JESUS IS ADEQUATE. JESUS IS ENOUGH. JESUS IS ALL YOU NEED.

JESUS IS ADEQUATE. JESUS IS ENOUGH. JESUS IS ALL YOU NEED.

Is it possible that some Christians in some Christian churches and leaders of some Christian congregations today are actually practicing aspects of faith to which the apostle Paul would object?

Paul maintained tenaciously that Jesus Christ is entirely adequate and nothing more than a faith relationship with Christ is required for admission to the presence of God the Father and a life with God beyond this earthly time. Sometimes church leaders, programs and practices which should remain supportive of the primary focus upon Christ, expect a loyalty that implies the relationship with Christ is dependent upon these ancillary aspects.

 Here is the way Paul talked. When Paul wrote to the believers in Colossae, a group of new followers of Christ whom he had never met, he expressed concern for them. He learned about them from one of his close friends named Epaphras, who was a Colossian and who was a founding member of the Colossian church.

Consequently Paul wrote to warn these new believers about heresy that he suspected was being propagated in that region. He didn’t want the Colossians to become confused or to have their new faith encumbered by inaccurate teaching and unnecessary customs.

Paul cautioned them about ceremonialism, the imposition of strict rules about food and drink, about festivals and about circumcision. He alerted them to asceticism with its austere restrictions about handling, tasting and touching certain things. He advised them against worshipping angels. He alerted them to philosophy that implied secret knowledge. Paul also cautioned them against reliance upon human wisdom and traditions.

In order to accomplish this contradiction of false teaching, Paul exalted Jesus Christ as the persona of God, the completeness of God in human form, the Creator of the universe, the preexistent sustainer of everything, the numero uno of resurrection, the supreme head of the church, the reconciler of everyone who comes to God through faith in Christ. Jesus is completely adequate.

Ceremonialism - Colossians 2: 16 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. 17 These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.

Colossians 2:11 In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ…

Asceticism – Colossians 2:20 Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules: 21 “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? 22 These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings. 23 Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.

Angel Worship – Colossians 2:18 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.

Secret Knowledge – Colossians 2:18b-19 Such a person also goes into great detail about what they have seen; they are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind. 19 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. Colossians 2:2b-3 …know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 4 I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments.

Reliance in human wisdom and tradition -  Colossians 2:8 See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces[a] of this world rather than on Christ.

                                

THE ADEQUACY OF CHRIST –

Christ is the Image of God - 15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

Christ is the Creator - 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.

Christ is the preexistent sustainer of everything - 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

Christ is the head of the church - 18 And he is the head of the body, the church;

Christ is the numero uno of resurrection – 18 he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.

Christ is the fullness of deity in bodily form - 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him,

Christ is the reconciler - 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

Jesus is completely adequate.