His Word Is Enough, Don't Be Fooled Series

"HIS Word Is Enough, Don’t Be Fooled"

Jesus Is ENOUGH - part three - Col 2:1-23

A little boy was lost inside a busy shopping mall. He was standing in the aisle of a department store just crying and crying, "I want my mommy.. I want my mommy." People who passed by felt sorry for him and many of them gave him nickels and dimes and quarters to try to cheer him up.

Finally a salesperson from the floor walked up to the distraught little boy and said, "I know where your mommy is, son."

The little boy looked up with his tear trenched eyes and said, "So do I....just keep quiet, I got a good thing going here!"

Question; Have you ever been fooled by someone? Has anyone ever deceived you? Has someone ever convinced you that something was real good and that you just had to have it... and when you got it -- you found out that you had been ripped off.

Maybe you bought a used car -- and were convinced that you got a winner -- but as soon as you drove it off the lot it became obvious that you had bought a lemon.

Or maybe you have been deceived by a person, someone who sweet talked you, convinced you that they were on the up and up -- and that they really cared about you, but when your back was turned they hurt you and took advantage of you.

A deception is something that looks good on the outside and makes many great promises, but on the inside it is empty -- and there is really not much to it.

It is like putting our money into a machine and pushing a button for a bag of Potato chips that, judging from the appearance of the package, look as though it is full of nice crunchy potato chips. But when the bag comes out and we open it... we find out that it is mostly full of just air and only has about 3 chips in it... I’ve bought bags like that.

Don’t you hate to be fooled -- to be deceived -- to be taken advantage of/to be used/to be conned..... And I guess the only thing that could be worse than being fooled ourselves, is to have someone we care about, a loved one, be taken advantage of by someone.... either financially, spiritually or emotionally (now that will get you upset).

Paul felt these same concerns about the christians in Colosse. [2:1-5]

Even though Paul had never met the Christians in Colosse personally, he still struggled for them.... We know from chapter 1 verse 9 that part of that struggle involved Paul continuously praying for the believers at Colosse.

And the thing that really ignited Paul’s concern was that false teachers who were peddling doctrines of destruction had invaded the Church. They came with many fine sounding arguments -- that sounded convincing... And Paul wanted the church to know that if they bought into those lies, that they were buying a lemon, they were falling into a trap/ a dangerous trap/a deadly trap... and that they would come up empty in the end...

Though these teachings that looked good when they first pushed the button, when opened would be found to be filled with nothing but air...

Paul wanted the Colossians to realize that in Christ, they already had all of the hidden treasures of wisdom and knowledge available to them.... Therefore what could these false teachers really have to offer them --- answer not a thing!!

Paul, in telling the Church at Colosse how not to be fooled by those wolves in sheep’s clothing, is also telling all Christians throughout all generations how not to be taken in by false teachers ... The questions is not will there be false teachers (Jesus said there would be), but rather the question is will we recognize them and not be fooled by them when they come knocking out our door.... Paul says we can recognize them and not be fooled, and he tells us to do it.

FIRST OF ALL BY MAINTAINING OUR SPIRITUAL PROGRESS [6,7]

Have you ever heard the expression, "AN OUNCE OF PREVENTION IS WORTH A POUND OF CURE.." That is what Paul is talking about here... because the best way to prevent our selves from becoming fooled by deception and false teaching, is to maintain our spiritual progress... If we are growing in Christ the chances of our being fooled go down exponentially.

You see the false teachers of this world do not make a habit of preying on strong Christians rather they prey on weak Christians -- they prey on the sheep that are straying from the fold, those who are out on the edges... because they are the ones who are most vulnerable.. and open to attack.