Truth That Changes Lives

JP Jones: We need a proactive life where we are seeking after Jesus and thinking about Jesus. Anything that helps you seek after Jesus, you need to do it.

Guest (Male): Thank you for joining us on Truth That Changes Lives. Pastor JP Jones is the senior pastor of Crossline Community Church in Laguna Hills, California, and a professor in biblical studies at Biola University. Today on Truth That Changes Lives, Pastor JP will be giving us another message from a series entitled “All About Jesus.” Let's listen as JP gives us part two of “The Reality in Christ.”

JP Jones: And so Paul is warning us about counterfeit Christianity. And he continues and says in verse 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.”

First, there was a command: don't let anybody judge you. And here is a command: don't let anybody disqualify you from the prize. The word to disqualify is the word to umpire. He’s taken a word that was used in sports and the role of an umpire in rendering a judgment call, and he says don't let anybody act like an umpire over your spirituality.

Now, why would he say that? Because there are people who will act like umpires over our spirituality. Sometimes we are the people who act like umpires over other people's spirituality. That's counterfeit Christianity. He says don't let anybody act like that, take that role in your life because the standard that they use is a false standard.

He says in this passage that this counterfeit version is characterized by false humility, the worship of angels. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions. See, it's a false spirituality. It's a false humility because when he talks about the worship of angels, there was a view which infected the folks at Colossae—it was Gnosticism—which basically had bought into this Greek philosophy of the separation between what was real and what was the representation of what was real.

And it taught that that which was of spirit was good and that which was of material was evil. And therefore the only way you could approach God is through spiritual manifestations. And so they taught that there were a series of angelic manifestations that served as the intermediaries to get to God.

Now, here's what Paul's saying. He says there are certain teachers out there who will basically say, “I’m not worthy to get to God on my own, so I go through the angels. Aren't I spiritual? I'm really humble because I don't boldly come to God. I go through the angels. Yeah, let's pray.” I mean, it's a false spirituality because you know what Jesus says?

In Hebrews chapter four, it says, “Boldly come to the throne of grace that you might receive grace and mercy in your time of need. We don't have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weakness, but one who was tempted in all points as we, yet without sin.” We can boldly come to Jesus Christ himself.

We don't have to go through angels to get there, and we don't have to go through people to get there. We can go straight to Jesus. Why? Because the reality is in Jesus Christ. But there are some people who say there are these various paths and approaches and paradigms and steps that we have to take, and they say it with kind of a humble attitude, but the more you get closer to it, you realize it's not humble at all. It's really prideful. It's really self-driven and self-serving. That's counterfeit.

So Paul is saying you've got to be aware of that which is counterfeit and false. And he says about this counterfeit Christianity, he says, “Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions.” He's talking about the fact that people's personal spiritual experience is self-authenticating, and in effect, they're saying, “I've had this spiritual experience, and unless you have the same spiritual experience I've had, you're not spiritual.”

Have you ever had anybody lay that trip on you? “I've had this vision, I've had this dream, I've had this ecstatic utterance, I've had this spiritual gift experience, and unless you have it exactly the way I did, you don't have the real thing.” What's interesting about that is Peter, in 2nd Peter chapter one, verse 16, says, “We didn't follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We were eyewitnesses to his glory, and we heard the majestic voice from heaven that said, ‘This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased.’”

Peter's talking about the Mount of Transfiguration experience. He was there on the Mount of Transfiguration when God the Father spoke and said, “This is my beloved son.” That's the greatest spiritual experience you could ever imagine. And then Peter says in the very next verse, he says, “But we have the more certain prophetic word, and you do well to pay attention to it as you would to the morning star that rises in your hearts.”

Peter just articulates, “I was on the Mount of Transfiguration with Jesus. We didn't follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We were eyewitnesses. I actually heard God the Father speak to God the Son, ‘You are my beloved son with whom I am well pleased.’” The greatest spiritual experience you can imagine.

And then he says, “We have the more certain prophetic word.” In other words, God's word is more authoritative than his religious experience, and he had the best of all religious experiences. Anybody comes to you and tries to tell you that you need to have the religious experience that they have, your warning meter ought to start going off on your religious scale because what has authority is Jesus Christ and his word.

Now, listen. I believe in religious experiences. I believe that God does miracles. I believe that God gives people visions. I believe God gives people prophetic words. But we ought to always measure all of that to the lordship of Christ and the authority of Christ in scripture. And when somebody starts to tell you that unless you have the experience that they had, that's counterfeit Christianity. Because let's say it again: the reality is in Christ.

You'd think Paul's done because he's certainly been saying a lot, but he's got more to say about this counterfeit version because we're constantly bombarded with counterfeit messages, whether they're counterfeit religious messages, counterfeit philosophical messages, counterfeit secular messages, counterfeit psychological messages. I mean, there's more ways to get it wrong than there is to get it right.

Verse 20: “Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belong to it, do you submit to its rules: ‘Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!’? These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. 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.”

Paul says that counterfeit Christianity is based on the basic principles of this world with its specific and exacting rules. See, the problem is the rules have a human origin, not a divine origin. I mean, there are rules. If you want to look at it that way, this book is filled with rules. There are commands in scripture. There are truths we need to obey. And they have a supernatural origin; they come from God.

I mean, Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” But the problem with counterfeit Christianity is it makes up its own rules, you see, rather than speaking God's rules. And Paul says they have a human origin; they're based on human philosophy, they're based on the elementary principle of this world. And he gives the example: “Do not handle, do not touch, do not taste.”

And it's very austere and esoteric and quote-unquote spiritual. So we hear that version and we think that must be the real thing because it seems so hard and so narrow and so demanding. And Paul says the problem is it doesn't do anything about changing your life. It doesn't do one thing to stop the sinful impulses of your heart because there's no power in human rules.

On the other hand, Hebrews chapter four says the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword; it pierces as far as the division of soul and spirit and joint marrow; it's able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. There's power in God's word.

In 2nd Timothy 3, it says, “All scripture is God-breathed and it's given and it's profitable for teaching, rebuking, correcting, training in righteousness, that the man of God might be adequate, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” Paul wrote to the folks at Thessalonica and said, “I thank God that when you received from us the word of God's message, you didn't accept it as the word of men but for what it actually is, the word of God, which performs its work in you who believe.”

See, God's word has the power to change our lives. Human rules just make us feel guilty or they make us feel prideful. See, if we keep them, we feel prideful. If we don't keep them, we feel guilty. But either way, it's a counterfeit. It's a spiritual counterfeit. So Paul says there's all kinds of ways to get it wrong. There are spiritual counterfeits out there and it leads to death. That's why Paul's so strong on this.

I mean, you think he's strong here in Colossians chapter two, you ought to read the book of Galatians. In the book of Galatians, this is how important this was to the apostle Paul. In the book of Galatians, in Galatians chapter two, Paul says, “Hey, listen. I don't care if it's one of the apostles or even an angel. If someone comes to you and tells you a gospel other than the gospel that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, they give you a different message, let them go to hell.”

I mean, it's pretty strong words. That's what Paul says. See, false spirituality, counterfeit Christianity, leads to death. But Jesus Christ gives us life. The reality is in Christ. The reality is in Christ. So this same passage tells us what authentic Christianity looks like and feels like.

Verse 17: “These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.” It's not the shadow up on the cave; it's what casts the shadow, Jesus Christ. All true spirituality has got to be found in Jesus Christ. There is salvation in no one else; there's no other name that's given among men by which we must be saved.

Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me.” Jesus said in John chapter 15, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine dresser. Every branch in me that bears fruit I prune, that it'll bear more fruit. Every branch that doesn't bear fruit, I take away that it might be fruitful. You're already clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. If you abide in me, you will bear fruit.”

If you abide in me, you will bear fruit. The way to experience transformation in life, the way to find fruitfulness in life, significance in life, is by abiding in Jesus Christ. He's the source of authentic Christianity.

In verse 19, by way of describing the person who's lost sight of this, it says, “He's 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 that Jesus Christ is the head. Now, this is a term that he uses in Ephesians and Colossians describing Christ as the head—the head of the church, the head of the body.

And the term in some passages implies Christ's authority. Christ has absolute authority over all rule, authority, power, dominion, every name that's named, not only in this age but also in the age to come. And Ephesians one says God's put all things in subjection to Jesus. But the word “head” also means source, like describing the headwaters of a river. It's the source.

So Christ is the source of all authentic spiritual life. And Paul says the person who's bought into counterfeit Christianity, the problem is they've lost connection to the head. So what that tells me is for me to experience authentic Christianity, I've got to stay connected to Jesus Christ. I've got to do everything I can to stay connected to Christ.

In fact, the word here for being connected is the Greek word “krateo,” which means to hold fast. Like I'm holding fast onto the back of this chair; I'm holding onto it tight. You want to make sure you stay focused in your spiritual life, you hold on tight to Jesus Christ. You're here today as a seeker, as a guest, you want to understand what salvation is all about, you grab onto Jesus.

You've been here and you've been a Christian your entire life. In fact, you're just kind of bored. Isn't there anything more? Hold on to Christ. Hold on to Christ because when we lose our connection, that's when we go south spiritually and we trade what's authentic for something that's counterfeit.

Because as the head in this illustration in Colossians two, as the head, it's Jesus who holds all the ligaments and sinews and skeletal structure together. And he's the one who causes the growth. That's what it says there: Colossians 2:19. It's the head who causes the growth.

You want to grow up as a follower of Jesus Christ? Stay connected to Christ. He'll grow you up. You want your marriage to grow up in Christ? Then you as a couple, husband and wife, you together stay connected to Jesus Christ. You want your family to experience all that God has for it? Then as a family, you stay connected to Jesus Christ.

As a church, we want this church to grow up and be all that God intends and his dream for us to be. There's all kinds of programs and patterns and conferences and books out there on church growth. You know what we need to do? Stay connected to Christ. That's it. And he produces fruit, and he grows us up.

Because the reality is in Jesus Christ. Verse 20, Paul says, “Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belong to it, do you submit to its rules?” We've died with Christ. Our life is in Christ. We died with Christ as followers of Jesus Christ.

We died with Christ, and Paul brings this out, this truth that we died with Christ is relevant to this counterfeit of Christianity because we don't have to be mindless slaves to counterfeit Christianity. We don't have to just kind of be lemmings who just kind of go along with the flow of the crowd, following mindless Christianity, because we've died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world.

We don't have to follow that false approach to spiritual growth because we've been united with Jesus and reality is in Jesus Christ. He says in Colossians three, verses one to four, “Since then you've been raised with Christ, set your hearts on the things above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things. For you died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”

I mean, Paul couldn't say it any clearer. We've been raised with Christ, we've died with Christ, our life is hidden with Christ. Christ is our life. The reality is in Jesus Christ. And so because of that, in Colossians 3:1-4, Paul gives us two commands. Two things we ought to do about it.

Okay, we understand there's counterfeit Christianity and there's a lot of ways to get it wrong, whether it's through mysticism or legalism or some other “ism.” It's getting it wrong. It's counterfeit. But there's only one authentic Christianity—that's Jesus Christ. And we've been connected with Christ. We've died with Christ, we've been raised up with Christ. Christ is our life.

So what do we ought to do about it? He gives two commands. Colossians 3:1-4. Two Greek words: “zeteo,” “phroneo.” “Zeteo,” seek after. “Phroneo,” think about. They're commands. They're present commands. We need to seek after Christ and the things above where Christ is. “Phroneo,” think about. We need to think about Christ and the things above where Christ is.

We need a proactive life where we are seeking after Jesus and thinking about Jesus. Anything that helps you seek after Jesus, you need to do it. Anything that helps you think about Jesus, you need to do it. Now, here is the rub. You may decide, as many Christians have before and many Christians are today, that there are certain spiritual habits, certain spiritual disciplines, certain spiritual lifestyle choices that help you seek after Christ and that help you think about Christ. And so you commit yourself to them.

And then very subtly you start thinking that's where the reality is: keeping those habits, practicing those disciplines, making those choices. And you start evaluating your spiritual experience based upon those habits, those disciplines, those choices. And you start evaluating other people's spiritual experience based upon those habits, those disciplines, and those choices. And guess what? That's counterfeit Christianity.

Those are just shadows because the reality is in Christ. The reality is in Christ. So while we should make choices, practice disciplines that help us seek after Christ, and while we should make choices, practice disciplines that help us think about Christ, those choices and those disciplines are not the reality.

Because let's say it all together: the reality is in Christ. If you're here today and you came to church trying to figure out what's Christianity all about, let me tell you, it's about Christ. And if you want to move from being a seeker to being a follower, commit yourself to Christ. Receive Christ into your life. If you're here today and you're already a Christian and you're wondering how do I grow spiritually, stay connected to Christ because it's all about Christ. The reality is in Christ.

Guest (Male): What a great message for all of us today. Pastor JP provides us with great insight. That is why we'd like to make it available to you on CD. Just get in touch and mention today's date. We'll send it your way for just five dollars. Or if you'd like to support this ministry, you can write us at Truth That Changes Lives: 23331 Moulton Parkway, Laguna Hills, California, 92653. Or give us a call at 949-916-0250. That's 949-916-0250. For your gift of twenty-five dollars or more, we will send you a signed copy of JP's new book, *Facing Goliath*.

Please join us every Sunday at 9:00 or 11:00 AM at Crossline Community Church in Laguna Hills. The address is 23331 Moulton Parkway, Laguna Hills, California, 92653. Or check us out on the web at crosslinechurch.com. We want to help you in your relationship with Christ. Please get in touch with us at Truth That Changes Lives: 23331 Moulton Parkway, Laguna Hills, California, 92653. Or call us at 949-916-0250. On the internet, you will find us at crosslinechurch.com. We hope to see you at one of our services every Sunday at our new campus in Laguna Hills. For more information and directions, please go to crosslinechurch.com. Please join us next time on Truth That Changes Lives.