Colossians 2:6-15

            {Prayer}

            How do you fill in the blank? “I’m never ________ enough?” I’m never good enough. I’m never thin enough, never powerful enough, never successful enough, never smart enough, never old enough, never young enough, never educated enough, never athletic enough, never fast enough, never popular enough.

            Frequently, when the alarm goes off in the morning, our first thought is, “I’m not rested enough.” We hit the snooze button. Alarm goes off again, next thought, “I’m not motivated enough.” We hit the snooze again. Alarm goes off again and then, “I’m not energetic enough.” We then turn over in our bed, mumble, grumble, groan, stretch, get out of bed and shuffle to the bathroom.

            Before we even sit up in bed, before our feet touch the floor, we’re already running on empty, already inadequate, already behind, already losing, already lacking! And by the time we go to bed at night, our minds are racing with a long list of things we didn’t get done and things we don’t have.

            It often works this way. We compare our lives, our marriages, and our families to unattainable, media-driven visions of perfection. Then we hold up our life against our own fictional account of how great someone else has it. Nostalgia also eats our lunch. We compare our lives to a memory that nostalgia has so completely edited that it never really existed. “Remember when …?” “Oh, those were the days.” Put it all together and we never have enough.

            Paul’s letter to the church in Colossae is a frontal attack against this problem of never having enough. False teachers had infiltrated the church and their poisonous message was simple. “Even though you have Christ, you still don’t have enough.”

            Paul fires back. “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ” (Col. 2:8). Paul warns us here that there are hallow and deceptive movements, there are methods and messages that take us captive. But how? How do they do it? The false teachers relentlessly say, “You’ll never, ever have enough.” 

            Paul again pushes back saying, “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form” (Col. 2:9). Everything that makes God, God, is in Jesus Christ, Everything. “…and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority” (Col. 2:10). This fullness is delivered to you through Holy Baptism. “… having been buried with {Jesus} in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead” (Col. 2:12). From the fullness of Jesus, we have everything we need (John 1:16) From the fullness of Jesus, you have eternal life (John 10:10). From the fullness of Jesus, you are a precious child of God (1 John 3:1). So what’s the point?

            Baptized into Christ, connected to Christ, we have enough. We have forgiveness for our failures. “God made you alive with Christ. He forgave all our sins” (Col. 2:13). There’s that word all again from a couple of weeks ago. That word shows up 42 times in Colossians. Christ has it all! (Col. 2:9). Christ forgives it all! (Col. 2:13).

            Leon Lett was a great defensive tackle that helped the Dallas Cowboys win three Super Bowls in the 1990’s. Unfortunately, for most NFL fans, the Super Bowl wins are not the memories they have of Leon Lett. Instead, two memories of spectacular failure stand out.

            The first blunder occurred in Super Bowl 27 against the Buffalo Bills. Leon Lett recovered a fumble late in the game. People call it the “Fumble Rumble”. Leon was on his way to a sure touchdown, but as he approached the end-zone, he slowed down and stretched out his arms. Don Beebe of the Buffalo Bills came racing from behind to slap the ball out of Leon’s hands just seconds before Leon crossed the goal line. The ball bounced through the end-zone resulting in a touchback that cost Leon his Super Bowl touchdown.

            Then in the next season, the Cowboys were leading the Miami Dolphins 14-13 with just seconds left on the clock. The Dolphins attempted a 41-yard field-goal. A Cowboy player slipped through the line to block the kick. Leon’s teammates jumped up and down in celebration.

            Now, according to the NFL rule book, the ball was dead. But Leon didn’t read the NFL rule book. He tried to recover the football and in his attempt, he knocked it away. Since he had touched it, Leon Lett put the ball back into play. The Dolphins recovered the loose football. They then kicked the field-goal again and won 16-14.

            Ever feel like Leon Lett? Have you ever almost scored a touchdown, only to fumble away a sale, a customer, a dream, a business deal, a family relationship? Have you ever put harmful words back into play? Or a negative attitude? Or toxic ideas? In some way, we can all relate with Leon Lett.

            But get this … Paul says there is forgiveness for all our failures. There is enough!

            There is also deliverance for our debts. “… having canceled the record of debt, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; {Jesus} took it away, nailing it to the cross” (Col. 2:14). That phrase, “the record of debt” is similar to ancient monthly credit card bill. The ink used in those days didn’t have any acid so a sponge could wipe it away. Wouldn’t it be nice if our credit card bills could be wiped away like that? Swipe. Gone. As nice as it would be, don’t get your hopes up.

            Financially, we might be stuck, but not spiritually. Paul says that the wonder of the cross is that God wiped away, as one erases a record of debt, the awful indictment of our sins which stood against us.

            Also in Paul’s day, when the debt was paid, it was nailed publicly in the city square where everyone could see it. The nail cutting through the record of debt was the seal of the debt’s cancellation. That’s what God did with your spiritual debt. He canceled it and nailed it to the cross. All of your debt has been paid, in full!

            So why do we go around trying to pay off God? “God, I’ll make you a deal. I won’t smoke, I won’t drink, and I won’t chew. And I won’t run around with girls who do if you would take care of my sins.” It doesn’t work like that. We owe God a lot more than we can ever repay. The good news is, there is enough deliverance for all our debts. They have all been wiped away and nailed to the cross.

            We have forgiveness for our failures, deliverance for our debts, and we have triumph for our tragedies. “And having disarmed the powers and authorities, {Jesus} made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross” (Col. 2:15). The picture is of a Roman triumphal parade where defeated armies were publicly marched to their death. At the end of the parade, the enemies were stripped, humiliated, and then executed. It was the end. Paul uses this imagery to refer to what Christ did to the spiritual powers and authorities.

            And he did it by being part of one of these Roman parades. Soldiers paraded our Savior from Pilate’s courtyard to Calvary along the Via Dolorosa or “The Way of Sorrows.” At the end of this parade, Jesus was stripped, humiliated and then executed. It was ugly, it was vile and barbaric … but it was not the end. On Easter morning … Jesus rocked the world. He showed Himself alive! Heaven’s best took hell’s worse and triumphed. The master of death could not destroy the Lord of Life!

            Life’s tragedies … darkness, disease, death … they are not the end! In Christ, they are defeated, they are dead and done! We have triumph for all our tragedies!

            So why, why do we get stuck with “I’m never ______ enough?” This mind-set of scarcity lives at the heart of our jealousies, our greed, our arguments with life. We spend inordinate amounts of time calculating how much we don’t have. “I just don’t have enough!”

            Colossians 2:10 … “You have been given fullness in Christ.” Baptized into Christ, connected to Christ, we have enough forgiveness, enough deliverance, and enough triumph. David in Psalm 23 puts it this way, “You anoint my head with oil; my cup runneth over” (23:5). We have enough … now and forevermore. Amen.

            The peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord, now and forever. Amen.