THINGS THAT ARE ABOVE Devotion 1 of 25 When the people of God are threatened with erroneous teaching, what practical approaches are to be taken? How do the children of God protect themselves? How can they avoid deception, and its subsequent diversion from the Son of God? The solution is now set before us. It will not come in the form of rules and regulations, for the Spirit has already established that is not the manner of the kingdom. Man's way is to set up procedures, disciplines, and routines. The way of the Kingdom is higher. It is not a manner that is according to this world, or driven by the wisdom of men. -- Tomorrow:
"If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory" (Col 3:1-4)
The reasoning that follows is founded upon the very real changes that have been wrought within us in salvation. It is who we are IN CHRIST that is the secret to fulfilling the requirements of spiritual life. Ponder how this has been emphasized in the first two chapters of Colossians. The Spirit has laid a solid groundwork for the teaching and admonition that follows.
1. The Gospel has born fruit in them, "as it has in all the world" (1:5).
2. The Father "hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light" (1:12).
3. God has "delivered us from the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son" (1:13).
4. In Christ we "have redemption, even the forgiveness of sins" (1:14).
5. God has reconciled "we who sometime were alienated and enemies in our mind by wicked works" (1:21).
6. Christ "in you is the hope of glory" (1:27).
7. "Ye are complete in Him" (2:10).
8. We have been "circumcised with the circumcision of Christ . . . in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh" (2:11-12).
9. God has "quickened us together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses" (2:13).
10. The "handwriting of ordinances that was against us," has been blotted out, being nailed to Christ's cross (2:14).
11. Principalities and powers that once held us captive have been "spoiled" by Christ, as He triumphed over them in His cross (2:15).
In view of these realities, and the completeness effected in Christ Jesus, we have solemnly been exhorted to do the following:
1. Do not allow any man to judge you in respect to food and drink, feasts, new moons, or sabbaths (2:16-17), which are shadows of things to come. The real substance is found in Christ alone. These things cannot be bound upon those in Christ as though they were living in the era of shadows.
2. Do not allow any man to rob you of your reward by drawing you into self-imposed humility, and the worshiping of beings that are under Christ (2:18). Fleshly disciplines, though highly regarded by men, are impotent in matters pertaining to life and godliness.
3. In drawing our attention to the thorough indispensability and adequacy of the Lord Jesus, the Spirit accents the essentiality of a connection with Him. There can be no spiritual life or Divine acceptance independently of a vital connection with Christ.
4. Those who deliver unprofitable messages do so because they are not connected to the Head (2:19a). Powerless preaching and teaching are not coincidental. They are the direct result of being detached from the Head of the church, Jesus Christ the Lord.
5. Nourishment is ministered by Jesus to the various members of the body at the point of their connection with Him, and with one another (2:19b). There is no such thing as spiritual growth and advance that ignores the members of Christ's body.
6. If we are dead with Christ, it is folly to be subject to ordinances originated by men (2:20-22). The need for fleshly regimentation is evidence that the individual has not died with Jesus, and thus has not been raised into newness of life by God.
7. Fleshly regimens have a show of wisdom, emphasizing routine and severe discipline of the body. Yet, they cannot take away the desire to sin, nor produce a hatred of it (2:23). The issue is not what men DO, but what they ARE. That is what determines what they do.
This series of devotions will build upon these foundational affirmations.
PRAYER POINT: Father, in the name of Jesus, I thank You for a better covenant that is founded upon better promises.