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In the
letter written to the Colossians, Rabbi Paul writes
to a community of Believers that was doing well,
but was also being challenged by non-Biblical
ideas, erroneous ideologies and false religious
thinking that were trying to work their way into
the faith of the Church. A pure faith is important.
What we believe affects what we do and how we
live. What we believe determines our choices and
can affect our eternal future. We must have the
right ideas. We must think the right thoughts.
We must believe the right things.
Paul’s
three-fold solution to their problems: one: point
them to Messiah - Messiah is sufficient for all
the problems that they (and we) will encounter;
two: pray for them; three: remind them of the
proper way to live.
In chapter
2, for the challenges they are facing, Paul points
them to the sufficiency of Messiah. First there
is:
The
Challenge of Philosophy (2:1-10): Philosophy
means “love of wisdom” The Greeks and Romans had
ideas that they thought wise and true, ideas that
they thought explained reality and gave us the
best ways of living. But, their ideas and philosophical
systems were not completely wise and true, but
were a mixture of truth and error. And, just as
when you mix that which is holy and that which
is unholy and you get unholiness - so when you
mix truth and error, you get error. There are
ways and philosophical systems that seem right,
wise and true to human beings, but those ways
lead to death, and those ways must be rejected.
There may have been those telling the Believing
Community of the Colossians that they needed to
add some of these erroneous ideas to their pure
faith.
The answer
to this challenge is the sufficiency of the Messiah.
In Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom
and knowledge. He is the Source of pure wisdom
and knowledge. He is Truth, absolute Truth, unmixed
with any error. Who He is and what He says and
what He stands for perfectly lines up with reality.
Great
wealth and true intellectual riches come from
understanding who the Messiah of Israel is. He
is real. He is true. He is the Source of truth,
wisdom, reality. Knowing who Yeshua is brings
us full assurance - confidence, certainty, freedom
from doubt.
In Him
all the fulness of God dwells in bodily form.
All the divine attributes of God dwell in Messiah.
He is the eternal and infinite, self-existent,
without beginning and without end, omnipresent,
all-powerful, all-knowing, all-wise, perfect,
complete, and unchanging. He is full of love.
He is gracious and merciful, holy, righteous and
just, faithful and true, good, kind and generous.
He is the Supreme Authority, the head over all
rule and authority. He is the Highest Authority
in the universe.
He is
like the fertile Earth, and you are like a tree.
Make sure that you are deeply rooted to Him. Make
sure that you have a living connection to Messiah.
Make sure you are growing and being built up in
Him.
If you
are joined to Him by having faith in Him, you
are complete - you lack nothing. Don’t be taken
in by the empty deception of man-made philosophies,
persuasive arguments and the traditions of men.
Don’t be deluded by some man-made philosophical
system that seems persuasive, even if it quotes
the Bible and has religious ideas.
You do
this by faith. Just as you began your personal
relationship with Him by hearing about Him, and
then getting to know Him, and growing in your
confidence in Him, continue to live the rest of
your life that way. Continue having faith in Him.
Place your confidence fully in Him. Continue getting
to know Him!
Have a
pure faith, a stable faith that is totally focused
on Him. Make sure that you are established and
stable in your faith, looking to Him for wisdom
to understand and properly live a successful life
that is genuinely pleasing to God.
The
Challenge of Legalism (2:11-17): like the
Messianic Movement of today, there may have been
people who were telling the Believers in the Community
of the Colossians, particularly the Gentile Believers,
that to really please God, they needed to keep
all the laws of the Sinai Covenant.
The answer
to this challenge is the sufficiency of the Messiah.
Gentiles shouldn’t be circumcised for religious
reasons. They do not convert to Judaism. When
you place your faith in Messiah, you become circumcised
with a spiritual, but real, circumcision. Not
just a little piece of skin is removed from your
body, but your entire old nature dies! You receive
a whole new nature, a nature that is really alive
to God!
All of
your sins have been forgiven - but not by keeping
the laws given to Israel under an older covenant.
Each one of us broke some of the laws of God,
and curses come from violating God’s commands.
But, when Messiah was nailed to that cross, all
of the decrees which were hostile to us were nailed
to the cross. His death on the cross took care
of all of your violations of the laws of God.
Because
of your sins, you were seriously in debt to God.
Because of your violations of His good commands,
you raked up a huge spiritual debt that could
never be repaid, no matter how much you worked
to pay it off. It’s like you were making a an
average salary, but you wasted your money by spending
more than you made. You ran up the credit cards,
refinanced your home and took out all the equity
in a rising market. You made some stupid investments,
and loaned money to friends who didn’t pay it
back. Then you lost your job and the housing market
crashed. The bankruptcy laws were changed, and
you couldn’t simply declare bankruptcy and walk
away from your legal debts. You gambled through
bookies and lost big, and you wound up owing millions
to your creditors. You are in serious trouble!
But because of Messiah, you are completely debt
free! The Son of God paid your debt, the debt
that you could never repay.
When it
comes to the laws of the Sinai Covenant, there
is freedom. There is freedom when it comes to
keeping kosher and observing holidays and Sabbaths.
These things are shadows of other realities that
are to come. The substance, the reality to which
these things pointed is Messiah, and if you have
the Reality To Which They Point, you have the
substance. What would you rather have - the shadow
of a million dollars, or a million dollars? What
would you rather have, the shadow of eternal life,
or eternal life? What would you rather have, the
shadow of the Messiah, or the actual, wonderful,
life-giving Messiah? You want to keep kosher and
observe the Sabbath and celebrate the holidays?
Fine. You don’t want to because you are confident
that you have the reality, the substance to which
these shadows pointed? Fine. So, be gracious to
one another, and don’t criticize each other about
these matters.
So believe
in Messiah. When you do, you really are joined
to Him. You die with Him. His death becomes your
death. His burial becomes your burial. His resurrection
becomes your resurrection. You rise from death
a new creature with a new nature, a recipient
of the Holy Spirit, alive to God, forgiven, debt
free, able to be victorious.
The
Challenge of Mystical Teachings (2:18-19):
there may have been people who were telling the
Believers in the Community of the Colossians that
they needed to include angels in their worship,
and that it was important to have mystical visions.
This would make them more spiritual. This, of
course, is wrong and dangerous.
The answer
to this challenge is the sufficiency of the Messiah.
Messiah is like the head of a body. Messiah is
the spiritual head of His spiritual body of Believers.
We are to be directly attached to Messiah, who
is the head. Messiah is the source of our life.
Just as a body can’t live without being securely
attached to its head, we can’t live without being
directly connected to our living Leader. We must
make sure that we are always properly and securely
connected to Him - by drawing near directly to
Him by faith - not by trying to go through intermediaries
like angels.
Why worship
angels? It doesn’t make sense if you know who
Yeshua is. Messiah is the head over all rulers
and authorities, including the good and bad angels.
He is the Lord of the angels. He is greater than
any angel. He is the Creator, and they are His
servants - and ours.
You don’t
need to involve angels in your worship! You go
directly to the Head! You make sure you stay joined
to the Head. If the body is to function properly,
if it is to grow properly with a growth that is
from God, it must be securely attached directly
to the head. No intermediaries, no New Testament
priests, no prayers to angels or saints, no prayers
to or veneration of Mary. No popes, no icons.
You don’t
need to seek mystical visions. All you need to
do is seek to know Messiah better. And, that knowledge
is not hidden. It’s right here in the Word of
God, assessable to anyone who can read, or hear
it being read. You don’t have to go here or there
after supposedly anointed men, or alleged miracle-workers.
The Anointed One, the Messiah is here! He is alive.
He is real. Seek Him directly, and seek Him yourself!
You become anointed. Seek Him through the Word
of God, and through prayer, and through study.
The
Challenge of Asceticism (2:20-3:5): there
may have been people who were telling the Believers
in the Community of the Colossians that, if they
wanted to be more spiritual and resist the temptations
of the flesh, they needed to abstain from eating
certain foods, or drinking certain things like
wine. Perhaps they may have been telling them
that they needed to wear uncomfortable clothing,
or fast, or whip their bodies, or go without sleep.
Severe treatment of the body might seem to be
a wise way to overcome the sinful desires of the
old nature and resist temptation, and get closer
to God, but this is not the path to true spirituality!
This is man-made religion. This is the commandments
and teachings of men - not the commandments and
teaching of God. The Lord didn’t teach us treat
ourselves harshly. He gave us food to enjoy and
good things to drink - even wine, which makes
glad the heart of man, and lots of other legitimate
pleasures as well.
The answer
to this challenge is the sufficiency of the Messiah.
Messiah died. He died to this world. He is no
longer living in this world. He has overcome this
world. He is not bothered by the temptations of
this world. He is in Heaven, seated at the right
hand of God. And, if we place our faith in Him,
then what happened to Him happens to us. What
is true for Him, right now, will be true for us.
When we are joined to Him, by trusting in Him,
and believing in Him, and having confidence in
Him, we too die to this world. Our old, sinful
nature dies. We receive a new nature, and nature
that wants to please God, a nature that wants
to resist sin. We receive the precious Holy Spirit,
the Spirit of God and the Spirit of the Messiah.
The way to overcome temptation and stay close
to God is by feeding the new spiritual nature,
not mistreating the physical body.
A man
has a field of weeds, and he wants to get rid
of those weeds. If he tries to continually pull
the weeds, he will spend much of his time just
pulling weeds. Or he can do something positive.
He can plant some beneficial plants that are stronger
than the weeds in that field, and if they are
the right plants and are in the right place in
the right climate and have the right amount of
sun, and those plant will grow stronger and take
over that field of weeds, and that man will have
a beautiful productive field.
You are
like that field. You are like the good plants.
Cultivate the positive. Set your mind, concentrate
your mental energies on Messiah, who right now
is seated at the right hand of God. He is seated,
because He is victorious, and His work or atonement
is finished. And, the closer you get to Him, the
more victory you will experience.
This is
the best way to get closer to God, and it will
feed and strengthen your new spiritual nature,
and you will have the extra power that you need
to resist temptation. When you are tempted, you
will be alive to God, and you will hear His voice
saying, “Don’t do that. Don’t give into that!
Think about this instead. This is inconsistent
with who I am, the holy God. This is not who you
are. That old you that liked those wrong things
is dead. Think of yourself as being dead to immorality,
impurity, evils desires, greed.
You are
a new creature with a new nature. You are My beloved
son, My beautiful daughter who shares My nature.
This wrong thing that is tempting you is inconsistent
with the glorious destination where you are headed.
Get out of this situation. Redirect your thoughts
to other things, things that will be welcomed
in Heaven.”
Next week,
Lord willing, I hope to apply the principle of
the sufficiency of Messiah to some of the challenges
we are facing in our day.
Shalom,
Rabbi Loren
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