No matter how loud and demanding the noise around us becomes, we can trust that Christ has finished the work, and we must rest in Him.
I am confident that I am not alone in feeling overwhelmed and often discouraged by the noise that consumes our world today. It feels like there are innumerable voices speaking loudly about any given topic at all times. From large-scale issues around government and politics, to the smallest details of life like what brand of diapers I should buy for my daughter, the chatter has reached a demanding fever pitch. Each voice and point of view requires nothing short of complete loyalty and disdain for differing opinions. The requirements for acceptance change constantly, and when you dare to disagree you are dismissed, disrespected, villainized, cast out, or metaphorically crucified. It’s frightening. The enemy wants us to believe that these things are the end-all be-all. He wants us living a fatigued existence, believing that our identity and our salvation are found in the world’s temporal and fickle expectations.
God speaks frequently and directly in His Word about these issues of identity and the assurance of our salvation in Christ. In Colossians chapter 2, Paul provides necessary reminders of Christ’s sufficiency and the life and freedom found in Him. These truths are especially comforting to me when I consider the noise of our current moment.
1. Christ is Sufficient.
6 So then, just as you have received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to walk in him, 7 being rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, and overflowing with gratitude. 8 Be careful that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit based on human tradition, based on the elements of the world, rather than Christ. (Colossians 2: 6-8, CSB)
Walking with Christ requires us to find our fulfillment in His total sufficiency. Paul’s readers were inundated with false teaching about the person and work of Jesus Christ. These deceptive and destructive heresies threatened to subvert the foundation of truth on which their faith had been established, and we know this happens in our own context. Our culture attempts to entice us with philosophies and worldly values that denigrate the person and work of our Savior. Therefore, we must be on guard.
So how do we recognize false teaching? It’s simple. All false doctrine has at least one fundamental flaw: the distortion and denial of the person and work of Jesus Christ. One commentator says, “Faith in Christ must be exclusive and cannot be enhanced, either by addition (through religious practices and good works) or by subtraction (by abstaining from sin or depriving yourself of privileges).”1 After warning the Colossians to avoid the empty deceit of false teaching and admonishing them to hold fast to the true gospel, Paul reminds them of who they are.
2. We Have Been Made Alive.
9 For the entire fullness of God’s nature dwells bodily in Christ, 10 and you have been filled by him, who is the head over every ruler & authority. 11 You were also circumcised in him with a circumcision not done with hands, by putting off the body of flesh, in the circumcision of Christ, 12 when you were buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 And when you were dead in trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, he made you alive with him and forgave us all our trespasses. 14 He erased the certificate of debt, with its obligations, that was against us and opposed to us, and has taken it away by nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and disgraced them publicly; he triumphed over them in him. (Colossians 2:9-15, CSB)
Before we are in Christ we are dead. We are not simply unenlightened, “on a different path,” or “finding our way.” We are dead in our sin, separated from God, destined for an eternity apart from Him, an eternity of death and punishment. But… Christ has made us alive with Him. Christ, in whom “the entire fullness of God’s nature (v. 9)” is embodied, hung on the cross and took on the wrath of God for the sins of the world. He died and was laid in a borrowed tomb. Three days later He rose from the dead, once and for all defeating sin and death and making a way for us to be eternally reconciled to God. As believers in Christ, we are new creations (2 Cor. 5:17). Our sins are forgiven. We died to the old, sinful self and were raised with Christ to eternal life. The same power that raised Christ from the dead has also made us alive. Christ is sufficient, and in Him, we are made alive (v. 13).
3. Therefore, Live In Freedom.
16 Therefore, don’t let anyone judge you in regard to food and drink or in the matter of a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day. 17 These are a shadow of what was to come; the substance is Christ. 18 Let no one condemn you by delighting in ascetic practices and the worship of angels, claiming access to a visionary realm. Such people are inflated by empty notions of their unspiritual mind. 19 They don’t hold on to the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and held together by its ligaments and tendons, grows with growth from God. 20 If you died with Christ to the elements of this world, why do you live as if you still belonged to the world? Why do you submit to regulations: 21 “Don’t handle, don’t taste, don’t touch”? 22 All these regulations refer to what is destined to perish by being used up; they are human commands and doctrines. 23 Although these have a reputation for wisdom by promoting self-made religion, false humility, and severe treatment of the body, they are not of any value in curbing self-indulgence. (Colossians 2:16-23, CSB)
The false teachers we read about here were imposing on the Colossian church a list of rules and regulations for them to follow in addition to their faith in Christ. They were putting expectations on these believers, claiming that they were from God, when in reality, they were not. Just like the Colossians, we experience false teachers in our day. You can pick up your phone and see this clearly. Scroll social media or any news site for any length of time.
- If you’re a “real Christian,” you will vote democrat.
- If you really love God, you will vote republican.
- You are doing everything the wrong way. Buy my 10-step guide, and you will become who you should be.
- Work harder. Do more. Strive. Be a boss babe (whatever that means). It’s all on you. Make it happen.
- Follow the rules if you want to be a “good Christian.”
The list could go on and on. The world makes empty promises of life, fulfillment, and salvation while consistently letting us down. The noise around increases, demanding all of us, then rejecting us. These voices are fickle liars attempting to distract us and draw us away from the person of Christ.
But, take heart! We are no longer bound by our sins or the Law because Christ came to fulfill the Law. Yes, faithfully walking with the Lord requires obedience to Him, but this obedience is an outpouring of a life saved, a heart renewed, an old creature made new. Adherence to rules, regulations, and other people’s expectations will never save us. Only God has that power. No matter how loud and demanding the noise around us becomes, we can trust that Christ has finished the work, and we must rest in Him.
If you have never responded to the gospel and surrendered your life to Christ, let me implore you: now is the time. Believers, spend time with the Lord in prayer and reading of the Word. Fill your mind with the truth of the gospel, consistently preaching it to your own heart. Then, the truth of the gospel and who Christ says we are in Him becomes our standard, instead of the expectations put on us by the world. “As believers, our death in Christ frees us to serve him with loving obedience and allows us to seek him with renewed passion.” 2 In Christ, we are liberated from the enticing deception and exhausting demands of works-based righteousness! So, therefore, live in freedom.
Emily Dunlap 