Effective Prayer

Last week we looked at what it will look like on a personal level when we focus attention on seeking things that are above, where Christ is. Paul delineated some of those characteristics in chapter three, and I read it again for emphasis:

 

“Consider the members of your earthly body as dead to [sexual] immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience . . . But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices . . . [But] put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another and forgiving each other . . . just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity . . . Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.” (Colossians 3:5-17)

 

In other words: Immorality, greed, anger, slander, and so forth have no place in the heart of the Christian. Rather, the Christian must be compassionate, kind, gentle, patient, and so forth. And we dare not overlook forgiving each other their offenses against us.

 

It you’ve ever read lists like this one slowly and thoughtfully . . . well, it should be enough to cause some melancholy in the honest heart – maybe even some despair because if we think we can in our own strength live up to the things Paul writes about here, we ought to realize we are doomed to failure. More than that, we put ourselves at risk of experiencing a dreary hopelessness that we will ever ‘measure up’ to God’s standard. And don’t be surprised if the thought drops into your mind: What’s left but to give it all up?

 

I almost did that myself many years ago – give up my faith. I’d been saved only a few months, and, because of my deficient understanding of Scripture, I thought I could never live the Christian life. Standing on the edge of a pier, waves lapping against the wood stanchions, I came within MOMENTS of throwing my Bible into the water, and with it, my faith. If God had not intervened at the last moment, I don’t believe I’d be standing before you today.

 

Beware of a similar danger for yourself, because a sense of hopelessness resulting from failure to live up to God’s standards. A sense of hopelessness can lead us to do one of three things: Either water-down His commandments so we feel more comfortable with them, or rationalize His commandments so as to believe they don’t apply to us and our situations, or, as almost happened to me, we’ll throw away our faith.

 

Martin Luther, likely speaking from personal experience, wrote words that we’d all do well to reflect on: “Did we get our own strength confide our striving would be losing; Were not the right Man on our side, the man of God’s own choosing. Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing, were not the right Man on our side, the Man of God’s own choosing: Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He; Lord Sabaoth, His Name, from age to age the same, and He must win the battle.”

Christian, get it out of your head that you can ever in your own strength live fully up to God’s commandments. We are in a moment-by-moment supernatural war, and our weapons of this warfare are NOT inherent in ourselves. “For though we walk in the flesh,” Scripture warns us, “we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.” (2 Corinthians 10:3-4)

 

Listen again to God’s warning: “For our fight is not against any physical enemy: it is against organizations and powers that are spiritual. We are up against the unseen power that controls this dark world, and spiritual agents from the very headquarters of evil.” (Ephesians 6:12 Philips).

 

All this is why I caution us – No one in their own power will ever consistently live up to the traits Paul lists of those who seek what is above. Our sin nature simply will not rest quietly while we strive to keep seeking Christ. As Paul reminded the Christians at Rome: “For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so.  (Romans 8:5-7)

 

Well, all of what I have said thus far brings us now to our text for today: After Paul describes the marks of the Christan who seeks what is above, he then tells them: “Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving.” (Colossians 4:2)

 

Prayer is one of the essential elements of Christian faith that will enable us to consistently seek Christ, for how else can they – or we – ever hope to live the life of a Christian? And this text in Colossians is not the only time the apostle speaks of prayer. More than 40 times in his 11 letters he talks about the necessity of Christian prayer as part of our supernatural warfare.

 

Surely, if we are ever to be more victorious in living the Christian life, if we hope to be more consistent in seeking the things above where Christ is, then prayer is a fundamental component of an intimate walk with Jesus.

 

For most of my Christian life, I rarely spent more than a few minutes in prayer. I seemed to always run out of things to say – which, in retrospect, seems quite silly to me now. Yet, all the while, I knew intuitively there was more to prayer than my experience to that point. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says it as well as anything else I have found in my research about the necessity of prayer in our spiritual battles:

 

Prayer is both a gift of grace and a determined response on our part. It always presupposes effort . . . Prayer is a battle. Against whom? Against ourselves and against the wiles of the tempter who does all he can to turn man away from prayer, away from union with God. . . . The "spiritual battle" of the Christian's new life is inseparable from the battle of prayer.”

 

So, how might we overcome through prayer the “wiles of the tempter who does all he can to turn” us away from prayer? What can we who want an effective and powerful prayer life – what can we do for prayer to become a more integral part of our life and draw us to consistently desire to be more like Jesus?

 

Well, of prime importance, let me state this incontrovertible truth: Whatever the methods of prayer we use – whether prayer lists, or praying the Psalms back to God, or the lyrics of hymns – whatever our method  -- there are two absolute prerequisites for effective prayer: Confession and the forgiveness. One is useless without the other, and without either, we ought not to expect our prayers to get higher than the ceiling.  As the Psalmist wrote: “If I hold on to sin in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.” (See Psalm 66:18)

 

Scripture so often links effective prayer with confession that it is impossible to miss the connection with even a cursory reading of the Old and New Testaments. For example: “He who conceals his sins prospers not, but he who confesses and forsakes them obtains mercy (Proverbs 28:13). And “As long as I kept silent [about my sin], my bones wasted away; I groaned all the day . . . Then I declared my sin to you; my guilt I did not hide. I said, "I confess my faults to the Lord," and you took away the guilt of my sin.” (Psalms 32:3-5)

There’s not a Christian who has ever wanted to be more like Jesus who did not beseech God along this thought: “Examine me, O God, and know my mind; test me and discover my thoughts. Find out if there is any evil in me and guide me in the everlasting way.” (Psalm 139:23-24, GNT)

 

Before we even begin our daily time of prayer to God, we ought to first ask Him to reveal the things in our life for which we need to confess as sin. That includes sin in our thought life as much as it includes sin in our actions. Don’t neglect or minimize this step. It’s a true maxim: “Sow a thought and you reap an action; sow an act and you reap a habit; sow a habit and you reap a character; sow a character and you reap a destiny.” (Emerson)

 

The other prerequisite for effective prayer is ‘forgiveness of others.’ Scripture makes it unmistakable: God’s forgiveness of us is inextricably linked to our forgiveness of others. Perhaps the clearest example of this principle is found in the verses just after the “Our Father” in which Jesus warns, “If you forgive others their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions.” (Matthew 6:14-15)

 

Think that one through for a moment. Aren’t you amazed by God’s amazing grace, that He saved a wretch like you? And I ought to add, if any Christian does NOT think of himself or herself as being wretched before coming to Christ, then they likely have an entirely insufficient understanding of the cost of – or the reason for – the cross. May it never be that any of us hear the Lord say to us at the Judgement what He said to those in the church of Laodicea: “Because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.” (Revelation 3:16-17)

 

Forgiveness of others is serious stuff – and make no mistake, forgiveness of others for their sins against us is a choice. It’s an act of the will and independent of our “feelings” of forgiveness. It’s the choice Jesus made when He asked the Father to forgive those who mocked and crucified Him – even though they had not asked for forgiveness. It’s the same choice St. Stephen made when, as he was dying at the hands of the mob stoning him, he asked the Father to not hold that sin against them – even though they had not asked for forgiveness.

 

Let me add this caution before I go further: Forgiveness does NOT mean we put ourselves back into a dangerous or painful situation. It doesn’t mean we tolerate harm done to us, nor does it mean we are obligated to make up with the person who harmed us. But it does mean we consistently ask God to help us let go of anger, hatred, and thoughts of revenge against the one who harmed us.

 

You may remember reading in Matthew’s gospel when Peter asked the Lord, “How often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” If you remember the story, you know how the Lord answered: “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.” 

 

In other words, God requires of us repeated forgiveness, time after time.

 

To illustrate His point, the Lord spoke a parable about a slave who owed his master an impossibly enormous amount of money – more than he could have repaid in many, many lifetimes. So, because he could not repay the debt, his master commanded that he, his wife, children and all that he had to be sold. But when the slave begged for mercy, the master had a change of heart and forgave the entire debt.

 

The. Entire. Debt.

But the story doesn’t end there. Having been forgiven, the slave went home and found a fellow slave who owed him a few months’ worth of wages. When his fellow slave begged him to be patient, he was unwilling and tossed him into prison until he repaid what he owed. But when the master discovered what the slave had done, he had him brought back to him and said: ‘You wicked slave. I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy on you?’ And his lord, moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him.”

 

The Lord concluded with this ominous warning: “My heavenly Father will also do the same to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart.”

 

Until we catch a glimpse of the height, the depth, the length, and the breadth of our own sins – the big ones, the little ones, the in-between ones – unless the Holy Spirit shows us how wretched and miserable and blind and naked we were – or are – without Christ, then we will never arrive at the place which is absolutely necessary to be if we hope to grow in intimacy with Christ.

 

Until we catch of glimpse of how much God has been merciful to us despite our sins – egregious and utterly damnable as they are – how can we ever be merciful to those who sin against us?

 

Some of you know the lyrics, “He paid a debt He did not owe, I owed a debt I could not pay, I needed someone to wash my sins away; And now I sing a brand-new song, “Amazing Grace,” Christ Jesus paid a debt that I could never pay.”

 

Please, hear it once again: Jesus was serious when He said: “If you forgive others their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions.

 

I started today’s message with this text from Paul’s letter to the Christians at Colossae: “Consider the members of your earthly body as dead to [sexual] immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed . . . anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech . . [But] put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another and forgiving each other.

 

Let me repeat myself again for emphasis: Without the help and the protection of the Holy Spirit, we can’t consistently live up to God’s standards. Our sin nature is stronger than we realize – BUT God’s grace is stronger still. So, when we fail, repent, get up, dust ourselves off, and get back to seeking Christ. Our confession and repentance give us once again a completely clean slate. Every time. Time after time. Seventy times seven times. Perfect forgiveness.

 

As I bring this message to a close, please hear these several promises of God to those who seek Him. I cite only four of the hundreds of similar texts – promises of great encouragement to all who want to keep seeking the things that are above, where Christ is.

 

God tells us through Moses: If you seek Him, you WILL find Him, “If you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul.”  (Deuteronomy 4:29) He says the same thing through Jeremiah: You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:13.

 

Through the apostle Paul, God tells us: Philippians 1:6 “He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.”  And once more: 2 Corinthians 3:18 “But all of us who are Christians . . . are transfigured by the Spirit of the Lord in ever-increasing splendor into His own image.” (Phillips)

 

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and don’t dwell on your failures. And hold on to this promise: “The steps of a man are established by the Lord,
and He delights in his way. When he falls, he will not be hurled headlong,
because the Lord is the One who holds his hand.” (Psalm 37:23-24)

Since you want to be more like Him, then ask Him to make you more like Him. Since you want to seek Him, ask Him to change your heart to earnestly do so.

 

He will not fail to answer those prayers. 

The Face of God

 

We’ve been looking at the apostle Paul’s letter to the Christians at Colossae. As a reminder, Paul calls himself “an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are at Colossae.” (Colossians 1:1-2). And because he was an apostle, chosen by God, we are responsible to read his instructions as flowing inerrantly from the Holy Spirit – even we who live in another culture and in another time. God’s word is eternal and not bound by time or culture.

 

In the last few weeks, we’ve examined some of the guidance Paul gave his readers – including us in 2026. He admonished them – and us – to: 1) Be firmly rooted and built up in Christ. 2) [To] Be alert that they are not taken captive by ungodly and false philosophies about God and biblical morality. 3) [To] Hold fast to the unchangeable and undilutable truth that all the fullness of God dwells in Christ. And finally, 4) That obedient faith in Jesus is fully sufficient for salvation. Nothing else needs to be – or can be – added to what Jesus has done for us.

 

Which brings us to chapter three where Paul begins with the word “Therefore.” Let me pause a moment to remind us his ‘therefore’ refers to everything he’d written in the first two chapters. So, he writes, “Therefore, since you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory. Colossians 3:1-4

 

Some Bible translations render that first verse, “IF you have been raised up with Christ,” but the Greek word can also be translated, ‘Since.’  And as we must do whenever we interpret the Scriptures, context is vital to our interpretation. That’s why ‘Since’ is the better translation because Paul was writing to Christians – not to unbelievers in Colossae. And Christians – also called ‘saints – already have been raised with Christ, as the apostle mentioned already in this letter.

 

So, Christians, “Since you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.” 

 

Yes, all Scripture is divinely inspired by God. But our faith is a rational faith, and therefore it is reasonable to delve a little further into the question of ‘Why God wants the Christian – who’s already saved, who already belongs to the eternal family of God – why does God want us to ‘keep seeking’ the things above, where Christ is?

 

I’m sure one reason is because God knows how we are EASILY distracted from truth. Spurious and ungodly philosophies and doctrines are one reason Christians can become distracted from Truth – capital ‘T’. And today’s Bible-believing Christian can’t help to notice how many churches have turned aside to follow Satan, preaching any number of false doctrines and allowing such sexual perversions into their fellowships that ought to turn our stomachs. That’s why Paul warned the Colossians, “See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.” (Colossians 2:8)

 

But we can also be distracted from the gospel by the worries and the enticements of life. With the seed sown among thorns, in the Parable of the Sower, Jesus warned: “These [people] are the ones who have heard the word, but the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.” (Mark 4:18-19)

 

Besides any of these distractions, bitter and heart-breaking life-circumstances can also pull us from God, events such as sudden and devastating illness or injury, or the death of a beloved family member, or chronic financial strains. Take your pick of any other circumstance that can easily pull us from God. It happens all the time. I don’t doubt many of you know of people who at one time followed Christ – until some tragedy struck and they stopped seeking, they stopped following, they stopped obeying.

 

Any of these distractions I’ve just mentioned can draw us from our steadfast walk along the straight and narrow path to the Kingdom. Surely, that’s why God tells us to keep seeking. And know this:” ‘Seeking’ doesn’t just happen. It’s an intentional undertaking. It’s something we determine to do every time we get out of bed in the morning and start our day with prayer and reading God’s word if we’re physically able to do so.

 

We need to keep seeking Him even when He seems silent. We need to intentionally keep seeking Him even when circumstances shake us to our very core. The biblically knowledgeable Christian understands such horrible life-circumstances are not unknown to the faithful throughout the millennia.

 

The Psalmist speaks to such circumstances in Psalm 13. Notice how the plasm begins, and how it ends: “How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me? How long shall I take counsel in my soul, Having sorrow in my heart all the day?  . . . But I have trusted in Your lovingkindness; My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation.” (Psalm 13:1,2,5)

 

Here is Psalm 77. Again, notice how it begins, and how it ends: “In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord; In the night my hand was stretched out without weariness; My soul refused to be comforted. When I remember God, then I am disturbed; When I sigh, then my spirit grows faint . . . I am so troubled that I cannot speak . . . Will the Lord reject forever? And will He never be favorable again? Has His lovingkindness ceased forever? Has His promise come to an end forever? Has God forgotten to be gracious, or has He in anger withdrawn His compassion? Then I said . . . I shall remember the deeds of the Lord; Surely I will remember Your wonders of old. I will meditate on all Your work and muse on Your deeds.  Your way, O God, is holy; What god is great like our God?” (Psalm 77:2-13)

 

Writing just before the Babylon army ravaged its way through Jerusalem the prophet Habakkuk (3:16-18) put his thoughts on parchment for everyone to read: “I heard and my inward parts trembled, at the sound my lips quivered. Decay enters my bones, and in my place I tremble because I must wait quietly . . . for the people to arise who will invade us. [Nevertheless] Though the fig tree should not blossom and there be no fruit on the vines, though the yield of the olive should fail and the fields produce no food, though the flock should be cut off from the fold and there be no cattle in the stalls, yet I will exult in the Lord, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.”

 

Seeking God is a choice. Rejoicing in God – despite tragic circumstances is a decision. Both are intentional. They don’t ‘just happen.’

 

We do the right thing when life knocks out our teeth and yet we keep seeking Christ because we know God is our loving, merciful, and gracious FATHER. Whatever He allows into our lives – we take refuge in what He has repeatedly told us: Nothing “will separate us from the love of Christ. [Not] tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword.”  (Romans 8:35)

 

Nothing.

 

I see I need to move on. So, let’s go back to our text in chapter three and ask another question: What does it look like when a person continually seeks the things above, where Christ is?

 

Well, Paul delineates through the rest of this chapter what it ought to look like. I’ll read only portions of his text and without much comment because the results of our intentional seeking Christ are self-evident for the true Christian:

 

“Consider the members of your earthly body as dead to [sexual] immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience . . . But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices . . . [But] put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another and forgiving each other . . . just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity . . . Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.” (Colossians 3:5-17)

 

That’s quite a list of characteristics and evidence resulting in the man or woman who is either seeking what it above – or who don’t particularly care to seek Him.

 

Before I draw this message to a close in a few more minutes, I want to also speak yet of one more result we can expect of an intentional seeking the things above, where Christ is – but first I need to say once again something I have said many times over the past eleven years that I’ve been pastor here – and this is a critically important:

 

If we have little interest in seeking the things above where Christ is, then it might mean that we don’t belong to Christ. I hope you realize how serious this point is. The Lord Jesus warns us several times in the gospels that there will be those at the Judgment Seat who will stand in utter terror to discover they were not faithful Christians at all, but rather they’d deceived themselves all along. You can read what ought to be sobering texts in Matthew 7:21-23, Matthew 25:31-46, and Luke 13:22-28

 

I believe it is for that reason that Paul challenged the Corinthians to test themselves, to ensure they have saving faith. I bring this up again because I am responsible to God to appeal to all of us – me included – “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; Examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test?” (2 Corinthians 13:5)

 

Do we have a hunger for God’s word? Do we regularly read it, study it, memorize it? Do we seek the Lord in regular prayer? Do we routinely gather with other Christians for friendship? Do we take whatever steps we think are necessary to be more like Jesus, following His commandments more closely with each passing year of our lives?

 

So, let’s look at yet one more expected result of an ongoing, day by day seeking Christ and living for Him. Here is verse 4 of chapter 3: When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.

 

Be certain of this: One day Jesus WILL be fully revealed to every eye on earth. “Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen.” (Revelation 1:7) And for an overwhelming majority of humanity, that will be an incalculably terrifying moment.

 

At the Lord’s first advent He came metaphorically as a lamb, a sacrificial lamb whose mission was to die and make atonement for sinners. As a sacrificial lamb, Jesus took on Himself the full wrath the Father had against us for our sins. By His blood He has forever cleansed every sin, every stain, of every penitent sinner devoted to Christ.

 

Think what that means for YOU who have purposely made yourself a bondservant, a slave of Jesus Christ. What it means for You who intentionally seek the things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father. You now – today – you stand blameless before God. He calls you righteous, justified, forgiven.

 

But at Christ’s second advent – which WILL occur because He said it would occur – at His second advent He will come metaphorically as a Lion – not to save humanity from the Father wrath, but to execute the Father’s judgment on all who have scoffed at Christ in their lives, against ALL who have rejected His atonement. Jew, or non-Jew, atheist or religious, cold to Christ or lukewarm – no one will escape His judgment.

 

However, the good news on the other side of this promised eternal devastation for the non-Christian is God’s promise to every born-again faithful follower of Christ. For every Christian, this text in Revelation describes one of the results we can expect for living a life of seeking and obeying Christ:

 

“And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems . . . He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. (Revelation 19:11-15) 

 

My brothers and sisters – WE will be in that army, clothed in white linen, following our Lord on white horses.

 

When Christ is revealed, every Christian will also be revealed with Him in His glory at His return to earth. Think what that means for YOU who live a life intentionally seeking Christ. The world and all the angels in heaven will see YOU in your glorified body returning with Christ to set up His kingdom on earth – the place where you and all who have loved the Lord will be for an eternity.

 

And what will that eternity look like? We catch only a glimpse in scripture of our future forever home: Revelation 21 “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. . . And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.” And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.”

 

Then He showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life . . . There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him; they will see His face . . .And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever.” Revelation 22:1-5

 

Let me repeat something here: We will see His face. His lovely, beautiful, blinding, precious face – the face even Moses could not see. You might remember that passage in Exodus when the Lord said to him, “You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live! Then the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place by Me, and you shall stand there on the rock; and it will come about, while My glory is passing by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by. Then I will take My hand away and you shall see My back, but My face shall not be seen.” Exodus 33:21-23

 

You and I have a choice today, and tomorrow, and every day for the rest of our lives: We can seek what ultimately amounts to worthless vanity and striving after wind, filling our days with worldly pleasures and distractions, or we can spend our days seeking the eternal promises of the Christ’s eternal kingdom.

 

I urge you to pray for me, to pray for each other, to pray for yourselves – that we all learn to seek Christ better than we have in the past. That we learn to keep seeking Christ better than we have in the past.

 

Solomon said it well: “Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the issues of life.” Proverbs 4:23

 

Victory in Jesus

Because of our time limitations last week, we didn’t look as closely at the text I chose for my message in the second chapter of Colossians. So, let’s return to that text today. To maintain context, here is the whole section I cited last week.

 

Colossians 2:1ff Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude. See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority; 

 

and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.  When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.

 

Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day, things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ. Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God. If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!” (which all refer to things destined to perish with use)—in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men? These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.

 

I think it will be helpful to summarize what we have already seen in this text last over the past two weeks: 1) Be firmly rooted and built up in Christ. 2) Be alert that you are not taken captive by ungodly and false philosophies about God and biblical morality. 3) Hold fast to the biblical truth that all the fullness of God dwells in Christ.

 

One of the heresies circulating around the churches in Colossae was the demonic-inspired doctrine that Christ alone was not sufficient for salvation. They taught that the Christian needs additional mediators – even angelic mediators. They said Christians also need the secret knowledge available to only a few chosen spokesmen for God, and that they need to add legalistic practices to their faith to be saved.

 

Of course, all the New Testament writers loudly condemned those heresies. And they should be loudly condemned today as well. Christians are ‘complete’ because – and only because – they are joined to Christ by faith. Their righteousness, their justification, their forgiveness and their full acceptance before God are all theirs through that union.

 

Think for a while about what that means for YOU, who, because of your repentant heart, are now joined with God the Son. It means you are fully accepted by God because you belong to God incarnate. You don’t have to DO anything more to be accepted by the Father who loves you so much that He gave His Son to be YOUR propitiatory sacrifice – our atoning sacrifice that satisfied God’s righteous wrath against our sins. Listen to St John describe it: “And this is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins." (1 John 4:10)

 

The Christian is fully complete in Christ. There is nothing else we can do to make us more acceptable to God. Listen again as Paul continues in today’s text: “If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!”  . . . in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men? These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.” (verses 20-23)

We could live alone in a cave and still actively live in sin. Adhering to various Dos and Don’ts are of no value against the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life. And why is that? Because of our sin NATURE. Although sin no longer reigns in the life of a Christian, sin nevertheless remains in the Christian and will continue to remain until we are no longer in our body. And while that uncomfortable truth can send us toward depression and the temptation to give up the fight, we should always remember St Paul’s agonized cry in the last part of Romans 7:

 

“For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?”  Romans 7:18-24

 

Who will set him free? Who will set US free? Paul answers his own question, and I will get to it in a moment, but first, please hear this: There not a Christian in all history who has striven to serve God and has not at the same time also known the experience Paul wrote about. And that is why his answer to his own question has been a glorious encouragement to every Christian who has struggled against their own sin nature:

 

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” (Romans 8:1-4)

 

We do not need to hold strict adherence to a list of Dos and Don’ts in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men to make us acceptable to God. We only need obedient faith, trust, bold confidence in what He has done for us in Christ and to live in obedience to His commandments that results from our faith.

 

Paul then continues his instruction to the Colossians – and the those at Ashwood Meadows in verses 11-15 – “And in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.  When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.

 

Circumcision not only brought the child into God’s covenant relationship with God, but circumcision was always meant by God to be more than the removal of a piece of flesh. He intended it as a symbol of the removal of evil from the heart. Listen to Him speak through Moses: (Deuteronomy 10:16) “So circumcise your heart and stiffen your neck no longer.”

 

And, again in Deuteronomy 30:6 “Moreover the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, so that you may live.”

 

Now, listen to God through Jeremiah nearly 1000 years later (Jeremiah 4:4) “Circumcise yourselves to the Lord and remove the foreskins of your hear . . . or else My wrath will go forth like fire and burn with none to quench it, because of the evil of your deeds.”

 

So, when the apostle Paul continues in the next clause: “Having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead,” we ought to humbly ask ourselves what is the use of being baptized if we do not seek the Lord in obedience? Isn’t that what John the Baptist declared to those coming to the Jordan? “Therefore, bear fruit in keeping with repentance; and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father’; for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham.” (Matthew 3:8-9)

 

In other words, without living a life of repentance, circumcision becomes uncircumcision – as Paul wrote to the Christians at Rome: “For indeed circumcision is of value if you practice the Law; but if you are a transgressor of the Law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.” (Romans 2:25)

 

And I think it is equally true, without living a life of repentance, baptism becomes unbaptism.

 

Paul continues in today’s text: “ When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

 

I’ve heard it preached that after the Fall we are diamonds but covered with mud. They say Jesus’ blood cleans off the mud. Where pastors get such erroneous ideas demonstrates either their biblical illiteracy, or their disbelief in the inerrancy, infallibility, and full inspiration of God’s word.

 

God threatened our first parents with spiritual death – a broken fellowship with God – if they ate of the forbidden tree: “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.” (Genesis 2:16-17)

 

St Paul understood the Genesis text to mean exactly as it is written, which is why he told the Ephesians they were dead – the word he used is the same we use for ‘necrotic’ – they (and you and I) were dead in their sins – until God, by His grace, made them (and us) alive.

 

When we were ‘born again’ God forgave all – all – our sins, having canceled out each one, having stamped on the ledger the equivalent of our ‘Paid in Full’ stamped on a financial debt we no longer owe. As the songwriter aptly described it: “He paid a debt He did not owe, I owed a debt I could not pay, I needed someone to wash my sins away; And now I sing a brand-new song, “Amazing Grace,” Christ Jesus paid a debt that I could never pay.”

 

And that surely is why the apostle continued his jubilant exultation: “When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.”

 

When Paul wrote that Jesus triumphed over the powers by the cross, he wasn’t talking about the powers of Rome. He was speaking about the same powers of the air that he speaks in his letter to the church at Ephesus: “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Ephesians 6:12)

 

On Calvary’s cross, Jesus triumphed specifically over all supernatural demonic powers in all the unseen realms around us. That’s also why Paul tells us in his letter to the Philippians: “At the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:10-11)

 

Every knee. Every tongue. In heaven and on earth and under the earth. And that is all because of what God did on the cross when Jesus gave Himself as a sin offering for all who come to Him by faith. And because of the death of God-Incarnate, you and I who are IN CHRIST have victory (present tense) victory over sin, death, and the devil.

 

Victory over sin: “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” Romans 8:1-4

 

Victory over death: (1 Corinthians 15:51-57) “Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.  For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Victory over the devil: “Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7) Romans 16:20 “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.”

 

Christian, it’s because of our obedient faith in the substitutionary atonement of Christ that the spiritual armor Paul wrote of in Ephesians six is efficacious for the Christian: The helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, the belt of truth, the sword of the Spirit, and the rest of the supernatural armor.

 

In HIM we are complete. We need nothing else to enter that place where, as Isaiah tells us, “He will swallow up death for all time, and the Lord God will wipe tears away from all faces . . . And it will be said in that day, “Behold, this is our God for whom we have waited that He might save us. This is the Lord for whom we have waited; Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.” (Isaiah 25:8-9)

 

Well, we’ve run out of time again. Let’s stop here and return to chapter three next time. But for now, to reiterate what I hoped to make clear during this message:

 

First: We need nothing else to add to the atoning death of the Son of God on our behalf. No rules, no sacraments, no visions, no other mediators. Jesus, God incarnate, is fully sufficient for our eternal salvation.

 

Second point: Unless our hearts are changed, neither circumcision nor baptism mean anything of eternal value.

 

Third: In Christ alone the Christian has victory over sin, death, and the devil. The armor of God is overwhelmingly sufficient defense against our supernatural enemy. Therefore, be careful to wear that armor every day.

 

We will continue our study through Colossians next time.