Colossians Chapter 2 Verse 11

•Paul is switching gears here from refuting Gnosticism to now addressing Judaism. Remember last week we talked about all the treasures of knowledge, the riches of the full assurance of understanding? Well that was the offering of Gnostics! But Paul made it clear to them that all of that ALL OF EVERYTHING is hidden alone and only in Jesus Christ! Now he speaks of circumcision which was and is preached as a requirement for right standing with God within Judaism.

•Of course in Judaism it is the physical act and yet Paul says here, “Hey guess what…in Christ, you’ve already got that too! Yet this one is superior…the one completed without hands and having to do with more than a part but the whole body of the sins of the flesh being cut away!” And I bet the men of Collasae were like, “whew! Cancel our appointment!” HA!

•I love this message though to them and to us! The message of the New Covenant and of hope and of truth! That the solution to sin is not a change outwardly but rather a change from the inside out. And how do we get at that? Jesus! Jesus in our hearts. Jesus in our minds. Jesus in our thoughts. Jesus in our homes, in our workplaces, in our families…allowing Him to cut away that flesh as He fills us continually with the Spirit of Holiness and Truth. The circumcision of the flesh in our hearts…how? Look…

Colossians Chapter 2 Verse 12

•Allow God to work. So simple! (Energia in the Greek! Means operation, working strength!!) How do you cut away the body of sin in your heart? Allow God the lead, man! Take Him in as your personal Lord and Savior. Worship Him in Spirit and in truth! In diligence and integrity! Constancy and faithfulness. Utterly dead to the flesh. Remember in Karate Kid II when Sato’s nephew wouldn’t help the girl caught out in the Typhoon? When he came into the shelter Sato said, “Now to me, you are dead!” We gotta have that confrontation with our flesh, man! (It ain’t helping us!)

•To see the flesh for what it is. A disease and zero profit. Jesus said in John 6:63 that the Spirit quickens. The Spirit gives life. The flesh profits nothing! All we have to do is agree and then trust Jesus above our flesh…rise up like He did from the tomb sealed by sin…and that sounds so very difficult and it is…for you. But Paul says something so comforting…he says its God’s work, you’re just the subject!

•By the way…flies in the face of any works based religion and false theology…like Asceticism and Judaism.

Colossians Chapter 2 Verse 13

•He’s done it! He’s made you alive! All of your trespasses are forgiven because of what Jesus has done! All of them! You are trespassless now as you are in Christ! Past, present, future! And that doesn’t mean you are free to sin, that sets you free from sin! Think of forgiveness as deliverance! He has delivered you out of profitless life and thought and behavior! He has emptied you of waste! Man how much do I want Him to lead! Yes!

•Bonus! This is so cool! Without Christ, without Jesus, we have and are nothing but waste, and man that stinks! We live a life captured and controlled by the flesh and then we die and nothing ever meant anything! But with accepting the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ, opening your heart as a workshop and work-subject to the Holy Spirit, now not only does every second matter but now even into eternity your life matters.

•Let me ask you. What have you done that will last one minute after you die? What will matter one minute after you breathe your last breath? The amazing awesome eternally humbling fact to consider is that if you are in Jesus and living your life by Him, through Him and for Him…the answer is…EVERYTHING! Nothing is wasted in the Lord! WOW!

•We were once dead and in a constant state of waste and yet because of His amazing heart God has provided to us by the giving of His Son…a constant state of alive…where everlasting life is the eternal now, man! That right thinking can and should change everything!

Colossians Chapter 2 Verses 14 – 15

•He delivers the knockout punch to Judaism by saying that the Law given to Moses and written by God’s own hand, the handwriting of requirements has been fulfilled in the Person of Jesus Christ. Man’s debt of perfection, the power of the reversal of man’s purchase of imperfection on credit, has been paid perfectly by a perfect man because God became one!

•And now I love this…the demonic lying, hating, accusing and manipulating forces of Satan, demons and even your own flesh…are disarmed! The word in the Greek is spoiled! And Paul says that Jesus made an open spectacle of them! How was Jesus able to take the accusations and the beatings and the cross without once giving a defense for Himself? Because He knew the truth. He was fully assured in the truth that what He was doing would culminate in the defeat of the enemy! WISDOM!

•Because if we can get that as well…then we will have no problem letting the Word of God lead us! And we won’t even get hot! We’ll stay cool and calm and ultimately God’s results will show up! He spoiled them openly…gives me this awesome scene in my mind that Satan laughed while Jesus bled out and then spazzed a little when Jesus proclaimed from the cross “It is finished!”

•What’s finished? Satan must have thought…and then he freaked out when Jesus got up out of that tomb! When the pages of scripture finally fell into place for Lucifer and he realized that he was spoiled!

•One last really cool thing about this scripture. That word for “wiped out” is the same for “blotted out.” Found in five places in the bible. Acts 3:19 speaks of our sin being blotted out. Col 2:14 speaks of the law being blotted out. Rev 3:5 speaks of you being blotted out of the Book of Life if you die in your sins. And then Rev 7:17 and 21:4 speak of God blotting out or wiping away every tear…it’s a pretty neat pattern and the conclusion is this. You accept the blotting out of the law and sin through what Jesus has done for you and find a forever home with God where every tear is taken away…or you accept your name being blotted out of the Book of life…wow!

Colossians Chapter 2 Verses 16 – 17

•This is an interesting thought. Imagine if I came home from a long trip and my kids rushed out of my house to greet me and they both fell down and hugged my shadow! First of all, that would be really weird! Mostly because, I’m right here…hug me! HA! But that’s the thought here.

•The festivals, the Sabbath day all of the parts of the law, they all pointed towards Christ! A sketch, an outline…but now…Christ has come! So no longer do we recognize festivals and Sabbath days because we now live revelational lives, Sabbath lives! Sabbath days, festivals, eating and drinking, these are nothing more than shadows when Jesus is the reality!

Colossians Chapter 2 Verses 18 - 19

•Beware of mysticism as well Paul says and anything that exalts itself above Jesus Christ. How do you know when you’re in a mystic group? Everybody has really long hair and smells like pixie dust! NO! When you hear questions like this. “What does the Bible mean to you?” That’s an incorrect question. The correct question is, “What does the Bible mean!?” - Now Paul switches gears again from Gnosticism, to Judaism and now into Asceticism…

Colossians Chapter 2 Verses 20 – 23

•Self-imposed religion (will worship) is of no value Paul says…why? Because there is no “why” behind it…It gives the appearance of maturity and spiritual strength but at the core of it all is self…it is to make self better, to feel better, to appear better but the truth is man that repentance is not denial of the flesh. Repentance is the love of God! To know Him, to understand His amazing heart for you…to see sin and the flesh for what it is…and to hate it…and then God downloads repentance! (2 Timothy 2:25)

•Repentance is welcomed when you call upon God as your authority because He is the Great I Am. The Creator. The Author and the One who calls you His beloved…to the point that He laid down His life for you. Gave His all for you. Then once allowed His rightful place in your heart, revelation of repentance is granted and the strength to overcome the flesh is delivered…that is true religion man. So very simple!

•Be on guard Paul says. Be careful, be watchful, be aware, he says…be on the attack I say…against intellectualism, legalism, mysticism and asceticism because they all have this attraction but they’re a trap…a snare…useless and inferior…when the key to all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, truth, power, joy and eternal life are all waiting for each one of us in a simple personal relationship with Jesus Christ.