FREEDOMColossians 2:16-23
Jesus Christ is the way to genuine freedom But for some reason many choose another route to obtain freedom. The route they choose leads to bondage rather than liberty. Paul shows us the way to genuine freedom.
As we will see it is not by being religious. It is not obtained by keeping the rules. It can only be obtained by a relationship with Jesus Christ.
Many people believe that if they are religious enough they will please God.
1. FREEDOM DOES NOT COME FROM BEING RELIGIOUS
It is sad that many religious people are in Hell. Religion, in and of itself, is no guarantee of salvation. The Pharisees were religious, but they crucified Christ. They were wicked in their hearts, outwardly they appeared to be righteous. Cain was religious, He offered sacrifices, but did not please God.
So-called "Christian Science" is a religion. The New Age movement is a religious movement--yet it brings enslavement, not freedom.
There were many "religious" people in the Colossian Church. They were religious but still lost.
Paul describes their religion in these verses. Vs. 18 tells us they took delight in their false humility. In the same verse he tells us that they were involved in the worship of angels.
He goes on in vs.18 to describe these religious people as the type who like to tell everyone about their experiences. We don't know everything that was going on in this religion that was threatening the church at Colossae. Their religious experience was drawing them away from the Christ who bought them with His blood.
Paul says, "Don't let anyone involved in these religious experiences disqualify you for the prize." In other words, Don't get involved with these people. They will draw you away from Christ by drawing you into a false religion. Christ frees, religion ensnares and imprisons.
We have the same problem in the contemporary church. People are filled with religious experiences that takes the place of a personal relationship with Christ. When our entire focus was placed on a spiritual experience rather than on our relationship with Christ, it is wrong. The desire for a sign from God actually draws us away from Christ, because we lose proper focus.
It is also very possible to be doing and saying the "right things" but still not have freedom in Christ. I had a man tell me that he had not missed a Sunday at church for many years. That is a great! More important than his church attendance is his relationship to Jesus.
Hopefully, church attendance is a sign of commitment to Christ. Sometimes instead of a commitment to Christ, we become committed to appearing religious in the eyes of men.
Religion does not give us freedom. It cannot set us free. It binds us to a system that God never intended for us. It sets up a standard based on appearances and ritual that have nothing to do with the condition of the heart. Freedom Does Not come from being religious.
2. FREEDOM DOES NOT COME FROM KEEPING THE RULES
The false teaching in the Colossian church was based on rules and regulations. Paul says in 2:16 "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."
Then in verse 21 "Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!"? He is quoting the legalist of the Colossian church. Legalism says "Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!" They were teaching that spiritual benefit was derived from keeping manmade rules. They were teaching that you were somehow saved by keeping rules.
Legalism is bondage. Peter called it a "yoke upon the neck" (Acts 15:10). Paul used the same image when he warned the Galatians. (Galatians 5:1) "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery "
Jesus made it clear that dietary regulations have no spiritual value. It is what comes out of a man's heart that determines his spiritual state. There are many legalistic teachings in today's church.
When we talk about legalism we are talking about something that adds to what God has revealed. God says "to come into a saving relationship with Him we must repent, believe in Jesus." The legalist says, "Yes, and you also have to be baptized in the right church, by an ordained minister, and you must understand exactly everything you are doing." We have added to God's Word. That is just as wrong as taking away from it.
Jesus says to remember Him by partaking of the Lord's Supper. The legalist says, "If you don't take it every week you can't be forgiven of sin."
We believe you should be in church every week. But it is not a legal requirement for your salvation. It is not to gain His favor, but a reaction to His love. The reason you cannot experience genuine freedom by keeping the rules is because no one can keep all the rules. To be saved under Old Testament law you must keep the law perfectly.
I have given some negative suggestions about freedom;
It cannot be obtained by being religious,
It cannot be obtained by keeping the rules
How can we experience genuine freedom?
3. FREEDOM COMES FROM A RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS CHRIST
Jesus is the basis for our freedom. Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, canceled the written code on the cross of Calvary, so that we might come into a saving relationship with Him. Therefore, since you have this freedom in Christ do not become yoked with the bondage of legalism.
In 2:9 Paul declared that the fullness of Deity lives in Him. In 2:14 he says that on the cross Jesus canceled the debt and the dominion of the Law. We are under grace and not under Law.
Ephesians 2:8-10 "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- {9} not by works, so that no one can boast. {10} For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."
Jesus is the basis of our faith. By His act on the cross we are freed from human rules. In vs.17 Paul tells us that the Law was but a shadow of what was to come. Through a relationship with Christ we have not the shadow, but the substance.
Why go back into the shadows when we have the reality of Jesus Christ? Why go back to the Law, when we can live by grace? Why allow ourselves to be entrapped in a system of bondage, when we can experience genuine freedom in Jesus Christ? Why would anybody want to follow the shadow when they can tap into the source?
I believe I know why: When I follow a legalistic system it gives me a gauge by which I can measure my spiritual life and the life of others. Somehow that gives us a sense of spiritual pride. The person who experiences a real relationship with Jesus does not need a measuring stick.
We have trusted in the one that makes the standard. We can rely on Him.
I have told you that Genuine Freedom comes from a relationship with Jesus.
Let me tell you how to come into that relationship.
First, we must believe He is who He claims
to be, God in the flesh.
Second, we must accept the fact that we are
a sinner and Jesus died to pay for our sins.
Then, I need to turn away from those sins trusting
in Jesus to guide me.
I must put my old nature to death. It is only then that I begin to experience genuine freedom. There is no other way to obtain it Not by being religious Not by keeping the rules It comes only by turning my life over to Christ.