Watch out for the wise guys Col. 2:8-10
A college student was in a philosophy class which had a discussion about God’s existence. The professor presented the following logic: "Has anyone in this class heard God?" Nobody spoke. "Has anyone in this class touched God?" Again, nobody spoke. "Has anyone in this class seen God?" When nobody spoke for the third time, he simply stated, "Then there is no God."
One student thought for a second, and then asked for permission to reply. Curious to hear this bold student’s response, the professor granted it, and the student stood up and asked the following questions of his classmates:
"Has anyone in this class heard our professor’s brain?" Silence. "Has anyone in this class touched our professor’s brain?" Absolute silence.
"Has anyone in this class seen our professor’s brain?" When nobody in the class dared to speak, the student concluded, "Then, according to our professor’s logic, it must be true that our professor has no brain!"
(...He got an "A" in the class.)
Col. 2:8
See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.
Paul wrote these words as a warning against the false teaching of the Gnostics…a group who claimed a superior wisdom….a wisdom that even denied the deity of Jesus.
I believe that Paul makes two valid points in these verses before us today.
First, Man’s wisdom is deficient
Paul warned of the danger of a hollow or empty philosophy in verse 8….an empty way of thinking and looking at things…a way that is without merit.
“Watch out for hollow and deceptive philosophy”.
“Don’t let them take you captive!”
Watch out for worldly wise guys!
There is a philosophy which rightly exercises our minds…. a study of the works of God, which leads us to the knowledge of God, and thus confirms our faith in him.
But there is also a philosophy that is vain and deceitful….one that tickles our ears, but hinders our faith….a philosophy that is just a curious speculation that seeks to turn us from following Christ
The particular false philosophy at Colosse was “hollow” “deceptive,” and based on “human tradition”... rather than on Jesus.
Verse 8 goes on to say that it was a philosophy that depended on “the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.”
It had gotten away from the basic ABC’s.
We must never try to build our Christian lives on some worldly system..
Our base is not some philosophy or worldly system; our base is Christ.
In 2 Cor. 10:5….Paul described a true Christian philosophy…..
We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
There are those who seek to lead us astray with their empty philosophy.
To those, Paul says “beware…look out….stop, look, and listen…watch out for self-proclaimed wise guys….don’t let them lead you astray.”
If you studied the history of philosophy beginning with Plato and coming down to more recent times you would find that none of them have a high view of the inspiration of Scripture.
They were looking for answers to the problems of life, but such answers are not found in man’s philosophy.
2 Tim. 3:7 says that in the last days there will be those who are
always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth.
A true philosopher is a seeker after truth, but truth is not found in human wisdom.
Christ is the answer,… the answer to philosophy.
1 Cor. 1:30 says that Jesus
………… has become for us wisdom from God--that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.
J. Vernon McGee said that false philosophy is like a blind man looking in a dark room for a black cat that isn’t there.
In other words, there is no real hope in false philosophy.
We are warned to beware of such false teachers.
Matthew 7:16-20
By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? [17] Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. [18] A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. [19] Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. [20] Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.
If not careful, we can be deceived so that we will be carried away by the errors of evil men.
2 Peter 3:17 says…….
Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position.
There are those who want to lead us astray by deceitfulness for their own gain.
Romans 16:17-18
I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. [18] For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people.
(religious charlatans)
Verse 8 also tells us that there are those want to lead us astray by human traditions.
You may remember that the Lord Jesus condemned the religious rulers in His day because they taught the traditions of men rather than the Word of God.
When we teach the Word of God, we must strive to teach and understand it in its entirety. It is so easy to lift out our own interpretation of some particular passage and present it as if it were totally factual..
The Bible contains many prophecies, but there is more in God’s Word than just prophecy. Some preachers want to dwell on Christian living.
That certainly is in the Bible, but there is more than just that.
Some modern Bible teachers today dwell only on the positive, but the Bible says much about negative things as well.
Some stress that God is love….but He is also a God of wrath.
So it is very important for us to study the total Word of God.
In Matthew 16:6, Jesus warned of the traditions of several groups of men.
"Be careful," … "Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees."
Some people have become spiritually blinded by their traditions.
Romans 1:21-22
For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. [22] Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools
Some people are blinded by signs or human wisdom.
1 Cor. 1:19-23
For it is written:
"I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;
the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate."
[20] Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? [21] For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. [22] Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, [23] but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,
Others are blinded by their own emotions and imagination.
2 Cor. 10:5
We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
Any system that does not give Christ all the honor is ultimately a system of this world
Man’s wisdom is deficient….
Secondly then, Christ’s wisdom is sufficient.
Paul shows the superiority of Christ.
Col. 2:9
For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form,
Jesus has all the fullness of the Godhead living in Him
Jesus demonstrates the fullness of the Deity in bodily form
God is pleased that all fullness dwells in His Son Jesus.
Col. 1:19
For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him,
God was pleased to live with us in Christ.
Matthew 1:23
"The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"--which means, "God with us."
God was pleased to be reconciled to us through Jesus.
2 Cor. 5:19
that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.
God was pleased to reveal Himself to us in Christ.
John 14:8-11
Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us."
[9] Jesus answered: "Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ’Show us the Father’? [10] Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. [11] Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.
God was pleased to send His Son Jesus Christ in a human body.
John 1:14
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
It was all God’s plan to do these things in and through His Son, the Lord Jesus.
Paul shows us our fullness in Christ in Col. 2:10 when he wrote…
…. you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.
People, we can meet life head-on because we have been given this fullness in Christ. We are ready for the journey.
Whatever we need in life we will find in Him.
No matter what the question….Jesus has the answer.
We just can’t trust in human philosophy, enticing words and the traditions of men.
We’ve got to be looking to Jesus instead of all that.
Fullness of life and all the answers men seek in life don’t come from a philosophy… they come from a Person….the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus Himself says that we have received His fullness.
John 1:16
From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another.
The Bible says we’ve been made one in Christ.
Galatians 3:26-29
You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, [27] for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. [28] There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. [29] If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Believers,…. the Word says we can enjoy the privilege of knowing the Lord Jesus as our head…..Col. 1:16-18
For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. [17] He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. [18] And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.
Our Lord wants us to grow up into Him who is our head.
Ephes. 4:15-16
Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. [16] From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
The bottom line is……Christ is the head over all things.
His name is above every name that has ever been named.
Philip. 2:9-11
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
[10] that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
[11] and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
1 Peter 3:22 Speaks of Jesus as the One……
who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand--with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him
Rev. 5:12 says….
"Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength
and honor and glory and praise!"
There is no ruler, no authority, no force, no energy, no science, no astrology, no man…..
no power…..nothing standing between God and man.
The fate of man and his world are found in Jesus Christ and in Him alone.
He is the only Intermediary between God and man.
Man can approach God only through Christ.
No one else can present us to God and make us acceptable to God.
God accepts only those persons who come to Him by Christ.
John 3:16
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:31
"The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all.
John 14:6
Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
1 Cor. 3:11
For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.
Amen?
Yet in spite of all this truth from God’s holy Word, there are still countless numbers of “wise-guys” out there who would tell us something different.
They were trying to do it to the Colossians.
These same kinds of worldly “wise guys” are still speaking today.
Most of them have the same strategy:
“Your brand of Christianity is just too difficult.”
“Yes, I know the Bible says that, but………..”
“Why listen to that kind of Christianity?”
“I’ve found an easier way.”
“I’ve found a happier way.”
“Let me tell you about a Christianity in which there is no repentance or sacrifice or obedience.”
“Let me tell you about MY way.”
ILLUS: One Sunday, a Minister was giving a sermon on baptism and in the course of his sermon he was illustrating the fact that baptism should take place by sprinkling and not by immersion.
He pointed out some instances in the Bible.
He said that when John the Baptist baptized Jesus in the River Jordan, it didn’t mean in - it meant close to, round about, or nearby.
And again when it says in the Bible that Philip baptized the eunuch in the river, it didn’t mean in - it meant close to, round about, or nearby.
After the service, a man came up to the minister and told him it was a great sermon, one of the best he had ever heard, and that it had cleared up a great many mysteries he had encountered in the Bible.
"For instance," he said, "the story about Jonah getting swallowed by the whale has always bothered me.
Now I know that Jonah wasn’t really in the whale, but close to, round about, or nearby, swimming in the water.
Then there is the story about the three young Hebrew boys who were thrown into the fiery furnace, but were not burned.
Now I see that they were not really in the fire, just close to, round about, or nearby, just keeping warm.
But the hardest of all the stories for me to believe has always been the story of Daniel getting thrown into the lion’s den.
But now I see that he wasn’t really in the lions’ den, but close to, round about, or nearby, like at the zoo.
The revealing of these mysteries has been a real comfort to me because I am a wicked man. Now I am gratified to know that I won’t be in Hell, but close to, round about, or nearby. And next Sunday, I won’t have to be in church, just close to, round about, or nearby. Thanks.
You have really put my mind at ease.
What kind of Christianity do you want this morning?
Do you want the health and wealth gospel?
Is the word of faith message your cup of tea?
Do you prefer a made up….name it and claim it kind of Christianity?
Would you prefer one that is based solely on your emotions and feelings?
Are we satisfied with a Christianity that is “close to….round about….and nearby?”
Jesus wants us to come to Him on His terms, not ours.
Don’t listen to what the world says.
The Scriptures warn us this morning about some of the deceptive teachings out there.
Listen to what the Lord says to your heart through His Word and His Spirit.
If you earnestly look for Him that way, you will never find anything contradictory there.
