Colossians Part 5

Now he is talking to, by the way, in the next paragraph, you see where that parenthesis starts, and it doesn’t end. It ends right after the word Laodicea. Okay? He is talking to you in the third paragraph there. You who are in the ekklesia, he is talking to you about your growth and the source of your growth, the wealth of it coming from Christ. Then we come to the next large paragraph.

In Christ are hidden the treasures. Again, he is reminding you of Christ. Then he switches over a little bit, and he says, I’m not present with you in body. Now, there’s something that has entered Paul’s heart here, and he just wanted them to know that he’s really standing with them. He’s there rejoicing with them in the fact that they have not forgotten Christ, that Christ is very much their center, and then in the last large paragraph, we come into one of these great exaltations of the Lord. But do you notice where it says…this is about halfway through the paragraph… that in Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom. Can you find that and follow me? In this, Christ hides all the treasures of knowledge. And here’s that first concern about those things that are there to take the place of Christ. Do you see it? That’s the very first one. Up until then, he has been talking about suffering and the fact that it is not confined to space and time. He then talks to them about how they are growing in the Lord and by what means that happens. He is talking about Christ, the mystery, and how he is the source of so much. He throws in one little sentence. That sentence is going to grow really big as you go on.

Alright, again in the next paragraph after that, he has encouraged them because Christ is so much their center, and in this last major paragraph, I just like to read it because it is so beautiful. You Colossians are rooted; you’re being built up. Again, he is reminding them of their source, and he is reminding them of what happens when they deal with their source. Together, you’re being established in the faith. Epaphras learned this in Ephesus, and he’s telling you all about it. I am the second person to tell you these things. You’re walking with Christ, you’re being built up with Christ, and then you’re overflowing in faith, you’re overflowing with thanksgiving.

We go to the next page in case any of you are lost. And now as he considers suffering outside of space and time, not confined by it, as he tells them how they have been growing and the source of it, and they, as he has exalted the Lord and reminded them again and again to not forget from where all things richly flow, he remembers what substitute might come in and take the place of Christ and take the place of those riches that are in him and do something to damage the church. So, he gives us another one of those sentences, “see to it that no one through philosophy and empty deceit takes captive, but rather be captive according to Christ and not captive according to the traditions of men.” And another sentence, “not captive to the elemental principles of the world.” And now he comes back again to a great anthem of the Lord Jesus Christ. Can you kind of follow this? He’s reminding you of Christ; he’s reminding you of what your touch with the Lord does in your lives. And then he remembers every once in a while, those substitutes that are out there, those things that are waiting to come in, maybe in a dry spell, and he mentions them again.

I want to go back and read the other passage and see how remarkably similar they are. “Therefore, I tell you, let no one with a persuasive argument delude you. Now, see to it that no one through philosophy and empty deceit takes you captive, but rather be captive to Christ and not to the traditions of man nor to the elemental principles of this world.” I’m going back and reading the other one again. “Therefore, I tell you not to let people with persuasive arguments delude you.” It’s the same thing. All right, are you with me? By the way, I’m doing something tonight I almost never do. You know what I’m doing? I’m teaching. I don’t even believe in this. What are you laughing at, Margarita? What’s she saying? That I’m jumping around. No, it’s not me that’s jumping around. It’s Paul who’s jumping around.

Okay, right after that word about philosophy, we have another incredible anthem of Christ. And I’m not going to read it right now, but look how beautiful it is. He’s telling you one more time where the water is. It’s the only place where there is water, and then he comes into Christ as the head of all rule. That’s the beginning of the paragraph right after the anthem. Christ is the head of all authority, and Christ…and here he goes one more time. Oops, it was philosophy.

Now, where does philosophy come from? The Greeks. You got it. And now he comes to circumcision. Circumcision came from the Jews. Let me tell you two other things that come from the Greeks. Greeks are into hearing; the Jews are into seeing miracles. Jews are into cutting skin. The Greeks are into philosophy. The Greek people are into listening to great archery. The Jews want a sign and a wonder. And he knows that these dear Christians in Colossae are going to be faced, we all are, with the philosophers. Those who appeal to the ear, those who appeal to the eye, and those who appeal to pain. Obedience, obedience. In this case, the law, that all persuasive thing, the law is very easy to recognize. It carries a badge, a rifle, and some riding chaps.

Alright, so right in the middle of this exaltation of Christ, we get another one of these points. Now, I want you to follow me. You were, let’s see, in Christ, you were circumcised. That does not mean you were circumcised in a way that had anything to do with the removal of skin, but this is interesting, because Paul plays on the word flesh here, but rather you have the circumcision of Christ, which is the removal of the flesh.

Now, there are two kinds of flesh; in fact, there are three kinds of flesh mentioned in scripture. One of them, you might say, is the eating of meat, the flesh of an animal. Oh, there’s another, and all flesh upon the earth. That meant everybody who’s in it, who inhabits. And then there is the flesh, as in the removal and circumcision of human flesh, and there is the greater reference to flesh. Do you know the definition of the more spiritual aspect of flesh? Actually, flesh is not spiritual, but we’re dealing with spiritual things.

Then let me give it to you. He is in the flesh. That makes sense, doesn’t it? Have you ever been in the flesh? Carmen, I hate to tell you, but you were just in the flesh. No, I’m teasing you. I’ll tell you something my wife doesn’t remember. There was a day when we lived in Auburn, Maine, that we were really mad at one another, and we were so mad at one another. We were actually in total agreement on the subject that was being spoken about, but we were so angry that it sounded like we were having opposing opinions. Then you don’t have to have an opposing opinion in the flesh. Just as long as you’re just ticked off, it doesn’t matter.

We move from being in our soul to being in our flesh. We are in our soul all the time. We are, in the eyes of God, always in our spirit. But in our experience, we are in the experiential knowledge of being in our flesh occasionally. But if we can move over to understand that we are in our spirits and our spirits are very much alive and functioning, it can be an incredibly transforming experience.

Then what does it mean to be in the flesh? Well, this is an inadequate explanation. When God made you, He made your soul, spirit, and body. Adam was primarily a soul. A Christian is primarily spirit. Adam had a spirit; he was a soul. Both were contained in his human body. Not in his fleshly body, in his beautiful, marvelous body. When man fell, sin entered into your body and corrupted your body. It stinkified your body. It corrupted, it stinkified your body, I like that. That’s a strong word. It means the same thing as corrupted, it stinkified. Good Greek word I just made up.