What is Christianity all about? Some legalists think it’s just an onerous list of do’s and don’ts. But Paul objects. For however important it is for Christians to live holy lives (3:5, 8-9), he insists that following such rules can’t save anyone. Because no ethical code, no matter how severe or constraining it might be, has the power to put a stop to selfish, fleshly living (2:23). After all, concentrating on what you must do or must not do keeps your focus on yourself instead of on God – and that’s the essence of sin.

Others insist that following Jesus just means observing a certain set of ceremonies – being baptized, taking communion, and attending weekly worship services which must, of course, be carried out only according to time-honored traditions. But however helpful these things might be, Paul insists that they are all simply signposts that point to a higher, deeper, spiritual reality (2:17) – Christ Himself.

For Jesus, after all, is the Head of the Church (2:19), the audience for Whom our worship is intended. His are the promises of which the Sacraments are signs and seals. And He is the One Who makes us willing and able to live holy lives, not in order to save ourselves from our sins, but in order to express the fact that we have died with Him and are living only for His glory (3:3).

So, yes, following Jesus does involve changing the way that we live. It involves worshipping God, shifting our attention away from ourselves and focusing our hearts and minds on Christ and on heavenly things (3:2). For He is not only the One Who can break down all the barriers of race and class that seem so important to us (3:11). He is the only true source of life itself. So let us draw close to Him today.

Colossians 2:16-3:11 (ESV)

16 Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath.
17 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.
18 Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind,
19 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.
20 If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations–
21 “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch”
22 (referring to things that all perish as they are used)– according to human precepts and teachings?
23 These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.
3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming.
7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them.
8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.
9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices
10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.
11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.