You have DIED WITH CHRIST, and he has set you free from the spiritual powers of this world (Col 2:20a, NLT).
In 7th grade I memorized the entire book of Colossians in Bible quizzing. Since then, I have reread this letter to the Church in Colosse dozens of times. This morning the Holy Spirit prompted me to slow down and read it as if reading it for the first time. It often helps me to read it in a different translation so that my brain accepts it as new and fresh information. So, let’s consider as if for the first time that we have DIED WITH CHRIST and that, by his death, He has SET US FREE!
Knowing with whom we have died, Paul warns God’s holy people that there will be many “empty philosophies and high sounding nonsense that comes from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ” (2:8). Wow, no argument there! We are surrounded by a way of thinking that is slowly slipping its way into the Church. It is easy to avoid the crazier theories floating around but what about the ways of thinking that resemble what we have been taught but twist the truth, deceiving many? We need to be alert to the influence of the world when we begin to soften our stance on the things the Bible defines as sin.
Paul also says to beware of the tendency to serve a set of rules rather than walk into the relationship God plans for us, out of which holiness develops (2:16-19). When Christ is in us and we are walking in relationship with Him, the change in our life is a result of HIS righteousness, rather than a claim to our own self-righteousness. How easy it is to fall into this pride trap! Legalism requires a strong devotion to a set of rules and provides no help in conquering our evil desires (2:23, NLT) – it produces false humility and lacks value in restraining sensual indulgence (NIV). Or as The Message rewords it, it’s “just another way of showing off, making yourselves look important.”
Yet we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be made right by obeying the law…
My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die (Galatians 2:16, 20-21).
But Christ did die and we are ALIVE WITH CHRIST because we DIED WITH CHRIST. He has set us free from sin, free from all the world wants to enslave us with. The world would like to steal the riches we have found in Christ and rob us of our hope of glory, which is Christ in you (Col. 1:27). Let’s continue to LIVE IN HIM, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith and overflowing with thankfulness (2:6-7).
If you would like to do additional reading on this idea of dying with Christ so that we may live with Him, I would encourage you to read Romans 6. I know you’ve read it before, but pray that the Holy Spirit will make it fresh and new to you this morning, as if reading it for the first time