I Guarantee It

Introduction

The Church of Jesus Christ has faced opposition since its inception. This opposition has taken many different forms. It has sometimes taken the form of outright opposition through persecution. This occurred in the early days and has not subsided.

A vignette of a family under stress during the persecution of North Africa in the year 180 indicates another dimension of pastoral guidance in a fractured situation. Perpetua, a young mother twenty- two years old with an infant at her breast, refused to deny Christ, and she was jailed with her slave, Felicitas, herself eight months pregnant. They were joined by three other Christian captives.

Perpetua's account of what transpired was written by herself in prison, including the desperate pleas of her pagan father to do whatever was necessary to be released. "Daughter, pity my white hairs! Pity your father . . . with these hands I have brought you up to your prime of life. Look upon your son who cannot live after you are gone.

Lay aside your pride. So spoke my father in his love for me." Perpetua suffered martyrdom, together with her companions. I could share stories like that from all over our world. However, the opposition that the church has faced through the years has more often been even more deadly. It is an opposition that has come from within. It has been hugely successful in stopping the evangelistic growth of the church and thus blunting the sharp edge of the gospel witness. This opposition was identified by the apostle Paul as he shared with the Colossian church. Turn with me to Colossians.

2:8-15.

I. He Warned Us To Watch Out

He warned that we should watch out for spiritual perils (vv. 8-10). Paul continued the military image with this warning, "Beware lest any man carry you off as a captive" (literal translation). The false teachers did not go out and win the lost, no more than the cultists do today. They "kidnapped" converts from churches!

How is it possible for false teachers to capture people? The answer is simple. These "captives" are ignorant of the truths of the Word of God. They become fascinated by the philosophy and empty delusion of the false teachers. When a person does not know the doctrines of the Christian faith, he/she can easily be captured by false religions.

This philosophy of the false teachers is "hollow and deceptive”for several reasons. To begin with, it is the tradition of men and not the truth of God's Word. The word tradition means "that which is handed down" and there is a true Christian tradition. The important thing about any teaching is its origin, “did it come from God or from man?” The religious leaders in our Lord's Day had their traditions and were very zealous to obey them and protect them. Even the Apostle Paul, before he met the Lord was "exceedingly zealous of the traditions" (Galatians 1:14).

If a new Christian from a distant mission field were to visit many of our churches, he would probably be astounded at the ideas and practices we have that cannot be supported by God's Word. Our man- made traditions are usually more important to us than the God-given doctrines of the Scriptures!

While it is not wrong to have church traditions that remind us of our godly heritage, we must be careful not to make these traditions equal to the Word of God.

The false teacher's traditions were "hollow and deceptive" for another reason. They involved "the basic principles." It was one of the words in the vocabulary of the religious astrology of that day. The gnostics believed that the angels and the heavenly bodies influenced people's lives. One thing is certain, such teachings about demons and angels were not a part of true Christian doctrine. If anything, such teachings were satanic.

This teaching is sufficient to warn us against horoscopes, astral charts, Ouija boards, and other spiritist practices. The whole zodiac system is contrary to the teaching of the Word of God. The Christian who dabbles in mysticism and the occult is only asking for trouble.

II. Why Follow Empty Philosophy When We Have All Fullness In Christ?

This is like turning away from the satisfying river to drink at the dirty cisterns of the world (Jeremiah 2:13). Of course, the false teachers in Colossae did not ask the believers to forsake Christ. They asked them to make Christ a part of the new system. But this would only remove Him from His rightful place of preeminence.

While many here today would say that they had never been involved in any kind of involvement of mysticism or the occult, we also need to recognize that false teachings can come in many other forms. Many of us have supplanted Christ's lordship by giving allegiance to many other activities in our lives and bowing to the god of materialism that has taken our land by storm. Whatever the false practice, when Christ is not Lord of our lives, pocketbooks, schedules, and hearts, He is not Lord.

III. We Must Draw On Our Spiritual Provisions (vs. 11-15).

Here is the key to victory! Paul gave the true and lasting antidote to all false teaching and false following, "All fullness is in Christ, and you have been made full in Him. Why, then, would you need anything else?"

The word "fullness" (pleroma) means "the sum total of all that God is, all of His being and attributes."

The gulf between heaven and earth was bridged in the incarnation of Jesus Christ. He is declared to be "Emmanuel, God with us" (Matthew 1:23). Jesus Christ is the fullness of God, and that fullness dwells continually and permanently in Him bodily. When Jesus Christ ascended to heaven, He went in human body. It was a glorified body, to be sure, but it was real. After His resurrection, our Lord was careful to assure His disciples that He was the same Person in the same body. He was not a ghost or a spirit (see John 20:19-29). There is a glorified Man in heaven! He is the God-Man, Jesus Christ, who embodies the fullness of God!

Now, the remarkable thing is this, every believer shares that fullness! "And you are complete in Him" (Colossians 2:10). The tense of the Greek verb indicates that this fullness is a permanent experience. When a person is born again into the family of God, he is born complete in Christ. His spiritual growth is not by addition, but by “fruition.”He grows from the inside out. Nothing needs to be added to Christ because He already is the very fullness of God. As the believer draws on Christ's fullness, he is "filled unto all the fullness of God.

What more does he need? Indeed, there are spiritual perils that the Christian faces. The fundamental test of any religious teaching is, "Where does it put Jesus Christ--His person and His work?" Does it rob Him of His fullness? Does it deny either His deity or His humanity? Does it affirm that the believer must have some "new experience" to supplement his experience with Christ? If so, that teaching is wrong and dangerous.

Remember that the false teaching that threatened the Colossian church was made up of several elements; Oriental mysticism, astrology, philosophy, and Jewish legalism. It is the latter element that Paul dealt with in this section of his letter. Apparently, the false teachers insisted that their converts submit to circumcision and obey the Old Testament Law.

Paul made it clear that the Christian is not subject in any way to the Old Testament legal system, nor can it do him any good spiritually. Jesus Christ alone is sufficient for our every spiritual need, for all of God's fullness is in Him. Paul explained our fourfold identification with Jesus Christ that makes it not only unnecessary, but sinful for us to get involved in any kind of legalism.

A. Circumcised In Him (v. 11)

Circumcision was a sign of God's covenant with the Jewish people (Genesis 17:9-14). Though it was a physical operation, it had a spiritual significance. The trouble was that the Jewish people depended on the physical and not the spiritual. Often in the Old Testament, God warned His people to turn from their sins and experience a spiritual circumcision of the heart. People make the same mistake today when they depend on some religious ritual to save them--such as baptism or the Lord's Supper.

When Jesus Christ died and rose again, He won a complete and final victory over sin. What the Law could not do, Jesus Christ accomplished for us. The old nature was put off--rendered inoperative--so that we need no longer be enslaved to its desires. The old sinful nature is not eradicated, for we can still sin (I John 1:5-2:6). But the power has been broken as we yield to Christ and walk in the power of the Spirit.

B. Alive In Him (vv. 12-13)

Here Paul used the illustration of baptism. Keep in mind that in the New Testament, the word baptize has both a literal and a figurative meaning. The literal meaning is "to dip, to immerse." The figurative meaning is "to be identified with."

Here, Paul used the word baptism in a figurative sense --for no amount of material water could bury a person with Christ or make him alive in Christ. Water baptism by immersion is a picture of this spiritual experience. When a person is saved, he is immediately baptized by the Spirit into the body of Christ (I Corinthians 12:12-13) and identified with the Head, Jesus Christ. This identification means that whatever happened to Christ also happened to us. When He died, we died with Him.

When He was buried, we were buried. When He arose again, we arose with Him--and we left the graveclothes of the old life behind All of this took place "through the faith of the power of

God" (Colossians 2:12). It was the power of God that changed us, not the power of water. The Spirit of God identified us with Jesus Christ, and we were buried with Him, raised with Him, and made alive with Him! Because God raised His Son from the dead, we have eternal life.

The practical application is clear, since we are identified with Christ, and He is the fullness of God, what more do we need? We have experienced the energy of God through faith in Christ, so why turn to the deadness of the Law? God has forgiven us all our trespasses so that we have a perfect standing before Him.

C. Free From The Law In Him (v. 14)

Jesus not only took our sins to the cross (I Peter 2:24), but He also took the Law to the cross and nailed it there, forever out of the way. The Law was certainly against us, because it was impossible for us to meet its holy demands.

When He shed His blood for sinners, Jesus Christ canceled the huge debt that was against sinners because of their disobedience to God's holy Law. In Bible days, financial records were often kept on parchment, and the writing could be washed off. This is the picture Paul painted. How could the holy God be just in canceling a debt? In this way His Son paid the full debt when He died on the cross. If a judge sets a man free who is guilty of a crime, the judge cheapens the law and leaves the injured party without restitution. God paid sin's debt when He gave His Son on the cross, and He upheld the holiness of His own Law.

But Jesus Christ did even more than cancel the debt. He took the Law that condemned us and set it aside so that we are no longer under its dominion. We "are not under the Law, but under grace". This does not mean that we are lawless, because of the righteousness of the Law is fulfilled in us as we walk in the power of the Spirit. Our relationship with Jesus Christ enables us to obey God out of love, not out of slavish fear.

D. Triumphant In Him (v. 15)

Jesus not only dealt with sin and the Law on the cross, but He also dealt with Satan. The death of Christ on the cross looked like a great victory for Satan, but it turned out to be a great defeat from which Satan cannot recover. Jesus had three great victories on the cross.

1. He Disarmed The Powers And Authorities

First, He "disarmed the powers and authorities" stripping Satan and his army of whatever weapons they held. Satan cannot harm the believer who will not harm himself. It is when we cease to watch and pray (as did Peter) that Satan can use his weapons against us.

2. He Made A Public Spectacle Of The Enemy

Second, Jesus "made a public spectacle" of the enemy, exposing Satan's deceit and vileness. In His death, resurrection, and ascension, Christ vindicated God and vanquished the devil.

3. He Triumphed Over The Devil

His third victory is found in the word triumph. Whenever a Roman general won a great victory on foreign soil, took many captives and much loot, and gained new territory for Rome, he was honored by an official parade known as "the Roman triumph." Jesus Christ won a complete victory, and He returned to glory in a great triumphal procession. In this, He disgraced and defeated Satan.

4. We Share In His Victory Over The Devil

You and I share in His victory over the devil. We need not worry about the elemental forces that govern the planets and try to influence men's lives. The satanic armies of principalities and powers are defeated and disgraced! As we claim the victory of Christ (guaranteed through the cross), use the equipment He has provided for us, and trust Him, we are free from the defeat.

What a wonderful position and provision we have in Christ! Are we living up to it by faith? But Jesus Christ did even more than cancel the debt. He took the Law that condemned us and set it aside so that we are no longer under its dominion. We "are not under the Law, but under grace". This does not mean that we are lawless, because of the righteousness of the Law is fulfilled in us as we walk in the power of the Spirit. Our relationship with Jesus Christ enables us to obey God out of love, not out of slavish fear.

E. Victorious in Him (v. 15)

Jesus not only dealt with sin and the Law on the cross, but He also dealt with Satan. The death of Christ on the cross looked like a great victory for Satan, but it turned out to be a great defeat from which Satan cannot recover.

Jesus had three great victories on the cross. First, He "disarmed the powers and authorities", stripping Satan and his army of whatever weapons they held. Satan cannot harm the believer who will not harm himself. It is when we cease to watch and pray (as did Peter ) that Satan can use his weapons against us.

Second, Jesus "made a public spectacle" of the enemy, exposing Satan's deceit and vileness. In His death, resurrection, and ascension, Christ vindicated God and vanquished the devil.

His third victory is found in the word triumph. Whenever a Roman general won a great victory on foreign soil, took many captives and much loot, and gained new territory for Rome, he was honored by an official parade known as "the Roman triumph." Jesus Christ won a complete victory, and He returned to glory in a great triumphal procession.

In this, He disgraced and defeated Satan. You and I share in His victory over the devil. We need not worry about the elemental forces that govern the planets and try to influence men's lives. The satanic armies of principalities and powers are defeated and disgraced! As we claim the victory of Christ (guaranteed through the cross), use the equipment He has provided for us, and trust Him, we are free from the defeat.

What a wonderful position and provision we have in Christ! Are we living up to it by faith?