Colossians 2:6-15- “Jesus is enough”
By James Galbraith
First Baptist Church, Port Alberni
October 14, 2007
Text
Col 2:6 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, 7 rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
Col 2:8 See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.
Col 2:9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, 10 and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. 11 In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.
Col 2:13 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, 14 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. 15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross
Introduction
- the JW’s knocked on my door a while ago (I always like seeing the look on their face when I tell them I’m a Baptist pastor)
- reminded me of the time they came a callin’ soon after I came to faith
- I was a 17 year old kid, knowing nothing about my faith then Jesus was cool and that through him I was God’s child
- they sat me down, explained their thoughts on the coming end of the world, and left me with a couple of well made, full of “God talk” books
- I shared this encounter with my youth group, and the leaders explained to me how different the JW’s beliefs really were,
- the most important difference being their view of Jesus himself
- they don’t believe that Jesus was fully God,
but rather that he is God’s creation – someone God made.
They think that Jesus is important,
but they do not believe that Jesus alone is enough for faith.
They think we need more than him.
This belief is one example of what Paul is talking about in our passage today.
For he too dealt with people who believed that Jesus was important,
but also thought that they needed more for real faith.
He starts his thoughts with a reminder of Jesus’ place in our lives:
6 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, 7 rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness
He longs that they will show the faith that is so strong within them
with a spirit of thankfulness that boils over into everything they do.
A pot over boils because the excitement, the agitation of the water that had filled it up and is now too big for the pot to handle
- the energy in the water makes the water too difficult to contain
And that’s what Paul wants to see in the Colossians,
and that’s also what God wants to see in each and every one of us!
Hearts overflowing with thankfulness simply because of his love for us,
which never ever dies away!
And this thankfulness is rooted not in our emotions, but in the presence of Jesus in our lives. We don’t get all bubbly and happy in order to encounter Jesus –we boil over with gratitude because he’s already in our lives!
When we continually reinforce the roots, the loving presence of Jesus in our lives, we are also much more protected from the theological errors and bad practice that can infiltrate our lives.
Paul begins to address some of these in the next verses.
8-9 - Rely on Christ, not the world
8 See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.
It’s so easy to go off course, and just a small error can make a big difference over time
eg. navigate a boat, and being just half a degree off course
can place your miles from your destination
One of the problems the Colossians’ had to deal with was allowing worldly traditions to get in the way of their relationship with Jesus.
They had become Christians though learning of the gospel of Christ,
but in the absence of strong teaching and leadership,
others had come along and tried to add to the message.
They would teach things like:
- Yes, Jesus saves you,
but you still need to follow the Jewish traditions of eating.
- Yes Jesus saves you, but men still need to be circumcised.
They were also maintaining their attachment to “the basic principles of the world”,
which is a trust in virtue or wisdom or love or nobility,
divorced from it’s true source – Christ himself
Now love and wisdom and virtue are good things,
but when we separate them from God and cling to them as powers in and of themselves,
we are worshipping the power without acknowledging the source
It’s like bowing down to the light bulb because it gives light,
or making a part of creation into a person and worshipping it,
instead of giving credit to the true Creator of nature – our Holy God!
Paul is saying to these mistakes - NO NO NO! Jesus is enough!,
and he explains this more in the next paragraph…
9-12 - Christ is enough
9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, 10 and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. 11 In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.
vs. 9
In Jesus we find everything that God is, therefore he’s enough for us
- he is not created by God, he is fully God just as God the Father is fully God
That is why we say God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
- that is also why Jesus was called “Immanuel” – or “God with us”.
vs. 10
When we place our trust in Christ, he makes us complete – we don’t need more
We don’t need Jesus + tradition
Jesus + money
Jesus + the right clothes
We need Jesus alone, and when he becomes a part of our lives, that is enough
Now, I’m not saying that we don’t have to continue learning and growing in our faith,
through study, prayer, fellowship, worship
We DO need that - it is part of our relationship with Jesus himself!
But I am saying that anything that takes away from the completeness of Christ himself, anything which says “Yes, you need Jesus, but he didn’t do it all”, is dead wrong.
One example of this in the early church was circumcision.
Jewish men were circumcised in order to physically demonstrate their faith in God.
Those born into Judaism were circumcised eight days after birth,
and adult converts had to endure the procedure as well.
When the gospel came, many of these Jews gave their lives over to Christ, but so did those who were not Jews, but rather “Gentiles”.
When two groups came together,
many of the Jewish coverts expected that the Gentiles had to do all the things that they had done as part of their Jewish faith,
including the ritual of circumcision!
It became a pretty hot issue, and Paul had to intervene by saying NO!
What physical circumcision was meant to represent,
is now made real in Christ himself
Putting your faith in him is all the mark that you need now,
the physical act of circumcision is no longer necessary,
a heart given over to Christ is enough!
Now, there is a physical way to demonstrate our faith in Christ
Baptism is mentioned in verse 12 as being an act of
“being buried with him and raised with him”
And part of our understanding of baptism now is that
when we are submerged under the water
we are relating to Christ’s death for our sins,
and that when we are brought out of the water we are relating to Christ’s resurrection from the dead and victory over sin.
Thus the act of baptism became, in part,
a replacement of physical circumcision as a physical demonstration of our inner faith,
and men for two thousand years have been very grateful!
Let’s look at the last few verses:
13-15 – Completely forgiven
13 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, 14 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. 15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
Paul goes onto to explain exactly how Christ takes all the other traditions, expectations and rules that everyone had become used to following, and replaces them with himself.
Jesus starts where we start.
We are helpless in and of ourselves as human beings
– sin kills our spirits, and we adopt a sinful nature, not a loving one.
To climb out of this sinful nature trap we would have to follow all the rules and regulations God gives us to perfection, and we just can’t do it.
We’re trapped.
Jesus too was human, and yet he did not suffer this addiction to sin – he remained clean from it. No lies, no stealing, no abuse, nothing. He lived a sinless life.
Because of this perfect life, his death on the cross was the perfect death, and he was able to take all that holds us down and nail it to the cross.
The public spectacle of his death became a completely reversal,
as he uses his death to now make a public spectacle
of the powers and authorities of the evil in the world.
Sin is helpless before Jesus – he is enough to defeat it.
We don’t need the law to save us now, we need Christ.
Now many of those laws still carry on as simply living Christian lives,
we still are expected to not steal, lie and these sort of timeless, God given rules.
But we do this in reaction to Christ’s triumph, not as a supplement to it.
We follow Christ’s rule in our lives as a sign of our trust in the completeness of his love.
He is enough.
He is enough because of who he is.
He is enough because of what he’s done.
He is enough because of what he’s ready to do.
He is enough.
And that is the bottom line is what Paul is saying today.
You don’t need Jesus plus this, or Jesus plus that,
You need Jesus, period.
Anything that cheapens the person of Jesus, the nature of Jesus, or the work of Jesus is hollow, deceptive, bankrupt.
He is not God’s lackey, handyman, second in command, manager, PR person –
he is fully God = God with us = and fully ready for us when we come to him.
We do not need to start our faith with wisdom, or virtue, or love, or character, we start with Christ.
Christ alive, Christ crucified, Christ risen!
Remember the refrain -
"I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright.
I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun more.
I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive.
I wish you enough pain so that the smallest joys in life appear much bigger.
I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.
I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.
I wish enough "Hello’s" to get you through the final "Goodbye."
Well – Jesus is enough – more than enough –Trust him today!
