When Not to Insist
Therefore, do not let anyone judge you in regard to food or drink, or in regard to a festival or a New Moon or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were coming, but the body belongs to Christ. (Colossians 2:16–17)
When you read through the book of Colossians, it seems that the Colossians were in danger of falling into the same trap that Peter fell into in Galatia. It would seem that there may have been some prominent Jews who insisted that the Gentiles had to follow the laws and traditions that the Jewish teachers of the law had placed around God’s law. They insisted on things like dietary restrictions, circumcision, and even went so far as to promote bodily humiliation, such as monks often observe. They were binding the consciences of these Gentile Christians with their teaching that salvation comes through obedience to the law. Paul wrote to the Colossians to set the record straight. They were not bound to the civil and ceremonial law because Jesus had fulfilled it. Therefore, no one should judge them by how they worshipped God.
While we don’t want anyone to judge us for how we worship, we often fall into the habit of judging others for their worship styles, don’t we? Especially if we have grown up in the same or similar churches, and all we’ve ever know is the same style of worship, it can be easy for us to become accustomed to a certain worship style and insist that others use that same worship style as well. But Paul tells us that no one should judge us for our eating and drinking, or our festivals or sabbath day (celebrations). That also means that we do not bind consciences by insisting on something that God never prescribed for us.
Instead, we look at the law as the shadow that pointed forward to Christ. And as we worship, we only insist that it points back to Christ, for he is the foundation of our faith. He is where we find our forgiveness and our salvation. Those are what matter in our worship: are we pointing others to Christ and the salvation that he has given us? And when we find ourselves falling into that trap of insisting on worship styles and traditions, may we be pointed to the one thing that matters: Christ crucified for our forgiveness. Amen.
The song for today is “If We Are The Body” by Casting Crowns