Ron Dunn Podcast - The Sufficiency of Christ - Part 2

Episode Date: April 2, 2014

You are listening to the Ron Dunn Podcast. Ron Dunn is a well-known author and was one of the most in-demand preachers during the latter part of the 20th century. He led Bible studies all over the United States, Europe, and South Africa. For more information and resources from Ron Dunn, please visit rondunn.com. I want you to open your Bibles tonight to the book of Colossians chapter 1. The book of Colossians chapter 1. And I'm going to read beginning with verse 25.

And read through the 6th verse or the 7th verse of Colossians chapter 2. The second chapter of Colossians, I must confess to you, was for me, for many years, a very, very puzzling chapter. I never could seem to grasp exactly what it was. That was the theme of the chapter and what Paul was trying to say until recently. And I feel that God has something very special to me, he said, had something very special to me to say. And I want us to begin reading with the first chapter. We'll begin in verse 25 where Paul is describing his ministry. And he says in chapter, excuse me, it is chapter 20, yes, 25 is right. He says, I 25, he says,

I have become its servant, that is the gospel servant, by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness, the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints, to whom God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. To this end,

I labor, struggling with all his energy energy which so powerfully works in me. Now he gives an illustration of that struggle. He says in the 29th verse, I am struggling. I am struggling with all of his energy. And now he gives us an illustration of that. In chapter 2, verse 1, I want you to know how much I am struggling for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not met me personally. My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love so that

they may have the full riches of complete understanding in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments. For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how orderly you are and how firm your faith in Christ is.

So then, just as you have received Christ Jesus as Lord, walk in him or continue to live in him, having been rooted and now being built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught and overflowing with thankfulness. In 1978, a psychiatrist by the name of M. Scott Peck wrote a book called The Road Less Traveled. It didn't make much of a splash when it first came out, but ever since it was issued in its paperback version, it has been on

the New York Times bestseller list for nine years, every week for nine years, and a phenomenal record out doing any other book ever that's been on that list Nine years But you know the thing that interests me about that is the way he opens that book He begins that book with three simple words life is Difficult well, I could have said that I mean, you know You talk about an understatement, that has to be the understatement of the year,

or the nine years. And yet it's interesting to me that that book, which has sold so much and has reached so many people, it opens with those three little words. Life is difficult I think I would like to add a couple of words to that for myself the Christian life is difficult it's almost impossible at times the Christian life is a struggle, if it is anything at all. And I think that's what Paul is talking to us about in this passage of Scripture. Now, it is important that we realize that Paul is in prison at Rome, and yet he's still struggling.

He's still in conflict. He's still waging warfare. Even though he is bound in body, he is not bound in spirit. And even though he is sequestered away in a prison, yet he is still struggling, struggling, struggling. And a part of that struggle is for these Christians at Colossae and Laodicea and those regions around. He said, I want you to know how much I am struggling for you.

I'm struggling for you. What's the struggle all about? Why is that life so difficult? Notice how the apostle puts it. He says, I am struggling for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not met me personally. Now here's his purpose. My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart

and united in love so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding in so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely Christ, in whom hidden are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Boy, that's a mouthful, isn't it? Basically what Paul is saying is this. He said, I am struggling for you. I'm going through great combat for you because I want you to come to know the fullness of God in Christ Jesus. Basically, simply that's what he's saying. He's saying, I want you to come to know the fullness of God in Christ Jesus. Basically, simply that's what he's saying. He's saying, I want you who have begun in Christ, I want you to stay in him, and I want you to be perfected.

He says in that first chapter we read a moment ago, he said, my intention is to bring every person perfect, absolutely perfect into the presence of God. Now there he does not mean, of course, sinless, but the word perfect has the idea of having reached its goal, of having come to the full maturity that was intended. Paul says, this is what I'm struggling for. I want you who have started with Christ to stay with him,

and I want you to come to know the fullness of God that is in Christ. I want you to know how to get from here, the initial part of your salvation to there the full and immature part of your salvation and that's a struggle and you know it is it's a lot easier to get saved than it is to grow in Christ did you know that it is it's a lot easier to evangelize somebody than it is to edify somebody. It's a lot easier to win somebody to Christ than it is to take that person who has been won to Christ

and to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Well, of course it is. Just like it's a lot easier to give birth to a child, and I'm not saying it's easy, I'm saying a lot easier to give birth to a child, and I'm not saying it's easy, I'm saying it's easier to give birth to a child than it is to bring that child up in the world. If the only pain in childbearing was that immediate pain in bringing that child into the world,

but that's not the only pain. That lasts for hours. But the pain and the struggle of bringing that child up to maturity in the world, that is a lifetime of struggling and a lifetime of not only joy but also struggle, also pain. It's one thing to bring a child up in the world. It's another thing to grow that child in the world.

And it's one thing to win a person to Jesus Christ, introduce them to the truth, but it's another thing for them to continue in that truth and come to the fullness of knowledge that is in Christ Jesus. So the real question really is how do I get there? I confess to you I was thinking this afternoon as I was reading through some material and reading the Bible, I confess to you I've been saved since I was nine years old. Well, that's been a long time. I was saved in 1945. That's been a good while ago. You know, I thought I'd be farther along by now than I am.

And I sometimes wonder, how long is it going to take me to get to where I want to be in the Lord? Have you ever thought about that? Have you ever wondered about that? Have you ever wondered why it is that even though you've been saved so many years, yet you find yourself still struggling, still struggling, still short of what you know God wants you to be? I think that's one reason sometimes

that we're so easy to latch on to new teachings or new preachers or new teachers or new experiences because, you see, all of us are looking for something. We're looking for something that will turn the tide. We know that we've been saved, and we know that there is a maturity that God wants us to have. There is a fullness that we hear about. And so we're desperate to know that,

and yet we've had the experiences and experiences of the years, and we seem to keep falling short of that. We know there is something more to this. And how do you get there? How do you get there? How do you get there? How do you, as a new Christian, start walking and walk into fullness? Why is it so hard? Well, Paul indicates that there are dangers along the way,

and you begin to get an understanding of what he's getting to in this second chapter. Notice in verse 4, he says, I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments. Now, right there in the opening, we get a hint that there's some trouble that awaits the believer. And the trouble is this. There are some false ways of getting to fullness in Christ

that we buy into. Somebody says this is the way to fullness. This is the way to become a mature and complete Christian. And there are some false paths to that. And Paul says I'm telling you this stuff so that no one will be able to lead you astray into some false path and make gain out of you by leading you down some false way to fullness in Christ.

So here's what I want to do tonight. I want us to look at four of these false paths that Paul lists right here in this second chapter, and then we're going to come back to look at the one true path. How do I get from here to there? That's the question. I'm saved. I'm going to heaven.

I know it, but I know that I need to be over yonder, mature, full-grown, knowing and understanding the fullness of God that is in Christ Jesus. How do I get over there? Paul gives us four warnings. Number one, it is this. Don't let anybody deceive you by intellectualism. The false path that many have tried to find the fullness of Christ in

is the false idea of intellectualism. Notice in verse 8, Paul says, see to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than in Christ. So first of all, Paul says there is a struggle. It is difficult. I'm going to tell you how to do it, but let me first of all tell you don't let anybody deceive you by trying to point you into some new philosophy some new intellectual exercise that they say will bring you to the fullness that is in Christ Jesus let no one take you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy now let me say at the outset I'm not against philosophy and I'm not against intellectualism

I believe a person ought to be as educated as he can be and we all have a philosophy of life whether we call it that or not. I'm not talking against philosophy as such or intellectualism as such. But there is a kind of philosophy that says that if you really want to come to the full experience of Christ, you need to know more than you know., you need to know more than you know. You just need to know more than you know. Has anybody ever given you that feeling?

There are those who consider themselves to be elitists. You know, I'm one of the elite of the elect. And if you knew what I knew, well, you know, bless your heart, you still with the Bible? You mean you still going to that church? If you come over here to where we are, we've got some new truth. And what you need,

you just don't know the right stuff. And the interesting thing about this, it goes from one end of the spectrum to the other. On one end, you find what is called the New Age Movement. Shirley MacLaine and all her cohorts, you know. The New Age Movement indicates that there is a higher knowledge than we have and that, well, if all we've got is a Bible,

that's not nearly enough. But there is some knowledge that you need to be initiated into. And if you'll come, and Shirley MacLaine, I think, charged about $350 a person. If you'll come to my seminar, I'll introduce you to this new knowledge, this new elite intellectualism

that will usher you into the fullness of life, you see. It's just the things you just don't know. But I'll tell them to you. See, one of the heresies that was going around at that time was the heresy called Gnosticism. We get the word knowledge from Gnosticism. Now, these people would say that Christ is all right, but he's just one in a step

you know maybe the lower step onto that higher knowledge now if you want to come over here and add something to Jesus if you realize that Jesus himself is not enough but we've got this we've got this other truth these mysteries we will initiate you into these mysteries and so that's why Paul is talking like this in much of this letter because there were people going around trying to lead the Colossians astray by saying you need this higher knowledge you need this higher truth that we have they were saying the way to reach fullness is by intellectualism intellectualism as Paul talks about it, is this. Intellectualism is trying to solve the mysteries of life some way other than the revelation of God.

It is that man in his knowledge, man in his communion, man in his meditation can find deep within himself his own God and can link himself up to the spirit of this universe and you can solve the problems of destiny answer all the questions of destiny not by a revelation of the Word of God but by some intuition that you have in your own being that's intellectualism now I said it's interesting how this moves from one end of the spectrum to the other on one end you have the godless and atheistic New Age movement. On the other end, you have the very warm-hearted Christian,

and I use this term for the lack of a better one, the charismatic movement. Now, I'm not indicting charismatic movement. I'm not indicting charismatics. I'm just saying that there are those who are so zealous for the Lord, they believe this book, and they're so warm-hearted,

but they somehow think that they also have been initiated into some higher experience, some higher knowledge. And I've had some to talk to me like they sort of feel sorry for me because, well, this is, you know, all all I've got and if you knew what we knew yeah yeah yeah I know you had you say had a good service yesterday all had a great service yeah I know but you know if you knew what I knew if you knew what we

knew you ought to come over and visit us. We've got some new stuff. We've got some new truth. Paul says, no, you'll never get there by the path of intellectualism. Now, always when he comes to one of these things, he tells us why it won't work and what will work. Now, look, the reason it won't work is, he says, it depends upon human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than Christ. Verse 9, here's the antidote for it he said for in Christ all the fullness of the

deity lives in bodily form and you have been given fullness in Christ who is the head over every power and authority Paul said there are those who are saying to you they're trying to deceive you that if you'll come into this knowledge why then you'll you'll move into fullness. But he said, no, that's not so. He said, no, no. Why? Because all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Jesus bodily, in bodily form, and you have been filled with it too through union with him.

You see what he's saying? Oh, my, you don't need anything else out here. You've got all the fullness right there. Jesus Christ himself is the treasure in which all the knowledge of God is stored he says so first of all don't let anybody deceive you by intellectualism the second thing is this don't let anybody criticize you judge you by legalism by legalism notice in verse 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. Now I said a moment ago that one of the heresies at Colossae that was threatening the church was the Gnostic. But there was another philosophy, what we would call Judaism. And these two had joined together so that you sort of had a Gnostic Judaism. Now, the Judaistic part of this heresy said that you had to keep on following the rules of the Old Testament, you see. It wasn't enough just to have Christ.

You need to add Moses to him. Grace was not enough. You need to add law. You had to keep all the festivals and the moons, the full moon, and all the festivals that they had in the Old Testament, or else, you know, you just weren't going to make law. You had to keep all the festivals and the moons, the full moon, and all the festivals that they had in the Old Testament, or else, you know, you just weren't going to make it. In order to come to fullness in Christ, they were saying, you have, well, you need to keep up with keeping the festivals and the new moons and all those rituals. You have to maintain the ceremonies and the rituals of the Old Testament.

Christ is wonderful, and you find this all the way through the New Testament. They always had a problem with this. Some of the Jews who were diehard Judaizers, they couldn't let go of Judaism. They couldn't let go of the ritual. They loved the ritual. They loved making the sacrifices.

They loved going through all the chants. They loved all of that. They loved going through all the chants, you see. They loved all of that. They loved that ceremonialism, that ritualism. And they were saying, we just can't give this up. I mean, you just can't give this up. You've got to keep all of these things. And so there were many Christians who were being led astray because they were being told that it's not just a matter of knowing Christ,

but you've got to make sure you observe all the holidays and all the feast days and all the festivals and such as this. Legalism, you've got to make sure you're doing the rituals and the ceremonies in the right way. Now, you say, well, it's a long way removed from us. The fact of the matter is it isn't. The truth of the matter is that we Baptists are about as bad as anybody on the sun who believes that perfection and growth and maturity comes by

observing ceremonies and rituals. Average Baptist believes that if he just comes to church on Sunday morning, sits in a pew, sings the hymns, and puts an offering envelope in the plate that he's going to grow. That's how he's going to come to fullness. If I can just somehow go through the ritual, if I can somehow go through the ceremony,

I mean, it's these things. I mean, you've got to be in church, boy, every time the doors are open. You have to be there for all the meetings or you're not a good Christian. And people have a way

of judging us by legalistic standards. You see what I'm getting at? See what I'm saying? Do you all have women's missionary union here in your church? All right. Well, I've said it now. I may as well go ahead with it.

Do you have a brotherhood? Oh, well, a brotherhood would be an easier bunch to talk to about that. But I... Well, next point. No, I'm just joking, just teasing. teasing it's wrong for us to judge a person's spirituality by whether or not they attend the Brotherhood meeting while the Women's Missionary Union or this meeting or that meeting or this meaning of that me that's what I'm saying I remember in one church that I pastored we had a very sick brotherhood

and the man who was the president of it was determined to get it well and so he came to me and listen in the church that I grew up we had a fantastic brotherhood I loved it don't misunderstand me folks

the church that I grew up in as a teenager we had a tremendous brotherhood and it contributed more to my spiritual life than I could ever say I'm not talking against these things you understand not at all we had a tremendous brotherhood, and it contributed more to my spiritual life than I could ever say. I'm not talking against these things.

You understand. Not at all. We had a fellow who was president of a brotherhood meeting in the church that I pastored, and he worshiped almost brotherhood. I mean, to him, that was more important than anything else. And so he came to me, and he wanted me to really push it. We put everybody on a guilt trip trying to get it. We wanted to get 100% of the men there on Brotherhood Night.

And we labored and we labored and we worked and we worked and we got all of this stuff done. And you know what? We had, not 100%, but we had nearly every man in that church there at that Brotherhood meeting. Tremendous. Wasn't that wonderful? The president got up and he said,

Well, I'll tell you the truth, I've been working so hard on the promotion, didn't have time to plan a program. That's what he did. But he was thrilled to death that we were all there. Now, to that fellow, you see, to him, he judged people's spirituality by whether or not they attended some class

or some organization that he himself was involved in. And we have a tendency to do this, folks. Judging people by whether or not they keep certain rituals or ceremonies. Legalism. You're just as spiritual as your attendance record in some of these. But it's not just in that. And again, I have to come back to what is really going on today in many ways. Worship has changed a lot in Baptist churches in the last number of years.

Have you noticed that? The way we worship has changed a lot in Baptist churches in the last number of years. Have you noticed that? The way we worship has changed a lot. I go into a lot of churches where they clap every time anybody does anything. And that's fine. You know, they won't do that. When they baptize somebody, they applaud. When somebody sings, they applaud. When the preacher finishes, they applaud.

Glad he's finished, I guess, is why they applaud him. And there are some churches in which people raise their hands. I mean, that's one of the characteristics of the worship, that they raise their hands. Now, I want to say to you, find with me, I think it's wonderful that a person can worship the way he feels best to worship God

as long as it does not interfere with the worship of others in that corporate worship. But I've had them say to me, I've had them say to me, and boy, listen, I really was put down by one outstanding, well-known Bible teacher that I'll not tell you about, but because I said, I made the statement that you can worship God just as well, you can worship Jesus just as well with your hands down as you can with your hands up. That it's a matter of personal preference. If somehow it helps you to praise God,

if it helps you to worship God by raising your hands and shouting and clapping, then by all means do it. But if you say that I have to act the same way in order to worship God, I'm going to call you on that one. Folks, it's not the mechanics of worship that count. It's not the gestures of worship that count.

I had a friend who was in one church standing on the platform to speak, and during the song service, everybody had their hands raised, and so did the pastor. And the pastor leaned over to my friend and said, you know, in this church, you're free to raise your hands. And my friend said, am I free not to?

That's the question. Am I free not to? I think it's wonderful. I think it's wonderful. And, of course, like I said, I believe when it comes to corporate worship, we have a responsibility not to do anything that would interfere with anybody else's worship.

But I think it's wonderful that we can express our worship the way we want to. And if you want to raise your hands and wave, listen, if that helps you express what's in your heart, then do it. If clapping helps you express what's in your heart, do it. If shouting hallelujah helps you express what's in your heart, do it. Just don't judge other people because they don't do it the way you do it, you see.

And there are some people, one thing I appreciate about your music and your church is you've got a good balance. You've got the choruses, you've got the hymns. I love both of them. But I go into a lot of churches that pride themselves on the fact they never sing hymns. All they sing are little dingle cotton candy choruses.

Stand you up for 45, they stand you up for 45 minutes with an overhead projector and sing one chorus after another. And after about 17, they all begin to sound alike. And they say that's praise. Well, it may be.

You know, that's fine with me. I want to tell you something, folks. Oh, when they sang and can it be last night. Oh, that's praise. That great old Wesleyan hymn. That's praise. That's worship.

When we sing, when I survey the wondrous cross upon which the Prince of Glory died, that's worship to me. That's praise. You may be able to worship and praise in another way. That's fine, folks. That's all right.

But let's give each other the freedom of expressing their worship in the way that God has given it to them. It's not in the gestures or the mechanics of worship. That's not what makes it go. You're not more spiritual if you're raising your hands then you'd are if you're not that has nothing to do with it so he said don't let anybody don't anybody judge you criticize you on the basis of that oh and I'll tell you why he goes on to say in verse 17 all these things these rituals and such these are a shadow of the things that were

to come. The reality, however, is found in Christ. He says all of these rituals, all of these ceremonies, these festivals and such, they were merely the shadow of things that were to come. But the reality is Christ himself. The reality is Christ himself. If you get hung up on the mechanics of worship, then you're getting hung up on something that's not the reality. The reality is Christ himself. And that's why it doesn't matter what your mechanics are as long as you're worshiping Christ because he's what's real. I carry with me all the time some pictures of Kay

and one of me with her. And they were taken at Cape Cod a couple of years ago. We have some friends who have a little place up there, and they let us come up there one week out of the year, and that's our place. And we're just by ourselves. We don't talk to anybody much and don't call home, definitely don't give our kids our phone number. And we have a wonderful time.

And I carry those snapshots with me. And every time I get to a motel, first thing I do, one of the first things I do is I unpack those pictures and I lay them out on the dresser there. I don't have them out this week. They haven't been let out of the bag. No need to have got Kay with me. Now those pictures, I like to have them out this week. They haven't been let out of the bag. No need to have got Kay with me.

Those pictures, I like to have those, but my stars, I'm not going to sit over here kissing that picture when I've got her in the same room with me. Ron Dunn's podcast is available only for personal edification, not to be duplicated, uploaded to the web, or resold without prior written consent. It is managed and operated by Sherwood Baptist Church. For more Ron Dunn materials, sermon outlines,

devotions, and scanned pages from his study Bible, please visit rondunn.com.