FBC Daily Devotions

 ¹¹In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, ¹²having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.  ¹³When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, ¹⁴having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. ¹⁵And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

For the Old Testament nation of Israel, circumcision was performed as a physical sign of a covenant relationship between God and the nation. It was the sign that they were God’s and He was theirs. As one can read in various parts of the New Testament, that physical circumcision came with strings attached, and the people were unable to keep their end of the bargain. The rebellious nation of Israel, despite a commitment made by physical circumcision did not guarantee safe protection under God. In fact, their rebellion gave reason for them to feel unsafe under God. A broken covenant would surely bring fines and penalties, and in this case, the penalty was death. Could the covenant have been ratified to make it a little easier for mankind? That sure sounds appealing, but really, would it have mattered? We were to put it bluntly, “dead meat”.

The only real thing that could be done to secure our relationship with God would be to change our hearts, to change our natures. In effect, we needed a circumcision of the heart, not a circumcision of the flesh. And wasn’t that the point of the old covenant under the Law of Moses – to show just how impossible it was for us to keep our end of the deal? We needed so much more to get us out of the mess than physical circumcision, and fortunately for us, the mess was cleaned up by Christ, whom God sent to die for us. He took our flesh which was bound up with the guilt and penalty of sin, and he nailed it to the cross. A new covenant was ratified in Christ – a covenant resting fully on Christ and not in our ability (or rather inability) to maintain a sinless life. In Christ alone, we were made alive, our sins were forgiven, the laws and regulations that worked against us were taken away.

Now I know for many of us, this is nothing new to our ears. We have known these truths for a long time. But understand that Paul is writing this because the Colossians were in danger of reverting to a system of rules and regulations, ceremonies and the like. Paul wanted none of that. To pile on more stuff amounted to saying Christ was not enough. Over time that as rules and regulations mounted, Christ would be pushed out. Behavior would begin to take on an unbalanced emphasis. We would begin to focus on the activity rather than on Christ. Burning incense, as an example, sounds good, but we would begin to focus on doing it right, doing it at the right time of the day, doing it for the right amount of time, and one can see how this could lose the real matter of Christ. Prayer would take on an emphasis of saying it with the right words, with the right posture, the right time of day, and so on. I can see Paul looking ahead with fear that Christ would be replaced with what comes more natural for man – just tell me what to do! So not only would it be theologically dangerous to add rules and regulations and ceremony to Christianity, it would be practically dangerous as well.

But in Christ, we do everything for Him. Not just a bunch of rules, but a life fully immersed in Him. From the moment we wake up to our last thoughts as we lay down to sleep, we live for Him. That’s what Paul is getting at in his letters to the churches. Don’t fall into the ceremony trap! It’s not a list of rules, but a life in Christ. We live by the law of the Spirit these days. We are guided not by rules and regulations, but by the heart guided by the Spirit of God.

So let me ask you, do you feel like your life is governed by duty and obligation? Do you feel like the Christian life is made up of a routine of activities like reading the Bible in the morning, praying before you go to bed, going to church on Sunday, and so on? Is that really what the Christian life is supposed to be like? Well, yes and no. It can look like that in a good way (motivated by a love for God), but it is bad if we begin to compartmentalize our life in ways that look like a checklist. Listen, our life in Christ is an all day affair. It’s easy when there is a list of things that we can be done away with in order to “move on to more important things.”  Wow, that’s not at all what Paul wanted to see happen; hence, his strong rejection of and concern for the “hollow and deceptive philosophies which depend on human tradition” (v. 8). We’ll see more of this in next week’s passage, but for now, consider how you live your life. Do you compartmentalize your Christian life? If so, consider how you might move beyond that and into a life fully immersed in Him.

“When are you ever going to amount to something!?”

Have you ever had that said to you? Perhaps not, but maybe you’ve felt that. Maybe you even ask yourself that sometimes. It’s a common problem in our culture to strive to become something important, something significant, excellent at what we do, even the best at what we do. The striving and the inevitable disappointment are enough to lead some down the path of depression and self-flagellation. It seems that we are creatures bound by a desire to be noticed and respected – not the limelight experience, but a quiet, unassuming experience for most.

Why the drive to become the best? Why the drive for perfection and importance? Perhaps it is because we look to others for completeness. Perhaps we need others to make us feel valuable and significant.

In our passage today, we find Paul warning against those who teach that special knowledge and special rules and ceremonies are needed to be part of the “in crowd” – those who say, “Christ is not enough; you need more.” But how much is enough? If Christ is not enough, then how much more does one have to do and achieve before becoming a valued member of society? One can see how this worldly thinking can creep into our churches (e.g. the one who serves most, the one who prays with the most passion, the one who sacrifices his or her right arm are the ones most valued). In the end, the problem is the same – we look to others for completeness. But what does Paul say:

 ⁸See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. ⁹For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, ¹⁰and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority;

Who could possibly exceed Christ? Who could possibly add to His work? He is the “fullness of Diety”, and we are but frail humans! Surely Christ is enough for us. Indeed, we have been “made complete” in Him.

The next time you feel yourself striving to be perfect, striving to rise above the rest, trying to prove yourself to others that you are good, remember, remember, remember that you have already been made full and complete in Christ. You don’t have to prove a thing to anyone because you are already there in God’s eyes. You don’t need more approval because you are already approved in Christ. You don’t need everyone to like you and respect you and look up to you because you know that that only feeds your need for acceptance and significance – a need already met because God put His Son on the cross for you. That’s how important you are to God. The One who is “head over all rule and authority” finds you to be of significant worth and value just as you are.

When will you ever amount to something? You already do in the eyes of God.

 6 Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, 7 having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude. 

When it comes to devotional thought, I tend to use the NIV translation; however, today I prefer the NAS translation because it brings out a certain aspect of the text not easily seen in the NIV. In this passage, “being rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith, and overflowing with thankfulness” is not a description of the command to “live in Him” (as the NIV seems to indicate and as I earlier thought). The Greek indicates that this was something they were already doing. In essence, Paul is saying, “Now that you have been firmly rooted in your faith and are building upon that faith; now that your faith has been made sure in your life, and you are overflowing with thankfulness – keep going!”

I think that describes many of us who have been there, done that. Our faith is firmly rooted. We continue to build on that faith through a variety of means (e.g. church, bible studies, etc.). Our faith is sure – fruit providing evidence and God’s Spirit providing assurance in our hearts (Rom. 8:16). We try to allow the things of God to spill over into our walk in this world. We try (though not always succeeding) to live thankfully. But let’s face it, sometimes the “been there, done that” attitude can begin to creep in.

 Uncle Howard (Inouye) commented last Sunday in class that our enthusiasm for Christ is an up and down affair. It seems true that as we continue longer and longer in our faith, the newness of our life in Christ begins to take on that “same old, same old” feeling.  It was said several times to me when I was younger that my enthusiasm in the faith would settle down over time. I’d like to think it hasn’t, but I recently ran across a new believer whose enthusiasm revealed to me that mine is not what it used to be.

You know, we need more Paul’s in this world. We need people who will encourage us and cheer us on to keep going. Life shouldn’t get old. We ought to be continually experiencing the faithfulness of God (and probably we do, but we just aren’t looking); we ought to be living with anticipation. We ought to be living by faith.

How about you? How can you be an encourager like Paul? Who can you encourage to keep going, to keep looking, to keep walking, to remind them of the good things God has provided? Consider what God is doing in your life. How is He encouraging you personally? Tell others!

Last Saturday, the Women’s Ministry held an event in which Terri Sasaki shared about her continued journey of faith as a missionary with her husband Scott and 3 kids. What an inspiration it was to so many women there. To hear how faithful and powerful God has been in her life is just what the doctor ordered for many there. We need more Terri’s, too.

We could all use a little dose of encouragement along the way. Why not be the giver of encouragement today? Think of one person you could encourage today, and then do it.

²⁸We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. ²⁹To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.

In my Bible I have these verses bracketed. It captures, I think, what every pastor strives for: to preach the gospel, to exhort Christ followers, and to teach with great wisdom and sensitivity so that all those under his care might be presented to Christ as mature and faithful. It begins with evangelism and continues with nurturing growth in the faith. If there is one thing I have learned in my short years as a pastor, it is that there is never an end to the work. There are no such things as “people projects” that have a beginning and an end. Well, technically there is a beginning, but never an end. This is why it is especially difficult, because for every new start, there is never a drop off on the other end (except in the case of someone leaving or passing on). The people just keep piling up as God blesses a ministry with more conversions. How does one manage a numerically growing flock? Answer: More shepherds. Okay, that’s the easy answer. But the reality is, the work is long and hard, requiring patience, endurance, grace, and much armor regardless of the numbers. I am convinced that Paul carried the burden of all the churches even though he was not present with them. Paul says to the church at Corinth: “Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches.” (2 Cor. 11:28) The same is true of most church leaders regardless of the number of helpers.

For every pastor or leader who struggles to carry out this mission of reaching and teaching, Paul gives his example to live by. Paul’s strength came from Christ. He worked with all of Christ’s energy – not his own energy, but Christ’s. I just like the way Paul juxtaposes our efforts with Christ’s power. Paul says he struggles – he works hard, he labors, he sweats, he puts everything into his work – but he does so with all of Christ’s energy.

If there’s a lesson to be learned from Paul, perhaps it is this: God will supply all the energy we need to do the work He intends for us. If we come to the end of a long day, and we have worked hard, and we are in need of rest, we can be content knowing that God has enabled us to finish the day well. I know as a pastor sometimes we come to the end of a long day, and we see so much more that needs to be done, so many people that have needs unmet, so many people that you didn’t have time to call… the truth of the matter is, every day ends like that for the most part. But if Christ is supplying the energy, then He is also setting the agenda. It is a lesson that anyone serving in ministry needs to remember.

Do you try to do more than God intends for you? Do you burn the candle at both ends thinking this pleases God? Is your life suffering in certain areas because you’ve expended every ounce of energy trying to do the work of the ministry? Listen carefully, Christ’s energy is enough for us to accomplish His work. We do not need more, nor do we need to steal it from other areas. Consider today how you are expending Christ’s energy. Are there any changes in perspective and time that need to be made?

Read Colossians 1:24-29.

The passage for this week speaks primarily of two things: (1) Paul’s ministry to present the gospel to the non-Jewish world (Gentiles); and (2) the gospel itself – that everyone, not just Jews, could receive the salvation that is in Christ. In a nutshell, it speaks of New News and Good News.

Have you ever heard the phrase, “No news is good news”? Of course you have. But it is defintely not true when it comes to the good news of the gospel. The new news is good news, that everyone can find hope in this world because the next world is made possible through Jesus Christ. WIthout this news, everything is bad news — NO news is BAD news.

Do you remember when you first heard and really understood the good news of the gospel? Recently Lyanne was talking with a friend of hers who grew up in a Christian home. She went to church every Sunday. She heard all the stories of the Bible. She did the right things, said the right things. But when she entered college, all of that changed. The stories she had heard, the lessons she had learned, the songs that she had sung just didn’t resonate in her heart. She chose to completely walk away from it all and start a “new” life on her own. She rebelled against her past and made some unwise choices under the banner of freedom. As is often the case with many like her, after several years she realized something was deeply missing. So she began attending church again, a sort of hesistant search into her familiar roots. A few weeks ago Lyanne received a text message from her saying she finally “got it” and that she couldn’t believe God loved her. God really loved her. This was New news to her, Good news. She is reading the Bible regularly, reading books, doing a Bible study – she just can’t seem to get enough. And so she is beginning an adventurous life in Christ that we pray will lead her to even more exciting insights into Christ and her life in Him.

Is the gospel still good news to you? Are you still captivated by the gospel of Jesus Christ? It is such good news, isn’t it? Take some time today to reflect on the mystery of the gospel. I pray that the excitement of your first real encounter with Jesus might continue as you walk your journey of faith.