Sermon for Sunday May 23rd, 2010

Completeness in Christ by Ajai Prakash

Colossians 2:11-2:17

Opening illustration: One Sunday, a pastor was giving a sermon on baptism and in the course of his sermon he was illustrating the fact that baptism should take place by sprinkling and not by immersion.

He pointed out some instances in the Bible. He said that when John the Baptist baptized Jesus in the River Jordan, it didn’t mean in - it meant close to, roundabout, or nearby. And again when it says in the Bible that Philip baptized the eunuch in the river, it didn’t mean in - it meant close to, roundabout, or nearby.

After the service, a man came up to the minister and told him it was a great sermon, one of the best he had ever heard, and that it had cleared up a great many mysteries he had encountered in the Bible. "For instance," he said, "the story about Jonah getting swallowed by the whale has always bothered me. Now I know that Jonah wasn’t really in the whale, but close to, roundabout, or nearby - swimming in the water. Then there is the story about the three young Hebrew boys who were thrown into the furious furnace, but were not burned. Now I see that they were not really in the fire, just close to, roundabout, or nearby - just keeping warm. But the hardest of all the stories for me to believe has always been the story of Daniel getting thrown into the lions’ den. But now I see that he wasn’t really in the lions’ den, but close to, roundabout, or nearby - like at the zoo. The revealing of these mysteries have been a real comfort to me. Now I am gratified to know that I won’t be in Hell, but close to, roundabout, or nearby. And next Sunday, I won’t have to be in church, just close to, roundabout, or nearby. Thanks. You have really put my mind at ease.

Today some have distorted and diluted God’s Word in such a way as to please their flesh and others that the completeness in Christ is lost. Let us turn to Colossians 2 and check out how one can have completeness in Christ.

Introduction: Those who walk in the way of the world, are turned from following Christ. We have in Him the substance of all the shadows of the ceremonial law. All the defects of it are made up in the gospel of Christ, by his complete sacrifice for sin, and by the revelation of the will of God. To be complete, is to be furnished with all things necessary for salvation. By this one word “complete,” is shown that we have in Christ whatever is required. “In him,” not when we look to Christ, as though he were distant from us, but we are in him, when, by the power of the Spirit, we have faith wrought in our hearts by the Spirit, and we are united to our Head. The circumcision of the heart, the crucifixion of the flesh, the death and burial to sin and to the world, and the resurrection to newness of life, set forth in baptism, and by faith wrought in our hearts, prove that our sins are forgiven, and that we are fully delivered from the curse of the law. Through Christ, we, who were dead in sins, are quickened. Christ's death was the death of our sins; Christ's resurrection is the quickening of our souls. The law of ordinances, which was a yoke to the Jews, and a partition-wall to the Gentiles, the Lord Jesus took out of the way. When the substance was come, the shadows fled. Since every mortal man is, through the hand-writing of the law, guilty of death, how very dreadful is the condition of the ungodly and unholy, who trample under foot that blood of the Son of God, whereby alone this deadly hand-writing can be blotted out! Let not any be troubled about bigoted judgments which related to meats, or the Jewish solemnities. The setting apart a portion of our time for the worship and service of God, is a moral and unchangeable duty, but had no necessary dependence upon the seventh day of the week, the Sabbath of the Jews. The first day of the week, or the Lord's day, is the time kept holy by Christians, in remembrance of Christ's resurrection. All the Jewish rites were shadows of gospel blessings.

How are we complete in Christ?

1. Flesh-less Circumcision

(a) Circumcision of the body of sins
That is, in renouncing the deeds of the flesh, or becoming holy. The word “body,” here, seems to be used with reference to circumcision. In that ordinance, the body of the flesh was subjected to the rite; with Christians, it is the body of Sin that is cut off.

(b) Circumcision of the fruit of the flesh
It is not a cutting off of a part of the flesh, but a putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, through the circumcision of Christ; he having undergone and performed this, and all other rites necessary to qualify him to be a mediator between God and man; for, being made under the law, he was subject to all its ordinances, and every act of his contributed to the salvation of men. The fleshly circumcision removed only a portion of the body. In spiritual circumcision, through Christ, the whole corrupt, carnal nature is put away like a garment which is taken off and laid aside.

© Circumcision of the heart
Jewish males were circumcised as a sign of the Jewish Covenant with God (Genesis 17: 9-14). With the death of Christ, circumcision was no longer necessary. So now our commitment to God is written on our hearts, not our bodies. Christ sets us free from our evil desires by a spiritual operation, not a bodily one. God removes the old nature and gives us a new nature.

2. Act of Baptism

Here circumcision is related to baptism; therefore some see baptism as the NT sign of the covenant, identifying the person with the covenant community. Baptism parallels the death, burial and the resurrection of Christ, and it also portrays the death and burial of our sinful way of life followed by resurrection to a new life in Christ.

(a) Dying with Christ
It means that the Old Adam in us, together with all sins and evil desires, should be drowned through daily sorrow and repentance, and be put to death, that the New Adam should come forth daily and rise up, cleansed and righteous, to live forever in God's presence. It gives us the imagery of dying to ourselves like Christ exemplified.

(b) Buried with Christ
Alluding to the immersions practiced in the case of adults, wherein the person appeared to be buried under the Water, as Christ was buried in the heart of the earth. It symbolize the burial of the old man, and that by the mighty power of God alone, whose power we lay hold on by faith, in the death of Christ.

(c) Resurrected with Christ
By a firm belief on the agency of God in raising him up; that is, a belief of the fact that God has raised him from the dead. The resurrection of Christ is often represented as the foundation of all our hopes; and, as he was raised from the grave to die no more, so, in virtue of that we are raised from the death of sin to eternal spiritual life. The belief of this is shown by our baptism.

Note: (i) It is not the water that washes away our sins; it is the Spirit of God. (ii) Acts 2: 38 does not teach that baptism is required for salvation. While baptism is important as the sign that one has been justified by faith and as the public declaration/demonstration of one’s faith in Christ and membership in a local body of believers, it is not the means of remission or forgiveness of sins. The Bible is very clear that we are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.

3. Observance of Laws abolished (vs. 13 – 17)

(a) Circumcision of the flesh (v. 13)
A new argument which lies in these few words, and it is this: uncircumcision was no hindrance to you in obtaining life, because you were justified in Christ; therefore you do not need circumcision for the attainment of salvation. You are not having put off the old fleshly nature, the carnal foreskin, or original sin, which now by spiritual circumcision, that is, conversion and baptism, you have put off.

(b) Requirements against us (v. 14)
The written code that was canceled was the legal demands of the OT law. The law opposed us by its demands for payment of our sins. Though no one can be saved by merely adhering or keeping that code but the OT truths and principles still guide and teach today. All the ordinances likewise, which belonged to the rudiments of this world and which applied to man in the flesh, and weighed as an insupportable yoke upon the Jews (and to which they endeavored to bring others into subjection), which put the conscience always under the burden of a service unaccomplished by man, and a righteousness, unsatisfied in God - these ordinances were blotted out.

In them the Jew had put his signature, so to speak, to his guiltiness; but the obligation was destroyed and nailed to the cross of Christ. We receive liberty as well as life and pardon.

© Disarmaments of principalities and powers (v. 15)
These powers and principalities are (i) demonic powers (ii) gods (kings + presidents) of powerful nations (iii) angels (heretical teachers) (iv) government of Rome …

The Colossian false teachers were encouraging worship of angels but Jesus surpassed them during His death and resurrection. With no disrespect to angels, Paul said that their powers are unmatchable to Christ’s deity and Godship. Christ had already won the first battle with Satan during the great temptation and then the second one on the cross. Though Satan tried his level best to take Christ’s focus away from the cross and the worldly shame it would bring, it did not deter Christ one bit. He had already disarmed Satan and his forces who know that they are going to fight a losing war at Armageddon.

Apparently the more we continue in a lifestyle of sin, the more ammunition and foothold we give to Satan to attack us and bring us down. We fight a losing battle if we don’t repent of our sins, accept Christ as our Lord and Savior and continue to lead a lifestyle of sin. We must take hold of these things and in Christ’s Name rise up and let God fight your battles.

Conclusion:

How did the completeness in Christ take place?

Answer: (v. 14) Nailed it to the cross.

When the Jews nailed Jesus to the cross they drove the nails into their own law. The old dispensation was ended; the blood of the new covenant was shed from the wounds of the nails. As if he had nailed it to his cross, so that it would be entirely removed out of our way. The death of Jesus had the same effect, in regard to the rites and institutions of the Mosaic religion, as if they had been affixed to his cross. It is said that there is an allusion here to the ancient method by which a bond or obligation was canceled, by driving a nail through it, and affixing it to a post. This was practiced in Asia. In a somewhat similar manner, in our banks now, a sharp instrument like the blade of a knife is driven through a check, making a hole through it, and furnishing to the teller of the bank a sign or evidence that it has been paid. If this be the meaning, then the expression here denotes that the obligation of the Jewish institutions ceased on the death of Jesus, as if he had taken them and nailed them to his own cross, in the manner in which a bond was canceled.