Stomping on Shadows

Recently I went to pick up my son Benjamin from Preschool. He was having such nice time playing he didn't want to leave but eventually I took him by the hand and we headed for home. And most of the way home, still holding my hand, he was walking in a strange way, sort of jumping up and down as we went. He still seemed a bit upset that we had to leave but he wasn't saying much, just hopping and jumping and stomping as we walked.

Finally I said, 'What are you doing, Ben?'

He said, 'I'm mad with you so I'm stomping on your shadow'. And sure enough, the angle of the sun that afternoon had thrown my shadow right in front of where he was walking. He had been jumping and stomping on my shadow in angry protest.

Then he said, 'You must be really sore by now Dad. Do you give in? Can we go back to kindy?'

As I have been looking at our passage in Colossians 2:16-23 I realise that it's very easy for Christians to spend a lot of time stomping on shadows. We can so easily become captivated by all sorts of spiritual pursuits that, in end, are about as effective as 'stomping on shadows' when it comes to really relating, really engaging with God in any depth. Our passage today is a warning not to waste our efforts stomping on shadows. As we look at it together we'll see how the fullness of 'Christ in us', means a relationship with him that is the real thing, and not a game of shadows and speculative mind games.

Therefore... (Col 2:16a)

Turning to the passage, we see that the first word in verse 16 is, 'Therefore...' And as my old school teacher used to say, "Therefore we need to find out what the 'therefore' is there for." All that these verses are about to say is grounded in what Paul has already said in the first half of Colossians.

So here's a quick reminder of what this 'therefore' is there for. Paul has made three foundational statements about Jesus Christ.

First: Christ is supreme. If you glance back at Col 1:15-19 you'll see a description of Jesus as the image of the invisible God--he is visible and tangible reflection of all that God is, in human form. In him all the fullness of Deity dwells [1] . And as God, all things were created by him and for him. Jesus Christ is the source and the goal of all creation. The truths that these verses remind us of are so big, so immense, that they can wash over us. We are meant to be overwhelmed by his greatness: Christ is supreme of all.

The second of Paul's foundational statements is that Christ reconciles you to God. Through his death on the cross, Christ has turned us from being God's enemies into his adopted children--presented before him as holy, blameless and free from accusation [2] . We were at war with God, alienated in our minds, evidenced by our behaviour; but Christ's death has not just ended the war, it has restored us to friendship: once traitors and defectors we are given the status of loyal and trusted allies.

So the majestic and supreme Christ is also the one who brings you into friendship with God.

Then comes Paul's third foundational statement: this same Christ is in you. This is the mystery of the gospel that was hidden for ages and generations, but now, since the resurrection of Jesus it has been revealed: the Supreme One over all creation, the same One who reconciled us to God, makes his home in us [3] . This is the foundation of our Christian living and experience from now on: if you are a Christian, Christ lives in you in the person of his Holy Spirit. And you live in him.

At this risk of labouring this point, have a quick scan back over what Paul has been saying:

^1:27 ... God has chosen to make known... the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

^1:28 Paul labours to... 'present everyone perfect in Christ.'

Then to chapter 2, verse 6

^2:6 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him,  ⁷ rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

Verse 11:

^2:11 'In him you were also circumcised ...' that is, in Christ, you were initiated into full membership of God's people.

Verse 12: We were,

^2:12... buried with him in baptism [4] and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.

And, climactically, in verse 13:

^2:13 When you were dead in your sins... God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins,... triumphing over [all] in his death on the cross.

So when the Bible talks about the 'fullness' that we have in Christ this is what it means. All that Jesus has done has been credited to our account: we enjoy all the benefits of his life, death, resurrection and ascension. All that Christ is possesses us, makes his home in us, such that no other power, no other thing in all creation comes close, can compete, or can add to or subtract from what we have as Christians [5] . I think that's the gist of what Paul is saying in 2:9-10.

^2:9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form,  ¹⁰ and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.

So this third statement of Paul's is a beauty, isn't it! We have been given fullness in Christ as a gift: not earned, not deserved, not paid for on credit or worked off in arrears. These foundational statements are the grounds for all that Paul will say from here onwards: Christ in all his perfection, completeness and supremacy has reconciled us to God and is 'in us'. Therefore when God looks at us, we too are complete, lacking nothing. We have his fullness.

Now if you really are a Christian that is your status before God. The shadows that I spoke of earlier are anything that obscures or tries to add to that. All that there is for us as human beings is found in Christ.

So that's the first part of the 'therefore' in this passage. But there is a second reason that the 'therefore' is there for.

That Christ is supreme, that he has reconciled us to God, and that he is in us therefore requires that we change.

Because we have this wonderful status before God, we cannot remain unmoved, standing still, and stagnating in our old ways. That's what the 'therefore' is there for. God speaks to us through the Scriptures and calls us to change.

So before we go on with Colossians at all, I want to ask you, under the authority of God's word, are you willing to change? Search you own heart. Invite God's Holy Spirit to search your heart. Are you willing to submit yourself to God? We all have treasured ways of acting, ways of thinking, values and convictions. Change can be a very emotive process if these are on the line. I am fully aware of this.

But in the end, there is not much point going past the word 'therefore' in this passage if our hearts are closed to re-ordering our actions, our beliefs and our thinking in line with God's words that follow.

Don't be judged by shadows (Col 2:16-17)

OK, assuming there are some here who are willing to go on, in verses 16-17 Paul now warns about the danger of pseudo-religious ideas: they are condemned as inadequate. Let me read verses 16-17 again:

^{Col. 2:16} 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.  ¹⁷ These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.

Notice that this is a command, a stern warning, an imperative in the negative: don't let this happen! Don't let anyone judge you by their religious ideas that ignore those three foundational statements.

I used to think that food and drink laws were a particularly Jewish fascination that would never be a problem for Australians-- but maybe we need to do a quick reality check. Now there is nothing wrong with a healthy life. Quite the reverse: Eat healthy food. Look after your body, which is the temple of the Holy Spirit [6] .

Having said that; be careful not to confuse our culture's fascination with body image, health and prosperity with the Old Testament's food rules. Some Christians see 'spiritualised' food and drink regulations as some kind of way of bringing you closer to God. The danger is that we think that eating certain foods, or not eating and drinking certain things, will somehow open us up to a deeper relationship with God.

Now God did indeed command the people of Israel to only eat and drink certain things. He did this in the context of living under the law, as a unique people; set apart to God, sacrificing goats and sheep, with priests, high priests, religious festivals, Sabbaths and Jubilees. But what does Colossians 2:17 say about these: they are merely shadows of the reality of Christ, and him in us.

Even in Old Testament days, the empty adherence to all those rules was detestable to God. That's what our reading from Isaiah 1:10-20 was all about. Let me read some of it again:

^{Isa 1:11}  'The multitude of your sacrifices -- what are they to me?' says the LORD.  'I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats...¹³ Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations -- I cannot bear your evil assemblies.  ¹⁴ Your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts my soul hates. They have become a burden to me;

The food laws, sacrifices and festivals of the Old Testament people of Israel were appointed by God to help them realise what it meant to have their holy God living among them. But the legalistic performance of this did not, in and of itself, impress God. The whole construction of the tabernacle, the sacrificial system and its ceremony of 'clean' and 'unclean' foods was there to remind Israel that God was in their midst, living, as it were, in the tabernacle or temple.

Those food regulations, sacrifices, Sabbaths and festivals were merely a preparation, a picture, of the reality that we have: Christ actually living in us. Once the reality is present the shadow is meaningless [7] .  When Jesus came he declared all foods clean [8] .

So that's why, instead of stomping on shadows, spending our efforts on things that ultimately have no substance, I think we'd do well to remember that drawing close to God is not a performance. It is not an action or an emotion or an experience that can be manipulated. At church, getting the vibe, the music, just right; getting the show right, getting any part of a formula 'right' does not change your heart or mine. All kinds of things can manipulate our emotions and our state of mind; but they should not be mistaken for engaging with God [9] .

The bible tells us that we come near to God only because Christ is supreme, because he has reconciled us and he is in us. When you realise this, everything else is just a shadow.

Don't be cheated by getting disconnected (Col 2:18-19)

In Colossians 2 Paul now warns us that allowing ourselves to be judged by pseudo-religious ideas means that we get cheated of the real thing. In verses 18-19 he says, 'Don't be cheated by getting disconnected from Christ.' Have a look at these verses as I read them again:

^{Col 2:18} Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions.  ¹⁹ He has 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.

This is the second part of Paul's warning [10] . He says, 'Don't be cheated by getting disconnected from Christ. Don't allow yourself to be subjected to the shadows when you already have the reality.'

You see, this is the part of the letter where the nature of the threat to the Colossians faith is spelled out. There were some influential people there who were fascinated by the worship of angels and who insisted on a severe self-abasement, and harsh treatment of the body. But the key aspect of the threat was that whatever apparently spiritual things they had seen had utterly captivated their attention. They focussed in on these things they had 'seen'-- whatever they were-- which had little to do with the gospel. They loved to go into great detail about this heavenly power or that spiritual authority. Perhaps they had dreams or visions, whether from God or not we don't know. The result, however, was clear: spiritual pride, all puffed up with anything and everything but Christ.

And so, says Paul in verse 19, the consequence of being captivated by these shadows is that you get cheated out of the reality of Christ; you wind up disconnected from Him. And if part of the body has lost connection with its head then you have a real problem.

Now the problem was not that these people at Colossae had seen some unusual or supernatural things. The problem lay in their response to them. They took their attention away from Christ and became focussed on themselves and on their experience of God, rather than God himself.

And in our culture where everything has to be immediate, where what we feel is more important than truth, where subjectivity has replaced fact, we are easy marks for the same problem. We are tempted to allow our experiences of God to replace God himself. Do you see the distinction? If I become enamoured with my experience of God-- what I feel, my sense of spirituality, my gifts, my ministry-- then my object of worship has actually shifted from God to me and my experiences.

There's nothing wrong with experiencing God, that's great, please don't hear me knocking that; but we get disconnected with Jesus our head when we fall in love with the experience instead of Jesus himself. We become like Julia Roberts in that movie The Runaway Bride--she was in love with the idea of a wedding but didn't love the men she was supposed to be marrying. And so she left groom after groom standing at the altar, running away to chase the shadows.

You see, the heart of the matter is whether we allow God to interpret our experience of him, or whether we conceive of God only through our experiences and choose to ignore what God says about himself. The bottom line is this: does what God says in the Bible carry more weight than our experiences, feelings and impressions?

Let's imagine that I have a dream one night, a very vivid dream, where I see God tell me that Jesus is returning for Judgment Day on the 6^th of December 2008. When I wake up, what do I do with that dream? Did it come from God or was it just my imagination? Do I tell all my friends and begin preaching in the market place? It was so clear, so amazing, but I also know that God has said in the Bible that no one knows the day or the hour of Jesus' return, that it will come like a thief in the night. So surely I will allow God to interpret my experience at that point-- the Scriptures tell me that my dream cannot be trusted. You see, the Bible is always more reliable than my own interpretation of what I see or what someone else tells me they have seen.

And that was Paul's message to the Colossians. They already have the complete revelation in the gospel-- there is nothing more, nothing to be added, no postscript [11] . The question for the Colossians and for us is whether we will heed the 'therefore'.

Experiences are very powerful things, especially spiritual experiences: but a straightforward understanding of God's word on its own terms must always take priority. And where there seems to be a conflict between the two, then we go back to the sure foundation of his word and learn to interpret our experiences from there.

Because you are connected you are freed from the shadows (Col 2:20-23)

That's why the conclusion of this passage spells out the implications of being truly connected to Christ. Have a look at verse 20:22 as I read them out again:

^{Col. 2:20} 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:  ²¹  "Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!"?  ²² These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings.

Paul says that the Christian is freed from the ways and principles of this world because he or she died with Christ. See how this connection with Jesus is at the heart of Colossians? When are you set free from the law? When do the basic principles of this world no longer apply to you? Answer: when you are dead. Because the Christian is united with Christ, because Christ has died and paid the penalty for sin imposed by the basic principles of this world, the natural laws of sin and death no longer apply.

Friends, do you see how being in Christ sets us free from the religious rules and rituals of men. There's no need to allow yourself to be bullied by the demands of others to worship in this way or that way, to subject yourself to this rite or that ritual [12] . If you are truly connected to Christ, you are completely acceptable in God's sight:  you are pure, blameless and free from the accusation [13] . Any other association or group or religious practice that seeks to change or add anything to this gospel is fundamentally opposed to it and should be renounced. In Christ alone your justification before God is complete.

We do not doubt the Colossians were genuine Christians. We do not doubt that God saw them as complete in Christ. Yet whatever else their completeness meant, it still required them to change their thinking and their actions. That's what the 'therefore' is there for. This is called 'sanctification' and it is the ongoing work of God. In fact, the rest of Colossians continues to call for this change, this renewing of the mind [14] this growth in depth in Christ, this development of maturity in daily living--even in the most practical ways.

The challenge that lies before each one of is, "will we heed the 'therefore'?" Will you commit yourself to change according whatever God says in the Scriptures?

There is much more to be said from this passage, but here is where it all ends up: Jesus Christ is supreme over all, he has reconciled you to God and he lives in you by his Spirit and you live in him. This is the beginning of being a real Christian and your progress in the faith goes only deeper and richer into Christ. Nothing and no one can add to that. There is no secret hidden wisdom that is not expressed clearly in God's word the Bible. Be confident and assured in this truth.