SPECIAL DAYS: Ash Wednesday

February 9, 2005 - Lesson: Colossians 2:8-19

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1. Retrieved from preachingnow@preaching.com

A nurse shared this story of faithfulness: It was a busy morning, approximately 8:30 am, when an elderly gentleman, in his 80's, arrived to have stitches removed from his thumb. He stated that he was in a hurry as he had an appointment at 9:00 am. I took his vital signs and had him take a seat, knowing it would be over an hour before someone would to able to see him.

I saw him looking at his watch and decided, since I was not busy with another patient, I would evaluate his wound. On exam, it was well healed, so I talked to one of the doctors, got the needed supplies to remove his sutures and redress his wound.

While taking care of his wound, we began to engage in conversation. I asked him if he had a doctor's appointment this morning, as he was in such a hurry. The gentleman told me no, that he needed to go to the nursing home to eat breakfast with his wife. I then inquired as to her health. He told me that she had been there for a while and that she was a victim of Alzheimer Disease.

As we talked, and I finished dressing his wound, I asked if she would be worried if he was a bit late. He replied that she no longer knew who he was, that she had not recognized him in five years now.

I was surprised, and asked him. "And you still go every morning, even though she doesn't know who you are?"

He smiled as he patted my hand and said. "She doesn't know me, but I still know who she is."

2. There are a lot of people who do not know who Jesus.

1. They do not know what he has done for them.

2. They do not know what he can do for each of them.

3. They are like the man in this cartoon from the New Yorker magazine.

A man had just walked past a sign that read: "Prepare to meet thy God!"

The next frame shows the man stopping before the mirror of a vending machine to brush his hair and straighten his tie.

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3. Jesus knows who we are.

Rembrandt painted a painting called "The Three Crosses"? When you look at it, you immediately notice the center cross on which Jesus died.

When you look at the crowd gathered around the foot of that cross, however, you are taken by the various facial expressions and actions of the people involved in the awful crime of crucifying the Son of God.

At the edge of the painting there's another figure, almost hidden in the shadows. Art critics say this is a self-portrait of Rembrandt himself, for he recognized that by his sins he helped nail Jesus to the cross.

1. Rembrandt had a sense of the sin in his own life and in the lives of others.

2. It is this condition that Paul is addressing in Colossians 2:8-19.

1. ⁸See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe, and not according to Christ.

2. ⁹For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, ¹⁰and you have come to fullness in him, who is the head of every ruler and authority.

3. ¹¹In him also you were circumcised with a spiritual circumcision, by putting off the body of the flesh in the circumcision of Christ;

4. ¹²when you were buried with him in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.

5. ¹³And when you were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive together with him, when he forgave us all our trespasses,

6. ¹⁴erasing the record that stood against us with its legal demands. He set this aside, nailing it to the cross.

Nailed to the Cross

There was One Who was willing to die in my stead,
That a soul so unworthy might live;
And the path to the cross He was willing to tread,
All the sins of my life to forgive.

Refrain:
They are nailed to the cross!
They are nailed to the cross!
Oh, how much He was willing to bear!
With what anguish and loss Jesus went to the cross,
But He carried my sins with Him there.

He is tender and loving and patient with me,
While He cleanses my heart of the dross;
But "there's no condemnation"--I know I am free,
For my sins are all nailed to the cross.

I will cling to my Savior and never depart,
I will joyfully journey each day,
With a song on my lips and a song in my heart,
That my sins have been taken away.

7. ¹⁵He disarmed the rulers and authorities and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in it.

8. ¹⁶Therefore do not let anyone condemn you in matters of food and drink or of observing festivals, new moons, or sabbaths.

1. ¹⁷These are only a shadow of what is to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.

2. ¹⁸Do not let anyone disqualify you, insisting on self-abasement and worship of angels, dwelling on visions, puffed up without cause by a human way of thinking,

3. ¹⁹and not holding fast to the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows with a growth that is from God.

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4. Because our sins have been nailed to the cross, we know and rejoice in Jesus love and mercy.

1. But we need to be careful and cautious that we do not take too much for granted.

1. Sometimes getting the facts is a matter of life or death.

A novice skydiver pulled his ripcord, but nothing happened. He pulled the backup cord. Still, nothing happened. As he hurled toward the ground, he saw a man flying upward toward him from below.

"Do you know anything about parachutes?" he asked, as the man flew by.

"No," the man replied. "Do you know anything about gas stoves?"

2. Forgiveness is like a parachute, it is life-saving.

2. We need to be careful and cautious that we do not get lost in the process.

1. William Willimon tells a story about a student who came to him and asked him to explain the difference between Christianity and Judaism. ⁽¹⁾

She is in love with a student who is Jewish. They are both law students, thinking about marriage. How will they deal with the difficult differences?

I told her that I had known people who marry lawyers and go on to have happy marriages, despite the difficulties!

Just kidding. The differences that trouble her are between two related but disparate faiths. Well, we discussed rituals, festivals, beliefs. Then she asked a fundamental question.

"When it comes down to it, what is the one thing that makes Christians, Christian?"

The answer is not pot luck-dinners, WWJD bracelets or pushy preachers. The thing that makes us who we are is who Jesus is. Jesus Christ is Christianity.

2. It is the Jesus of this passage of scripture.

1. The Jesus who disarms rulers and authorities.

2. The Jesus who sweeps aside entrance requirements and maintenance requirements other than to believe in him.

3. The Jesus who offers himself as the sacrifice for our sins and proffers forgiveness.

5. This is the Jesus to whom you can come with total trust and confidence.

1. Let us bring to him our concerns and let him erase them for us.

2. They become ashes to ashes and dust to dust.

3. Write on the slip of paper your desire and put into the kettle and we will burn them as a symbol of removal and relief.

1. William Willimon, "Who do you say that I am?" August 22, 1999, Duke Chapel Web Site, chapel.duke.edu.

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