November 5, 2017, Sunday Morning

MOVING DAY IN YOUR LIFE

Colossians 2:16-23

3 Religious Institutions

• Heaven's Gate...Marshall Applewhite
• Branch Davidians...David Koresch
• People's Temple...Jim Jones

Paul reminds us of 3 major things as we move thru life...

1…Let Nothing Distract Your Faith!

They are admonished to let nothing distract their faith.  

A…The Religious Observances of that Day!

Verse 16.

They were being persuaded to believe that in order to remain in right relationship with God then they were to hold to the religious rites, rituals, routines and observances of that day.

B…The Religious Order for this Day!

Verse 17 

All of the religious observances of the past served as but a "shadow of things to come."  A shadow does not exist in and of itself.  It is caused by a material object or person.  

All of the religious observances of the old covenant simply shadowed the main object:  the Lord Jesus Christ.  

2…Let Nothing Disqualify Your Faith!

Verse 18

The word "beguile" is better rendered, "to rob or disqualify."  It is an athletic word that was used to speak of a judgment against an athlete, ruling that he could not compete, or was ineligible to win the prize.

Paul is admonishing these believers, as well as us, not to let anything disqualify, rob, or make us ineligible to receive everything that God has made available to us.  He exposes two things that were threatening to disqualify these saints.  First:

A…He Speaks of a False Experience!

Verse 18 

There were many invading the Colossian church claiming to have tapped into the unseen world.  

An old wise Christian farmer once said,

"A man on his way somewhere doesn't have time to stop and throw rocks at every dog that barks!"

The danger that faced these believers were that they were being deterred from their walk with Christ by many 'barking dogs.'  

B…He Speaks of a Foolish Expectation!

Verse 18

1.  The false experiences that many claimed to have brought a foolish expectation.  They were expected to find something that could only be found in Christ.  In the latter part of verse 18, Paul explains that these false experiences only prove to:

"...vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind."

The point is reaffirmed that Christ is the Head.  Jesus is to us, as believers, what the head is to our bodies.  

3…Let Nothing Discourage Your Faith!

Verse 20, we are immediately introduced to one of the most blessed truths of scripture.  We are reminded that, as believers, we are:

"...dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world..."

A…We are Free from the Behavior of this World!

The moment we were saved we died with Jesus on the cross.  Our past was cancelled, our present was confirmed and our future was completed.  

At the moment we died with Christ, at salvation, we were freed from the behavior of this world.  We were released from the bondage to the system of this world.  

B…We are Free from the Burden of this World!

When we were saved, we died with Christ.  When we died with Christ we were freed from our obligation to the system of this world.  When we died with Him, His power became our strength, His righteousness became our salvation, and His grace became our sustenance.

 Many believers look at the Christian life as a list of "Do's and Don't's.' The Christian life is not a negative, but a positive.  It is not based upon what we cannot do, but what we can do, because of the person and work of Christ.  It is a life where religion has moved out and Jesus has moved in!