THE BOOK OF COLOSSIANS
(How to control your flesh - November 13, 2022)
Series Big Idea: "Humanity is only complete in God the Son"
Sermon Big Idea: "Godliness comes from being like Christ, not from being a saint"
Key Scripture (Colossians 2:16-23)
Sinful desires have plagued humanity since Adam and Eve sinned. Our body, old nature, or indwelling sin tempts us to do evil. So how do we keep our flesh under control? That’s the question we are going to answer in our scripture passage today. Remember, up to this point in his letter the Apostle Paul has laid a foundation of who Christ is and His being made known to the entire world.
(Colossians 2:16-23)
Therefore, don’t let anyone judge you in regard to food and drink or in the matter of a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day. 17 These are a shadow of what was to come; the substance is the Messiah. 18 Let no one disqualify you, insisting on ascetic practices and the worship of angels, claiming access to a visionary realm and inflated without cause by his unspiritual mind. 19 He doesn’t hold on to the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and held together by its ligaments and tendons, develops with growth from God. 20 If you died with the Messiah to the elemental forces of this world, why do you live as if you still belonged to the world? Why do you submit to regulations: 21 “Don’t handle, don’t taste, don’t touch”? 22 All these regulations refer to what is destroyed by being used up; they are commands and doctrines of men. 23 Although these have a reputation of wisdom by promoting ascetic practices, humility, and severe treatment of the body, they are not of any value in curbing self-indulgence.
So, the question on the table is, how do we keep our flesh under control? One answer, not restricted to Christians, has been to abuse the body to control it. Christian monks have slept on boards, worn hair shirts, subjected themselves to extremes of heat and cold, lived on pillars, gone without washing, fasted, and stayed celibate to cope with the flesh.
The late Anglican pastor John Stott declared that if he could start his Christian journey again, he would organize an evangelical monastic order where men would pledge celibacy, poverty, and peace. Is that really the answer to our question? I think not. The present church's worldliness should not be solved by a rules-based, withdraw-from-the-world approach to holiness. The church needs self-discipline for holiness, but we must avoid asceticism, which is behind monasticism.
The false teachers in Colossae had put multiple regulations on their followers. Paul showed in these verses that this is not the answer.
1. Self-denial doesn’t make people godly
What is this asceticism in verse 18? The Oxford American Dictionary (oxforddictionaries.com) defines it: as “Characterized by severe self-discipline and abstention from all forms of indulgence, typically for religious reasons.”But isn’t self-denial taught in the Bible? Paul disciplined and controlled his body (1 Corinthians 9:27). He advised Timothy to persevere as a good soldier of Christ Jesus (2 Timothy 2:3) and train himself for holiness (1 Timothy 4:7). Spirit-given self-control (Galatians 5:23). Jesus claimed following Him requires self-denial (Matthew 16:24). What distinguishes asceticism from biblical self-denial or self-discipline? Differences include:
Asceticism views the body as bad and must be completely subdued, whereas self-discipline views it as beneficial but needs control. Asceticism is surrendering my body to my will; self-discipline is submitting my life to God's will. Asceticism views all materialistic things as evil, but self-discipline uses and embraces them. Asceticism condemns joy and pleasure, yet self-discipline enables God's joy and pleasure. I could go on but you get the picture.
Paul illustrates that since Christians have died to God's law, which couldn't achieve righteousness, they shouldn't follow human ascetic standards, which are useless against the flesh. He says three things concerning ascetic rules: these rules deal with the outside of a person but not the heart, so our sin issue can only be solved by changing our hearts. Secondly, ascetic regulations are man-made, not God-given, asceticism adds to the Bible to prevent sin. But that doesn't work. Lastly, Ascetic regulations appear to lead to godliness but instead nourish vanity and self-indulgence. So what is the way to godliness?
2. Identifying with Christ makes people godly
If you are a Christian, you died with Christ. Because of our continuous transgressions, God's law cursed humanity. We face death. However, Jesus fulfilled the law. He died legally. We died to the law in Him. It no longer controls Christians.
To illustrate, consider a man from a foreign country where the law imposed a 6 p.m. curfew. The man moves to our country and becomes a U.S. citizen. He has thus been legally separated from his country and its laws and become identified with our country. One evening he is out walking far from his home. Suddenly he realizes that it’s almost 6 p.m. He stops a man on the street and says, “Please, help me! I’m not allowed to be on the streets after 6 p.m.” The American would say to him, “Sir, I don’t know who told you such a thing. But let me assure you that in the United States, there is no such law.” That man’s freedom was a fact; but he wasn’t enjoying his freedom because he wasn’t acting on the basis of the truth that he was dead to (separated from) the laws of his old country and alive to the freedom of his new country.
That’s what Paul means in (Romans 7:6) “But now we have been released from the law, since we have died to what held us, so that we may serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old letter of the law.”
Conclusion:
I don't think there is any danger of any of you running off to join a monastery or convent. But some of you may be striving to follow all kinds of manufactured standards because you want to live for Christ. But abiding by a bunch of rules won't work. To live a godly life and overcome sin, you must first trust in Christ as your Savior and then realize who you are in Christ and live accordingly.
Pastor Beaver's thoughts and ideas are inspired by:
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