PT-1 "The Reminder" (Col. 3:1a)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/7/2017 11:29 PM

My Worship Time                                                                             Focus:  PT-1 “The Reminder”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Colossians 3:1a

            Message of the verse:  “If then you have been raised up with Christ”

            Paul is not asking a question here as the “if” should be translated as “since” making this a statement or a reminder that they had been raised up with Christ at the point when they became believers.  There is no doubt that this happened to them.  John MacArthur writes that the verb actually means ‘to be co-resurrected,’ so there is no doubt that this happened to them and of course this is a very important statement, not only for the Colossians but for all true believers in Jesus Christ as we have been co-resurrected with Him.

            Let us take a look at Galatians 2:20 another very important verse:  “"I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”  So as we look at this verse we know that we have entered into Christ’s death and also His resurrection as God has seen all true believers do this when Christ died and then was resurrected from the dead.  Baptism is a picture of this truth, both spiritual and physical water baptism, as the water baptism pictures this spiritual baptism which places us into the body of Christ as we become a part of the catholic church, catholic meaning all believers.  Once a person has been born-again and become a part of the entire church family then they are to then be baptized in order to become a part of the local church.  Let us look at Romans 6:3-4 which teaches the same thing as Galatians 2:20 “3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.”  Now as mentioned earlier this baptism is not water baptism but spiritual baptism.

            John MacArthur writes about what it means to have eternal life because of what Christ has done for us:  “By saving faith they [believers] have entered into a new dimension.  They possess divine and eternal life, which is not merely endless existence, but a heavenly quality of life brought to them by the indwelling Lord.  They are thus alive in Christ to the realities of the divine realm.

            “Consequently, Christians have an obligation to live consistently with those realities.  Paul delineates the specifics of that obligation in Romans 6:11-19,” and with that quote we will end the Spiritual Diary.

“11 Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, 13 and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14 For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace. 15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be! 16 Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. 19 I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification.”

4/7/2017 11:49 PM

Intro to Colossians 3:1-4

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/6/2017 11:17 PM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  Intro to Colossians 3:1-4

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Colossians 3:1-4

            Message of the verses:  “1 Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. 3 For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.”

            John MacArthur entitles this chapter in his commentary on Colossians “Living the Risen Life.”  These are very important verse from the Word of God and as we look at the reason that Paul wrote them to the Colossians church we will find out that they indeed are necessary for us to walk with Christ in our lives today.

            We have been studying the book of John in my morning devotions and lately we spent close to two months looking at the 17^th chapter of John’s gospel, a chapter that is called “Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer,” and in that chapter we see the word world mentioned eighteen times, and in some of those times it is mentioned Jesus is praying for His disciples, and later on for us to go into the world to spread the good news, but not to be affected by the world system.  The Great Commission found in the 28^th chapter of Matthew says the same thing, believers going out into the world to preach the gospel.

            The thing about this is that if Christians are to reach the world then they cannot be of the world and this I realize is a paradox, but true.  Jesus Christ was certainly the best example of being in the world but not being of the world as it was impossible for Him to do that since it was impossible for Him to sin, and being attracted to the things of this world system is sinful as John points out “15 Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. 17 The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever (1 John 2:15-17).”

            Our citizenship (believer’s citizenship) is not on this earth, but is in heaven.  We are actually aliens on this earth and our Lord Jesus Christ, our Head is in heaven praying for us as our High Priest, so we are to always answer to Him.

            John MacArthur concludes his introduction with the following, which will also give us an outline of where we will be going with these verses:

“It is only when we rise above the world that we can both appreciate the appalling spiritual poverty in which most people live and learn to fix our minds on heavenly realities.  Our blessings are in heaven (Eph. 1:3); the angels are there (Eph. 3:10); Christ is there (Eph. 1:20); and we, through our union with Him in His resurrection, exist in the heavenly the heavenly realm (Eph. 2:6).  Because the things most important to us are in heaven, we must not be entangled in this present world.  All those Scriptures provide the backdrop for Paul’s message in 3:1-4 as he moves to the practical side of the epistle.  He begins by calling the readers to that preoccupation with heavenly reality that is the hallmark of true spirituality, and the starting point of practical holiness.  Five features will help unfold the power of heavenly living on earth:  the reminder, the responsibility, the resource, the reason, and the revelation.”

4/6/2017 11:41 PM

PT-3 "Asceticism" (Col. 2:20-23)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/5/2017 11:37 PM

My Worship Time                                                                                  Focus:  PT-3 “Asceticism”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Col. 2:20-23

            Message of the verses:  “20 If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, 21 “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!" 22 (which all refer to things destined to perish with use)-in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men? 23 These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.”

            We want to finish up looking at these verses which speak of asceticism which means one who lives a life of rigorous self-denial.

            Asceticism is something that can be described as useless as it focuses attention on “things destined to perish with the using,” as described in verse 22.  Paul finishes verse twenty-two by writing in accordance with the commandment and teachings of men.”  There is no spiritual value in keeping the commandments and teachings of men because they are just commandments from men.

            Asceticism is impotent as we see in verse 23 for it has “the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body,” but it is “of no value against fleshly indulgence.”  The ones who practice it may seem like they are spiritual in their appearance because of their emphasis of humility and poverty, however it serves only to gratify the flesh.  Things have to be done for the glory of God, and not according to the flesh.  In Matthew 6:16-18 we see that Jesus warned His disciples against asceticism:  “16 "Whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance so that they will be noticed by men when they are fasting. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. 17 "But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face 18 so that your fasting will not be noticed by men, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.”  This perfectly describes what believers are not to do, and also what they should do.

            John MacArthur quotes a nineteenth century Scottish preacher, Alexander Maclaren who wrote “Any asceticism is a great deal more to men’s taste than abandoning self.  They will rather stick hooks in their backs and do the ‘swinging poojah’ than give up their sins and yield up their wills.  There is only one thing that will put the collar on the neck of the animal within us and that is the power of the indwelling Christ.  Ascetic religion is godless, for its practitioners essentially worship themselves.  As such, we are not to be intimidated by it.”  

            Now as we look at these warnings that Paul gave to those in the Colossian church, he is also giving us the same warning.  We have to guard against trying to do things on our own and not do them in the power of the Spirit so that Jesus Christ will be glorified.

We will begin to look at Colossians 3:1-4 in our next SD.

4/5/2017 11:58 PM

PT-2 "Asceticism" (Col. 2:20-23)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/4/2017 11:31 PM

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  PT-2 “Asceticism”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Colossians 2:20-23

            Message of the verses:  “20 If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, 21 “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!" 22 (which all refer to things destined to perish with use)-in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men? 23 These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.”

            First thing we want to do here is get some info from Dr. Warren Wiersbe and then we will get a quote from John MacArthur that I’m sure that you will agree is very unusual to say the least.

            In Wiersbe’s commentary he states that the first thing we need to understand about these rules that these false teachers are bringing up did not come from God.  1 Timothy 6:17 states “Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy.”  Now when I listened to a sermon from John MacArthur on this subject he stated that there were people in the Roman Catholic church that would wear something around their mid-section that had things like nails in it which they wore to bring about holiness in their lives.  When you compare that with this verse in 1 Timothy you know that that is not necessary. 

            Dr. Wiersbe says that “The commandments and doctrines of the false teachers replaced the inspired Word of God (see Mark 7:6-9).  The doctrines were what the false teachers believed; the commandments were the regulations they gave in applying their doctrines to practical daily life.”  Now we have mentioned many times that the theme of the letter to the Colossians was the completeness of Jesus Christ as He has provided salvation, sanctification, and victory for all believers and nothing needs to be added to it.  I am not saying that people have not suffered for the cause of Christ because many have given up the ultimate sacrifice, but this was in the will of God for them and they did not do it to add holiness to them for that came from Christ.

            Dr. Wiersbe concludes his comments concerning verse 21 “Many of us are quick to criticize the ancient monks, the Oriental mystics, and the Hindu or Muslim fakirs; but we fail to see this same error in our own churches.  While there are automatic connections between physical discipline and health, there is no connection between such discipline and holiness.  If we deliberately abstain from some food or drink to keep from hurting a weaker Christian (Rom. 14:13ff), that is one thing.  But we must not say that our self-restraint makes us more spiritual than another brother who partakes of that food and gives thanks to God (Rom. 14:6).”

            Now I want to give this interesting quote from John MacArthur to end up this SD.

“As already noted, the false teachers taught a form of philosophical dualism.  They practiced asceticism in an attempt to free the spirit from the prison of the body.

“The view that the body was evil eventually found its way into the church.  According to the church Father Athanasius, Anthony, the founder of Christian monasticism, never changed his vest or washed his feet (Life of Anthony, page 47).  He was outdone, however, by Simeon Stylites (c. 390-459), who sent the last thirty-six years of his life atop a fifty-foot pillar.  Simeon mistakenly though the path to spirituality lay in exposing his body to the elements and withdrawing from the world.  Their feasts have been emulated by monks throughout church history.  Even Martin Luther, before discovering the truth of justification by faith, nearly wrecked his health through asceticism.”

            All I can say about things like these is that I am thankful that the Spirit of God, through the Word of God, and through many spiritual leaders in my life have taught me the truth, the truth that I am complete in Christ, and for that I am thankful.  Who would want to spend their life on top of a pillar?  I assure you that would not be something I would want to do to obtain holiness when Christ has provided it already for me.

4/5/2017 12:00 AM

 

PT-1 "Asceticism" (Col. 2:20-23)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/3/2017 10:49 PM

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  PT-1 “Asceticism”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                             Reference:  Colossians 2:20-23

            Message of the verses:  “20 If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, 21 “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!" 22 (which all refer to things destined to perish with use)-in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men? 23 These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.”  (NASB)  “20  So if, through your faith in Christ, you are dead to the principles of this world’s life, why, as if you were still part and parcel of this world-wide system, do you take the slightest notice of these purely human prohibitions— 21 "Don’t touch this," "Don’t taste that" and "Don’t handle the other"? 22 “This," "that" and "the other" will all pass away after use! 23 I know that these regulations look wise with their self-inspired efforts at piety, their policy of self-humbling, and their studied neglect of the body. But in actual practice they are of no moral value, but simply pamper the flesh.”

            I have just opened up my commentary from Warren Wiersbe and so I want to quote from it on what he wrote for verse twenty as we begin this Spiritual Diary.

“Asceticism has to do with the rudiments of the world and not the riches of the kingdom.  Earlier we saw the word rudiments (KJV) and learned that it meant ‘the fundamentals or ABC’s of something’ (Col. 2:8).  In this case, ‘the rudiments of the world’ refers to rules and regulations about foods.  As Christians, we are dead to all of this because of our union with Jesus Christ in death, burial, and resurrection (see Rom. 6; Col. 2:12-15).  Though we are in the world physically, we are not of the world spiritually (John 17:15-16).  We have been transferred into God’s kingdom (Col. 1:13), and therefore we govern our lives by His laws and not the rules of men. 

“This is not to suggest that Christians are lawless.  A student is a Christian school once told me it was ‘unspiritual’ for him to obey the rules!  I reminded him that Christians always respect the authority of those over them (1 Peter 2:11ff), and that he knew the rules before he arrived on campus.  If he did not like them, he should have stayed home!  Paul was not counseling us to be rebels, but he was warning us not to think we are spiritual because we obey certain rules and regulations that pertain to the body.” 

            John MacArthur defines “asceticism” as “an ascetic is one who lives a life of rigorous self-denial.  In a addition to practicing legalism and mysticism, the Colossian errorists were attempting to gain righteousness through self-denial.”

            In verse twenty Paul asks a question to the Colossian believers that if they had died with Christ to these elementary principles of the world, then why are they acting like they are living in the world?  Then he gives some examples that they were following like “do not handle, do not taste, or do not touch.”  Now since all believers are in union with Christ they are set free from man-made rules that are designed to promote spirituality.  Paul stated that if one adopts a worldly system of religion, base on the elementary principles they are practicing asceticism.  Now I am not sure what Dr. Wiersbe name his “be book” for Colossians, but it may be “Be Complete” as that is the theme of what Paul is writing to the Colossian believers.  Well I just looked it up and that is the name he chose for the Colossian commentary.

We will look at verse 21 in our next SD.

4/3/2017 11:29 PM

PT-3 "Mysticism" (Col. 2:18-19)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/2/2017 10:10 PM

My Worship Time                                                                                   Focus:  PT-3 “Mysticism”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                             Reference:  Colossians 2:18-19

            Message of the verses:  “18 Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind, 19 and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God.”

            As we look at the end of verse 18 we see the words “inflated without cause by his fleshly mind,” and this is speaking of those false teachers.  Paul did not want the Colossians believers to be intimidated by them because of the false claims they were making.

             I just finished listening to the 8^th chapter of the book of Acts where there is a man in that chapter whom the Bible states that he believed the gospel.  However this is stated this man named Simon who was kind of a big shot in this Samaritan town asked Peter to buy some power so that when he laid hands on people they too could receive the Holy Spirit.  He was sternly rebuked by Peter.  People like to follow people like him even though he was wrong and that is the case in the Colossian church where people were being greatly misled by these false teacher because of the power that some of them were showing, even though I believe that this power came from Satan. 

            These false teachers were devoid of the Holy Spirit and so they were going beyond the teaching of Jesus Christ as seen in 2 John 9 “Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son.”  As Paul writes these men were not “holding fast to the head,” and of course, that head is Jesus Christ as we saw in Colossians 1:18 “He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.”  Jesus Christ is described in verse 19 as He is the One “whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God.”  If we are to grow up in Christ we must realize that it comes from union with Christ.  John wrote the following words that Jesus spoke in John 15:4-5 “4 “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. 5 “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.”

            John MacArthur writes “There is a tendency in human nature to move from objectivity to subjectivity—to shift the focus from Christ to experience.  This has always intimidated weak believers and threatened the church.

            “Today this brand of mysticism is most commonly seen in the charismatic movement—where Scripture is a distant second in importance to visions and revelations.

            “When such intimidation came from the sixteenth-century mystical charismatics of Martin Luther’s day, the great Reformer was very firm with them, clinging to biblical revelation and the centrality and sufficiency of Christ.  In particular, the followers of Thomas Munzer and the radical Anabaptists gave great prominence to the work and gifts of the Spirit—and to mystical knowledge.  Their cry expressing their supra-biblical experience was ‘The Spirit, the Spirit!’  Luther replied, ‘I will not follow where their spirit leads.’  When they were granted the privilege of an interview with Luther, they gave their cry ‘The Spirit, the Spirit!’  The great Reformer was not impressed and thundered, ‘I slap you spirit on the snout.’”

            Now we have been learning in this letter to the Colossians that Christ is complete, He is all we need for salvation, growth, and victory in our lives, therefore we should never listen to people like these false teachers that were in the Colossian church.

4/2/2017 10:35 PM

 

PT-2 "Mysticism" (Col. 2:18-19)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/1/2017 7:29 PM

My Worship Time                                                                                   Focus:  PT-2 “Mysticism”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Colossians 2:18-19

            Message of the verses:  “18 Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind, 19 and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God.”

            I promised to give a view from more verses that talk about the angels worshiping God, and so this is another reason to show that it is wrong to worship angels as the false teachers in Colossae were trying to teach the true Colossian believers.  John writes the following in Revelation 5:11-12:

“11 Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, 12 saying with a loud voice, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing."”

            So we have learned that the false teachers were practicing false humility and worshiping angels, but they were also taking their stand on visions that they had seen as seen in verse eighteen.  They were stating that they were seeing visions and as we even look at the cults today we see that some of them have been started by someone seeing false visions.  I got the following article from an online website which talks about the origins of the Mormon “religion.”

“In Fayette Township, New York, Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormon religion, organizes the Church of Christ during a meeting with a small group of believers.

Born in Vermont in 1805, Smith claimed in 1823 that he had been visited by a Christian angel named Moroni who spoke to him of an ancient Hebrew text that had been lost for 1,500 years. The holy text, supposedly engraved on gold plates by a Native American historian in the fourth century, related the story of Israelite peoples who had lived in America in ancient times. During the next six years, Smith dictated an English translation of this text to his wife and other scribes, and in 1830 The Book of Mormon was published. In the same year, Smith founded the Church of Christ–later known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints–in Fayette Township.” (From “This Day in History Website.) (Italics added)

            Here is what the Word of God in both Hebrews and also in Revelation states:  “1 God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, 2 in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world (Heb. 1:1-2 Italics added).”  “18 I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book; 19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book (Rev. 22:18-19).”  There is only one more verse in the Word of God after these two verses and so we see here that what God has written to us through His Word is all there is that He wanted to say to us.   The following verses I got from my Online Bible program which goes along with the verses in Revelation 22:18:

“De 4:2 “You shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.

De 12:32 “Whatever I command you, you shall be careful to do; you shall not add to nor take away from it.

Pr 30:6 Do not add to His words Or He will reprove you, and you will be proved a liar.

Mt 15:6 he is not to honor his father or his mother.’ And by this you invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition.

Mt 15:7 “You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you:

Mt 15:8 ’THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME.

Mt 15:9 ’BUT IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME, TEACHING AS DOCTRINES THE PRECEPTS OF MEN.’"

Mt 15:13 But He answered and said, "Every plant which My heavenly Father did not plant shall be uprooted.”

4/1/2017 8:03 PM

 

 

 

PT-1 "Mysticism" (Col. 2:18-19)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/31/2017 10:14 PM

My Worship Time                                                                                   Focus:  PT-1 “Mysticism”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                             Reference:  Colossians 2:18-19

            Message of the verses:  “18 Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind, 19 and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God.”

            We have been looking at legalism in our last few Spiritual Diaries and now we move on to look at mysticism and John MacArthur defines this as “the pursuit of a deeper or higher subjective religious experience.  It is the belief that spiritual reality is perceived apart from the human intellect and natural senses.  It looks for truth internally, weighing feelings, intuition, and other internal sensations more heavily than objective, observable, external data.  Mysticism ultimately derives its authority from a self-actualized, self-authenticated light rising from within.  This irrational and anti-intellectual approach is the antithesis of Christian theology.”  Ok now that we got a pretty good working definition of this word we will move on and look at it in the context of these verses from the pen of Paul to the Colossian believers.  We know that this letter that Paul wrote refutes the false teaching that is going on by the false teachers who have come into the Colossian church as they claimed a mystical union with God.  As I said Paul refutes them and he exhorts the Colossians not to allow these false teachers to “keep defrauding” them of their “prize.”  I believe that the prize that Paul is speaking of is the one believers can earn while on earth living for Christ and then given to them in what the Bible calls “The Judgment Seat of Christ.”  It seems like the false teachers had assumed the role of spiritual referees and so disqualified the Colossians for not abiding by their rules.  Now that sounds like what the Pharisees did to Christ, and just as that was wrong, so is this wrong.

            John MacArthur writes “Self-abasement” “translates tapeinophrosune, which is usually rendered ‘humility.’  The NASB emphasizes the negative use of the term in the present context.  The humility of the Colossian errorists was a false humility.  They were delighting in it, meaning their supposed humility was nothing but ugly pride.  It was like that of Uriah Heep, one of the most contemptible characters of English literature, who said, ‘I am well aware that I am the ‘umblest person going’ (chapter 16 of Charles Dickens’s David Copperfield).”

            This false humility was a minor problem with these false teachers as they also would engage in “the worship of the angels,” thus denying the truth that there is ‘one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.’ (1 Timothy 2:5).

            We know that the Colossian church was located in modern day Turkey what was called Asia Minor, and the other name where it was located is called the Phrygian region, where Laodicea was also located.  John MacArthur quotes a couple of men, that I will name and also quote as MacArthur writes “Commentator William Hendriksen notes that in A. D. 363 a church synod was held in Colossae’s sister city of Laodicea.  It declared, ‘It is not right for Christians to abandon the church of God and go away to invoke angels.”  He then goes on to quote an early Church Father named Theodoret who wrote “commenting on Colossians 2:18, wrote ‘The disease which St. Paul denounces, continued for a long time in Phrygia and Pisidia’ (cited in Hendriksen, p. 126).  The archangel Michel was worshiped in Asia Minor as late as A. D. 739.  He was also given credit for miraculous cures.” 

            As believers in Jesus Christ we know that the Bible forbids the worship of angels as Jesus told Satan in Matthew 4:10 “"Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’"” 

            In our study of the book of Isaiah we looked at Isaiah 6:1-4 which shows that the angels worship God:

“1 In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. 2 Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called out to another and said, "Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory." 4 And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke.”

            We will continue looking at other passages that speak of this subject in our next SD.

3/31/2017 10:47 PM

           

PT-3 "Legalism" (Col. 2:16-17)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/29/2017 9:19 PM

My Worship Time                                                                                        Focus:  PT-3 Legalism

Bible Reading & Meditation                                             Reference:  Colossians 2:16-17

            Message of the verses:  “16 Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day- 17 things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.”

            We have been talking about legalism for these past two Spiritual Diaries, and we continue to talk about this in our SD for today, as we talk about the Sabbath day.  Now we know that the Jewish people worship on the Sabbath day which is Saturday, and this is a part of what is in their law.  However the Colossian believers were not Jewish, but were Gentiles and so the Gentile believers worshiped the Lord on the Lord’s Day, which is Sunday because this is the day that Christ arose from the dead.  When we studying the book of Revelations a couple of years ago we read the following about the apostle John who wrote “10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day.” John was worshiping the Lord on the first day of the week even though he was probably the only one who was at this worship service.  Now as we think about the Jews worshiping on the Sabbath day we must remember that even after the Jews came to Christ that some of them still worshipped on the Sabbath day, but it is possible that many of them began to worship on the Lord’s Day as well.  You see that Sunday was a day when many of the Jews worked, as it was like a regular work day for them so it would have been difficult for them to worship on the Lord’s Day.  However that was for the Jews not the Gentiles and we can see that the false teachers were trying to bring these types of things into the Gentile church telling them that they needed to do this as a part of their salvation.  Before we move on I want to quote one more verse to show that the early church meet on the Lord’s Day:  “7 On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul began talking to them, intending to leave the next day, and he prolonged his message until midnight” (Acts 20:7).

            We have been looking at a number of items that John MacArthur writes about in his commentary to show “There is convincing evidence for that in Scripture,” that worship on the Sabbath for NT believers is not binding in the New Covenant.  Since we have looked at the first three reasons already I want to move onto the fourth reason: “we find no hint in the Old Testament that God expected the Gentile nations to observe the Sabbath, nor are they ever condemned for failing to do so.”  The Jews in the OT were suppose to be different than the Gentile nations in order for the Gentile nations to see this difference and then because of it have a desire to know the God that the Jews worshiped. 

            The fifth “there is no evidence of anyone’s keeping the Sabbath before the time of Moses, nor are there any commands to keep the Sabbath before the giving of the law at Mount Sinai.”  I think some get this mixed up because of the creation week where God rested on the last day of the week, but did not require people to do this until the law was given.

            Sixth, “the Jerusalem Council did not impose Sabbath keeping on the Gentile believers (Acts 15).

            Seventh, “Paul warned the Gentiles about many different sins in his epistles, but never about breaking the Sabbath.”

            Eight, “Paul rebuked the Galatians for thinking God expected them to observe special days including the Sabbath) (Gal. 4:10-11).”

            Ninth, “Paul taught that keeping the Sabbath was a matter of Christian liberty (Rom. 14:5).”

            Tenth, “the early church Fathers, from Ignatius to Augustine, taught that the Old Testament Sabbath had been abolished and that the first day of the week (Sunday) was the day when Christians should meet for worship.  That disproves the claim of some that Sunday worship was not instituted until the fourth century.”

            Now as we look at verse seventeen we read “17 things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.”  All of the things that we have been looking at are but a shadow of the things that were to come, however they were fulfilled in Christ.  The book of Hebrews is a good example of the OT laws that were a shadow of what Christ fulfilled and many commentaries on Hebrews have that word shadow in their title.  MacArthur gives us a few examples of things that were shadows that Christ fulfilled.  John 6:41 “Therefore the Jews were grumbling about Him, because He said, "I am the bread that came down out of heaven."”  1 Corinthians 5:7 teaches us “Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed.”  MacArthur writes “What justification could there be for demanding that Gentiles observe the Sabbath when God has granted them eternal rest (Heb. 4:11)?  Any continuing preoccupation with the shadows once the reality has come is pointless.

            “Paul’s point is simple:  true spirituality does not consist merely of keeping external rules, but of having an inner relationship with Jesus Christ.”

3/29/2017 9:58 PM

           

PT-2 "Legalism" (Col. 2:16-17)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/28/2017 8:15 PM

My Worship Time                                                                                     Focus:  PT-2 “Legalism”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                             Reference:  Colossians 2:16-17

            Message of the verses:  “16 Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day- 17 things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.”

            When God created man, man was perfect in his communion with God and had a desire to worship God because he knew that God had created him and therefore he knew that He was his God.  When sin entered into mankind through Adam and Eve’s fall man still had a desire to worship, but because of his sinful nature he could not worship God in the way that God desired him to worship.  Now because man still has a desire to worship, man comes up with rules and regulations to fulfill this need, and fulfilling this worship in the wrong way was one of the great concerns of Paul.  In Titus 1:14 and 15 Paul tells Titus to make sure that those under his care should 14 “not paying attention to Jewish myths and commandments of men who turn away from the truth. 15 To the pure, all things are pure; but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled.”  MacArthur writes “Romans 14-15 and 1 Corinthians 8-10 also discuss Christian liberty and the only legitimate reason for restraining it:  to protect a weaker Christian brother or sister.”

            Now we have gone over before in our study of Colossians what these false teachers were trying to tell the Colossian believers and that is that Christ was not enough that He was only the beginning and they needed to add to what He had done for them in their salvation and their growth or sanctification.  In the OT book of Leviticus chapter eleven we learn about food and drink as a part of the dietary laws and this may have been where these false teachers got this idea of food and drink.  However we know that Christ fulfilled the Law and the Colossians were under the New Covenant thus the dietary laws of the Old Covenant were no longer in force as Jesus made clear in the seventh chapter of the gospel of Mark:

“14  After He called the crowd to Him again, He began saying to them, "Listen to Me, all of you, and understand: 15 there is nothing outside the man which can defile him if it goes into him; but the things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man. 16 [["If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear."]] 17 When He had left the crowd and entered the house, His disciples questioned Him about the parable. 18 And He said to them, "Are you so lacking in understanding also? Do you not understand that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him, 19 because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and is eliminated?" (Thus He declared all foods clean.)”

            In the tenth chapter of the book of Acts Peter sees a vision three times in which he saw all kind of animals that Jewish people were not to eat because of the dietary laws.  Peter tells whom is talking to him in the vision that he had never eaten these, but was told to rise, kill and eat.  Peter was getting a message that the OT laws were not the same in the New Testament since Christ had fulfilled these Laws while on the earth.  Now to be sure this was more than about dietary laws for Peter as he would soon go into a Gentile’s house, which was also not legal for a Jew to do and it was there that he would lead the first Gentiles to Christ.  Things were indeed different since Christ fulfilled the OT Law.

            One more thing to discuss in this SD and that is what Paul writes about “festival and new moon.”  The Jews had many annual Jewish celebrations like Passover, Pentecost, the Feast of Tabernacles, or the Feast of Lights.  They would offer sacrifices on these days as the OT Law required along with the new moon which was the first day of the month.  The Jews had two different calendars, one was for their festivals and the other was political in nature.  Their calendar consists of 30 day months and I am not sure what they did with the extra five days that are on our Julian calendar as there are 365 and ¼ days in our calendar as we add one full day on the 29^th of February every four years calling it leap year.  At any rate Paul is saying that these celebrations are not to be celebrated anymore as they too were a part of the OT Law which Christ fulfilled.  The false teachers were undoubtedly trying to cause these believers to add these in their worship.

3/28/2017 8:50 PM  

PT-1 "Legalism" (Col. 2:16-17)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/27/2017 10:08 PM

My Worship Time                                                                                        Focus:  PT-1 Legalism

Bible Reading & Meditation                                               Reference:  Colossian 2:16-17

            Message of the verses:  “16 Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day- 17 things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.”

            I have mentioned earlier that I am reading a book by John MacArthur entitled “Slave” and that book has taught me a lot about the fact that in reality a believer is a slave to God.  Now there is a picture in the Old Testament of what all people are which is slaves to sin are.  The children of Israel when they were enslaved in Egypt for 400 years by ruthless dictator’s shows us what a person is when they are born, and that is being a slave to the cruel master of sin, which is called the sin nature.  We are as bad off in our relationship with God as we can be because being born with the sin nature making us slaves to sin. When Moses, through the work of God who showed the rulers of Egypt that He was indeed the One True God because of the miracles that He did caused the people of Israel to be free from their bondage of their sinful masters the children of Israel actually became slaves to the Lord who is a completely different kind of Master.  I believe that this pictures the new birth when a person accepts the salvation that Christ offers through the good news of the gospel and so we are no longer slaves of sin but slaves of God.  I realize that the word “slave” or “slavery” is a word that brings about a lot of difficult thoughts, but being a slave to God is the best thing that a person can be.  As mentioned this happens through the work of Jesus Christ on the cross who has provided complete salvation, complete forgiveness, and complete victory as we learned when we studied verses 11-15 in our last section.  Now if we have been completely saved, forgiven, and have complete victory in Christ why would we want to add something to this, and when we add something to this it is called “legalism” which is what these two verses speak of.  John MacArthur states “Legalism is the religion of human achievement.  It argues that spiritually is based on Christ plus human works.  It makes conformity to man-made rules the measure of spirituality.”  Paul argues this in these two verses.

            John MacArthur quotes a man named Gardiner Spring in his commentary, and Spring is a man that I have read in the past in my study of the books of Thessalonians when MacArthur quoted from him there.  Gardner Spring writes the following and with that we will end this SD.

“A merely moral man may be very scrupulous of duties he owes to his fellowmen, while the infinitely important duties he owes to God are kept entirely out of sight.  Of loving and serving God, he knows nothing.  Whatever he does or whatever he leaves undone, he does nothing for God.  He is honest in his dealings with all except God, he robs none but God, he is thankless and faithless to none but God, he feels contemptuously, and speaks reproachfully of none but God.  A just perception and the duties which result from those relations constitute no part of his piety.  He may not only disbelieve the Scriptures, but may never read them; may not only disregard the divine authority, but every form of divine worship, and live and die as though he had no concern with God and God had now concern with him.  The character of the young man in the Gospel presents a painful and affecting view of the deficiencies of external morality (see Mt. 19:16-22).  He was not dishonest, nor untrue; he was not impure nor malignant; and not a few of the divine commands he had externally observed.  Nay, he says, ‘All these have I kept.’  Nor was his a mere sporadic goodness, but steady and uniform.  He had performed these services ‘from his youth up.’  Nor was this all.  He professed a willingness to become acquainted with his whole duty.  ‘What lack I yet?’  And yet when brought to the test, this poor youth saw that, with all his boasted morality, he could not deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Christ.”

3/27/2017 10:44 PM

 

Intro to Colossians 2:16-23

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/26/2017 9:25 PM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  Intro to Colossians 2:16-23

Bible Reading & Meditation                                           Reference:  Colossians 2:16-23

            Message of the verses:  “16 Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day- 17 things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ. 18 Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind, 19 and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God. 20 If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, 21 “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!" 22 (which all refer to things destined to perish with use)-in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men? 23 These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.”

            I want to take a short amount of time to sum up what we will be looking at in these remaining verses from the 2^nd chapter of Colossians.  When a person is born again into the family of God it is because God had chosen them in eternity past to give to His Son as a love gift, which the Son had to come to earth to pay for their salvation.  The Holy Spirit then gives and effectual call, a call that no one can say no to, to the believer who them accepts the offer that He has been given for salvation realizing that he is a sinner in need of a Saviour to save him, and so the question is asked “what kind of work was done by the person to receive the gift of salvation?”  The answer, of course is nothing.  Now in Colossians 2:6 we read “6 Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.”  We have answered the question how we have received Christ, which is by grace through faith, nothing we have done in and of ourselves to receive Him, and so this is how we are to walk, to be sanctified.  Yes we are suppose to read our Bible, to study it, to memorize it, to meditate on it, to go to church to worship with other believers, but God is the One who then gives us the growth.  These verses tell us that there are not certain kinds of food we eat that make us better followers of Christ, we should not worship angels in order to make us better followers of Christ, and things like these that Paul was warning his readers about.

            John MacArthur writes the following to conclude his introduction to these verses and just so you know the chapter title from his commentary is “Spiritual Intimidation.”

            “In 2:8-23, Paul mounts a frontal attack on the Colossian heresy.  He has already dealt with philosophy (2:8-10) and presented Christ’s sufficiency (2:11-15).  He continues his refutation of the Colossian heresy by dealing with legalism (2:16-17), mysticism (2:18-19), and asceticism (2:20-23).”  We begin to look at legalism in our next SD.” 

3/26/2017 9:50 PM

 

Complete Victory (Col. 2:15)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/25/2017 10:05 PM

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  Complete Victory

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Colossians 2:15

            Message of the verses:  “15 When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.”  “15 And then, having drawn the sting of all the powers and authorities ranged against us, he exposed them, shattered, empty and defeated, in his own triumphant victory! (Philips).”

            Let us begin by looking at Hebrews 2:14 which is a similar verse but goes into more detail of what Christ did on the cross:  “Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil.”  14 Since, then, "the children" have a common physical nature as human beings, he also became a human being, so that by going through death as a man he might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil (Philips).”

            In verse fifteen of Colossians chapter two, our verse for this evening we see the word disarmed, which means that when He disarmed Satan He literally was stripping him, so Satan does not have the power that he once had because of what Christ did on the cross.  During the Romans triumphs over their enemies the Roman general would lead captives in a parade which is a picture of what is in this verse, what Christ did.

            Now once again it is good that we are reminded why Paul wrote this letter to the Colossians as some of them were being tempted to worship these demons, and as Paul writes this verse he is showing them that what would be total folly because of what Christ did to them at the cross.  Not only did Christ’s death on the cross cancel the believer’s debt but He also defeated Satan and his fallen angels, so Paul was able to write the following in Romans 8:37-39 “37 But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  Now because Christ defeated Satan does not mean that we do not have to, by the power of God wrestle against the forces of evil as Paul wrote in Ephesians 6:12, and then he goes on to talk about putting on the spiritual armor so we can be victorious in Christ. 

            MacArthur concludes “The death of Christ brings transformation, pardon, and victory.  That adds up to complete salvation with complete forgiveness and triumph.  No wonder Paul said, ‘May it never be that I should boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.’ (Gal. 6:14).”

3/25/2017 10:22 PM

PT-6 "Complete Forgiveness" (Col. 2:13-14)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/24/2017 10:25 AM

My Worship Time                                                                Focus:  PT-6 “Complete Forgiveness”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Colossians 2:13-14

            Message of the verses:  “13 When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, 14 having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.”

            Paul gives us and illustration of God’s forgiveness for when He forgave us He “canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.”  Let us look what John MacArthur has to say about the words “Certificate of debt” which “translates chirographos, which literally means ‘something written with the hand’ or ‘an autograph.’  It was used to refer to a certificate of indebtedness handwritten by a debtor in acknowledgment of his dept.  Paul describes that certificate as ‘consisting of decrees against us’.  Dogmasin (‘decrees’) refers to the Mosaic Law (cf. Eph. 2:15).  All peoples (including Gentiles, cf. Rom. 2:14-15) owe God a debt because they have violated His law.”  Why was this certificate hostile to us?  It was enough to condemn us to hell for eternity.  Let us look at Galatians 3:10 we read ““Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.””  MacArthur says “Exaleipho (canceled out) means ‘to wipe off’ like erasing a blackboard.”  In ancient times the people wrote on papyrus which was like our paper and also on animal skins.  There was no acid in the ink they used so if someone wanted to use it again all they had to do was wipe it clean, which is what Jesus did for us as for Paul writes “having nailed it to the cross.”  Nothing remains.

            I want to talk about the last words that Jesus said before giving up His spirit: “It is finished.”  I just listened to John chapter 19 this morning where this is found.  “Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, ‘It is finished!’ And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit (John 19:30).”   The word in the Greek is “teleo tel-eh’-o” and it means “paid in full.”  In my Greek/English dictionary on my online Bible program it says “Christ satisfied God’s justice by dying for all to pay for the sins of the elect. These sins can never be punished again since that would violate God’s justice. Sins can only be punished once, either by a substitute or by yourself.”  After a person who went to prison to pay for his crimes was released during this time period he would receive a paper with this word “teleoteleho” on it showing that his dept was paid in full.

            Ok we have one more section to look at which MacArthur entitles “Complete Victory,” and that section is shorter and only contains one verse (Col. 2:15).

3/24/2017 10:50 AM