You’re More Done Than You Think
How many of us wake up every morning carrying a mental checklist of spiritual tasks we need to complete before God will accept us? Pray more. Read more. Serve more. Be more patient. Be less selfish. It’s exhausting — and it’s exactly backwards.
Pastor Josh White opened his message this past Sunday with a striking question: what if you’re more done than you think? If you’ve placed your faith in Jesus Christ, your salvation isn’t a work in progress. It’s a finished product.
Paul writes in Colossians 2:6-15, “In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.”
1. Our Salvation is Complete
Paul starts with circumcision — a physical rite that Israel had practiced for centuries as a sign of God’s covenant. But Paul flips the script. He says the true circumcision isn’t physical — it’s spiritual. It was “made without hands” — done by Christ, not by us.
God had been trying to tell Israel this all along. Through Jeremiah, He said His desire wasn’t for them to participate in the physical ritual — it was that they would understand what the ritual pointed to: a heart changed by God. Yet Israel missed it. They thought if they were circumcised in the flesh, they were good to go. God wanted their hearts.
Today, the physical ritual of circumcision is unnecessary for believers. Why? Because now, when you place your faith in Christ, the Spirit circumcises your heart — permanently. Philippians 3:2-3 says, “Look out for the dogs, look out for the evil doers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God.”
This is good news: the part of you that needs changing has already been changed. The sin nature that controls your flesh? It was cut off at the cross. Your salvation isn’t incomplete — it’s done.
2. Our Identification is Complete
Paul then moves to baptism. He says we were “buried with him in baptism” and “raised with him through faith.” But this isn’t primarily about water baptism — it’s about what the Holy Spirit did the moment you trusted Christ.
The Spirit permanently changed you. He forever identifies you with Jesus Christ. When does this happen? The moment you put your faith in Him. Not when you get baptized. Not when you confess with your mouth. When the Holy Spirit enters your life, you are sealed, marked, and identified as God’s own — forever.
3. Our Forgiveness is Complete
Paul then drives it home: “Having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.”
Every sin you’ve ever committed or will ever commit — past, present, and future — was placed on Christ at the cross. The legal record that stood against you? Nailed. The debt you could never repay? Cancelled. The cross wasn’t just a beginning — it was a once-for-all, full payment. Nothing more needs to be added.
Colossians 2:13-14 — “And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.”
So What?
When you hear the words “you’re more done than you think,” how do you respond? Relief? Gratitude? Or suspicion — like something this good can’t possibly be true?
Paul’s whole argument in Colossians 2 is that we can stop striving. We don’t need to add anything to what Christ accomplished. No amount of religious effort, self-improvement, or spiritual checklist-keeping will make you more saved than you already are in Him.
This side of heaven, you’ll still struggle with sin. But the answer isn’t to try harder — it’s to rest in what’s already done. To “consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Romans 6:11). To stop performing and start trusting.
Pastor Josh closed with this: when you come to the Lord’s Table, the bread and the juice aren’t for people trying to earn God’s acceptance. They’re for people who already have it — people who have been circumcised by the Spirit, buried and raised in baptism, and forgiven completely. If you’ve trusted Christ, you qualify. You’re done. And that’s the most liberating news you’ll ever hear.
Scripture References
- Colossians 2:6-15 — Full passage
- Philippians 3:2-3 — The true circumcision
- Jeremiah 4:4 — Circumcision of the heart
- Romans 6:1-11 — Dead to sin, alive to God
- 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 — The Lord’s Table