Seeds for 3/6/2023 - Colossians 2:16
Scripture: “Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day.”
Observation: When we see a word like “therefore,” the best way to figure out what’s going on is be detectives, looking for clues before the “therefore.” In this case, two things seem relevant. First and foremost, Paul has spent the last several verses reminding his readers about the fullness found in Christ, our inclusion in Christ through baptism, and the saving power of the cross to address what ails humanity’s relationship with God.
With that as a backdrop, we can tell that the activities Paul mentions are religious observances of various sorts (we’d have to look them up in a background commentary to delve into specifics). He also mentions “what you eat or drink,” and this theme comes up in the New Testament in his writings and in the book of Acts about sacred prohibitions against certain foods or their being handled in certain ways. Paul is saying that we are not judged by our adherence to religious rules and activities. Our sin and relational rift with God has been dealt with definitively in Christ. Therefore, there may be a purpose attached to our food and drink choices and/or participation in religious activities, but one of those purposes is not using them to deal with God’s judgment of our sin. That’s been covered by the cross and applied to each of us when we said yes to Jesus, practically represented in our baptism (and confirmation, which serves to complete the baptismal covenant for churches that include infants as candidates for baptism when their parents are Christians). As Paul says in Romans 8, “There is, therefore, now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
As a pastor I want to say that spiritual growth rarely if ever results from ceasing participation in religious activities (unless we’re talking about a truly unhealthy church situation). But, of course, that’s not what Paul’s addressing here. He’s talking about people attaching judgment to Christian believers based on keeping up religious observances.
This seems like a good place to reinforce the principle of, “Jesus + nothing.” In other words, our reconciliation with God is fully accomplished by Jesus. When we start to add other things to that equation, even if they are good for faithful growth and important for spiritual maturity, we are in the dangerous territory of chipping away at the sufficiency of Christ for our salvation.
Application: Are you tempted to slide into “practical legalism,” practicing religious activities as a way to add your good works to Jesus’ sacrificial gift of salvation?
Prayer: Jesus, keep me near the cross. May any religious activities serve the purpose of growing in you and never be a way of earning salvation from you. Amen.
“But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” (Matthew 13:23)
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