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IS JESUS ALL WE NEED?
COLOSSIANS 2:8-15

Pastor Stephen Muncherian
March 14, 1999

Our text this morning is Colossians 2:8-15. I invite you to turn there with me as I read. This morning we’re asking - and looking at Paul’s answer to the question - “Is Jesus all we need?”

I recently heard a story about a farmer whose horses kept slobbering all over everything. He saw an advertisement in a farm magazine offering a cure for this for a fee of $20. He scraped together the money and wrote asking for the secret. A few weeks later he received a very thin envelope containing a single sheet of paper, on which were written the words, “Teach your horses to spit.”

Now you say, that’s a pretty silly story - and it is. But, what’s happening today to many people is very serious. We live in a world full of deception - and that deception is very serious when it comes to our salvation - our eternal destiny - and especially our relationship with Jesus Christ.

A few years back - a Christian pastor - told me that unless I was baptized in their church - they couldn’t be sure of my salvation. A number of times now I have been asked, “Do you speak in tongues?” Now, I’m not saying anything for or against the gift of tongues - that’s not my point. Generally when I’ve been asked, “Do you speak in tongues?” or, “Have you received the baptism of the Holy Spirit?” The person asking is usually questioning my salvation. In other words, you’re only really saved if you speak in tongues.

I know that I’m saved. But there are times when we’re led to believe that we need more than Jesus. Do you ever feel like that? Like just knowing Jesus - trusting Him as your Savior - isn’t enough? We’re constantly bombarded by cults and philosophies and criticism and supposedly “spiritual” leaders that can easily place doubts in our minds - and lead us away from Jesus Christ.

Is Jesus all we need? Listen to how the Apostle Paul answers the question. Colossians 2:8-15:  See to it that no one makes a prey of you by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe, and not according to Christ.   For in Him - Jesus - the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have come to fullness of life in Him, who is the head of all rule and authority.  In Him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of flesh in the circumcision of Christ; and you were buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.  And you, who were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, (14) having canceled the bond which stood against us with its legal demand; this He set aside, nailing it to the cross.  He disarmed the principalities and powers and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in Him.

Paul warns - in verse 8 - be careful so that no one deceives you with their deceptive philosophy. There’s a philosophy - a wisdom of this world - which is trying to convince us that Jesus is not all we need. Its an empty philosophy. It promises all kinds of things above and beyond Jesus - but delivers nothing.

Paul says that there are three ways to recognize this deceptive philosophy.

First: IT DEPENDS ON HUMAN INTELLECT - putting our human ideas and wisdom above God’s truth.

Albert Schweitzer - who many people look up to as a great philosopher - scholar - and theologian - who wrote a book entitled, “The Quest For The Historical Jesus”. What Albert Schweitzer has said is characteristic of how a tremendous number of people think today - many of them claiming to be Christians.

Albert Schweitzer said that Jesus never claimed any of the things that the church or theologians have claimed for Him over the centuries. Schweitzer said to live in the spirit of love is to live in the “spirit” of Jesus - which is to be a Christian. Christian doctrines and creeds - what we believe - are all man made - they’re not given by God. In other words we can believe whatever our intellect and reasoning tells us scripture or God might be saying to us.

According to the main stream Christian religious philosophy of today - Jesus is not God in the flesh - He’s not the Savior - we really don’t need one anyway - and the Bible is a collection of myths and stories - not the truth of God. People who hold to a view that the Bible is the Word of God are a minority faith - a faith held by only a few poorly educated - almost mentally deficient people - who have no basis in scholarship for what they believe.

Paul says that this deceptive philosophy rests on human traditions. It sets aside God’s truth - and claims that the guesses and conclusions of man are superior to what God has said.

Second - this deceptive philosophy: FOCUSES ON KNOWLEDGE THAT COMES - DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY - FROM SATAN

Many of us have cable T.V. Have you seen the Preview Channel? Have you seen the adds for the Psychic Friends Network? The introductory free offer of 10 free minutes to talk with your “psychic friend.” As human beings we have a longing to know - to have answers to the questions of life. For many that means being in touch with a source of mysterious power and understanding that they hope will give them the answers they’re looking for.

For thousands of years - people have believed that the world was made up of four basic elements - earth, wind, fire, and water - and somehow these four elements were the building blocks of everything that is - the principles behind everything else. These are what Paul refers to in verse 8 as the “elementary principles” - or “spirits.”

Behind these four elements - people have believed that there are supernatural personalities - a deep mysterious power - that they can contact through some kind of dark, religious, spiritual and mysterious encounter.

In much of our culture today - we can recognize what Paul is warning us about: goddesses, harmonic convergence's, horoscopes, voodoo, some fraternal organizations, the new age movement, gurus who claim to have tapped into something mysterious and distant. The Bible is very specific - who they are in contact with is Satan and the evil ones who follow him. A Christian has no business associating with all this.

Third, this philosophy: DENIES WHO JESUS IS

Choose any cult - pick any false belief system - and they all have one thing in common. Do you know what that is? They all demean the glory and true character of Jesus Christ. The New Age - The Mormons - The Jehovah’s Witnesses - The First Church of Christ, Scientist - Buddhism - Islam - name any false belief system.

Either they claim that Jesus was nothing but a very good man - or on the other extreme - they say that Jesus is a supernatural being - one god out of many gods - who come into human affairs to teach us wonderful truths that we would never know otherwise.

The deceptive philosophy of this world has three characteristics: 1) it’s based on human intellect; 2) it comes from Satan; and, 3) it sets aside the glory and true character of Jesus Christ. And the bottom line is this: The philosophy of this world seeks to captivate us and lure us away from the truth of who we are in Jesus Christ - our salvation and life in Jesus.

Praise God that He has not revealed to us His philosophy so that we can compare and contrast and put it under the microscope of our own wisdom. God has revealed His truth in Jesus Christ - so that we can live confidently in Him.

In verse 9-15, Paul reminds us of who we are in Jesus Christ.

1. IN JESUS, WE ARE COMPLETE (2:9,10)

Paul writes in verse 9 and 10: “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.”

All of God is present in Jesus - all of who God is - His divine qualities and attributes - the very essence of God. And all of His fullness comes into our lives when we receive Jesus - everything we need for life and godliness.

What more do we need? What more can the philosophy of this world add to that? It may be that we need to discover more of what it means to have Jesus in our heart - that’s a lifelong process. We need to always be growing in our relationship with Him. But the point is that we don’t need anything more than we already have. We simply need to understand more of what we have already received.

Second, Paul declares that:

2. IN JESUS, OUR SINS ARE REMOVED (2:11)

Verse 11: “In Him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of your sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ.”

In the Old Testament - the Law of Moses required the cutting away of the foreskin as an outward symbol of participation in God’s covenant with Israel. Circumcision was done with physical hands - affecting an external organ of the physical body.

Now Paul says that our circumcision is made without hands. The foreskin of the flesh is a symbol of our sinful nature - our disobedience against God. When we come to Jesus - confessing our sin - and receiving Him as our Savior - God cuts the sins of our flesh out of our lives.

That’s what Jesus has done for us on the cross. When He was crucified - Jesus took the sin that was cut out of our lives - on Himself.

We have circumcision - not physical - but spiritual. Not external - but internal. Not partial - but complete. Not by Moses - but by Jesus.

Third, Paul says

3. IN JESUS, WE HAVE NEW LIFE (2:12,13)

In verse 12, Paul says that in baptism we have been, (12) buried with him and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised Him from the dead. (13) ....God made you alive with Christ.”

Last August - we were at John and Arpi's - using their pool for Vicken and Caroline's baptism. Before they were baptized, Vicken and Caroline shared how they had come to trust in Jesus as their Savior.

Then they were baptized - as believers in Jesus Christ. First, they were put under the water - submerged - showing their identification with the death of Jesus Christ - the burial of their sins with Jesus. Then they were brought out of the water showing their identification with the resurrection of Jesus - brought from the grave - into new life.

In Romans 6:4, Paul writes about the baptism of believers. He says, “Therefore we have been buried with Him - Jesus - through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from death by the glorious power of the Father, so we too might live in newness of life.”

Baptism symbolizes our new life in Jesus - a whole new basis for living.

Fourth, Paul says,

4. IN JESUS, WE ARE NOT BOUND BY SIN (2:14)

Verse 14: “He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; He took it away, nailing it to the cross.”

Put simply - Sin is no longer and issue in our relationship with God. It affects our fellowship with God - but not our relationship. God has fully dealt with all - not some - or most - but all our sins - nailing them to the cross of Jesus.

We need to acknowledge our sin in order to enter into the benefit of God’s forgiveness - but forgiveness is already there in the heart of God. Whatever our mistakes - failures - unloving words - unkind attitudes and selfish actions - they’re forgiven and no can longer condemn us. We’re free.

5. IN JESUS - WE ARE FREE FROM SATANIC POWER (2:15)

In verse 15, Paul says that Jesus has disarmed the rulers and authorities - took away all the power of evil against us - publicly humiliated the forces of evil and triumphed over them on the cross.

We have no need of astrology - the occult - psychic friends. We have no need to fear evil or Satan or demons - because we have a Power and a Person within us who is superior to anything Satan can throw at us.

If we understand who we are in Jesus - what we have in Him - there is no need to seek after the wisdom of this world. And there’s no need for us to be apologetic before the philosophies of this world - and our friends and neighbors who question why we should be so dedicated to Jesus - no need to live weak, faltering, or failing lives.

We are people of God - made complete in Jesus - whose sins have been removed and are free of guilt - who have been given new life - life which is victorious above anything that this world can offer or throw against us.