Colossians 2 - Why the "Self-Help" Movement Failed!

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2 I want you to know how hard I am contending for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally. 2 My goal 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, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 4 I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments. 5 For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how disciplined you are and how firm your faith in Christ is.

Paul's heart was always for the whole church. In this case he points out the church at Colossae, who he is writing to, and also the church at Laodicea. You may remember in Revelation, where John says that believers in Laodicea were "lukewarm", and unless they were "hot or cold", Jesus would spit them out of his mouth. The two churches were geographically close to each other. 

The cities of Hierapolis, Laodicea, and Colosse–all of which are referenced in Colossians 4:13–were located within about 12 miles (19 km) of each other along the Lycus River in the region of Phrygia. Two main Roman roads heading east joined at Laodicea and continued on to Apamea and Iconium. Though Paul almost certainly passed through this area on his way to Ephesus during his third missionary journey (Acts 18:23; 19:1; see map), apparently he never personally met the believers there (2:1). Instead Paul’s coworker Epaphras, a native of Colosse, first brought the gospel to the Colossians and perhaps to the people of Laodicea and Hierapolis as well (Colossians 1:6-7; 4:12). Even so, Paul appears to have held the same degree of concern for these believers as he did for believers of the churches he personally founded. 

The early heresies in the church were called "secret religions". They taught that one could receive special knowledge and wisdom through connecting with the spiritual world. This is why Paul explains that all of the mysteries and treasures can be found in Christ. It is through Christ that we learn everything we need to know about God and access all the treasures of his mercy and grace. 

He commends them for not falling for their "fine sounding arguments". Why was this? Because they were grounded in the Word of God. They knew what they believed and why, so they were able to recoginize false teaching. 

There are all kinds of false teaching out there today. Some even purport to be Christian, but upon further examination they don't preach Christ at all. They mix faith and works and don't fully trust in the completed work of Jesus on the cross!

Spiritual Fullness in Christ

6 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, 7 rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.8 See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces[a] of this world rather than  on Christ.

Paul points out that not only is it important to receive Jesus as our personal Savior, but to live our lives IN HIM. What does that mean? Paul says to be "rooted" and "built up" in him. To be "rooted" is a metaphor for plants and trees, and to be "built up" is an example from a building which has been fortified. 

 “It is not usual with the apostle to employ this double metaphor, taken partly from the growth of a tree and the increase of a building. They are to be rooted; as the good seed had been already sown, it is to take root, and the roots are to spread far, wide, and deep. They are to be grounded; as the foundation has already been laid, they are to build thereon. In the one case, they are to bear much fruit; in the other, they are to grow up to be a habitation of God through the Spirit.” (Clarke)

Once again Paul warns them to watch out for false teaching, which he calls "hollow and deceptive philosophies". Since these are made up by men, they have only power that comes from man. These philosophies over promise and under deliver, whereas God keeps all of his promises in Christ. 

Some of these secret philosophies in our day have been ones like: the New Age movement, "Dianetics" by L. Ron Hubbard, "the secret", "Scientology", and many others. They are all human attempts to tap into spiritual power. They are really from the evil one, as he is the author of every heresy that seeks to undermine the personal and nature of Jesus and the salvation only He can bring to uys. This is what Paul calls "elemental spiritual forces". Note these are real not made up. 

Many ancient mystery religions thought of the world as a dangerous place, threatened by spirits or spiritual forces they called elements or elemental forces (such as Paul uses the word in Colossians 2:8 and Colossians 2:20). They thought one was protected from these dangerous spiritual forces by either worshipping them or by finding protection under a greater deity or spiritual power that was superior to these elements. - Guzik

9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, 10 and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority. 11 In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh[b] was put off when you were circumcised by[c] Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.

In contrast, in Jesus all of the fullness of God dwells in a bodily form. Jesus is both fully man and fully God, probably the most important doctrine in the Christian faith upon which all other doctrines are dependent on. As we come into a relationship with Jesus, we have access to all of God. "Jesus is Lord" is the earliest confession of the early church. Jesus has authority over everything in the world. 

We used to be ruled by the "flesh", our sinful nature, but now we are given the power of Jesus when He gave us His Spirit, the Holy Spirit. Through the Holy Spirit living inside of us, we have all the power that Jesus had, including the power that raised him from the dead. We have real power, not the fake power the world offers through its hollow and deceptive philosophies and cults. 

Paul uses baptism as a metaphor for being buried in death and then raised with him through our faith. This is great imagery for discipleship. Each day we daily die to sin and are raised in righteousness, just as someone is drowned in the water and raised to new life in the Spirit. 

Dying to self and rising in Christ. Dying to self and rising in Christ. Dying to self and rising in Christ. This is the rhythm of the Christian life until our actual death will lead eternal life. 

13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. 15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

One of the main themes for Paul in Colossians is the "all-sufficiency of Christ" through what he did for us on the cross. On the cross, Jesus cancelled all the debts we owed due to our sin. The wages of sin is death and brought a death sentence upon us. But through Christ, we have been pardoned and set free. When Jesus died on the cross, he made a public spectacle against all the powers and authority which sought to steal, kill, and destroy our relationship with God. 

Freedom From Human Rules

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. 18 Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you. Such a person also goes into great detail about what they have seen; they are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind. 19 They have 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.

Because of the freedom we have in Christ, there is no reason to go back to legalistic rules that these false religions promised to bring one closer to God. Paul shows that each commandment, like the Sabbath day of rest, was a foreshadowing of what is to come. For instance, we are commanded to spend one day a week resting from work and worshipping God. This foreshadows the day we enter our eternal rest. 

By focusing so much on what you are doing for Christ it leads to pride. It leads to a sense of spiritual superiority, and causes one to look down upon those who aren't "as spiritual" as you do. As Paul says, "Pride "puffs up" but love "builds up"! 

20 Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules: 21 “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? 22 These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely 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.

Paul says since we have been set free from the spiritual forces of legalism, why should we go back to it. We are set free from the slavery of sin, so why would we submit to a bunch of rules and regulation, which are just a new kind of slavery. It seems as all those legalistic rules are pointing someone toward Christ, but they lack any power. They are driven not by true humility but by "false humility". 

Do not… do not… do not: This is a perfect description of legalistic religion, defined more by what we don’t do than by what we do. Christianity is a moral religion; it does have clear moral boundaries. But at its foundation, Christianity is a religion of positive action. - Guzik

 All such legalistic rules may have an appearance of wisdom, but they have no real value. Legalism doesn’t restrain the flesh; it feeds the flesh in a subtle, powerful way. “In fact, the most rigorous asceticism can coexist with insufferable spiritual pride, one of the subtlest and most intractable of the ‘works of the flesh.’” (Bruce)

Self-imposed religion is man reaching to God, trying to justify himself by keeping a list of rules. Christianity is God reaching down to man in love through Christ. - Guzik

Are you living in the power of the resurrection or trying to live the Christian life through your own power? How is that going? When you do thing for Christ do you look to get the approval and applause of others? 

If you struggle with this practice the discipline of "secrecy". When you do something for the Lord or practice a spiritual discipline, do it in private and don't let anyone know about. This spiritual discipline will free you from pride. 

As Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6:2-4,

"So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."