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Remember Who(se) You Are (Part Eight) “Complete in Christ” Colossians 2:8-15 |
March 5, 2006 Pastor Tom Marcum |
About 20 years ago during a friendly game of softball in a coed church league I found myself facing a scenario for which I was completely unprepared. Attempting to score from second base following my teammates single to center field, I rounded third base at full speed and was stunned to see the female catcher on the opposing team completely blocking home plate with an aggressive stance, clearly intended to dare me to try to run her over.
My brain was immediately filled with a massive amount of cognitive dissonance. On the one hand, my competitive nature was screaming at me to flatten her and score the run. On the other hand, my gentlemanly training was screaming, “Forget about scoring a run. You can’t hit a girl!” And since all of this was happening in the handful of seconds that it took me to run from third base to home plate, my brain blew a circuit and told me to attempt the impossible—avoid colliding with the girl and score the run, too.
Well, the good news is that I succeeded on both fronts. Moments before reaching home plate I stepped just enough to the right to avoid all contact with the female catcher and as I passed her I threw my right leg across my body, touched home plate and scored the run. Unfortunately, my maneuver put my right knee into a position that God never intended right knees to experience and it exploded.
For the sake of the squeamish, I won’t go into the details of the horrific surgical procedure that I endured to get my knee repaired. Suffice it to say that is was brutal and it was followed by months of agonizingly painful physical therapy. And one of the thoughts that kept me moving forward during the toughest of those times was this—at the least the surgery is over. The surgery completely fixed what was broken so I don’t have to think about that anymore. I can focus my attention on getting a little bit stronger every day. Just knowing that the surgery was successful and it was done was incredibly encouraging to me.
Just how encouraging that thought was became clear to me about 3 weeks after my surgery when I rejoined my softball team for dinner at a favorite restaurant. We were having a great time laughing and telling stories and eventually the conversation turned to me and my very wounded knee and my teammates began kidding me about the enjoyment that I was finding in being taken care of during my convalescence. As I recall, someone suggested that I had become a bit of a pain in the…hindquarters. And at that point the teammate seated next to me picked up a steak knife, pointed it at my knee and said, “And if they have to cut that knee open again he’ll have to look for another team.”
And the next thing I remember, I was lying on the floor with a damp washcloth on my forehead. My friends told me that I took one look at the knife pointed at my knee, turned white as a sheet and then hit the deck. The mere thought that this surgery that was behind me, might not have been completely successful and that I might have to do something else still to fix my knee was apparently just too much for my mind to handle in that moment and it responded in a fairly dramatic way dropping me to the ground like a sack of potatoes.
And I share that story with you, this morning, because it’s this idea of looking back into the past and calling into question the sufficiency or the success of something that’s already taken place that is at the heart of the scripture passage that we’re going to be looking at in a moment.
For the past 8 weeks we have been walking through the book of Colossians, a heartfelt letter from Paul to the young church in Colosse. An impassioned letter filled with words of instruction and encouragement. And, 2 weeks ago, we discovered that the reason that Paul was writing with such passion was that this young church was being threatened from within and left unchecked, this threat could ultimately undermine their faith and destroy the fellowship that God was growing among them as members of the body of Christ, the church.
And this morning, as we move ahead in the text, we get our first glimpse into the specific nature of the threat that they were facing namely, that there were some in their midst who were questioning the sufficiency of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. There were some within their fellowship who were teaching that faith in Christ alone was not sufficient to guarantee a full and complete salvation. In other words, they were saying that what Christ did for us on the cross was necessary and important but not quite enough to set things right between God and us.
And when Paul learned that some in the church were teaching that Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross for our salvation was in some way incomplete and that something must be added to it to secure our salvation he recoiled in horror.
--First, because the suggestion that the death of God’s own Son was somehow deficient was absolutely outrageous.
--And, second, because one of the great sources of daily encouragement that we have as believers is the sure and certain confidence that we don’t ever again have to worry about the security of our salvation because Christ secured it for us on the cross…one time for all time…and there is nothing that can happen in the future that can undue the sufficiency of what’s already been done for us in the past.
So, with that, let’s jump into the text and let’s begin with Colossians 2:8 which says,
“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.”
So, at this point, Paul has still not identified the precise nature of the false teaching or philosophy that these young believers were facing but he has identified three of its’ deficiencies. It’s “hollow,” it’s “deceptive” and it’s “worldly.”
“Hollow” means that this teaching is empty and lacking in substance and power. And because it’s not rooted in the truth the people who follow a “hollow” teaching are inevitably disappointed because it can’t deliver what it promises.
“Deceptive” means that this teaching, though untrue and lacking in substance, is presented in such a way that it’s attractive and appealing. And, folks, any church having to contend with someone who is presenting a false teaching in a very attractive way is facing a genuinely serious threat.
Finally, notice that Paul says that this philosophy was also “worldly.” This teaching was rooted in, “the basic principles of this world rather than Christ.”
--And, folks, any church that begins to look for guidance to the world rather than Christ is in deep, deep trouble, indeed.
--And, likewise, any Christian who is guided primarily by the combined influence of the world and their own natural insights rather than by the influence of Christ is also in deep, deep trouble.
And in Verses 9-10 Paul tells us why that is so. Beginning in verse 9 we read, “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form…” In other words, Jesus doesn’t simply reflect God; He is God. Fully and completely. The full and complete nature of God…with nothing missing…no gaps…no shortcomings…the full and complete nature of God is present in Christ.
Now, let’s go on to Verse 10, “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ…”
Now, the first thing to note here is that the word “fullness” in verse 10 is from the very same Greek root as the word “fullness” that is in verse 9. “…In Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives…and you have been given fullness in Christ…”
So, does that mean that when we are saved and come into relationship with Christ that we become gods even as Christ is God? Obviously not. What it means is that even as Christ is fully God so everyone who is in Christ is fully saved. Nothing missing. No gaps. No shortcomings. If you are in Christ who is fully God, you are fully saved.
And to strengthen our confidence in the security of our salvation through Christ, Paul concludes Verse 10 like this; “…you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.”
Here’s the point—when it comes to something as important as your salvation you want to be sure that your case has been settled, not by a lower court but by the highest court in the land because you don’t want to have to worry that at some point in the future a higher court is going to reopen your case, overturn the ruling of the lower court and put your salvation in jeopardy. But, folks, there is no higher authority than Christ. He is, “…the head over every power and authority.” And that means that if Christ has secured your salvation, your salvation is secure.
And in Verses 11-15 Paul is now going to further develop his thoughts about the fullness and the security of the salvation that we have through Christ. And he does this by identifying 4 things that God has done for us and in us through Christ. And when you put these four things together the fullness of our salvation in Christ becomes abundantly clear.
Let’s begin with Verses 13-14 which say: “He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulation, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.”
This is a complicated verse to unpack but once we sort through its various difficulties this is what it means—the written code and all of it’s regulations, namely, the laws of God, stood as incontrovertible evidence proving our guilt as sinners. We had broken God’s law. Every one of us had sinned and the penalty for sin is death.
But at the very moment that those Roman soldiers were nailing Jesus to the cross, the invisible hand of God was nailing our death sentence to that same cross. And written across our death sentence in the blood of Jesus were these words, “Paid in full.” Through Christ, God has taken away forever the penalty of our sin. It’s already been paid by Jesus.
Let’s move on to Verse 15, which says, “And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”
What else has God already done for us through Jesus? He has publicly defeated and humiliated the devil and all of his forces. He “disarmed” and “made a public spectacle of them” when their celebration of Christ’s defeat on the cross, turned out to be the greatest victory ever won for mankind.
It’s true that, as long as we live in this world we will still have to contend with and resist Satan’s evil influence. But, folks, don’t ever forget that the ultimate victory has already been won…it was settled forever at the cross…and the battle belongs to the Lord!
Now let’s look at Verses 11-13 where we see two more things that God has already done for us through Christ. Beginning in verse 11 it says,
“In him (that is, Christ) 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.”
Once again, we find a very complicated passage that has been extensively debated by biblical scholars without producing a consensus. Rather than entangling you in the debate, I want to focus our attention this morning on the big picture. And the big picture is this—before we were saved, we were enslaved to our sinful nature and were spiritually dead. But, the moment that we recognized our need for a savior and turned in faith to Christ, God did 2 amazing works in us.
First, he raised us out of our spiritual death and made us alive with Christ and, second, he cut away our old nature that kept us enslaved to sin and gave us a new nature that marks us as one of His own.
How complete…how full…how secure is our salvation through Christ?
The penalty for our sin has already been paid in full.
Satan and his forces have already been humiliated and defeated.
We have been raised with Christ out of our spiritual death and are even now alive with Christ.
And our old nature that enslaved us to sin has been cut away, replaced by a new nature that is constantly making us more and more like Christ.
Folks, there is nothing lacking in the cross.
There is no need to add anything to what Christ has already accomplished for us.
Just believe it…and don’t let anyone rob you of your confidence in your full and complete salvation through Christ.
© Copyright 2006 Pastor Tom Marcum