THE WARNING OF THE LOSS OF REWARD

Col. 2:18-23

Morning Mediation 3/31/17

Verse 18-23 say, “Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshiping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, And not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God. Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, (Touch not; taste not; handle not; Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men? Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body; not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh.”

Usually I can’t cover this many verses but these verses need to be taken together. Therefore, I will skim lightly but I hope correctly through the truths that Paul presents here.

The first thing that I will look at is,

THE WARNING AGAINST THE POSSIBILITY

Paul says, “Let no man beguile you of your reward . . .” The words “Let no man beguile you of your reward” is a general reference. The reason is that after these particular heretics are routed there will be others. Satan has a multitude of his false apostles out there who will, as Jesus said to the Pharisees in Matthew 23:15, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.” The verb is one big word, “katabrabeuo” and means, “to defraud or beguile of the prize of victory.” It is a present active imperative verb. The present tense means the process is in progress right now. The imperative mood is a command that expresses urgency and calls on them to decide between truth and error. We have to do that all the time as believers in a world of heresy. I say a world of heresy because it is everywhere and has been refined over the past two thousand years.

This is not speaking of being robbed of their salvation because salvation is a gift distinct from a reward.

A Summary of the Doctrine of Rewards

1.Rewards are earned, salvation is a gift (Eph. 2:8-9).

2.Rewards will be given at the Judgment Seat of Christ; 2 Cor. 5:10.

3.Rewards will be enjoyed in heaven; Luke 6:23.

4.Rewards are not a grace gift from God but something earned; Rom. 4:4.

5.Every believer will receive his reward according to his own labor; 1 Cor. 3:8.

6.It is possible to be saved so as by fire and be in heaven without rewards; 1 Cor. 3:14-15.

7. There are five crowns that will be given as rewards: 1. The incorruptible crown; 1 Cor. 9:25-27. This is given to those who were faithful to Scripture. These exercised self discipline and self sacrifice for the sake of holiness. 2. The crown of righteousness; 2 Tim 4:8 This is given to those who love his appearing. For them the present world revolves around Him and they long for the day when He will take over and rule. 3. The crown of rejoicing; 1 Thes 2:19-20. This is the soul-winners crown. It is given to those who have any part in the salvation of a soul. 4. The crown of glory; 1 Pet 5:1-4.. This is the shepherd's crown. This is given to those who shared in the ministry of shepherding the flock of God. I believe this will include the leaders and teachers who share in the ministry of the pastor. 5. The crown of life; James 1:12. This is the crown given to those who went through trials and persecution even to the point of martyrdom for Jesus sake.

8.A person can lose his reward; 2 John 1:8.

First, we see the warning against the possibility of being robbed of ones reward, then we see,

HOW IT CAN HAPPEN

Paul in describing how it can happen says, “in a voluntary humility and worshiping of angels . . .” Bishop Hadley Moule says, “in the way of humility, the artificial humility of the trained devotee, a self abasement before unlawful objects, not the true humility of a soul at the feet of Jesus.” The false doctrine that was being taught was an appeal to self-abasement. The humility that is being talked about is revealed by the context to be a false humility that was a work of the flesh. The words “worshiping of angels” identifies the Gnostic approach to worship. They believed there was no direct approach to God and therefore believed that angels were mediators. Therefore they worshiped angels. John was ready to worship the angel in Revelation 19:10 where he tell us, “And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”

The words “intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind” describe the false teacher. These false teachers evidently claimed to have seen something like a vision. The word “intrude” means, “to investigate, search into, scrutinise minutely.” They were doing this in areas where there had been no revelation from God. When one starts to guessing about the unexplained, he will get followers and will create great interest but it won’t be right. You can count on that being true. Where God is silent, we also better be. The words “vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind” is the very opposite to their claim of humility.

The word “and not holding” translates “krateo” and means, “not to continue to hold, not to continue to retain.” It is a present tense. Bishop Hadley Moule comments, “and not holding fast, in his faith and in his teaching, the Head, the blessed Lord who is (1:18) ‘the Head of the body, the Church.’” Paul emphasizes Christ as Creator and Preeminent in the Church and in Whom the believer is complete, and now he is going to emphasize the vital unity of the believer with the head.

He says, “which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God.” Just like the physical body is a unity and each part related dependently upon the other and all united dependently to the head, so is the Church. It is a direct union. It is not as the Gnostics taught that there could be no direct contact with God. He is teaching in this verse that God is constantly nourishing and ministering to the body. Again, Bishop Hadley Moule says of the Head’s relation to the body, “getting supplied and getting braced together, grows with the growth of God, develops a holiness and power of which God is Source, and Secret, and Environment; ‘nothing between.’” Hallelujah! There is no way one could believe what Paul is saying here and be deceived by contrary teachings. Knowing the truth is the way to keep one from error. Next we see,

THE INSENSIBILITY OF IT

Paul says in verses 20-22, “Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, (Touch not; taste not; handle not; Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men?”

First it makes no sense to go back to the things (rudiments of the world) from which Christ delivered you. The words “if ye be dead with Christ” is a first class condition. It is “if and it is true.” It means “if as is the case . . .” The words “dead with Christ” means that the Colossians understood their position in Christ. When He died they died. Rules do not apply to the dead but to the living. So if they were dead with Christ, they were dead to all the rudiments. This is Paul’s argument. It is makes no sense to admit you cannot be saved by rules, and put your faith in Christ alone as Lord and Saviour, then go back to the very thing that He saved you from. Paul is saying that the very fact that you are saved lets you know that the false teachers are wrong.

The ordinances of which Paul speaks is described in the words, “touch not; taste not; handle not; Which all are to perish with the using.” These are ceremonial abstentions. Adam Clark’s Commentary says, “These are not matters of eternal moment; the different kinds of meats were made for the body, and go with it into corruption: in like manner, all the rites and ceremonies of the Jewish religion now perish, having accomplished the end of their institution; namely, to lead us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.”

The words “after the commandments and doctrines of men?” means that Paul is probably speaking here of the traditions of the elders which was their interpretation of the law which they had added to the rites given by Moses. Men will fight over their interpretation of what the Bible says more than they will the Scriptures themselves. Then finally,

THE APPEAL IS TO THE FLESH

Paul brings this out in verse 23: “Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body; not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh.”

The words “have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship” is not used in a good sense. It is the religious flesh put on display. It is a religious ego wrapped in skin. It draws attention to its self control and men admire it in the performer’s life. I say performer because that is all religion is. It is man’s performance for others to see and is done in hope that the activity will obtain heaven. The “wisdom” is the wisdom of the flesh and it is man controlling himself and getting credit for it.

The “neglecting of the body” is exactly what the Gnostic believed would get him to heaven. They said matter is evil. The body is therefore evil and the way to win over it is to whip it into line by fasting and all kinds of self imposed punishments.

The words “not in any honor” mean that this kind of religion does not honor God. When men do what they do in their own wisdom and their own strength, where is the honor to God? There is none. It is as Paul adds, “to the satisfying of the flesh.”

There is only one way of salvation and one way of service that will bring honor to God alone. It is the way of the cross. Galatians 6:14 says, “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.” Even when He engages us in His service after we are saved, He does it in a way, “That no flesh should glory in His presence” (1 Cor. 1:29).

I will close with the words of Bishop Hadley Moule: “The man, kept awake by grace to his own awful weakness and to the foes that beset him, will indeed not only pray but watch. But he will do so as one whose secret and resource of moral power in the watching life is altogether Jesus Christ our Lord. He will expose Him to the enemy, who seems sometimes all but omnipotent. He will draw upon his HEAD for the strength and victory which shall make the weak ‘limb’ able to ‘do great acts.’ He will retire into CHRIST, and abide there, for deliverance and peace, that he may continually serve Him in holy purity in the stress of real life. He will remember that in CHRIST he died and in CHRIST he lives.”

May the Lord bless these words to our hearts.

In Christ

Bro. White