Raised with Christ

February 10, 2013 Background Scripture: Colossians 2 Lesson Passage: Colossians 2:6 – 15 As the Apostle Paul continued to refute the heretics who had apparently infiltrated the Colossian congregation, he reminded the congregation that there is no new knowledge or “nuggets” of information, so to speak, outside the wisdom gained from knowing Christ. All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hid in Christ. If there is anything new to be discovered or learned, it is to be found in Christ. Knowing this would keep them from being tricked by those who were smooth talkers and had the “gift of gab”. There was no need to continue to look beyond Christ for a different or more complete salvation. They were admonished to simply live out the salvation they had received from Christ. Their salvation could not be made any more complete by following certain human traditions or worldly philosophy. Their salvation was sure because of their faith in Jesus Christ. (Apparently, someone in the congregation was promoting human tradition over faith and worldly philosophy over the truth that comes from God through Christ.) To be in Christ is to be made complete because Jesus is complete in that the full Godhead lives in him. When we are in Jesus and he is in us, then we are also complete in him and because of him. We are lacking nothing. We have faith in the spiritual operation that God does on the inside of us and therefore we do not depend on external physical rituals for salvation or holiness. Christians demonstrate this by participating in baptism to show that we have died in Christ and therefore when he was raised from the dead, we were also raised because we are in him. As Jesus was dead physically, we were dead spiritually because of our sin. When God put life back into the physical body of Jesus and raised him up, He also put spiritual life in us and raised us up with him. This new birth spiritually shows that our sins have been forgiven. God’s ways are beyond finding out unless He reveals them to us. Even then, we do not understand God’s ways. God used the cruelty of the cross to accomplish our salvation through Christ and to make it real in us. No one who has been born again doubts that something has changed in them. We might not fully comprehend what the change means but we know it took place when we put our trust in Jesus Christ and not because we went through some religious ritual. Therefore, we should not allow anyone to make us feel guilty about outward religious rituals and observances. Participating in those out of guilt could eventually lead us to worship idols that we know nothing about. Many are very proud because of this outward show of pomp and pageantry which have no heavenly reward or eternal value. This world and all that pertains to it will perish. Therefore, we should not treat anything of the world as though it has an eternal value. Pursuing such religious activities can make one feel good and appear wise but it only satisfies the flesh which too will perish with the world. We have been saved from the destruction this world will experience. We were once dead in our sins but now we have been made alive spiritually and raised with Christ. Robert C. Hudson January 30, 2013