April 18, 2023 | Be On Mission
Jesus’ Fullness Frees Us from Legalism
Scripture: Colossians 2 (NIV)
1 I want you to know how hard I am contending for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally. 2 My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 4 I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments. 5 For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how disciplined you are and how firm your faith in Christ is.
6 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, 7 rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
8 See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.
9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, 10 and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority. 11 In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.
13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. 15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
16 Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. 17 These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. 18 Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you. Such a person also goes into great detail about what they have seen; they are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind. 19 They have lost connection with the head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.
20 Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules: 21 “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? 22 These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings. 23 Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.
Devotional
The Bible teaches us that sin separates us from God. The quest for reconciliation with God is the driving force for all who are aware of their sin-soaked alienation from a perfect and holy God. Just how do we get right with God?
Paul warns the Colossians to be careful of “fine-sounding arguments” and “deceptive philosophy” and the “principles of this world.” The answer is also not found in religious rituals and man-made rules. Rather, our only hope is in Christ, because he was fully God and fully human.
First, Jesus was fully God. As Hebrews 1:3 states, “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.” Also, Colossians 1:19 says, “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him.” Jesus was fully God.
Second, Jesus was fully human. In Galatians 4:4, Paul writes, “But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law.” As a human being, Jesus was subject to every constraint and temptation we are. “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin” (Hebrews 4:15). Jesus was fully human.
It is important to understand that Jesus was fully God AND fully human. In today’s passage in Colossians 2:9, Paul clearly proclaims, “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form” (see also Philippians 2:5-7). In our sinful state, we can no more work our way to God than Aaron Judge can hit a home run across the state of New York. We are simply powerless to earn our way out of our spiritual indebtedness to God.
But God is not powerless to do exactly that! Read again here the passage from Colossians 2:13-14, and consider what Jesus did for you on the cross:
“When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood against us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.”
Poem
The Planting
Colossians 2:6-7
Seed thrown by the sower
Good earth provides bed
The swelling of mercy
By fountain is sped
Extending toward rooting
Reach tall towards the Son
The branches now strengthen
The budding begun
Encouraged in windstorm
The weeds are destroyed
The pruning in season
The pests do avoid
The fruit forms its seedpod
Maturity dawns
The harvest is ready
In heaven the songs
Of praise everlasting
The table is spread
The harvest feast waiting
With Christ at the head
