Self-exaltation
This week's verses are on Colossians 2:16-19:
The Apostle Paul was the ultimate church growth consultant. He started churches all over the Middle East and Europe, so he got to meet all kinds of people. He also got to see all kinds of mistaken doctrines, character flaws, moral failings, and social upheavals. In these verses, he's talking about some of the things Christians value that end up dividing them against each other or distracting them from God.
Paul says not to let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or how you celebrate. In those days, there were people still trying to enforce the Jewish dietary laws as Christians. They'd command other Christians to follow the laws and celebrate the festivals in the Old Testament. "How can you be a Christian and still eat pork? Do you not read the scriptures?" "Why aren't you building a tabernacle for Sukkot? We're supposed to build tabernacles. If you're not going to build a tabernacle, don't call yourself a Christian."
There was nothing wrong with keeping Jewish dietary laws, or celebrating Jewish customs. A lot of people did it because they still had Orthodox family members, or because they loved being Jewish in a Roman world. The problem was when they'd hassle other Christians to do it, or make it a matter of righteousness rather than a matter of preference. (I'm a Gentile. Nobody's going to tell me I can't eat bacon!)
Paul also mentions people being "disqualified" by those who worship angels and delight in false humility. There were some Christians who focused solely on the supernatural, without allowing God to change them as people. They'd brag about what they'd seen God do through them, or what God had showed them. It was all about them. They didn't seek God so much as they sought signs and wonders to add to their portfolio. They'd say "It's all about God" but what they meant was "It's all about God's preference for us, as opposed to those other believers."
There's nothing wrong with being amazed by God's supernatural work. If God heals someone, or appears in a dream or vision, or reveals the spiritual world so people can see angels or demons, or does something none of us have thought of, there's no denying God's awesomeness! The issue is when people use that to disqualify each other from leadership or consideration as Christians based on it. "You don't speak in tongues? Well, then you really have nothing to say to us." "You've never seen a miracle take place? Well, then you must be a dead Christian." "You've never had a prophetic message for someone else? Well, then I guess you don't really have a relationship with God." It stops being about God at that point, and becomes a kind of "which one among us is the greatest" competition.
False humility is actually a collection of techniques and attitudes that are designed to hide pride, the opposite of true humility. Someone who has false humility uses religious terms and justifications to hide their flaws. "Who are you to judge? We're all sinners." "Yeah, I got her drunk and had sex with her, but it's good for her because it shows her that she lacks self-control. She should be thanking me." "Hey, I didn't do any of this. It's all about God. Nobody knows that better than I do. If I can be successful given what I have to work with, what does that say about you guys who started with more?"
A person like that often points to their accomplishments and spiritual experiences in order to divert attention from their flaws. Like all forms of pride, it seeks to place itself above others. The spiritual experiences become testimonies to the falsely humble person's greatness, not to God's greatness. They become measures of righteousness, not acts of grace.
A friend of mine was telling me this weekend about Christian conferences she's gone to where people were shoving each other out of the way for the best seats to hear a good speaker. I repeat it because it's a great example of the paradox of wanting more of God, but also wanting to be before others. They want a spiritual experience, but their focus is on themselves. They're piglets stepping on each others' heads for a shot at the teat, not brothers and sisters striving to lift each other up. What good is the gift they're seeking going to do for them if they don't have love?
Paul says people like that are part of the body, but disconnected from the head. As anyone who watches movies knows, once you take the head, the body is dead. He also says that the body grows and develops as God causes it to grow. If it's God who causes the body to grow, how can we take credit for any of it? Did we save those people at the outreach, or did God? Did we heal that man's back, or did God? At best we can say we did what we were supposed to. But is that something we have bragging rights for, like it was our idea? Which of those among us is greatest? Jesus!
As we progress in our relationship with God, we will run into people like Paul describes. Men today are the same as men were two thousand years ago. We will encounter people who use their traditions as a billy club to smack down other Christians for not being like them. We will encounter people who use the supernatural to puff themselves up over other believers. We will encounter people who delight in false humility, pointing at God not to exalt him but to distract people from their sin. We will run into people who ignore the head to try to build the body in their own strength, or who think they made the body grow themselves.
Sometimes we are those people. Do you find yourself getting angry at people for not practicing Christianity in the same style as you, or for having a different philosophy of ministry? Do you distinguish your place in God's family based on what you've seen and experienced that others haven't? Do you justify your sin based on the fact that you have built the church, or have a relationship with God, or have seen supernatural things, and not on the fact that Jesus died for you? If so, then you are those people Paul is telling others to stay away from!
Self-exaltation separates us from God. Paul describes it as an unspiritual state of mind, puffed up, and filled with idle notions. Is that what we want with the shrinking number of days we have left on this earth? Do we want to end up as a corpse separated from its head? If not, let's examine ourselves for pride and quit being the people to be avoided by those seeking God.
Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. 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 have lost connection with the head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.
The Apostle Paul was the ultimate church growth consultant. He started churches all over the Middle East and Europe, so he got to meet all kinds of people. He also got to see all kinds of mistaken doctrines, character flaws, moral failings, and social upheavals. In these verses, he's talking about some of the things Christians value that end up dividing them against each other or distracting them from God.
Paul says not to let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or how you celebrate. In those days, there were people still trying to enforce the Jewish dietary laws as Christians. They'd command other Christians to follow the laws and celebrate the festivals in the Old Testament. "How can you be a Christian and still eat pork? Do you not read the scriptures?" "Why aren't you building a tabernacle for Sukkot? We're supposed to build tabernacles. If you're not going to build a tabernacle, don't call yourself a Christian."
There was nothing wrong with keeping Jewish dietary laws, or celebrating Jewish customs. A lot of people did it because they still had Orthodox family members, or because they loved being Jewish in a Roman world. The problem was when they'd hassle other Christians to do it, or make it a matter of righteousness rather than a matter of preference. (I'm a Gentile. Nobody's going to tell me I can't eat bacon!)
Paul also mentions people being "disqualified" by those who worship angels and delight in false humility. There were some Christians who focused solely on the supernatural, without allowing God to change them as people. They'd brag about what they'd seen God do through them, or what God had showed them. It was all about them. They didn't seek God so much as they sought signs and wonders to add to their portfolio. They'd say "It's all about God" but what they meant was "It's all about God's preference for us, as opposed to those other believers."
There's nothing wrong with being amazed by God's supernatural work. If God heals someone, or appears in a dream or vision, or reveals the spiritual world so people can see angels or demons, or does something none of us have thought of, there's no denying God's awesomeness! The issue is when people use that to disqualify each other from leadership or consideration as Christians based on it. "You don't speak in tongues? Well, then you really have nothing to say to us." "You've never seen a miracle take place? Well, then you must be a dead Christian." "You've never had a prophetic message for someone else? Well, then I guess you don't really have a relationship with God." It stops being about God at that point, and becomes a kind of "which one among us is the greatest" competition.
False humility is actually a collection of techniques and attitudes that are designed to hide pride, the opposite of true humility. Someone who has false humility uses religious terms and justifications to hide their flaws. "Who are you to judge? We're all sinners." "Yeah, I got her drunk and had sex with her, but it's good for her because it shows her that she lacks self-control. She should be thanking me." "Hey, I didn't do any of this. It's all about God. Nobody knows that better than I do. If I can be successful given what I have to work with, what does that say about you guys who started with more?"
A person like that often points to their accomplishments and spiritual experiences in order to divert attention from their flaws. Like all forms of pride, it seeks to place itself above others. The spiritual experiences become testimonies to the falsely humble person's greatness, not to God's greatness. They become measures of righteousness, not acts of grace.
A friend of mine was telling me this weekend about Christian conferences she's gone to where people were shoving each other out of the way for the best seats to hear a good speaker. I repeat it because it's a great example of the paradox of wanting more of God, but also wanting to be before others. They want a spiritual experience, but their focus is on themselves. They're piglets stepping on each others' heads for a shot at the teat, not brothers and sisters striving to lift each other up. What good is the gift they're seeking going to do for them if they don't have love?
Paul says people like that are part of the body, but disconnected from the head. As anyone who watches movies knows, once you take the head, the body is dead. He also says that the body grows and develops as God causes it to grow. If it's God who causes the body to grow, how can we take credit for any of it? Did we save those people at the outreach, or did God? Did we heal that man's back, or did God? At best we can say we did what we were supposed to. But is that something we have bragging rights for, like it was our idea? Which of those among us is greatest? Jesus!
As we progress in our relationship with God, we will run into people like Paul describes. Men today are the same as men were two thousand years ago. We will encounter people who use their traditions as a billy club to smack down other Christians for not being like them. We will encounter people who use the supernatural to puff themselves up over other believers. We will encounter people who delight in false humility, pointing at God not to exalt him but to distract people from their sin. We will run into people who ignore the head to try to build the body in their own strength, or who think they made the body grow themselves.
Sometimes we are those people. Do you find yourself getting angry at people for not practicing Christianity in the same style as you, or for having a different philosophy of ministry? Do you distinguish your place in God's family based on what you've seen and experienced that others haven't? Do you justify your sin based on the fact that you have built the church, or have a relationship with God, or have seen supernatural things, and not on the fact that Jesus died for you? If so, then you are those people Paul is telling others to stay away from!
Self-exaltation separates us from God. Paul describes it as an unspiritual state of mind, puffed up, and filled with idle notions. Is that what we want with the shrinking number of days we have left on this earth? Do we want to end up as a corpse separated from its head? If not, let's examine ourselves for pride and quit being the people to be avoided by those seeking God.
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