The Supremacy of Christ is Defended Against
Empty Philosophies
Colossians 2:1-10
September 30, 2001
Intro:
A. [Imponderable Questions, Citation: David Holdaway, Stonehaven, Scotland, United Kingdom]
Think on these things (but not for too long):
If man evolved from monkeys and apes, why do we still have monkeys and apes?
I went to a bookstore and asked the saleswoman, "Where’s the self-help section?" She said if she told me, it would defeat the purpose.
Is there another word for synonym?
Where do forest rangers go to "get away from it all"?
What do you do when you see an endangered animal eating an endangered plant?
Would a fly without wings be called a walk?
Why do they lock gas station bathrooms? Are they afraid someone will clean them?
Why don’t sheep shrink when it rains?
If the police arrest a mime, do they tell him he has the right to remain silent?
Is it true that cannibals don’t eat clowns because they taste funny?
What was the best thing before sliced bread?
One nice thing about egotists: they don’t talk about other people.
Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday.
If one synchronized swimmer drowns, do the rest have to drown too?
If you try to fail, but succeed, which have you done?
B. [Many Truths, Citation: Mary Lefkowitz, a professor of classical studies at Wellesley College, in N.Y.Times Book Review (1-23-00)]
The notion that there are many truths might seem well suited to a diverse society.
But when everyone is free to define truth as he or she prefers, as at present, the result is an intellectual and moral shouting match in which the people with the loudest voices are most likely to be heard.
C. [Beginning to Lose God, Citation: Ravi Zacharias, "If the Foundations Be Destroyed," Preaching Today, Tape No. 142.]
Listen to a secular thinker Peggy Noonan, one of the brightest journalistic minds around. She says this in an article entitled "You’d Cry Too If It Happened To You."
It came in Forbes magazine, September 14, 1992, in which 11 men and women were asked to answer the question "Why are we so unhappy?"
They all agreed we were unhappy because we had lost our moral and spiritual center.
Listen to what Peggy Noonan says:
"[Poet W. H.] Auden called his era ’the age of anxiety.’ I think what was at the heart of the dread in those days [just a few years into modern times] was that we could tell we were beginning to lose God--banishing him from the scene and from our own consciousness, losing the assumption that he was part of the daily drama or its maker. It is a terrible thing when people lose God. Life is difficult, and people are afraid, and to be without God is to lose man’s greatest source of consolation and coherence ..."
D. [Immersed in Humanism, Citation: Ravi Zacharias, "If the Foundations Be Destroyed," Preaching Today, Tape No. 142.]
A Chinese proverb says, "If you want to know what water is, don’t ask the fish."
Water is the sum and substance of the world in which the fish is immersed.
The fish may not reflect on its own environment until suddenly it is thrust onto dry land and struggles for its life.
Then it realizes water provided its sustenance.
Immersed in our environment for the last thirty years, we failed to take the ramifications seriously.
Suddenly we are thrust into this humanistic world view, and we wonder how it happened.
E. [What About the Foundation?, Citation: Ravi Zacharias, "If the Foundations Be Destroyed," Preaching Today, Tape No. 142.]
A few weeks ago, I did a lectureship at Ohio State University.
As I was being driven to the lecture, we passed the new Wexner Art Center.
The driver said, "This is a new art building for the university.
It is a fascinating building designed in the post-modernist view of reality."
The building has no pattern.
Staircases go nowhere.
Pillars support nothing.
The architect designed the building to reflect life.
It went nowhere and was mindless and senseless.
I turned to the man describing it and asked, "Did they do the same thing with the foundation?"
He laughed.
You can’t do that with a foundation.
You can get away with the infrastructure.
You can get away with random thoughts that sound good in defense of a world view that ultimately doesn’t make sense.
Once you start tampering with the foundations, you begin to see the serious effects.
Yet the foundations are in jeopardy; the foundations of our culture do not provide coherent sets of answers any more.
F. [Pluralism Is Not New, Citation: David Wells in No Place for Truth, or, Whatever Happened to Evangelical Theology? Christianity Today, Vol. 38, no. 8.]
While religious pluralism may be a novel experience for us, it is putting us in touch with the world that surrounded the biblical authors.
The pluralism and the paganism of Our Time were the common experience of the prophets and apostles.
In Mesopotamia, there were thousands of gods and goddesses, many of which were known to the Israelites--indeed, sometimes known too well. ...
Nothing, therefore, could be more remarkable than to hear the contention, even from those within the Church, that the existence of religious pluralism today makes belief in the uniqueness of Christianity quite impossible.
Had this been the necessary consequence of encountering a multitude of other religions, Moses, Isaiah, Jesus, and Paul would have given up biblical faith long before it became fashionable ... to do so.
1. So today, I want us to look at some of things Paul had to say in Colossians 2 about empty philosophies.
2. First I want to look at Paul’s comparison of Christ and empty philosophies and then I want to look at what Paul says about protecting ourselves from empty philosophies.
3. [read text]
I. Christ vs. Empty Philosophies
A. All the mysteries of God are revealed in Christ.
Colossians 2:2, 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,
1. You see there is no need to look for answers to the mysteries of God anywhere other than Christ.
2. Everything there is to know about God is revealed in Christ alone.
3. Jesus said repeatedly that He was the image of the invisible God; that to know Christ was to know the Father; to hear the Words of Christ were to hear the words of God.
4. Everything there is to know about God is found in Christ alone.
5. When someone tries to tell us that there are places to learn about God other than Christ, we know better because all the mysteries of God are revealed in Christ alone.
B. All wisdom and knowledge are revealed in Christ.
Colossians 2:3, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
1. All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are found in Christ alone.
2. There is no other source of true wisdom.
3. When someone tries to tell us there is wisdom to be found outside of Christ, we know better because there is no knowledge outside of Christ.
4. Everything else is empty and void.
5. All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are revealed in Christ alone.
C. All the fullness of God is revealed in Christ.
Colossians 2:9, For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form,
1. Jesus Christ is the completeness of God.
2. Jesus Christ is the fullness of God—there is nothing lacking in Christ.
3. There is nothing that God the Father has that Christ doesn’t have.
4. Jesus Christ is the fullness of God.
5. So it is not Christ plus anyone or anything else that reveals God to us.
6. If someone tries to tell us that there is more to learn of God outside of Christ, we know better.
7. We have no need to look any further than Christ because all the fullness of God is revealed in Christ alone.
D. All our fullness is revealed in Christ.
Colossians 2:10, and you have been given fullness in Christ,
1. Beyond Christ being the fullness of God, we have the fullness of God ourselves.
2. What a fantastic truth this is—we are complete in Christ!
3. With Christ in us, we lack nothing.
4. That all the fullness of God lives in Christ and all the fullness of Christ lives in us!
5. Paul says that we have been given the fullness of Christ.
6. When we receive Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we have all the fullness of Christ and God in us and therefore nothing needs to be added in order for us to mature in Christ.
7. We don’t grow by addition, but by nutrition.
8. If there are those who try to tell us that there is part of God that we are missing and we need some other new experience, we know better because we have been given the fullness of God in Christ.
E. All authority is revealed in Christ.
Colossians 2:10, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.
1. Since we have been given the fullness of God in Christ, we need no other authority.
2. We need no other person to tell us how to live our lives.
3. We need no other book to tell us how to live our lives.
4. Because ALL authority is revealed in Christ.
5. Christ is the only authority that we will have to answer to on judgment day and therefore He is the only authority that we need to listen to today.
6. If someone tries to teach us something other than what Christ taught, we don’t fall prey to that.
7. If someone tries to tell us that there are things we need to live by that are contrary to what Christ taught, we don’t fall prey to that.
8. If someone tries to tell us that there are more things that we need to know and do outside the Bible, we don’t fall prey to that.
9. Because ALL authority is revealed in Christ; Christ is our only authority!
II. Our defense against empty philosophies.
A. Pray for others.
Colossians 2:1, I want you to know how much I am struggling for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally.
1. First Paul talks about the fact that he is praying for the Colossians.
2. I said during the first sermon of this series that Paul had never met these people.
3. Paul had not lead the people of Colossae to Christ directly; his converts in Ephesus had led the people of Colossae to Christ.
4. But he still prayed for them.
5. Why was he praying for them?
6. It is evident that the empty philosophies of men and their teaching about the diversity of religions were beginning to effect their beliefs much as it is ours today.
7. So Paul was praying for his brothers and sisters in Christ to remain strong and not be lead astray by empty philosophies of men.
8. We have all seen friends and family who were not rooted in the faith that have been lead astray by these empty philosophies, so we need to pray for our brothers and sisters so that they will not be lead astray.
9. We need to pray for them and try to instruct them in the truth, just as Paul did the people of Colossae.
B. Be encouraged in heart.
Colossians 2:2, My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart
1. Paul said that he was praying for them and instructing them so that they would be encouraged in heart.
2. That is important isn’t it?
3. We are more likely to be lead astray when we are discouraged.
4. It is easy for false teachers to dissuade people who are discouraged and depressed.
5. It is much easier for people to be duped into believing empty philosophies when they are emotionally down.
6. So we need to encourage one another and build one another up.
7. We are far less likely to be lead astray when we are excited about what Christ is doing in our lives.
8. So we need to do everything we can to not let ourselves and those around us get discouraged.
C. Be united in love.
Colossians 2:2, My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love,
1. Division is yet another area that drives people to false teachers.
2. When people aren’t getting along, who wants to stick around?
3. So we need to do everything we can to stay united in love so we remain in the fold.
4. Being united in love will help protect us from empty philosophies that can lead us to hell.
D. Gain wisdom and knowledge from Christ alone.
Colossians 2:2-3, 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, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
1. We need to make sure that we are being fed by Christ alone.
2. We need to make sure that our preacher is teaching the Word of God alone.
3. We need to make sure that our teachers are teaching the Word of God alone.
4. We need to make sure that what we are being fed is the bread of life.
5. We need to make sure that we are not just hearing empty words taught by men.
6. We need to make sure that we are getting wisdom and knowledge from Christ alone.
E. Do not be deceived by fine sounding arguments.
Colossians 2:4, I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments.
Colossians 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.
1. If someone is a smooth talker, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they are teaching Christ.
2. If someone says to you, "If you knew this other book was from God, wouldn’t you want to read it? Why don’t you pray about it and see if God tells you if this book is His word.", you already know that if it is isn’t revealed in Christ, then it isn’t of God!
3. If someone says to you that, "You don’t need to forget God, but you just need something more.", you know that all the fullness of God is in Christ and in you.
4. Don’t be deceived by fine sounding arguments.
F. Remain rooted and continue growing in Christ.
Colossians 2:6-7, So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, 7 rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
1. If a tree loses its roots, its dead and if a Christian looses his roots, he’s dead.
2. If a Christian stops growing and maturing in Christ, he’s in danger.
3. We must keep ourselves rooted in Christ.
4. We must keep building ourselves up in Christ.
5. We must continue to strengthened our faith.
6. We need to overflow with thankfulness for what we have in Christ.
7. We must remain rooted in Christ. We must continue to grow in Christ.
G. Remember your fullness is in Christ.
Colossians 2:10, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.
1. We can never forget that EVERYTHING we need, we have I Christ Jesus.
2. Christ is our perfection. Christ is our completeness. Christ is our fullness.
3. If we remember this one thing, it will help more than anything else: our fullness is in Christ alone.
Conclusion:
A. How do we protect ourselves from being lead astray by empty philosophies?
1. Pray for others.
2. Be encouraged in heart.
3. Be united in love.
4. Gain wisdom and knowledge from Christ alone.
5. Do not be deceived by fine sounding arguments.
6. Remain rooted and continue growing in Christ.
7. Remember your fullness is in Christ.
B. [All the Wrong Questions, Citation: Michael Scott Horton in Mission Accomplished. Christianity Today, Vol. 31, no. 7.]
The ultimate questions people of our day are asking are these: What is the meaning of life? What is the purpose behind my life and my destiny?
What questions are we evangelicals asking? Is dancing a sin? Should we immerse, sprinkle or pour? Who is the next logical candidate for Antichrist?
While we are busy at conferences and conventions, talking with ourselves about the need for Christian aerobics, or coming up with four new and painless steps to victorious Christian living, the world is taking its business elsewhere--to merchants who apply their philosophy to the deep, essential questions of human life.
C. [Take the Hand of God, Citation: Ravi Zacharias, "If the Foundations Be Destroyed," Preaching Today, Tape No. 142.]
Many years ago, King George VI of England addressed the British commonwealth on New Year’s Eve at a moment in history when the whole world stood on the brink of uncertainty.
Despondency and uncertainty filled the air.
The king’s own body was racked by cancer.
Before that year was over, his life ended.
Unaware of his own physical maladies, he uttered these memorable words:
"I said to the man at the gate of the year, ’Give me a light that I might walk safely into the unknown.’ And he said to me, ’Go out into the darkness, and put your hand into the hand of God. It shall be to you safer than the light and better than the known.’ "
D. [Filling the Hunger for Significance, Citation: Ravi Zacharias, "If the Foundations Be Destroyed," Preaching Today, Tape No. 142.]
Two years ago, a woman in my audience wrote to invite me to visit her, if I could.
A few weeks ago, I was in her home city, along with my teammate and my wife.
The woman was suffering from AIDS and by that time was dying.
She had come here two years ago knowing she had AIDS.
She hungered for something more than she had found in life.
She had found Christ and came here for the deeper teaching and enrichment.
When we walked into her apartment, she was absolutely surprised.
I’ll never forget her expression.
Her mom and dad stood next to her with a friend.
She looked like a bag of just bones--a pathetic sight.
She muttered words of gratitude that we had come.
We spoke with her and prayed with her.
When I turned to leave, I noticed a book on her table: The Hunger for Significance by R. C. Sproul.
In her loneliest moment, her greatest hunger was being filled, her hunger for significance.
That’s what our faith in Christ can do.
People are able to endure life’s unavoidable passages.
Today she is with her Lord.
F. Friends, Jesus Christ is supreme over empty philosophies!
G. So how do you need to respond to Christ today?
1. Do you need to place your membership with this church in order to help you remain faithful to Christ alone?
2. Do you need to make Him the Lord of your life by being saved and baptized today?
3. Do you need to make some changes in your life in order to protect yourself from empty philosophies and enable you to remain in Christ?
4. Whatever response you need to make to Christ, I want to encourage your to make it as we stand and sing.
