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When I was a young child, I used to be afraid of the dark. I would look at the walls, or outside my window and see shadows which I presumed to be monsters. I didn’t recognize the shapes, and the sizes of the things seemed to be very large. It was a troubling sight to my young mind.
Later in life, as I became more mature, I understood that those things were just shadows without substance, and they could not actually hurt me in any way. The perception of danger was a false perception, and that the fear of them was doing me more harm than anything else.
This simple realization carries with it a spiritual truth as well – more than one in-fact, as many believers today are held captive by the fear of things which also are just shadows. Spiritual shadows that cannot actually hurt them; yet just as when I was held in bondage to fear of the shadows as a young boy, these precious believers are likewise held in bondage by fear of things which are just as false and empty as the shadows on the wall.
What I want to share with you today is the Biblical truth, that the things which try to breed uncertainty, fear and doubt in your life, are not the monsters that we make them out to be, but they are in-fact already defeated foes, which Jesus disarmed on the cross. You have been set free, and free completely; not partially free, but absolutely completely free, and the illusion of still being in bondage is exactly that… an illusion.
Our first scripture today is going to be Colossians 2:8-15:
“Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
For in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
And you are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:
In whom also you are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:
Buried with him in baptism, wherein also you are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who has raised him from the dead.
And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, has he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;
Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;
And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.”
Now, take a moment and study verse 8 very closely… It says, Beware! Watch out for this! Be aware that this threat is out there, and avoid it! What is the threat? Beware lest any man spoil you. That sounds like a pretty serious thing, to be spoiled… The Greek word there comes from the classical use of the English word, as we would use it in the sense of “spoils of war”, “to spoil an enemy” – so it’s saying here, beware, watch out, lest any man (or properly, anyone) would spoil or rob you of your goods. So the context here is we are about to learn how to avoid being robbed by the enemy You know that we have treasure, right? Not only do we have treasure, but God, through Jesus, has given us the entire Kingdom of Heaven (Luke 12:32). And we are meant to live in that Kingdom, and to share that Kingdom with others. There is power in the Kingdom of God (1st Corinthians 4:20, 1st Thessalonians 1:5). Even miraculous power including the power to heal the sick (Luke 10:9). This is the Kingdom of God in Christ, This is the Kingdom of Heaven, and this is your Kingdom which God the Father is pleased to give you. And here in our verse of Colossians 2:8, it says Beware, lest any one should rob you… the whole point being that God wants you to fully enjoy every blessing of the Kingdom He has given you… not only up in Heaven, but here on the earth as well – and while we are here, we need to know that there is a very real foe, one which the Bible describes as a liar, and a thief, and a murderer… and I encounter believers every day who are being lied to, robbed and even murdered by this enemy.
Let’s continue with the verse, and see how exactly does this robbing take place? We see that it happens through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
The first item mentioned on the list is philosophy, properly translated “the love of wisdom” from the Greek, specifically, man’s wisdom. Worldly wisdom, worldly knowledge. We see this type of wisdom on display from all of the religious Pharisees in the Bible. And we also see it on display today. The very first sin which led to the fall of mankind in the Garden, involved a desire for knowledge – as man ate from the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil – a tree which God never desired man to eat from, He wanted mankind to simply rest in Him in childlike innocence, but the pride of man and the lust for knowledge, caused mankind to lose bigger than we ever thought we would win. Man’s wisdom, as enticing and as practical as it might be is not the solution, and is listed here as the very first avenue by which we can be robbed.
The second and third items vain deceit and tradition of men are both closely related to the first… deception through emptiness, vanity. I remember there was a scam going on at one time on an auction website, where the seller was advertising “PlayStation 3, original box” and because the PS3 was a hot item back then and people were desiring it, they would bid high, only to discover that the item was indeed, an original PlayStation 3 box… it was empty… vain deceit. Likewise there are a lot of people today being spiritually deceived, not only with false religions, but also through the false religious practices of Christianity, the traditions of men, and the works-based, man-centered merit-system of modern Christianity, that places the burden on man and what he must do instead of on Jesus, and what He has already done for us. Indeed, all of mans works are empty, as Paul said in Philippians 3:4-8, and the wise Teacher declares in Ecclesiastes 1:2. Man’s works, like his knowledge, are not the answer, and listed here also as pathways by which we can be robbed.
Then we have the fourth item, the rudiments of the world. Or as we would say today, the origin of the world. There are those who have gotten so caught up with histories, and genealogies and the genesis of everything that it has actually stumbled them in regards to Christ, and that is the point of the end of the verse:
…not after Christ. These four things mentioned (and more) all have one thing in common, they can all draw us away from Christ, and you will see why that’s important now as we continue with verses 9 and 10:
“For in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
And you are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:”
You see in Christ, dwells all the fullness of God. Not just a little bit, not only some, but all of the fullness; and in verse 10 it goes right on to say that, you are complete in Him. Take a moment and think about it… in Christ dwells all the fullness of God, and you are in Him; therefore, that same fullness, also makes you complete. The Kingdom has been given to you! This is all of the blessing, all of the power, all of the holiness, might and majesty of Jesus Himself, given to you by His own free choice, as a gift, which pleases the Father for you to live.
Verses 11 through 14 then proceed to mention in detail every which way that you have been made complete in Christ. You were circumcised (which was an Old Covenant sign of covenant in flesh), however this circumcision is divine, done by God Himself, which is a sign of the New Covenant in that your “body of sins” has been cut off. That is not even part of you any longer! The old person was buried with Christ (verse 12) and your new man was risen with Him through faith in His work. Notice that this is already done! You are not waiting for it sometime in the future, you have it now!
Verse 13, you that were (past tense) dead in your sins and uncircumcised, He has quickened (or made alive) you together with Himself, having forgiven all of your trespasses.
Verse 14, He blotted out (literally, washed-away or obliterated) the handwriting of ordinances this is the Old Covenant Mosaic Law, the ministry of death as it is called in 2nd Corinthians 3:7. The Greek word for “handwriting” is a very specific one used only once in all of scripture: it is χειρόγραφον, which means written with one’s own hand, like an autograph. The Ten Commandments fall into this category. It is vital that we understand that Christ didn’t just fulfill and end some of the Old Covenant, He fulfilled and ended all of the Old Covenant. And then ushered us into His New and Better Covenant with Better Promises (Hebrews 8:6-7).
This is the key, and this is the point of it. All of the things that we read about in verse 8, will try to pull us away from Jesus Christ and the truth of what He has done. All of man’s knowledge, all of the vain deceit and traditions of man, all of that will try to draw our focus away from Christ and back onto ourselves. And most people get stopped right here and never most passed this point. Most Christians today are still wrestling with the Old Covenant and Laws and rituals, and trying to mix and mingle the Old with the New, which Jesus said would cause both to be lost.
However for the precious few, for those of you who are ready to receive all that Jesus paid for you to have, look at verse 15:
“And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.”
Not only can you avoid being spoiled, but in-fact the enemy himself has been spoiled! Indeed, Jesus spoiled principalities and powers, and even made a public showing of it! Their defeat is absolute!
All that the enemy originally took from us, has been re-acquired by Christ and returned to us!
What is the application of this? The enemy today, is already defeated! You do not have to fight a battle that is already won!
Now you might be asking: If the enemy is defeated, why do I need to beware of being robbed?
Well, that’s just it… the enemy is as weak and helpless and powerless, as the shadows on my childhood bedroom wall. But to those who are ignorant of the truth and unaware, they can still be held in bondage simply by the fear.
Most people live their entire lives completely spiritually helpless and powerless… terrified and held hostage by a defeated enemy, simply because they believe his lies and are afraid of the shadows. They still believe their works save them. They still believe they can be cursed. They still believe that God is angry with them, or waiting to smite them, or that He withholds blessings from them for a variety of reasons. They think that miracles have ceased, that suffering is a sign of holiness.
I could go on-and-on… but to summarize, they don’t believe what we have read today in scripture, that Christ has finished the work, given us a New Covenant with fantastic promises, and it is the Father’s god pleasure to give us the Kingdom… and it’s not a kingdom of mere empty words, but one of great and miraculous power.
I will end our study today, with a quotation from 1st John 4:4:
You are of God, and have overcome every evil spirit, greater is He that is in you, then He that is in the world.
I encourage you today: You are not striving to overcome. You are not waiting to overcome. You have overcome already. Because Christ finished the work. So don’t fear the shadows any longer.