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June 8, 2024 12:00 am

Right Goal, Wrong Methods

In Touch / Charles Stanley

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June 8, 2024 12:00 am

Spirituality involves a personal relationship with Jesus Christ as Savior, Lord, and life, expressed through loving devotion and willing service to others. A focus on Jesus Christ, submission to God's truth, and a willingness to grow in one's spiritual life are key to overcoming sin and living a victorious Christian life.

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Welcome to this weekend's In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley. God accepts people based solely on their relationship to Jesus Christ. Today's podcast helps us see that your approval in the eyes of the Lord is based on faith, not actions. If someone should ask you, are you a spiritually minded person, how would you answer that?

Well, what would be the basis by which you would answer that question? Well, it goes something like this, well, I've been saved, I've been baptized, I attend church regularly, I do read the Bible, I do pray, I do give, either systematically or sometimes I give. And then maybe your conversation or your answer might include something like this, I don't drink, I don't smoke, I don't dance, I don't gamble, I don't run around on my wife, I don't lie, steal and cheat. The truth is a person wouldn't even have to be a Christian and could sort of have that as their standard.

They could have experienced all those first areas and maybe for other reasons, maybe they just don't want to waste their money in some ways and don't want to harm their body. But not doing these things and doing these do not necessarily mean that a person is spiritually minded. And oftentimes we judge another person's spirituality by a set of human man-made rules which we have established ourselves. And therefore because someone doesn't live up to our standard, we say, well, they may be saved but they surely aren't very spiritually minded.

On what basis? Well, because, and we would probably fumble around a little bit and ultimately we'd have to say because they don't believe the way I believe. So in the book of Colossians, Paul was writing to these believers who were being faced with false teachers who were saying to them, it is not enough to place your faith in Jesus Christ because there are other things that you must add, other experiences you must have in order to really be and know that you're saved or spiritually minded. And so I want you to turn, if you will, to Colossians chapter 2, and this is part of our series on this book. And I want us to begin reading in verse 16, though we have dealt with verse 16 and 17, and read through the rest of this chapter, verse 23, and the title of this message is Right Goal, Wrong Methods. So let's begin reading in verse 16.

And this is one of the four admonitions he gives them and warns them about the false teachers and the kind of bondage they're trying to thrust upon them. Remember in verse 8 he says, see to it that no one take you captive through vain, empty, human rationalization, higher thoughts such as philosophy. Then verse 16, therefore, let no one act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to festivals or a new moon or a Sabbath day, things which are a mere shadow of what is to come, but the substance, the real thing is Christ. Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize but delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the head from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with the growth which is from God. Then he says in verse 20, the word if or the little Greek word there can be translated if or since, and the better translation is really since. Since you have died with Christ, that is you've been identified in his death at the cross, since you've died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees such as do not handle, do not taste, do not touch, which all refer to things destined to perish for the using, in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men, not of God.

Now verse 23 is the key. These, all of this, these are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-humiliation, self-abasement, and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence. No value in aiding you in overcoming sin in your life. Spirituality involves centering my life around a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, acknowledging him as my Savior, acknowledging him as my Lord, and acknowledging him as my life, which I will express through loving devotion to him and willing service toward others. Notice there are no dos and no don'ts in that definition because spirituality is not a list of dos and don'ts, not a list of experiences or requirements for me, but spirituality is a relationship.

Now, you're not going to find two people who would define spirituality if they include dos and don'ts who will agree on the dos and don'ts, because the truth is that's not what spirituality is all about. And in the Colossian church, the problem was that the false teachers were saying to those believers, it's all right to believe in Jesus, that's just not enough. You need more than Jesus Christ if you're going to be really saved, and if you're going to be a spiritually minded person, just knowing Jesus isn't enough.

It's all right, but it's not sufficient. The whole message of the book of Colossians is wrapped up in one phrase, when you have Jesus, you have everything so that there is nothing to be added to our spirituality. Now, I want to define what I mean by that and explain that. For example, spirituality is not a state to which you and I arrive. Spirituality is an experience in which you and I are continuously growing. So I want you to get that down. Spirituality is not a state to which we arrive.

It is an experience in which you and I are continuously growing. And it is because we do not understand the true nature of spirituality that oftentimes there is divisiveness in the body of Christ and the lack of harmony and unity. Well, they believe this and I believe this and I think this is a sin and she thinks that's a sin and they allow this and we don't allow that and they condone this and we would never condone that. And so we get divided over what we would gauge as the true long final list and the bottom line of what spirituality is. And I want to say again, the trap in this whole idea of spirituality is this, that most ideas that are preached as being spiritual, non-spiritual have this problem.

First of all, they're based on human effort. I am spiritual if I do the following things. And secondly, on what Paul says here two or three times in this passage, puffed up pride. That is, the basis of it is, you know, if I do this and if I do the other and if I don't do this and I don't do the other, then before long I'm looking down my nose at those who do things that I do not think are right.

Or looking down my nose at those who would not agree with me about certain things. Now that's not what spirituality is all about. But the truth is, what Paul is saying is, if you want to have victory in your life and you want to overcome sin and you want Christ to rule and reign and you want to live a victorious life, the way to do that is not by setting up rules and regulations or by attempting, which is what legalism is, attempting to live by the rules and regulations of men to demonstrate your spirituality or to gain it.

He says that will not do it because all of that is useless. Our victory and our enablement to live a spiritually minded life is based on a relationship of the indwelling, all-sufficient Christ who is all the fullness of the Godhead in bodily form, who is all-sufficient, who is the all in all, who is our completeness. That is, when you have Jesus Christ, he says you are complete in him, that which enables us to live the Christian life victoriously, joyously is the living Christ within us and not rules and regulations and self-denial and more knowledge and more understanding and more experiences and all the rest. Now, that is in the church at Colossae. But what about in the church today in America?

Are there any similarities to these things? There certainly are. And, of course, there are those people today who believe that if your idea of the Christian life is limited to a simple faith in the Word of God, then you're simple-minded. In other words, if you think this is all there is to wisdom and knowledge, then you're simple-minded. And their idea is that you need a higher form of knowledge and a higher understanding, that you can't just stick with a narrow Word of God.

That's too narrow-minded, written by a group of men over a period of 1,500 years or so who must have made lots and lots of mistakes, and so they want to quickly tell us how many mistakes there are in the Bible, and so they belittle the Scriptures. It's not enough. It is not sufficient as a guidebook to life.

You need more than that. You need the expansion of your mind, the expansion of your thoughts. You need to live on a higher level than simply believing the Word of God. Then there are those today who, likewise, are caught up in legalism, and that is there's certain things you should do and certain things you should not do to be spiritually-minded.

Now, I want to give you a personal experience because I grew up with that, and I understand how you can get caught up in that. I'm very grateful for my background, for my heritage, because they gave me a lot of good, wonderful, solid, scriptural truth. But when I was growing up, the church that I attended, these people loved God, they served the Lord, they loved Him just as much as I did or do now. But somewhere along the way in their idea of being separated from the world, they went beyond what the Scripture teaches in order to express their opposition to the world's ways, and so they saw themselves sort of as separatists, and therefore, before long, they had a group of rules and regulations which I grew up under and which I attempted to adhere to. But what I want you to see is we can fall in the same trap, but we have our own set of standards. You know, they have theirs, we've got ours. And you know, the truth is we like to think that ours is a little bit more sanctified, a little bit more holy, a little bit more reasonable.

We can laugh at those, but we don't want anybody laughing at ours. And so what happens is we get caught up, and that and there are people today, for example, who think if you were to go to a movie, you could not be spiritual. Well, you can't say that about somebody if you can find a decent one to go to. There's nothing that says that you are non-spiritual because you go to a movie. Spirituality is not a state in which I have arrived.

It is an experience in which I am growing. And therefore, we must be careful not to judge someone else's spirituality because they don't live up to our rules and our regulations. Your spirituality can't be judged by my political stand. God is the one who must lead me and motivate me to get involved in a particular cause.

There are many causes you and I could get involved in. That's why Paul said we must be diligent to keep the unity of the faith because the unity of the faith is not wrapped up in what I believe is my cause or your cause, but in relationships to Jesus Christ who, when He is Lord of my life, will lead this person to do this and this person to do the other and this person to do the other because we're all gifted in different ways and we all have different talents and God's purpose and plan and will for our life is different. Therefore, I have no right to judge another person's spirituality because they do or because they do not. And this is the whole issue in Colossians. False teachers thrusting upon them the kind of bondage that said, if you don't do the following things, you're not spiritually minded.

That is not true. Spirituality involves a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, Lord and life, which will be expressed in loving devotion to Him and willing service to my brother, whichever, wherever, whenever, and however God sees fit to convict me, lead me, guide me to express what God wants to express through my life. And I must be sensitive to those and I must be compassionate about other people who may not feel the way I feel, who may not feel the calling that I may feel.

Any other way leads to disunity, any other way leads to criticism, any other way leads to puffed up pride. This is what Paul is saying. He says, these are matters which have to be sure the appearance of wisdom and self-made religion and self-abasement, severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against flesh and indulgence. And what he's saying in essence is, I cannot expect to have victory over sin in my life simply because I add to the presence and the power of the Lord Jesus Christ within me rules, regulations, abstinence, higher knowledge, more experiences, deeper knowledge, none of which are a part of making me more spiritual. And I think if there's one thing I want you to see in this passage is what Paul has said all along. First of all, that Jesus Christ is God in all of his fullness. That is, the fullness of God is in him. Jesus Christ is God walking in the flesh. Jesus Christ in you is your hope of life now and hereafter. Christ in you makes you sufficient for all things. You and I complete in Christ, not in legalism, not in causes, not in abstinence, not in philosophical ideas, not in visions and trances and dreams and experiences, but in a personal relationship to Jesus Christ.

When it is right, I will obey God no matter what he tells me to do, where and when and whatever the cost, if he is the Lord and I'm a spiritually minded person, I'm going to do whatever he says to do. Now, what is the right method? How does a person attain spirituality? Now watch this because you think, well, no way, but you're going to give us a list.

No, I'm not. How does a person attain spirituality? Spirituality is a gift God gives. It is an experience in which we live.

If you were saved by the grace of God, what happened? Christ came into your life, into this physical body of yours to live his life through you so that all the spirituality you'll ever have, you receive when you receive Christ. Now, the expression of that, the expression of that spirituality, the expression of this life of Christ can be and will be enhanced. Now listen to that, the expression of it, the expression of Jesus within you will be enhanced, I believe, by three things.

Let me mention them to you and then I want to come back and explain what I mean by it. First of all, my growth is going to be determined by my willingness to focus my attention upon him and not to be sidetracked by anything. Listen, did you know that a pastor can replace Jesus Christ as Lord in his life with the church to which he pastors? And then many men would tell you how that has destroyed their life.

And the reason I give you that example is to say that can happen to anybody. You say, well, Jesus is, my life centers around him. Is he really the center of your life? Or is the truth is that your job determines and gauges and guides everything? Then it's God.

Nothing is to take the place of Jesus Christ. Now, if I focus my attention upon him, I want to be in the Word to discover how does God operate? That gives me an understanding of who this is I have a focus on. And in proportion, now watch this, in proportion to my willingness to be submissive, to the truth God is teaching me, to that degree am I going to grow in my spiritual life? Not what I do and what I don't do, what I add and what I subtract, but in my willingness to submit in my personal intimate relationship with him. That's what the spiritual life is all about. Spirituality involves the focus of my attention, the centering of my attention, the centering of my life upon a personal relationship with Jesus Christ as my Savior, Lord in life, which will express itself in loving devotion to him and willing service to other people. Thank you for listening to Right Goal, Wrong Methods. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or In Touch Ministries, stop by InTouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.
Whisper: medium.en / 2024-06-08 03:26:01 / 2024-06-08 03:33:11 / 7

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