INTRODUCTION
• Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Jr., twenty-month-old son of the famous aviator and Anne Morrow Lindbergh, was kidnapped about 9:00 p.m., on March 1, 1932, from the nursery on the second floor of the Lindbergh home near Hopewell, New Jersey. The child’s absence was discovered and reported to his parents, who were then at home, at approximately 10:00 p.m. by the child’s nurse, Betty Gow. A search of the premises was immediately made and a ransom note demanding $50,000 was found on the nursery window.
• I cannot imagine the horror a family faces when a loved one is kidnapped.
• According to the web site “Fighting Change”, every 40 seconds in the United States, a child is reported missing or abducted. That translates to over 2,000 children per day (under 18 years of age) or 800,000 per year.
• This is a parents worst nightmare. We had the recent cases in Aruba with Natalee Holloway and there have been more.
• I have read that from 2000-2004, 73% of the worlds reported kidnappings have happened in Latin America. It has become a booming business for some folks.
• With this knowledge, a person would want to do all they can to protect themselves and their families from being kidnapped or abducted.
• I found that there are companies that sell “kidnapping” insurance that companies can purchase to cover there workers in case of a kidnapping. The insurance company will pay a ransom to get you back.
• How many of you would do all you could to protect you and your family from being kidnapped?
• As we turn to Colossians 2:8 today, we see that the Apostle Paul was worried about Christians being spiritually kidnapped.
• SLIDE #1
• What are you doing to protect yourself from being spiritually kidnapped?
• Today we are going to look at a passage that is trying to warn us of the potential we all can face of being spiritually kidnapped.
• Let’s read Colossians 2:8
• SLIDE #2
• AFTER READING OF SCRIPTURE GOTO NEXT SLIDE
• Here is some news for us to digest!
• SLIDE #3
SERMON
I. CHRISTIANS CAN BE SPIRITUALLY KIDNAPPED.
• It is so easy to be going about your business only to realize that one day you have been taken captive spiritually.
• Paul has been speaking on the subject of making sure your walk is solid now he speaks of the danger of being taken captive.
• SLIDE #4
• In verse 8 he starts out by saying that we are to see to it that no one takes you captive.
• The implication here is that we have to do something to make sure we are not taken captive. We are responsible for what happens to us spiritually.
• The word translated “captive” was used of taking captives of war and leading them away as plunder. It has the idea of being kidnapped, the idea of being taken against ones will.
• The bible tells us in Romans 8:35 that nothing can separate us from the love of God.
• The passage we are looking at though warns us to not allow ourselves to be taken captive.
• We see in Galatians 1 where Paul was worried about the Christians in Galatia going back to the old ways or falling prey to those who would come in and try to take them away from the faith.
• SLIDE #5
• 1 Peter 5:8 (NASB) 8Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
• This passage gives us a similar warning, be ready, be prepared, be alert. If you are not careful to guard your faith, you could find yourself taken captive.
• We must take the time to make sure that our faith is on solid ground.
• SLIDE #6
• Galatians 5:1 (NASB) 1It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.
• The words used by Paul in the original text indicate that the danger he is speaking of is a real and present danger, not some hypothetical or imagined danger.
• We cannot live our lives thinking that nothing can happen to us. If we are not prepared, we can get into trouble spiritually very quickly!
• SLIDE #7
• Now let us look at:
II. HOW A SPIRITUAL KIDNAPPING CAN HAPPEN
• If we are serving such a powerful God, then how can we be spiritually kidnapped from Him?
• Verse 8 gives us two ways.
• SLIDE #8
• SLIDE #9
A. Through falling prey to bad philosophy.
• Paul is not condemning philosophy, Paul himself was a philosopher.
• The word “philosophy” mean “a lover of wisdom.” Usually this is a good thing, but the context of the passage denotes that in this usage, it is not good. This is the only place in the New Testament in which this word is used.
• Historian Adolf Schlatter noted that “everything that had to do with theories about God and the world and the meaning of human life was called ‘philosophy’ at that time, not only in pagan schools, but also in the Jewish schools of the Greek cities” (The Church in the New Testament Period [reprint, London: SPCK, 1955], pp. 150-54). (MacArthur’s Commentary)
• We develop our worldview based on our philosophy concerning God. Many people will not give their lives to Jesus because they have a warped philosophy concerning God. They do not want to live for Him, yet they want to blame Him for everything that goes bad in their lives, from losing jobs to loved ones dying.
• I have seen believers fall from God because God did not fit in their box. By the way, death is a part of life, if you have been born, you will die, do not blame God, blame Adam.
• If you fall prey to bad philosophy concerning God, you can be carried away like a prize of war.
• The second way we can be spiritually kidnapped is through empty deception.
• SLIDE #10
• SLIDE #11
B. Though falling prey to empty deception.
• This phrase describes the philosophy, it is empty deception.
• “Deception” means “a deceit, fraud, or trick.” The philosophy of the Colossian false teachers was not what it appeared to be. It sounded good and seduced the minds of those deceived by it, but it was a weak illusion. There is no value in such speculative human philosophy, no matter how deeply and profoundly religious it sounds.
• There has been a movie out that seems to rattling the faith of some Christians and it is spreading the kind of false teachings that could keep others from coming to Jesus.
• SLIDE #12
• 50 second clip about DaVinci Code
• SLIDE #13
• 3 minute clip about the book.
• Books and movies such as the DaVinci Code are nothing more that empty deception. Stuff like this is designed to try to discredit the Bible, Jesus and God.
• This particular movie and movies like the Last Temptation of Christ can really harm the faith of a person who cannot answer the questions raised in them.
• We fall for a lot of empty deception in life, like the one that says that life is about being happy. Life is about serving God and along the way, happiness will be achieved, but if you think life is about being happy, then it will affect how you do things in your life as well as what you seek from life. Too many of us avoid things we need to deal with because we will not be happy doing it.
• SLIDE #14
III. WHY SPIRITUAL KIDNAPPING IS SUCH A THREAT
• Let us consider three reasons spiritual kidnapping is such a threat.
• SLIDE #15
A. Man’s traditions do not equal spiritual truth.
• The philosophy that is empty and deceptive is dangerous because it is based on mans tradition instead of the truth of God.
• The traditions spoken of by Paul were most likely the pagan traditions of the day or the man-made additions the Jews added to the Law of Moses.
• Just because people have believed something and handed it down through the years does not make it true. Tradition usually serves merely to perpetuate error.
• Man’s traditions no matter how good and sacred do not equal spiritual truth.
• A study of the history of philosophy serves to illustrate that point. Most philosophers have built on the work of previous philosophers, either to refine their system, or to refute it. Francis Schaeffer remarked, “One man would draw a circle and say, ‘You can live within this circle.’ The next man would cross it out and would draw a different circle. The next man would come along and, crossing out the previous circle, draw his own—” (The God Who Is There [Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1973], p. 17). THE CYCLE WOULD NEVER STOP.
• Any philosophy that is derived from the mind of man instead of the mind of God is going to lead to trouble, it will have holes and inconsistencies in it.
• SLIDE #16
B. Earthly philosophy has earthly roots.
• The passage speaks of how this empty philosophy is according to the elementary principles of the world.
• There is nothing new to the false teachings that happened in Paul’s day and there is nothing new in the false teachings of today!
• SLIDE #17
• 1 Corinthians 2:14 (NASB) 14But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.
• The ways of God do not make sense to a person who is not in tune with God. It is easy for the world to come up with earthly solutions to the problems they face in life.
• It is so easy to just do whatever you think is right, but that will not benefit you in the long run.
• SLIDE #18
C. Real truth is only found in God.
• Real truth is found only in God and His word. God is the standard of truth, and the standard of right and wrong.
• SLIDE #19-20
• Galatians 1:6 - 9 (NASB) 6I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; 7which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! 9As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!
CONCLUSION
• No man-made religion can lead to the truth, for truth can be found only in Christ. In Christ are hidden “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (2:3 nkjv). No one can come to God except through Christ (John 14:6). True philosophy will focus on Jesus Christ—it will not put Christ in any lower position, nor will it focus on human endeavor. (LAB)
• The way we can protect ourselves from being spiritually kidnapped is by being close to Jesus.
• SLIDE #21
• 2 Corinthians 10:5 (NASB) 5We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,
• What are you doing to protect yourself from being spiritually kidnapped?
• INVITATION
