Have
you ever had a problem that was so bad that you couldn’t solve it yourself? Did
you wish that the problem would just go away? Well, the apostle Paul has the
answer in Colossians 2:8-23. He argues that the cross is the answer to our
deepest needs.
It
took the sacrificial love of Jesus as expressed on the cross for people to come
back to God. This change will provide us with the strength, wisdom, courage,
love and otheresources that we need to deal with our problems. The heart is the
root of the problem. God understands this and he goes for the root cause of our
problem. He promised to take away our hearts of stone, and he did this by
joining us to Christ’s death.
Christ’s
death was a sacrifice in the style of the Old Testament sacrifices. These
rituals involved sacrificing animals to atone for the sins of the people. The
problem was that the priests in the temple were human and they had to atone for
their own sins as well as making sacrifices for the sins of the people. The
view at that time was that God was an angry god who was only satisfied with sacrifices.
Jesus was the perfect, sinless sacrifice for the sins of the people, and his
sacrifice on the cross had a much deeper meaning than the Old Testament
sacrifices.
When
we have problems the cross meets us at the point of our deepest needs. First,
the cross is love at its deepest and purest. It is the kind of love that allows
God to forgive us and reconcile us to him. This love allows us to love others
and receive the love others have for us.
The
second need is for forgiveness. We are sinners, and in times of trouble this
reality often hits close to home. Through the cross God forgives us and nails
our sins to the cross. Once these sins have been nailed to the cross, God
forgives them and forgets them.
The
third need is for community. Families can be torn apart by our modern society.
In larger towns and cities people often don’t know their neighbours. Our thirst
for material happiness has isolated us. We need to be connected to other
people. The good news is that we are all united and equal at the foot of the
cross. Just like he was lifted up on the cross, Christ draws us to him and to
each other.
The
fourth need we have is a cause to live and die for. That cause is the cross.
When we centre ourselves in Christ, the more sensitive we become to the needs
of people around us. We die to self, sin and pride. The love that is motivated
by the cross becomes our reason for living. God has taken the initiative
through the Cross to unite us to him.
One
of the problems we have to deal with in our spiritual lives is false teachers.
They exist only to cheat us out of the life we have in Christ. They claim to
know God, but they aren’t necessarily mature in the faith. There are countless
people who know the Scriptures but don’t apply them to their lives. Their
leadership is based on so-called visions and revelations. These claims are
false because Jesus was God’s final and complete revelation to mankind. Jesus
is the only person we can trust. He is the only one who warrants our allegiance
and trust. The person who knows only one verse of Scripture and applies it is
more spiritually mature than the one who knows many verses and applies none of
them.
The
recent information explosion caused by the Internet and the 500 plus TV
channels we can receive has made it more difficult to know whom to trust,
especially when it comes to biblical teaching. Many so called “preachers” and “theologians”
have gained a platform by teaching things that are the opposite in what is
written in the Bible. We must not let charm and charisma determine what
teachings we will accept. We must put ourselves under solid, biblical teaching
so we can be rock-solid in our faith.
One
of the false teachings we have to be aware of is the legalism, or the rules and
regulations of Old Testament law or fundamentalist denominations. Christ is the
substance by which all things are measured out, not rules or regulations.
Paul
rebuffs four deceptions that undermine Christianity-philosophy, deceit, the
traditions of man and the basic principles of the world. He does this with a
definitive statement regarding the identity of Christ. Believers have
everything they need in Jesus. Believers are buried in Christ through the water
of baptism and are raised to new life through faith. Sin, death and hell do not
have a claim on us anymore. God made a public spectacle of his enemies when
Jesus was triumphant over death. We do not have to submit to anything Jesus has
conquered. Jesus has solved out biggest problem, and he can help us solve all
of our smaller ones as well.
Jesus
has united all believers through his death and resurrection. He erased our
sin-debt. He has created a relationship with us, and that relationship allows
us to live the Christian life. He gives us the resources we need to defend
ourselves and to be successful in life.
Bibliography
1.
Dunnam, M.D.
& Ogilvie, L.J.: The Preacher’s
Commentary Series, Vol. 31: Galatians/Ephesians/Philippians/Colossians/Philemon
(Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.; 1982)
2.
MacArthur,
J.F. Jr.: The MacArthur Study Bible, NASB
(Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers; 2006)
3.
Lucado, M: The Lucado Life Lessons Study Bible (Nashville,
TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.; 2010)
4.
ESV Study
Bible. Part of Wordsearch 10 Bible software package.
7.
Jeremiah,
David: The Jeremiah Study Bible, NKJV (Brentwood,
TN: Worthy Publishing; 2013)
8.
Michael
Youssef, Ph.D., “The Day I died.” Retrieved from mydevotional@leadingtheway.org
9.
“The Danger
of Many Bible ‘Experts’.” Retrieved from Christianity.com@crosswalkmail.com
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