{Not a manuscript: transcribed from cassette recording}
Well let’s take our Bibles together and turn with me to Colossians chapter 2. As we continue in our study together, let’s read verses 8 through 10:
"See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. For in Him (that is, in Christ) all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority".
This past week, I read a true story about a pastor who was conducting a series of meetings on the East coast. And while he was there, he stayed with some friends and traveled from their home to wherever he was speaking that particular evening. And on that night, he was scheduled to speak at a church in Greenville, South Carolina. A member of the church in Greenville came to pick him up and the pastor told his hosts that he would be back no later than midnight. And after teaching at the Greenville church, he stayed for a while to enjoy some fellowship and then rode back to where he was staying, which was in a neighboring town. As he and his ride approached the house where he was staying, he saw the porch light on and assumed that his hosts would be prepared for his arrival. And he told the member from the Greenville church who was taking him there to "go ahead, hurry back, you’ve got a long drive, and my hosts expect me to be late, so go on". It was in the middle of winter and the pastor made the long walk to the house, which was set a ways off the road. He was already quite cold by the time he reached the front door. And he tried the door and it was locked. So he gently knocked. And there was no answer. He knocked a little harder. There was no answer. He knocked even harder still. No answer. He went around to the kitchen door. Tried that. It was locked. He knocked there. Checked the kitchen window. No success there. So he ended up walking several miles to find a telephone where he could call his friends, whom he figured were sound asleep. And during his walk, he slipped on a wet spot on the grass and fell down an embankment into two feet of water. Freezing wet, he finally came to a motel, where he found a telephone and he finally reached his sleepy hosts. And he told them, "I hate to wake you, but I couldn’t get anyone in the house to wake up and let me in. I’m several miles down the road at the motel. Could you come and get me?", to which his friend replied, "Don’t you remember, you have a key in your coat pocket. I gave it to you before you left this evening." Well, embarrassed, the pastor reached into his coat and pulled out a key to the front door.
This story illustrates the Christian who vainly attempts to open the door of God’s blessing on his life through his own self-effort, all the while possessing Jesus Christ, who alone holds the key to our every need. I’m convinced that the primary reason so many Christians unduly struggle in their Christian lives is twofold: we don’t know and we don’t apply. We’re either ignorant or we’re negligent or both. You say, "What do you mean?". Well, I think we don’t fully realize, or we forget, who we are in Jesus Christ. And we don’t really believe that Jesus Christ is all we need. Now listen. If we really believed that Jesus Christ is all we needed, we would never be out there trying to fill voids and find answers to problems anywhere else but in Jesus Christ: voids and answers to questions that only He can fill.
Does the Church really believe the Word of God as penned through the apostle Peter in Second Peter chapter 1 verses 2 and 3:
"Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has (past tense) granted to us everything (all encompassing) pertaining to life and godliness".
Do you believe, as God’s Word says, that Jesus Christ has granted to you "everything (past tense) pertaining to life and godliness"? When you were saved, you received all you needed to live the Christian life. Everything. There’s no other experience you need. Nothing.
But I wonder if we really believe that. I’ll admit, I’m somewhat simplistic. Not a simpleton, but somewhat simplistic. I would never make a good self-help author. I see things pretty simply. Someone says, "Hey, I have a problem with this sin issue". Well, you have a problem with the flesh? Galatians 5:16 says "walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh". Pretty simple. It comes down to the sufficiency of Jesus Christ and the sufficiency of God’s Word. And I see that throughout Scripture. Colossians chapter 3 verse 16: "Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you". What’s that mean? The truth of God’s Word: let it indwell you, let it control you. By the way, when we get there, we’ll also look at Ephesians 5:18 because that’s a parallel passage, and there Paul says "be filled with the Spirit".
And it’s kind of like what I mentioned last week. There are a lot of synonyms used for living the Christian life and what we’re to do. And I think they somewhat overlap; they’re somewhat synonymous. In other words, to "be filled with the Spirit" is to "let the word of Christ richly dwell within you" is to "walk by the Spirit" is to be obedient to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. All of those and others, to "walk in Him (Christ)", as we saw in Colossians chapter 2 verse 6, are somewhat synonymous. They’re saying the same thing: be yielded to the power of God, be yielded to the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ, be yielded to the Word of Jesus Christ. It’s obedience. Not obedience in our own self-effort, not obedience through legalism, but obedience through yielding our hearts and our lives to the power that dwells within us, Jesus Christ. And I tell you, if we can do that and grow in that and encourage one another in that, a lot of these other problems that we might run to the aisle in the self-help section of the bookstore are going to dissolve.
Simplistic? You say, "I have trouble giving thanks; how do I do that?" To give thanks in all things, "let the word of Christ richly dwell within you. Verse 17, "whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father".
Wives say, "I have trouble submitting to my husband in a biblical way". "Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you". Verse 18, "Wives, be subject to your husbands". It all flows out of that principle. Do you see that?
Husbands, you say "I have trouble loving my wife". "Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you". Verse 19, "Husbands, love your wives".
"Children, be obedient to your parents". "Fathers, do not exasperate your children". "Slaves (and maybe a contemporary parallel would be your work situation), in all things obey those who are your masters on earth". "Masters (chapter 4, verse 1), grant to your slaves justice and fairness".
Paul’s talking to believers here. And this all flows out of our yieldedness and our drinking in the truth of God’s Word and letting that control our lives. So yes, in some ways it is simplistic. In some ways it’s very difficult. And that’s what maturity and growing and discipline are all about. That’s what the life of the church is about. That’s what encouraging one another is about.
Now we mentioned in chapter 2, Paul gets to the heart of the letter. And the key verse, not only to this section, but perhaps to the entire book, is verse 10 of chapter 2: "And in Him you have been (past tense) made complete". In whom? Jesus Christ. In Jesus Christ, if you know Him, if you’ve been born again, if you’re a new creation in Jesus Christ, trusting Him as Savior and Lord, you have been (past tense) made complete. You’re complete. I don’t care how you feel; this is the facts, this is the truth, you are complete. You have been made complete. Christ is sufficient. And your sufficiency isn’t in yourself, it’s in Him.
Now there was a subtle and powerful false teaching that was threatening to infiltrate the Colossian church. We’ve talked about that many times. It’s known to us today as the Colossian heresy. The Colossian heresy though is an unnamed heresy, in that all we know about it is what we can glean from half of the argument that Paul gives forth right here. We’re hearing half of a conversation. That is, Paul’s letter. We don’t hear the conversation or the words of Epaphras that filled in the other half. So we’re a little bit in the dark. All that we can glean about the Colossian heresy, we glean from this letter.
But we do know some of the important elements. We know that it was a blend of Greek and Jewish philosophies. We know that it contained elements of false philosophy. We see that in chapter 2 verses 8 through 15. It contained elements of legalism, chapter 2 verses 16 and 17. It contained elements of mysticism or experientialism, chapter 2 verses 18 and 19. And it contained elements of asceticism, chapter 2 verses 20 and 23. And these elements, these traits, these characteristics were shared by both Jews and Greeks, or I should say some sects of the Jews and the Greeks, particularly the Jewish sect known as the Essenes, as well as the Greeks, particularly the Greeks who came later to be known to us as the Gnostics. So throughout the letter, Paul switches back and forth between his seeming attack of Jewish elements of this false teaching and his attack on the Greek elements of this false teaching. But I want you to understand, this wasn’t two groups. This isn’t a group of Jews and a group of Greeks. This is one group, perhaps led by one leader who held this false teaching, this heresy, that was a blend of these two philosophies.
Now in verses 8 through 10, it appears that Paul is particularly exposing the Greek element of this false teaching. And again that’s what has come down known to us today as Gnosticism. The late first century to the second century saw this Gnosticism arise, one of the first cults of the early church. And there’s a debate about when Gnosticism started, because really full blown Gnosticism as we know it didn’t arise until the second century. But there were elements that started somewhere in the first century, and there were elements that date even to this time. So we might refer to this as incipient Gnosticism or pre-Gnosticism.
At any rate, Gnosticism was a cult based on a Greek dualistic philosophy. And this philosophy was that matter is evil always and the spirit is good. Matter is evil. The spirit is good. Now there are several ramifications to that. There are ramifications as far as God who is a spirit creating things (matter which is evil). And so the Gnostics claimed that God used a series of intermediaries to create. Maybe they were spirit beings or angels. And so as God treated these series of intermediaries, they were the ones who took part in creation. They did God’s dirty work, kind of distancing God from his sinful creation. There are ramifications as far as Christ the Savior. Since all matter is evil, including our humanity, then Jesus Christ couldn’t have been God incarnate. What does it mean to be God incarnate, God in the flesh, God in human form? The Gnostics would have said, "That’s impossible. Matter is evil. God cannot partake of evil matter". So the Gnostics either claim that Jesus wasn’t God or that He wasn’t man. There are ramifications for salvation. For the Gnostics, salvation is accomplished through some mystical, secret knowledge. In fact, the word "Gnostic" means knowledge. A Gnostic teacher of the second century wrote, "Abandon the search for God. Look for Him by taking yourself as the starting point. You will find Him in yourself." Part of the secret knowledge.
By the way, that sounds a lot like our contemporary psychological self-esteem philosophy, where the problems of individuals are identified with their lack of self-esteem. "You know what your problem is, Joe, you don’t love yourself enough. You need to fall in love with yourself." Self-love is the problem, not the solution. Second Timothy chapter 3 verses 1 and 2. What did Paul say? "But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self". And look at what follows from that.
Did you know that a Gnostic church exists today. It’s called the Ecclesia Gnostic. "Ecclesia", the Greek word for "church". So, the Gnostic church. This week, I found a doctrinal statement on the contemporary Gnostic church. And I was amazed that after 1900 or so years, how much it has in common with ancient Gnosticism. They haven’t changed a lot over the years. Here are kind of the most relevant 9 points from their doctrinal statement. But this will really shed some light on what we’re dealing with here in Colossians.
1. "There is an original and transcendental spiritual unity (and that’s God) which came to emanate a vast manifestation of pluralities."
2. "The manifest universe of matter and mind was not created by God, but by spiritual beings possessing inferior powers." Now why? I just told you. Because of their materialistic, dualistic philosophy that said that matter is evil. So God, being spirit and good, couldn’t have created evil matter. So He used these emanations to do so.
3. "The human being is a composite, the outer aspect being the handiwork of the inferior creators, while the inner man has the character of a fallen spark of God."
4. "The awakening of the inmost divine essence in humans is affected by salvific knowledge called gnosis", again the Greek word for "knowledge".
5. "From the earliest times of history, messengers of light have been sent forth from God. The task of these messengers has ever been the advancement of gnosis in the souls of humans." The advancement of knowledge. Reach this plane of knowledge and then you’re OK.
6. "The greatest of these messengers in our time was the descendent logos of God manifested in Jesus Christ."
7. "Jesus exercised a two-fold ministry. He was a teacher imparting instruction concerning the way of gnosis and He was a hiraphon imparting mysteries." Now again, what a parallel to what Paul was dealing with. In fact, look over at chapter 1, verse 25. Talking about mysteries, Paul says "Of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God, that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations; but has now been manifested to His saints, to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." Paul clearly playing off some of the language of his detractors here. So that much hasn’t changed.
8. "The mysteries imparted by Jesus known as sacraments are mighty aids toward gnosis (or knowledge) and have been entrusted by Him to His apostles and their successors."
9. "By way of the spiritual practice of the mysteries and by a relentless and uncompromising striving for gnosis, humans can steadily advance toward liberation from all confinement, material and otherwise. The ultimate objective of this process of liberation is the achievement of salvific knowledge and with it freedom from embodied existence and return to God."
This is a contemporary expression of part of what the Colossian church was being threatened with. This and all heresy is false gnosis, false knowledge. But for the next two weeks, we’re going to look at the true gnosis or the true knowledge of Christ. Note here that a true knowledge of Jesus Christ in this passage involves four things: knowing your enemy, knowing His (that is, Christ’s) deity, knowing His sufficiency, and knowing His authority. Now for this morning we’re just going to look at the first point, knowing your enemy. And suffice it to say, your enemy is always deceit. Your enemy is always deceit in whatever form. Whether it’s the deceit of Satan and his emissaries. Whether it’s the deceit of the flesh. Your enemy is always deceit. And particularly here, we’re looking at the deceit of false teaching or what Paul calls "doctrines of demons" in First Timothy 4:1. And really all false teaching springs from Satan. It springs from demons. All false teaching is demon doctrine.
So again, look with me at verse 8. Paul says, "See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ". Paul gives a strong warning here, "See to it that no one takes you captive". The word, "See to it" here, "blepete". It’s from the Greek word "blepo", which means literally "to see" as in "seeing with your eyes". And here it’s an imperative. But Paul is using it here in a figurative sense. The idea is "watch out". The idea is "look out". The idea is "guard yourself from this". The idea is "beware of this". And that’s how it’s used in Philippians chapter 3, when Paul talks about the Judaisers who were threatening the church there. And in Philippians 3:2, he says "Beware ("blepete") of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the false circumcision".
So this is a serious matter and Paul punctuates this fact as he begins his warnings against these heretical teachers. Now this is a lesson in itself for us today. Beware of false teaching in any form. There’s no such thing as harmless heresy. Did you get that? No such thing as harmless heresy. Belief impacts conduct. What you believe is going to demonstrate itself in your life. Doctrine isn’t some sterile, detached entity that has no practical bearing. This is my concern with ecumenicalism, this is my concern with Promise Keepers, because there’s an emphasis on duty apart from an emphasis on doctrine. And doctrine always precedes duty. Always. Because you’re going to act in accordance with what you believe. And Paul’s concern here is that the Colossians not be taken captive by false teaching.
And Paul uses a word here that’s not even found in ancient literature before his time. Maybe he even coined this word. It’s the verb "sulagogeo". It’s a compound word from "sulo" which means "booty", as in booty that you would capture, and "ago", "to lead or carry". It’s to carry away a prize won in battle. It’s to be taken captive. One dictionary states in regard to this word that "Paul’s use of this verb gives the picture of prisoners being led away with a rope around their necks like the long strings of captives portrayed on Syrian monuments".
Get the picture? It’s the idea of a thief or a plunderer carrying something or someone off that doesn’t belong to him. He has no right to it. But catch the analogy. A false teacher has no right to take you captive. And you have no right in allowing him to do so. There’s nothing sadder than a believer being taken captive by anything. A Christian is free. So don’t be taken captive by sin, by Satan, by your flesh, or by false teaching, or by anything. Now who’s in control here? Who’s accountable for this? Well first and foremost, you are. Guard yourself from this. The picture’s crystal clear. Don’t be carried away from the liberty of truth to the slavery of error. Don’t do it.
In John chapter 8, Jesus said, verses 31 and 32,
"If you abide in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you (what?) free".
Contrary to what the world believes, nobody is freer than a Christian. Nobody. Galatians 5:1,
"It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery".
And the verb here "blepete", "see to it", is in the present tense. It’s a present imperative. So it’s something you are going to continually guard yourself from.
And I don’t have much of a concern of anyone here falling into some grievous cultic heresy, running off and joining the Jehovah’s Witnesses or the Mormons. But I think there’s always that danger there of being caught up in some false teaching in one way or another. So guard yourself. It’s so important. That’s why we have such a commitment to that in this church, from the leadership on down. It’s so important to the life and the health of the church and the members that make up the church.
As one expositor noted, "Where imprecise doctrine and careless biblical exegesis are tolerated, and where biblical wisdom and discernment languish, people tend to look for something more than the simple sufficiency God has provided in Christ". And that is so true. I’ve experience that first hand. I’ve been part of churches where you could be a disciple of Benny Hinn and fit right in with the rest of the group. There wouldn’t be much going on there that would offend you.
Our mandate is clear. Second Timothy 4:2, "Preach the word (proclaim the word); be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction". Why? "For the time will come (and we might add, the time now is) when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires; and will turn away their ears from the truth, and will turn aside to myths."
Our Lord Jesus put it this way in Matthew 7:15, "Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves". You know what sheep’s clothing is? It’s the clothing of the shepherd. Back in those times, it was quite common that shepherds would wear woolen garments made from the very sheep which they guarded. False prophets don’t look like wolves. They look like shepherds. And how do you tell the difference? Matthew 7:16, Jesus’ next words, "You will know them by their fruits." In other words, you will know them by the character of their doctrine if you’re discerning and you will know them by the character of their lives.
How many people here have ever heard of the People’s Temple Christian Church? Anybody ever heard of that church? The People’s Temple Christian Church? How many have heard of Jim Jones? Jim Jones was pastor, and I use that term loosely, of the People’s Temple Christian Church. And one of the most frightening discoveries about the People’s Temple Christian Church was that a large majority of its members came from Christian homes of one sort or another. And most of those that joined the church did so because they believed it offered a higher experience of Christian living. Yet the so-called church dissolved overnight when nearly 1000 of its members followed its’ leader in a mass suicide at Jonestown in the jungles of South America. Listen. Jim Jones didn’t look like a wolf to the sheep. He looked like a shepherd.
In his book, "Deceived", author Mel White writes that Jim Jones knew how to inspire hope:
"He was committed to people in need. He counseled prisoners and juvenile delinquents. He started a job placement center. He opened rest homes and homes for the retarded. He had a health clinic. He organized a vocational training center. He provided free legal aid. He opened a community center. He preached about God. He even claimed to cast out demons, do miracles, and heal. But on the other hand, we find all the marks of a false prophet. He promoted himself through the use of celebrities, a very common vehicle for false prophets to gain credibility. He manipulated the press. He wanted certain favorable stories about him. He was big on playing the press and he used the language and forms of faith to gain his power."
Now while every false teacher may not be a Jim Jones, every false teacher is dangerous in his own right. The apostle Paul knew that. He knew the danger. That’s why he struggled so hard in the ministry. That’s why he wrote back in chapter 2 verses 1 through 4, hey, "I want you to know how great a struggle I have on your behalf". I want your hearts to be encouraged, "having been knit together in love, and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge (not a false gnosis, but a true knowledge) of God’s mystery (not a false mystery, but God’s mystery), that is, Christ Himself, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I say this in order that no one may delude you with persuasive argument." Paul knew the danger. He took it very, very seriously. And so must we take it very, very seriously.
So Paul says, "See to it that no one takes you captive". Now what’s the specific danger listed here? And it’s one danger among several that Paul addresses throughout chapter 2. But there’s the first one he lists here, one danger that denies the sufficiency of Jesus Christ: philosophy. "See to it that no one takes you captive through" what? Through philosophy. Through philosophia. That’s the Greek word. What’s philosophy? Well, we could very simply define it as the love of wisdom. "Philos", Greek word for love. "Sophos", Greek word for wisdom. The love of wisdom.
Now somebody says, "Well what’s wrong with that? Aren’t we to love wisdom?". Well, it’s false wisdom that Paul has in mind here. You can even translate this "so-called philosophy". That’s what Paul is saying here. It’s the kind of philosophy that seeks wisdom solely through human reasoning and human experience apart from the revelation of God. It’s what Paul talked about in First Timothy 6:20 when he states, "O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding worldly and empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called ‘knowledge’", that is, pseudo gnosis, false knowledge. In Romans 1:22, Paul says, "Professing to be wise, they became fools". They were wise fools. That’s what a sophomore is. "Sophos", wise. "More", moron, fool. A wise fool. Now Paul’s not referring specifically here to the classical schools of Greek philosophy. He’s not talking about the "sophos". He’s not talking about Socrates. He’s not talking about Aristotle. He’s referring to the false teachers who were threatening the Colossian church. And it may be that these false teachers were using this very word, and I think they were, to describe themselves.
Hey, we have the true gnosis, the true knowledge. We have the true philosophia, the true philosophy. And Paul is saying, see to it that nobody holds you captive through this so-called philosophy, through this so-called love of wisdom that is divorced and devoid from the wisdom of God. They claim to have special wisdom. They claim to have special insight. Especially, special wisdom and insight into the things of God. Creation, Christ, angels, justification, sanctification.
And we see that Paul deals with all these throughout the letter. Some of them we’ve looked at. Creation: "For by Him all things were created", chapter 1 verse 16. "And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together", chapter 1 verse 17. The Person of Christ: Chapter 1 verse 15, "And He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation". Chapter 2 verse 9, which we’ll come to hopefully next week, "For in Him (Christ) all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form". Angels: Paul deals with that in chapter 2 verse 18. Justification: we looked at that in chapter 1 verses 20 through 22. Sanctification: Chapter 2 verse 6, "As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so (continue to) walk in Him". Chapter 3 verse 16, "Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you". Chapter 3 verse 2, "Set your mind on the things above".
These are all things that these false teachers claimed to have special mystical insight into. This was incipient Gnosticism and Jewish mysticism. Now we’ve already talked about Gnosticism. But did you know there was a sect among the Jews that was also very mystical. There was what has been called Merkabah mysticism. It was a Jewish practice of experiencing a vision, working yourself up into an emotional state whereby you experienced a vision of God enthroned upon His heavenly chariot. It’s the Hebrew word, Merkabah. Merkabah mysticism. They likened it to Ezekiel’s vision in Ezekiel chapter 1 verses 26 through 28. The Essenes were very mystical. The Jewish historian Josephus writes that there were three sects of philosophia among the Jews: the Saducees, the Pharisees, and the Essenes. But note this. These weren’t people, those that Paul is dealing with here, these weren’t people that totally rejected Christ. These weren’t people that totally rejected God’s Word. These were people who integrated a false understanding of Christ into their pseudo philosophy. They integrated some truth into their error and the result was error.
Now there is application for us today. Paul’s talking about something very specific here. But there is application here today. We may not fight against Gnosticism in its pure sense. But any philosophy that detracts from the sufficiency of Jesus Christ and the purity of His Word is to be rejected. And I can think of several in the church today, the foremost among them being pragmatism and mysticism or experientialism. The Sophos philosopher of the fifth century B.C., Protageris of Abdura, is considered by many the father of pragmatism. Protageris taught that true wisdom is that which works. That’s the modern church growth movement. The ends justify the means. Want to grow a church? Make it palatable to unbelievers. Then try to suddenly evangelize them, without threatening them in any way, without offending them in any way. By the way, this has become such a priority to some that one leader of the church growth movement warned that "if churches don’t concern themselves with the issues of relevance and church growth, it’s quite likely that within a generation, those institutions (and he’s talking about the church) will be out of business". If we don’t concern ourselves with relevance and church growth, the church will cease to exist? Is that what he’s saying. That’s blatant Armenianism that denies the sovereignty of God in building His church. They try to tell us, "Hey, if we’re not relevant enough to the world, the church is going to cease to exist. It’s going to be extinguished and it’s going to be our fault." That’s a far cry from Matthew 16:18 where Christ says, "I will build My church and the gates of Hades won’t prevail against it".
I want you to know that we’re doing something very rare in today’s contemporary church. Cornerstone is for all practical purposes a two-year-old church built on the basis of the teaching of God’s Word and encouraging one another toward maturity in Christ and encouraging one another to go out and make disciples of Jesus Christ. We didn’t build a church on contemporary relevance, although I think we are relevant. We didn’t build a church on marketing studies. We didn’t build a church on business practices. We didn’t build a church on pragmatic methodology. We didn’t build a church on church growth philosophy. We didn’t gear the church to be relevant and non-threatening to unbelievers. My Bible says that the gospel is an offense.
By the way, whoever said that the church gathered is to be relevant to unbelievers? Non-believers don’t make up the church. The church is believers. So why should the church be relevant to that which is foreign to its very nature. One of my pet peeves is now evangelism has become "reaching the unchurched". I hear that all the time now. "Our church is to ‘reach the unchurched’. We’re ‘reaching the unchurched’". Whatever happened to winning the lost. Whatever happened to preaching the gospel so that sinners might be saved. Now we have to say "reaching the unchurched"? Well of course they’re unchurched. They’re not Christians. They shouldn’t be churched, until they’re Christians. That’s the false pragmatic philosophy of the church growth movement. That’s why I said some time ago that the church growth movement stands at the top of a slippery slope that leads to a pit of pragmatism and a denial of the sufficiency of God’s Word. And you might think I’m overreacting. But I’m not.
Just last week, and I might add as we go on to talk about mysticism or experientialism as we wrap up here. And this is the other danger that I want to talk about, the other false philosophy: mysticism. Just last week, somebody forwarded to me a pamphlet that states, "As we near the end of this present age and the Holy Spirit is bringing forth new revelation which has been hidden until this time, it behooves us to keep an open mind and heart in order that the Holy Spirit will show us things to come (John 16:33)." Not only is that a false interpretation of John 16:33. That’s the legacy of Gnosticism: new, secret revelation, hidden in the past, revealed to those who seek the secret knowledge.
And we see this in the church. I see it all the time. Instead of proclaiming, "Thus saith the Lord", it’s "The Lord saith thus to me". Get the difference? Mysticism has opened the door to all sorts of perverse practices, from the insidious laughing phenomena of the Vineyard church to claims of Christian extortionists like Oral Roberts, who would hold their followers hostage for a divinely-revealed ransom. We could go on and on. As one concerned author stated,
" Mysticism or experientialism has created a theological climate that is largely intolerant of precise doctrine and sound biblical exegesis. Authoritative, biblical preaching is decried as too dogmatic. It is rare now a days to hear a preacher challenge popular opinion with a clear teaching from God’s Word and underscore the truth with a settled ‘Thus saith the Lord’. Mysticism also destroys discernment. Why should people think for themselves or compare what they are taught with Scripture when their teachers claim to receive truth directly from heaven?"
That’s a good point. All of this serves to deny the sufficiency of God’s Word and the sufficiency of Jesus Christ.
Now there are three what I would call adjectival phrases that follow in the second half of verse 8. And there are three elaborations on philosophia, on this false philosophy: empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, and according to the elements of the world. And I had planned to go through those this morning. But I’m going to save this for next time. But I want to remind you that the title of this morning’s message is "Complete in Christ". "Complete in Christ".
A story is told about William Randolph Hurst, the late newspaper publisher. Randolph Hurst invested a fortune in collecting great works of art. One day he read about some valuable pieces of art and decided that he must have them for his collection. So he sent his agent out to locate them and purchase them. Months went by and then the agent returned and reported to Hurst that the items had at last been found. In fact, they were stored in Hurst’s own warehouse. Years before, William Randolph Hurst had purchased them. This story is analogous to the Christian who is in a desperate search for what he already has. Don’t be held captive by anything other than the all-sufficiency of Jesus Christ. He is sufficient for our every need.
Let’s pray together. Lord, that is a truth that needs to be drilled into our heads time after time, the sufficiency of Jesus Christ. And Lord, we grieve that not only do we fail all so often in living that out in our own lives, but as we look around, we see .......... (END OF TAPE)
