Episode 313 - The Transforming Power of Jesus

Today, the brothers look at how the power of Jesus transforms us. Colossians 2:18-23

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:28

And welcome back to Two Brothers One Bible Podcast. That's right. You're listening to Two Brothers One Bible Podcast. I just thought I would just say that one more time. Okay. Two Brothers One Bible Podcast. You came up with that title, by the way. I did. Yeah. Have you thought of a subtitle that we could call this at all? Boldly going where no one should go. I don't know. Boldly going? I think that was uh taken by somebody, but that's good. I think so, yeah. I think that's already been used, but I like it. Yeah. I like it a lot. I like the way you think. I like the fact that you're always thinking, Peter, and that's what I enjoy about doing this podcast. So let me introduce us. And who are we? I'm Robert Twakefield. I'm Peter Sears. And welcome to the show. We are in Colossians. We are in chapter two. And so far, Peter, what is what are your thoughts about chapter two?

SPEAKER_00 1:22

You know, I I think whenever you ask me these questions, I I'm just I just love the way the the Bible is. I just the richness of it, you know, and and you know, I think, you know, when we first talk about doing this podcast, our our thing was let's do it slow, let's dig into it. Let's let's and I think you know, for most people when it comes to Bible reading, it's it's a checklist mentality. Right. I've got to read this chapter, and how quickly can I get it done?

SPEAKER_01 1:55

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 1:56

And our approach is we've got this chapter, how slow can we get it done?

SPEAKER_01 2:02

I never thought that that's a slogan.

SPEAKER_00 2:04

Yeah, well, maybe that's that's our tagline is is how slow can we go? But you know, when you stop and look, why did he use two words to say the same thing? Why did he say all or fullness or complete? And and those are in there for a reason. You know, if we're gonna say that every word is inspired, then we need to look at every inspired word.

SPEAKER_01 2:27

Well, sure. And let's let's figure out what he's trying to say and and try to uh you know expose that here on the podcast and learn from it.

SPEAKER_00 2:35

Yeah, and so that's that's what we're trying to do.

SPEAKER_01 2:37

I think that's fantastic. Well, we are in uh we're still in chapter two. We're gonna begin with uh verse 18, and we're gonna go to the end of the chapter.

SPEAKER_00 2:45

All right, here we go. All right 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. They've lost connection with the head from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God caused it to grow. Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why as though you still belong to the world do you submit to its rules? Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch these rules which you have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use are based on merely human commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, where their self-imposed worship, their false humility, and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.

SPEAKER_01 3:50

Alright, so that is the word of the Lord. So, right back there, starting back in verse 18, where we are, it says, Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualifies you. Now, uh this guy wrote that um that Paul is addressing mysticism.

SPEAKER_00 4:10

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 4:11

And so I'm not familiar with mysticism as a religion or as a form. So can you shed some light on that?

SPEAKER_00 4:19

Yeah, well, I would say it's any kind of that spiritual kind of thing. I I would put uh horoscopes, uh tarot cards, uh more of the the Far East kind of those kind of things.

SPEAKER_01 4:35

Okay. You would call that the mysticism. Yes, I would. Okay. Yeah. Um well, so he's addressing this, uh, according to this guy, and he says uh it talks about false humility, uh which is pretending to be humble when claiming that you've got some kind of special spiritual experience. Yeah. Um, you know. And you know, when you pretend to be humble, you just lost it. No, no, it's not that uh when you think you're humble, you just lost it.

SPEAKER_00 4:59

Well, yeah. I mean, that's what yeah, it's say I don't have pride, then you got pride.

SPEAKER_01 5:03

Yeah, I am one of the most humble people you'll ever meet. I would agree. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:08

That's what you can't say that well when he talks about the worship of angels, there's a well, there was a lot of elevation of of angels. It's kind of kind of like the saint thing. Okay, you know, if it it's I I would say today it's like saying you want your pastor to pray for you because pastor prayers have more power than anyone else's prayers. Okay, and so it's like, well, I'm gonna pray to Michael or Gabriel because you know they've got they've got clout.

SPEAKER_01 5:39

Right.

SPEAKER_00 5:40

And the reality is that the veil is torn. We have direct access to God, and so don't try to, you know, pray through Mary or pray through any kind of saint or any kind of angel, or you know, don't, you know, we go right to the source. Exactly. We we have that power and privilege now in Christ.

SPEAKER_01 6:01

Right. And and talk about the part that says the worship of angels disqualify you. What is that talking about?

SPEAKER_00 6:07

That word comes from these Olympic Games that Paul was very, very familiar. They they think that Paul is in his tent making would follow these games, and that's where he would sell his tents that that vendors would use, and and he would make these these tents. And so he this is uh a term for so you can imagine you're an athlete, you've trained, you've disciplined yourself, you're ready for this game, and then you've been told you're disqualified for some reason. Right, right. And so he's saying don't don't run the race in vain. Make sure that you're running the race correctly, you're building it on the right things, and that's in Christ. Right. You know, so don't listen to some fancy talk from somebody. Don't don't buy a cheap, watered-down gospel, don't worship anything other than God Himself.

SPEAKER_01 6:58

And he talks about that the very thing, Peter, uh, in this next part of the verse. Such a person also goes into great detail about what they've seen, and they are puffed up with idle notions uh by their unspiritual mind. So, yeah, we we see this in today's absolutely in today's you know, churches, whatever, uh we see these false doctrines because they have some kind of special insight. Right. Or or they can, you know, they can do something, you know, spiritually miraculous. You do you remember Ernest Angley? Oh yeah. I I used when I was a teenager, I used to love watching Ernest Angley. Yeah. Uh only because uh he would say, Thou foul and deaf spirits, come out, you know, and he would uh and then then then he would always say, Say baby. And uh so he was testing, showing how the Lord uh healed this deaf person. Okay. So he would say, say baby. So he would say say baby, and the guy would go, oh he said, say baby, you know. And every one of Jesus' miracles were instantaneous. Yeah. And he Ernest Ainsley would even say, now with proper therapy, he's gonna be able to say baby. You know, that that's a false it was no humility.

SPEAKER_00 8:19

It fought it's exactly what's falling falling in place right here in verse 18. Yeah. You know, and there's there's a lot of people in that category, I think. And and that's where we've talked about spiritual discernment before. I I had a friend, Jim Tardy, and he I he was a practical joker. Okay. But part of practical joker is really being able to tell a lie. And so he he would call people and prank them and do stuff. Oh, really? And one of the things Jim told me was if you're really gonna sell a lie, you gotta have details.

SPEAKER_01 8:53

Oh, that's true.

SPEAKER_00 8:55

Because that grounds it in facts, and you go, well, that's that makes sense. That sounds and so that's what Paul's picking up on here is is these people are going in great detail, they're talking about what they've seen, they're they're puffing, they're elevating themselves up into this, you know, I've I've gone into heaven and this and I've seen this, and I and so you're going, oh wow, and so you know, I when I see the word uh the puffed up with idle notions, I I I try to realize who I am and who I'm not. You know, because you say when we start first started Colossians, you said this is about our identity in Christ. And so I want to be strong in my identity. This is who I am, this is who I was, this is who I am now, and it's all because of Christ. So I want to know who I am. I don't I don't want to say, you know, I'm a I'm a sinner, you know. I I've been I've been born again. I'm I'm I'm a new creation. Exactly. But I also need to admit my weaknesses and and my vulnerabilities, and that the only power I have, but the only confession I have is Christ. Not me.

SPEAKER_01 10:09

Yeah, not not us.

SPEAKER_00 10:11

And so if if that's the the motto, a lot of these people he's talking about in verse 18 would have to step down and say, That's not me, because they're not humble.

SPEAKER_01 10:21

Right.

SPEAKER_00 10:22

They're puffed up. And so that again becomes a test for us about who we're listening to.

SPEAKER_01 10:27

Oh, that's a good point. A great great point about who who to listen to. Verse 19 says they have lost connection with the head, from whom the whole body supported and held together by its limit limit ligaments and sinews grows as God causes it to grow. So he's talking about they've lost their connection.

SPEAKER_00 10:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:45

Now when you lose connection, you know, we've all got cell phones. Yeah. And you lose connection to the cell tower. That's good. You know, you know, you're not tapped into the source. Yeah. And that's exactly what he's saying right here. You're not tapped into the source. You're not connected.

SPEAKER_00 11:00

Yeah. Well, you know, when we say to someone, you've lost your mind.

unknown 11:05

Right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:06

You know, you're saying you're not connected. You're you're not reasoning, you're not and so you know, we know from from what he has said that the head is Jesus. So when a church loses its connection to the head, they don't know where they're going. Right. So they're they're not connected, they're not in it together. And and he he expounds this theme several times about how it's the body of Christ. He does. And so uh, you know, he's just touching on it here in Colossians 2.

SPEAKER_01 11:39

So in in verse 20, he says, since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces, he goes on to say, Why do you submit submit to their rules? You know, Paul is here, he's just saying, you know, you died to Christ. Why are you still doing that? Yeah. You know, because he had come from a place where being the Pharisee of Pharisees, the Jew of Jews, right, he's seen that life. And he is amazed that these tendencies are creeping into the church at Colossae.

SPEAKER_00 12:09

Yeah. Yeah. You know, and it's a it's a great question. You know, so he's saying, in light of everything he's talked about, why are you still being your old self? Right. You know, I I've used this example before, but you know, um we don't we we tend to not to reconcile our bank statements anymore. Right. You know, uh if you got it, you got it. If you don't, you don't. But but say, you know, your situation is it's paycheck to paycheck. You're you're living on fumes and and you're just waiting the next purchase, your debit card's gonna say declined. Right. Well, unbeknownst to you, someone has put well, let's just say fifty thousand dollars in your bank. Oh, that's nice. But every time you use your debit card, you're thinking, uh I I don't know if I can get these groceries, or I don't know if I can get gas. Because you don't know what's been invested into your bank account. Exactly. You you're oblivious to it. Well, here's the same thing because of your relationship with Christ, your bank account is is been blessed. Oh, yeah. But you're still living the old way. Isn't that great in your flesh and in your carnality and and and doing the old things, and you're not living in the fullness and the power of Christ that he intended when he died on the cross for you.

SPEAKER_01 13:31

You know, it's it's so good that he asked that question. Why do you submit to their rules? Yeah. And I think when you I just think back on my life, uh, I think that I submitted to rules that were just silly. Yep. And they they weren't biblical at all. No. And and I don't understand, you know, I'm just so thankful that that God has has opened my eyes and just show me through, especially here in Colossians, yeah, that that I don't have to submit to those rules anymore. I have a savior. Yeah, I have someone who went to the cross for me, which these rules don't help me get any closer to the cross. Right. They're man-made.

SPEAKER_00 14:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:08

And so I I think that's just a great thing that he asked why do you submit to their rules? Yeah. Um, this guy wrote this. He said it's like a college graduate being forced to sit through a kindergarten nap time. Yeah. Right. Why why are you going to get why are you having a nap time in kindergarten when you're a college graduate?

SPEAKER_00 14:25

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 14:26

Yeah. So uh that's that's great. So he goes on, Paul in verse 21 says, he's kind of making fun of these slogans. Yeah. Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch. Right. Um, so I just really think he's just kind of teasing them right here at this point.

SPEAKER_00 14:41

I'm gonna go out and say, I think these were probably this is like a Jewish motto. This is probably something they had on the refrigerator. You know? Yeah. Uh you know, don't touch this, don't taste that, don't, you know, these are the the do knots.

SPEAKER_01 14:55

Right.

SPEAKER_00 14:55

And so we can really get caught up in these do's and don'ts. And and it robs us of the richness of what Jesus has done for us.

SPEAKER_01 15:05

Oh, absolutely. And you know, the the do knots are we we like them. Oh, they're a great singing group. They are they they really are the do knots are a great singing group from the uh 50s. Yeah. Don't look that up. Don't look that up. That's not true. Okay. But you know, I what I'm thinking is if if I've got do uh do not touch, yeah, uh and I say, well, okay, there must be a reason why I don't need to touch that, or do not handle, you know, or or the uh what was the other one? Do not taste. Yeah. Um you know, th I I can respect that, sure. But sometimes I wonder, well, why not? Yeah. Why can't I touch that? Why can't I taste that? You know, and and so I think Paul is kind of using that mindset as well in the in this way.

SPEAKER_00 15:54

Well, yeah, and he he talks more about this when he gets to the the letters to the Corinthian church and and about meat idols. He said, you know, for me, i if there's a brisket and you know it was given to Jupiter, I don't care. Right. You know, because Jupiter doesn't exist, but that brisket does, and I'm gonna enjoy the brisket. Exactly. But then he says, if it offends somebody because they say that was something that was offered to this false God, and and I don't think I should partake, he said, No, I'm gonna abstain. And so, you know, there are some things we should not handle, there's some things we should not taste, and there's some things we should not touch. Exactly. But that's not what should guide us. What should guide us is our identity in Christ and going to the Holy Spirit and say, How should I live my life? Paul says in in Philippians to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. Right. And so what that means is so what according to me and my relationship with God, what does that look like? So how do I look at the issue of drinking? How do I look at the issue of of smoking or or dancing or I mean there's there's a whole list of these things. What am I going to do? How's my faith going to be lived out? Am I going to eat the brisket that was offered to a false God?

SPEAKER_01 17:13

Right.

SPEAKER_00 17:13

And so we've got to answer those questions, and we got to do with with you know this constant spiritual asking of what is what does my life in Christ look like?

SPEAKER_01 17:24

Exactly. Yeah, that's so good. Yeah. That is so good. And I think he even touches on that uh in the very next verse. He talks about these rules. He says, 22, these rules which have have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use are based on merely human commands and teachings. Boy, how many times have we fallen into that?

SPEAKER_00 17:43

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 17:44

Yeah, yeah. And he's telling us these rules, they they don't have any kind of use other than they're that they're made from human hands. Right. Um, so I I I thought that was really interesting. Um verse 23, such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom with their self-imposed worship worship, their false humility, and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.

SPEAKER_00 18:11

Yeah. When we were talking about this this passage uh Wednesday night, someone brought up about your your Easter finest. Okay and how the traditions was always, you know, you gotta get the new bonnet and the new dress, and you know, you gotta be dressed a certain way. Sure. And it's like we're we're we're missing it. Yeah. Our our heart should be ready for Easter. And and in fact, Easter's every Sunday we go to church.

SPEAKER_01 18:36

Exactly. If Resurrection Sunday is every Sunday. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:39

And so we we tend to put the emphasis on the wrong thing.

SPEAKER_01 18:43

Yeah, you know, legalism, and that's basically what this is. Yeah, uh, legalism looks wise. Yes. I mean, you know, it it it sounds practical, it it looks it gives you your do's, it gives you your don'ts, yeah, but they all fall short because only Jesus can transform us to be like him. Absolutely. And so all of these rules and regulations, they're restraining sensual indulgence, is what he said in verse 23, but it doesn't transform us. Right.

SPEAKER_00 19:15

I think that's the big thing, don't you? Yeah, well said. Yeah, and that's what Paul found out when he tried to keep the Old Testament laws, it just fell short. But when he saw who Jesus was, it made all the difference.

SPEAKER_01 19:32

Made all the difference in the world. Wow. Well, we did it. Peter, we we got all the way through chapter two. Uh, your thoughts on how we got all the way through chapter two. It's just miraculous, Robert. They said we couldn't. Anyway, it's exactly right. Thank you so much for listening to Two Brothers One Bible Podcast. I'm Robert Lake, Peter Sears, and we will pick up in chapter three, I know, on our next podcast. Thanks so much for listening, and God bless you.