Colossians: Beyond Rules & Regulations

Keeping the Main Thing the Main Thing

Introduction: A Birthday Party Parable

Imagine planning a birthday party. The vision is simple: celebrate with friends, have a good time together. But then reality sets in. You worry about dietary requirements, cleaning the house, keeping crisp bowls topped up, ensuring everyone has a drink, and suddenly you're stressed about loo roll. Before long, you've completely lost sight of the main purpose—hanging out with friends and celebrating together.

We find ourselves in these situations sometimes, losing sight of what matters most. We get wrapped up in social convention and practicalities, distracted from the heart of the matter. Today, Paul writes to the Colossians facing a similar problem: they're losing sight of the main thing.

The Context: A Church Under Pressure

Colossae was a cultural crossroads. Greek and Roman gods competed for worship. Jewish Christians were pressuring new believers from non-Jewish communities to complete their commitment to Christ by following the rules of the Torah—the Old Testament laws.

To understand Paul's response, we need to understand the purpose of the Old Testament law. God gave it to Moses on Mount Sinai as the basis for a covenant with His people. The law served a purpose: to make God's people holy and set apart, bearing His image to the world around them.

There were different types of laws. Moral law ensured God's people lived in ways that reflected God's justice. Ritual law set out specific codes for worship and entering God's presence. These laws addressed ritual purity—the idea that something pure could become impure through contact with something impure. Being ritually unclean wasn't sinful, but it meant you couldn't come into God's presence.

But here's the critical point: the law was never meant to be the final plan. It had no power to transform the human heart. God's people continued to fall short and mess up throughout the Old Testament. The law could hold up a mirror, showing where we fall short of God's holiness, but it couldn't change our hearts.

The Shadow and the Reality

As our passage says, "These are a shadow of things that were to come. The reality, however, is found in Christ."

Jesus is that greater reality. In Jesus, God enters the world as human flesh and blood. His life is a declaration of something new: God's kingdom breaking into Earth.

Consider the encounter between Jesus and a man suffering from leprosy. Leprosy was painful and isolating. Old Testament law required inspection by a priest, quarantine, ritual cleansing. The man was ritually unclean, cut off from society. When he meets Jesus, he falls and begs, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean."

"Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. 'I am willing,' he said, 'be clean.' And immediately the leprosy left him." (Luke 5:12-13)

This is revolutionary. Throughout the Old Testament law, purity was protected from contamination—the impure made the pure unclean. But Jesus does something different. He touches this man, someone who would have had bells attached so people could hear him coming and stay away. Jesus doesn't flee. He moves toward and touches him.

Instead of contamination, we see restoration. The beauty and dignity in that moment is incredible. But more importantly, Jesus does what the law never could: He heals. He makes the impure pure. The physical healing points to a deeper spiritual reality—Jesus has the power to heal the sickness of our sin, to make our unholy hearts holy through His death on the cross.

Freedom to Enter God's Presence

This changes everything. First, we are free to enter God's presence. By the blood of Jesus, we are made holy and blameless.

Paul writes earlier in Colossians: "But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight without blemish and free from accusation." (Colossians 1:22)

There is no ritual cleansing required. I woke up this morning, showered, had breakfast, brushed my teeth, cycled in—and then I walked freely into God's presence. There was no ceremony required. We get to walk freely into God's presence. That is such a gift.

Moreover, God's presence lives in us. We are temples of His Spirit. What a gift that is.

Transformation, Not Regulation

Second, we are transformed. Rather than following rules and regulations, we're transformed by God's Spirit. God's presence doesn't just dwell around us—it dwells in us. We become living temples of His Spirit, transformed into His likeness.

The key difference is this: The gospel of Jesus Christ is about transformation, not regulation. Any change in how we live is not the result of following rules, but an overflow of our relationship with Jesus. We're in relationship with the one who reaches toward the broken and makes it new, who changes our hearts of stone to hearts of flesh.

Through Jesus' life, death, and resurrection, we experience restoration into fullness of relationship with God. We can freely enter His presence. And we are transformed as we're made more like Jesus.

The Problem: Losing Connection with the Head

Now, let's return to our passage with this understanding. Paul is heartbroken because the Colossians are being led to believe that what Jesus has done is not enough. They're being bound by rules and regulations that were never meant to be the main thing.

There's also a problem of arrogance in the community. Some are puffed up with false humility, worshiping angels, thinking they're not worthy to go directly to God and need intermediaries. But Paul is clear: we were not worthy, but we have been made worthy. By the blood of Jesus, we can walk into the throne room without an intermediary.

So Paul declares: "Do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink." Do not let anyone judge you.

In his letter to the Galatians, Paul puts it beautifully: "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm then, do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery." (Galatians 5:1)

God has set us free so that we can be free, not so that we can be weighed down.

What This Means for Us

Some of what Paul writes is context-specific to first-century debates about Old Testament law. You probably haven't felt bound by niche Old Testament dietary laws. But the principle remains: Remember that we have stepped into freedom.

If you're revisiting your university town or school, you know that strange feeling. You don't have to tuck your shirt in. You don't need to rush off at 10:10 when breaks finish. You're free from those rules. Yet you feel like you should still follow them because you're so used to them.

We're the same with our faith. We don't need to be bound anymore. It's for freedom that we've been set free.

For New Believers

If you came to faith recently, I want to encourage you: this is what you've stepped into. Coming to Jesus is amazing, but it can feel confusing. There may be people around you who know things you don't—Bible passages, worship songs, spiritual practices.

But here's the truth: there is no shame in using the contents page. The main thing is that you've been brought into freedom, into the kingdom of life and light and redemption. That's what matters.

Maybe you're here today for the first time, dragged along by a friend. I hope you can hear that the invitation of Jesus is an invitation into freedom. Christianity might seem like rules and regulations, but it's so much more. It's about redemption and restoration. You might have questions—I'd love to chat with you later.

For Long-Time Believers

And for those of us who've been following Jesus longer: we need to remember that freedom still stands. We can forget it, too.

You might think, "I've been a Christian for years. Surely I should have this figured out. Surely God's running out of patience." But we're all works in progress. Since I became a Christian at 17, I can see fruit of God's work in my life, but there's also plenty where I still fall short of God's glory.

The thing is: we have to keep the main thing the main thing. That freedom, that relationship with Jesus—we have to keep our eyes and hearts fixed on Jesus. Without that, it's easy to get distracted by the world, by belief systems, by legalism creeping in.

Paul writes in verse 19: "They have lost connection with the head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow."

We need to stay connected to Jesus. Throughout the New Testament, Jesus is the head of His body, the church. However long we've been following Jesus, we must not lose connection with the head. Keep the main thing the main thing. Remember that call into freedom.

Living This Out in Community

But here's something crucial: we don't do this in isolation. The passage talks about being held together by ligaments and sinews—connective tissues that hold the body together. We are called into community.

How can we be people who don't put heavy yokes on others, but instead cheer them on in their faith? As a youth pastor, I've learned something important: our job isn't to raise young people who can perfectly recite psalms or find Isaiah the fastest. Our job is to help them fall in love with Jesus. From that place, God will work in them in His timing, His plans, and His purposes.

When I came to university, I didn't know much about living for Jesus. But I was part of a community of people who loved Jesus. I was spurred on, inspired by their hunger and love for Him. I grew so much.

Now I know more of the Bible—though not everything. There are still parts that confuse me. But I'm grateful for people around me who passionately talk about God's Word in a way that makes space for questions, that doesn't make me feel silly.

How do we do community where we spur one another on toward Jesus? That love for Him, that passion for His words and ways—it's infectious. But how do we do it in a way that also makes space for questions and figuring it out together?

Closing Prayer

The invitation of Jesus is an invitation to freedom. It's an invitation to restoration and transformation. However you've come this morning, I hope you hear that invitation afresh. As we live for Him, fixing our eyes on Jesus, we can grow together, championing one another as we seek after Him.

Let me finish by praying with words from Colossians 1:19 (The Message):

"They're completely out of touch with the source of life, Christ, who puts us together in one piece. His very breath and blood flow through us. He is the head and we are the body. We can grow up healthy in God only as he nourishes us."

Lord, we thank you that you are the source of life. That you put us together in community, that you grow us together. Thank you that your very breath and blood flow through us. Lord, would you help us to fall more in love with you? That we would grow up healthy in you, fixing our eyes on you, that you would nourish us as only you can. Would you bless us? Would you be at work in us? Amen.