September 20, 209
Morning Worship
Text: Colossians 2:6-23
Subject: Freedom Through a Life in Christ
Title: Set Free to Be Your Best
If there is one thing that I can say that I have in my life that I received from my parents it is this one thing – that whatever you do, do it to the best of your ability. I love that philosophy of life for this reason; it never limits a person to what someone else thinks they should be. It allows them to be the best they can be according to their own talents, personality, abilities, intelligence etc… So I may not preach like Billy Graham, or pastor the largest church in Missouri, but I will do the very best that I can with the abilities that God has given me and the calling He has placed on my life. However, many will never experience their best.
Deion Sanders was an outfielder for the Atlanta Braves and cornerback for the Atlanta Falcons, is the only athlete to have hit a Major League home run and scored an NFL touchdown in the same week. Sanders grew up on the mean streets of Fort Myers, Fla., where exposure to some would-be athletes spurred him to make a success of himself. He explains: "I call them Idas. ’If I’da done this, I’d be making three million today...If I’da practiced a little harder, I’d be a superstar.’ They were as fast as me when they were kids, but instead of working for their dreams they chose drugs and a life of street corners. When I was young, I had practice; my friends who didn’t went straight to the streets and never left. That moment after school is the moment we need to grab. We don’t need any more Idas."
Mike Lupica in Esquire.
God has given you everything you need to be the best Christian that you can be. He admonishes us in His word much the same way that my parents encouraged me.
1 Corinthians 10:31, So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
You have a heavenly Father who is asking the same thing from you. But not only is He asking, He is also empowering you.
Lord, open my eyes to see and my ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the church.
I. FREEDOM FROM DECEPTION (6-8) This is a message to Christians. 6So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him… The important message is that once you have become a Christian that you continue “In Him”. That one little phrase is so important because everything is either “in Him” or in the world or satan’s domain. You are either for Him or against Him. Now Paul very specifically states that there is really only one way to live “IN HIM” and that is to be, “7rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. The word “rooted” literally means “to become stable.” “Built up in Him” could also be translated, “Being built upon Him” The only way to live “In Him” is to be stable by building a foundation on who Jesus is and not upon yourself. Then you will be, strengthened in the faith as you were taught – Do you see that? Taught! Teaching involves both a teacher and a student as well as a willingness to learn. The longer I am a Christian the more I find that I don’t know, but am willing to study and learn. Continuing “in Him” requires a teachable spirit. Ephesians 2:19-22 19Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, 20built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. Paul says we are to be strengthened in faith. That comes from hearing the word of God over and over again. Romans 1:16-17, 16For I am not ashamed of the gospel £of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. 17For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.” Now, if you are rooted, if you are built up in Him, if you are strengthened in your faith as you were taught, then, through the Holy Spirit that is in you, you have everything you need to avoid what verse 8 warns us of, 8See 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. The word “philosophy” means “fondness for wise things”. That is from a human perspective. Philosophy is deceptive and at the same time can be persuasive, even though it comes from human tradition rather than from Christ. Even some Christians are easily deceived because they have not become rooted in the word of God. Jesus warned in Mathew 24:24 of this very thing in the last days, 24For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect—if that were possible. Can you think of a better reason to stay “in Christ”?
II. FREEDOM FROM CONDEMNATION (9-15) 9For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form… Let’s go back to the phrase “in Him” or “in Christ” We know that Jesus, being the incarnate word of God, was fully God and yet fully man. In Him the fullness of God lives in bodily form. But the same holds true for those who are “in Christ”. We have been given the fullness of God through our faith in Christ. … 10and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. Power and authority is referring to demonic forces. You have the same authority over them that Jesus has. Luke 10:19, I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. But this same enemy that you have been given authority over continues to hammer the church with lies and innuendo, stealing, killing and destroying your faith. So what is it that keeps you from being the very best you can be in the kingdom of God? It is the lies that you allow the enemy to sow into your life and implant in your mind. He condemns you saying that you aren’t good enough to make a difference. Everybody remembers how you used to be. You’ll never change – you can’t do it. And we believe the lies rather than the word of God. You hear, “I can’t be an effective witness for Christ!” But the word says “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses…” You think, “I can’t give up my habits. I am bound by them.” But Romans 6:18 says, “You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.” The only thing that is keeping you from being set free from the things that bind you is the fact that you just can’t accept the truth. You are set free from fear. Romans 8:15, For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship You are loosed from the bondage of addictive substances. You have been released from submitting to the lust of the flesh. Psalm 119:61, Though the wicked bind me with ropes, I will not forget your law. The word of God clearly states what your legal rights are as the children of God. Because you are 11In him … you have put off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ… That is the direct result of your confession of faith in Christ. It is at that time that you became a child of God and if a child of God then co-heirs with Christ to all the promises of God. Satan has spent centuries lying to the church, telling us that we can’t change anything, we can’t do anything, we don’t have any spiritual power - we just have to take whatever comes our way. He tells us we aren’t good enough to make a difference or change our lives. And in a sense he is right – when we were trying to obtain the righteous requirements of the law on our own we were powerless to do so. Jump down to verse 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, 14having 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. That is what happens when you give your life to Christ. It isn’t that the Law of Moses loses its value to the church. It is that you are no longer condemned because of your inability to become righteous by the law. The condemnation of the written code has been abolished. The power and authority of the enemy over the lives of unbelievers is cancelled along with it. 15And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. The problem is that the church doesn’t realize the full potential of the power and authority that it has been given. That power and authority as God’s children, His heirs, and the stewards of the promise on earth was brought to completion in the church with the mighty baptism in the Holy Spirit. It is the abuse or lack of use of this spiritual power that has brought the church to a place of spiritual weakness and lethargy. One New Year’s Day, in the Tournament of Roses parade, a beautiful float suddenly sputtered and quit. It was out of gas. The whole parade was held up until someone could get a can of gas. The amusing thing was this float represented the Standard Oil Company. With its vast oil resources, its truck was out of gas. Often, Christians neglect their spiritual maintenance, and though they are "clothed with power" (Luke 24:49) find themselves out of gas.
III. FREEDOM FROM TRADITIONS (16-23) We had a really good turnout for church last Sunday night. I wish you all could have been here. Not only did we have a good crowd. But we experienced the moving of the Holy Spirit in an incredible display of His power. It is those types of manifestations that causes others to label us as “radicals, crazies, or holy rollers.” It is because we don’t do things the way they think it ought to be done. But we have been set free from the traditions of men that bind us and we move in the freedom of the Spirit of God. 16Therefore 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. 17These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. I thank God that we aren’t bound by what people think ought to happen in church. If that were the case, then I would have just gone ahead and preached the sermon I had for that night and would have had you all out of here by eight o’clock. We don’t have to worship a certain way. It is OK to dance in the Spirit. It is OK to speak in tongues under the anointing of the Spirit. It is OK to fall under the power of the Spirit. It is OK to weep in the presence of a Holy God. We are not bound by the past or by what seems normal according to the natural, but by the supernatural presence of the Holy Spirit moving in our midst. The traditions that men set in place have no spiritual value in that they cannot do anything for you. Much like the Law of Moses, which could only show you your sin and not remove it. However the reality of those traditions are found in a right relationship in Jesus Christ. A right relationship with Christ means being saved from sin, but the fullness of that relationship is found in the baptism in the Holy Spirit. 18Do 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. 19He 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. What does God cause to grow? The whole body! How does that happen? When it stays connected to the Head, which is Jesus Christ. False humility says, “God is a God of order and not confusion, so I would never act like that in church” Listen to what Paul wrote to the church in Corinth. 2 Corinthians 3:12-18, 12Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. 13We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while the radiance was fading away. 14But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. 15Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. 16But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. We are being change into His likeness according to His word and not according to the traditions of men. Men tend to want to create God in their image instead of being conformed into his image and transformed by the renewing of our minds.
Paul’s last word on this topic is this, 20Since 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: 21“Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? 22These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. 23Such 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. Traditions do not free you; they bind you. It sounds right. It may even look right, but when the traditions of men begin to take precedence over the word of God we have a problem. Traditions change but God’s word is unchanging. Which one would you rather trust? Tradition has its foundation in the world. This church has its foundation on the WORD.
Every week I can see that you as a church are becoming more and more what God intended this church to be. And I know that the enemy of your soul is growing quite nervous. The attacks have begun. Sickness and disease has drawn up its battles lines. Family problems are becoming increasingly prominent. For many the allure of your old life is calling you from a distance to come back to what you once were. The enemy is continually repeating the lies – You have no authority, you have no power; the old life was much better. Lies, all lies. But you have freedom from the deception because you know the truth and the truth has set you free. The accuser of the brethren stands condemning you every day. He is planting the seed in your mind that you are no good. If you were really a Christian then you would be more tolerant of those who don’t believe the same as you. Other religions, other lifestyles etc… If you are so good, so righteous then why do you still sin? And if you do sin, then who are to judge others in their lifestyles? But you have freedom from condemnation because you have an intercessor who sits at the right hand of the Father. Finally, the enemy even works through well-intentioned believers who misunderstand the working of the Holy Spirit or those who are not so well intentioned, who watch, waiting for the supernatural to occur in our churches only to rail against the very things that God desires to do under the guise of church tradition. There is nothing more that the enemy would rather do than to bring Holy Ghost revival to a halt. But you have freedom from tradition because God has promised that these things will follow those who believe, In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues …they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
Are you willing to be the best you can be? It is time to take a stand against the enemy and find the freedom that God has for you in a life of power and holiness in Him.
