Sunday Notes: Colossians 2:16-23

Sunday Notes: Colossians 2:16-23

• (Col 2:16 ESV) Therefore let no one pass _______________ on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a _______________.
  • Because you are a new creation in _______________
    • The rules of the old law no longer have any bearing on you
      • And if the law does not apply then you cannot _______________ it
    • If you are not in violation of the law
      • Then there is no judgment
      • No punishment
      • No sentencing
      • No conviction…
  • Jesus dispelled anything holding us to these _______________ laws in Matthew
    • Matthew 15:1-11, Acts 10
  • These _______________ may well be those festivals held by other cultures
    • Or even the _______________ festivals held throughout the year.
      • So attending those things over there would be forbidden
      • And not attending these things over here would be frowned upon
  • Or new _______________
    • The new moon would be their marker for the start of a new month
      • And _______________ has certain things to do at that time
        • Sacrifices to make and such.
      • Other religions also used the moon as a marker
        • Ramadan – the month long festival of the Muslims
        • Begins following a new moon in the spring
    • Paul here is telling the Christians at Colossae
      • Go to the festivals or don’t go. It is fine.
      • If someone else goes, great
        • If they don’t, great
      • Our lives are not based on adherence to these.
  • Or a _______________
    • For the Jews, the Sabbath was the bees knees
      • They centered live around the Sabbath
        • Working 6 days Sunday-Friday
        • Then completely resting on Saturday, the Sabbath
        • Anyone caught working on the Sabbath was in big trouble
    • For _______________, however
      • There is no such thing
      • So enjoy the Sabbath days rest or don’t
  • Romans 14
• (Col 2:17 ESV) These are a shadow of the things to come, but the _______________ belongs to _______________.
  • These things pale in comparison to what is next
    • Our focus must be Christ and His Word
      • John 1:16-17, Colossians 3:1-4
• (Col 2:18 ESV) Let no one disqualify you, insisting on _______________ and worship of _______________, going on in detail about _______________, puffed up without reason by his _______________ mind,
  • No one
    • High or low
    • Poor or rich
    • Religious or not
    • No one can disqualify you for any reason
      • Why?
        • Because: 2 Corinthians 5:17-21
        • If you are a new creation
          • Made in Christ
          • According to His grace
          • According to His will
            • Nothing can disqualify you
              • For any reason.
  • Asceticism – severe self-discipline and avoidance of all forms of indulgence, typically for religious reasons.
  • The worship of angels or what were thought to be angelic beings was a fairly common pagan practice
    • We even see a few instances where people bowed to angels and were corrected
      • Revelation 19:9-10, Matthew 4:10
  • Going on in detail about visions
    • Common then and still today
      • Religious leaders will claim visions
        • God showed me this
        • God told me that
        • I have a word from the Lord
      • So do I and so do you
        • The Bible: Complete and final
  • Puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind
    • As leaders of lies become
      • Arrogant and puffed up
      • In their lies and deception
        • Because instead of seeking the praise to go to God they become the center of attention
    • 1 John 4:1-3
• (Col 2:19 ESV) and not holding fast to the _______________, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from _______________.
  • Those false leaders and false religions
    • Their center and focus is not the _______________
  • This is speaking of the true church
    • Those centered on the Word
    • Focused on the Lord
  • If the group is not centered on the Word
    • And focused on the Lord
    • It is not the _______________
    • Ephesians 4:11-16
• (Col 2:20 ESV) If with Christ you died to the _______________ spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations–
• (Col 2:21 ESV) “Do not _______________, Do not taste, Do not _______________”
• (Col 2:22 ESV) (referring to things that all _______________ as they are used)–according to human _______________ and teachings?
  • If you died with _______________ in told the old self
    • Then why are you still going on like you are the _______________ self?
  • If you are under the new covenant
    • The _______________ Covenant
      • Work like the Messiah
      • Who Hebrews calls, “The author and _______________ of the faith.”
• (Col 2:23 ESV) These have indeed an appearance of _______________ in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and _______________ to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the _______________.
  • Catch that
    • All the rigors of religious
      • All the boundaries of behavior
      • All the fences on your actions
        • Don’t make you closer to Christ
        • They don’t stop you from those fleshly things
      • 2 Corinthians 11:13-15
  • Relationship with Christ and recognition of His work in you does draw you closer.