Colossians 2:8-15

Well, good morning, Christ Family Church.

If you're visiting, I would like to say a couple things specifically to you.

! Are we on?

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Can you hear me?

Hear me?

A couple things to our visitors this morning specifically.

First is that I'm not the pastor of CFC.

The pastor is actually on sabbatical right now.

We're giving him a short break from teaching.

He'll be back with us next week in person,

but I'll also be teaching next week.

So if you're thinking, after all this is over,

man, that preacher, he was just a nutcase,

then, first of all, I wouldn't disagree.

But what you're going to see over the next three weeks, actually,

is not what you'll normally see if you start to attend here.

Second, we're really glad that you're here as a guest with us.

There's a lot of reasons to choose a church,

and there's a lot of reasons why I've chosen this church to bring my family to

and to attend here on a regular basis, to be in fellowship with this faith family.

And those reasons are numerous.

This is truly a genuine body of believers,

and I say that as an affirmation to those regular attenders as well.

It's a pleasure this morning to be able to share his word with you.

And if you have a Bible, and I hope that you do,

turn with me to Colossians chapter 2.

Colossians 2 · chapter mention

Colossians chapter 2.

Colossians 2 · chapter mention

We're going to be specifically looking at verses 8 through 15.

We're supposed to be looking at verses 9 through 15,

but verse 9 simply is not complete without verse 8.

And so we're going to have to take a look at verse 8 as well.

And before we jump into that verse, I would really like to open up with more prayer.

I know we've already prayed before the sermon,

but there's something that's weighing heavily on my heart this morning,

and that is a congregation in Charleston, South Carolina,

who is potentially for the first time in a long time meeting just like we are this morning,

but without their shepherd.

Many of you know that there's a congregation this week during their Bible study

that a young man opened fire, gunshot fire, and killed nine individuals,

nine congregants, including their pastor.

And so let's just go to the Lord in prayer for that congregation

as they're meeting potentially even right now

while we meet and gather together this morning as well.

Heavenly Father, we are so grateful

that we can come to you freely in our country.

Father, we've seen so little persecution

in relation to the rest of the world,

but Father, we know that there are tragedies that happen.

And Father, they open our eyes to the nature of sin.

And Father, this is an excellent example,

what happened this week is an excellent example

of human depravity

and the ugliness that is involved

and the depravity that exists

in our sinful nature.

Father, we lift up this congregation

even as they hopefully are even gathered together right now

that you would encourage them.

Father, that you'd lift their spirits

and help them to mourn peacefully

and help them to mourn well.

We thank you for the courage of the city of Charleston,

for the way that they've handled it,

the whole situation.

And Father, we just pray for them right now

as they are missing loved ones,

as they are missing friends and family,

and as they are missing their pastor this morning.

We pray, Father, for that congregation.

We pray also for us as we gather here together

for the safety of this congregation as well.

But also, Father, that you would indeed speak

in and through me,

that you would just illuminate your word for us this morning

as we gather together.

We pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

All right, I kind of want to give you a road map

of kind of where we're heading

over the next two weeks together.

What we're dealing with is worldly philosophy,

the sufficiency of Christ,

and then kind of in the background,

we're dealing with this whole concept

of expository apologetics.

So, philosophy is a word

that appears in verse 8.

See to it that no one takes you captive

by philosophy.

Philosophy comes from two Greek words,

phileo and sophia.

Phileo meaning to love,

sophia meaning wisdom.

So, philosophy, we can look at it

as a word that means love of wisdom.

All throughout history,

man has pursued this fascination with wisdom,

be it for good or for bad.

And philosophy itself really boils down

to the effort of man to determine

the ultimate causes on the earth and the universe.

The second aspect to both this morning and next week

is the sufficiency of Christ

over worldly philosophy.

That Christ is sufficient.

Christ is greater than,

ultimately, he's greater than worldly wisdom

or worldly philosophy.

And then the third simply flows naturally

from the first two.

And that is in light of the supremacy

and the sufficiency of Christ.

Over worldly philosophy,

Paul exhorts us to practice

expository apologetics.

Now, to be clear here,

there's probably 18 different ways

I could have dissected this passage.

And it was really, really difficult

to be able to take all the angles

on this passage.

So, in a very real sense,

there's going to be,

the best way that I could choose

to break it down

is to kind of talk about a backstory,

something that's going along,

the kind of theme that runs

throughout the book of Colossians,

and also to teach the actual text

that we're seeing.

And so what we're going to see

is this idea of expository apologetics

come up kind of in the background

of what's going on in all of this.

I'm going to try to weave

in and out of it gracefully,

as gracefully as I know how,

and we're going to kind of talk about

this idea of expository apologetics.

So what is expository apologetics?

A lot of you are probably thinking,

what in the world?

What is this word, expository?

Expository simply means

to expose a truth from a text,

in our case, scripture.

So that's what expository means.

And apologetics,

there's a lot of different ways

we could define it,

but Cornelius Van Til

kind of gives us a broad definition

that I find useful.

He argues that apologetics

is the vindication

of the Christian philosophy of life

against the various forms

of the non-Christian philosophy of life.

I'm going to say that again

for anybody who might be taking notes,

and just so we can let it soak

into our minds.

Apologetics is the vindication

of the Christian philosophy of life

against the various forms

of the non-Christian philosophies of life.

What I really appreciate

about this definition

is that he basically boils

all worldviews down

into two separate categories.

You have the Christian worldview

or the biblical worldview,

and then there's everything else.

It also is the vindication

of the Christian philosophy of life.

It's not necessarily

the vindication of me.

Oftentimes when we talk

about apologetics,

we want it to be

the vindication of me.

We want to win the argument,

and we want to be the ones

who philosophically,

or however you want to put it,

defeat the enemies of Christianity.

And that's not what this is all about.

It's the vindication

of the Christian philosophy of life,

not winning an argument,

not the vindication of me,

not me wanting to win.

So apologetics in the simplest form,

the way we can break it down,

simple definition,

is knowing what we believe,

why we believe it,

and to be able to communicate

that clearly to others.

Knowing what we believe,

why we believe,

and last but not least,

certainly not least in this case,

being able to communicate that

clearly and effectively

to other people.

That's what we mean

when we're talking about apologetics.

And Paul was an incredible

expository apologist.

In the passage that we're looking at

over the next couple of weeks,

there's some of the finest exhortations

that he's using expository apologetics

as we're going along.

And I have to tell you,

if you haven't already figured this out,

I'm excited about the next two weeks

teaching this,

because this is something

that we need to be doing

in our Christian walk

that by and large

we're not doing as believers

in our culture.

And so I hope

to not only dissect

and exposit the great truths

that are in this text,

but I hope also

that we can have some tools

and hopefully we can learn

a little bit about this,

how we can apply

expository apologetics

to our life

in a very tangible way.

As I've been meditating

over this passage

the past several weeks,

I've kind of been

not thinking about cookies

as Alex,

so got us going with that.

But I've been meditating

and just kind of thinking

all angles of this passage.

And one of the things

that kind of came up to me

was some of the times

I've been recalling

that I've been stumped

in a way

by somebody who wasn't a believer

or just being misled

by these empty philosophies.

And it's happened to me before.

One instance,

I was sitting in an ethics class

at University of North,

well actually it was

North Georgia College,

State University then.

But some of you college students

may be able to relate to this.

But I was sitting in a class

under a professor,

an ethics professor,

definitely not a believer.

And I won't mention her name

just for the purposes of anonymity.

But she presented to the class

what she herself has determined

to be the greatest argument

against Christian ethics.

Okay, she's talking about

the problems,

how problematic

that Christian ethics can be.

And she said,

when you hold to

a Christian set of beliefs

or a Christian ethical system,

you have to ask yourself,

are your actions right

because God says they're right?

Or does God command them

because they already are right?

Either way,

you have problems.

Either answer

that you come up with,

there are inherent problems

with the answer.

If morals,

that is what is right and wrong.

If they are solely based

on God telling us

what is right or wrong,

then God is merely

creating morality

as he speaks it

or as he reveals it to us.

Which means that

what was right and wrong

before he said it

did not apply

until after he said it.

And so there's some

inherent problems with that.

There's not a universal

moral system

because of that.

And God can change morality

however he sees fit.

That's their argument

at the very least.

If the opposite is true,

then God commands us

to right actions

because they already are right.

What does it mean?

It means that there's

some morality

outside of God.

That there's some

moral system

or moral code

that supersedes God

and God has to follow

by that moral code as well

which makes him

not all powerful.

He is no longer omnipotent.

Which believers

have a tough time reconciling.

And this is how

it was presented to us

in class.

And I have to tell you,

I was stumped by this

in class

when I was in college.

I wouldn't have an answer

until several years later

when I began to realize

at the base level

that there was

fundamental flaws

in this empty

and deceptive philosophy

that they were trying

to teach

in a class.

By the way,

it's the very thing

that verse 8

warns us about.

You see,

her argument

was not an original idea.

It's an argument

that's been presented

years,

like hundreds

and thousands

of years ago.

and it's been

passed down

over the centuries.

And what she presented

is called

a false dichotomy.

A false dichotomy.

It's a clever fallacy

that leads someone

to believe

and there's only

two options.

There's only

two options there.

And so as I began

to understand the Word

and as I began

to grow in the Word

and grow in my understanding

of the character

of God,

I began to realize

that neither option

was the case.

and the key point

that I was missing

the whole time

that I was mulling

over this,

and some of you,

I'm sure,

if you're following along

or dying to know

the answer,

some of you may already

know the answer,

but the key point

is that morality

does not exist

outside of God,

nor does God

simply create morality

as He goes along,

but that Christian ethics

and Christian morals

are based on the very

character of God.

And that's the key.

It's based on His character,

which means that there

is indeed

a third option there

and that everything

that God tells us

and everything

that we know

to be true

in terms of

biblical morality

is all centered

and all developed

within His character.

It's within His very character.

And that takes us

outside of the dichotomy,

the false dichotomy,

and moreover,

God has given us

the ability

to understand

His character

in His Word.

So we already

can know

this character.

We can already know

God through His Word.

But this is the way

in which the philosophers

really work.

This is the way

that they present

these ideas.

Most of them

deny the existence

of God.

They try to rationalize

away any idea

of God

becoming God-like

in their own minds

and creating

their own codes

of morality

apart from God.

By the way,

this is a very

hopeless way to live.

It's incredibly hopeless.

It's no wonder

that people like

Bertrand Russell,

at the end of his life,

at 90 years of age,

this philosopher,

at least 70 of those

years of his life

were dedicated

to philosophy,

worldly philosophy.

His last words

in his life

were that philosophy

has proved

a washout for me.

And that's a long

washout.

At least 70 years

of his life

dedicated

to philosophy.

90 years

of his entire life,

everything that he

had poured out

in his life

dedicated to philosophy

only to come

to the end

of his life

and to realize

that philosophy,

this idea

that he had been

poured his life

into,

was a washout.

Thomas Hobbes,

a famous English

atheistic philosopher,

drawing near

to his death,

he said this,

he said,

I am about

to leap

into the dark,

I shall be glad

to find a hole

to creep out

of this world.

You hear the hopelessness

in these philosophers

when they come

to the end

of their lives

and they realize

that their whole

life's work

was a washout.

And so it goes

for philosophers.

This is what happens

when you want

to eliminate God

from your life.

When you want

to rationalize him

away from your own mind.

Now the city

of Colossae

had its philosophers

as does every culture

and that has existed

since the beginning

of time.

And the little

assembly of believers

that exist there

in Colossae

were no different.

They were in danger

of being captured

by this empty philosophy.

And this is why

Paul is writing to them.

They're in danger

of being infiltrated

by these ideas

and their deceptions.

And by the way,

this is the case

for every society.

This is the case

for us.

This is the case

for people in the past.

It's the case

for people in other cultures

right now currently

in the world.

And this becomes

Paul's great concern

as this early church

movement progresses.

And this concern

becomes really

the heart of the letter

to the Colossians

that we see right here.

So as we get to

chapter 2,

verse 8,

we're really getting

into the heart

of this entire letter.

This is really

Paul's verses 8

through 23.

This kind of can be

taken as one section.

And we're really

getting to the heart

of what Paul's

main message is

to the Colossians here.

And if we broke

them down into

different types

of philosophy

that Paul is speaking

to in these verses,

we would essentially

find four different

aspects of these

false doctrines

or these heresies

that he's combating

here in these passages.

Verses 8 through 15,

this is kind of

giving you an outline

of where we're going

as well.

Verses 8 through 15

deal with human philosophy

or humanism.

This is primarily

where we're going

to be living

this morning

for our purposes.

Verses 16 through 17

for next week,

they're speaking

to legalism.

Verses 18 and 19

talk about a rather

mystical worship

of angels.

And then fourthly,

there's an element

of asceticism,

which is a false

type of humility

that we would see,

for instance,

in monasticism

where monks

and nuns,

how they try

to remove themselves

from all pleasure

in the world

at all.

And so we see

this false humility

being combated against.

And so as we read

this passage together,

by the way,

we're jumping in

from that background

phase back into

the text.

Okay, so we're going

into what this text

directly teaches us.

So as we read

this passage together,

I want you to notice

two diametrically

opposed ideas

that are going here.

The first is

captured by philosophy

or complete in Christ.

captured by philosophy

or complete in Christ.

This is the story

of every human being

because every human being

is either captured

by worldly philosophy

or he is complete

in Christ.

There's only two options

there.

It's pretty simple.

Either a man or woman

becomes a victim

of empty human philosophy

or he or she

becomes complete in Christ.

Let's begin reading

in verse 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.

This is what Paul

is saying here.

It's essentially a warning.

To beware lest those

of you who have already

been rescued out

of the dominion

of darkness

and brought into the light

through the blood

of Christ

lest you be carried off

like captives

and being enslaved again.

And so this whole idea

that Christ has captured us

away from the darkness

and from the dominion

of darkness

and brought us into light

you don't want to go back

to the darkness.

This is a warning

that Paul has given to us.

This is a call to vigilance

to continually be aware

and watchful

lest we be led astray.

The church is always

under siege by false teachers.

Matthew 7.15

Jesus warns

Beware of false teachers

who come to you

in sheep's clothing

but inwardly

they are ravenous wolves.

And this is happening

all over America

whether you realize it

or not

there are people

in our congregations

all across America

and the church

as a whole

a capital C church

where people

are pretending

or demonstrating

themselves

they appear

to be one of the sheep

one of God's elect

one of God's

chosen followers

and yet

they are

wolves

and they are

leading people astray

and this isn't just

people in the congregation

this is pastors

there are pastors

and people

you can just

flip on the TV

most of the people

on TV

won't list any names

but most of the people

on TV

they've gotten to the point

where they are

because they're really

really good with words

and they're really

really good with

leading people astray.

a lot of these

televangelists

that you see

on TV

they come with

this positive message

they come with

they come looking

like sheep

and yet they're

leading people

astray by the thousands

if nothing else

they're leading people

in a mediocrity

into doing nothing

with their faith

they're leading people

into not fulfilling

the great commission

that we are called to

and this

is a wolf

in sheep's glory

they're not going to

present themselves

as wolves

they're going to

present themselves

as sheep

as light

it's going to

look like light

but really inwardly

the ravenous wolves

Paul warns us

in Ephesians

the Ephesians elders

in Acts 20-29

he says this

I know that after

my departure

grievous wolves

will enter among you

not sparing the flock

Peter warned as well

2 Peter 3-17

beware

lest you be led astray

with the air

of the wicked fall

from your own steadfastness

so Jesus

warns us

Paul warns us

Peter says

beware

this hollow

philosophy

is deceptive

in other words

it's a lot like

fishing

right

fishing

deceptive

anybody like to fish

I love the fish

we've taken Joseph

a couple times

already this month

it's a lot of fun

it's a great pastime

it's really beneficial

to the fishermen

right

not so much

to the fish

the interesting

thing about

a fish hook

is that's not

what the fish

expects

right

a lot of

comedians

have joked

about this

they say

we should just

call fishing

what it really is

which is tricking

and trapping

or tricking

and killing

we trick them

and then

we eat them

right

that's kind of

how it works

philosophy

works kind of

the same

way

just like

the fish

is not

he sees

something

that he

thinks

he's going

to get

something

really

really good

really delicious

he's going

to have

his meal

for that

day

and what

he really

gets

is this

entrapment

he gets

a hook

in his mouth

and it

ultimately

leads to

his death

this hollow

worldly

philosophy

is the same

what looks

wonderful

and satisfying

and beneficial

turns out

to be

entrapping

it turns out

to be

enslaving

and after

struggling

through it

it ultimately

leads us

to death

that's why

you have

all

seen these

supposedly

we see these

supposedly

great philosophers

coming to the

end of their

lives and saying

it was a

washout

everything I

dedicated my

life to

in philosophy

was a

washout

I love this

quote by

Robert Zastrow

he's not

a believer

but he

says this

about

science

and about

the

biblical

accounts

of

creation

I love

this

I have

to share

it

with

you

just

because

it's

so

great

it says

the details

differ

but the

essential

elements

in the

astronomical

and biblical

accounts

of

Genesis

are the

same

isn't that

interesting

a scientist

saying this

this is an

exceedingly

strange

development

unexpected

by all

but the

theologians

they have

all believed

in the

world of

the bible

but we

scientists

did not

expect to

find evidence

for an

abrupt

beginning

because we

have had

until recently

such extraordinary

success in

tracing the

chain of

cause and

effect

backward in

time

he wrote

it seems

as though

science

will never

be able

to raise

the curtain

on the

mystery

of

creation

for the

scientist

who has

believed

by his

faith

and the

power

of

reason

there's

the

empty

philosophy

there

the story

ends

like a

bad

dream

he has

scaled

the

mountains

of

ignorance

he is

about

to

conquer

the

highest

peak

and as

he pulls

himself

over

the

final

rock

he is

greeted

by a

band

of

theologians

who have

been sitting

there

for centuries

you have

to love

that

when science

and philosophy

find true

wisdom

does that

mean that we

should just

come to

God with

a blind

unreasoning

faith

absolutely

not

God's

given us

brains

and he

expects

us to

use them

to be

able to

reason

to be

able to

find

understanding

and ultimately

to be

able to

understand

who he

is

through

his

word

and through

the power

of the

spirit

revealing

himself

to us

that is

christian

there is

a whole

load

of

christian

philosophy

I took

a class

on a

seminary

and it

is

fascinating

and it

is in

the wisdom

that is

found in

his word

and given

to us

by the

holy

spirit

that we

find

understanding

of him

that we

can

understand

and know

him

and walk

by faith

in his

truth

as such

Paul continues

in verse

9

for

in

christ

all

the

fullness

of the

deity

lives

in bodily

form

and you

have been

given

fullness

in christ

who is

the head

over every

power

and authority

in other

words

who needs

the philosophy

of this

world

who needs

that

we

have the

fullness

of the

deity

of christ

in us

I love

how Paul

just kind

of throws

it in

there

it's

like

he's

saying

oh

and by

the way

he is

the head

of every

power

and every

authority

it's

all

these

philosophers

who are

climbing the

ladder

they're

working

their way

up

in this

thing

where they're

building

themselves

up

and they

almost have

this worship

of themselves

and how

their minds

have been able

to transform

from lowly

regular thinkers

into higher

upper level

thinkers

that have

this whole

thing

and it's

like Paul

saying

by the way

no matter

how far

you reach

in knowledge

no matter

how much

you gain

and what

you think

is wisdom

christ

still has

power over

you

he is

still

no matter

how much

you try

to reason

him out

of your

life

he is

still

in control

he is

still

sovereign

over

you

and he's

sovereign

over me

for the

believer

this is

incredible

news

because

his

fullness

is

imparted

to us

and

the

implications

of that

are

far

reaching

they're

far

reaching

for our

lives

I don't

even know

that I

can explain

it

in my

own

words

or in

the human

English

language

I don't

know

that I

can fully

explain

this

but I'm

going

to try

let me

help you

try to

understand

this

this word

for fullness

is

pleroma

Greek word

pleroma

and so

Christ

is the

pleroma

of God

Christ

is the

pleroma

of God

and we

are the

pleroma

in him

God

literally

passes

himself

to us

through

Christ

through the

sacrifice

that he

paid on

the cross

and we

have been

complete

in him

with

eternal

results

not just

temporary

results

we're so

used to

the

temporary

the way

we think

here on

this earth

we get

used to

that

this

has

eternal

results

in our

lives

you're

once

dead

in your

trespasses

completely

without

hope

destined

for

eternal

destruction

and in

one

glorious

moment

Christ

calls

you

out

of the

darkness

and

into

his

marvelous

light

and you

receive

the

fullness

the

pleroma

of

God

through

Christ

this is

huge

this is

tremendous

you are

now

complete

in him

you're

complete

in Christ

for the

believer

which means

by the way

that you

don't need

Dr.

Phil

to make

these little

statements

to make

you feel

better

you don't

need to

fill your

head with

Psycho

Bible

this empty

idea that

psychology

presents

to us

you don't

need

Sigmund

Freud

or

Frederick

Nietzsche

or

for crying

out loud

Ayn Rand

I don't

know why

we focus

so much

as believers

I see

believers

posting

Ayn Rand

quotes

all over

the place

she's

not a

believer

she had

a really

messed up

ethical

system

really

messed up

philosophy

we don't

need to

fill our

head with

unbiblical

ungodly

truths

you are

full

and

complete

in

Christ

this is

where Paul

is driving

us

towards

to understand

the fullness

and the

completeness

that we

have

as

believers

in

Christ

that we

can have

this

philosophy

this

world

view

through

scripture

that is

far

far

reaching

and far

above

any other

worldly

wisdom

or any

other

worldly

philosophy

that is

out

there

it's

not that

we don't

use

our

minds

it's

that we

supersede

because

of

Christ

because

of

the

philosophy

that is

taught

in

scripture

we

supersede

those

ideas

Paul

continues

on

in

him

you

are

also

circumcised

that's a

fun

word

don't

get

tripped

on it

just

yet

we're

not

talking

about

physical

circumcision

but in

him

you

were

also

circumcised

in the

putting

off

of the

sinful

nature

not

with the

circumcision

done

by hands

of men

but with

circumcision

done

by

Christ

having

been

buried

with

him

in

baptism

and

raised

with

him

through

your

faith

in

the

power

of

God

who

raised

you

from

the

dead

so

Paul

isn't

referring

to

a

physical

circumcision

what he's

talking about

is a

relatively

new

concept

to these

Colossians

okay

so

they would

have

understood

what

physical

circumcision

is

because

even

if

they

were

Gentiles

they

would

have

known

this

tradition

that

the

Jewish

people

were

practicing

up

until

this

point

and

so

he

says

this

is

not

a

physical

circumcision

this

is a

spiritual

putting

off

of

the

old

flesh

and

you

are

a

new

creation

in

him

he's

saying

look

your

salvation

is

absolutely

complete

there's

no need

to be

circumcised

you've

been

baptized

so

make

no

mistake

that

Paul

is

continuing

this

apologetic

he is

combating

the

philosophy

of this

time

that

people

have

during

this

time

among

many

heretical

movements

trying to

persuade

believers

from

truth

there

were

the

Judaizers

these

were

the

people

who

were

still

promoting

Jewish

ceremony

essentially

this

Jewish

ceremonial

law

that

Christ

had

come

not

to

abolish

but

to

fulfill

and

so

Christ

came

to

fulfill

this

law

and

these

Judaizers

believed

that

Christians

should

remain

true

to

Jewish

ceremonial

law

and

they

would

come

from

the

mindset

that's

fine

great

you believe

!

in

Jesus

Christ

but we

have

all these

ceremonies

that we

have to

keep

doing

and

you

need

to

be

circumcised

so

Paul

makes

a clear

distinction

here

we're

not

talking

about

surgery

we're

talking

about

putting

off

the

sinful

nature

that

we

were

born

with

having

been

buried

with

him

in

baptism

literally

immersion

or

submersion

being

raised

with

him

through

your

faith

in

the

power

of

God

what's

most

fascinating

about

this

is

that

Paul

doesn't

appear

that he

is talking

about

water

baptism

the

same

way

he's

not

talking

about

physical

circumcision

he's

not

talking

about

water

baptism

here

he's

talking

about

this

thing

that

happens

upon

regeneration

when we

come into

faith

in

Christ

there's

something

that

happens

to

us

and

we

are

immersed

in

him

and

along

with

that

all

of

our

sins

all

of

our

shame

all

the

horrible

things

that

we

committed

throughout