Grace Fellowship 7/12/09 Spiritual Mud Pies vs. the Surpassing Worth of Christ Col 2:6-15
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“. . . [I]f we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”1
This is one of C.S. Lewis’ best known quotes and although it is not an exact fit, it helps us understand the things we read in Colossians 2. Lewis is talking about how Christians are often satisfied with forms of godliness without the power of true godliness. We’re too easily pleased with religious activity without the depths of true religion. As Christians, we often sacrifice the meat of our faith for milk. The spiritual vacation at the sea is readily available, but we’re more familiar with the spiritual mud pies in the ghetto and, after all, we’ve always done it this way. Meat? What is that?
What we see in Colossians is similar, but deadly. Lewis is talking about believers who seldom explore the depths of their faith. That is not deadly, but certainly not optimal. On the other hand, Paul is talking to believers about the nature of their salvation, the depths of their salvation. He is reminding them that the Lord Jesus is completely sufficient to save them because of who He is, and because of what He has done.
But others will soon come along, the Judaizers in particular, to encourage these same Christians who have, in terms similar to Lewis’, a genuine free pass to a perpetual, spiritual “holiday at the sea,” and these Judaizers will try to cause them to forfeit that in order to make pseudo-spiritual mud pies in the slums. They want to persuade people to forsake genuine salvation by faith in a sufficient Savior, for a pseudo-salvation by faith in a semi-Savior supplemented by religious rituals and observances.
Unlike what Lewis is saying, this is not trading genuine spiritual sandcastles by the sea for genuine spiritual mud pies in the slum. He’s not talking about forfeiting being a respectable Presbyterian to become an Appalachian snake handler. Paul is not warning the Colossians about a quality of life issue. The Judaizers are not simply tempting the Colossians to trade a richer Christian experience for a lesser one. Rather, they are attempting to persuade people to trade true salvation for no salvation, eternal life for eternal death. That is the danger.
Lewis says Christians are too easily satisfied in their Christian lives, and that is a true statement. But the Judaizers are teaching that God is not satisfied with our faith in Christ alone. So they preach a “gospel” that satisfies themselves and affirms their own experience, but it does not save. They preach faith in Christ plus the religious works of the Jewish law. Paul is preaching faith in Christ, plus faith in works, equals condemnation. It is not sandcastles at the sea vs. mud pies in the slums. It is eternal life in heaven vs. eternity in hell. That is exactly the nature of Paul’s warning to the Colossians and to us.
Let’s read the text for today together, found in Colossians 2:6-15 (ESV).
6 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.
8 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. 11 In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.
I don’t want to take the time to read it, but if you look at chapter 1 and verses 15 through 20, Paul has already exalted the Lord Jesus by speaking of His magnificent preeminence: He is the firstborn, or in the highest position over all of creation; He is in fact the creator of all things and He made all things for Himself; He holds the universe together by His own power; He is the Head of the Church; He is the firstborn from the dead; He has reconciled us to God by His blood. The Man who hung on the cross as a criminal, beaten and spit upon by His enemies, mocked and ridiculed and humiliated by His enemies, was the Son of God. That man gave up His life to God for our sakes. God the Father actually sent Him into the world for this purpose. And God the Father is satisfied with the results because His wrath against His elect has been propitiated.
Our faith is in Him, in Christ and His work upon the cross. Our faith is in the satisfactory work of Jesus. God is pleased with the performance of His Son on our behalf, and we know this because of the resurrection. God raised Him from the dead because He was pleased with Him. The work of redemption was complete, and eternal life was secured for those He came to save. Jesus is happy, the Father is happy, and no doubt the Holy Spirit is happy as well. The Godhead is satisfied with its own work of salvation and redemption.
But the Judaizers aren’t happy. And neither are all the religions of the world other than biblical Christianity. The natural inclination of all people everywhere is to believe they must do something, they must work enough, they must have sufficient good deeds, they must live a good enough life to commend themselves to God, in spite of or in addition to what Christ has done at the cross. Such a belief is an insult to Christ and makes a mockery of His sacrifice.
Look at verses 6 & 7 with me: 6 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.
Q: How did the Colossians receive Christ Jesus?
A: 1:3 - We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus; 2:5 - For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ.
They received Christ the same way we do: by faith. They accepted who He was, and what He had done, they believed He was the One sent by God to save those whose faith is in Him. Since that is the case, then the next question is,
Q: How are they to walk, or live in Him?
A: The same way they received Him: by faith. They are to be rooted and built up in him and established in the faith. Faith is not a feeling or an emotion or a premonition or a hoping against hope, or hoping for the best, or a leap of faith into some mystical spiritual darkness. Our faith is IN CHRIST. We have an object, a real Person, who did real things, in whom we trust. We trust that what He did for us was real, was complete, was satisfying to the One who sent Him, His Heavenly Father. So we live each day in this faith. We do not waver from it, because it is based upon two historical facts: the crucifixion and the resurrection. Those things actually happened, and we understand they happened for a purpose: In order that Jesus Christ might actually save His people from their sins. That was the purpose of His life and death, and He accomplished that purpose. He is the substance of our faith. He is the author and finisher of “the faith.”
Look at verses 6 & 7 again: Walk in Him, be rooted and built up in Him, established in the faith (in Him). Do you get the impression that our faith is all about Him, and not about us? When we talk about our faith, it is faith in something outside ourselves. It is not faith in our faith, but faith in our Savior. And Paul says here that as we exercise this faith we should abound in thanksgiving! Why? What is it about this faith in Christ that moves us to be perpetually grateful?
Three words: “It is finished!”
All other religions refute that statement. There is no other religious faith that has the ground upon which to be thankful that we have. Every other religion says it is NOT finished. We must contribute, we must be good, we must perform certain works, certain acts, certain commendable deeds to make ourselves presentable to God and fit for Heaven. They say we must finish our own salvation by our own efforts. And the best those works-based religions can offer is a shaky hope. You can hope for heaven, you can hope you’ve done enough to save yourself. But you have no grounds upon which to be thankful!
Praise God we do! We are thankful because the work of redemption is FINISHED! It is finished! It is done! Our salvation is accomplished and we have everlasting life! That is why we are perpetually thankful! Jesus has completed the work He came to do, He accomplished the task for which His Father sent Him, and now we preach that good news and wait for the culmination of His labors when the last sheep is ushered into the fold by the Spirit of God.
This is why Paul warns the Colossian believers to “see to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world and not according to Christ.” Any religious system of thought that is not founded exclusively upon the rock of Jesus Christ is worthless. To trade what we have in Christ alone for any other system of faith plus religious works would be far worse than trading prime beach front property for the ghetto. According to Paul, it would be like trading eternal life for dung (Philippians 4:8).
All other religious thinking that is contrary to Paul’s gospel is based upon what he calls in verse 8, “the elemental spirits of the world.” What does that mean? He is talking about worldly ways of thinking: Worldly philosophies, worldly deceptions, worldly human traditions, the elemental spirits of the world. It has to do with religious thinking that is NOT according to Christ or in keeping with the Gospel message. It is not according to grace. If our thinking about Christ is correct, then the thinking of the world will not take us captive. In fact, if we understand the grace of God and the work of Jesus Christ correctly, we will easily see how pathetic worldly religious thinking is. There is no comparison.
Look with me for a moment at Philippians 3. Paul is addressing much the same thing there, and here is what he has to say about “alternative” means of salvation, or worldly religious thinking:
2 Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. 3 For we are the real circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh— 4 though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness, under the law blameless. 7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
The Judaizers were trying to convince the Philippians of the same sort of thing they would eventually bring to the Colossians, namely, only Jews are saved. If you want to have any hope of salvation, you must become one of us by means of circumcision.
Now the Gentiles had been led to believe that the Jews had a corner on the market when it came to salvation, and in a sense, they did. Even Jesus said to the Samaritan woman that salvation was of the Jews. Paul had all kinds of Jewish credentials. But Paul also says that faith in being Jewish is rubbish! He should know. It was this Hebrew of Hebrews who abandoned every hope he had gained in Judaism for the sake of “the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.”
The comparison isn’t even close. Do you want to try to save yourself through ritual and observances of special days and feasts and food ordinances and sacrifices, and then fail? Or do you want a real Savior who really saves and has proven His power to save by means of His own death and resurrection? Hmmm . . . Kosher food or the resurrected Jesus Christ? More bloody animal sacrifices, or the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ? More tithing, more praying, more time at the temple, more straining to be good enough, . . . or Jesus Christ in your place? Worldly philosophies, worldly deceptions, worldly human traditions? Or the transcendent, supernatural, surpassing worth of the Man from Heaven, Jesus Christ? Mud pies in the back lot, or a holiday at the shore? Or more accurately, Hell or Heaven?
Well, we may ask, just how surpassing is Jesus Christ to these elemental spirits of the world? Look at the text again, verse 9. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily. Fullness of deity is in Jesus. Excuse me. The WHOLE fullness of deity is in Him. Wait a minute. The WHOLE FULNESS of deity DWELLS, LIVES in Him, in His physical body, in His Person. So we ask the question, in what way is this man Jesus Christ insufficient or inadequate to save, that He needs me to eat the right food and worship on the right day of the week to complete my salvation? I need a surgical procedure before Jesus can say, “It is finished”? On the cross, did Jesus misspeak? Shouldn’t He have said, “It is almost finished”?
Look at the text again: Fulness of deity is in Him, and we who believe have been filled in Him. What does “filled” mean? He is full of deity, and we are filled in Him. I believe the point Paul is making is that there is nothing lacking in Jesus, and there is nothing lacking in His work on our behalf. He has not merely done the best He could and our salvation glass is mostly full, but we have to top it off with circumcision or not eating bacon on our hamburgers. Jesus is complete in His work, and we are complete in Him. We need nothing besides. He is MORE than enough, regardless of what others may have you believe!
Not only that, but this Jesus who has made us full in Himself in regard to salvation, is also the Man who is the head of all rule and authority. Why is that important? Because if Jesus says the job is finished, it is finished! It doesn’t matter what the High Priest says, it doesn’t matter what your Momma says, it doesn’t matter what the Devil says, it doesn’t matter what your neighbors say, it doesn’t matter what the government says, it doesn’t matter what your pastor says (more or less). If Jesus has declared you to be righteous based upon His work on the cross, He has the authority to back it up. He is the Final Authority. He is the head of all rule and authority, and that includes Jewish authority, Roman authority, spiritual authority, every authority. He rules over all. That is who has secured my salvation!
But even more than that, in Him, us physically uncircumcised non-Jews were spiritually made to be Jews by Christ. He has performed whatever circumcision was required to make us acceptable to God. Not only that, we were buried with Him in baptism. And not only that, but we were also raised with Him from the dead. And not only that, but God has forgiven us ALL our trespasses. It was God the Father who nailed every indictment, every infraction of His law, every failure to obey His word, every charge of treason and insubordination and ingratitude and insolence against Himself, He nailed the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands, God the Father threw the Book at us, and then nailed every sin we ever committed against Him to the cross in the body of His own Son.
Now tell me, what is there that is lacking in this great work of God for our salvation? What has He not done that was needful? Where has the Lord Jesus missed the mark? Where did He fall short? In what way does He need us to help Him save us?
For someone to add any requirement whatsoever, any work, any good deed, any penance, any philanthropy, any prayers or observances of any ritual, . . . for anyone to say that Jesus Christ has done all that He could do, but now He needs you and me to throw in our two cents worth of goodness to seal the deal and make our salvation complete, . . . for anyone to say anything like that is blasphemy towards God, and a lie of the Devil.
"To suppose that whatever God requireth of us that we have power of ourselves to do, is to make the cross and grace of Jesus Christ of none effect." - John Owen2
That is one of the most powerful statements I have ever heard. If we think we can meet God’s demands by our own efforts, in our own strength, and by our own power, then Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection were totally unnecessary. We do not contribute in the least to the work of God in salvation. Salvation is totally of God. It is something only He can do, and we should be endlessly grateful He is willing to do it. It is not a wonder that God does not save all, but that He saves any, because of the cost. It cost the crucifixion of His own Son at His own hand. God the Father nailed His Son to the cross, for us. Who is going to say “That wasn’t enough?”
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1. C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory, 1949, from Wikiquote.org. http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/C.S._Lewis
2. Taken from the header of the Monergism.com web site.