Oct 18, 2024 According to Christ – Words of Grace – October 18, 2024
The power of a phrase is undeniable. Marketers know this. Think of how many products you purchase and places you go that have a memorable slogan attached to them.
Colossians 2 comes with a phrase that clarifies what we are to believe and how we are to live. “According to Christ” is a category for truth and practice.
The Apostle Paul is sounding a warning against false teaching that troubles Christians, deceives their minds, and leaves them in patterns of living that are enslaved to sin. He says these ways of believing and living are “not according to Christ” (Colossians 2:8).
There are things not according to Christ, and there are things (truth, the way to relate to God, and ways to live) according to Christ.
“Not According to Christ” and “According to Christ” become two categories for measuring the truthfulness and helpfulness of all the messages we hear every day and every imagination of our own minds. These are also memorable phrases to keep in mind as we sort through the thoughts that guide what we do.
It’s important for us to know what is and is not according to Christ. To do that we need the Bible. We don’t live by phrases and slogans, but by truth. It is the truth that sets us free. That’s why we read, teach, preach, pray, and discuss the Bible. It tells us what is and is not according to Christ. But messages can be placed into the categories of true and false, right and wrong, according to Christ and not according to Christ.
That’s what Paul is doing in Colossians 2. Philosophies, traditions, and regulations of human origin that claim to lead to God and the life he intended for us to live are “not according to Christ.” The gospel that God reveals to us, that shows us who Christ is and what he has done to save us by his death and resurrection, that calls us to receive and walk in him by faith, and that provides the power of Christ in us to live, is “according to Christ”.
The message of Colossians 2 is to believe and live according to Christ.
This weekend, read through this chapter. Look for the “self-made religion” that is not according to Christ. Believe and rejoice in the realities of the gospel according to Christ.
Ask the Lord to help you keep these categories and phrases in your mind as you discern your way through the marketplace of ideas in this life.
I look forward to worshipping Christ with you Sunday.
-Scott