Colossians 2:16-23 A Shadow of What is To Come

Observation: Paul tells his audience in Colossae not to allow any other believers to come along and judge them because they don't abide by the same religious customs and laws. He reminds them that any human custom is "a shadow of what is to come, but the substance belongs to Christ." 

Application: It's hard for modern Christians to really understand how seismic of a shift it was for the first generation of Christians to accept that their Jewish religious laws, which had given them a deep sense of identity even in the hardest times, were no longer necessary for Christ-believers. It was a hard pill to swallow for folks who had derived a special meaning and a sense of connection to God and to their ancestors through those customs. No doubt about it, this was a game changer. 

We are in a similar time of cultural shift today...in fact, we have been for a long time. I heard on the radio that this year was the fiftieth anniversary of the famous "Summer of Love," in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, where mainstream America was first introduced to "hippies." Even after half a century, we are still reeling. 

There was a time when cultural norms were far more "set in stone" than they are today. Families looked a certain way, courtship looked a certain way, gender norms looked a certain way, careers looked a certain way and were only open to certain people, and it seemed to "work" for most people--or rather, most didn't know any different, and those who did kept it to themselves. 

If I were to pinpoint a single big mistake Christians have made over this past half-century, it would be that we have let ourselves be pressed into service to defend cultural norms that have very little if anything to do with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus did not call us to defend the America we remember from the 1950's, and make it as hard as possible for anyone, Christian or not, to deviate from that. Nope. Jesus called us to make disciples. And in the first few generations, those who were called to do that had to swallow their pride and accept that maybe the disciples they were raising up would look very different from themselves in the details. Still, the substance belongs to Christ. The Good News of what Jesus has done for us does not change, even if our cultural norms do. 

Prayer: Jesus, open our minds. Teach us to know what is the core of your teaching, and what is less essential. Don't let us cling to any human custom if it gets in the way of more people hearing your message. Amen.