MPC
2th June 2019.June 2 - Colossians 2:6-23 - "Dumb Ways to Die"
MPC
2th June 2019.
Phil Campbell
Remember the song? An advertisement for rail safety. That went viral in 2012. Just short of 180 million views on YouTube.
Set fire to your hair. Poke fun at a grizzly bear. Eat medicine that's outa date. Use your private parts as piranha bait.
Dumb ways to die. So many dumb ways to die.
Including dumb options like driving through a level crossing when the boom gates are down. Running across the tracks when the train's coming.
Dumb. Ways to die.
Now there's something similar in what Paul's saying in today's passage. Without the catchy tune.
Three really dumb ways. To die spiritually. Dumb ways you can fail to grow to maturity as a Christian.
And number two will really surprise you. That's my click bait headline.
Three really dumb ways. You can fail to thrive. You can starve yourself spiritually.
So you don't grow to maturity the way you should. Dumb ways to stunt your growth.
Take a look at the key verse. Verse 19
He's talking about people who he says "have lost connection with the head from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows, as God causes it to grow."
There are people who should know better. Who have disconnected from the head. And so instead of growing as part of the whole body as God brings the growth; they're running around like headless chooks.
Really dumb.
Because, if you look back at verse 9 and 10, the reason he's head not just over his body the church but head over everything... is that it's in Christ that all the fullness of God lives. In bodily form. So of course he's in charge.
See, Paul's answer to the question what is God like;
Paul's answer isn't, "Well, let's meditate."
It isn't, "Well, let's get into some dreamtime spirituality."
Or maybe "commune with Gaia the earth goddess."
And it's not "let's just come up with our own favourite ideas and theories, and that's what my God's like, and you can have your God."
That was Israel's commandment number 1. Don't go making up your own Gods. That's idolatry.
Paul says. "For in Christ all the fullness of deity lives in bodily form. And in Christ, you have been brought to fullness."
He's enough. What more. Could you possibly need? So what could possibly go wrong? "Get your toast out with a fork. Do your own electrical work. Teach yourself how to fly. Eat a two week old un-re-frigerated pie. So many dumb ways to die."
Paul's going to take us through three spiritual equivalents. And it's the same when it comes to disconnecting and dying spiritually. Because here's the problem. There's so much stuff out there in the world of ideas, there's so much common wisdom on how life works, how success works, how spirituality works, how religion works, you can end up being taken captive.
Verse 8... You can be taken captive through human philosophy and tradition.
Somehow, we've got to have the discernment to spot it when stuff that sounds wise, that the stuff that everyone else thinks, that the stuff that's better translated the basic principles of this world. Somehow we've got to have the discernment to spot it when it's taking us captive. And dragging us away from trusting Jesus.
There's all this stuff that Paul goes on to say that looks religious and looks right; that you'd think God would be pleased with and everyone's doing it. That's actually just a side track that takes you away from trusting Jesus.
Being taken captive by the basic principles of the world leads to all sorts of dumb ways to die.
Look at his words. Verse 8.
See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world... rather than on Christ.
Now it may be that you're here this morning and you've been looking everywhere. For ways to get your life together. And you know. You've got problems. And you've read all the self help books you can find. Best sellers like... Can't Hurt Me. Master your Mind and Defy the Odds. And yet you can't master your mind.
Or The Elephant in the Brain. Which is all about dealing with the dark side of our own hidden motives. And yet somehow you know you can't deal with the dark side of your own hidden motives.
Or Best Self. Because you so want to "Be you. Only better." And yet you've found somehow you can't. Because you always take the old you with you.
And maybe you've even tried spirituality. Being religious. Even in what you think's a Christian way.
But the point is, says Paul, when it comes to a real solution. When it comes to really growing. The ultimate answer is not going to be what you'd expect.
Paul lists three dumb ways to die spiritually. That sound so right. That look so religious. But are really just deadly distractions.
Here's number 1. It's what's been called legalism.
But more specifically, and this is what Paul's readers are being asked to do; taking on the Jewish Old Testament law. Including circumcision. Which was the physical mark of being a Jewish man.
We saw it last week. Paul's talking to two groups of people; Jewish Christians. And non Jewish Christians; people like us from all over the place.
Who are now invited to join the Jewish Christians and be part of what Paul calls the saints.
And he says to the Gentile Christians, he says, you guys, you need to watch out. Because there are some of us Jewish Christians who have got the idea that you've gotta take on full Jewishness. To be included. He says, I've tried to tell them they're wrong, but they follow me everywhere and start arguments. Because they'll tell people like you. You've got to be Jewish first; to be a member. To be circumcised. And keep the law, and the rules, and the festivals.
But look, he says, listen even if you haven't been circumcised physically, why do they want you to take off a little bit of flesh when you've already taken off your whole self; this is verse 11. When you were circumcised by Christ. That when he died you were counted as put to death with him. Buried with him in baptism. And counted as raised with him; in other words, it's a whole new start. The whole of who you used to be. Is done away with. Not just a snip.
And so verse 11 and 12. It's complicated. But it's about a whole new start. That means Jewish circumcision counts for nothing...
And that goes for the rest of the law and its rules and regulations as well. He says, don't let them put that on you either.
From the middle of verse 13. He changes focus. To what what he'll call us Jewish Christians. He says, the law that's always condemned us.
But the cross has finished that up too... the written code. Is nailed up and cancelled. The condemnation's gone.
He says, He forgave us all our sins,
14 having cancelled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. 15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
Every law. Every condemnation. Every power and authority. A spectacular win by Jesus at the cross. And so the Old Testament law that stood against Israel, stood against the Jews, it's gone.
So. Whatever you do. Verse 16. Don't let anyone judge you by it. Don't let anyone judge you. By what you eat or drink; all the food rules. By whether you observe religious festivals; or special days and times. Or even he says, the Sabbath day.
The kind of rules and regulations that make a person seem so religious. Religious observances. It hurts, doesn't it, when someone judges you like that? Finds you lacking. Criticises. Casts doubt on whether you're acceptable or not. All kinds of angst comes from that.
Paul says, that might be how the world does religion. But not us. We're on about Jesus. You died with him. Sins forgiven. You're alive with him. A new start.
And so when you trust him, that's all you need to know and do to be fully and genuinely Christian.
That other stuff. That law stuff. Is a dumb way to die. Dumb way to die Number 1. Here's number 2.
And I think for us it's more current. Because for most of us, it completely flips our definition of what we'd think of as what a spiritual person looks like.
Imagine the kind of person who's maybe deeply humble. You'd call them serene even. Dalai Lama quality Zen. And they see stuff. They're so spiritually connected that they've got maybe had a dream for you; maybe God spoke to them; maybe a vision. And given half a chance they'll tell you about it.
I mentioned at our growth group back at uni I had a friend named Tony who I'd sit with in tutorials; and Tony was one of those guys. Tony's eyes were somewhere far away. And he loved telling me about that stuff. About the vision his pastor had. About the blessings. And when I'd say, "Hey, I'm A Christian too." He'd give me that sympathetic look, that said, 'Hey man, no you're not. Where are your visions?"
Hey look, I don't know if Tony worshipped angels. But I reckon he would have if the worship team at his church said to. Or if there was an angel worshipping song that had a good guitar riff in it.
The thing is, Paul's listing off here the kind of people and attitudes that want to destroy our confidence in Jesus.
And the first one was don't let anyone judge you by food rules and festivals and keeping the right rules. That stuff's gonna kill ya.
And the second is, this time in verse 18; it's don't let anyone disqualify you who delights in false humility and the worship of angels. The sort of person he says, who goes into great detail about what they've seen; who are puffed up with idle notions. By their... and here's the surprise. Because these are the kind of people we'd call spiritual. But look at his words. The end of verse 18.
... these people are puffed up by their ... un-spiritual mind.
Did you get that?
The kind of people who in the way the world measures it are the most spiritual. And I reckon we measure it that way as well. To Paul they're unspiritual.
To chase that stuff, it's a dumb way to die. It's like chasing a balloon across the railroad tracks. With the train coming.
Now look, I reckon we're so conditioned to this that the danger is we're not going to hear it. We're so conditioned to thinking any kind of spirituality is a good thing... that we're just going to miss it completely.
A great line on New Amsterdam through the week. The hospital drama on Channel 9. Dr Reynolds brings home his girlfriend to meet his mum and dad and sisters over Sunday Lunch; they're an African American Christian family. And you know, it's all kinds of awkward. She's desperate to make a good impression; they ask her if her family goes to church; and she says, "My family didn't do the the church thing, but we're very spiritual."
To which the sister says, "Oh that's nice, which spirit?"
Which is a very good question, isn't it? It's a question we should be asking. Every time.
It's one thing to be spiritual. worldly wisdom loves it. And when you meet someone, when you hear someone, and they're doing spiritual sounding stuff, or they're having a spiritual sounding experience, it's as if it's just beyond question. And it's a good thing. And we all want one the same.
There's a new movement around at the moment, it's huge in America, it's sweeping around here too; that's offering all kinds of spiritual sounding stuff. And they're writing great worship songs, and they're making movies; they're writing books.
Like The Physics of Heaven; where Judy Franklin and Ellyn Davies quote pastor Bill Johnson, who says "There are anointings, mantles, revelations and mysteries that have lain unclaimed, literally where they were left, because the generation that walked in them never passed them on."
Mysteries. And power. That we're missing out on.
Which has led to the popular idea, although Bill himself says he rejects it, it's led to something they're calling grave sucking. Where you go and you lie down on the grave of a famous Christian so you can soak up the spiritual anointing from their bones through the ground. To you.
Bill himself says that's silly. He doesn't actually lie down on graves. He just stands at the graveside and prays. For the anointing. But thousands. Are doing it. And posting their pics on Instagram to prove it.
Tell me why you'd need to do that. If you know that in Christ the mystery is revealed.
Tell me why you'd need to do that. If you knew that just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord in that simple faith, all you need to do is to continue to live in him; rooted and built up in him? Overflowing with thankfulness.
Paul says, whatever you do, Don't let anyone disqualify you from that; don't let anyone else fool you into thinking you're not fully and genuinely Christian. By making you long for all kinds of other stuff, that's ultimately not spiritual at all.
They think they're spiritual. Maybe you think they're spiritual. But they're disconnected. Headless. Which really is a dumb way to die. That was number 2. And it reckon it's the most surprising.
Okay. Dumb way to die spiritually number 3.
It's what I'm going to call asceticism. Self denial. And all kinds of religions have got a long history of this stuff that's like harsh treatment of the body to get you feeling closer to God.
You've got your Hindu guys lying on beds of nails.
You've got tribal religions where you'll cut yourself to make ritual scars. To make yourself spiritually clean.
You've got Australian teenagers who'll do the same. To get rid of the inside pain by inflicting outside pain.
You've got a history of third century Christian monks who withdraw into the desert and sit on poles and starve themselves until they're nearly dead.
You've got Christians with all kinds of rules.
No alcohol. No meat. No dancing.
As if, somehow, it's going to impress God. That's it's somehow going to grow you spiritually. Just because it makes life so hard.
Now don't get me wrong. Self discipline. It's a good thing. Knowing when you've had enough. Knowing when to say no to something.
And look, for these Christians being offered all kinds of new options, and at risk of being taken captive by hollow and deceptive philosophies, here's number 3.
Don't go thinking that harsh treatment of your body... is going to help make you any closer to God than Jesus has already.
Listen to Paul from verse 20.
20 Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules: 21 "Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!"? 22 These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings. 23 Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.
In other words, if you want to live a godly life. If you want to find a new freedom from just being pushed around by. your urges; he says, the answer's not asceticism. It's not in beating up your body. It's in seeing yourself crucified with jesus. Seeing your sins; nailed up with him. And seeing them that way; every time they call your name.
As by the spirit; not in dramatic visions and speaking in tongues and healing everyone who touches you; but as by the Spirit at work in your heart and your desires; you're learning what it looks like to live a new life; of putting to death what shouldn't be there. One challenge at a time.
Which isn't easy. And is maybe painful, like a little bit of you has to die every day. But those are the times that the new you; is growing in its place.
Just. By trusting Jesus.
Just. By looking to his death and his resurrection.
Just. By digging deeper in that. And growing where you're planted.
There are so many dumb ways. to be diverted from that.
Trouble is, so often they sound smart. Maybe you can't even believe your ears and your eyes this morning that you've heard me say some of the things I've said; that Paul's saying. In the words in front of us. That the word's way of doing religion, of legalism, of spirituality, of asceticism; that they're not the right ways at all.
Maybe they're the ways you've been trying to grow. And you're frustrated. And you've found yourself instead spiritually struggling, and stunted. Feel free to have a chat. I'd love to. Even if you just want to disagree. Catch me over a coffee.