Green Pastures and Still Waters
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Warnings are a part of everyday life. Don’t text and drive! Don’t use your blow-dryer in the shower! Don’t swallow poison! As people of faith, we have often been accused of having too many don’ts. In some circles, that has probably been the case. While imposed with good intentions, the impression created was that the gospel is about what we do and don’t do rather than about what we receive. Slowly but surely, people began to believe that their status with God was the result of their performance rather than the finished work of Christ. There is no question that the life of the believer should look different than the life of the unbeliever. The question is, “What should those differences be?” This has always created tension in the religious world. From the time of Christ’s earthly presence until our current day, the list gets murky. God has some don’ts for our good. However, religious people have often added to the list and ended up creating a cumbersome and toxic environment for the faithful and confusion for those who are looking in. The last part of Colossians 2 contains three don’ts that deliver us from polluting the gospel with our own ideas of what holiness and the spiritual life look like. Don’t miss it!
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It’s a horrible thing. To be taken away from home, abducted and carried off. No one would be voluntarily kidnapped would they? It causes distress for the victim and for the ones left behind. This is the warning Paul gave to the Colossian believers. He was afraid that their curiosity and/or dabbling in Gnosticism would lead them into a “kidnap trap.” The kidnappers were offering “candy and treats” and Paul didn’t want them to fall for it like gullible and trusting toddlers. That’s how false religions work; the vulnerable are lured with attractive promises that end up empty. Those who take the treats end up in bondage, not in the freedom promised. As we’ll see in Paul’s treatment of this subject, the easiest way to identify a false religion is their teaching about Christ. If His deity or His humanity is minimized, kick that religion to the curb. If His work on the cross, His resurrection or ascension is minimized, kick that religion to the curb. If Christ is treated as “one among many,” kick that religion to the curb. Don’t be voluntarily kidnapped through slick marketing and promises of life without Christ. Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life!