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Man, the title of my sermon this morning is Voluntary Humility and Will Worship. Voluntary Humility and Will Worship. Over the years I've had people ask me, what does this mean? Because these are some kind of obscure terms that are used here in Colossians chapter 2. When we hear these terms, voluntary humility in verse number 18 and will worship in verse 23, what is this talking about? Well, I'm going to go through and break this down this morning and preach about the subject of voluntary humility. Now let me first start out by pointing out the connection between verse 18 and verse 23. In verse 18 it says, let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshiping of angels, intruding in those things which he had not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind. And then when you jump down to verse 23 it says, which things have indeed a show of wisdom in will worship and humility. Now the word voluntary has to do with the will. For example, in Spanish when you say will, you say voluntar. And so these two things are connected, the will worship and humility of verse 23 is similar to the voluntary humility of verse 18. Now let me start out by just giving you a dictionary definition of the word voluntary and then showing how this applies to the scripture here. Dictionary number one in the dictionary is that something is done, made, brought about or undertaken of one's own accord or by free choice. So voluntary means that you're doing it of your own accord or by free choice. Number two, voluntary can mean of relating to or acting in accord with the will. So it's in accordance with your will that makes it voluntary. Number three, of relating to or depending on voluntary action or number four, made without valuable consideration as in a voluntary settlement, meaning that you're doing something and you're not getting anything in return for it. So I'm actually going to give you four points this morning based on these four definitions and show you what the scripture is teaching. What is this voluntary humility? Well we know right away that it's a bad thing. It's bad because he says don't let anybody beguile you, trick you, deceive you of your reward in a voluntary humility. That's a bad thing. Worshipping angels, that's a bad thing because we should worship the Lord our God and him only should we serve. We shouldn't be worshipping angels. So it's a bad thing. Intruding into those things, verse 18, which he had not seen is a bad thing. Being vainly puffed up in your fleshly mind is a bad thing. So why would voluntary humility be a bad thing? I mean is humility a good thing? Yeah, humility is good, right? Now you'd think volunteering to do something good would make it good, but yet this voluntary humility that the scripture speaks of is a bad thing. Why? Okay, four points. Number one, this voluntary humility, it's voluntary because it's not prescribed by God. It's a humility that God has not commanded. It's not prescribed by God. That's what makes it voluntary. Number two, it's voluntary because these people are following their own will, not God's will. It's according to their will. Number three, it's voluntary humility because it depends on their voluntary action or an act of their own will instead of being the work of the Holy Spirit, instead of coming from within, instead of a person who has a right attitude about God and a right attitude about themselves and they're filled with the Spirit, so the natural result is humility. This isn't a natural humility that comes from being in Christ and understanding God and who He is. This is a voluntary humility that is coming from an act of the will. It's not from within. It's put on because these people are actually puffed up in their fleshly mind. Look at verse 18, puffed up by the fleshly mind. That's the same person as what? The person who has the voluntary humility. So we see it's a fake humility because in their mind, they're actually puffed up and full of themselves, but they're by an act of the will acting humble. Does everybody see that? And then number four, it's a voluntary humility because it's not going to be recompensed by God. It's not going to be rewarded by God because the first thing He said was, don't let anyone beguile you of your reward in doing these things. So what are we talking about here with voluntary humility? Well, part of the answer is in verse 23 as well. He says, which things have indeed a show of wisdom in will, worship, and humility, and then watch this next phrase, and neglecting of the body, not in any honor to the satisfying of the flesh. And of course, at the end of verse 22, it's after the commandments and doctrines of men. It's not prescribed by God. So now that we've seen some of the evidence, let me just give it to you in a nutshell then we'll break this down. In a nutshell, voluntary humility is basically what we would know as asceticism. It's basically someone who humiliates or humbles themselves in a way not prescribed by God. They're actually prideful in their heart. It's actually a wicked thing that's associated with worshiping angels and doing these other simple things. But they're neglecting their body to outwardly appear humble and kind of say, look at me, look how humble I am. It's kind of ironic, isn't it? Hey, everybody, look how humble I am. It's a show. He said in verse 23, having a show of wisdom in will worship, humility, and neglecting of the body. So the first people that I want to talk about, because this applies in a lot of different ways, let me just start out with the ascetics or asceticism. What is asceticism? This is people basically going through pain and suffering for the sake of going through pain and suffering, not because it's commanded by God, but just to show how holy they are or just to try to be super holy. This is like the Catholic monks or the Buddhist monks is the first thing that comes to mind. What do they do? They whip themselves, they starve themselves, they're celibate. They go through all this pain. They sleep on a concrete slab. Folks, that's voluntary humility because God never told you, thou shalt sleep on a concrete slab, thou shalt be celibate, thou shalt not eat and drink. Folks, they are doing these things voluntarily, but that's not a good thing because it's will worship. It's worship of God that's based on your own will instead of God's will. There's worship that's according to the will of God, that's commanded by God, that's prescribed by God, that's desired by God, and then there's will worship, which is where my will determines the worship. I'll do a voluntary humility. Listen, to obey is better than sacrifice, the Bible says. Rebellions as the sin of witchcraft. You know what? Cain and Abel are a perfect example of this because Abel brought the offering prescribed by God. Cain brought his will worship. He basically brought the offering that was according to his own heart. We can't worship God in the way that we want. We need to worship God in the way that he wants. It's the opposite of humility to sit there and say, well, I'm not going to do what God told me to do. I'm going to do this other thing instead that he didn't tell me to do. I'm going to humble myself in this other way. When we think of the ascetics, the Buddhist monks, the Catholic monks, and these people who go through these forms of punishing their body or starving themselves or just being very austere and ascetic and doing these things, these guys ironically are very prideful, even though they look like they're really humble as they clothe themselves in sackcloth and put ashes on their head and starve and everything. It seems humble, but you know what? It's quite the opposite because they're saying, hey, look at me. Even if they're not doing it outwardly to man saying, look at me, what about this? They think that that stuff's going to get them to heaven. Isn't that prideful to say my works, my humility, my worship is going to get me to heaven because I'm so holy, I'm so pure, I'm so righteous. Look at me, I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I possess or I fast it for a week or I fast it for 14 days or even 40 days and 40 nights. They somehow think that that's going to please God. It's not going to please God. The thing that's going to please God in regard to salvation is the blood of Christ. We have to be saved by putting all of our faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross, his death, his burial, his resurrection. Oh, look how humble I am. Hold on a second. If you think you're working your way to heaven, you're not humble. You're puffed up. You're vainly puffed up in your fleshly mind because you have a filthy rag there because the Bible says our righteousnesses are as filthy rags and you think your filthy rags are going to get you into heaven, it's not going to happen, folks. That is pride. That is arrogance. You see, it takes a humble person to be saved because they have to fully trust what Christ has done. Lord, nothing good have I whereby thy grace to claim. I'll wash my garments white in the blood of Calvary slain. Jesus paid it all. All to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. It's not by works of righteousness which we've done, but these vainly puffed up false teachers, they practice asceticism because of the fact that they are trying to earn their way to heaven through their works. They're doing things not prescribed by God. God didn't tell you touch not, taste not, handle not. God didn't tell you no eating, no drinking, be celibate. He told you, hey, rejoice with the wife of your youth, eat and drink, amen. Now does God call us to suffering? Yes. The Bible says for unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ not only to believe on him but also to suffer for his sake, but we suffer for his sake if so be that God wills that we go through some suffering for a time, then we go through the suffering that God puts in our life, but we don't just beat ourselves and make ourselves suffer and humble ourselves and humiliate ourselves voluntarily, okay? That's a wrong type of worship. That's will worship. That's not the worship prescribed by God. It's after the commandments and doctrines of men and it's not after Christ. Add thou not unto his words lest he reprove thee and thou be found a liar, the Bible says, but in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. He also brought that up earlier in the chapter in Colossians chapter 2, Titus 1.14, not giving heed to Jewish fables and commandments of men that turn from the truth. Go to Matthew chapter 9 in your Bible. Go to Matthew chapter 9. What is voluntary humility? Well the dictionary said, number one, it's something that's done of one's own accord. How does that apply to scripture? Because these people are doing a humility that's not prescribed by God. It's of their own will. It's voluntary. Number two, why is it voluntary humility? Well, because voluntary means acting in accord with the will and these people are doing it according to their own will, not God's will. Ironically, they are self-willed. They are glorying in and delighting in their own humility. They're self-willed. They want to do these things that God did not tell them to do. And then number three is depending on voluntary action. This voluntary humility depends on a voluntary action because they don't actually have the humility. It's not just a natural outgrowth of loving God, knowing God, worshiping God, understanding who we are, understanding who he is. It's not just the fruit of the Spirit. It's something they have to cultivate themselves, a fake outward humility because it isn't really there. So they have to put up a facade of humility. That's why it's voluntary humility. And then fourth, in a legal dictionary, it's like a voluntary settlement is a settlement where you're not getting anything in return for it. Well, guess what? These people aren't getting anything in return for their voluntary humility because he said, you're getting beguiled of your reward if you get sucked into this stuff. You're not getting a reward for this, okay? And I'm going to get to that more later in the sermon. But look at Matthew chapter number nine and we'll see an example of people that are falling into this trap. And that's the disciples of John the Baptist, okay? Verse 14, then came to him the disciples of John saying, why do we and the Pharisees fast off but thy disciples fast not? Now notice, it's not enough for these practitioners of voluntary humility to make rules for themselves that are unbiblical, to force unbiblical humility on themselves. But notice how they like to impose it upon other people as well. Hey, I'm fasting. Why aren't you fasting too? Well, let me explain something to you. There is no command in the Bible to fast. Have fun trying to find a commandment to fast in the Bible. It isn't there. Now, I'm not against fasting. I'm for fasting. I think fasting is great. Fasting has its place. There's a time and a place for fasting. It's appropriate during a time of mourning to fast if you're sad to fast. It's also appropriate if you have a very serious prayer request to fast in order to put some weight behind your prayer and show God that you're serious. Fasting also to humble yourself. Fasting also to chase in yourself. So there is a time and a place where fasting is appropriate. But you know what? Fasting is supposed to be a private thing. It's not an outward thing. And what do they say? We fast all the time. Why aren't you guys fasting? You know misery loves company, huh? If we're skipping a bunch of food, why don't you skip some food? Folks, I don't have to skip any food. You don't have to skip any food. God does not command fasting. Fasting is supposed to be something that we do when the time is appropriate, when it's the right time, when there's a reason to fast, and it's of our own choice. God leaves that up to us. God doesn't command a certain fast at a certain time or a certain frequency or, hey, you got to fast once a week, you got to fast once a month, you got to fast once a year. You just fast whenever, okay? And you certainly don't impose it on other people and you keep it to yourself, amen? Now Jesus said unto them, can the children of the bride chamber mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken from them and then shall they fast. Okay? This is Isaiah chapter 58, Isaiah chapter number 58. And while you're turning there, I'll read for you from Matthew 6 because remember one of the points on voluntary is they don't get a reward. There's no reward in it. Here's what Jesus said, moreover when you fast, be not as the hypocrites of a sad countenance for they disfigure their faces that they may appear on demand to fast. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. So the Bible says that if somebody fasts and makes a show of it, makes a sad face, they don't anoint themselves and they make a show of it, he says you have your reward. He said but thou when thou fastest, anoint thine head and wash thy face that thou appear not unto men to fast but unto thy father which is in secret and thy father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. So you only get a reward for the things that you do for the Lord, not the things that you do to be seen of men. If you do it to be seen of men, you have your reward, the glory of men, okay? So you can see that there's a wrong motivation for fasting, isn't there, according to Matthew 6. In Matthew 9, we see the disciples of John and the Pharisees, you know, why do we fast all the time and Jesus and your disciples, you know what, they're working too hard basically and they're saying, hey, we're rejoicing, we're not sad, we're not mourning, the bridegroom is with us, we've got the Son of God right here with us, now is not the time to be fasting and going through all that and mourning because we've got the Son of God right here, you know, we're going to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner and we're going to go soul winning and preach because we've only got three and a half years and we're going to get it done. And he said, you know, when the bridegroom is taken from them, then shall they fast in those days. Now, after Jesus is gone, there's going to be obviously some mourning, they miss him and also just when there's not as much of a time constraint and life slows down a little bit, then they'll take the time to fast. But at this time, Jesus did not prescribe a fast for them, he didn't think it was appropriate at that time for them to be fasting while the bridegroom was with them. So they didn't fast, did they? And Jesus defended them not fasting. Now you say, well, I thought John's disciples are the good guys. Well, here's the thing, at this point, you should be Jesus' disciple at this point in the story, you know, because Jesus came along and, you know, everybody's following John and John points to Jesus and said, behold, the Lamb of God was taken away from the world. And then he kept pointing people to Jesus and he said, hey, I must decrease and he must increase. So John was funneling people over to Jesus. Well, some of John's disciples seem to not be on Jesus' program, do they? Why are you, in Matthew chapter 9, still John's disciple, differentiating yourself from Christ? Well, I'm John's disciple and I fast, why don't you, Jesus' disciple? The better question is, why aren't you Jesus' disciple? You know what I mean? It's time to move on here from just following a man to following Jesus Christ supremely. Instead of trying to correct Jesus Christ, which is what they're doing, they're coming to Jesus, hey, let's do things more like John the Baptist. John the Baptist isn't worthy to unloose Jesus' shoe latchet. That's what the Bible said, right? Okay, Isaiah chapter 58, it says in verse 3, wherefore why have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? Wherefore have we afflicted our soul and thou takest no knowledge? Behold in the day of your fast ye find pleasure and exact all your labors. Behold ye fast for strife and debate and to smite with the fist of wickedness. Look at that, do you see how fasting is abused here? Why are they fasting? For strife and debate. What they're actually trying to do is say, hey everybody, look at me, I'm fasting. Look at me how humble I am. Look at me in sackcloth. Look at me with ashes on my head. Look at me being ascetic and I'm so holy and I'm so pious and I'm so righteous. Folks, does that attitude still exist today? You better know it does. These self-righteous voluntary humility crowd that's so puffed up and they think they're so holy by showing everybody how strict of a life that they can live. And look, I'm not talking about following God's commands. You're supposed to follow God's commands. I'm talking about adding commands after the tradition of men. Touch not, taste not, handle not, no meat on Friday, be celibate, all these different crazy things that God never told us to do. That's wrong. Fasting for strife and debate and to smite with the fist of wickedness. You should not fast as you do this day to make your voice to be heard on high. Is it such a fast that I've chosen? Watch this. A day for a man to afflict his soul, verse 5. Is it to bow down his head as a bull rush? Isn't that what Jesus said? Are they going with a sad countenance? Oh man, I'm fasting. Oh, you're so holy. Wow. What day are you on? What always cracks me up is when people fast for 40 days and 40 nights and then tell you about it. It's like, man, if I was going to starve myself for 40 days, I want to get a reward for that. Why would you want to go through all that and then just lose your reward by going around bragging about it? It's because that's their only reward, people, because they're phonies, because they're a bunch of voluntary humility will worshippers. They're trying to beguile you. That's why. It says here that bowing down his head is a bull rush and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him. Wilt thou call this a fast and an acceptable day to the Lord? Is not this the fast that I have chosen to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens and to let the oppressed go free and that you break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house when thou seest the naked that thou cover him and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh? He's saying, look, here's all the stuff I commanded you to do. You're not doing my commandments. Oh, but you're going to fast. You're not doing the commandments. Oh, but you're going to be so humble and pious and fasting and following all your rules except the rules that I told you to do. Folks, this is the condition that Christ found the Jews when he came on this earth. Boy, they're washing the cups. They're washing the pots. They're washing their hands, but within they were full of hypocrisy and iniquity and dead men's bones. They're washing and following all these little rules, but they forgot the weightier matters of the law. They forgot the judgment. They forgot the mercy. They forgot the things that were the most important, and they're just worrying about the carnal things, right? This is what we see over and over again. Go to 1 Timothy Chapter 4 in the New Testament, 1 Timothy Chapter 4. Folks, we need to follow the commandments in the Bible and not add commandments that aren't there and not have this attitude that says, well, I'm never going to have any fun in life. I'm never going to have any pleasure in life. I'm never going to enjoy anything in life because I'm just way too pious and holy for that. No, you're not. No, you're not. You're puffed up. You're arrogant, and your fake humility is to deceive people. That's what the Bible teaches, okay? It's a beguilement that's happening. He says in 1 Timothy Chapter 4, he prophesies of this in the last times. It's interesting. I applied this scripture to the Roman Catholics one time, and a pastor laughed at me and acted like I was an idiot and said, the Roman Catholics weren't even around back then. There was no such thing. The Roman Catholic Church didn't start until 313 AD. It's like, well, hello. It says in the latter times. It's like he didn't even read verse 1. Duh, it's the latter times. Of course the Catholics weren't around. But guess what? There were people like the Catholics around because there's no new thing under the sun. By the way, Buddhist monks have been around since 500 BC, and the Catholic monks, they're just doing what the Buddhist monks had already done for 500 years before Christ came along. Let me ask you something. Where's that verse in the New Testament that tells us about being a monk? Where's that verse in the New Testament that tells us to be a nun? Where's that verse in the New Testament that tells us to be a hermit? Where's that verse in the New Testament that tells us to be celibate? It isn't there, folks. These are all false doctrines of voluntary humility of the Roman Catholics. Now the spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. This is some serious stuff. Speaking lies in hypocrisy and having their conscience seared with the hot iron, forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from meats which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. So God wants us to eat up. These meats are for us to eat. Every creature of God is good, creatures meaning animals. Every creature of God is good, nothing to be refused if it be received with thanksgiving for it is sanctified by the word of God in prayer. If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shall be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou is attained. You want to be a good minister of Jesus Christ, but remind them, hey, every creature of God is good. Eat up, buddy, enjoy. Be thankful for your food and eat your food. But then the demonic false teachers come along, literally, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, what do they come along and say? Well, they forbid you to marry and they command you to abstain from meats, right? What does that remind you of? Well, it reminds me a lot of the Roman Catholic Church with their celibate priesthood and meatless Friday. That's what it reminds me of. It reminds me of the Hindus. It reminds me of the Buddhists. It reminds me of anybody who adds unscriptural, extra biblical rules and imposes that just to show how strict and holy and pious they are. And I'm not talking about the commands of God, folks, we should follow the commands of God. I'm talking about adding to it. The Bible says, fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. So if I fear God and keep his commandments, I've done my whole duty. Nobody can come to me and say, well, there's this other thing you have to do, this other thing you need to do. Folks, nuns aren't in the Bible, monks aren't in the Bible. I don't even think monkeys are in the Bible, are they? Or maybe King Solomon brought the apes and peacocks, did he have a monkey? I don't know. There's more chance that a monkey's in the Bible than a monk, though. There is no monk. I know that for a fact. But the Bible is saying here that these people, okay, speak lies and hypocrisy. So what I want to get across with this sermon, voluntary humility, these people are big time hypocrites, because the verse starts with voluntary humility and it ends with how puffed up they are in their mind. So they're hypocrites, right? They're speaking lies and hypocrisy. So when they look humble, it's a lie, it's fake, it's deceptive. They're actually puffed up. And their conscience is seared with a hot iron. You know what that means? That means that these are some of the worst people. This is what's known as a psychopath, like somebody who just has no conscience, right? Where their conscience is just completely numb. That's a super wicked person. So God's warning us, look, watch out for these people. They teach demonic doctrine. They're going to command you to do all this voluntary humility, abstaining from meats, forbidding you to get married, or whatever. They're lying hypocrites is what they are, according to the Bible. Go if you would to Colossians 2. Now speaking of these lying hypocrites, let me explain something to you. Fake humility, or what we could call voluntary humility, and flattery are two sides of the same coin. Now I did a whole sermon on flattery a few months ago, and I think it was my sermon on being gullible, and I went through and showed the flatterers and what they do. This is why flattery and voluntary humility are two sides of the same coin. Because the flatterer is telling you how great you are, but they don't really think you're great, do they? They actually hate you and want to stab you in the back. The flatterer, or the sycophant, is the one who is buttering you up to get an advantage of you. The Bible says the flatterer is setting a trap for your feet. They're laying a net for you. They're spreading a net. They're trying to trap you and trick you. That's what a flatterer is doing. When they give you these over the top compliments, or they give you insincere compliments, they're so nice to you, they tell you all these things, but in their heart, they want to hurt you, they want to abuse you. They want to use you. They want to get advantage of you. Whatever. Right? Does everybody understand that about flattery? Okay. Here's why voluntary humility is the other side of that same coin. Because these are two sides of the same coin. If you wouldn't mind stepping up here for a second. These are two sides of the same coin. You're awesome. I'm lame. Do you see how those are two sides? You are so awesome, and I am not worthy. Okay. Go ahead and have a seat. Aren't those two sides of the same coin? Because if I'm just over the top exalting someone by flattering them, and then I'm over the top self-deprecating myself, those two things go together perfectly, don't they? So you'll notice that the flattering tongue, not only will he go around buttering people up, giving people gifts, telling them how great they are, they will also deprecate themselves, and just put on this show of, oh, I'm so humble, and everybody knows so much more than me, and I'm so unspiritual. All this fake, voluntary humility is the opposite of flattery, but they join together perfectly. These two are hand in glove. So you've got to watch out for that. Look, this is one of the biggest red flags. And look, I'm not saying don't give people compliments. You say, how do you know the difference between flattery and a real compliment? You get a feel for it. That's all I can say. It's just life experience. When somebody gives you a compliment that's sincere, here's a good rule of thumb. Their actions line up with the compliment. When someone's complimenting you and then harming you every chance they get, you better watch out. That's a super wicked person. They say good things to you, and then they stab you in the back. It's like, whoa. I mean, if somebody's going to stab me in the back, I want them to just say bad things about me. It's better the devil you know than the devil you don't know. I'd rather have somebody just walk up to me and say, I don't like you. If somebody just walks up to me and says, I don't like you, you know what I'm thinking to myself? You know, there's probably hope for a friendship with this person. Because at least, even if they don't like me, at least they admit that. At least they're being honest with me. At least they're being open. I mean, there's a start. There's a place where we can start. The conversation can start now. I don't like you. That's better than, oh, Pastor Anderson, you are so great. You're the best preacher. I love you so much. When all their actions are showing that they're a conniving, backstabbing sycophant, well then, you know what? At that point, now I'm really thinking this guy's got his conscience here with a hot iron going around flattering and being fake and lying and deceiving. Anyway, watch out for these things. Let's go into the passage. Are you in Colossians chapter 2 there? We'll get into that, but I just want you to be aware of the fact that this fake humility, watch out for it. This pious, overly spiritual lingo, these people, they can't open their mouth without saying, praise the Lord, hallelujah, God bless your brother. It's just so fake and they just give God all the glory. You know what? These people are constantly trying to impose their overly pious ways on you. Here's a classic example. Hey, aren't you going to go witness to that guy? Wait, why aren't you going to witness to that guy? How come you're not witnessing to him? You know what I always say to that is, I always say, well, it sounds like God's calling you. It sounds like God's working on your heart since you're the one who's bringing it up. I think God wants you to go witness to that guy since you're bringing it up. You know what I mean? Instead of just, hey, I think I'm going to go witness to that guy, it's like, hey, why aren't you witnessing to that guy? Who's ever had somebody do that to you in public? It's bizarre because wouldn't it make more sense like, hey, let's go witness that guy or, hey, I'm going to go talk to that guy. It's like, hey, why aren't you talking to that guy? Because you're not as pious as I am, that's why, because I would have, even though I'm not. It's dumb, but I've had that happen to me a ton of times. I'm thinking back to a ton of occasions like that. It's just, what? I had another example. I'm sure you're probably thinking of examples. I had another example in my mind of just, or these people that are just ready to nail you if you take a bite of food without praying, they're ready to just nail you. You know what I mean? Look, I'm for praying before you eat. I'm constantly praying for my food, but they're just ready to just nail you and just act like you have just committed a major sacrilege because you took a bite of food without praying first or something. You know what I mean? Overly spiritual, putting on a show. Folks, when people are lacking in a certain area, they'll often put on a show to compensate. They lack spirituality, they're sensual having not the spirit, they lack humility, and then they want to talk about humility a lot. Have you ever noticed people that are fixated on humility? Typically it's because they don't have any, and so they want to put on a show by talking about it all the time. In fact, this Bozo who used to go to our church, he called up a preacher friend of mine and told him that he'd been making a list. He calls up a preacher friend of mine who has no business. He doesn't go to this guy's church. He has no business telling this guy what his faults are, just calling him up out of the blue and just getting involved in a situation he had nothing to do with. He calls up a preacher friend of mine and he says, hey, I've made a list of every time you've been prideful over the past two weeks. Can I send it to you? He literally called up my preacher friend and said, I made a list of every time you've been prideful over the last two weeks. Can I send it to you? But the irony is he's the one who's being prideful by sitting and listening to this preacher and making a list of every time he thinks he's not being humble enough. And you know, by the way, I know this preacher and I listened to that same two weeks of preaching and he wasn't prideful at all and this guy's full of baloney, but he's sitting around vainly puffed up in his fleshly mind making a list and checking it twice about every time Pastor so-and-so was being prideful, every time he wasn't being humble. And of course, this guy comes up to you and when he goes to shake your hand, it's just, oh. You've got to watch the body language, folks. Let me teach you the right way, sorry, you sit in the front row, this is what you get. Let me teach you that come up, friend, come higher. Here's the right way to shake somebody's hand. Your hand's straight up and down like this, firm handshake, couple shakes, all right, right? All right, got it? Right? All right? That's the right way to shake somebody's hand. Okay. Now, there are an infinite number of wrong ways to shake a hand. There's only one right way, okay? Here's one of the wrong ways to shake a hand. The overly submissive, overly humble handshake, brother. Notice how it tilts, you know, it's just, here, here, brother, how you doing? This is the, and then there's the I'm gonna dominate you handshake, I own you, all right. So look, the right way, 90 degrees, folks, this is the right handshake. This is wrong, overly humble, this is wrong, trying to dominate, this is right. And then, of course, there's the worst handshake of all, the limp fish, all right, where you just put your hand out and that's so, okay, but you know, let me tell you another handshake that I particularly don't like, okay? The one where somebody takes all your hand and they just won't let go and they just keep, they wanna like tell you a whole story and they just keep talking to you and they just hold on, they just won't let go. They just keep talking and you're just kinda like, okay, good to meet you, right? Yeah, right? Who's ever had that happen? Yeah, oh yeah. Who's ever out there? You say, what does that have to do with the sermon? This kind of, oh, it's like, it's like when Obama was bowing to the president of Saudi Arabia or something, oh, you know, here, oh, brother, oh, oh, Pastor Anderson, how are you, Pastor Anderson? It's like, what in the world? Oh, he's just really humble, folks, that's not the right humility. And here's the thing, it's possible for Christians, are you in Colossians 2, it's possible for Christians to get sucked into this even if they're not bad people because it says in verse 18, let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshiping of angels. See, you don't want these false teachers to get you into voluntary humility and you don't want them to get you into worshiping angels. You say, what does this have to do with worshiping angels? Oh, I don't know, let's see, the Roman Catholics worship angels. The Roman Catholics have graven images of angels. The Roman Catholics actually pray to the saints, which are actually, they're praying to demonic Roman gods and Greek gods, is who they're actually praying to. They just got, you know, polished up as saints. Look, they're praying to the saints, that's praying to angels, okay? That's what they're doing. They're praying to, either, you could either look at it as they're praying to demons when they bow down to an idol, when they have a carved image and bow down to it, they're praying to a demon at that point, because the Bible says the things that the Gentiles offer and sacrifice to idols, they sacrifice to devils. Or if you say, no, no, no, they're actually praying to real saints, like actual godly Christians from the past, okay, well then they're still praying to angels because the godly Christians, they end up acting as messengers for the Lord, just like the angel that showed John the things in Revelation said, I'm one of your fellow servants, I'm a fellow prophet. So hello, folks, worshiping angels could be worshiping what we think of as angels, or it could be worshiping the saints or idols or anything else, is the same type of thing, okay? Also, you know, history tells us that at this time, the Jews had a thing where they were worshiping Michael the archangel, and they worshiped, because you know, he's the prince that fighted for their people or whatever. So you know, there could be a literal just, hey, let's worship Michael, let's worship Gabriel. Obviously, that's also being covered here, okay? But anytime we're worshiping anything other than God, it's a wrong humility, because stop and think about this, how about this voluntary humility, oh, well, you know, I don't want to just go straight to God the Father, I'm too humble, let me go through Mary, because I'm too humble to just, I can't just waltz into God the Father, the God of the universe, the Most High, so I better just go through Mary instead, or oh, you know, I don't want to just talk straight to God, I'm too humble, let me go through Saint so-and-so instead, let me pray to this Saint or that Saint. Folks, the Bible says we have a high priest, Jesus Christ, so let's come boldly under the throne of grace. Come boldly under the throne of grace to find grace and mercy, to help in a time of need. We can boldly go directly to the Father. Jesus even said, in that day you shall ask me nothing. Ask the Father in my name, and he'll do it for you. Ask the Father in the name of Christ, that's all you need, folks, oh, I'm just too humble, let me go to his servants, the angels. That's a wrong humility, folks, it's voluntary humility. Now, let's get some more context, back up to verse 16, let no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink or in respect of a holiday or of the new moon or of the Sabbath days. Folks, in verse 16, he's saying don't let people impose on you carnal ordinances that don't apply that have to do with food and drink and holidays, forcing you to observe this feast, forcing you to observe that fast, forcing you to skip this food or do this or that or the other. Folks, he says don't let anyone impose that on you. Don't let them judge you in that. Those are a shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ. Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility. So the voluntary humility has to do with a bunch of man-made carnal rules, outward show, outward piety, not a real godly humility from the heart. He says those things are a shadow of things to come, but the bodies of Christ, let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshiping of angels, intruding into those things which he had not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind and not holding the head. Now, look, that shows that the guy who's trying to beguile you with this, he's not holding the head, Christ. He doesn't have Jesus Christ. He's a wicked person. Now, the people that are being tricked and getting sucked into these things, they may have Christ, but the guy who's trying to beguile you with this doesn't have Christ. He's not holding the head. From which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered and knit together increase it with the increase of God. Wherefore if you be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why as though living in the world are you subject to ordinances, touch not, taste not, handle not, which are all to perish with the using after the commandments and doctrines of men, which things have indeed a show of wisdom. Does he say, oh, these are wise things. Is that what he said? Did he say, oh, these things are wisdom. He said they have a show of wisdom. Which things indeed have a show of wisdom in will worship and humility. People are going to look at it and say, oh, look at the worship. Look at the humility. Look at the neglecting of the body. Boy, he's so pure. He's so pious. He's so righteous. Look, he just lives on bread and water. He sleeps on a concrete slab. He's totally celibate. I'm celibate, amen. I'm not celibate. Look how pious. Look how godly. Look how humble. Look how righteous. It's a show, folks. Not in any honor of the satisfying of the flesh. So we see here that these people with the voluntary humility are putting on a show for others inside. They're super prideful, super puffed up. So what's our takeaway from the message? Number one, obviously, the primary context is just don't be beguiled by this. Don't be fooled when somebody comes at you and this is how they shake your hand. Don't just think, oh, man, this guy is so humble. It's a red fire. It doesn't mean it's a bad person, but it's a red flag. It means I better watch out for this guy because he's a little bit overdoing the humility, the way he's bowing and he needs to get that 90-degree tilt, okay? It doesn't mean they're bad, but it means, hey, that's a red flag. That's not something we should think, oh, that's so good. And when people get up and just talk about how bad they are and how worthless they are and how wretched they are and how they're so unworthy and I don't even deserve to be up here preaching and they just keep going on about that, just take it to the bank that person is a prideful person and they're overcompensating. It's just like the guy, think about the guy who goes around always talking about how he's going to beat everybody up. Have you ever known these guys, right? Yeah, man, I'm going to beat you. I'm going to kick your butt. I'm going to do this. If anybody actually attacked the guy, boo, he'd be like, ooh. Some of the guys who talk the toughest and always just have to talk about it, I'm going to beat him up and I'm going to beat him. I'm going to fight you. It's because they're insecure. They have to go on and on and on just to prove to you. Or how about just the overly manly, just to prove how manly I am or something, you know. I'm just going to go on and on and on, right? It's like, folks, what are you trying to prove? You know, you don't have to just overcompensate, right? And that's what we see with the guys who just get up and they get behind the pulpit and they're just, you know, and I need this sermon more than you do and I'm preaching on homosexuality. But anyway, you know, they're like, you know, I'm preaching to myself. I'm the worst person ever. I'm just the worst folks when they go on and on like that. And look, there are moments where humility is appropriate and maybe saying something like that once in a while is appropriate to just remind everybody, hey, I'm human. I'm a sinner. You know, I'm unworthy. By the grace of God, I am what I am. But I'm talking about people who are just constantly laying that on thick. Watch out because it could be the voluntary humility. So number one is beware of it. But number two, don't get sucked in by it and practice it yourself. You know, you don't want to be like Jesse Lee Peterson where you think that we have to be totally without sin in order to get into heaven. Guess what? My sins are gone. My sins are washed in the blood as far as the east is from the west so far as God separated me from my sins. I don't have to work at being sinlessly perfect to get to heaven. Now I do believe that we should purify ourselves, that we should sanctify ourselves, that we should strive for clean living and strive for godliness. But you know what? When I mess up and sin, you know what I don't do? I don't beat myself up about it. If I mess up and sin, you know what I do? I confess it and forsake it and move on. But I'm not going to beat myself up about it literally or figuratively like the Catholics beating themselves and flogging themselves. Folks, I'm not going to beat myself up about it. You know, I'm going to take it to the cross and I'm going to leave it there. Right? I'm going to say, I'm sorry God, I shouldn't have done that. I'm going to do it right now. I'm going to get it right. I'm going to move on. That's the right way to handle sin. Don't beat yourself up about it. And don't sit there and just strive to live this super ascetic life where you never have any fun. You never enjoy anything. Folks, God has given us things in life for enjoyment. We are supposed to enjoy. Okay? Now, obviously there are times where we have to suffer and go through hard things. But folks, don't just create an artificial life of suffering just to be so pious. It's not going to bring you closer to God. Constantly starving yourself, constantly just putting yourself in discomfort, refusing to have any fun is not going to bring you closer to God. It's either going to cause you to burn out, because the Bible says, be not righteous over much. Why shouldest thou be destroyed? It's either going to cause you to burn out, okay? Or if you just sit there and just abuse, you're going to get to a point where you start feeling like, I'm not good enough. I can't measure up. And people get depressed. And it's just like, I can't measure up to the perfect standard. Folks just realize who you are. God knows that we're clay. God knows that we're human. Now, of course he wants us to strive for perfection. But when we mess up, we don't beat ourselves up about it. And look, you don't want to be so heavenly minded that you're no earthly good, okay? You know what I'm talking about? Have you ever heard that saying before? These people, they get so pie in the sky, they're so pious that they can't even condescend to men of low estate. They can't even reach their fellow man. They can't even talk to their fellow man because they're so pious to the point of a fault at that point, because they're getting vainly puffed up in their fleshly mind that they're so perfect and so holy. And look, I'm not condoning of sin. I don't believe the Bible is saying when it says, be not righteous over much, sin a little bit. No sin is okay, folks. When he says, be not righteous over much, he's talking about not doing too many righteous things. I mean, think about it. There's always more soul winning you can do. There's always more Bible you can read. There's always more praying you can do. You can push your body to the literal limits of fasting if you want. But is that really what God expects us to do, to just get up in the morning and to just go soul winning all day, read our Bible all day, pray all day, go to bed, and repeat? It's not going to work. And you know what? Take it from somebody who's been soul winning consistently for 20 years, because I've seen the Roman candle Christians, I've seen the overly zealous, overly pious that want to go out there and just have no fun, no recreation. I mean, these people scorn recreation. Like we'll plan a missions trip. It's like five days of missions and soul winning and one day of recreation. And they're just like, what? What is this wasted day of my life? It's called fellowship. It's called refreshment. It's called taking a rest. It's called enjoying life. It's called enjoying the missions trips so you want to go on the next one. And look, obviously there are other missions trips that are just all enjoyment with a little soul winning sprinkled in. Obviously that's bad. But like, for example, on our trips that we're taking to the Apache reservation, there's five hours of soul winning per day. And then you're going to spend like three hours in the car per day. So there's your eight hour day and you know what we're going to do the rest of the day? We're going to hang out. We're going to go out to eat. We're going to fellowship. We're going to see the sights. Folks, balance. Don't get into this over the top ascetic, because you know what? You can go beat yourself and live in a cave and read the Bible all day and only think pure thoughts and pray. Just cycle between prayer, Bible reading, preaching, fasting, prayer, Bible reading, preaching, fast. You know what? That is not the way a human being is designed to live. And that's not the way the men in the Bible lived. That's not what God calls. Even Christ came eating and drinking, the Bible says. Eating and drinking. John the Baptist came neither eating and drinking. He's out in the wilderness or whatever. Jesus came eating and drinking. I'm on his program, amen? Let's get on Christ's eating and drinking program. And I'm not talking about drinking alcohol. I'm talking about drinking juice, milk, water, whatever the soft drink, amen? But do not get sucked into this overly pious, adding to God's rules, being strict. If you're stricter than God, you're too strict. Right? Follow God's standards, but don't take it too far. Don't take it farther. And you know, the people who do end up taking it way too far and getting super overboard, they usually end up being the phonies that were overcompensating for whatever the hookers or whatever the drunkenness or whatever was going on in the background, right? How many phonies have been exposed like that? So we need to make sure that we don't get beguiled into this or sucked into this. Because life, you're not going to get an award when you get to heaven. And look, again, I'm not saying it's okay to sin, because it's not okay to sin. And we should strive not to sin at all. But we're going to mess up, and we need to just receive Christ's grace at that point, okay? But, okay, you're not going to get to heaven and get an award. Least sins committed award goes to Steven Anderson. No, I was going to say Jesse Peterson, but he's going to be in the other place. Amazing. But anyway, the point is, you're not going to get to heaven and get the award the most pious. Here's the award for the most fasting. Here's the award for the strictest life. You really think that that's going to happen when you get to heaven? God's going to reward you. You actually sinned less than anyone. You're not going to get an award like that. You know the award's going to be for actually accomplishing things in your life for God, like actually winning people to Christ, serving God. And you know what? There's not going to be an award, most Bible knowledge. But I'm all for getting Bible knowledge, and I'm all for piety, because we're to use our Bible knowledge to reach others and to help others. We're to use our piety to be a good example to other people, to be a good testimony, and to keep us serving God. Because guess what? If we indulge the flesh and indulge sin, we're going to be out of the battle soon. If we just start doing whatever and indulging sin, guess what? We're going to be out of the fight. We're going to be out of commission. But if we go overboard, we could be out of commission too. So we just need to get a balanced view of, hey, let's love God. Let's keep his commandments. Let's serve others. Let's preach the gospel. Let's get our life in balance. Let's get work in balance with family, church, the Lord. Get it all in balance, because you know what? God wants us to have a family. He wants to have a relationship with our spouse. Oh, I'm too busy serving God. I can't play with my kids. You're too pious. Have a little fun with your kids, because that has a purpose too, because you're building a relationship with them so that they can be the servant of God in the next generation. They might not want to be a self-flagellating Buddhist monk. They might not want to ... You know what I mean? So you've got to show them a balanced Christian life that's sustainable. And folks, I'm not in it for the short term. I'm in it for the long haul. Christianity is not measured in years. It's measured in decades. I want to be here 10 years from now, 30 years from now, 40 years from now, so I'm not going to burn the candle at both ends. You know what? Let me tell you what I do. I sleep eight hours every night. It's not like, oh, man, Christ is going to return, I got to ... Folks, I eat three square meals a day and I sleep eight hours a night because I want to serve God the best of my ability. Now, are there times for fasting? Sure. There are times when fasting happens, but in general, eat the nutritious food. I spend time with my wife. Whenever she wants to spend time with me, I'm there. I say yes, okay? Whenever my kids are available, hey, I'll take them with me on trips that I take. I'll play with them, spend time with them. You know why? Because those things matter, too. Everything matters. So don't get sucked into voluntary humility or will worship. Worship according to your own will instead of God's will. That's about it. That's my word of prayer. Father, thank you so much for this passage, Lord. I pray that the sermon would help people to understand this difficult passage a little bit if they were struggling on the meaning of voluntary humility or will worship, Lord. And I just pray that we would take these lessons and apply them, Lord. Help us to enjoy the good things that you've given us. Help us not to try and enjoy sinful things, but help us to enjoy the good things. Just good, clean fun, Lord, like just food and drink and outdoor recreation and our family and friends, fellowship, our brothers and sisters in Christ. Lord, help us to enjoy the good things in life. And Lord, if we need to suffer, help us to be willing to suffer. And Lord, please just deliver us from these seared conscience devils who want to get us into this over-the-top piety according to their puffed up mind. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.