Live Free with Josh Howerton - Jesus is Enough for You | Ep. 77 | Tuesday May 23, 2023

Episode Date: May 23, 2023

Are you tired of feeling like you need to do more to be a good Christian? Do you find yourself getting caught up in religious practices and rituals instead of focusing on your faith in Jesus? In today’s episode, Pastor Mike explores Colossians 2 and why Paul's message about Jesus being enough is still relevant today. For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's Daily Drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. For more digital content to feed your faith, visit lakepoint.comit. Church slash daily drive. And now let's dive in to today's devotional. Hey, what's up, everybody? Hope your day is going great. And if it's not, then I pray our time together will lift your spirits and let you know,

man, you're not in this alone. There's a whole bunch of people, including some bald guy hosting a podcast that's praying for you every day. And wherever you might be on your spiritual journey, man, so grateful that you have a desire to grow closer to God and get to know him a little bit better. We are in chapter two of a little letter in the back of the Bible called Colossians, and we're just taking a few verses every day and unpacking this letter. it's all about new life. And we said in the beginning,

if like the books of the Bible were a season, this book would be spring. And in recent days, we've seen how Paul, the author of this letter, was writing to confront these false teachers that were trying to get these wonderful people in this church in Colossi off track.

I mean, these people were awesome. We've already read how they were living distinctive, faith-filled lives. They're overflowing with love for other people. I mean, this was the church. This was a group of Jesus followers who were really making a big difference in their community,

and Paul says, around the world. And of course, the enemy doesn't like that. He can't stand people who love God and want to make a difference with their life. He hates it when people find hope and meaning and purpose and unconditional love and truth. So he comes with lies. And a lot of times the lies are subtle. They sound pretty close. They sound almost right.

They even sound kind of spiritual. There's a measure of truth that makes the lies seem plausible. And these false teachers who were pressuring the good people of this church were telling them that Jesus might be a good guy, which was a measure of truth, but he certainly isn't enough. Now, granted, he said some godly things again, a measure of truth. He did some godly things again, a measure of truth. But he certainly is not God.

Come on, gods don't die a criminal's death on a cross. So Paul writes this, verse 8, for in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. Let me read that again. For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. Paul said, yeah, he was a human just like us in that he lived in a body. He experienced every pain, disease, heartbreak, rejection, temptation, but the one who was in that temporary human body was fully God, completely God.

So you want to know what God looks like? Check out Jesus. Yeah, I've said it a bunch of times, but Jesus did not only come to lay down his life for our sins. Don't get me wrong, that's a huge deal. But he also came to show us what God is really like. And when I started studying the life of Jesus, when I learned that God is love, I began to see that he's a God who embraces outcast. He fights for the underdog.

He touches the untouchables. He mends the broken, invites the forgotten. I discovered that he really likes like. screwed up people like me, wants to do life with guys like me. It was, I'm telling you, eye-opening for me, reading about Jesus and the way you interacted with people. And I would encourage you to read what are known as the Gospels.

This simply means the good news. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Maybe to start with the Gospel of John, just get to know Jesus. I'm telling you, it was revolutionary for me as a 17-year-old guy, and it still is revolutionary for me as a not 17-year-old guy. So Paul is writing here in Colossians to say, While Jesus was a good guy, he's so much more than that.

He is the great I am, the alpha, the omega, the beginning, the end. He always has been, always will be. He is a self-existing God of the universe over all authorities and rulers. He's at the top of the org chart, completely and fully God. And because you are connected to that one through your faith, guess what? You are complete, too. You don't need anything else. He is enough.

To all these people who were trying to tell these brand new Jesus followers, that Jesus might be a good guy, might even be a good person to pattern your life after. But it's got to be a Jesus plus something else. It's Jesus plus religion. Is Jesus plus rituals? It's Jesus plus self-discipline. So he claps back at these Judaizer folks by telling these non-Jewish believers that the ritualistic physical practices,

there is always a shadow of a lasting kind of heart surgery that only Jesus could perform. He refutes those who are saying it's a Jesus plus religious land and says, don't let them sway you away with their pious rules. And I love verses 12 through 15. Please go back and read them the day. He says, for you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to a new life because you trusted the mighty power of God who raised Christ from the dead.

You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. He canceled the record of charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross. It's a Jesus plus nothing plan. He is enough. And then Paul does, he gets on a roll.

Verse 16. So don't let anyone condemn you for what you eat or drink. a better person because you eat kosher or you're on the Daniel diet or the South Beach or keto or Whole 30 don't let them condemn you for not celebrating certain holy days or new moon ceremonies or Sabbath for these rules are only shadows of the reality yet to come and Christ himself is that reality those rules served only to show that we desperately needed a Savior and Jesus is that it's not a Jesus plus eat this don't drink this wear this celebrate this rest here

fast there, legalistic DIY, your own righteousness kind of plan. It's a Jesus plus nothing plan. He is enough. And gang, he is. I got to go on a fishing trip a while back with a bunch of guys, and one of the guys that I hit it off with was a worship leader slash Christian music artist. It was so moving one night around a campfire when someone handed him a guitar and asked him to sing something. Now he's a pretty humble dude, but he reluctantly agreed and sat there for a while just kind of pick in and tune in the guitar and then all of a sudden he just started out with one of the songs he recorded it just simply says in the morning when i rise in the morning when i rise in the morning when i rise just give me jesus give me jesus you can have all this

world just give me jesus you see gang it's a jesus plus nothing plant he's all you need because he is enough. See you tomorrow. Thanks for tuning in today. For more biblical teaching and worship, join us for our church online live weekend services on Saturdays at 6 p.m. and Sundays at 9.30 and 11 a.m. Central Standard Time. Also, if this podcast was helpful to you,

would you be sure to rate, review, and share this podcast to help get the word out? For more information about all digital ministries of Lake Point, visit lake point. compt.com. Church slash daily drive.