Colossians 2 Defending Jesus as Our Lord November 12, 2006
In 1969, in Pass Christian, Mississippi, a group of people were preparing to have a "hurricane party" in the face of a storm named Camille. The wind was howling outside the posh Richelieu Apartments when Police Chief Jerry Peralta pulled up sometime after dark. Facing the Beach less than 250 feet from the surf, the apartments were directly in the line of danger. A man with a drink in his hand came out to the second-floor balcony and waved. Peralta yelled up, "Y’ all need to clear out of here as quickly as you can. The storm's getting worse." But as others joined the man on the balcony, they just laughed at Peralta's warnings to leave. Peralta was unable to persuade them to leave and so he wrote down the names of the next of kin of the twenty people gathered there to party through the storm. They laughed as he took their names. It was 10:15 p.m. when the front wall of the storm came ashore. Scientists clocked Camille's wind speed at more than 205 miles-per-hour, the strongest on record. Waves off the Gulf Coast crested between twenty-two and twenty-eight feet high. News reports later showed that the worst damage came at the little area known as Pass Christian, Mississippi, where some twenty people were killed at a hurricane party in the Richelieu Apartments. Nothing was left of that three-story structure but the foundation.
Warnings are important to our lives. Whether red signals flashing at a railroad crossing or the skulls and bones on a bottle of rubbing alcohol, warnings are a part of our daily lives. Children must be taught to heed these warnings and adults need to be reminded not to get too accustomed to them. Warnings are a matter of life and death. Can you remember a time when you had a big warning? Maybe from a parent, a teacher, a doctor, your boss? What about right now? Are there any warning signals in your life? I heard about a man whose oil light was flashing on his car but he told his friend he had fixed it. “I smashed it with a hammer and it stopped blinking that light.” What warnings lights are flashing in your life and how are you trying to fix them?
Last week, we began a series on the letter to the Colossians and we discovered that the Bible tells us that our most significant warnings in life require not good advice, encouragement, or more efforts on our part. Our most significant warnings need a savior. We need Jesus Christ as Lord of our lives. Today, I want to look at chapter two in Colossians to see how Saint Paul gives us a warning to defend Jesus as Lord in our lives and not to allow anything to hinder us in living with Jesus as Lord of our lives. Paul’s warning is strong because it is a matter of life and death. So many dangers will seek to stand in our way of living a full Christian life. So Paul gives us some warnings. Let’s take a look.
Look at 2:1…. Paul tells the people at Colossae that he is struggling for them. He is concerned for them and he is at work for them spiritually. Do you ever consider how many people are struggling and concerned and at work for you spiritually? There are so many people here in this congregation who pray for you. There are people who prepare lessons for your growth. There are those who serve your children and grandchildren. There are those who donate sums of money so that you can have this facility. Do you ever consider all that has been given through many years and all that continues to be given each week just so you can better come to grow in your life with Jesus Christ as your Lord? Why is all this done for you? Look at vs. 2-3….
Look at some of those phrases. Encouraged and united in love….to have the full riches of complete understanding…to know the mystery of God. Why has so much been given for you? So that you may grow in the full riches of knowing Jesus as Lord. Hebrews 6:1 says, “Let us go on to maturity.” And that is Paul’s message here. We are always either growing or dieing. There is no standing still. You will either keep growing in your faith, becoming more like Jesus, or you will become a target of attack from many dangers. Paul wants to warn us of that fact. But the good news is that when your flashing lights of danger go off in your life, you should know that you have a place in this church where so many people care so much, invest so much, so that you can know the full riches of Christ.
What are the dangers that attack our faith in Jesus as Lord? Look at vs. 8….The first, most obvious, danger to our faith comes from the outside world. These hollow empty philosophies, ideas, theories, lifestyles, viewpoints….the world is filled with so many human ideas about how to live life. And we are warned—Let no one take you captive. The Greek NT literally says, “Beware lest anyone carry you off as a captive.” We can become enslaved in our lives by so many things and it is a matter of life and death. In over twenty years of ministry, I have to tell you that I have seen so many people become slaves, seized by the throat, by so many addictions, bad relationships, wrong decisions. And our freedom is lost. If you have drifted away to the call of the world’s temptations, you can come back to the center of life in Jesus.
There is an opposite, more subtle danger that can attack our life with Jesus as Lord. Look at vs. 16-23….Paul first warns us about the dangers of the world. Now Paul warns us about the dangers of religion. Now wait a minute, you may be thinking. I thought we needed more religion. No. We do not need more religion. We need Jesus as Lord. People can become enslaved to religion and a type of legalism like the Pharisees had which is all about “do not touch this, do not think this, and do not drink this.” People often engage in rules and religious practices without ever understanding the meaning. Paul says in vs. 19 they have lost connection with the living Head, Jesus Christ. A very holy man lived in a remote part of Germany. Every day before his time of evening prayer, he put a dish of butter up on the window sill to let it soften for his bread for dinner. One day his cat came in and ate the butter. To remedy this, he began tying the cat to the bedpost each day before his prayer time. This man was so revered for his piety that others joined him as disciples and worshipped as he did. Generations later, long after the holy man was dead; his followers every night placed an offering of butter on the window sill during their time of prayer. Furthermore, each one bought a cat and tied it to the bedpost. It is easy to engage in meaningless religious rules and practices and never really know what we are doing.
On another level, people can become Bible Study junkies, always sitting around discussing angels, going into great details about their visions and spiritual experiences, finding secret codes in the Bible that only they seem to understand. John Wesley, in his day, forbid his Bible Study groups from discussing fringe non-essential topics like predestination. Instead, he instructed them to grow in the essentials, the central core of the Christian faith, to make Jesus to be Lord of their lives. All of our churches have special traditions, ceremonies, and histories that are unique to us and there is nothing wrong with celebrating that. But those human traditions can never become more valuable than the essential core which is Jesus is Lord. Many churches, many Christians become so immersed in issues—religious, political, social issues—that live at the edge of the faith that they forget what is at the center—Jesus Christ. Many churches, many well meaning Christians can invest in a wide range of good works but forget the focus of the extreme center—making disciples for Jesus Christ.
So much has been given for you so that you might grow to maturity, to be all you can be in your life in Jesus Christ. But there are dangers that will keep you from the full riches. On one side, the empty temptations of the world will call to you and make you a slave. On the other side, there are religious paths that seem right but they lead no. But in the center, at the extreme core is our living faith. Jesus is Lord. Defend that center core at all cost. It is a matter of life and death. Amen.