Grace Bible Church Glorifying God by Making Disciples

Grace Bible Church Glorifying God by Making Disciples of Jesus Christ

The Superiority of Jesus to Religion Colossians 3: 20 -23 • All revivals begin with professing believers being serious about trusting the Lord and walking with Him • Replacing the sufficiency of Jesus Christ with anything else results in a loss of a vibrant Christian life.

The Superiority of Jesus to Religion Colossians 3: 20 -23 • Jesus is superior over: ➢ Creation (Col. 1: 13 -17) ➢ The church (Col. 1: 18 -23) ➢ Philosophy & all religions (Col. 2: 6 -15) ➢ Colossians 2: 16 -23

The Superiority of Jesus to Religion Colossians 3: 20 -23 • The effort of religion has always been to replace what God has said with something man has devised • Even the religious practices of ancient Judaism were only shadows of what was to come in Jesus Christ

The Christian’s Position Died in Christ - Colossians 2: 20 • A statement of our position from the negative standpoint of dying • Being “dead in our transgressions” was your spiritual state without Jesus (Ephesians 2: 1) • Being made alive in Christ is having your soul regenerated to be able to commune with God

The Christian’s Position Died in Christ - Colossians 2: 20 • Having “died with Christ” refers to a change in your relationship to the Law & sin and yourself. ➢ Galatians 2: 20 ➢ Romans 6: 3 -5 ➢ Romans 6: 6 -23

The Christian’s Position Dead to the World - Colossians 2: 20 • “Elementary principles” refers to the “first in a series, ” what is “rudimentary” • Galatians 4: 3 - Paul speaks about foundational religious practices as in training children • Paul is not against rudimentary training, but the Christian life

The Christian’s Position Dead to the World - Colossians 2: 20 • Laws restrict sinners by fear of punishment, but the godly act righteously out of love for God & others • Paul is not questioning their position in Christ, but contrasting it to their response to the false teachers • The Law was a schoolmaster or

Submission to the Beliefs Colossians 2: 20 -23 • Paul challenges their submission to the decrees of the false teachers • They were being inconsistent with their professed belief in Jesus

Submission to the Beliefs Ascetic Dogmas – Col. 2: 21 • These express categorical prohibition of the specific conduct to prevent the action from ever taking place • Possibly an escalation of increasing dietary restrictions • More probably a caricature of the general tone of the kinds of decrees they were being made

Submission to the Beliefs Their Destiny – Col. 2: 22 • The legalist perceives holiness to be related to the physical world instead based in the spiritual world • Matthew 15: 10 -20 - defilement comes from what proceeds from the heart of man • True holiness arises from within a person who has been changed by the Holy Spirit

Submission to the Beliefs Their Source – Col. 2: 22 • Jesus rebuked the Pharisees & scribes for “teaching as doctrines the precepts of men” (Matthew 15: 9). • Church covenants must be in strict accord with the Scriptures themselves • Submission to such covenants must be from the correct heart -

Submission to the Beliefs Their Source – Col. 2: 22 • Be a Berean (Acts 17) that always returns to the Bible to see if what is taught is true

Submission to the Beliefs Their Failure – Col. 2: 23 • These have a veneer of wisdom, but cannot bring about true holiness • Legalism substitutes a list of rules that seem helpful until a circumstance outside the rules is faced • Mysticism gives the illusion of spirituality, but it perverts the

Submission to the Beliefs Their Failure – Col. 2: 23 • Ritualism gives the appearance of holiness due to the care and reverence in carrying them out • There only two religious rituals commanded by our Lord - Baptism and Communion • At best, other rituals can only reflect holiness, but they cannot produce it - and they often hinder it.

Submission to the Beliefs Their Failure – Col. 2: 23 • Asceticism is often a part of selfmade religion and can include self-abasement & severe bodily treatment • Asceticism is an effort to achieve piety by self effort instead of receiving it from God by faith

Submission to the Beliefs Their Failure – Col. 2: 23 • Ascetics stress strict selfdiscipline to gain control over the flesh and gain superior virtue and spirituality • Asceticism fails because sin originates in heart and only God can change it

Submission to the Beliefs Their Failure – Col. 2: 23 • Ascetics lack peace with God because they reject the forgiveness of sin that comes only by faith in Jesus • Beware of the legalism, mysticism, ritualism and asceticism that have crept into evangelical Christianity

Conclusions • Jesus Christ is superior to all religions • Man cannot achieve true spirituality, peace or piety by any religious works • True righteous living only comes by faith in Jesus Christ and walking in the power of the Holy

Grace Bible Church Glorifying God by Making Disciples of Jesus Christ