Colossians 2:16-23 (NRSV) Therefore do not let anyone condemn you in matters of food and drink or of observing festivals, new moons, or sabbaths. 17 These are only a shadow of what is to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. 18 Do not let anyone disqualify you, insisting on self-abasement and worship of angels, dwelling on visions, puffed up without cause by a human way of thinking, 19 and not holding fast to the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows with a growth that is from God. 20 If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the universe, why do you live as if you still belonged to the world? Why do you submit to regulations, 21 “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch”? 22 All these regulations refer to things that perish with use; they are simply human commands and teachings. 23 These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-imposed piety, humility, and severe treatment of the body, but they are of no value in checking self-indulgence.
Fewer people identify themselves as Christians. But they talk about being religious, spiritual, moral. Many people in Colossae (western Turkey) had grown up “religious, moral.” Today we might say: I do not eat meat. I fast. I am in church every Sunday. I help with the neighborhood cleanup. I help people into their car. I read my Bible religiously. I am a better giver than others. I do not smoke. I do not drink. I do not carouse. I rake my neighbor’s leaves, watch their house. I (do my best to) stay within the speed limit. I work harder than others, getting there earlier, staying later. I do not play computer games at work. I open the door for others. I (almost) never cheat on my taxes. I pay my bills on time. I am always running with the kids and at all their events. I volunteer at school (and church). Others are just takers. Whew! I must be really a good person. I set my goals high. BUT I really cannot say that I am successful in making things work around me. Much of what I do is un(der)appreciated. I am so tired and worn out from just trying to make it. Everyone expects me to do it all and never complain.
All of these regulations refer to things that will disappear, human rules for honorable behavior, but they can never really change me inside, lost, frustrated, lazy, angry, wanting just to be served and left alone. Religion is about rules and expectations that performance will yield the right results. Paul says that no matter what we do and how hard we work at it, we can never be at peace inside and control what goes on around us. Only Christ does that with the power of the Spirit that raised him from the dead being at work inside. He alone can alter the future by taking away God’s wrath against our arrogance. I do not want to be religious. I do not want to be spiritual. I already am a Christian. I get to love as a thank you to God, who more than anything else wants us to be at peace in what we do as we care for the others and the earth. Through Christ our Savior, Christ delivers us from thinking we have to find the right rules to make things turn out right. He works his powerful will through us, often in spite of us. We worship to lay our religious behavior down before him, to be removed by his assurance that we are his forever. Settled and then Sent! Be Christian, not religious or spiritual! Judge others as worthy of love in Christ, not by how they measure up to our human standards.
Pastor Tom Trapp, Mission Pastor
Walking the Emmaus Road with the Risen Lord
(Originally published in Emmaus Footprints, Vol. XVI, Number 11, June 2015)