Maranatha Baptist Church
Hold Fast to the Head
  • He Is Exalted

      • Psalms 4:1-2ESV

      • Psalms 4:3-6ESV

      • Psalms 4:7-8ESV

  • Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven
  • How Firm a Foundation

      • Colossians 2:16-17ESV

      • Colossians 2:18-19ESV

      • Colossians 2:20-22ESV

      • Colossians 2:23ESV

  • (ON THE OFF CHANCE THAT DUDE SHOWS UP… TALK ABOUT THE POSTER ILLUSTRATION.)
    I want to start with an illustration about a man I met this week…
    Let me start by saying the man was very nice, very friendly so I’m not using this illustration to mock him… overall it was a positive, though peculiar interaction…
    This week, I decided to work from Vida E Cafe for a few hours. After I left I encountered a man on the sidewalk - he asked how I was doing, commented on the weather, said a whole lot of things.
    He begins to talk to me mostly just talking about the power of positive thinking. But he’s talking fast, and a lot.
    My first thought honestly, was how can I transition this conversation so I can share the gospel with this man, tell him about Jesus and invite him to church on Sunday.
    However, he never really let me talk.
    Even when I did say something he continued to talk. Eventually, though he asked me how my day was going - so I said well, I was just out getting some work done. He asked what I did…
    And while I’ve said before that normally when I tell someone I am a pastor the conversation dies… this was one of the few times when the opposite happens. Instead, he asked me if I had a Bible with me - and surprisingly - I did not.
    I use a Bible Software for sermon and lesson prep - so I don’t always have a physical Bible in my bag. Though there is no shortage of gift Bibles in the back office - so I have since placed gift Bibles in my car.
    However, as the conversation continued it got a little odd. He took over the conversation again, repeated to me many accurate points of the Christian faith. Yet he also demonstrated himself as a living example of why we need the book of Colossians, especially our text for today.
    At some point, he says to me. I have seen God the Father. He gives me a description - I am a little caught off guard. He also tells me that he has died 10 times. He told that at least once he went to heaven and came back. While I never said, “no you haven’t.” Because he wouldn’t let me. This text, of course came to mind. As this man was quite literally going on and on in detail about visions.
    Massive Red flags… alarms going off in my brain. But he’s talking a million words per minute.
    Meanwhile, I am really trying to get him back to talk about Jesus as our only source of salvation. I’m really fighting to try to get a word in… but it just isn’t happening. Before too long the conversation ends, the man says “nice talking to you” and leaves. I stand there confused for a moment…
    But here’s the thing if I did, and he came and began to go on in detail about his visions… we would have to rebuke him.
    The response being “That’s neat and all, but have you read the Bible?” Because he didn’t seem that interested in Jesus.
    But I am not bringing this up to make fun of the man, but rather I feel compassion upon him. If his entire faith is because he had these visions - then he has become the very thing that Paul is worried about for these Colossian Christians.
    If the visions, are more important than the word, and the Good News that Jesus died to save us from our sins, then this is not holding fast to the head, who is Christ.
    Last week, I breezed over verse 8. I want to touch on that verse briefly for a moment. It leads well into verses 16-23 as they are connected. The “Therefore” in verse 16 is a response to verses 8-15.
    Colossians 2:8 ESV
    8 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.
    The philosophy that Paul is speaking against here is not Plato or Aristotle but rather the teaching in Colossae.
    Most likely the philosophy and human tradition were Jewish customs. These new moons, sabbaths, and festivals, are all referring back to various aspects of the Old Testament - thus we have a forcing of that into Christianity.  
    They were adding their tradition to belief as necessary for salvation. They were telling people that Jesus was not enough. Similar to the book of Galatians were the Judaizers were saying they needed Jesus and Circumcision. 
    The philosophy was “Christ and…”, there is no “Christ and…” there is Christ alone. Jesus will not coexist with another - God will not share his glory. 
    There is a issue in the church of Colossae that deals with the danger of adding additional acts to the gospel. The failure to understand that Jesus is enough. This can turn into Jesus + traditions, or Jesus + Feasts, Jesus + visions, Jesus + cultural expectations. When we make salvation: Jesus + anything the result is works salvation.
    Jesus didn’t say “it is finished” on the Cross only for you to try to add works to his gospel.
    This doesn’t mean if you are in Christ nothing is expected of you.
    It seems that the Christian life is always in danger of two ends of a pendulum. We either ignore our works all together and excuse our sin, or we over emphasize our works as if they earn our salvation.
    Jesus alone saves us from our sins. You were dead in your trespasses and sins, and God has made you alive, having forgiven all your trespasses by cancelling the record of your debt by nailing it to the cross… therefore (v.16)… 
    So we must go into today’s text with
    Two reminders:
    Jesus plus anything misses the point. 
    Jesus is Enough. That changes everything.
    In this section Paul gives three cautions to the church…
    Three Cautions:
    Do not let them judge.
    Do not let them rob.
    Do not submit to their regulations
    Alternatively, these three cautions could be summed up in a positive charge of
    Hold Fast to Christ.
    In relation, to this first caution, we see in verse 16 Paul writes… 

    Do Not Let Them Judge

    Paul’s first Caution is not to give anyone the place to determine that you are or are not in Christ based upon arbitrary actions. Especially not what you eat, drink or celebrate. 
    Paul is looking back to the jewish laws forbidding eating of bacon, shellfish, etc. (Mark 7 and Acts 10, deal with the New Covenant response to these Old Covenant laws.) In short, Jesus has declared all foods clean. So Paul is saying not to allow other to judge them because of this.
    Yet there are no laws against any beverages in the Bible.
    So why does Paul mention drink here? This is because of Asceticism. This is a lifestyle marked a denial of anything enjoyable.
    Paul isn’t talking about what we should or should not eat - but rather he is stating that we shouldn’t allow others to pass judgment upon us for this.
    You might expect this to be the end of that conversation - and yet there are still many who insist on the OT dietary restrictions. Or even add new ones themselves… I listened to a debate not that long ago where two men were arguing that Jesus was a vegan, and following Christ meant being a vegan. That wasn’t even the scheduled subject of the debate.
    In this circumstance, a significant part of what Paul is stating is do not allow men to pass judgment concerning these things. Because these things ultimately point us to Christ.  Somewhat different language but the idea is ensure that you do not allow others to add extra requirements to salvation. 
    Jesus is enough.
    Then next he moves to feasts or festivals, New Moon’s Sabbaths. All of the Feasts of the Old Testament ultimately point us to Christ. They are a shadow of the things to come. They are a shadow, whereas Jesus is the substance. You see a shadow and you look to see what is casting it.
    The intention and the meaning of the food laws, the festivals, the new moon and Sabbath were all designed to point to Jesus.
    In the Old Testament in Isaiah 1, or Amos 5, the Lord tells Israel, “I hate your feasts and festivals I hate your sacrifices I hate your new moons.” The idea in those texts is that the Lord desires heartfelt worship not mindless ritual. The Old Testament community had lost sight of the intention of festivals, new moons and sabbaths and turned them into worthless religion.
    The same is happening in Colossae - these feasts, new moons and sabbaths had been so elevated and heralded that they lost sight of the fact that they were also intended to point to Christ. And Christ is far better than that which pointed to him.
    Some of these feasts and holy days provided promises of forgiveness, atonement, repentance, dwelling place, rest, God’s providence… and yet Christ is the fulfillment of all of these things. One example is that through the death of Jesus we have atonement in a way that the Day of Atonement of Leviticus 16 could never provide.
    You may have heard me use the illustration of a poster before, and how a poster points to an event. We put up posters in the gym for Good Friday and Easter to invite people to our services, but once those services passed - we took the posters down. They point us to something else. The shadows are the posters, Christ is the main event.

    Do Not Let Them Rob

    Colossians 2:18 ESV
    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,
    Other translations write this as “let no one rob you”.
    What would they be robbing you from? From Christ.
    When we believe that our works augment what Christ has already done for us and is doing in us we lose our prize.
    We must be very careful the things that we require Christians to do and believe - we must be very careful that we are not communicating to them that Jesus is not enough.
    We often have tendencies to take some habit we don’t like and go beyond the Scriptures to say that these things cannot be true of someone if they call themselves a Christian.
    “How can you call yourself a Christian and eat bacon?” is the claim of the Judaizers… sounds a whole lot like “how can you call yourself a Christian and smoke cigarettes, drink alcohol, eat meat - or fill in the blank… we all have our something that we might be tempted to would put there.
    Anything that states we need something in addition to Jesus is legalism. When we believe this we rest our salvation on ourselves rather than on Jesus. 
    Christians have only one social marker, the confession that Jesus Christ is Lord.
    The only person who gets to have a monopoly on salvation is Jesus.   
    Insisting on
    Asceticism, I mentioned this earlier. It is the idea that anything that produces pleasure should be denied. The idea here is that if it’s enjoyable then it would lead you away form of holiness. It leads to some really bizarre actions - stories of men sleeping on the floor, refusing to eat food or drink that tasted good in order to eat bland food or drink, etc.
    Most people think of monks when they think of this - and that is somewhat true. It has appeared in other ways. As well many have take up the idea that to harm oneself is what it really means to serve God.
    Worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, being puffed up without reason by one’s sensuous mind and not holding fast to the head are often key to false religions beginning.
    But it is not just other religions that have this issue. When someone claims to have a vision and that has more authority than the Scriptures. All sorts of errant groups, and cults place more significance in visions than the Bible.
    They fail to hold fast to the head.
    They starve themselves from Christ by feeding on other lesser sources of information about God.
    Colossians 2:19 ESV
    19 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.
    In the head the body is fed and held together.  The healthiest place that a Christian can be is close to Jesus. It is in Christ that the body, the church, is nourished.
    When a church moves away from the head, from Christ, the church becomes malnourished.
    When the goal for why we gather is no longer to worship, glorify and better understand Christ - and to encourage one another in that aspect we lose the head.
    The language that Paul uses here is similar to language that he states in Ephesians 4:15-16
    Ephesians 4:15–16 ESV
    15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
    20 - you died with Christ - so remove yourself from the world you died to.
    Colossians 2:20–21 ESV
    20 If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— 21 “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch”
    There is no need to submit to worldly regulations
    1. Do not handle
    2. do not taste
    3. do not touch
    Holiness does not hinge upon outward observances and rules, but upon the matters of conviction and the heart. (A.T. Robertson, paraphrase.) This is why dying to the world, and being raised with Christ is so significant here.
    The qualifying issues that Paul lists here are still cautions for us against these principles of the philosophy… he is exposing what is actually there. 
    Colossians 2:23 ESV
    23 These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.
    It’s not true wisdom it is appearance of wisdom…
    It is not true religion but self-made religion…
    It is not true godliness but aestheticism and self-humiliation. 
    Yet these are not just first century issues… 
    It’s not uncommon that people say things that sound good and they present them in a convincing manner - but they ultimately are not Biblical. It seems almost daily I hear about some pastor, talking head, or internet personality has made headlines, because of a clever turn of phrase relating to the Bible but is ultimately lacking. YouTube is filled with people like this. This idea of the appearance of wisdom is just as relevant to us today. Make sure that wisdom is rooted in the Scriptures - and in the fear of the Lord. Yet what these people are doing as they add their own “wisdom” to religion is the same thing that happened in Colossae they are creating a man made religion. 
    And yet this is the culture - even those not affirming to believe in any faith still have a religion with their own commandments, and their own sacraments. If you want proof modern day blasphemy laws are in full force for many who speak against the MMIWG2SLGBTQQIA+. Affirmation is their sacrament. Their commandments are “don’t judge,” and love everyone… unless they are a bigot. They even have creeds and confessions.
    Ultimately, Scripture is our standard but when these things having this appearance of wisdom are held against the standard of Scripture and the banner of Christ it will be easy to see they are not up to snuff.
    Paul wraps up this section by asserting that these false wisdoms, self made religions, and asceticism and severity to the body have no value in stopping sin. They aren’t making anyone more holy. They are not leading them to be more like Christ… this is the same thing for any extra biblical requirements that we create.
    Paul does not demonize the opposition but he does take them to task.  Hold fast to the head. 
    Jesus is enough.  This means we must hold fast to who Jesus is as revealed by Scripture, not who society is trying to make him out to be.
    Cling to Christ Not tradition. Not legalistic practices. Hold fast to Jesus. And Jesus alone. Do not lose connection to the head. 
    Takeaways:
    What does it look like in your life to hold fast to Christ?
    What does it look like in our church to hold fast to Christ?
    Are there areas where we need to repent of not holding fast to the head?
    Ultimately, the book of Colossians is about the danger of making the church, and Christianity about anything other than Jesus Christ and him crucified. Sometimes we are tempted to add things to the gospel, other times we are tempted to remove them. We either trying to make it harder to be a follower of Jesus by adding works, or we try to make it easier by removing obedience to what he has commanded.
    Paul has to this point in the book of Colossians built up who Jesus is, and what he has done, and why he is worthy of worship. Jesus is the focal point of the church, but also life itself. Jesus is Lord of the church, but also Lord of Creation. So here in this text, Paul demonstrates that this man Jesus should be the center of everything we do. That we should hold fast to Jesus - and not to traditions, not to superstitions, not to worldly philosophies, or extrabiblical rules. When we add to remove from Biblical Christianity, we lose Christianity altogether. Hold Fast to Christ.

      • Colossians 2:8ESV

      • Colossians 2:18ESV

      • Colossians 2:19ESV

      • Ephesians 4:15–16ESV

      • Colossians 2:20–21ESV

      • Colossians 2:23ESV

  • Take My Life, and Let it Be

      • Colossians 2:8–15ESV

Maranatha Baptist Church
info@mbcglobe.org
http://www.mbcglobe.org
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