Word of Salvation – Vol.44 No.45 – December 1999
Living In Christ – Part 2
Sermon by Rev. P. Smit on Colossians 2:13-23
Scripture Readings: Colossians 2:13-23
Suggested Hymns: BoW 148; 422; 357; 334; 531; Rej 340
Beloved in the Lord…
Phillip Yancey, in his book, “What’s So Amazing About Grace”, spoke of a scene he witnessed in the Soviet Union in October 1991. The Soviet Union was unravelling; Boris Yeltsin was gaining power and the Russian leaders called a delegation of Christians to speak to them to help them restore morality to their country. They met the vice chairman of the KGB, General Nikolai Stolyarov.
The KGB, during the time of Stalin, had sent thousands of people, many of them Christians, including priests and Christian writers, to the Gulag. The Gulag was a system of penal institutions consisting of prison camps where prisoners endured hard labour. When people were sent to the Gulag, it was expected that they would never return. When the prisoners died, the ground was so hard and frozen that they could not be buried. The bodies were left on the surface. The KGB had a reputation for cruelty, and forced imprisonment, especially against religion. In Stalin’s era, an estimated 42,000 priests lost their lives. A thousand monasteries, sixty seminaries, and ninety eight out of every hundred Orthodox churches were shut down.
And now a Christian delegation stood in the state headquarters of tyranny. They stood before the leader of the KGB. As he looked at this delegation of Christians, General Stolyarov said, “We here in the USSR realise that too often we’ve been negligent in accepting those of the Christian faith. But political questions cannot be decided until there is sincere repentance, a return to faith by the people… love for God can only unite [us]” (p.127).
Philip Yancey said, “Our heads spun. Where did he (this communist general) learn about repentance?”
Joel Nederhood of the CRC stood and questioned Stolyarov. “General, many of us have read Solzhenistsyn’s report of the Gulag. A few of us have lost family members there. The KGB is responsible for overseeing the prisons. How do you respond to that past?”
The general replied, “I have spoken of repentance. This is an essential step… The time has come to repent of that past. We have broken the Commandments, and for this we pay today.”
One of the Christians in the delegation rose. His name was Alex Leonovich. He had escaped during Stalin’s reign of terror. He had known personally many Christians who had been tortured and persecuted for their faith. He spoke softly to the General. “General,” he said, “many members of my family suffered because of this organisation. I myself had to leave the land that I loved. My uncle, who was very dear to me, went to a labour camp in Siberia and never returned. General, you say that you repent. Christ taught us how to respond. On behalf of my family, on behalf of my uncle who died in the Gulag, I forgive you.” Then the Christian evangelist Alex Leonovich, reached over to General Nikolai Stolyarov, the Vice Chairman of the KGB and gave him a Russian bear hug. While they embraced, the General whispered to Alex, “Only two times in my life have I cried. Once when my mother died. The other is tonight.”
Like the General, all of us transgressed God’s holy law. We were guilty, nothing we could do would change that. Our sinful condition was hopeless. Like the KGB General, we would forever be held responsible, until forgiveness came. Only then could we be released to a new life. In our passage today we begin by seeing the total forgiveness God has given to us.
Paul says:
- God made you alive by forgiving your sins (vs.13).
“He cancelled the law which stood against us, nailing it to the cross. Just like the KGB General, the Law condemned us. We have broken the 10 Commandments. When we looked into the mirror of God’s perfect law, do you know what we saw? We saw the words, “You are a condemned sinner.”
Deut.27:26 says – “Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all the things that are written in the book of the law.”
God’s law condemned us, but Jesus shattered that condemnation. While we were caught up in sin, Satan could throw back his head in spiteful laughter. He had us in a stranglehold that would lead to eternal death. But through Christ’s death on the cross, God disarmed Satan. Jesus broke us free from Satan’s grip of certain death. Through his sacrificial death, Jesus triumphed over Satan’s power and authority. Jesus won the battle for your soul and your eternity, at the cross. He was victorious. To prove that, three days later he rose to life again. When you believe in Jesus as your own Saviour and Lord, then what he did on the cross is applied to your life. And you move from being on death row to being alive. By his grace, God makes you alive with Christ.
Can I ask you, have you really accepted Christ as your Lord? Do you believe that what he did on the cross was for your sin? Have you entrusted your life to him? Are you ready to submit your all to him?
If you can say “Yes”, to those questions, then praise God, he’s made you alive. If you can’t say “Yes”, then kneel before him today. Ask him to forgive you. Don’t put it off any longer.
God made us alive by forgiving our sins. But God’s Word goes on say:
- Don’t let religious legalists judge you (vs.16).
Religious legalists place a list of regulations on top of God’s law. Here are some of the things religious legalists would have said in Paul’s day:
– “You ought not to be eating that sort of meat, that was sacrificed to an idol.”
– “Why are you drinking wine? You’ll never have God’s approval if you do that.”
– “Why didn’t I see you at the Feast of Tabernacles, why weren’t you at the new moon festival?”
– “God cannot approve of you if you do that.”
– “Why did I smell your cooking on the Sabbath day?”
The religious legalists believed that the only way you could be acceptable to God was if you strictly followed their list of rules. Religious legalists are often driven by power and a need to control others, even if they don’t realise it themselves.
Today we can be legalistic, too. Some might say, you can’t ride your bike on Sunday… you’re only a Christian if you wear a suit on Sunday… God will judge you if you play cards on Sunday… you have to give up drinking wine to be a Christian…! True, the Bible speaks about not drinking too much, but it doesn’t say you cannot have wine in moderation. Religious legalism adds rules to Scripture.
God says religious legalism is false worship. Christianity is not about worshipping angels, or being puffed up with way out notions. It’s not about going into great detail about pretending that you’ve had some super spiritual vision. It’s not about priding ourselves on our spiritual superiority.
True Christianity is about knowing Jesus Christ. True Christianity is knowing that Jesus has forgiven me. It’s knowing that he loves me. It’s knowing that because of Jesus’ death for me, I am free. Jesus said, “If the Son sets you free you will be free indeed.” Not free to do anything, but free to love him, to live for him. Free from all the religious legalism, that adds rules to God’s Word.
God says, don’t let yourself feel judged by religious legalists. You take your stand in Christ and what he’s done for you. Galatians 5:1 says, “It’s for freedom Christ has set us free.” So use your freedom to serve him and love him.
Finally:
- Don’t submit to worldly rules (vs.20).
Have a look at verse 20 – “Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules?”
Paul says, “You Colossians have died with Christ. You have died to what the world wants you to do. Why then are you following the world?” For the Colossians followed the human teachings of the religious Jewish customs. They thought by sticking to these rules, that denied the body and self, that God would smile favourably on them.
They wanted to gain favour with the wider community. They wanted to be seen to be part of the accepted group in society. So, because the religious legalists said, “Avoid oil, or wine, or meat”, they did it. Because these false religious teachers said, “Don’t have contact with certain sinners or religiously inferior people”, they did it. Paul says that these things are the externals. They don’t make you right before God. They seem holy and good, but they don’t stop your heart lusting after sensual pleasures.
Churches generally don’t worry today about whether you cook with oil, or whether you eat meat. That is not an issue for us today. But you know we can still be submitting ourselves to worldly rules.
Just turn to the magazines, like Dolly, Girlfriend, Women’s Weekly, Who. Ask yourself, who are they reporting on? What are they trying to tell me? More often than not, they report on the rich, the famous, the glamorous. They appeal to our desire for the bigger, the better, the more beautiful.
As Christians today, it’s not meat eating that’s the issue, it’s the world telling us we need to look better to be better. The world says, you are valuable if you look good. Your attractiveness comes only by your body. Style, clothing and labels show your worth. You’re unacceptable unless you follow what everyone else does.
Just like the Colossians, who were tempted to follow the world’s rules, we need to beware that we are not following the world’s rules about what is important. For the Colossians the rules were, as in verse 21, do not handle, do not taste, do not touch. For us the world says, “Go for it, lose yourself in lust, taste all the forbidden fruit, touch what God says no to. Remember you’re only valuable if you’re beautiful. Body is all, so go for it.”
The world appeals to our pride. “Yes, I deserve that. Yes, I want that. Yes, I need that. Yes, give me what I’m due.” Paul says, these rules and regulations set by the world seem wise but they are false.
In truth, if you accept what the world says, that your value comes from your appearance, you can be a very sad person. Because we are not perfect.
God says don’t follow the world’s rules. Follow mine. The world leads you to pride. I lead you in humility following your Saviour. The world says your looks are all that is important. God says, your inner person is what’s important. God says, what is important is your relationship with Christ. What is important is that you love him with all your heart, soul and strength. Because God loves you with all his heart, soul and strength. You can see that at the cross.
When you really understand that, it will change your walk with God. You won’t serve to get in his good books, you’ll serve him because you love him. So please, don’t follow the world’s rules in matters of morality and your sense of value. Follow God.
I want to close by repeating the most important message of this passage. When you were dead in sin, God made you alive by forgiving you. He wiped your sin-blackened slate clean.
I don’t think I can fully appreciate just what it was like for that KGB officer to receive the forgiveness of that Christian man; to know that all his wrong was wiped clean.
But then, in a sense, I can appreciate it. Because my life was just as broken in sin. And so was yours. And God forgave us. He broke the chains of death and made us alive, free, forgiven. The only words that can flow from our lips ought to be, “I love you Lord. I love you!”
Amen.