Colossians 3:1-4

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

Paul views the church as triumphant, victorious over all powers, principalities, and authorities.  Because of Christ's finished work, Paul declares our hope of eternal life with God as his children.  We who have been crucified with Christ by accepting his sacrifice for sin by faith have died to ourselves and been raised IN CHRIST to eternal life.  When He, who is our life, appears, we who are hidden in him will be clothed in his robes of glory, glowing with his visage.  His likeness is totally acceptable to a holy God, for Jesus alone completely fulfilled the Law, the sacrifices, and all the regulations of the old covenant.  To this very day, believers need no more sacrifices for sin, no more laws to make us righteous and holy.  Christ alone through his atoning death on the cross brought us into right relationship with God when He poured out his blood as a sin offering.  He is the Sabbath Rest.  He is the embodiment of all the regulations and the fulfillment of every sacrifice.  All who have placed their faith in HIS WORKS are holy as He is holy before God.  IN CHRIST, WE ARE EVERYTHING GOD DESIRES FROM HIS CREATION.  We are as his Son is: the light of the world, the salt of the earth.  We do not wait to be made whole: we are made whole through the cross.  As Paul told the church at Ephesus, As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.  All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts.  Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.  But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.  And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.  For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.  (Ephesians 2:1-8)  

What about the flesh, what about failure, self-esteem issues, our human faults and foibles?  Each one of us knows we sometimes go astray, lose track of what really matters in life, make mistakes we regret.  Certainly those deeds are far from perfect, and we feel guilty, ashamed, and wonder where we stand with the Lord after those experiences.  How can God accept us when we are so easily distracted?   God did not have a halfway plan for his creation when He decided to sacrifice his only begotten Son for us.  He dealt with every aspect of the flesh through Christ.  Because of the shed blood of Jesus, God no longer sees us as enemies or aliens.  He views us as members of his family: his beloved sons and daughters.  Because of the cross and the resurrection, we are as his only begotten Son.  Paul told the church if you have the Spirit of the Lord alive in you, you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship.  And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”  The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.  Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ. . ..  (Romans 8:15-17)  Similarly, he told the Galatians who were tempted to go back into law,  Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.”  So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.  (Galatians 4:6)  The only way we can remove ourselves from this holy relationship is if we knowingly and willfully walk away from God by putting Christ aside, claiming our goodness is enough to please God and we want nothing to do with his best gift, this so-called Messiah, Jesus.  If we put Christ on the cross again, we crucify him afresh in our lives and He becomes dead to us.  The Word stands: Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.  (Acts 4:12)  Jesus said, I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.  (John 14:6)

You may feel discouraged or defeated, thinking you have failed the Lord or let him down.  The fact you feel remorse is a good sign that your heart is toward him, but actions or events have gotten in the way of your first love for him.  He is nigh you, close by your side, calling you with a faithful, tender, merciful love.  Listen to his call.  Seek that love relationship, the joy that overflowed your heart when you first met him.  Jesus always says, Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.  (Matthew 11:28-30)  Ask him to set your heart on things above.  Ask him to strengthen you in your innermost being--in the desires of your heart, your choices, your wants, your inclinations.  We know He will say lovingly, "My child you have always been mine.  I love you.  I chose you from the beginning of time.  Fear not, for I am with you."  Open your spiritual ears to hear that voice and to follow that love.  The Holy Spirit is the great Comforter, the best Counselor.  He'll guide you as you walk through this world.  A contrite heart like David's heart pleases God, for God is gentle and long-suffering.  He will hold you near to him if your heartfelt desire is to please him even when you fail miserably in your own strength and human abilities.  His love covers all when we totally yield control to him and fall beneath his mighty hand of protection.  He will feed his flock like a shepherd.  He will carry the lambs in his arms, holding them close to his heart.  He will gently lead the mother sheep with their young.  (Isaiah 40:11 NLT)  Praise him today dear breakfast companion, for He loves you and has a  plan for your life.  Our God is an awesome God!  

Colossians 2:16-23

Colossians 2:16-23  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.  These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.  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.  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.  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:  “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”?  These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings.  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. 

Paul continues his strong plea to believers to stand fast on the foundation of righteousness through Christ alone.  We read in our last study that God chose to save sinners when we were dead, without any hope.  Paul fully understands through his own experience that while we were in that depraved and helpless condition unable to keep the law, unable to save ourselves, "God made you alive with Christ.  He forgave us our sins, 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."  He goes on to declare Christ defeated the powers and authorities, making a spectacle of them when  he triumphed over sin at the cross.  (See Colossians 2:13-15)  Paul wants the church to stand in the freedom of Christ, knowing Jesus paid the price for God's grace gift to cover his people, setting them free to function as the church victorious, not to go back to the former things, the lesser things.  He tells the people, since we have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus, since we are perfect IN CHRIST, for we have died IN HIM and have been raised IN HIM by faith in newness of life, we have confidence in his finished works.  Consequently, God finds no fault in us.  WE ARE FAULTLESS BECAUSE CHRIST IS FAULTLESS.  Further on in our reading, Paul will state categorically: Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.  For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.  We rest in Christ our Savior, Redeemer, Lord, and King.  No principalities or powers can condemn us anymore: Jesus Christ reigns over every principality or power forever.  If we could look back over 2000 years we would see a most wretchedly agonizing scene as the Beloved and Lovely One, the Bright and Morning Star takes his last breaths on this earth.  When he was thirsty they lifted a sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant to his lips.  When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.”  With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.  (John 19:30)  Yet in that moment came light and life to all creation; the hope of the nations was released that day!  When the Creator of all things says the work is finished, it is finished for He is Lord of All! 

Nevertheless, knowledge of an event is one thing; acceptance of a faultless state of being seems hard for any one of us to consider possible and even harder to accept for ourselves as a day-to-day reality.  To gain and to sustain acceptance by God, we tend to believe we must be very religious and live a holy life.  We think we should establish special days to worship God; we follow certain, rules, laws and regulations we consider righteous or holy; we make lists of activities and behaviors we decide are sins to avoid because they displease God.  We learn not to taste, handle, or touch anything that is deemed to be unholy or unclean.  We live circumscribed lives the best we can.  We feel good when we keep our religious tenets; we feel bad, guilty, unworthy, and unholy when we fail to keep our religion.  We submit to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, thinking this pleases God, hoping to prepare for the world to come.  But Paul through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit offers a new way.  He tells the church to listen to the Holy Spirit's call.  You do not have to keep your rules and regulations anymore because you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world.  Why are you behaving as if you are still under the old system when we have been released from this lifestyle of religiosity?  He says look at who we are in Christ Jesus.  We are now free IN CHRIST.  It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.  Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.  (Galatians 5:1)  We are new creatures, no longer bound to this world's taxonomy.  We live on a different plane.  If our lives are hidden in Christ Jesus, then we lack nothing.  He is our righteousness, our holiness, all that we need.  We have the real substance, not a fleeting hope of right standing with God.  We are growing together in Christ our Lord as his living body.

Recently, Dad had a dream that relates well with today's discussion. I was seated in an auditorium, listening to a speaker.  Because I desired to take notes, I looked for a pen because I did not have one.  Looking around, I found one in a wastepaper basket in front of me. Unbeknown to me, this pen leaked ink; and before I knew it, I had ink all over the pew and dripping onto the floor.  I had so much ink on the floor, a man already was cutting out a square foot of carpet and sewing in a new piece while everyone was still listening to the speaker.  Then an officious woman behind me noticed I had one foot resting on the pew in front of me.  Apparently, this behavior disturbed her, so she touched me on the shoulder and told me to put my foot on the floor.  With so much commotion surrounding me and feeling just a little embarrassed, I decided to be more spiritual than all of the rest, so I raised my hands in the air and worshipped and praised the Lord in tongues rather loudly.  I did this, knowing the lady next to me was an unbeliever.  This type of worship disturbed her greatly; hence, she quickly left the building as soon as she could.  Now, some of the events that happened to me in this dream were definitely unintentional, but some were intentional such as praying loudly in tongues, knowing the unconverted person next to me would probably consider me mad.  But as I awakened, the Holy Spirit did not chastise me for my faults, for making a mess that someone else had to clean up, for carelessly putting my foot on the pew in God's house, or for chasing away an unbeliever.  He spoke to my heart, "YOU ARE FAULTLESS.  I FIND NO FAULT IN YOU."  I thought, that is impossible!  Look at all I did wrong in that dream.  But the Spirit was saying to me, "I find you completely acceptable because THE SON IS TOTALLY AND COMPLETELY ACCEPTABLE TO THE FATHER."  We have a new way, a living way, a better way: his name is Jesus!  But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.  (1 John 1:7)  Praise God!  Amen!   

Colossians 2:13-15

Colossians 2:13-15  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, 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.  And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

Paul wanted the church to understand if the written code had not been canceled by God, believers would still bear the heavy weight of sin; but Christ's atoning sacrifice for the sins of all mankind did away with that code and all its regulations.  The former covenant was annulled; he [Jesus] took it away, nailing it to the cross.  As sons and daughters of the Lord, we no longer gauge our spirituality based on right or wrong, good or bad, success or failure.  We who are IN CHRIST through his cleansing blood are no closer to God when we are  successful in keeping the law than we are when we are failures at keeping the law.  Most of us find this impossible to believe because we think living righteously according to the Law is what pleases God.  Today's scripture says, God made you alive with Christ when you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature.  Christ fulfilled God's plan and finished the work that made us righteous and holy when it was impossible to please God through our flesh.  The Spirit made us alive when we placed our hope, desire, and faith in Jesus, the Son of God, as THE CHRIST, THE SAVIOR, THE MESSIAH, LORD OF ALL.  He did all of this when we were so filthy in sin and so lost God could not even look upon us.  God cannot look upon sin without passing judgment.  Paul wrote to the Romans, You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.  Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die.  But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  (Romans 5:6-8)  Praise God!  At the cross, Christ, the perfect Lamb of God took our place before the judgment seat of God.  Jesus willingly separated himself from the godhead to face a cruel death without defending himself, knowing He faced eternity in the grave if God saw fit not to raise him from the dead.  But God said, He would not allow his Holy One to face the decay of the grave; therefore, He resurrected Christ victoriously to a new life of holiness to sit at his right hand making intercession for us forever without the taint of sin.  We who are IN CHRIST were also raised with him to share in his sinless state.  

When Christ went to the grave and arose through the power of the Holy Spirit, He disarmed the powers and authorities of this world and the ethereal world.  He brought the high places low and low places high.  He made the path smooth and straight to heaven, for IN HIM there are no written codes and regulations that any power or authority whether the demons from hell or wicked people on this earth can use to condemn us.  Christ came into the  world not to condemn us but to save us from the sins that so easily beset us and the final corruption of the flesh, which is death.  IN CHRIST WE HAVE ETERNAL LIFE WITH GOD.  Christ made a public spectacle of all powers and authorities by showing them to be weak because without the law these powers have no bullets to shoot down God's heaven-bound children.  We stand fast in the freedom wherein Christ has made us free, clad in the full armor of God.  We do not stand in our own righteousness or human abilities because in Christ we have the Holy Spirit guiding us all the way.  The Spirit comforts us, directs us away from a life committed to the flesh, and uses us to fulfill the perfect will of the Father.  The Spirit says, "Go out in the name of the Lord: feed the hungry, pray for the sick, visit the lonely, comfort the suffering, encourage the downhearted.  Share what you have received and be blessed."  As the newborn in Christ, we rejoice in afflictions and hardships, knowing these trials and temptations come to make us strong in the power of Christ's might.  We comfort one another with the comfort we receive.  We draw closer together as the body of Christ, encouraging each other in the Spirit to do good deeds in Jesus' name that we might grow in grace and the knowledge of the Lord.  We do not lift up ourselves.  As we lift Jesus high, we come to know him, finding peace, freedom, life everlasting.  We see what Paul described: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.  Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.  (2Corinthians 5:17-19)  

Will the flesh sin as we live this journey of faith?  Yes, sometimes we wander, but the old nature IS DEAD.  He died at Calvary when he was crucified with Christ.  Our job is to agree with God's work in us.  He has made us holy and righteous, perfect through the cross, so we might enter into the holy place with confidence as the Word says many times.  We no longer carry the guilt and shame of sin.  Instead of cringing in fear or running away to hide from God, we thank him for his loving kindness and tender mercies.  We repent when we know we have willfully gone astray, and we praise God for delivering us from sin and lavishing us with his grace.  Since we are no longer captives in bondage to sin, we proclaim our freedom.  When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true:  “Death has been swallowed up in victory.  Where, O death, is your victory?  Where, O death, is your sting?”  The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.  But thanks be to God!  He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.  (1 Corinthians 15:54-57)   When we see ourselves righteous IN CHRIST, we will have victory over the works of the flesh.  No husband who really loves his wife as he loves himself will betray her.  Believers who love God as God has loved us will not betray him by making him an open show to the world as if He were of no affect in our lives.  When we sin, we sorrow and seek forgiveness from the Lover of our souls; but we will not let that sin harm our relationship, for we know God will never leave us or forsake us.  This kind of love demands reciprocation, loyalty, devotion.  Who can resist the steadfast love of God that never changes?  No one who has an ear to hear his voice!  If we truly know how much God loves us, how much he has done for us, how much He longs to fellowship with us in close communion; if we see him snatching us from the pit of Hell; we will surely dedicate our lives  and our allegiance to him with a passion that cannot be broken by any power on the earth or from the spirit realm.  Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.  Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever.  So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed."  (John 8:34-36)  As children of God, may we use that freedom from sin and death to bring glory to our lovely, all-powerful Savior, the Good Shepherd of the sheep.  Amen!