Well Soul Podcast

Ep. 36 | COLOSSIANS | Be Careful About Opinions

May 01, 2023 Seana Scott Season 4 Episode 4
Well Soul Podcast
Ep. 36 | COLOSSIANS | Be Careful About Opinions
Show Notes Transcript

Religion can leave us confused—or spinning in circles. "Do this." "Don't do that." "If you don't have an experience like mine, then you must not be as close to God as I am."

Sometimes we wonder if we're supposed to do more than believing and following God's Word.

The Christians in Colossae were quite confused as well. The local believers mixed in their previous faiths and worldviews with Christianity.

What did Paul tell them that can help us?

Listen to this episode to meditate on Scripture to help guide you when other voices judge your faith.

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Welcome to the Well Soul Podcast, where we pause to drink in scripture, reflect, and pray. I am your host, Seana Scott, and sometimes life leaves our souls feeling parched. So come to the well of living water that never runs dry.

Because of Jesus resurrection, it is clear how we can have a relationship with God the Father. This is what we'll be meditating on today, on the Well Soul podcast.

We are made right with God through faith in Jesus, but sometimes, we slide into the system of religion. Last episode we meditated on Colossians 2:11­–15. When we were dead in our sins, God made us alive with Christ. He has disarmed evil powers and authorities. He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross (Colossians 2:15).

Because of all of this, Paul is now going to encourage his readers (and us) to not get tangled up in religious rules or mystical philosophies. 

Today's passage is a little longer than most, but we will need to hear his complete thought. 

We will now meditate on our passage.

Before I read, take a deep breath and set aside anything else on your mind to be fully Thank you. present to God's word,

Colossians 2:16–23.

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 un spiritual 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. 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? Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch. These rules, which have to do with things that are destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings. 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.

What did you hear? Focus on this for a moment.

Do you ever get lost in the voices of what the Christian life should look like? The Colossians were confused, mixing rules and regulations of Judaism and co-mingling spiritual practices of local pagan beliefs. Don't get lost in the voices. At the center of our passage, Paul says, those who are confusing things, have lost connection with the Head, from whom the whole body grows as God causes it to grow. 

Elsewhere in Paul's writings, He uses the body metaphor to describe the Church of Jesus Christ, that is, the people who believe, repent, and have been baptized into Christ Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins.  

We all, the body of Jesus Christ, have a part, and we all, working together, grow together. So it is important if a brother or sister is not following the teachings of Christ and the apostles to get a little nudge from another brother or sister in Christ to help them grow up into sound teaching and the full character of Christ. 

But also it is important for us to keep a hold of Jesus and his teachings. So, if those in the household of faith tell us false things about following Jesus, we can discern what is true and what is not. The Colossian believers were hearing that unless they had these mystical experiences with angels and other supernatural encounters, they lacked something.

The religious rule followers were telling them they had to do certain things and not do other certain things. 

It is all about Jesus and his teachings, not these other man-made rules and regulations that don't even help change our hearts. The real question we need to ask when a brother or sister in Christ helps us by pointing out something in our lives is this: Is what they are telling me in line with the truth of Scripture?

If so, listen closely, study the scripture, and connect Right with the head, Jesus Christ. I'm going to re read the passage again. Focus your soul on listening. 

Colossians 2:16–23

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 un spiritual 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. 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? Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch. These rules, which have to do with things that are destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings. 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.

What did you hear this time? Sip on that for a moment.

Now take a moment to pray. Ask the Lord to reveal any way that you have been confused with false teaching or pray about anything that the Spirit brings to mind.

Let's pray. Father, Son, Holy Spirit, one and only true God, we worship you. Thank you for your word today, which encourages us to consider what we depend on rather than on Christ. Do we depend on spiritual experiences, following strict rules, others opinions? Help us, Lord, to place our full confidence on Jesus and Lord. Help us to say committed to the local church for we need one another and none of us is perfect. In Jesus's name, Amen.

Thank you for joining me today on the well soul podcast for our journey in the book of Colossians subscribe to the well soul community and receive encouragement and resources to live with a well soul directly in your inbox. See the link in the show notes to join for free.

Like what you hear? The best way to support the production of the podcast is to share it with others and to buy me a cup of coffee on buymeacoffee.com/wellSoulpodcast.

For the cost of a cup of coffee, you can help others drink in scripture, reflect, and pray. I would like to give a special thanks to Dr. Sandra Glahn for her Colossians Bible study that I am using in preparation for these episodes. See the link in the show notes to buy a copy. In closing, I'd also like to give a special thanks to my late friend, Brian Vasquez, who made this podcast possible. 

God bless you, and I pray that you have a well soul.