Lesson 14 – Submitting to the Right Authority, part 1 (2:16-17)
Read Colossians 2 - www.bible.com/bible/59/col.2
In these next two lessons we’ll look at an important thing to remember where our stability as a Christian is concerned – the matter of who we accept as the authority over our life. In this lesson we look at the command in verse 16 to let no one act as our judge.
Let’s begin with our attitude first. What is a usual reaction when someone judges us? I can’t answer for you, but I tend to get defensive and soon become angry if I’m not careful. Is this the reaction God wants us to have here? No. First, this command to let no one be our judge is limited here to questions about food or drink or the holidays we want to celebrate. And second, we must live by another command we find in Romans 14:13-23 that we must not destroy another over simple things like food.
What is God asking of us in this passage? He is urging us not to get upset and angry when someone questions us over such things as what we do or do not eat, or what days we celebrate as holidays in our Christian lives. These things may well have significance to us; in fact verse 17 says they are shadows of things to come. But the substance is Christ, the verse also says. And Christ’s command to us is to love each other as believers and not pick fights with each other over such things.
This includes whether we choose to worship God on Saturday or Sunday. God doesn’t love us more if we worship one day rather than the other. Neither should we make an issue of this with other believers to say one is better than the other. The Sabbath belongs to the Law, and Jesus said the Sabbath was made for man – not man for the Sabbath (Mark 2:27). The celebration of Sunday belongs to Jesus’ resurrection. One was made a day of rest, the other a day of joy and hope. God made them both. The point in these verses is to not let someone upset you for the choice you make in which day you choose to worship God. Do you not, after all, worship Him every day of the week?
Let another say what they want about the choices you have made between you and God about things that have nothing to do with salvation – but don’t let an argument start that can hurt the other person’s faith in God.