Human regulations and religious rituals are merely shadows of spirituality that fail to produce genuine internal transformation. True freedom comes from connecting directly to the substance of Christ, allowing His presence to govern life from the inside out rather than through external performance.
There is only one class of Christian: Christ in Christian. Every believer has direct access to Christ, and the rules and rituals of the Old Testament were only a shadow of the reality we have in Him.
Key points
Nobody is more spiritual than anyone else. You don't need a pastor or a special experience to reach God, because you have access to Christ.
Freedom comes first, then the rules. Rules work from the outside in, but Christ in us grips our hearts so we live from the inside out.
Food, drink and special days add nothing to us. Don't let anyone judge you by them, while still keeping boundaries like not getting drunk.
Don't settle for the shadow. Jesus finished His work once and for all, so when your past chases you, say, "I've got access to the substance."
Stay connected to the head. When Jesus is in place, the body works together and real community is built.
Rules can't change the heart. Only a revelation of Christ breaks the power of temptation.
Key scriptures
Colossians 2:16–17: religious rules are a shadow, the reality is Christ
Hebrews 10:1: the law is only a shadow of good things to come
Colossians 2:18–19: false humility shows a lost connection with the head
Colossians 2:20–23: rules have no power to restrain indulgence
1 John 4:4: greater is He that is in me
Takeaways
Stop measuring your spirituality against anyone else's.
Reconnect with Jesus as the head daily, and let Him bring order to your life.
Fight temptation with a deeper revelation of Christ, not just more rules.
There is only one class of Christian: Christ in Christian. Nobody is more spiritual than anyone else, and nobody needs to jump through religious hoops to get closer to God, because every believer already has direct access to Christ. God doesn't rescue us from a sinful, worldly system only to lock us into a Christian, religious, regulated one. He sets us completely free.
The rules, rituals and special days of the Old Testament were only a shadow; the reality is found in Christ. Rules work from the outside in and can never change the heart. A revelation of Jesus works from the inside out. When we stay connected to Him as the head, our lives come back into order, the body works together, and we live out what He has put inside us.
Key scriptures
Colossians 2:16–17: don't let anyone judge you by food, drink or religious days; these are a shadow, the reality is Christ
1 Chronicles 23:30–31: the priests' daily, Sabbath, New Moon and festival offerings
Hebrews 8:4–5: earthly priests serve at a copy and shadow of what is in heaven
Hebrews 10:1: the law is only a shadow of the good things to come
Colossians 2:18–19: those who delight in false humility and angel worship have lost connection with the head
Colossians 2:20–23: "Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!" rules have no power to restrain indulgence
1 John 4:4: greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world
There is only one class of Christian
Colossians is hard on spiritual one-upmanship: the people who see angels in every corner and make everyone else feel second-rate. Rory admits that after serving God a long time, he has never heard God's voice audibly or seen an angel.
The point is that none of us is superior to anyone else. You don't need a pastor to pray for you to reach God.
"I'm not superior to you. I'm just having a go."
"You have got access to Christ."
Freedom from the outside in, or life from the inside out
So are there rules or no rules? The answer is yes. Understand the freedom first, and then you will understand the rules. Preach one without the other and you either end up in bondage or go nowhere.
Rules are an external command to make us behave. Christ living in us grips our hearts so that we start living from the inside out.
Food and drink
Don't let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink. Whether it's bacon and egg or cheese and tomato, you're free.
Rory doesn't drink, but he doesn't owe anyone an explanation, and he won't drink around someone who struggles with alcohol.
There are still boundaries: the Bible says don't get drunk, and some of us are eating too much. But be free.
Days and festivals
The Old Testament had daily, weekly, monthly and yearly observances (1 Chronicles 23). We drag these into New Testament life to look spiritual, but they add nothing to us.
"Jesus is Easter. Jesus is Christmas… Jesus is every day."
What happens if you miss a Good Friday service, or a Sunday? Nothing. You've got Jesus. When you know you're free, you start asking, "Okay, God, so how do I honour you now?"
Why settle for the shadow?
The law, the sacrifices and the festivals were a shadow of what was to come; the reality is Christ (Colossians 2:17, Hebrews 10:1). Jesus finished His work once and for all and sat down next to the Father. There are no more sacrifices to repeat and no priestly middleman needed.
Rory had a man get on his knees and follow his shadow along the floor until he reached his leg, to show that the shadow leads to the substance.
"Why would you settle for the shadow when you can lay hold of the substance?"
In Christ you are saved, qualified, redeemed, accepted and loved, with access to the Father and confidence, boldness and wholeness. When something from your past chases you like a shadow, turn and say, "I've got access to the substance." Christ is over every principality, authority and power.
Don't lose connection with the head
The number one complaint about hotels is the internet connection, and when we lose connection, we panic. The biggest problem in the church is the same: people have lost connection with the head (Colossians 2:19). Like a chicken running around without its head, many long-serving believers are busy but going nowhere.
"Here's the password. J-E-S-U-S, capital letters."
When the head is in place, the body works together. God brings very different people, Afrikaans, English, German, an Indian family from Durban, into one body, until a whole church prays for one of its own and real community is built.
Rules can't change the heart
Human regulations look wise, with their self-imposed worship, false humility and harsh treatment of the body, but they cannot restrain sensual indulgence (Colossians 2:23). Long fasts that everyone hears about and a list of can'ts and mustn'ts are not spirituality.
Rory shares that as a 21-year-old, all the church told him about sleeping with his girlfriend was "Don't do it." Smashing computers, accountability systems and fasting don't break the power of temptation on their own. Only a power greater than the power inside you can do that: a revelation of Christ, the head of the church and firstborn over all creation.
"The only revelation I have is this: Christ is enough for me."
"Be free so that you can outwork from the inside out what Jesus has for you."
Takeaways
Stop measuring your spirituality against anyone else's. You have the same access to Christ as everyone.
Let go of others' judgement over food, drink and special days, while still honouring boundaries like not getting drunk.
When your past chases you, speak to it: you have access to the substance, not just the shadow.
Reconnect with Jesus as the head daily, and let Him bring order to your life.
Fight temptation with a deeper revelation of Christ, not just more rules.
Reflect and discuss
Where have you felt less spiritual than someone else? How does "Christ in Christian" speak to that?
Which rules or rituals have you relied on to feel close to God?
What shadow from your past still chases you, and what would it look like to answer it with the substance?
In what areas of life have you lost connection with the head?
Why do rules fail to change the heart, and how have you seen a revelation of Jesus change you from the inside out?
A written record of the teaching. Search it with your browser’s find (⌘F / Ctrl+F).
Thank you, Stephen. Only because I'm dodgy. Come here, Annie. Quickly. Annie, get your guns.
So, this is a beautiful lady I preached about last week whose faith, having lost her dad, being diagnosed with cancer, her faith has stood strong. She's been in hospital on antibiotics to get her infection under control, and tomorrow goes in for a major, major operation. And we love you and we love your family very much. We reach our hands out to this beacon of light in our community. Thank you, Jesus.
Lord, thank you for this beautiful lady. So many of us have eaten at her table, Lord God, delivered by her husband, Lord, cooked all day. And we just pray for tomorrow that you go ahead of her, Father God, the surgeons that you have chosen to perform this major operation. We just pray for grace over their hands. I thank you for every surgeon that is in this auditorium today. Thank you for the gifts that you have given to them, Lord God, men and women who work under microscopes and the very deep details of people's bodies.
But the Bible says, Lord God, that you formed us in our mothers' wombs. You knew the very makeup of our bodies. You know every sinew and every muscle. Your word can get into the places, Father God, that even scalpels can't get to. And right now, we just declare a healing over Annie. We declare unbelievable grace and favour over the hospital, the nurses, the surgeons, the scrub nurses, Father God, the anaesthetist, the doctors.
And we ask for your name, the powerful name of Jesus, the powerful name of Jesus, to be over this beautiful lady. Bless her, Lord God. Bless her in Jesus' name. Amen.
We love you, Dennis. We love you, my mate. We love you a lot. And maybe you didn't know where to go today, but you came here. I mean, where do you go the day before you have cancer surgery? Where do you run to?
Annie taught us you run to church. And so maybe I don't know your name, but you're here today. God knows. God sees. God cares. God understands. God loves. God is here.
So we're with you. So good morning to you. We're doing a series through the book of Colossians. It's an unbelievable book. It's particularly harsh on the Boardwalk Bible Book Club and the Mooikloof Midstream Ministry.
It's quite harsh on them because, you know, when you come back from a long day of work and your wife has seen an angel, it's difficult to compete with that, you know, when they see all sorts of things. I remember, I'm a bit of a dull folk. I've served God a long time. I've never heard his voice and I've never seen an angel. I want to.
But I remember a mate of mine walking into the room and said, "They're here." I said, "Who's here?" He said, "The angels." I said, "Where?" He said, "In the corner." Like, I looked and I thought, "I can't see anything." I thought maybe back corner. I couldn't see anything. Another corner. I know the angels are here. I've just never seen them.
Some of you have, by God's grace, but some of you have got imaginations, by God's grace, too. And so what we have is, you see things that are not there because you eat things that you shouldn't and smoke things that you shouldn't. I've seen many a man on dagga seeing all sorts of things in the spirit realm.
There's only one class of Christian: Christ in Christian. There are not many different levels of Christianity. And what this Bible is teaching us is none of us is superior to the others. And that's why I say to you, don't come to the front to ask me to pray. I'm not superior to you. I'm just having a go.
I just happen to get the privilege of preaching, but I'm not superior. You have got access to Christ. You have got access to Christ. And that's what this book is saying. You don't have to go through a whole lot of hoops to become more spiritual. You have access to Christ.
And that's what the church should be preaching so that you can be free to go and do what God has called you to do and not get caught up. You can't go from a sinful worldly system into a Christian religious regulated system. God takes you from one system to set you free. Completely free.
So, do you know what the number one criticism is of hotels? It's not the sheets. You would think it's the sheets. I mean, I've opened hotel sheets before and seen cat hair there. I mean, we've all got hotel stories, haven't we? Lipstick on the mugs and toilets that have not quite been cleaned.
But that is actually not the main criticism of hotels. The main criticism of hotels is the welcome. Now you'll all be like, "Welcome, welcome." No, not the welcome. Not the food. The main criticism of hotels is the internet connection. You know that. I'll show it to you.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And most of you young generation, when you walk into church, the first thing you ask us is not who's the pastor, how long have you been going for, has he been on a mission trip to Mozambique. The first thing you ask for is the password. Because right now you're googling. Most amazing thing, eh? And when we lose connection, we start to panic.
When we lose connection, we start to panic. Quite a thing, eh? If we don't have access to Google Maps and we're in the middle of Joburg, we start to panic. And if the roast is starting to boil and we don't know what to google to get the roast to, we start to panic.
Let's read the scripture. We're doing Colossians 2:16. Let me quickly just show you a picture of my Bible. Not to show you a picture of my Bible, to show you two amazing things. On the left-hand side, which we preached last week, say freedom from human regulations through life with Christ. On the right-hand side, which we'll pick up next week, thank God it won't be me, is rules for holy living. Say rules for holy living.
So you're saying, are there rules or are there no rules? And the answer is yes. The answer is yes. You say, are you preaching rules? Not really. We're trying to show you that there are no rules. And when you understand that there are no rules, then you will understand that there are rules.
You say, "How does that work, Rory?" Just like that. You say, "But how does the Bible work?" Just like that. If you understand the one, then you understand the other. If you preach the one without the other, you'll come into bondage. If you preach the one without the other, you won't go anywhere.
So, the one with rules is an external command to try and make me behave. The other one actually does something deep inside of me and gets me to live from the inside out. And so Christianity many times, particularly in Pretoria, is from the outside in. It's a set of rules saying don't, do, can, can't. What we're trying to show you is when Christ comes and lives inside of me and he actually grips my heart, I start living it from the inside out.
Does that make sense? And they are completely different. Okay. Therefore, verse 16. Therefore, do not let anyone, do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink. No one. Don't let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink.
You know, last week I met two people in the front of the beer queue and I didn't order beer. I ordered double brandy and Coke. And then I walked with it, the bottle of water under my arm. And some of you dopers are thinking, "My pastor's cool." And you're saying to your wife, you're hitting her now, because at 1:00 this morning, you had a couple of dops.
But I don't drink. I never drunk. Not because I'm religious, just because I didn't think it would suit my personality. I thought I'd keep my wife safe from getting beaten up. But I don't have to explain that to anyone.
You say, "Why are you explaining it now?" I'm just telling you. You can actually walk without worrying what the heck people think about you. I just walked through. You say, "Why did you? The Bible says avoid all kinds of..." I won't have a drink if you're an alcoholic. I won't have a drink in my hand, but I can actually do it without you judging me.
What can I, what can't I, what must I, what mustn't I? To heck with what you think, and to heck with what anyone else thinks. But it does say don't get drunk. Oh. Oh, flip. Oh, there is a rule. Yeah, there is. But be free. Isn't it beautiful?
And what you eat. I mean, egg, and you can't not eat egg without bacon. You flipping... I mean, how, what would you like? Egg, please. And a bit of a... on the side. And what would you like with the avo? Hash brown. And do you do that sort of like bacon? It's... It's like, it's not really bacon. It's bacon. They make it from something else. From the guts of some other animal.
No, you have bacon and egg. Egg and... I mean, you're going home now to have cheese and tomato. Yes, you are going to have cheese and tomato. You, you religious freak. I'm going to have cheese and ham rolls. So, I don't care what you think about what I'm having for lunch.
You have your cheese and tomato, darling. Wonderful. God bless you. That's what he saw. It's like, hey, cheese and tomato for me, my darling. I'm a vegetarian because I won't eat meat. God said you can eat anything.
But I mean, maybe some of us are eating too much of it. He also talks about that. They say, "Hey, fat guy, don't tell me all this stuff." I'm just telling you, you're free, but eat a bit less than me. Are you with me?
So we've got to try and grip something that, before you know it, jumps onto you as a set of rules, and we're trying to be free, but we're not free. But we can build a community that can change the world. We can build a community that can change the world.
Therefore, do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival. Oh, don't we like having those? A new moon celebration or a Sabbath day. It's like, you must obey Christ. And I'll tell you what, there's a whole lot of things you've got to put into your calendar every day.
10th of October, Paul Kruger Day. We've got to go to the Voortrekker Monument and we've got to celebrate. Some people do that. They celebrate the 10th of October. And you'd say, "Oh, Rory, don't tune us." I'm tuning you. I'm tuning you.
And then we do things like Lent. 40 days before Easter, we must practise Lent. Jesus is Lent. Jesus is Lent. Jesus fulfilled Lent. Jesus is the 40 days that led up to Easter. Jesus is Easter. Jesus is Christmas. Jesus is the Day of the Vow. Jesus is every day.
Amen. And so we drag this thing from the Old Testament to seem like we are spiritual, but it adds no spirituality to us. So let's go to 1 Chronicles 23. So this is Old Testament. These are the priests.
They were also to stand every morning to thank and praise the Lord. They were to do the same in the evening and whenever burnt offerings were presented to the Lord on Sabbaths and at New Moon festivals and at appointed feasts. So if you ask, is it exactly the same language as Colossians? You see, that is the Old Testament.
Sabbath, every week. How often does a new moon present itself? Every month. And the religious festivals were every year. So what happened in the Old Testament is they had daily, weekly, monthly and yearly festivals. And we bring that into our New Testament theology. And if you don't live it, you're not quite as spiritual as me.
You say, "But we're disciplined." No, Jesus is disciplined. It's good to be disciplined, but we don't have to mark certain days. Say, "What happens if you don't come to our Thursday night, Maundy Thursday Easter service?" Nothing. You've got Jesus. And what happens if you don't make it to our Good Friday service? Nothing. You've got Jesus.
And what happens if you don't get here on Sundays? Nothing. You've got Jesus. You understand me? You understand? You're free. And when you understand you're free, you think, "Okay, God, so how do I honour you now?" And then he starts to teach us from inside out, not outside in.
You know, the Afrikaans say it better than the English. Monday. How do you say it in Afrikaans? Maandag. We are superstitious and we've got all this outside worship. Sunday. What does this say? Saturday, Saturn day, the day of the planets.
So it comes into our daily life all the time. Thursday is the day of Thor, the god of war. But the Afrikaners say it better. I told you. Yeah. Yeah. Donderdag. And so we have all these things that come into our weekly, daily, monthly. And he says, "Hey, you're free." You're free.
You with me? And you think, "Hey, Rory, are you preaching complete freedom?" I'm preaching complete freedom. And next week, we're going to start rules for holy living. Oh my. Which one, Rory? Both.
Verse 17. These are a shadow of the things that were to come. The reality, however, is found in Christ. These were a shadow. Say shadow. These are a shadow. Let's go to Hebrews 8.
If he were on earth, Jesus, if he were on earth, he would not be a priest. How does that work? If he were on earth, he would not be a priest. So don't treat me like one. Don't come to me to offer prayers to get to God, because if he were on earth, he would not be a priest.
Because he came and did what he had to do and he finished it once and for all, and he went up to heaven and he's sitting next to the Father, and he doesn't have to come back down here and offer sacrifices time after time. It's finished. Done. Finished.
If he were on earth, he would not be a priest, for there are already men who offer the gifts prescribed by the law. And we think that pastors have to do that week after week, offering gifts week after week. And that's why people line up saying, "Can the priest please pray for me?" You don't need it.
They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and a shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: "See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain." Hebrews 10, please.
The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming, not the realities themselves. For this reason, it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. Friends, he's just a shadow. If you follow my shadow, where's the light?
Can you see my shadow there? So, there. Can you see my shadow? So, follow my shadow here. Please, if you don't mind, just come. Just come here and do it. Yeah. You. Do you see it? It starts there. It starts there.
Okay. Just get on your knees and follow it, please, sir. No. No. Follow it. Follow it. Follow it. Keep following my shadow. Follow it all the way. Follow it. Just follow my shadow. Keep following it. Keep following it. Keep following it. And then take hold of my leg.
Why? Why would you settle for the shadow when you can lay hold of the substance? And why don't you stand, sir? And then I look at you and I say, "It's finished over your life. You have been saved. You have been qualified. You have been redeemed. You've been accepted. You're a son of God. You are loved. You've got access to the Father. You've got confidence and boldness and freedom and cleanness and wholeness."
Why would you settle for the shadow when you can have access to the substance? Why? But the reality, and you know what, sir, maybe you just came today to look into my eyes. I am a very poor reflection of Christ. But I want to preach him in such a way that you know that you've got access to the substance, that you never, ever have to live in the shadowlands of any part of your life ever again.
Because the job is finished. He wouldn't even come back here as a priest because he's finished his job. You have got direct access into the substance of what God has for you. And every time you see a shadow, or a shadow is busy chasing you, something from your past, you turn to that shadow and you say, "Hey, I've got access to the substance. I've got access to the substance."
And the Bible says he is over every principality and every authority and over every power. So that shadow's got no power over me, because he's overwhelmed the shadow. You with me, friends?
Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions. He has lost connection with the head.
What's the biggest problem in hotels? They've lost connection. What is the biggest problem in the church? They have lost connection with the head. There's this phrase, running around like a chicken without a head, because if you chop a head of a chicken off, it can still run around for a couple of minutes. Runs around like that, but it's got no head. It doesn't know where it's running. It's just running.
And I see people that have served God for a long time. They're just running around like chickens without heads. Get the head in its place and the body starts operating properly. Don't lose connection. And many times people come in here and they're like all over the place. Whoa, whoa, whoa.
Here's the password. J-E-S-U-S, capital letters. Put the password in. Re-establish your connection and bring your life back into order. Back into order. It's not rocket science. It's not rocket science. People say, "Whoa." J-E-S-U-S.
Then an introvert, younger. He gets his, and then a woman, and then an Afrikaans guy, and then a woman, and then an Afrikaans guy. The woman, an Afrikaans girl and an Afrikaans guy. Afrikaans lady. German, English.
And as we start to get the head in order and the body starts to line up, we start thinking, "Wow, this can actually, we can get this body to work. Free, whole, loved, substance." And we start to walk, and it's a little bit funny. And then we start to walk and think, "Wow, wow. Wow."
Where would God send an Indian family who moved from Durban to go to church? Where would he send them to? Send them to an Afrikaans church. Why? I've got no idea. Because he wants to show us how the body works together. Wants to show us how the body works together.
And tomorrow there are going to be 1,500 Afrikaans people praying for an Indian woman. How? After 20 years of being in the body under the head, it starts to work together. And then she comes home from work after 40 years and cooks a dish, and her husband gets in his car and he drops off the dish, and we start to build community.
How's God take a beautiful man like that, highly educated, puts him into SARS, one of the top SARS guys in the country, beautiful sons, highly educated sons, next to an Afrikaans couple? The body starts to work and the head's in place. When we cut the head off...
He has lost connection with the head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow. Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belong to it, do you submit to its rules: "Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!"?
Come to the church. Don't handle. Don't taste. Don't touch. You can. You can't. You must. You mustn't. You will. You won't. You can't go there. You mustn't take coffee there. Don't do this. Do that. Do that. Don't do that. Stop that. Think. I've just come out of a sin system. I can't come into another set of rules. I've got to come into freedom.
I played golf yesterday with my sons. I saw a group of people sitting having beers at the table. I can't have a pastor walk past them and them thinking, "Must I put my vape away? Must I put my..." No, just suck on the thing, bro. Seriously. Suck and blow. You're going to die, but suck and blow.
But do you understand? But we've got so caught up with now, now the... And I think, oh no, we're free. Completely free.
These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body. How many times have you fasted this month? I fasted for 40 days. The moment a guy tells me he's fasted for 40 days, I think you are a religious bigot.
I don't see anywhere in the Bible, other than Moses and Jesus, where you fast for 40 days. And yet I've been in a church for years where people fast for 40 days, and the only way you know it is they tell you. Guys, you don't have to teach people about your spirituality, because you are nothing without Christ. You are nothing without Christ.
And that's why you don't need to line up here for me to pray, because I am nothing without Christ. I'm not more spiritual than you. I've not seen more angels than you. I don't have deeper revelation than you. The only revelation I have is this: Christ is enough for me.
But these things lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence. I joined the church when I was 21 because I wanted to sleep with my girlfriend. And all the church said was, "Don't do it. It's naughty." I thought, P-H-E-W. Enjoy your cheese and tomato.
But I wanted to sleep with her. But I knew God was, like, holy. But the power inside of me was, I felt like his power was not enough, until I realised that you cannot tell a 21-year-old to not sleep with his girlfriend when he's in love with her and he's got all this thing which God created inside of him, unless a power greater than the power inside of you comes inside of you.
And I go to men's conferences and I hear these things. If you're battling with pornography, throw a brick through your computer. All that does is break your computer. Put accountability systems in place. All that does is tell your friends that you're watching porno. Fast and pray. It doesn't do it.
You have to have a revelation of Jesus greater than the power to sleep with your girlfriend. Because any rule and regulation is not enough to stop that power, which is one of the most powerful things in the world. But if you get a revelation of Christ, the head of the church, the creator of the universe, the firstborn over all creation, everything that Colossians teaches us, you won't have to follow any rules of any man, or be policed by any elder in a church.
Or when a pastor walks past you while you're having a double brandy and Coke, you won't have to wince. You can just reach out and have a sip. Because greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world. Amen. Be free, but not so that you can run wild. Be free so that you can outwork from the inside out what Jesus has for you. Amen.
