Christ Applied – Colossians 2:6-23 at part of the turn

Sermon notes from the third week of our series on the book of Colossians.

Christ Applied. Christ at work in us. (2:6-23)

Christ the fullness of God in us (2:6-16)

Intro (6-8)

In fullness (9-10)

In circumcision (11)

In baptism (12)

Summary: Christ in our situation (13-15)

-> New life applied. (16-23)

Don’t fixate on law (16-17)

Don’t fixate on superstition (18-19)

Applications (2:20-3:4)

Since you died with Christ (20-23)

Since you raised with Christ (3:1-4)

Introduction

What Christ Did (9-12)

9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, 10 and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. 11In 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, 12 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.

In fullness
- Consider the scripture we studied last week
- Jesus is God. I brush that off too quickly. Think about that. Everything I want to know about God, is available in the person of Jesus. Think about those implications
In circumcision
In baptism

What does this do to our situation?

13 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, 14 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. 15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

How do we respond?

16 Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. 17 These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. 18 Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions. 19 He has lost connection with the Head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.

Don’t fixate on law (16-17)

Paul is talking about Jewish laws that are very dear to Jewish people. He puts them it their place. Law serves as a pointer to Christ. If fixate at the pointer to the expense of the subject of the pointing, we pursue a lesser gospel.
The problem is that law produces false humility. We think we are something.
Example: At least I’m not as bad as them. It gives us the appearance of a “morality scale”.

Don’t fixate on superstition (18-19)

Living life like it matters, isn’t about finding some neat little truth about God or unlocking secrets. It’s about following a person, not a secret knowledge. It’s about following Jesus. When we loose sight of this we pursue another lesser gospel.
Spiritual gifts like prophesy are a wonderful, mysterious, and sometimes strange gift that God has given to the church. An unhealthy pursuit of these things is not godly.
Example: Neglecting the Bible, because you demand a “sign”
Example: Reading too much into “signs”. “I knew God was with me, because the leaves blew in front of me”

Since we died with Christ, we don’t submit to the same set of rules

20 Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: 21 “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? 22 These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. 23 Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.

This is where the video we watched earlier sorta fits in. We continue to get the ending wrong.
We are no longer under the same authority, we now answer to a different set of rules
So the laws don’t apply? No. Sorry.
We going a bit deeper then that.
What are the rules we don’t submit to?
- Rule: You have to dress immodestly to be noticed by boys
- Rule: You have to be a clown to be a man
- Rule: You have to do whatever it takes to build your kingdom
- Rule: You have to fit in.

Since we were raised with Christ, we set our hearts on things above.

1 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

Get baptized

Get circumcised. Allow your heart to be marked

5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. 7 You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8 But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. 11 Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.