Colossians 2:1-15

the check there, make sure sometimes I forget sometimes they, they just mute my mic for me cause I’ll just sing loudly during worship and stuff. So I think that’s probably to the benefit of the whole church that they mute my mic. But my name is dan, I’m glad you’re here this morning. Um one of the pastors here and we’re gonna continue studying paul’s letter to the colossians. So if you have a bible, go ahead and open it to colossians, chapter two, I’m gonna tell you um On the front end, we are going to read verses one through 15 and uh, the title of today’s teaching is the value of wisdom, the value of wisdom. And as I was thinking about today’s teaching, I was reminded of something that happened that took place was a true event. Um, I know sometimes I may tell you a story, an illustration of here that isn’t true, but if you know my motto, don’t let the truth get in the way of a good story, right? That’s a joke. First service, They were willing to laugh at that you guys, I know man, you, you thanks for that, ha ha. Um, but so this, uh, this event that took place, it’s um, it really is a little funny, believe it or not. So Payless shoe store decided to run a prank on some fashion influencers in Los Angeles, they opened up what they call the designer shoe store and they stocked it with all Payless shoes, but they removed the payless branding from the shoes and from the store and by the way, I have nothing against Payless and Payless shoes, I’ve worn payless shoes in the past. I’m sure I wear some in the future, but this is quite comfortable. So they opened up this store, remove all of the branding, pretend that it is a designer shoe store. Very expensive. That’s what that means. Right? Every time you see designer, right? That means you’re gonna pay a lot of money. And they invited in all of these fashion influencers to come in, get a first peep or a first look, a first opportunity to purchase from this new designer shoe store that opened And these fashion influences were so blown away by the shoes on the shelves and they were willing to pay more than 1800% of the sticker price of the, of the shoe, the value of the shoe. I mean it’s the shoes that were, that would cost normally at payless, about $30. They were willing to pay 646 $150 700 dollars for a pair of shoes. And so Payless is set all this up. They have no idea that this is Payless, right? And then they began to interview these fashion influencers about the shoe and what they liked about and what was, you know great about it and they just, they just gushed at how awesome how cool how, how chick, how sleek, how you know, all of the fashion terminology, these shoes were fine quality. They were amazing. The comfort is amazing, It is so stylish. And then at the end of it pay less would kind of drop the bomb on them and say did you know that these are payless shoes? They said no, no way these can be payless shoes. These are the top of the line. And I said no, these are payless shoes, by the way, here’s your money back. We wanna we wanna give you the shoes. Now you can write about how cool, how comfortable, how stylish, how quality these shoes are and and help us out. Right? And so that’s what Payless did as I was thinking about that, right? These fashion influences influencing the culture, the trendsetters, right, telling people what looks good, what’s fashionable, what is desirable? These people were duped and had no idea why because their whole system, their whole metric system of valuing things is a bit superficial, right? A little bit superficial. So they could get the cover pulled over their eyes a little bit. And so today when we think about what we’re about to read in chapter Two of colossians paul is saying to the colosseum Church, don’t let anyone pull the cover over your eyes. Don’t let anyone fool you don’t let anyone cheat you from the real thing christ from the real treasure christ. Don’t let anyone smooth talk you or present in such a way that they’re so passionate and charismatic and how they presented and so convincing and so compelling and they got the right mood music in the background. Don’t let anybody in that setting get you to leave christ because christ is our greatest treasure and the only wise way to live, it’s in him with him. So that’s what paul wants to make clear to the colossians in our passage this morning. He’s gonna kick off the first five verses talking about is struggle. His desire for God to work in a powerful way in the colosseum church as well as the churches in that region. And then he’s going to lay out a challenge to them on how to live as christians. And he’s going to end it. And last four or five verses talking about the benefits that we have gained because of the gospel of the Lord, jesus christ and he wants him to see through all of that is that christ is our greatest treasure. The only wise way to live is in him. So without further ado, let me read the passage and then I’ll pray for us Again, this is Colossians chapter two, beginning in verse one, it says for I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those that leo and for all who have not seen me face to face that their hearts may be encouraged being knit together in love to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery which is christ in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments for though I am absent embodied yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in christ. Therefore, as you received christ, jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted up, be rooted and built up in him and established in the faith. Just as you were taught abounding in thanksgiving, seek to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world and not according to christ. For in him the whole fullness of Deity dwells bodily and you have been filled in him. Who is the head of all rule and authority in him also. You were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of christ, having been buried with him in baptism in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead and you who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcised version of your flesh. God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands this. He set aside nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him. That is the word of God. Let us pray father, thank you. Thank you Lord christ your appointed savior for us, accomplished everything that we ever needed to be restored back to you and Lord jesus, thank you. You rule and you reign. You are the head of your church. We desire this morning to be firmly planted in you. I pray that you would remind us by way of this teaching in the spirit that you are indeed the great treasure all of life is insignificant if it is without you. But with you it is the most blessed life. So would you accomplish these things this morning in our midst and in our time be glorified and praying, jesus amen man. So um if if you’re new to soar, if you’re somewhat unfamiliar with um you know our commitment to preaching and teaching here, we’ll read the passage. Um the one that’s biblical, that’s that the scriptures will be read publicly. And we like to kind of read it before we begin to start to teach it or unpack it just so that you can take it in and then well start to unpack it and and and and help you to see how it all fits together and the message that the author is trying to make. But there is something that’s important to God when we as people gather and we sit and we hear the word being read and read over us and to us that matters to God. And so I love doing that. Um Paul commissioned timothy and commanded him to do that to read the scriptures publicly in this way and he had the church in mind. So we’ve read colossians chapter two verses one through 15. Now we’re going to unpack it. I’ve kind of Structure these 15 verses into three parts, the first part, verses one through 5. It simply is, don’t let them cheat you. That’s what paul is saying in those first five verses. And then, And verses six through 10 Again, that’s the challenge to walk in Christ and then the last four versus to look at what you’ve gained in him to remember the benefits that the Gospel had purchased for you brought to you in christ to be reminded of those of those things. So, again, and that’s kind of the approach we want to help you kind of get a grasp of. So now, when you read the bible on your own, you can start thinking about what is the author trying to say here. What is God saying through this passage here and wanting to rightly understand it in its context. So, beginning in verse one, Paul continues talking about his struggle. He ended chapter one talking about a struggle that he had right. Um verse 24 chapter one He talked about a struggle that he had in verse 24. He talked about that struggle in terms of the Gospel being preached throughout the known world Towards the end of Chapter one, in verse 29, he starts talking about that struggle to make the cycles to put before people sound teaching to help them to mature in the faith. And here in verse one of chapter two, he’s talking about struggle, but now it’s personalized, directed towards the colossians, towards the leo the sins towards the whole region of Lester. He’s saying, I am thinking of you, I have within me, a desire to see you get all that christ wants you to get out of him and in this life for him, he says he has this desire to be with them, He has this desire to see them strengthened in the faith. He has a desire to see them grow in christ and he has this desire even though he hasn’t seen them, that’s the apostolic burden the pastoral burden that paul felt in his heart for the colossians. And if you aren’t, if you missed the first teaching that we gave the church was planted here because of a disciple that came out of the church in Ephesus batteries, who was from this region from colossi, he was reached in Ephesus and then he returned to colossi and preached the gospel and this church was formed. And so paul hasn’t actually been here, but he has a heart as a burden for the people here. And he says, there’s a struggle in him for them to see them become all that God has made them for to see them grow up into all that the Gospel promises to them, Verse two, he impacts that even further when he says that his struggle is for them, that their hearts may be encouraged being knit together in love to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ Again, he’s just talking about the struggle. And if you’re familiar with Chapter one, he talks about, he had a prayer that he was praying for them. Well, now he’s further unpacking unfolding that prayer. And what is it he says it is that they might be encouraged in Christ, that they might be unified in Christ with love for one another, and that they might be confident of all that the Gospel promises them in christ. So that’s his, that’s his struggle. That’s his hope, that’s his prayer, that’s his desire. That’s what he wants to see in them. And I believe that’s what the Holy Spirit is pressing paul to pin to them so that they themselves might see it in the spirit that this is what God wants for them, and that’s what God wants for us as well. And then he ends their inverse to talking about the knowledge of God’s mystery. He likes to use the term mystery. He references mystery quite a bit in this letter and it has to do with the so called philosophers who who pretend to have, who pretend to have cornered the market on wisdom. And paul is adamant that the true mystery, that thing that was revealed, I think that was hidden that is now revealed is christ, He’s adamant about that. And so it’s constantly drawing their attention to that, don’t give into these so called mysteries and wisdom out there. But here in christ is the true unfolding of the mystery and wisdom of God. He says it was hidden. He says in him are hidden all the treasures of this wisdom and knowledge in him are hidden. All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Now it might seem like paul is just throwing out a sunday school answer right there, right. You know, you know what I mean by the sunday school answer, you ask a young kid a question um what do you think the bible is saying that jesus, you know the church, the bible, you know that kind of thing that sunday school answer? It may seem like paul is saying that like oh yeah, okay, well what’s real visible, jesus, you know the sunday school answer jesus no, no, no, no, there is so much more there. When you look at what he’s saying there in him, right in saying in him all the riches, a full assurance and understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery is is which is christ in whom are hidden. All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. If you if you put your finger there on verse three and then you jump down to verse nine and you see where he says for in him though the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily. And then if you were to go back over to chapter one and you see verse 16 where it says that all things were created through him and for him and he is before all things and in him all things hold together. Now we know this is more than just a sunday school answer when he says that in him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, he is the invisible god made visible to man, revealed to man, jesus the son of God the fullness of God in him the creator, the sustainer the maker of all things. So when he says in whom all the wisdom of knowledge is hidden, he’s not saying sunday school answer, he’s saying everything that is out there. Everything that is made is because of him. Just don’t let them cheat you. Mm hmm Don’t let them pull one over on you in him and him and him is where it’s at. And then verse four we have the direct mention for the first time his concern about the false teachers in the area, the false teaching that was permeating the area and specifically targeting the churches he says is I say this in order that no one may delude you. What is he said? Not just verse three here. Chapter two he said all of this chapter one and all the way up until this point, he is saying I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments, that no one may deceive you, that no one may con you, that no one may defraud you, that no one may cheat you the true value and the true riches that is christ. And then in verse five, he follows up this mention of false teaching and false teachers and there’s there’s an insinuation that there is a battle that is taking place. And so verse five he says, for though I am absent in body yet I’m with you in spirit. All that means is my prayers are for you. And this letter is with you. This apostolic leather letter with the authority of God is with you. But I wish I was with you as well. Why? Because it goes on to say because I rejoice to see your good order and the firmness of your faith. Those are military terms, your good order like an army marching like an army holding rank like an army moving in a direction. I wish I was there with you. And he says the firmness of your faith. That’s a that’s again a military term that he’s using their emphasizing an army holding the battle line, not caving into the enemy’s attack not retreating? He said, I wish I was there with you marching with you, holding the battle line with you so that we would all be encouraged, strengthened, unified in this faith. So that these guys with their persuasive arguments, with their conning deceitful scheming would not cheat us, would not defraud us, would not deceive us. And it’s all in christ. I mean, if you were to read this letter to the colossians and you highlighted every single time one color, how often paul says in christ with christ or in him or with him? I mean, you wouldn’t be able to see anything else in the bible. It would just be you run out of ink from your marker. How often he references this in the midst of this battle, in the midst of this fight, the teaching that we are to remember that we are in him and that we are with him and that the fight is to pull you away from him to lead you away from him to lead your heart, your mind away from him. But you you if you responded to the gospel by faith, you’ve been brought into union with christ. He’s a far more value than anything else in this life. Again, he references the false teachers in verse four and verse five, he speaks of it in terms of a battle, it reminds me of first Corinthians chapter one verse 23 24 where he says, where is the one who is wise? Where is described, where is the debater of this age? Has not God made the foolish, has has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world. For since in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it please God through the folly of what we preach to save. Those who believe for jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach christ crucified a stumbling block to jews and folly to gentiles, but to those who are called both jews and Greeks, christ the power of God and wisdom of God don’t let them cheat you. This is a battle. Don’t be taken by their he says they’re plausible arguments seemingly reasonable, but they are not because in that reason, in that logic you did not know God. But in the folly of the cross being preached, you came to know the wisdom of God, stand firm, Keep the good order and that leads us into his challenge towards him and verses six through 10 where he gets into challenging them to live this out. The walk as christians. Therefore, as you received christ jesus the Lord. So walking him in verse six, as you received christ jesus the Lord, that’s the beginning of your christian walk, receiving christ jesus. The Lord receiving him as Lord, not as your friend, not as your personal santa claus good luck charm, but as Lord Lord means master. It means ruler. That means the one who calls the shots, who gets to tell you what to do even when you don’t feel like it. He says as you were seeing him as well walk walking him. So any teaching, any idea that discourages obedience to crisis from the pit of hell, it did not originate with God. It is not in God, it is from the pit of hell. Any teaching. Any idea that would discourage obedience and faithfulness to christ. That’s from hell. It’s not to be taken lightly. It’s not to be treated as oh it’s just neutral or oh it’s not that significant. No it’s from hell. He says you are to receive as you’ve received him. So walking him obedience to christ obedience to christ requires reliance upon christ. If you or to call him Lord, you need to walk with him, you need his grace to keep you to help you to sustain you too, warn you to correct you, to encourage you you need his grace. Obedience to christ requires reliance upon christ. Well that’s different from saying, well I want to do what’s right because I don’t want to feel bad about it but I keep doing what’s wrong even though I want to do what’s right. Well that’s probably an indication that you’re relying on his strength. You’re on having a desire to do what’s right and then bathing and saturating that desire and prayer and accountability, being willing to do whatever God would ask you to do, so that you might do what is right. That is a declaration that you’re relying upon his power and grace. Moving on. In verse seven says being rooted, being rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught abounding in thanksgiving and I was a little impressed that I I pronounce this word correctly in the first service, but you know, horticulture here, you know, the reference of being rooted and then architecture. So we have paul pulling the two together, I have no idea what he was looking at, but the holy spirit was using this mightily this idea that if you are to be a disciple of christ, if you are to walk with him, be in him and with him and and union with him, that somehow that God was like a plant, like a tree, God was would create a process of discipleship where your roots are required to go deep in christ, so you might be sustained in christ and then he says that you’re being built up. So then he makes the shift from horticulture to actor to architecture to say that God is building something that will be observable, they’ll have more of a permanence that I’m inclined to think that he’s talking about you and I together the you being plural, being rooted and built up together, becoming a living temple of the glory of God reflecting the glory of God. So the ministry of the Word feeds the people of God. The people of God are built up by the Ministry of the Word and the people of God rejoice at the true faithful ministry of the word because God is doing something and it’s observable Universe. eight The see to it that no one takes you captive man. He’s going back to the military terms and the imagery war. See to it that no one takes you captive. See to it that no one makes you a slave of an idea that’s not of God, that’s not consistent with the word of God that opposes allegiance to christ. See to it that no one takes you captive by these things. He says. See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy. Philosophy simply means a love of wisdom or to seek out knowledge to see to that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit. And here’s the key according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world and not according to christ, the philosophy, the traditions, according to humanity or human preferences or spiritual forces that are dark and not according to christ God’s not anti philosophy. God’s not anti tradition. God is anti any philosophy in any tradition that would try to supplant the supremacy of christ in our lives. That’s what he’s saying and see to it that no one makes you a slave of that thing. Because then you’ve lost the true value of wisdom. You’ve lost the true treasure that is christ. So in verse nine, he says, for in him the full the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily In verse 10 and you have been filled in him who is the head of all rule and authority now, it may just seem like like paul is just kind of shoving some theological terms at the end of you know, this thought here just to summarize it for us. But again, you go back to what I pointed out to in verse three in chapter one verse 16, 17 and 18. He’s simply saying by way of reminder, Jesus and him the fullness of Deity 12. He is over everything. All authority over everything. And if there’s any idea if there’s any teaching, if there’s any thought that is contra him, you are to reject it. Why? Because he made all things, He sustains all things in him. All things hold together. And so why would we entertain any rebellious idea or thought that would push us away from him? I mean, that’s the essence of sin. So that’s paul’s challenge here to live as christians that we are as we’ve received christ jesus. The lord were to walk in him relying upon him resisting the enemy in this war, in this battle of ideas and information, resisting the enemy. Walking with christ, relying on him trusting him knowing that he is everything, he’s all and above all. Then he moves on Chapter 11 as we move towards the end here. So he said, don’t let anyone cheat you walk in christ and now he wants to remind them of what they’ve gained in christ Again, beginning in verse 11, he says in him also, you were circumcised with circumcision made without hands by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of christ. And in verse 12 have been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead and then in verse 13 and you who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcised version of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven all, having forgiven us all our trespasses, wow, this is paul’s gospel, this is paul under, this is an out working or these are implications of paul’s gospel that he preached, he’s reminding them of these are all the things that you have gained. It starts with circumcision. Why we start with circumcision. Well, maybe there are some false teachers who are trying to pull the church back towards Judaism. And so he starts there, he’s already addressed the greek component with their quest to seek out wisdom and now he’s addressing the false teaching of the Juda advisers. And so he starts with circumcision. A circumcision was a covenant sign for the Children of Abraham? It marked them off, It separated them from those outside the covenant and those inside the covenant. And so he does something that’s really amazing. He he says, look, the circumcision that was done then was intended to point them to christ because it represented a cutting off of rolling away of the reproach. That was God hated. That’s what circumcision stood for. It was to point them to their need for savior, who would then remove all of their reproach. That’s what he says. That circumcision is now of no value. What’s of true value is what God does in the heart. The circumcision of the heart, cutting off the dead heart or the spiritually dead harder. The heart that is entrenched and dead works towards God. That is not acceptable to God, that God removes that heart from you and gives you a new and living heart in christ. He says that’s a circumcision, not done by human hands, but it is done by the work of the spirit through the preaching of the gospel. And it is joined with faith and we see grace, working it into our lives deeper into our souls as we understand it. So he says, there’s a cutting off of the old and then he points to baptism, he says that you were, it says that we were um buried with him in baptism and which were also raised with him. Are you saying your baptism is to be a witness to the fact that God has made you a new creation? That just as jesus rose from the dead, that now when you rise up out of the waters of baptism, it is a testimony that God has made you a new creation with a new heart, that he has done the work in you to give you that new heart. Now you are a new creature in christ. He did that and he forgave all of your sins, he says forgiven all of your trespasses, but he made you alive, not by ourselves, but with him with him. And then in verse 14 says by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside nailing it to the cross again. I think he is intentionally going after the Judaism because he makes a reference to the legal demands of the law. What were the legal demands of the law? Well, if you broke the law, you deserve death? Secondly, he says that he nailed him to the cross. Well, if you go familiar with the story of jesus dying on the cross, you know that pontius Pilate nailed something above that cross. What did he nail above that cross? It was a phrase King of the jews. So the romans when they would crucify someone and take the charges against that person and they would nail it above the cross. And paul is intentionally exposing the false teaching of these Judaism’s by saying that look, the king of the jews, jesus when he was nailed to that cross. All of your sin was nailed to that cross. All of your sin was nailed to that cross. I don’t think you understood me. All of your sin was nailed to that cross When you turn to him in faith, there’s not one sin that God forgot. Oh yeah. You know I didn’t know they were gonna commit that sin. So let me now go back and add that. Now he’s saying all was nailed to that cross. Every record, every record of debt of sin debt tone four paid amen. In verse 15. Again, returning to the military language, he says he disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him. When the romans would conquer people, they, they would try to keep either the king or one of the top generals of the opposing army alive for a short period of time, it would eventually brutally kill them but they wanted to keep them alive and to bring them back to Rome in chains behind a chariot where either the emperor or one of his top generals drove the chariot and these captives would be paraded through the streets to open shame public spectacle. There’s no question paul has that in mind when he’s thinking about the resurrected and ascended jesus, that in his resurrection and ascension with a strong man and all of the rulers in the heavenly places that they are made a public spectacle of disarms them. And as Ephesians 4 8 says says that when he ascended on high, he led a host of captives and then he gave gifts to men, Paul unpacks that in the letter to the Ephesians, the gifts that he gave them in included the leadership, the apostolic leadership of Paul and his authority to write this letter to remind the church, christ has won a great victory. He’s made a public spectacle of the enemy. We are to march in order we are not to break rank. We are not to be deceived to lay down our arms, but we are to stand firm. We have been called to plunder the house of a strong man because christ has made a public spectacle of him. That’s a reference in the Bible to Satan and his demonic influence over the nation’s. That’s why Paul in verse 13 talks about Christ. When you come to faith in him, you’ve been delivered from the domain of the Kingdom of Darkness and brought into his kingdom. And it wasn’t a nice deliverance. It was a total defeat. It was domination over the darkness that held you and I brings you into his kingdom and we together marching in ranks, standing firm, holding the battle line unified, Being encouraged, strengthened in christ. We are not to lay down our arms because someone made us laugh, made us cry. I told a pretty story, threaten to do us harm. Now we are to stand in this victory. We are to remember what crisis gained us through his own death and resurrection. We have to stand firm to this word. Maybe you live in a vacuum, but this word is politically unacceptable. In many cases, I don’t know if you noticed that, what do we do? Do we lay down our arms, do we back away? Do we shy away? But I’m gonna say this and some of the elders, we can now have a conversation with me if it’s not right, but let me say this. So anyway, I’m gonna say it if you are a christian and you are offended in such a way by God’s word that it evokes an emotional response in you. You really need to do some soul searching to see if the spirit of God is really in you because this passage says that we abound and thankfulness because of this word, it may be hard, may ask us to do hard things sometimes, but ultimately, we have bound and thankfulness because of this word is the word of a king, our king, jesus christ Lord King. But you’re in the midst of a battle church, we are in the midst of a battle christ is the true value of wisdom, but we cannot lay down our arms and give up this battle just because someone wants to tickle the ears, pat us along on the back as we’re going along in sin, we cannot lay down arms. We must stand firm in him. We must encourage each other to stand firm in him. We must pray for one another and for us together to stand firm in him as God is doing the work, he is building his church. So let me close in prayer will move to the time of communion. Father, thank you God, you have not called us to an impossible task. It would be impossible were it not for what you have accomplished on our behalf in christ, we’re not for your spirit, you’ve given us. We’re not for the clarity and the authority of your word. It would be impossible were not for the communion of the saints. What you call us. Who would be impossible. But Lord, you have given us all those things so we know what you’ve called us to is not impossible. So Father, would you help us? Would you remind us that we have the victory on our side in christ? That we have the wisdom christ and that we have all of these gifts and tools that you’ve given us To March four until we see your glory fill this earth. I pray this in, jesus name. Amen