The Mystery: Revealed

I was born, and grew up in, England. You know, Europe… where the history’s from. In England, like the States, the maximum speed limit anywhere is 70mph. But England’s not a particularly big country, so it never really takes very long to get anywhere. When I had just turned 14 (and finished 9th grade) we moved to Czechoslovakia as missionaries. About once a year, or so, we would go back to England to visit family and the churches that supported us. And for the fish and chips! It was about a 24 hour drive from where we lived to the Belgian coast, where we would catch a ferry to England. Almost all of that drive was through Germany, which is not a small country. It would have taken forever if it wasn’t for a wonderful German invention: the Autobahn. The autobahn is just like an interstate here in the US, but with a major difference. No speed limit. So once we got across the border in to Germany we could floor it, and average upwards of 100mph across the whole country. The trucks in the slow lane were doing 90! It would have been ridiculous for us to say, “Well, I’m from England, and in England we don’t go faster than 70, so I’m not going to go faster than 70 here in Germany!” That would have probably gotten us killed.

Because of what Jesus did for us, by dying on the cross, we no longer have to live by the old set of rules. All the things we used to do to try to be better people are pretty much worthless. All the little tricks we’ve used to break bad habits amount to nothing. All the religion we’ve tried to incorporate in to our lives is pointless. When we accept Jesus Christ, and turn away from that lifestyle of living for ourselves, it’s like driving on the autobahn – limitless! But when we continue to try to do rules, regulations, and religion to make us more spiritual, or to curry God’s favor, it’s like driving 55 on the autobahn. And that’s dangerous. Paul finishes chapter 2 of Colossians with these verses:

²⁰ Since 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!”?
²² These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings.
²³ Such 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.

Verse 23 really jumps out, because sticking to rules, and traditions seems like it should be the right thing to do. Something inside of us says we should just try harder, be better, get more religion, feel more guilty. But Paul says that these things lack any value in actually restraining the sin issue. We even see on the news, people that have taken a vow of celibacy get caught in sexually immoral situations. Because just trying harder, stronger, faster does nothing to stop our indulgences.

Instead, we should stop trying to live by these sets of rules, and just start working on building that relationship with Jesus Christ, since we accepted His sacrifice for us. He did it, not just so that we don’t have to, but because we’re unable to.

A simple badge makes a world of difference. It’s the difference between a guy with a gun, and a police officer. There’s a difference between a guy wearing a ski mask breaking a window, and a guy with a firefighter’s uniform breaking a window. It’s a matter of authority. On the high seas mutiny was punishable by death. Argh! Because authority is a really big deal. Impersonating an officer is a serious offence, because when a commanding officer tells his troops to do something, HE’s not telling them, the military is telling them. And working outside that chain of command is grounds for discharge.

The same applies to God’s system. Paul warns about people who try to tell you what to do, and let you know how much more “spiritual” they are than you, but are actually working outside God’s chain of command. Let’s look at verses 18 and 19.

¹⁸ Do 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.
¹⁹ He 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.

Paul says these people should be easy to identify. They have a “false humility” which is really just another form of pride. Talking about how humble you are defeats the purpose. They’re also going into great details about mystical, spooky, spiritual issues, usually in King James English. It says they have “unspiritual minds” which means their very thinking is skewed.
The main issue here, though, is the fact that they’re trying to be a body part disconnected from the head. They’re working outside of God’s authority. Nothing’s quite as disgusting as dismembered body parts! The most beautiful eyes in the world are gruesomely horrific when in a jar of formeldahyde. I love my wife’s hair, but I like it on her head, not in a ziplock bag.
The way we can identify people that would try to impress us with their “spirituality”, and lead us astray, is to scrutinize their submission to God’s authority. Are they relaying God’s commands as the head, or are they merely wearing the uniform and impersonating an officer?
It’s how we make sure we never turn in to that person. Stay connected to God. Submit to His authority.

Rules can be a lot easier than relationships. Let me validate that statement.
At work, you technically live by a set of rules. Be at work by a set time. Meet such and such deadlines. Work on this project. Man the drive-through. Lock up the shop when you leave. Don’t fall asleep at the wheel. We understand the rules.
In a relationship the guidelines are a lot less clear. There’s no hard and fast rules about how much to communicate, when to buy flowers, making phone calls, knowing when to help, and when you just need to listen. Every one of those things works on a case by case basis, and is different from one relationship to the next.

At work, all we have to do is stick to the rules. Sometimes the rules are asking too much, so we quit. Sometimes the rules are too ambiguous, and we get frustrated. But ultimately, stick to the rules, pick up a paycheck.
Relationships, ironically, require a lot more work than work! But relationships are a lot more rewarding and fulfilling than work. Nobody, on their deathbed, says “I wish I had spent more time at work!” instead we have photo albums filled with memories of times spent with close relationships.

God wants to have a relationship with you. But we often find it a lot easier to stick to a set of rules, rather than develop a relationship. Five ‘Hail Mary’s is a lot easier than changing a lifestyle.
Paul addresses this issue in verses 16 and 17.

¹⁶ Therefore 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.
¹⁷ These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.

When you decide to develop a relationship with God other people will get mad. Because it puts the pressure on them to stop following rules, and start building a relationship. When we try to stick to the “law” it’s just a shadow of what a true God connection is like. Children need rules to help them make the right choices. But as they grow up, their relationships help them make the right choices for themselves, whether there’s a rule in place or not.

Your boss probably cares a lot less about your weightloss, drinking habits, hobbies, friendships, etc. than your spouse does. Jesus Christ wants to relate to you as a friend instead of as a boss.

When I was a child I read a book that changed my life. Bruchko is about a stone-age tribe of Indians living in the Amazonian jungle. They had an ancient story, passed down from generation to generation and it goes like this:
A long, long time ago, and man was walking through the jungle, and as he looked down at the trail he saw some ants. So he followed the ants, to see what they were doing, and where they were going. He found them trying to build a home, but they were making a mess of it (this is before the days of ant hills!), and every attempt at making a community home failed miserably. So the man tried to tell the ants how great an ant hill would look. But they didn’t understand him, because he was a man, and he didn’t speak Antish. So he started shouting at them, but that didn’t help at all. He KNEW that he could help them make a better ant home, but they just weren’t getting it! So he reached down, and started pushing some dirt around to help them get the idea, but all he succeeded in doing was scaring them away. At this point he realized his problem. He would never be able to communicate with them as long as they were scared of him. So he (through some weird jungle magic) turned himself in to an ant. As fast as his little ant legs would carry him he rushed over to the ant community, and talked to them in their own language. He explained how they should build an ant hill, and how they could all live in it together. The ants weren’t afraid of him any more, because he had become one of them. To this day, the ants pass the tradition of building ant hills down to their children, because a man taught them how. It’s also interesting that the Molitone tribe lives in ant hill shaped community homes in the jungle.

God had a similar problem. He’s God, but we’re mere, sinful humans. No matter how close He wanted to get to us, He couldn’t. So He became an ant, so to speak. The official term for this is “incarnate” or made-in-to-flesh. God became a man, and dwelt among us. There’s a great mystery here, in that Jesus was 100% man, but still retained His status as 100% God. That’s what Paul is referring to in verse 9:

⁹ For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form,
He was fully human, which enabled Him to pay the sacrifice for us, and take back the authority that only a human could do. But He was also fully God which enabled Him to live a sin-free life, and show us unlimited compassion, and unbridled love, such as the world has never seen.

¹⁰ and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.
And amazingly, WE have been given everything we need in Christ.

To me the bigger mystery isn’t that Jesus was able to be 100% human and 100% God at the same time. The bigger mystery is why God loved ME, and cared about ME enough to become an ant.

A young woman was preparing a ham dinner. After she cut off the end of the ham, she placed it in a pan for baking. Her friend asked her, “Why did you cut off the end of the ham?”
And she replied, “I really don’t know, but my mother always did, so I thought you were supposed to.”
Later, when talking to her mother, she asked her why she cut off the end of the ham before baking it, and her mother replied, “I really don’t know, but that’s the way my mom always did it.”
A few weeks later, while visiting her grandmother, the young woman asked, “Grandma, why is it that you cut off the end of a ham before you bake it?”
Her grandmother replied, “Well, dear, otherwise it would never fit in my baking pan.”

I know, I know… it’s a cheesy story, but it’s just to illustrate the power of tradition. Sometimes we can get really stuck in our ways. We decide there’s a certain way to do something, and stick to it long enough, and our kids will end up acting the same way. When it comes to family traditions, this can be a beautiful thing. My wife’s family has a huge get together in Mississippi every Thanksgiving, and I can already taste the deep fried turkey, and homemade pies! In my family we always eat roast turkey on Christmas day. These traditions are a good thing.

But when it comes to spirituality, traditions can be dangerous. If you had asked me, “What’s more powerful than the Bible” I would have answered, “Nothing!” But then I read Jesus himself told the religious leaders of the day, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? …Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. You hypocrites!” (Matthew 15:3, 6, 7)

The Word of God (the Bible) wants to take root in your heart and change you, to become more like Christ. But man-made traditions can stop that from happening. In fact, they can make you a prisoner. Paul says in verse 8;

⁸ See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.

It seems to be so easy to get caught up in “the way it’s always been done.” Some people don’t like Shoreline because we don’t have wooden pews, and we don’t really sing hymns. The Bible doesn’t say anything about pews, but it’s what some people associate with spirituality. We’re all guilty of it, to some degree or another. Nowhere in the Bible does it say we should pray every time we sit down to eat, but I can’t remember a time in my family that we haven’t said grace before eating. Not that there’s anything wrong with praying before a meal. But I’ll be honest. If I don’t pray grace I feel guilty. And that’s ludicrous! Why would I feel guilty? God knows my heart, and He knows I’m grateful for everything He provides.

The key is to know the Word of God. Read the Bible. Then when someone comes along and says “This is the way you should blah, blah, blah” you can know if that’s God’s Word speaking, or merely another attempt at imprisonment through tradition.

We have, by nature, a horrible habit of complicating things. What starts out as a great, simple idea, often becomes convoluted and confusing.
When I first came to Shoreline we had a projector to display the lyrics during the music segment of the Sunday morning service. I figured, “Hey, since we’re already on the big screen, why don’t we run a live video feed, so the people at the back can see better?” So I took the little handheld video camera we already owned, stuck it on top of the cheapo tripod we already owned, hooked it in to the computer running the lyrics, and “Voilà!”, we had live video. Simple solution.
Then we realized that the tripod was too “jerky” and was making people feel seasick. So we got a decent tripod. Then we figured it needed to be a higher quality camera, and someone donated one. Then the delay was so bad that Pastor Eric could turn around quickly, look at the screen, and see himself still looking ahead, and then turning around. So we got a cheap video mixer, instead of running it through a computer. Then the angle was all wrong, so we moved the camera to the front of the theater, which meant different cables. Then the projectors couldn’t handle the speaker standing in front of the black curtain, so we started designing backdrops for the stage area for each series. Then we realized that one camera shot was incredibly boring, so we introduced a second camera in to the mix.
Then we figure, since we already have the feed, why not start recording the services? So we started burning them to DVD. And hey, since we have the live video, we could run it down to a TV in the lobby. And while we’re at it, why don’t we set up the back hallway with a live video feed so that nursing moms can have some privacy without missing out on the service. And since it’s already recorded, we could just go ahead and put it on the internet each week.
Do you see how complex it got? You have to be a rocket surgeon to even make head or tail of the system that runs every Sunday!
Even though all the things we added, changed, and tweaked are essentially great additions to the service, we’re a far cry from just trying to make it easier for the people in the back to see. We have a name for this phenomenon, “Complexity Creep”, and in some instances in our lives it can be harmful. Let’s see what Paul has to say in verses 6 & 7 of chapter 2.

⁶ So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him,

Remember how your relationship with God started? Stay on that course! Go back to that! It started with a simple communication, without any weird traditions, or us trying to be good, or any such nonsense. It was just you and God. Continue in that. Don’t try to complicate things by coming up with ways that you think you can please God. Just be with Him the way you were when you first met Him.

⁷ rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

Rooted in Him. If you try to put your roots in anything other than Him you’ll spiritually shrivel up and die. And not only be rooted in Him, but built up and strengthened. If your relationship with God could be compared to an oak tree, this is how Paul sees it: Make sure the roots are set firmly in Jesus. And make sure the trunk, and branches are also all about Jesus. Oh, and the leaves, too.

It’s so easy to start out with God simply. That’s because we don’t know enough to confuse it. Complexity Creep hasn’t kicked in yet. But slowly, over time, as we grow, we can have a tendency to start relying on traditions, or being a better person, or trying to keep the 10 commandments, and random, superficial actions to maintain our Christianity. At Shoreline we always tell people, “The way you won your wife, is the way you’ll keep her.” This also applies to your relationship with God. You didn’t receive Christ by being a great person, and what you did for Him, you received Him by what He did for you. Stay there. That’s God’s “Plan A”, and it’s a good plan!

Education’s a powerful thing. I should know, I finished 9th grade! Ok, ok, I’m kidding… I actually got my GED a couple of years ago. I lived in Malawi, Africa, for a couple of months, building a home for AIDS orphans, kids who had lost both parents to AIDS. The town I was living in on Lake Nyasa was over 25% HIV positive. The problem was a cultural one. In their culture, when you hit your teenage years you would start sleeping around. This was considered normal, not immoral. When someone got pregnant, the couple would stop their philandering, settle down, and get married. The problem with this, though, is that it provided a breeding ground for STDs, and the locals were completely uneducated about why AIDS was spreading so rapidly. The United Nations and US Peace Corps. were sending people to the tiny villages across the continent with one purpose: Educate the masses about how these STDs are spread.

Ignorance isn’t bliss. Ignorance can be deadly.

You know this from personal experience. Ever thought the thought, “Huh… what’s the speed limit over here?” Then you slow down. You THINK it’s probably a 45, but it MIGHT be 35. Better safe than sorry. This is why people hire lawyers for immigration paperwork, or pay a professional accountant to file their taxes, which they could do for free themselves. Because of the fear of the unknown. You don’t want to get landed with some heavy fine because of something you didn’t know was important. You COULD try to change out the hard drive in your laptop, or you could just take it to a pro, since they know what they’re doing.

Paul is writing this letter to the Colossians (and most of his letters) to educate the church. In his opinion, knowledge is super important.

² My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ,
He’s writing to encourage them to live together in love, and then he compares “complete understanding” to wealth. Knowledge is currency, in Paul’s book. Ignorance is poverty. But what does he want them to know? The Mystery. The Mystery that God revealed the answer to last week. Jesus Christ.

³ in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
The fantastic thing about getting in to Jesus, is that in Him you’ll discover MORE wisdom and knowledge. The more you learn, the more comes at you. Paul’s goal is for you to know more and more and more and more and more (ad infinitum) of Jesus, and God’s plan.

⁴ I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments.
Why? So that when someone comes along with some fancy schmancy theory, you KNOW what’s right and what wrong, because you’re IN THE KNOW.

A lot of us are a little scared to talk about the relationship we have with God, because we’re scared someone will ask us a question we don’t know the answer to. Paul says that the answer is always wrapped up in Christ, and when you know Jesus, you’re “in the know.”