Sermon 10th September 2017

Today, one of our Lay Readers, Trevor Tayleur, preaches. The reading is from Colossians 2 v 8-19.

Fullness of Life in Christ

One Sunday a preacher was giving an all age talk, and was using squirrels as an example. He started, "I'm going to describe something, and I want the children to raise their hands when they know what it is." The children nodded eagerly.

"This thing lives in trees (pause) and eats nuts (pause)..." No hands went up. "And it’s grey (pause) and has a long bushy tail (pause)..." The children were looking at each other nervously, but still no hands were raised. "It jumps from branch to branch (pause) and chatters and flips its tail when it's excited (pause)..."

Finally one little girl tentatively raised her hand. The preacher quickly called on her. "Well," said the girl, "I know the answer must be 'Jesus' ... but it really sounds like a squirrel!"

This preacher was perhaps a little bit predictable. In our parish our all-age talks aren’t quite so predictable, but Paul, the writer of the letter to the Colossians, would certainly have approved of the preacher’s emphasis on Jesus.  The dominant thought that runs through this passage, and indeed much of the letter, is this: “If you have Jesus, you have everything you need spiritually.” Jesus is central to our faith and the Gospel we believe in.

The Christians in Colossae had been unsettled by false teachers who were saying to them, “You’re immature in your life as Christians. You need to be more advanced in your experience. And the only way to become super-spiritual is to follow our teachings.  There are spiritual mysteries and secrets that need unlocking, and we hold the keys. We alone can lead you to spiritual fullness.”

And many humble Colossian Christians were tempted to listen to these false teachers. They knew that they had much further to go in their faith, and they must have found this false teaching unsettling. They realised they didn’t fully understand everything and thought that maybe this false teaching could help them to become more mature. It could be the way for them to experience Christian fullness.

And Paul’s response to this teaching? No, no, no! If you have Jesus, you have everything. You don’t need anything more. Jesus is central.  And so Paul gives them three warnings.

·      Don’t let anyone kidnap you!

·      Don’t let anyone condemn you!

·      Don’t let anyone disqualify you!

The first warning is in verse 8; "See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy…" Literally, don’t be kidnapped. Don’t be kidnapped by hollow and deceptive philosophy. The word “philosophy” here is a general terms for hollow and empty teaching. This type of teaching depends on “human tradition” and the “elemental spiritual forces of this world”.  

I’ll come to human tradition in a moment, but I’ll look at “elemental spiritual forces” first, which does sound rather strange. The commentaries put forward a variety of suggestions. It could be a reference to the stars, the signs of the Zodiac, or to spiritual powers of some sort. But basically what these false teachers were doing was to base their teaching on a cocktail of human tradition and spiritual claptrap. And Paul slams it as “hollow and deceptive”. They’ve removed Jesus from the centre of their teaching. Paul’s response is to launch into an amazing description of who Jesus is.

In verse 9 Paul tells us that Jesus is fully God. He couldn’t be more God. He’s not just one spiritual being among many. In verse 10 Paul proclaims that Jesus is the head over every power and authority. He tells the Colossians; “in Christ you have been brought to fullness.” “Fullness” is probably a word these false teachers were using. They were probably claiming that if you want the fullness of God, the fullness of spiritual experience, then you need to follow their teaching.  For the humble Colossian Christian, this might have sounded plausible. But Paul says, “No, absolutely not! If you are in Jesus, you have nothing more to move onto.”

And the message for us is that we too need to realise how much we have already received from Jesus. We don’t need to move beyond Jesus to something extra. We have been given fullness in Christ already. And that’s what the Colossians were insecure about. Was there something more they should have moved on to – some further advanced fullness or spiritual experience? “No”, says Paul. “Don’t be kidnapped by hollow and deceptive teaching.”

We’ve already touched upon this false teaching – human tradition mixed in with some form of bogus spiritual mysteries. And Paul goes on to look further at how the Colossian Christians were at risk of being kidnapped.

It seems from verse 11 that one of the human traditions that the false teachers were teaching was circumcision; they were claiming that Christians needed to be circumcised. That, according to them, would be the final proof of their maturity and of their commitment. Of course it sounds very religious; it’s related to what God gave the people in the Old Testament as a sign of their relationship. But it was completely wrong. Paul explains that we’ve been given a far deeper, a far more fundamental circumcision in our hearts. It’s our hearts that need changing, as Paul tells the Colossians in verses 11-13. He says to them that they were dead in their sins, but through Jesus God has made them alive. They have been freed from the power of sin. That’s what Jesus did on the Cross. He set us free from the power of sin – that which separates us from God. There’s no need for any extra religious ceremony for us to have a relationship with God.  What separated you from God is now gone, and you now know him for yourself. There’s no need for anything beyond Jesus. Faith in Jesus is all we need.

It also seems from verses 13 and 14 that these false teachers were telling the Colossians that they should follow certain rules and regulations, certain religious codes – most probably the OT Law of Moses. And again that sounds plausible. It sounds so religious and seemingly right; after all Moses is one of the great OT figures. But again Paul says, “No!”   In verse 14 Paul writes that “God cancelled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross”.

So, what does Paul mean by “the charge of our legal indebtedness”? The Greek word used in the text indicates a bond or debt or IOU signed by a debtor. What Paul is getting at is that the Colossians were debtors to God – and so are we. We have failed to keep the Law that reflects the holiness of God – we have fallen short of God’s standards. We are debtors to God. And there are only two ways to deal with this debt. One way is to try to keep the Law perfectly, but that’s impossible. We will always fall short. And the second way is the way that Paul is talking about. The record of the debt is nailed to the Cross. There is a debt owed and somebody must pay. An injustice done, an offence committed, must be paid for. Otherwise we will live in a world that is unjust, where things will not be made right. Someone must pay the debt. It’s Jesus who has paid the debt through his death, and as a result we see the record of our debt nailed to the Cross. In Jesus’ death we have life and we have fullness in him.

And Paul hasn’t finished yet. In verse 15 he writes, “And having disarmed the powers and authorities, [Jesus] made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” When the Roman authorities put Jesus to death, they thought that was the end of him. They had stamped out whatever he might have represented.

Paul is actually alluding to a famous Roman custom, the triumph. A Roman triumph was a spectacular victory celebration parade held in Rome for a general who had won an important victory on the battlefield. The defeated enemy leader was taken to Rome, humiliated and paraded before the people of Rome in chains. While the Romans hadn’t bothered taking Jesus back to Rome, anyone looking at Jesus on the Cross would have thought: the Roman rulers have made a public spectacle of him and have triumphed over him.

But Paul declares that the reverse is true, because the Cross is actually God’s victory. By Jesus’ death it’s the Romans who are humiliated. What happened on the Cross is that Jesus triumphed over all evil, over death itself, over the mighty Roman Empire, over all rulers. And Jesus is leading the triumphal march in which he is leading the rulers of the world – whether spiritual powers or earthly powers – in triumph.

Paul’s message to the Colossians was this: “Look at what Jesus has done. Don’t be kidnapped by false teaching!” Now in 21^st Century Herne Hill no-one is telling us that we should be circumcised or obey the letter of the OT Law. But Paul has an important message for us. There are some groups that say you need something extra. In my student days I came across people who said you need a “second blessing” before you can be a complete Christian. Some of you might have come across similar claims. And they’re wrong. Jesus is enough.

Again, I doubt if we hear much of that sort of teaching today in Herne Hill. But there are other voices that we may hear. “This is all too simple. Life is too complicated for simple solutions. Are you really going to put all your eggs in the basket of one teacher?” And Paul’s response is, “Yes, you can.”  

“Don’t be kidnapped by false teaching,” says Paul. And then in verse 16 he says, “Don’t let anyone judge you.” He writes: “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. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.”

The false teachers were trying to impose yet more Dos and Don’ts on the Colossians. Their teaching involved a whole host of rules about what they should and should not eat. And they drew up lists of days which specially belonged to God, on which certain things must be done or not done. Now, it’s very clear that Paul was no enemy of self-discipline. Rather the reverse. He was very much in favour of it. We do need to be self-disciplined to pray, to read the Bible and to grow as Christians. But it seems that these false teachers were saying that you had to follow these rules about food and observing festivals if you were to be saved. And Paul rejects that view. This kind of thing is only the shadow of truth. A religion that’s based on eating and drinking certain kinds of food and refusing others, or based on the rigid observance of certain special days, is only a shadow of the real thing. True religion is fellowship with Jesus. Don’t let anyone judge the way you live your Christian life, because God is judge. And the judgment was taken out on Jesus, not on you. Sure, there are good ideas to help us in our Christian lives, but Paul’s basic point is that Jesus is central to everything.

Don’t be kidnapped by false teaching. Don’t let anyone judge you. And thirdly, don’t let anyone disqualify you. In verse 18 Paul writes, “Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you.” Once again Paul makes the point that there’s no need for anything beyond Jesus.  We’re not disqualified from being Christians because we don’t follow loads of rules or regulations, or particular forms of worship, or because we don’t dabble with strange spiritual forces. In Jesus we are totally forgiven. That’s why the Cross is so central. Yes, there are things that we have to change in our lives. But the great debt has been paid. What cut us off, the penalty for sin, has been paid. Yes, we need to tackle the sin in our lives. Paul deals with this in the next chapter. Yes, there is plenty of work we need to do in our lives, but that does not disqualify us.

Sometimes we may feel discouraged as a Christian. Sometimes we will feel empty and wonder whether it’s really worth it to struggle on as a Christian. Yes, there will be times of great joy and blessing, but there will also be difficult times. Sometimes we will feel dissatisfied, and it may be tempting to listen to someone who claims that they have all the answers to our problems. But our confidence is not in particular techniques or mantras, but in Jesus. With confidence we can renew the battle against sin in our lives, not to win the praise of people - but to please our Saviour, Jesus.

We’re now well into our period of vacancy, and it will be some months until we get a new vicar. And in this period of transition, I think it’s helpful to look at our Parish Aim; it’s on the front of our service sheets. “Our aim is, in God’s strength, to bring Jesus to the centre of our lives and to the heart of our community.” And that actually reflects much of what Paul was saying to the Colossians. Yes, we need to put Jesus in the centre of our lives, and that will help us to bring him to the heart of our community. We don’t need to go anywhere else for inspiration. Jesus is the source of our confidence as Christians. And let’s look to him for fullness.

Let’s pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for sending us Jesus, your son, to live as a human and to die on the Cross for our sins. Let nothing take that away from us as we seek to follow Jesus more closely. Amen.

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[i] 10 September 2017