Nov 19

Colossians 2:20-23
Memorise Matthew 6:16
“…touch not; taste not; handle not…”

Many Pharisees fasted not to please God but to gain the admiration of men for such a tortured display of self-denial! Paul ends his warnings to the Colossian church by pointing out that through Christ they should be dead from Jewish ordinances, so they should not live as though they are still subject to them. Paul used the descriptions “Touch not; taste not; handle not” to show how absurd and extreme these ordinances were in the name of self-denial. The meat, drink and other things these ordinances govern will eventually be used up (“perish with the using”), and have nothing to do with the eternal kingdom of God. These ordinances are the product of man, not of God. The plural form of the word “doctrines” is used here to compare against the single doctrine of God. There is only one truth of God, but man cannot agree amongst themselves what is the correct way, hence “doctrines” (also Matthew 15:9, Mark 7:7, 1 Timothy 4:1, Hebrews 13:1). These false teachers ultimately only have an outward show of piety (“shew of wisdom”) and worship in their own willful way (“will worship”), practicing worship contrary to what God strictly commands. Extreme self-denial hurts the body, so there is no value (“honour”) in such things; it only satisfies man’s desire for pride and self-righteousness.

Ultimately this is the problem with such extremism; the person does not really do all this to please God but to please himself or gain admiration from his fellow man instead. To them, Jesus warns: “they have their reward” (eg. Matthew 6:16). I remember one teen that similarly went to the extreme. She took pride in the fact that she did not watch any TV at all; perchance that she might see something sinful by mistake. She later joined a church that is famous for such extremism. When I talked to her, it was clear she had a certain pride in being able to maintain such a discipline, and was self-righteous in pointing out that others were not as holy as she was. While she appeared holy, she really did all this for herself, assuming that she deserved extra points from God for doing over and above what God calls us to do. In so doing, she was not only stumbling others with her unchristian attitude, but it would be very discouraging to others when they try to follow her and impose such standards on themselves as well. When they realise that it is impossible to achieve such Pharisaical perfection by their own strength, they may just give up and become just nominal Christians and never seek after true holiness and sanctification.

Thought: Do I tend towards one extreme in holiness?
Prayer: May I follow God’s appointed way of worship, not my way.