Human Rituals - Colossians 2:16-19

0:54They have died, they have been buried, they have been resurrected with Christ. They have received full forgiveness and complete pardon for all of their sins. They have been transferred from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of God's beloved Son. All these things have happened when they became believers in Christ. They don't need anything else. That is the point of Colossians so far. Not only that, but Christ is first over everything. He is preeminent. So it's silly to say that we need these other things because we have. Have the one who is over all of these other things.

1:34Well, today in our text, Colossians 2, starting in verse 16, today we'll get a much clearer idea of what exactly it is that the false teachers are teaching in Colossi. We'll see why Paul is so careful and so diligent to highlight Christ's supremacy over everything, to highlight his sufficiency for us, that he's all we need. And the reason is that there's been an attack on the gospel. An attack on the gospel. But before we look at that attack, I want to remind you of something. The New Testament is clear that we, as believers, we have a special freedom, Christian freedom. This was something peculiar and strange for the early church. They couldn't quite figure it out, this freedom that they had, a freedom from regulation, a freedom from rituals. They didn't need those things to be saved. And you can imagine that before they became believers in Jesus Christ, people who had loved God and served God with a tender heart before Christ came, you can imagine that it would be a little strange for them. I mean, picture what it would be like if you loved the Lord under the Old Testament. Law.

3:02You are participating in sacrifices. You are circumcising your children. You are only eating the things that the Lord has said you can eat. All of these things, this is the way that you please the Lord under his law. Well, then, all of a sudden, Christ comes and everything changes. When you become in Christ, you have this new level of freedom. And in order to please God, you don't need to obey those same things. Those things have passed away. They don't need to think about the things they eat, they don't need to think about the sacrifices. They are complete in Christ.

3:40But it would still be a little weird, a little hard to make that transition. Are you sure we don't need to do these things? You know, I've been teaching the scriptures, the Old Testament, in this Gentile city for the past 30 years. Are you sure that now, when a Gentile becomes a believer, we don't need to circumcise him? We've been doing that my whole life. Are you sure we don't need to do that anymore? Are you sure we can eat with the Gentiles now and not be defiled? Are you sure I can walk to my friend's house on the Sabbath?

4:19So, as you can imagine, this issue gets a lot of attention in that first generation. It's a weird thing, it's a transition. And so, the apostles hold that special counsel. To see, okay, do we need to put any of these special burdens on the Gentiles? And the answer was no. But many still had a hard time. Peter had a hard time. Peter, in his vision from the Lord, when the blanket comes down and it's got all these different foods, clean and unclean, and God says, Rise, Peter, and eat. Peter says, No. He says, By no means, Lord, I have never eaten anything unclean. And you can imagine he might be thinking, I've been doing this my whole life. I'm not about to mess this up. I haven't eaten unclean food my whole life, and now God is telling me to do this. And then right after, God is telling him to go to the centurion's house, to be around the Gentiles, showing that God shows no partiality.

5:25Later, it was still hard for Peter. We hear about the need for Paul to confront Peter. This is in Galatians. Paul is writing about how he had to confront Peter when Peter was eating with the Gentiles, but then when people from the circumcision party, people who still believed you needed to be circumcised as a believer, when they came in the room, Peter left the Gentiles and went and sat with them. And so this is still a strange idea for them. And we can give Peter a hard time, but I think it would have been strange for all the believers. I think that they all would have kind of had this. Strange feeling. So Paul, over and over and over and over again, is having to address this in his letters. In 1 Corinthians, they had written to Paul about asking him to settle a dispute about foods that they can eat, specifically foods offered to idols. And Paul says, what's more important is that you are loving your brothers. It doesn't matter anymore what you eat. What's more important is that you don't offend the conscience of your brother. And that's the same point Paul is going to have to make to the Romans in chapter 14 and 15. And then in Galatians, Paul is insistent that it was for freedom that Christ set us free. So we don't need to become slaves again. Instead, we should use our freedom to love each other and serve each other. We don't need to submit to regulations again, to days and festivals, to different foods, to circumcision. We have freedom. So you can see this is a hard idea for them to get. Paul is having to write about it over and over and over. This idea of Christian freedom. And for the Colossians, this idea has been attacked. This is the attack I mentioned earlier, the attack on the gospel.

7:21Men have come into the church saying that you need a special kind of knowledge. You need something. More. You need to add something to the Christian faith. These false teachers are saying that the Colossians don't have enough. Even in Christ, even after they come to Christ, they don't have enough. They need something more. And so Paul recognizes that these men are trying to steal away the freedom of the Colossian church, and he's writing to them to say, you need to guard your freedom. This is a command from Paul. You need to guard your freedom. And in our text today, Paul is going to give us two threats to Christian freedom. Two threats to Christian freedom. Meaningless rules and headless worship. Meaningless rules and headless worship. For each point, he's going to address what the issue is and then say why it's such a big deal. Look, if you can, Colossians 2, verses 16 through 19, and try and catch the structure here. Look at the beginning of verse 16. Therefore, let no one pass judgment. So there's the command. Let no one pass judgment. And then down in verse 18, he says a similar thing. Let no one disqualify you. Those are our two commands. And then in verse 16 and 18, he'll go on to say, how are they trying to disqualify you? How are they trying to judge you? In verse 16, it's food and drink, festivals. In verse 18, Its asceticism and angel worship. But then he gives the reason why this is such a big deal. So you'll see it in verse 17. Why should we not let people pass judgment? Because these are a shadow of the things to come. Then in verse 19, why should we not let people disqualify us? Because these people are not holding fast to the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together, grows with God's growth. So follow along as I read, starting in verse 16. Therefore, let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival, or a new moon, or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. Let no one disqualify you in asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, in not holding fast to the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God. Let's pray once more. Father, as we study this text, as we study these words of Paul, I pray that you would give us a deep gratitude.

10:27Number one, that you would so clearly communicate. These things to us. And I pray that as we study it, it would be clear, it would be plain, that we would understand the meaning of these verses. But also, I pray that as we study these verses, we would have a deep gratitude for the freedom that we have in Christ. We don't need other religious rituals, that we don't need other things. We have all we need in Christ. And I pray, Lord, that we would remember that and stick to it and guard our freedom. In Jesus' name, amen.

11:04Well, the first threat to Christian freedom is meaningless rules. Meaningless rules. Look at verse 16. Therefore, let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. Therefore, let no one pass judgment on you. So he starts the command with the word, therefore, basing everything that he's about to say off of what he's just told us: that since all of these realities have come true already for the believer, since that's true, we shouldn't let anybody pass judgment. So, all of these things that we've been studying about our spiritual circumcision, our spiritual baptism in Christ, are completely canceled record of debt. All of those things are the basis for what he's about to say: that since those things are true, we should not let anyone pass judgment on you. Us. The Colossians need to guard their freedom. They shouldn't let anyone judge them. Now we need to remember the context of this command.

12:14The world likes to take the idea that we shouldn't judge each other. And they say it all the time. And they quote, judge not lest you be judged. And they take this idea out of context and they say, See, you can't point at my life, Christian, and say that I need something different. You can't judge me. But that's not what Paul is saying here. If you pay attention to the context, what Paul is saying is that for those who are already believers, the commitment is that once you become a believer, you need to remember that your record of debt has been canceled. So no one can point to you and condemn you and say there's no way you can get into heaven. People can't judge you like that because you have already been forgiven. That's what Paul is saying. He's saying, based off of these realities, let no one pass judgment on you. And I think Paul is expecting the readers, expecting the listeners, to be pretty bold in this, to not let people judge them.

13:19At least in their hearts, to be bold. As Christians, one of our responsibilities is to keep the gospel at the front of our minds. One of our responsibilities is to keep our Christian freedom and regard it as precious, to not feel the need to submit to rituals and regulations from other men. These other teachers have come in and said the Colossians need more than Christ, but the Colossians can't let this happen. They need to boldly not let people judge them. They need to remember that they've been forgiven.

13:58So, what's at stake? What is the issue? What are the areas that the teachers are trying to pass judgment? Look at verse 16. Therefore, let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink. In questions of food and drink. So, the false teachers have come in and they've identified certain foods and certain drinks that the Colossians aren't supposed to partake in. This is probably a carryover from the Old Testament law, like we talked about earlier. Probably some of the dietary restrictions. You guys can turn to Deuteronomy 14 or just listen just to get an idea of some of these. Deuteronomy 14. It's a big chapter all about different laws, different things they can and can't eat, different tithes that the Jewish community needed to do. But look at verse 6, Deuteronomy 14, verse 6. Every animal that Parts the hoof and has the hoof cloven in two and chews the cud among the animals you may eat. So there's the rules. And then he's going to give some examples. Verse 7, yet of those that chew the cud or have the hoof cloven, you shall not eat these. The camel, the hare, and the rock badger, because they chew the cud but do not part the hoof, are unclean for you. So for those of you who love to eat rock badgers, that would have been out of the question. Verse 8, and the pig, because it parts the hoof but it does not chew the cud, is unclean for you. Their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall not touch. So there's pig, right? Bacon and pork chops and pulled pork, all of that. Verse 9.

15:46This is the worst, maybe, for some of you. Verse 9, of all that are in the waters, you may eat these. Whatever has fins and scales, you may eat. Whatever does not have fins and scales, you shall not eat. It is unclean for you. So no shrimp, no lobster, no eel, if you like sushi, something like that. You can turn back to our text, but you get the point that there were certain things, there were certain foods that were unclean for the Jews to partake in. And a faithful person, a person faithful to God, would have done this. They wouldn't have, in the Old Testament, disregarded those rules and said those are meaningless. That's not what we're saying. They were expected to keep them. But when we get to the New Testament, things have changed. Those dietary restrictions have passed away. And so you might get teachers that come into Colossia and say, You see, God cares about what you eat. So, how can you say that you are truly God's people if you're eating all this stuff that He doesn't want you to eat?

16:54But Paul is saying that we need to guard our freedom in this area. We don't need any extra rules once we have Christ. Once we are in Christ, these dietary laws from the Torah are gone for Christians. As for the drinks, this is the same idea. Maybe the teachers were trying to enforce like a Nazarite vow that we hear in the Old Testament, something like that, where they prohibited any kind of wine or other rules about drinks. We're not sure. But the principle is the same: don't let people make rules for you about what you can eat or drink.

17:36Don't let people make rules for you about what you can eat or drink. That's not how we become pleasing to God by abstaining from certain foods. Look at the rest of verse 16. Therefore, let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. So there is also this temptation. To make rules about special days. It might have been a yearly special day, like the festivals and feasts of the Jews. It might have been a monthly special day, like the new moon. Remember, the Jews are on the lunar calendar, so that would have happened each month. It might be a weekly special day, like a Sabbath. That's what he says: festival, new moon, or a Sabbath. But whatever the case, if it's yearly or monthly or weekly, the Colossians don't need to feel pressured to observe any special day. They have freedom in this area as well. So the question is: why is this a big deal? Why is Paul making this point? Why is Paul confronting these false teachers? Well, look at verse 17. Verse 17: These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.

18:58These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. He's likely mainly referring to those feasts and festivals, those special days. And he's saying, Look, those were shadows that pointed forward to Christ. But now the real deal has come. You've got the real thing. When the false teachers are promoting religious rituals, when they are commanding observance for Certain days, they're commanding the Colossians to observe shadows. We hear in other passages about how the Passover feast and the sacrificial lamb, how that finds its substance in Christ, the true Passover lamb. We even find our true Sabbath rest in Christ. And so all of these things, as they are, they are God-ordained, but they are also shadows that are pointing forward to Christ. And now Paul is saying, Look, Christ came. You don't need to go back to the shadow. It would be absurd. I mean, how absurd would it be if a husband saw his wife's shadow and started only wanting to spend time with the shadow and not his wife, right? Maybe he would have his wife stand in just the right spot so that the shadow is sitting next to him on the couch or something like that. Or we make, you know, a lot of our families have made those silhouette pictures, the black silhouette pictures from our shadow. And it's a good decoration. It's a good way to remember those loved ones when they're gone. But how absurd would it be to then, when that person came back home, to not want to spend any time with them and just want to hold that picture, that silhouette? It would be silly. And that's what Paul is saying. He's saying that for so long they had observed these. These shadows that God had told them to. But now the real deal has come. Why would they go back to the shadows when they have the real thing, when they have the substance, Christ Himself?

21:17We still have people today who try and make rules like this. They often seem like the spiritual elite, the most spiritual among us. Maybe it's other denominations or even people in our own churches that seem like the spiritual elite. They've made all these extra rules. Oh, wow, so-and-so has observed this special day, this holiday, for 50 years now. Or this person is always faithful to follow the church seasons or to go through this time of self-denial.

22:02They never work on a Sunday or watch sports because it's a day of rest. They've made commitments to abstain from alcohol, to abstain from certain foods. They're making all kinds of these rules for themselves. And it's never bad to make rules for ourselves. They can always be a helpful thing. It's a matter of self-discipline, but those rules can be corrupted. And the moment that those believers who have made those rules start. To think, number one, that they're gaining any extra merit with the Lord because of these rules they've made, that's dangerous. Number two, the moment those believers start to try and impose their rules upon you, that's dangerous for them and for you. You need to guard your freedom.

22:52If a person starts to say to you as a Christian that you can only eat certain foods, or you need to stay away from certain drinks if you're going to be a person who pleases God, then you need to guard your freedom. If they say to you that you need to avoid activities on certain days of the week, if they say you need to observe a certain holiday, then you need to guard your freedom. That's a command from Paul. And you don't need to be mean about it. Let's be clear, right? A lot of parents, a lot of older, wiser believers might suggest to you to abstain from a food, or parents might make a rule. Abstain for a drink, observe certain days and avoid activities on those days. We shouldn't be mean about it. We should listen to that and consider the wisdom in it. But we should never cross the line of thinking, I can't be pleasing to God if I don't do this restriction, this ritual, this regulation.

24:00That's Paul's command. Let no one judge you in matters of food or drink or special days. Well, the second threat to Christian freedom is headless worship. Headless worship. Look at verse 18. Let no one disqualify you. Insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, and not holding fast to the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God. So the second command we see is: let no one disqualify you. Let no one disqualify you. Nobody can point to you after you become a believer in Christ and say that you're not one of God's people. No one can kick you out of the family if you are a true believer. No one has that right. No one can disqualify you. If I was adopted into the Gentry family as a family member and their family, and maybe I start going to their family functions and being with their family all the time, I can't then go up to Stephen Gentry and say, you know, Stephen, you're really not living up to the expectations of this family.

25:26I'm going to kick you out. You're disqualified. I don't have that authority. I don't have that right. I can't do that. And in the same way, nobody has the authority to go to a Christian and say that because he doesn't follow some certain rule, that he's disqualified from going to heaven, that he's disqualified from being with the Lord. What are the disqualifiers? What's the issue? Look at verse 18. Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism, insisting on asceticism. This word for asceticism is translated a lot of other places as humility. And so, in this context, you get the idea that this is some kind of superhumility or abasement that these false teachers are trying to promote. It's a high-level humility, abasement, asceticism, making themselves so low, trying to earn religious favor through their over-humility.

26:35And he clarifies the reason as he moves on. Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels. So, this abasement that they are promoting, this abasement, this humility that they're saying you need, is likely the first step, the beginning, to worshiping angels. Yes, you heard that right. Worshiping angels. That is part of the issue with these false teachers. They've been spreading the lie that Christians, in addition to being in Christ, Christians need to go through some rituals, some self-abasement, in order to worship the angels. This was a practice that some of the Jewish communities in the world at this time had started. We know about this because we have some of their writings. In between the Old Testament and the New Testament, we hear about some angel worship. And it might have been for mystical experiences. It might have been so they could have a very emotional or mystical religious experience. Maybe that's why they worshiped angels. Or maybe it was as a mediator between them and God. They thought, you know, the angels are so close to God. If we worship the angels, then we'll also be so close to worshiping God. Something like that.

27:59Today, that might be similar to the practice that many do of venerating the saints. Since the saints are with God now, if we pray to them, if we honor them, they are close to God. But whatever the reason, whether mystical reasons or this kind of made-up mediator reason, it was something wicked. It was something added on to Christianity, this angel worship. Christians don't need to worship angels. They can't gain anything. Because they already have all they need in Christ. They don't need anything more. In addition to angel worship, Paul said they had visions, insisting on asceticism and worship in angels, worship of angels, going on in detail about visions. Going on in detail about visions. So they abase themselves, they worship the angels, and then they have these visions, these visions.

28:58And they go on in detail about them. They probably get some kind of religious authority from doing this. You know, how can you say to so-and-so that we don't need to stay away from those foods? They had a vision about it. Right? Or how can you say that we're not supposed to observe this special day? An angel told them that we need to do that. So they have this new kind of religious authority. Maybe they have this higher level of Christianity, this new plane, kind of a better Christianity, according to them. But this is actually the opposite of what Paul says in Corinthians, in 2 Corinthians. Paul had a vision. He was an apostle, and he actually had a real vision from the Lord. But he wasn't someone who was going on in detail about these. He wasn't being puffed up. Instead, he's reticent to even bring it up until he feels that the Corinthians drew it. Drove him to it because of their foolishness. He doesn't even want to bring up the fact that he's had this heavenly vision. Then, once he finally does, he does it as if it was somebody else. He does it in the third person, if you remember. He says, I know a man who is caught up into heaven.

30:18This is 2 Corinthians 2, verses 3 and 4. And I know that this man was caught up into paradise, whether in the body or out of the body, I do not know. God knows. And he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter. So Paul is completely opposite from these false teachers. He's saying that he has had these visions, but he is not going to go on in detail about them. He's not going to try and claim some extra spiritual authority that he has.

30:47He's having the right kind of humility about this. The false teachers in Colossi were not like this. They were going on in detail. It says they were puffed up without reason. They had arrogant hearts, and they loved the attention that they received when they went on about their visions. Maybe it gave them credence for these extra rituals, food and drink, days to observe, visions, abasement, angel worship. You get a picture of these false teachers. It's a whole system. It's something really messed up. And why are these such an issue? Verse 19.

31:30These people are not holding fast to the head. They are not holding fast to the head. That's the problem. Holding fast is a tight grip. You know, they're not going to relax their hands. They are clinging on to the head. And who is the head? Christ. So they are clinging on to Christ. Paul has been making that point in this whole letter that Christ is all we need. And not only that, he's preeminent over angels. He has already conquered everything and shown that he is first over all.

32:11That's who we should cling to. And so when these false teachers are saying that we need to add something else, we need to add angel worship, we need to have visions, we need to have experiences and abstain from foods. When these false teachers are doing this, they are showing that they have stopped holding on to Christ, that they have let go of the head. That's the problem. But if they want to grow, they need to cling on to Christ. Verse 19, not holding fast to the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.

32:58The growth that God gives. Only comes from clinging on to Christ. Holding fast to the head. In this picture that Paul is using, the body is probably the church body. That's how Paul normally uses this picture. Christ is the head, and we are the body. The church is the body. And so, if we want to be nourished and knit together as a body, then we need to individually be clinging on to Christ. I'm not a doctor, nor the son of a doctor, but I'm fairly certain that a human body cannot continue to grow and thrive if it's lost its head. Right?

33:47If a human body is headless, it can't receive nourishment, it can't continue to grow. And that's the picture that Paul is using. These false teachers are coming and saying that the Colossians need extra things, but when they do it, they're showing that they have let go of Christ. And if they've let go of the head, then the body can't grow. If they've let go of the head, then the body can't grow. And you can see why Paul's command to not let anybody disqualify us, it all of a sudden takes on an extra level of urgency. An extra amount of importance. Because now it's not just for you individually. It's not just for your own sake that it's important that you don't let anybody disqualify you. It's for the sake of the whole body. We want our body to grow. We want Emmanuel to thrive. We want to be knit together and nourished.

34:53But if we let people disqualify us by adding on these extra rules and regulations, it shows that we individually have let go of Christ. And so we're not going to be grown together. So you have a responsibility to be reminding yourself of the gospel. You have a responsibility to remember that you already have a canceled record of debt, like Paul has said. That's your responsibility. And if you're wondering why you're not growing into this church body, if you're wondering why, when you look around, everybody at Emmanuel seems to be so close and knit together, but you're on the outside of that.

35:35If you're not experiencing true fellowship, if you're not working hard to serve others in the church, it might be something else, but there's a good chance that it's because you individually are not clinging to Christ. You know, when was the last time that you reminded yourself of the gospel in your own bedroom, that you recited the truths about your own forgiveness? Forgiveness, that you applied those ideas to your heart as you thought, man, I've got a clear record of debt. I've already been transferred in the kingdom of God's beloved Son.

36:13The rest of the church body needs you to do these things. We're supposed to get more connected to the church. We're supposed to serve more. We're supposed to form close relationships. We're not supposed to just sit on the outside. We know all these things from other texts, but in addition to those things, for the sake of the body, you're also supposed to not let yourself be disqualified with extra rules and things like that. You're supposed to keep the gospel front of mind. So, as we close, let's just take a minute to summarize what we talked about. The Colossian church needs to guard their freedom. And Paul identifies two threats to that freedom: meaningless rules and headless worship. Rules about food and drink and special days. Rituals that involved strict humiliation, angel worship, and special visions.

37:14If the Colossians are going to buy into this stuff, then they need to realize that they're buying into something ridiculous, silly, foolish. It's ridiculous to trade in the real thing for its shadow. It's silly. It's ridiculous to try and grow and thrive without a head. It's silly. The Colossians can't buy into this stuff. And so today we have a responsibility. We need to cling to Christ. We already have all that we need in Him. All of the amazing spiritual realities for a believer have already taken place when we trusted in Christ. And so we don't need to add on extra rules and extra things. Let's pray.

38:14Father, I pray that you would help us understand the importance of these verses. I pray that out of commitment to each other and commitment to Christ, that we wouldn't let anybody deceive us, but that we would follow Paul's commands to not let anybody judge, not let anybody disqualify us. I pray that as we're tempted to add on rules and regulations or even impose those upon younger believers, I pray that you would help us remember to fear you and remember that we are completely free in Christ. And as we do, I pray that we would use that freedom to love each other and serve each other and grow and be nourished. We're grateful, Lord, for this body. We're grateful for our freedom in Christ. I pray that you would help us guard it and protect it. In Jesus' name, amen.