Colossians, Part 8
Type: Wednesday Evening Service
Series: Colossians
Sermon: Part 8
🗣️ Speaker: Pastor Scott Anderson
Throughout history, humanity has had a tendency to take the simplicity of Jesus and layer it with rules, rituals, and religious performance — creating a system that exhausts people rather than freeing them. True faith was never meant to be a scorecard of spiritual appearances, but a relationship rooted in the reality that Jesus alone is enough. When we stop trying to earn what Christ has already freely given, we discover that only he can reach into the deepest places of the human heart and produce the transformation that religion can never achieve on its own.
ℹ️ Tip: The video is set to start at the beginning of the sermon, but you can scrub the playhead to any part of the service. ℹ️
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Have you ever noticed that humanity has an unbelievable ability to take Something so simple and make it overly complicated.
I mean, we do it with everything, y'all.
You buy furniture from IKEA and what was supposed to be a simple bookshelf that your wife insisted, guys, that you had to have for your home.
Suddenly becomes a four-hour spiritual battle with tiny screws, missing instructions, and one mysterious piece left over that you have no idea where it goes.
Some of you husbands know exactly what I'm talking about.
You're standing there at midnight holding an Allen wrench saying this cannot be what the abundant life looks like.
And then y'all there's passwords Y'all, I'm just telling you, if another app on my phone tells me I entered my password incorrectly, I am going to lose my ever-loving mind Because apparently every password now has to contain the following fourteen characters, one capital letter, one lowercase letter, one number, one symbol. a Bible character, your childhood trauma, and the coordinates of the Ark of the Covenant.
And after you finally create one that it accepts and says, okay, you meet all these criteria Then the app comes back with you and says, congratulations.
You cannot use any password you have previously used.
Well, praise God, because I don't even remember the one I created 30 seconds ago And then the ultimate humiliation, as if that's not enough.
Click all images containing a bicycle.
Brother, I don't know if that's a bicycle tire or a part of a motorcycle bumper.
I'm just trying to log in and pay my electric bill.
Come on, somebody.
My lights are fixing to go off, and I need to log in and pay this thing.
Humanity has an unbelievable ability to take simple things and make them unbelievably complicated.
Guys, we send people to the moon.
Why does passwords have to be this complicated?
I'm just telling you.
But spiritually speaking, we've done the exact same thing with Jesus.
Jesus came to bring freedom and for some reason humanity keeps trying to turn freedom back into bondage.
Jesus said, come to me, but religion said, okay, but first let's add 47 requirements before you can come to him.
Jesus tore the veil from heaven to earth, right?
But religion has started sewing it back together again.
Jesus said it is finished.
Religion says that's nice, but you have to prove yourself first.
And if we're honest, this has been happening ever since the Garden of Eden.
This is nothing new in humanity.
Because religion, friends, loves to have control.
Religion loves to keep scorecards.
Religion loves measuring spirituality by our appearances.
How spiritual do they look?
Well, I've got my PhD, my Pentecostal hair.
How many rules do they follow?
How polished are they?
How different do they appear?
But here is the problem.
You can look holy without ever actually being whole on the inside.
You can know church culture without even knowing Jesus Christ.
You can master religious performance and still be spiritually exhausted on the inside.
And that's exactly why Paul wrote the second chapter of Colossians, because the church in Colossea was being attacked by people who were trying to add to Jesus.
They were essentially saying this: Jesus is good.
But he's not enough.
Yeah, you need Jesus, but you also need these rules.
You also need these rituals.
You also need these spiritual experiences sprinkled in somewhere along the way.
And you also need these dietary laws. and holy days and extra requirements added on.
And so Paul comes in swinging here in chapter 2.
One thing you've got to know about my friend Paul.
Anytime someone tries to take make Jesus smaller and religion bigger, he gets fired up real quick.
Because he dealt with that a whole lot.
Paul says, why are you running back to shadows when Jesus is standing right in front of you?
Why are you trying to earn what Christ already purchased?
Why are you putting chains back on people that Jesus has already set free free and church can I tell you something this spirit is alive and well today in the church legalism never really dies It just changes clothes.
Sometimes it wears a suit and a tie.
Sometimes it hides behind church language.
Sometimes it disguises itself as deep spirituality.
But underneath it all is the very same lie.
Jesus alone is not enough.
Can I tell you something in case you have any doubts?
Jesus is all you need.
That's it.
We just summarized.
We can go home.
We have people sitting in churches every single week carrying weights that Jesus never asked them to carry.
They are trying harder, performing more, Pretending better, all while secretly they are exhausted on the inside.
Because hear me, rules can modify behavior for a moment, but only Jesus can transform our hearts.
That's why this passage matters.
I came to preach to somebody today who has been drowning in pressure, guilt.
Performance and religious exhaustion.
Hear me, Jesus did not die so you could live chained to man-made expectations.
He died so you could walk in true freedom.
So point number one is don't allow anyone to disqualify what Christ has already qualified.
Colossians 2.
16 Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in question of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a sabbath.
These are a shadow of the things to come.
Say shadow But the substance, say substance, belongs to Christ.
Here's what Paul is saying.
Stop letting people just qualify what Jesus has already qualified.
Can I tell you something?
One of the enemy's favorite tactics is to convince believers that what Jesus did was not enough.
So now instead of living from acceptance, we start living for acceptance.
And here, this is a huge difference between these two.
You see, religion says if I perform well enough, maybe God will accept me.
But the gospel says because of Jesus I am already accepted, and now I obey from love, not for approval.
You see, this changes everything, church.
Some of you grew up in environments where Christianity Felt like spiritual probation than freedom.
You were constantly wondering, am I doing enough?
Am I holy enough Am I spiritual enough?
Did I pray enough today?
Maybe this week, this month, this year?
Did I fail too many times?
Is God done with me?
Will He never forgive me again?
Is God disappointed in me?
And Paul is asking, why are you living on the other thing?
under pressure that Jesus already carried for you.
Now don't misunderstand what I'm saying or what Paul is saying here.
Paul is not attacking holiness.
Paul is attacking legalism that is masquerading as holiness.
There is a difference.
Holiness says, I want to honor God because I love him Legalism says I need to perform so people think I'm spiritual.
One flows from relationship, the other flows out of fear.
And then Paul starts talking about these festivals, Sabbaths, dietary laws, and rituals.
Why?
Because some people were trying to drag believers back into the old covenant systems that Jesus had already completely fulfilled.
Paul says these things are shadows, but the substance belongs to Christ.
In other words, all those Old Testament symbols were pointing to someone.
The sacrifices pointed to Jesus.
The Passover pointed to Jesus.
The Sabbath pointed to Jesus.
The priesthood pointed to Jesus.
Everything was whispering his name throughout all creation, Jesus.
And hear me, shadows are useful, but only until the real thing arrives.
If my wife walks around the corner, Listen to me.
I don't run up and hug her shadow on the wall.
Come on somebody.
The shadow simply tells me that she's here Paul's frustration in Colossians 2 is this: why would we still cling to systems when Jesus has already fulfilled them?
Because even after freedom arrives, people have a tendency to drift back toward bondage because Bondage is familiar.
It's what's comfortable to us.
It's what we know.
It's what we're used to.
Sometimes people would rather stay in what is familiar than fully walk in freedom.
And honestly, church, that is not a Bible problem.
That is a human problem.
Harriet Tubman famously made repeated trips into the South to lead slaves to freedom through the Underground Railroad.
And historians say one of the most heartbreaking things that she encountered was not the danger of slave catchers, it was the mindset of the people that she was rescuing.
Because after finally escaping slavery, many of them still struggled to live like free people.
Some were terrified.
To walk out openly.
Some whispered when they spoke.
Some panicked anytime they heard footsteps.
Some even considered going back to slavery because that's what they were used to.
Think about this.
They were legally free, but mentally they were still in chains.
Harriet Tubman famously said, I freed a thousand slaves, but I could have freed a thousand more if only they had known that they were slaves.
Hear me, you can be free on paper and still live bound in your mind.
Paul is emphatically saying, why are you clinging to shadows when Jesus himself is standing in front of you?
Church, hear me.
Religion gets obsessed with the symbols.
Jesus offers us substance.
He's offering us meat.
Religion focuses on the externals, but Jesus is focused on our internals.
And if we're honest, legalism can be attractive sometimes because rules feel safer than surrender.
What am I talking about?
Rules make us feel in control, but grace forces us to depend on Jesus.
But can I lovingly remind somebody today?
Jesus did not die so you could spend your life exhausted Trying to prove yourself worthy of what he already purchased for you on Calvary.
We don't earn his love.
We obey him because in Christ we have already received it.
You see, in Luke chapter 15, Jesus tells the story of a prodigal son.
Most of us focus on the younger brother who ran away, but I'm here to tell you the older brother was just as lost, if not more lost.
You see, the younger brother was lost in rebellion.
We know that.
But the older brother was lost in religion.
When the father celebrates the prodigal coming home, the older brother gets angry Why does he get angry?
Because legalistic people always struggle when grace starts to get a little extravagant.
Have you noticed that?
The older brother says, I have obeyed you all these years.
I earned this I am do this.
And the father responds, Son, you have always been with me.
Do not miss this.
The older brother was physically close to his father, but he was relationally distant from him.
He knew the house, but he didn't know the Father's heart.
And there are people sitting in churches across America and across this world every week that are just like that.
They are close to church culture, they're close to ministry. close to religious activity.
They know when to stand, when to sit, how to play the part, when to say amen in the service, and how to look spiritual on the outside.
But deep down they are starving for real Intimacy with Jesus.
How do I know this?
Because that's what we're all created for.
They know the language of Christianity, but they've lost the joy. of Christianity.
They know how to perform for God publicly, but they don't know how to rest in him privately.
Will you allow me to preach boldly for just a moment?
I want to expose the enemy here.
Contrary to what hell keeps whispering in your ear, the enemy cannot steal your salvation So what does he do?
He tries to steal your freedom instead.
Because if Satan can't keep you out of heaven, he'll try to make sure you never walk in victory while you're here on this earth.
Because if he can convince saved people to live condemned.
Fearful, ashamed, performance-driven, then he can keep them spiritually exhausted and bound.
And here's what I need you to know tonight.
Exhausted Christians rarely pray boldly, worship freely, or walk in authority.
Think about it.
When you are spiritually exhausted, you stop fighting.
You give up.
Why?
Because you have no strength left.
You stop expecting God to move.
You start surviving instead of overcoming.
That's what God has called you to do.
Suddenly, Christianity becomes less about Jesus and more about you.
Less about his victory and more about your failures.
Less about relationship and more about your reputation.
Let me share a little insight with you that Peter had to learn the hard way.
Freedom is found when you fix your eyes on Jesus.
Hear me.
It really is that simple.
Are you hearing me tonight?
It really is that simple.
We don't have to make this complicated.
This is not a complicated thing.
Paul moves now to expose another danger.
Sometimes the people who are the most outwardly spiritual can actually be the furthest from Christ internally.
Point number two, beware of spiritual pride disguised as holiness.
Colossians 2, 18 through 19.
Paul doesn't hold back.
I just love Paul.
Can we just give some love to Paul?
I tell you what, he I could just read his letters and it would just preach on its own.
I don't really have to say anything about it, but here at verse 18.
Let no one disqualify you insisting on insenticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, and not holding fast to the head, from whom the whole body nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments grows with a growth that is from God.
Paul goes from legalism to addressing spiritual pride now.
You see, religion doesn't just create exhausted people, it also produces arrogant people.
Can I just tell you?
You know I do, anyways, that you don't have to give me permission.
I just tell it I don't really care.
When it comes to dealing with arrogant people in the church I've got about as much patience for them that I have for a toothache.
I can deal with arrogance outside the church.
I don't like it, but I can deal with it.
But friends, there is something especially dangerous about arrogance wrapped in spirituality.
Because when pride puts on church clothes, people start confusing ego for anointing.
Is anyone with me tonight?
And hear me, nothing will push hurting people away from Jesus faster than Christians who act like they've got God on a leash and everybody else is spiritually beneath them.
Have you ever met somebody who can somehow make prayer sound condescending?
Well, I've just been in a deeper place with the Lord lately.
I'm just gonna say it like it is.
Brother, you don't sound spiritual to me.
You sound absolutely insufferable.
Or they'll say, I got up at 4 a. m. to pray for three hours.
Well, that's wonderful.
I got up at 4 a. m. because my dog threw up in the hallway.
We are all fighting spiritual battles out here, friends.
I just feel like this is a great place to remind us, and if not for you, maybe it's just for me, of a passage of scripture in Matthew 6.
I don't know.
This just came to me.
It's not in my notes.
I have this memorized, by the way.
Matthew chapter 6, beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.
Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do, that they may be praised by By others, truly I say to you, they have received their reward.
Just in case you are wondering, those letters are in red.
Listen, if you want your reward to come from people, you go right on ahead.
Chase that applause, chase the recognition, chase the attention.
But as for me, any good thing that comes from my life, I'm not taking credit for it.
I'm gathering it up, and I'm gonna lay it at the feet of Jesus and worship one day.
Because the only reason I could do any of it in the first place is because of him.
Every sermon preached, every life touched, every victory won, every person that was saved on because of my ministry, every chain broken, every ounce of strength every bit of wisdom, every open door, every bit of it traces back to Jesus.
Church, without him, I am not anointed enough.
I'm not smart enough.
Trust me, I'm not smart enough.
I'm not gifted enough or strong enough.
So I refuse to stand on stages pretending I built something that only the grace of God could produce in me.
Jesus said there are some people who do spiritual things just to be noticed by other people.
And Jesus says, congratulations, the attention you wanted is your reward.
But hear me, church.
I don't want applause on earth if it costs me intimacy with God in heaven.
And that is exactly Paul's point in Colossians 2.
He says, these people were puffed up. inflated with spiritual pride.
But then he says something that is absolutely devastating about them in my personal opinion.
He says they were not holding fast to the head.
Who is the head?
Jesus.
Here's a terrifying reality.
You can know theology And still not have tenderness.
You can know doctrine and still not have devotion.
Because false spirituality is obsessed with appearances.
Religion says, look how spirit Spiritual I am, but the gospel says, Look how sufficient Christ is.
Hear me carefully.
Any spirituality that makes you more impressed with yourself Then dependent on Jesus is a very dangerous thing.
Because real encounters with God do not inflate your ego.
They should produce humility.
The closer Isaiah got to God, the more undone he got.
The closer Peter got to Jesus, the more aware he became of his own sinfulness.
You see, real intimacy with Jesus Should actually humble us.
I've encountered some people that I believe, to be honest with you, they don't want intimacy with God.
What they want is the image of intimacy.
But we need to understand something.
God is not looking for performers.
God is looking for a surrendered people.
A.
W.
Tozer once said, it is possible to be so active in the work of Christ that you forget the Christ of the work.
And I think that describes a lot of people in our modern-day churches.
They are busy, they are active, they're posting.
Serving, performing.
You see, social media has made this incredibly easy for us today.
Today, people don't just pray, they announce their praying.
They don't just fast, they post about it.
They don't just read the Bible, they photograph the coffee cup, the journal, the highlighter, the candle, and the Greek lexicon.
Meanwhile, their actual devotional only lasted six minutes and it took them 30 minutes to pose for the photo.
Sometimes we're better at curating spirituality than actually cultivating intimacy.
Have you ever seen those gigantic muscle suits that kids wear for Halloween?
Little 45-pound child walking around like he is Arnold Schwarzenegger.
They have the appearance of looking massive, but underneath is just a child.
We've got a lot of children that are masquerading like Arnold in the global church, and let me just say Satan Knows the difference.
Hell is not intimidated by religious performance.
Hell is not intimidated by church jargon.
Hell doesn't care about polished appearances.
The enemy knows the difference.
Difference between somebody who merely looks spiritual and somebody who actually has been with Jesus.
That's why the sons of Skeva got embarrassed in Acts 19.
They tried to cast demons out on borrowed authority.
And the demon literally responded to them, Jesus, I know.
Paul I recognize, but who exactly are you?
Let me tell you something, that'll humble you real fast.
In modern language, the demons said you sound religious, you even look the part But there's no authority behind what you're saying.
There is a massive difference between knowing about Jesus and actually walking with him every day.
And this is exactly why Paul says these people were not holding fast to the head.
This is where religion always leads us eventually.
Because when you lose connection to Jesus, all you have left is rules, pressure, and performance.
That's why some people sitting in churches today are exhausted.
Not because Jesus is heavy.
Listen, his burden is light.
His yoke is easy.
He's told us this.
And do you believe he's a liar?
I don't believe he's a liar.
But here's the reality.
Jesus is not heavy.
Religion is.
Not because intimacy with Jesus is draining, but because trying to maintain a spiritual image, trying to fake who you really are, that is exhausting work.
And Paul says, when you've truly died with Christ, why are you still living like your chain to the old system?
Which brings us to point number three.
Dead people don't need chains.
Verse 20 If with Christ you die to the elemental spirits of the world, why?
As if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations?
Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch.
Paul is asking the church, if Jesus already set you free, why are you still living like a prisoner?
The question is still valid for us today.
Why are people dragging chains that Jesus already broke?
Why are people still living condemned after the cross?
Can I say it plainly?
Dead people don't need chains.
You don't need to handcuff a corpse.
Friend, they ain't going nowhere.
They're not about to hop in a car and go somewhere.
You don't lock up somebody that is dead.
You see, some Christians Live like spiritual hoarders.
Y'all know what hoarding is.
People got newspapers from 1987 stacked to the ceiling in their living room.
Plastic grocery bags organized like they are family heirlooms.
Old ketchup packets from the Clinton administration, y'all They say I might need it one day.
No, sir, you are not gonna need a blockbuster rewards card in 2026 Let me tell you something else you don't need, church.
You don't need the chains of the past.
Read my lips.
Throw them away.
You do not need yesterday's shame.
You do not need old condemnation.
You do not need the labels people have placed on your life.
You do not need the guilt that Jesus has already forgave you of.
You do not need to keep rehearsing the failures that God has already redeemed in your life You see, some of you have a garage that is full of junk that Jesus told you to get rid of years ago.
You have got boxes labeled regret, insecurity.
Failure, addiction, bitterness, divorce, failure, what they said about you, what they did to you, what they didn't say about you, and every now and then you keep opening these boxes up like they have some sort of value in your life still.
Let me tell you. what I think.
Some of you need to take a trip to the dumpster out back of the church and throw away your horde.
The gospel of Jesus Christ declares Whom the Sun sets free is free indeed.
So it is time to call 1-800-Got Junk and throw it out.
This is why water baptism is such a powerful picture.
Because when somebody goes underwater, it symbolizes death.
And when they come out, it symbolizes the resurrection.
I remember Pastor Strickland sharing a story about a man who walked into a church service on this campus long time ago, and he came in absolutely broken.
He came to the altar and said something to the effect of, Pastor, I'm a sinner.
I've done a lot of terrible things, and I need a fresh start.
And so Pastor Strickland prayed with him, and that night the man gave his life to Jesus.
Well, the next service rolled around, and the man raised his hand and said, Pastor, right in the middle of service, can I testify tonight?
And so he let him speak, and then the man stood up and started listing every sinful thing that he could remember in his mind On and on he went about his past.
Then the next service came and the same thing happened.
Pastor, can I testify?
And Pastor Strickland stopped him and said, No, you can't.
Because every time you testify, all you want to talk about is the person you used to be.
And you refuse to acknowledge the new person that you have become in Christ.
Christ.
Hear me.
There comes a time when you have to stop glorifying the chains that Jesus already broke off of your life.
Bondage becomes dangerous when it becomes familiar.
Israel experienced this in Exodus.
God delivered them from Egypt. with miracles, signs, and wonders.
He split the Red Sea, destroyed the f destroyed Pharaoh's army.
And yet later the people said, whenever they started re- starting having some resistance, they said, maybe we should go back to Egypt.
Why?
Because slavery had become familiar to them.
That's how the enemy works in our life, friends.
I read a story once about elephants that were raised in captivity.
When they were young, their trainers would chain them. to a small, very small stake in the ground, and they were not strong enough to break that stake and pull it free.
So eventually they just gave up and stopped trying.
But here's the crazy part When those elephants became full-grown adults, they were plenty powerful enough to rip that stake out of the ground with one single kick.
But they don't because mentally they still believe that they are bound.
If you are chained tonight I just want to tell you, you are not chained because Jesus failed to break the chain.
You are chained because somewhere along the journey you stopped believing that freedom was possible.
And here is the tragedy that Paul exposes next.
Religion is incredibly good at changing behavior externally while never transforming our heart internally.
It can make people look holy without actually making them whole.
It can create compliance without producing transformation.
It can modify our habits while leaving hearts completely untouched.
And so Paul gives us this final warning, part four, point four.
Behavior modification cannot produce heart transformation.
Verse 23.
These have indeed an appearance of wisdom.
In promoting self-made religion and a synticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.
Have you ever noticed that appearances can be incredibly deceiving?
A few years ago, I mentioned to Katie that I wanted to buy us some patio furniture.
She's already laughing.
She didn't know it was gonna bring this up tonight.
Listen, finances were tight.
We were in our first home.
We Been married maybe a year or two.
I don't know.
We had a nice little Florida room and I love to sit outside.
Now granted I don't like sitting outside in the summer.
I just I call that off.
That's too hot.
Just spring and fall Maybe some winter days, but I don't like to sit out there in the summer.
But it was a nice spring day and I said, you know, I would love to get some patio furniture.
And so I started browsing online just trying to get an idea of prices and good lord, y'all, I was blown away at how much patio furniture costs nowadays. days I you would have thought they were gold plated or something.
Well apparently Amazon heard my conversation through the walls of my house because suddenly every ad on my phone became all about patio furniture.
Now, don't explain to me how that happens, all I know.
Big brother's not watching us, is what we're told.
I don't know.
And so one popped up that looked amazing.
I mean this set looked luxurious, elegant, like the kind of patio set where rich people sip hand squeezed lemonade and discuss about their investments.
And the price It fit the bill, which means it was suspiciously affordable.
I ignored the red flag.
I added it to my cart.
Two-day shipping.
Praise God.
Two days later the box arrives at the house.
And I'm looking at the box and I am just marveling at how They were able to get an entire patio set to fit inside such a small box.
I pull all the pieces out and I start putting it together.
I start with one of the chairs and y'all, I lie to you not I put that chair together.
It was custom built for a family of garden gnomes.
I'm talking about the kind of chair where if you sat down in it, your knees immediately became your earrings.
Katie walks out.
Took one look at it, started laughing, and said, Surve, serves you right, trying to be cheap.
Listen, y'all, the pictures online made it look like a luxury like it belonged at a luxury resort.
It's on Amazon.
It can't be how bad can it be?
What showed up looked like it belonged in the waiting room of a build-a-bear workshop, and I'm not talking about for the adults, I'm talking about for the bears.
And that's exactly what Paul is saying about religion.
It looks impressive in the advertisement But once you actually sit in it, you realize it cannot support the weight of a real human soul.
The only thing that religion promotes is behavior modification.
And Paul says, while it appears to have the appearance of wisdom, it has no power.
What Satan doesn't want us to know Is there is a difference between changing behavior and changing desires.
You see, programs like AA go after the symptoms, but Jesus wants to snatch it up by the root.
And hear me carefully.
I thank God for programs that help people.
If you have been helped by that program, I I praise God for it.
I thank God for accountability.
I thank God for counseling.
There is a place for that.
Please hear me.
I am not. discarding those things.
Those things matter.
But at the end of the day, only Jesus can reach into the hidden places of our human heart and change what somebody loves, desires, and craves.
Here's where religion eventually begins to break down on us.
You see, religion knows how to address actions, but it has no idea what to do with pain.
Religion knows how to address actions, but it has no idea what to do with pain.
Religion sees anger, it can put its finger on it and say you have a problem here.
But Jesus sees the wound that's underneath it. that's creating the problem in the first place.
Religion could put its finger on the addiction, but Jesus uses the emptiness that somebody has been trying to fill with other things.
And that's why people can spend years trying to fix behavior while never allowing God to heal their heart that produced the hate behavior in the first place.
I want to close out with a very personal story, and I want to warn you this is an emotional one.
Several years ago I Um there was a young man that walked up to the church right here on this campus um i one afternoon.
Um and I still remember the way that he looked to this day.
I can still see his face.
His clothes were dirty His shoes were literally coming apart at the seams, and you could tell just by looking at his face and in his eyes that life had absolutely worn him down.
He was exhausted.
He looked exhausted in the absolute deepest sense of the word.
And when he started talking, the pain just started pouring out of him.
He said, I have been doing drugs.
I'm living on the streets.
My feet have open sores from walking miles every day.
I'm not going anywhere.
I just I'm just walking around.
I am hungry.
I'm addicted.
I am tired of living like this.
I know.
Need help and I'm willing to do whatever it takes to get my life back on track.
And church, I'm gonna tell you something.
When somebody gets that honest, it does something to you And I remember thinking, we have got to do whatever it takes.
Praise Tim, you can come back.
So we did everything we could.
We got him new shoes, got him something to eat.
We took him into a we took him to a rehab facility so that he could get detoxed because he was clearly even at that time he was still on drugs And after some time that he was there in that rehab facility, I went and I picked him up in Ocala.
And he I'm gonna tell you something, he looked completely different There was joy back in his eyes.
He looked like a completely different person.
I was actually seeing him for the very first time.
Life was back in his face.
And from there we took them to a ministry that specializes in helping people with life-controlling issues rebuild their life.
We support them on a monthly basis here.
They have a great track record.
And but I will tell you something about this rehab facility that I'm talking about here that is truly a ministry.
It's not some quick six-week program designed to slap a band-aid on a deep wound.
It was an intensive program Because if you know anything, those people that are dealing with drugs, a six-week program is not gonna do it.
I'm just telling you, I have been there, I've done that, not exp you know what I mean.
I have walked with people through that, and it it it's not enough It was an intensive program, Bible-based, it was structured and a place where many people have experienced true healing We got him checked in, got him settled in.
We prayed with him before I before I left him there with the whole staff.
We gathered around him.
And I remember driving away thinking to myself, I wonder what he is going to look like when I pick him up a year or two from now I wonder what God's gonna do.
But just a few days later we got a call that he had checked himself out of the program because he felt like it was too much.
And it was overkill for what he needed.
And church, I wish I could tell you the story had a happy ending.
But within a few months, we got word that he had overdosed and passed away.
He was 27 years old.
And I was about the same age at that time.
So it hit just a it just hit home.
And my heart sank.
And I remember thinking this young man didn't just need behavior adjustment.
He needed heart transformation.
Addiction was never the deepest issue with him.
The drugs were just the outward symptom.
Underneath the addiction was pain. loneliness, brokenness, and hopelessness.
And religion has no answer for that, church.
Rules cannot heal wounds.
Shame cannot transform a heart.
Only Jesus can do that.
And church, this is where Colossians 2 becomes painfully real.
Because religion can modify behavior for a season, but only Jesus can transform our human heart.
That story still breaks me when I think about it because I often think to myself, that's the one that I know of, but how many other people are out there quietly walking around that are hurting underneath the surface that I know nothing about?
That's just the one that walked up to the church.
People carrying wounds, going through battles that no one knows about.
And can I tell you, it makes me even more grateful for Jesus, knowing that when religion had no answer for our brokenness, Jesus Jesus said I do.
I don't know about you, but I'm just grateful that he didn't abandon me and my mess.
That he kept loving me when I was difficult to love.
Ask my wife.
I can be difficult to love.
That his mercy was deeper than my failures, and that his grace was stronger than my sin.
Church, where would we be without Jesus?
Tonight, maybe you walked into this room exhausted from trying harder.
Maybe you've been carrying chains, dragging them behind you.
Maybe you're tired of pretending.
I've got great news for you.
Jesus is still able to heal your heart and restore what sin has tried to destroy you in your life.
After all he's done, After all the times that he has forgiven me and done what religion couldn't, I don't know about you, but I'm just a bit grateful.
When religion didn't know the solution, Jesus said, I do.
And it's going to cost me.
It's going to be painful.
But it's worth it.
And so tonight, I just want to encourage us to do something.
I want us to worship tonight.
The one that destroyed religion, then the one that brought the solution to the problem that we were facing throughout humanity.
So will you stand with me as we worship together and praise God. and gratefulness.
