Do not be decieved - Colossians 2:1-5
Deception
Paul is worried. He is struggling for the believers at Collosae and Laodicea. There are some new ideas being spoken about. They are questioning Christ’s divinity. We have already heard the message that Paul gave a couple of weeks back – The Supremacy of Christ.
Col 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
Col 1:16 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.
Col 1:17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Col 1:18 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.
Paul has a battle on his hands, and he is not free to come and fight it.
Paul considered himself the apostle to the Gentiles. Today he might be the bishop of a very large diocese. He cares deeply for all those that God has placed under his care. He does not want them to be deceived. He wants them to understand the full nature of Christ – or at least as much of it as they are capable of.
In Colossae there were suggestions that the only way to salvation was through secret knowledge. These people also denied that Jesus was God. The belief is known as Gnosticism. Its secrets, and therefore salvation are only available to those they are passed on to.
Paul is very worried that some of the Colossians may be deceived and cease to be believing Christians.
There are many things that can deceive us – as human beings we a fascinated by the strange and unusual and are drawn to them. Our senses are also limited, so what we think we see isn’t always what we do see.
Try these:
Optical illusions
http://www.optillusions.com/
Those of course are just carefully designed tricks. They do not do us any harm, either physically or spiritually.. There are deceits that do harm us though.
Any suggestions?
[Get a list]
fortune telling
palm reading
tarot cards
horoscopes
astrology
ouji boards
clairvoyant – even fake ones like ’The Mentalist’
black and white magic
witchcraft
tea-leaf readings
seances
communication with people who have died or passed on.
When Saul visited witch of Endor she brought Samuel back to speak to him. Samuel was not at all pleased, and God was furious.
These things can be dangerous – whether you are a Christian or not. There are other things that deceive us also. They may be a lot less obvious, but they take away from us our faith in Christ Jesus. They deny is some way or another the Supremacy of Christ.
Some of these messages are almost subliminal
- Its OK to shop on Sunday, instead of worshipping with your fellow Christians. Or play football, or whatever it is you do instead of joining together with Christ’s body.
- It is not OK, once you have made the decision. I once knew a man whose archery club met on Sunday mornings. The after a long struggle he gave his life to Christ. But the archery was too great a draw on Sundays. With no connection to the church he may be lost forever.
- It doesn’t matter how I behave outside church. If your general behaviour at work and in the home isn’t the same as you behaviour at church there is a problem.
- It’s OK not to talk about your faith. We’re English, so we don’t talk about God or politics in polite conversation. These things are private. Do you believe? Or not? Did Christ change your life – how is it possible not to talk about it.
- The odd little white lie can never do any harm, and it will make life so much easier.
We all do thee things from time-to-time, but we must be ready to acknowledge it as sinful, and repent
Here is another more obvious attack, but it is still a danger to us:
"There probably isn’t a God, so stop worrying about it and enjoy your lives." - (Slogan on London Buses)
There is much that could be said, but this is just one slogan, so I’ll keep it short.
- this is minimalist rationalism. If I can’t see it, I can’t believe in it. There is more in heaven and hell than can be found in this philosophy. We have a rational God – He created an ordered universe so that we can use our gifts and abilities to make sense of the world around us. He also used the rational ordered world to make himself hidden, so that people would have to search for him. He is so much more than purely rational, as are his creation.
- This isn’t faith, its the opposite. Heb 11:1 says:Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
- It doesn’t even state a case.
- … but it’s clever … we’re very used to assuming probability means the actual thing. Jack Sparrow, After describing his amazing escape from the military in Pirates of the Caribbean is told “That’s impossible” to which he replies “Not Impossible, Love... Just Improbable"
- It implies that working out whether there’s a God isn’t worth the effort. It appeals to our selfishness ’enjoy your life’.
Mystery
My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Paul talks of mysteries of God, and makes his readers aware that the mysteries are all revealed in Christ. He is writing like this because the people he is writing to are being enticed by the promise of revealed mysteries. Christ is a mystery to the gentiles (not the Jews), that has now been revealed. There is no longer a mystery of salvation. We do not need anything else. Belief in Jesus, his death and resurrection is all that it takes. Even so, God, and therefore Christ is still a puzzle to us.
Isaiah 55:8-9 God Says “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
We find him difficult to understand, but if you really want to know you will have to put some effort in, because Jesus promises us that we can be his friends
Jn 15:14. - You are my friends if you do what I command.
Most of us like a good puzzle to solve, especially when there is a prize at the end, and Paul promises treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
When Solomon was asked what gift he would like he asked for wisdom
1Ki 3:5 At Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon during the night in a dream, and God said, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.”
1Ki 3:9 So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?”
1Ki 3:10 The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this.
1Ki 3:12 I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be.
Wisdom is the ability to apply knowledge.
Knowledge tells us that a tomato is a fruit,
Wisdom says: don’t put tomatoes in a fruit salad
Treasure
[Introduce the treasure chest. Ask what is in it?
Get some Ideas – from the children]
Remove the Bible, and ask why anyone would keep a Bible in a treasure chest.
We know what Paul wrote the the Colossians because someone - probably many people valued the letter enough to keep it, and have copies made of it. These would have circulated amongst the early Christians. It is likely that copies would have kept and used in their worship meetings. Our Bible is made up of many of these writings that have been passed down from one generation to the next
Many learned people have spent a considerable amount of time deciding which of these are the best records of what happened.
We now have a permanent record of some of the things that Jesus and his followers said and did.
Today is Bible Sunday. We are reminded that the new testament was written over 1800 years ago.
The world was very different then, and it can be hard for us to understand some of what is said. There is no hope of knowing what was happening in the world back then in any detail. People though don’t change. God does not change. The messages in the Bible that we can understand are clear.
It is God’s word to the world.
If we are to find the treasures that Paul is talking about we must first find Jesus. The first place we find Jesus is in the Bible. There are very few other documents that make reference to him, and none others that contain any of his teaching. If we are to really know Jesus we must be immersed in His word, and His Spirit.
So, if you think back to the start of the service, you will remember that Margaret was trying to shelter from the rain, instead of possibly getting soaked. Instead of protecting ourselves from the word, or allowing us to be diverted away from it, we should be ready to put down the umbrella and get soaked. Soaked in Gods word, and his love for us.
