The Empty Promises Filling the World (Colossians 2:16-23)

Wednesday June 10, 2026

Intro:

False teaching is not new:

Ecc 1:9-11

That which has been is that which will be,

And that which has been done is that which will be done.

So there is nothing new under the sun.

10 Is there anything of which one might say,

"See this, it is new"?

Already it has existed for ages

Which were before us.

11 There is no remembrance of earlier things;

And also of the later things which will occur,

There will be for them no remembrance

Among those who will come later still.

Today we look at a world that is filled with empty teachings.

Colossians outline:

The Letter Opening: “Just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord (1:1-2:5)
1. Prescript (1:1-2)
2. The Powerful Gospel of God’s Son (1:3-23)
  1. The evidence of the Gospel’s Power among the Colossians (Thanksgiving and Prayer) (1:3-14)
  2. The Heart of the Gospel: The Supremacy of Christ in Creation and Redemption (1:15-20)
  3. The Hope Held Out in the Gospel (1:21-23).
3. The Mystery of Christ in Paul’s Ministry and Christian Experience (1:24-2:5)
The Letter Body “...Continue to Live Your Lives in Him (2:6-4:6)
1. The Heart of the Matter: Remaining Centered on Christ (2:6-7)
2. The Threat to Christocentric Living: Warning about False Teachers (2:8-23)
  1. Spiritual Fullness in Christ (2:8-15)
  2. The Empty Promise of the False Teaching (2:16-23)
3. Living a Christocentric Life (3:1-4:1)
  1. Heavenly Thinking (3:1-4)
  2. Putin Off the Practices of the Old Self (3:5-11)
  3. Putting On the Practices of the New Self (3:12-17)
  4. The Lordship of Christ in Earthly Relationships (3:18-4:1)
4. Exhortation to Prayer and Christian Witness (4:2-6)
The Letter Closing: Greetings, Plans, and Instructions (4:7-18)

Open:

Paul writes Colossians while he is in chains, yet Paul knows what true slavery is, and it is not the restriction of iron chains but a heart that is not living with Christ in the manner of Christ’s life.

The solution was to remind the Colossians of the excellence of Christ, who alone is God in the flesh, and who alone sits in the only Victor’s chair at the right hand of God. To remind them that Christ had redeemed and forgiven them and that they were the new creation and land holders in the kingdom of heaven.

The solution was to also remind the Colossians of their eternal position in Christ, secured for them by Christ’s death and resurrection, and that they shared in His victory since their lives had been hidden with Christ in the heavens. If these things were true of them, they why for a moment submit to man-made religions that hold zero value?

Col 2:16-23

Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day — 17 things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ. 18 Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind, 19 and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God.

20 If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, 21 "Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!" 22 (which all refer to things destined to perish with use) — in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men? 23 These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.

A two-act play.

Act one is on earth (Col 2:16-23), and Act two is in heaven (Col 3:1-4).

In both acts the apostle Paul is going to walk onto the stage and ask the hero a question about his understanding and resolve.

Paul is far away in prison, but here appears to ask two first-class questions: If you have died with Christ (and they know they have) … If you have been raised with Christ (and they know they have).

Act 1: Empty Promises Fill the World.

Our completeness in Christ leaves no room for anything else. Verse 16 picks up the same thought as verse 8, but sandwiched in between them is one of the most glorious and definite declarations of the finished work of Christ. Upon reading it, we should all joyfully conclude with Paul:

Rom 3:27

Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith.

And yet, the false teachers who invaded the Colossian church are boasting.

Let no one be your judge. This is a commandment. Now, you can’t stop people from judging you, but you can determine how it affects you. The believers in Colossae were allowing these false teachers to bully them. About what? What they ate, and drank, and how they celebrated (or didn’t) so-called holy days.

Paul’s first list: material, ceremonial, ritual, religious…

“Things that are a mere shadow of what is to come.”

“But the substance belongs to Christ.” The Greek word “substance” is soma – “body.”

Heb 10:1-7

For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form [eikon, Col 1:15] of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near. 2 Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, because the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have had consciousness of sins? 3 But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year by year. 4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. 5 Therefore, when He comes into the world, He says,

"SACRIFICE AND OFFERING YOU HAVE NOT DESIRED,

BUT A BODY YOU HAVE PREPARED FOR ME;

6 IN WHOLE BURNT OFFERINGS AND sacrifices FOR SIN YOU HAVE TAKEN NO PLEASURE.

7 "THEN I SAID, 'BEHOLD, I HAVE COME

(IN THE SCROLL OF THE BOOK IT IS WRITTEN OF ME)

TO DO YOUR WILL, O GOD.'"

“A body you have prepared for Me.” The fullness of God in bodily form (Col 2:9). Lambs never saved anyone.

“Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize.” In this context it would be like being an athlete in the Olympics caught doping – disqualified.

Paul is warning them that if they submit to the apostasy being pushed upon them by the false teachers that they lose out on the blessings of Christocentric living.

Paul’s teaching is for all heresies.

The light shining in our hero is too good and too bright to give up for the world of grey shadows.

Glory of men:

Paul gives us insight into the main motivation behind the peddlers of this false nonsense - pride.

When the substance of Christ meets pride, pride can only try to remove Christ as the head.

Act 1: Enter Paul with a question

Col 2:20-21

If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, 21 "Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!"

The rhetorical question is a type of conditional clause that demands a positive answer.

Then Paul hammers it home. Just like a shadow can do nothing, neither do these things give strength, or wisdom, or godliness.

Lead in to Act II:

Then Paul asks another question, also in the same type of way that demands a positive answer, and therefore also a poke at their good pride:

Col 3:1

Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

That is the opening of Act II – You’re Already Dead and in Heaven.

We can see why the two acts go together. You have to die to be raised up.

Conclusion:

Complete protection against being captured by false doctrine, philosophies, empty lies is to know Christ, your position in Him, and the many blessings graciously given to you by Him.