

As the gospel started to move out from its Jewish roots, something that was a central focal point of the Jewish faith—circumcision—became significant. I know it may seem strange to us living two thousand years later, but it was very important to the Jewish faith at that time. The covenant that God made with Abraham in Genesis chapter 17 is where it all started. Circumcision was preached along with the gospel by many of the first followers of Jesus.

Many years passed, and about thirty years later, the gospel reached a place called Colossae. The people there were purely Gentiles, and as they began to receive the gospel, a group of individuals followed closely behind. They said, "We're really glad that you put your faith in Jesus Christ, but you also need this to be right with God: circumcision." They wanted to see just how committed these new believers really were.

Now, while circumcision may not be a relevant issue in our day, the principle remains. People often say, "I'm really glad you put your faith in Jesus Christ, but unless you've been baptized in this church, your hope is not secure." Others might say, "I'm really glad you put your faith in Jesus Christ, but unless you've partaken of communion in this way, your hope is not truly founded." Some might even insist, "I'm glad you put your faith in Jesus Christ, but unless you worship on this specific day, you have no real hope." If you worship on any other day, you've got a problem.

The focus shifts away from Christ and onto something else. It is no longer a Christocentric faith; it has been redirected to some other requirement. If you are being told or taught that you must perform some religious rite of purification or ritual to be right with God, then that is, as Paul puts it here, vain, deceptive, high-sounding nonsense. It is either Christ and Christ alone, or it is nonsense.

Paul also speaks here of asceticism. What is asceticism? Simply put, it is self-denial. It involves some form of self-discipline and self-denial, suggesting that if you want to be not just righteous but more righteous, you must adhere to certain practices.

That's typically the way it's framed. I'm really glad you put your faith in Christ, but if you really want to be a good Christian, if you really want to be more righteous with Christ, then you need to do this and this and this to make yourself more righteous with Him. You need to deny this pleasure, deny this hunger, and deny this appetite. If you do these things, then you will be more righteous.

The reality is that, in our natural selves, we love that. Why? Because we love to be better, don't we? We love to be better. Oh, how we yearn to be better than some other people. You know what? Religion is really good at making us feel better. It does a great job of making us feel better in so many ways. It deals with the consciousness of sinful failing. We think, "Here I did this and I didn't do this, and now I feel better." We feel even better because not only do we feel better about ourselves, but we can look down at other people and say, "Well, they're not as good as me," and that makes us feel even better. We get a bigger and fatter head, and we like that.

It's not just circumcision or religious rites, not just asceticism; finally, he also speaks to legalism. Legalism, or works righteousness, teaches that we have to do it this way to be right, to be more right. It's an obvious and continual false teaching over the last 2,000 years of church history. Legalism teaches you that by rules, regulations, rites, and rituals, you will be made more righteous. If you're being told or taught that some religious rule-keeping will make you more right with God, it is vain, deceptive, high-sounding, nonsensical philosophy.

Point number two on your outline: Christ is enough to make the unrighteous righteous. Christ is enough to make the unrighteous righteous. So much so that I can stand before you today and say, "I am righteous." I'm righteous, not because of any religious thing that I've done, not because of the way in which I was baptized, not because of the way in which I partake of communion, not because of my prayer life, not because of my Bible reading schedule, and not because of how often I fast, which probably needs to be more anyway. But not because of any of those things that I've done, not because of where I was born, how much money I make, or what kind of car I drive.

Not because of what church I go to, or how I serve in that church, or how I give to that church. I am righteous today because of Christ. It is not pompous, and it is not arrogant to say I am righteous if I found my righteousness in Christ. In Christ alone, my hope is found. He is my light, my strength, my song.

I can't say, "In baptism alone, my hope is found," or "In the Eucharist alone, my hope is found," or "In Cross-Connection Church, my hope is found." In Christ alone, my hope is found.

So Paul says it's not circumcision, it's not asceticism, it's not legalism. He says don't be deceived by false logic. Don't be seduced by religious effort. His third caution is given in verse 16: let no one judge you. Let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival, or a new moon, or Sabbaths.

The word "judge" there means to condemn, to censure, or to call into question. Don't allow anyone to call your faith into question because you don't do the things that they do. You don't observe the things that they observe, and therefore you're not where you need to be with God because you don't observe this day or that. Or you do observe that day, and you shouldn't.

Don't let anyone judge you. Don't allow anyone to judge you because you keep or you don't keep the Jewish dietary rules or restrictions. Don't let anyone judge you because you keep or you don't keep the Jewish feast days. Don't let anyone judge you because you keep or you don't keep some liturgical calendar of events. Don't let anyone judge you because you keep or you don't keep some holy Sabbath day.

Keep or don't keep the Sabbath. Others may judge you; Jesus does not. Keep or don't keep Christmas. Others may judge you; Jesus does not. It's amazing to me that every year, when we get around Christmas and I mention Christmas, and we decorate this place, as we probably will this next week with some Christmas decorations, I always get an anonymous note. Every single year for the last five years, I get an anonymous note.

God bless you if you send me that note. They tell me how Christmas is a pagan holiday and that we shouldn't be celebrating it. Why are we celebrating Christmas? It's a pagan holiday. In my 36 years of life, I have yet to meet the person who celebrates the winter solstice. When I do, I will let you know. I assume they have dreadlocks and smell of patchouli oil, but I have not met that person yet.

Every person I've met who celebrates Christmas does so because it's the birth of Christ that we are celebrating. Okay, fine, maybe He wasn't born on December 25th. I'm perfectly fine with that. You say you can't bring a Christmas tree into your home or into the church because it's a pagan symbol? I don't care what kind of symbol it was originally. I know what I teach my children. Jesus died on a tree. He is the light of the world, and we light up this tree to remember that the light of the world was given forth on the tree, the cross of Calvary. That's all we're doing.

Observe or don't observe Christmas, but don't judge people for observing or not observing it. Eat pork or don't eat bacon; others may judge you. I might, but Jesus does not. Observe the Feast of Trumpets or don't observe the Feast of Trumpets; others may judge you. Jesus does not.

If the Sabbath, not eating certain foods, observing Christmas, or observing the Feast of Trumpets directs your worship to God and focuses your attention on Jesus, God bless you. If that thing brings you closer to Christ in your worship and adoration of Him, God bless you. However, if that thing becomes your focus and you define yourself by that day, there's a problem.

It's not my intent to pick on anyone, but if you define yourself as having your whole center of life as a follower of Jesus revolving around the seventh day, and anyone who does not worship on that day is judged, then you've defined yourself by the wrong thing. Christ alone, my hope is found. He is my strength, my hope, my song. As soon as you move into the place of judging someone else for their observance or non-observance, you have lost the focus.

Of some certain thing, a dietary restriction or a day, you've made yourself Lord, and you've become a legalist. Again, are these religious things bad? No, if they bring you closer to Jesus. However, if they move you away from Christ or cause you to be a condemner, a judge of other people, then they have become a stumbling block. These things are not bad. Paul even says in Colossians chapter 2, verse 17, that all these things are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ. The focus is Jesus.

What was the purpose of Passover? What was the purpose of Pentecost? What was the purpose of Yom Kippur, the Feast of Trumpets, or the Feast of Tabernacles? The purpose was all Jesus. He is the focus. If these things don't center your focus more on Jesus Christ, then you've lost focus.

Point number three on your outline: Holy days don't make you holy; Jesus does. None of us is holy apart from Christ. None of us will ever make ourselves holy by keeping some dietary restriction or by observing some specific day over another day. Paul says, do not be deceived by false logic. Do not be seduced by religious effort. Do not be judged by the religiously righteous, those who think themselves righteous by their religious actions.

Finally, in verse 18, let no one cheat you of your reward. Seeking delight in false humility and the worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind. In verse 8, the word "cheat" was used, and here again in verse 18, the word "cheat" is used. The same English word but a different Greek word. The Greek word for "let no one cheat you" means to decide against, to declare one unworthy, or to rob of the prize, to be defrauded of the prize.

Paul here says to the church at Colossae and to us living 2,000 years later: don't let anyone rob you of your joyful reward in Christ because you do not do the religious or spiritual.

Don't let anyone rob you of your joy in Christ because you do not do the religious thing that someone else does. That religious practice might indeed bring them closer to Christ Jesus, but if they are using it merely as a tool to judge you or to make themselves feel better, then it is wrong for both them and you. Paul emphasizes that you should not allow anyone to take away your joy in Christ Jesus simply because you do not keep these practices the way others might.

What practices are we talking about? Paul speaks of overstated humility. What is overstated humility? He goes on to discuss the worship of angels, which is a peculiar issue mentioned in this verse. Overstated humility presents itself when a person feels unworthy to come before God Himself. They believe they need to go through an angel or some other avenue to reach God. They might say, "I am so unworthy and lost that I can't come directly to Jesus, so I need to go through this priest or this medium to actually get to God." Paul identifies this as false humility.

Yes, you are unworthy. Yes, you are a wicked sinner. Yes, we are all fallen and in need of the grace of God. However, Jesus is the mediator between God and man. He made it possible for you and me to come before a holy God because He has clothed us in His righteousness, not in our own. He opened the way for us to have access to God. Those who engage in such spiritual practices put their faith in their experiences rather than in the focus of our faith, which is Jesus Christ.

Speaking of such individuals, Paul continues in verse 19, stating that they are not holding fast to the head—Jesus. They are not holding fast to Him, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God. Jesus is the head of the church; He ought to be the one we look to and trust in. We need nothing else.

Point number four on your outline is: Don't be defrauded by spiritual frauds who seek to rob you of the joy that you have and the simplicity that is in Jesus Christ. Paul continues in verse 20, saying, "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: 'Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle'?" These regulations do not make you right with God or more right with God.

Which all concern things that perish with the using, according to the commandments and the doctrines of men. Why do you subject yourself to these things? They're not going to make you more right.

As I said a moment ago, we love religion. Even the Apostle Paul wrote in the Book of Romans that the law of God is holy, just, and good. However, although the law of God is holy, just, and good, it cannot make you or me holy, just, or good. The purpose of the law is to reveal, in its holiness, in its perfect justness, and in its absolute goodness, how lost we are. It is incredibly good at doing that.

Many of us have tried at some point in our lives, and most Christians have experienced a period of time—most of the time early in their faith—where they walk through a time of legalism, trying to make themselves more right with God through their religious law-keeping. Anyone who's tried that comes to the dreadful conclusion that Paul speaks of in Romans chapter 7: "Oh, wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from the body of this death?" The law was given that sin might abound, that it might become exceedingly sinful, so that we might realize just how lost we are. It exposes our unrighteousness, and boy, is it good at it.

Over the last few months, my oldest son, who is now in first grade, has started to learn how to read. He has become a constant conscience for me when I'm driving. Maybe you've experienced this. As we drive down the street, he asks me—this happens probably three times a week as we're driving to school—"Dad, how fast are you going?" I look down and see that I'm going 45. "Didn't that sign say 35?" Yes, yes, it did.

The law was given so that the offense might abound and show you just how sinful you are. If you try to live by the law, you quickly realize how sinful you are and how in need of a Savior we are. The struggle is real, isn't it?

Verse 23 states that these things—religious rites, the law, all these feast days—indeed have an appearance of wisdom and self-imposed religion, false humility, and the neglect of the body.

But circle the word "but." They are of no value. Now notice he does not stop there. It's not that they have no value; they have no value against the indulgence of the flesh. These things might be very good religious practices to draw you closer to God and exalt Him more in your life, but if you think that these things are going to deal with your flesh and your unrighteousness, you are sadly mistaken.

These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom, self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh. Therefore, point number five: invest your efforts in that which is truly valuable. If your religious efforts are for the purpose of making you look or feel more spiritual, then it's vain religion and not a Christocentric faith. I beg you to lose your vain religion.

It's exactly what the Apostle Paul experienced. He writes of it in the book of Philippians, which is just a couple of pages to the left of Colossians. Look at Philippians chapter three, and we'll close with this. Paul says, "Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. For me to write the same things to you is not tedious, and for you it is safe. Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the mutilation."

Who are they? They are the ones who come in and try to seduce us away from a Christocentric faith. "For we are the circumcision who worship God in spirit. We rejoice in Christ Jesus. We have no confidence in the flesh." Though I also may have confidence in the flesh, if anyone thinks he has confidence in the flesh, I more so.

Why? Because I was circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning righteousness which is in the law, blameless. But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. He came to find that those things were vain religion in his life, and he left them to gain Christ.

Yet indeed, I count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and I count them as rubbish. Why? That I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness which is from...

The law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith. That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. How might I attain to the resurrection of the dead? Not through my religious law keeping, not through my observance of feast days or fasting. Through Christ alone my hope is found. He is my strength. He is my song. Amen.

Would you stand with me as we close in prayer? Father God, Your word is good, and it challenges us. It reveals to us the areas in our lives that are so out of order, but not so that we can try and fight harder or work better at these things to conquer them and make them happen. Instead, it is so that we will fall before You and ask for Your grace and Your mercy in our lives.

God, I thank You that Your mercy is new every morning. Great is Your faithfulness. I need Your mercy and Your grace today, and I'm certain that my brothers and sisters here need it as well. I pray, God, that we would walk in that grace, in the truth of Your word, and that our focus would be on You. Any of these religious things that we do would only be for the purpose of exalting You higher over our lives. We thank You, Jesus.