This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Misc. Colossians sermons” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, June 5, 1977.

Therefore, let no one act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day, things which are a mere shadow of what is to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind, not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God.”

Let’s pray briefly. We know that you have given us your name. We read of that this morning in Psalm 20. What a blessing it is to know the name of God. And Lord, you have also given us your word, a word which in time, according to your providence, we can read. Something we can have in our own hand. We can carry about with us and read as often as we wish. And we praise you, Father, for this as well. That we ask, Lord, that with willing hearts we might find ourselves receptive to what you say. It’s not enough for us to hear or to read. Lord, we must do. And we will do, our God, what you command in the power of Christ, our Savior. help us in this as we listen to the word this morning.

For Christ’s sake, amen. erring your way through the sermons in Colossians, you might feel a bit weighted down. Well, I want you to know and I want to give you the consolation that in Colossians 2, 6 through 15, you’ve just come through one of the most difficult portions in all of Paul’s letters.

And I don’t want you to get discouraged. I don’t want you to become discouraged because you feel, well, look, these sermons are just a little bit too weighty for me, they’re over my head, I can’t grasp them, I just don’t understand. Coming in in the morning possibly with that attitude that, well, I’m not going to understand anyway, so why bother?

Christianity is a thinking experience, it’s much more than that, but it is at least a thinking experience, and you just simply can’t leave your minds, your brains, out in your automobiles in the parking lot. You can’t do that. In fact, we have a command from God, echoed by Jesus Christ himself, that we are to love God with all of our mind. So let’s not hang our minds up at the coat rack before we come into the sanctuary. Let’s bring our minds with us and let’s do some hard thinking about the scriptures and about ourselves. Now, the reasons why Paul is difficult, it won’t do for us simply to pass over the difficulty of Paul.

There was a fellow named Peter, for instance. You remember him, I’m sure. He’s writing a letter, his second epistle, the third chapter. In that letter, he confesses that he’s having trouble with Paul. So if you’re having difficulty understanding Paul’s window, you’re not the only one. An apostle by the name of Peter had some problems, too. Now, there are other reasons why we have difficulty with Paul. A very serious one that touches us at the very center of our being.

Let’s face it, we don’t think like this guy. And that’s why it’s hard. Now, you know, you might have the contemporary response, the reason we don’t think like this guy is because he lived in the first century and we live in the twentieth. And things have changed. And because things have changed, We certainly can’t be expected to think in the thought forms of this guy from the first century. That isn’t the reason why we’re having the difficulty. The reason that we’re having the difficulty is because this guy is so filled with Christ. We don’t understand because we’re not filled as he was filled.

You might be feeling sorry for yourself as you run through the epistles of Paul, thinking to yourself, well, who in the world can understand it? Let me tell you something. These letters were written to people that couldn’t write or read. They didn’t have copies of these things that they could take home and study. Do you know that? Do you realize that?

They didn’t have individual copies of the letters that they could carry around with them and open up whenever they wanted to. The time they heard it was when they went to church. That’s when they heard it, when it was read and everybody was seated there in the assembly of the saints. And Paul expected them, hearing it read, to understand. Why? Because they could take apart the syntax of his language? that they could map out the argument .1, .2, .3? Nope. That isn’t the reason.

Paul expected them to understand, and I say they did understand, because they live in the precise same situation as Paul. The perspective of Paul is educated by the fact that Paul stands after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and reflects upon those events. Where do these saints stand who are sitting in that congregation on a Lord’s Day morning, listening to a letter of Paul read? They live in precisely the same historical situation. They live after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, before the second coming of Christ, and because they share that common predicament, they understand what Paul says. All that Paul is doing is bringing to bear the implications of what it means to live between the first and second coming of Jesus Christ upon these people. That is all that he’s doing.

And when he asks the question, how shall we then live, he responds like Jesus Christ. For me to live is Christ. Now because of that, we have a hard time understanding. We have a difficult time thinking that such statements as that, for me to live is Christ, is a statement that we ourselves can make, and should make.

That is our statement. That is our confession. That’s what Paul’s about. I mean, that is his life to the extent that he can say in what seems to be bold audacity, be ye an imitator of me. as I am Christ.” Now, in these verses, 6 through 15, he has laid upon us some pretty heavy theology. And the meaning of that theology is simply this.

God has victoriously triumphed over all the forces that are opposed to God’s people through Jesus Christ on the cross, that’s it. Victory has come! And the one who stands at the center of that victory, Jesus Christ, has entered into the fullness of the experience of the delight of God himself.

What is it that awaits the saint at the end of the saint’s life? Is it not a full and complete experience of the blessed fellowship with God himself? Isn’t that our hope? Don’t we want to go and be with God? And don’t we want that fellowship with God to be uninterrupted, indestructible? full, complete, whole.

We certainly do. That is what we want. Jesus Christ, the victor, has entered into that already, and is the great mediator of our redemption. He is already dispensing his blessings to us so that we are in him by faith. If we have been joined to him by our faith, those things that belonged to Jesus now belong to us. If Jesus has entered into fullness and we are in him, then Paul can say, you have been made complete in him, full. That uninterrupted, indestructible, full fellowship with God has already begun today for you, if you believe. As Jesus says in the Gospel of John, if you believe, your eternal life has already started. In fact, you will never die.

Do you understand what I mean? That’s the doctrine. Now this fullness of Jesus Christ, this victory, has made a lot of things obsolete. They’re no longer binding upon the Christian community. But you know there are philosophers coming about in Asia Minor during this time. their way into the church, and they have told the people there, well, Jesus is all right as far as he goes, but what you need is some extra beneficial things which only we can offer you, and if you will listen to us, then the fullness that you want will be given to you.

Having handled the doctrine, Paul is now getting down to cases when it comes to Colossians 2.16. He says, therefore don’t let anyone judge you. Bring you into slavery and bondage once more in regard to food and drink, in respect to a festival, a new moon, or a Sabbath day. Now what is Paul talking about?

You must remember that the theme here of Paul is those things which have been made obsolete by the work and the victory of Jesus Christ, those things that are no longer obligatory upon the Christian community. Now, this has become a favorite passage for some, because you see, there are many today in the Church that see no obligation for observing a Sabbath in the Christian community. In fact, In looking to the Ten Commandments, they blink their eyes, and what do you know? There are only nine. And the one that’s gone, you know, is the Fourth Commandment. Keep the Sabbath day unto the Lord.

They turn to this passage as a defense of their position, and they say that we are no longer obliged to obey that commandment because it says in Colossians 2.16 that we’re to allow no one to judge us with regard to Sabbath days.

You must understand the narrow consideration of what Paul is talking about here. He’s talking about those things that have been taken out of the way because of the fullness of Christ, because of what Christ has accomplished in his victory. That’s the narrow perspective of this passage. At the heart of it, you see, is not the Sabbath as it pertains particularly to rest, but the Sabbath as it pertains to ceremonies and sacrifices. The ceremonial and sacrificial system is at the heart of this passage. In fact, What Paul says here is almost lifted right out of a passage in the Old Testament that is talking about those very things.

If you were to turn, for instance, to Ezekiel 45, verses 16 and 17, You would see in that prophecy that Ezekiel is promising to the children of Israel that one day the Prince of Israel will come. All the people of the land shall give this offering for the Prince of Israel, and it shall be the Prince’s part, verse 17, to provide the bird offerings, the grain offerings, the drink offerings at the feasts, on the new moons, on the Sabbath. at all the appointed feasts of the house of Israel, he shall provide the sin offering, the grain offering, the birth offering, and the peace offering, and make atonement for the house of Israel.” That passage has been fulfilled in the coming of Jesus Christ. so that the ceremonial and sacrificial system is no longer binding. Why? Because we read in verse 17 that the ceremonial and sacrificial system was merely a shadow of that which was to come. Jesus Christ was the body casting that shadow, and the substance belongs to him.

What has been abrogated? What has been taken out of the way? What has been annulled now that Jesus Christ has come? the ceremonial and sacrificial aspect of even the Sabbath day, when the weekly sacrifices and offerings were being presented before the Lord. That is what has been taken out of the way. Is there obligation, then, for us to keep a Sabbath day rest unto the Lord?

Well, you wouldn’t know if you were only to have this passage. but we do have Hebrews 3 and 4, which we read this morning. You might want to look at that passage. The point of Colossians is what you have in Christ. The point of Hebrews is what you don’t have yet. What you have in Christ is an end to sacrifices and ceremonies because of who Jesus is. But what you don’t have yet is an end to your work. That will only come when your work is finished according to God’s program And you, following Christ, enter into that rest.

What does he say in verse 1? He says, Therefore let us fear lest, while a promise remains of entering his rest, we haven’t entered it yet. Isn’t it obvious? Don’t we have to work for our livelihood? As long as you have to work, you have to rest. And as long as you work, you have not yet perfectly entered into your rest. There remains yet, even today, a promise of entering into that rest of God. We have not entered into it yet.

And in verse 9 of chapter 4, the writer says this, and you must understand the significance of the Greek word there that is translated in the New American standard, a Sabbath rest. If you understand that properly, it reads this way, there remains therefore a Sabbath keeping, a Sabbath keeping, a Sabbath observance for the people of God. Why? because they as yet have not entered into the whole and complete rest of God.

The weekly Sabbath is a sign to you of the rest which shall be yours one day. And until you enter into that rest, you as part of the people of God are under obligation to keep that day in anticipation of what shall come. This is now, in the New Testament economy, the Lord’s Day, because on the first day of the week, Jesus ceased from his labors and entered into the perfect rest of God in heaven.

Now, you might want to argue You might want to debate the point, but let me point out one thing. Let me point out the practical implication of what you are saying if you do say that there is no obligation now for you to observe the Sabbath. You are saying, I have arrived. And I know, and you know, that that is a lie. You haven’t arrived. You’re not there yet. You’re part of the pilgrim people who are described in this letter as Hebrews, on the move, on a journey in the wilderness.

You haven’t entered into the Promised Land yet, and until you do, you are under obligation to keep the Sabbath rest as a sign of that which shall be yours one day in the coming of Jesus Christ. Now, this isn’t to say there aren’t all kinds of problems in our contemporary society associated with Sabbath keeping. And I have every bit of sympathy for you if you struggle as I do. and have struggled through the years as I have with my own understanding of what the Sabbath day is.

I still have a very difficult time turning off the steers on a Lord’s Day afternoon. That is still a pretty tough chore. But I’m getting there. And I understand that this thing is a growing experience because many of us did not come out of backgrounds where there was any kind of observance of the Lord’s Day at all. Many of us have had certain theological backgrounds in churches where the keeping of the Lord’s Day was not important. I understand that.

So it is a matter of growth with regard to this conviction. There isn’t anybody who has a finer mind in our presbytery than Dr. Leonard Koppus. Dr. Koppus recently confessed at a presbytery meeting that he only, in the last couple of months, was beginning to come to a consistent position on the Lord’s Day. Now, if Leonard Koppus is only recently coming to a consistent position, I can have all the sympathy in the world for you. There’s another matter. There’s the cultural aspect to this day. Let me explain what I mean.

It doesn’t seem in the New Testament, at least, that anyone was under obligation to jeopardize his life or his livelihood because of the Lord’s Day. These Christians, you must remember, were in a Jewish society. The Day of Rest was not the first day of the week, it was the last day of the week, the seventh day, right? So here come the Christians. They say, well, Christ rose on the first day of the week, and we insist on having our Day of Rest on the first day. But you know, the whole land went to sleep on the seventh day. Everybody was celebrating the Day of Rest on the seventh day. So these Christians were in effect saying, well, what we want is not only the seventh day, but the first day, and what we get out of every week is two days of rest instead of one.

That was improper and irresponsible. They couldn’t do that. You know what they did do? They got up every morning before work on the first day of the week and went to church. And when work was over, after putting in full ten, twelve hours, Not eight hours, you know, like we do. They went back to church at night.

We got it rough, don’t we? We have a hard time making it in the middle of the morning. Once! We have an awful tough time. The Lord expects so much from us, doesn’t he? And not only do these crazy people do that, you know, they made it out almost every morning before they went to work to go to church. And many nights throughout the week. And you know why? It wasn’t because they had some sort of fanatic zeal for a law. It’s because they loved one another. They wanted to see one another.

And they wanted to hear the Word of God. that all turned around when the empire became Christian, when Constantine was converted. That’s when we got the first blue laws. It was because now the Christians had a voice. And the influence of the gospel and the Christian concept of culture began to take hold.

It happened again after the end of the Middle Ages, when the Reformers, following the Reformers in England and in Scotland and in this country, the Lord’s Day became a special day of rest because now the Christians were in a position to exert cultural influence and power.

We are under obligation where we have the freedom to express ourselves. But it happens now in our day that many a working man is treated like a slave in the Roman Empire. He has no power over his work day. I think of a young man named Vernon working in a glass factory in southern New Jersey.

Man is told that if he wants his day of rest, the Lord’s day, his day of worship for himself, he’s going to have to work a double turn during the week. He works the double turn only to find out that because he reports in on Sunday mornings that he won’t be in for work that day, that he has a bad work record. He never gets an advance. He never gets any kind of promotion. He’s penalized because of it. And you think of a middle-aged man who loves to fix flowers, just has a passion for it.

He goes to get a job at a florist, and he’s told that when he applies for the job, he’ll never be asked to work on the Lord’s Day, and the first holiday season rolls around. And you can imagine what happens. The boss comes to him and says, well, you’ll be here Sunday, of course. The fellow says, well, you promised me that I wouldn’t have to work on the Lord’s Day. The response was, you see, if you’re not willing to work, well, I can always find someone else who can. There are injustices being done, and I have every kind of sympathy for the working man today. who is struggling with this very problem. Men who are on shifts, I know them. No matter what your shift is, they ain’t able to serve us once on the Lord’s Day. Glorious examples, regardless of how tired they are, they’re there.

We need that kind of zeal and devotion once more. Indeed, Christian culture is going to have the effect that it needs to have in our world. We have the opportunities and the freedoms to keep the Sabbath day. We need to pray the Lord that we resist the temptation to break this commandment, though it seems to be such a slight commandment in the eyes of the world.

Keep the Sabbath rest. in anticipation of what shall be yours one day in heaven. Rest, fellowship with God, with the saints. Celebrate it as an indication of the victory of God himself in Christ, as Christ has ceased from his labors and entered into his rest. Our Father in Heaven, we ask you that our own minds might be filled with the joy of Jesus Christ and his victory, that we might have sympathy one for another as we struggle with this commandment which we believe, according to our confession, still pertains to the people of God today. May we not with arrogance say that we have arrived, that the journey is over. It isn’t over.

And as long as it remains, there shall be that obligation, our God, to keep a Sabbath rest, a Sabbath observance, a Sabbath keeping unto the Lord. Now we pray, our God, that you might give us the strength to resist temptations, and also, Father, the power to say no. When there is that temptation to desecrate a day which is consecrated to you, not only by your word, but by Jesus’ resurrection.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.