51. OH THE CLARITY! (colossians 2)
Posted by:
SeLahGirl on
February 26, 2008 at
12:38PM EST
13When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision
of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us
all our sins, 14having canceled the written code, with its regulations,
that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away,
nailing it to the cross. 15And having disarmed the powers and
authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them
by the cross.
16Therefore do not let anyone judge you by
what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New
Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. 17These are a shadow of the things
that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. 18Do
not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels
disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail
about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle
notions. 19He has lost connection with the Head, from whom the whole
body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as
God causes it to grow.
20Since you died with Christ to
the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged
to it, do you submit to its rules: 21"Do not handle! Do not taste! Do
not touch!"? 22These are all destined to perish with use, because they
are based on human commands and teachings. 23Such regulations indeed
have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their
false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any
value in restraining sensual indulgence. (Colossians 2)
OH I LOVE THE CLARITY OF THIS PASSAGE!!!
My son came home from college the other day and insisted on sharing
what he and a friend had read that morning during their daily
prayer/Scripture reading. He does not read my blogs or my thoughts in
my journals. But what he shared was so in tune with so much that God in
speaking thru a myriad of voices.
Christ freed us from the
law of sin and death. He removed the weight of the condemnation brought
about by the law as we walk in a cursed world in a sinful state in need
of mercy each day. But the church has put the weights back upon us, it
has weighted us down in many instances just as the Pharisees did. Some
leaderships have guilted us into worshipping them and all that they
dictate to be the law of God.
FALSE HUMILITY!
What a tool of Satan in this hour. It is eating away at the hearts of
the people of God, corrupting many and crippling others. Claims and
attitudes of such piousness, ranting at people that they have passed
judgment or that they have failed to forgive, when they take a stand
against corrupt and abusive leadership. Pushed and coerced out of the
synagogue -- people are being pressured or shamed into leaving the
church when they stand falsely accused by a leadership and it's cronies
that are eaten up with selfish ambition masked in false humility.
Am I angry? emphatically YES.
Pray that the Lord would:
1 Answer me when I call to you,
O my righteous God.
Give me relief from my distress;
be merciful to me and hear my prayer.
2 How long, O men, will you turn my glory into shame?
How long will you love delusions and seek false gods?
Selah
3 Know that the LORD has set apart the godly for himself;
the LORD will hear when I call to him.
4 In your anger do not sin;
when you are on your beds,
search your hearts and be silent.
Selah
5 Offer right sacrifices
and trust in the LORD.
6 Many are asking, "Who can show us any good?"
Let the light of your face shine upon us, O LORD.
7 You have filled my heart with greater joy
than when their grain and new wine abound.
8 I will lie down and sleep in peace,
for you alone, O LORD,
make me dwell in safety. (Psalm 4)
A segment of the church has lost connection with the Head, with Christ.
It reminds me of the time that a couple of the disciples wanted seats
above the others, just as many leaders/cronies in the church today want
to be seated above the laymen of their congregations:
24When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two
brothers. 25Jesus called them together and said, "You know that the
rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials
exercise authority over them. 26Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants
to become great among you must be your servant, 27and whoever wants to
be first must be your slave— 28just as the Son of Man did not come to
be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
(Matt 20)
And many in the congregation (duped by a
spirit of false-humility and their worship of angels/leaders) go along
with it. Participating in the murder/excommunication of anyone that
gets in the way. Don't point fingers at the Catholic church when the
Protestant church is struggling with the same sin. I am very much
Protestant, but sin is sin.
And again when Jesus rebuked
the church leaders of his day for coming up with all kinds of
ridiculous rules and regulations that enslaved people to obey the whims
of men and eccentric visionaries:
1Then Jesus said to
the crowds and to his disciples: 2"The teachers of the law and the
Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. 3So you must obey them and do everything
they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice
what they preach. 4They tie up heavy loads and put them on men's
shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move
them.
5"Everything they do is done for men to see: They
make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long;
6they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats
in the synagogues; 7they love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to
have men call them 'Rabbi.'
8"But you are not to be called
'Rabbi,' for you have only one Master and you are all brothers. 9And do
not call anyone on earth 'father,' for you have one Father, and he is
in heaven. 10Nor are you to be called 'teacher,' for you have one
Teacher, the Christ. 11The greatest among you will be your servant.
12For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles
himself will be exalted.
This brings revelation to
these passages in light of what is happening in portions of the
contemporary/emergent church today. We are reliving such error in
leadership and so the passages of then come to life today. It's not the
literal sense of calling someone teacher or father... it's a matter of
the heart and acknowledging the authority of that leader/teacher as
though they are equal to God. Pastor-worship, Leadership-worship,
Teacher-worship... other gods, little gods... sin.
Basically, Christ seems to be saying, hear them and respect them as
speakers and representatives of the One who spoke the Scriptures... but
not as though they are the One who spoke it. Do not call them Father or
Teacher in your heart as though they are the authors of the word of
God. They are not. They are mere men. They are just as lowly as the guy
who cleans the bathroom or directs traffic in the parking lot, or folds
the newsletters at the door. Love them and SERVE WITH THEM as
brothers/sisters in Christ... but do not SERVE FOR THEM as though the
people of the congregation were made to be their pawns seeking to
please them rather than God. Christians had better return to seeking
the favor of God rather then the favor Pharisees, or God will give them
what they seek and let them choose other gods (as well as the
consequences that go along with such sin). Free will.
You
have ONE FATHER. You have ONE TEACHER, ONE TRUTH. Obedience and loyalty
and commitment is to him and to his word only. No one, no matter what
title they hold or what they insist you call them.... no one is to be
exalted above any other person in the congregation. Their decisions and
rules are to be held accountable by the body as a whole, not just among
a couple of their buddies that call themselves a board -- and that use
spiritual authority to justify when Scripture is violated and people
(even children) are spiritually abused and terrorized. PHARISEE
SPIRIT!!!
The Kingdom of God is a monarchy, that the Church is subject to with joy.
But the church as a functioning organism is a democracy -- a system
governed by several voices and committees, where each person is granted
the right to be heard and treated justly according to the commands of
the King that it is subject to.
The preaching of the
Kingdom of God has been distorted by many so that it has become a
kingdom of men, men claiming equality to God. But they were never given
that measure of authority... they were given a measure of authority to
represent... but never the authority to claim what belongs only to God.
HOWEVER, pay diligent attention to vss 2-3 in that last passage:
2"The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. 3So you
must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they
do, for they do not practice what they preach.
You must
obey the Scripture being preached, the Word of God. You must respect
leadership offering the same measure of honor and mercy and love that
you would others in the congregation. But you do not obey or model the
hypocrisy or false-humility or worship of leadership that they preach
and intimidate with. Remember, that you are accountable to God for your
own actions in how you respond. Anger is not a sin, but it can lead you
into it if you lose sight of God and all that he has truly commanded in
Scripture. Love and Mercy above all. You can defend Truth and Justice
and still maintain Love and Mercy. We are commanded to. We must read
and know what the Word of God says for ourselves. If you're not reading
it and asking God for understanding, keep your mouth shut.
-----------------
you
hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cummin. But
you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy
and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without
neglecting the former. (Matt 23:23)
We are commanded to not judge, but we are commanded to practice justice.
Judgment and Justice are two entirely different things.
