Sermon Tone Analysis

How many here today enjoy getting something a little “extra” every once in a while?

Perhaps its a splurge that you’ve been saving for, perhaps you’ve been doing really well on that diet and you treat yourself, perhaps you receive a surprise - a bonus, something you didn’t expect.

Maybe its an up-sell.

In college, I worked as a service advisor at a car dealership.

I was that friendly but dreadful person who was the ambassador between the technician working on your vehicle, and you - the unsuspecting customer.

Like any job that involves sales, i was trained and expected to convince you, based on data and findings of the technician, that you needed more than the maintenance or issue you came in for.

Now I was honest, and it was’t a scam, but when we talk about that kind of “extra,” something extra that you didn’t want, something extra that was going to cost you, maybe we don’t like extra all that much.

Paul, writing to the Colossians, was addressing the problem of “extra” creeping in to the church.

It was an extra that some people loved - some people wanted - some people were convinced was totally necessary; but it was an extra that was deadly.

It was an addition, not to their bank account or nest egg, not to their food supply or dessert options, not to their belongings or experiences, but it was an addition to the Gospel.

Within a few years of Christianity beginning in Colossae, Paul and Epaphras, who was the pastor of the church there, recognized that the people of Colossae had an appetite for something “extra.”

Something more than the Crucified and risen Savior.

Now, as we look at this section of Colossians, this is where Paul begins to address the heresy that was plaguing the Colossian church.

He doesn’t name the heresy, or the false teachers, but that is actually very convenient for us nearly 2000 years later.

Because he does not name the exact heresy or false teaching, but rather exposes some of its key issues, we find today that we may encounter or be drawn to some of the same errors.

The error contained elements of “Philosophy.”

- Philosophy in that age didn’t refer strictly to rational thinking or reasoning, but often to occultic speculations and practices that were based on human tradition.

It contained elements of “legalism”

- Legalism, of course, is an improper fixation on law or codes of conduct for a person to merit or obtain salvation, blessings from God, or fellowship with God, with a misunderstanding of Grace.

Along with legalism came a form of “Asceticism”

Asceticism is a lifestyle that avoids all forms of indulgence or sensual pleasures for the purpose of becoming closer to God.

Finally, it contained elements of “Mysticism”

Mysticism is the belief that direct knowledge of God, spiritual truth, or ultimate reality can be attained through subjective experience.

Philosophy, Legalism, Asceticism, Mysticism.

Montanism

Paul was well ahead of his time, of course, being under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

The very dangers he warned about came to a head about a century later in the very region that the Colossians were in.

There arose a group called the “Montanists.”

Montanism was a teaching that thrived on ecstatic and invigorating prophecy.

It thrived on freedom from and neglecting responsibilities in life for “spiritual” purposes, and rigorous fasts seeking hyper-spiritual experiences.

Montanus, the originator of the heresy, had claimed to receive a series of direct revelations from the Holy Spirit bringing all sorts of insight and new teaching.

That was certainly appealing, but the only problem was that the insights and new teaching Montanus was receiving were often different from, and sometimes directly contrary to the teaching of Christ and the Apostles.

Although this came 100 years after Paul wrote Colossians, the heresy was already there in seed form.

People seeking more.

More than Christ.

More than the Gospel.

More than the finished work of Redemption.

Something they could do.

Something they could feel.

Something they could experience.

And although we live hundreds of years after Paul wrote Colossians, in our modern church experience, we are plagued with the same temptations.

Temptations to seek more.

More than Christ.

More than the Gospel.

More than the Finished work of redemption.

Something we can do.

Something we can feel.

Something we can experience.

It is in this sense that the warning Paul gives here is both explicitly for the Colossians in their day, and explicitly for us in our day.

You see, dear ones, one of the greatest temptations in our Christian walk is not to abandon the work of Christ altogether, but to seek to add something to it.

We may not have any doubt that Christ is important, but we are tempted to view actions, experiences, or feelings as just as important.

Yes, one of the oldest and most persistent errors that creeps into the church is the idea that Christ’s work is necessary for our justification, but it is simply not sufficient.

Did you hear that?

Yes, it is possible to agree and believe that you cannot be justified or made right with God apart from the finished work of Christ, while also believing that something you do, say, feel, or experience is also part of that work.

I hope you hear today that the cry of the letter to the Colossians, the cry of the Apostle Paul, the cry of the Scriptures, the Cry of the Gospel itself is that Christ is enough.

Christ is enough.

May we cling to Christ as the one who is both totally necessary and totally sufficient for our justification.

To do this, I want to view, rather quickly, the simple contrast that Paul makes in verse 8-10.

Our Emptiness without Him

Our Fullness within Him

1.

Our Emptiness without Him.

Vs. 8

Kidnapped by Deceit

“See to it that no one takes you captive.”

This is an emphatic command from Paul.

He is not tiptoeing around the issue.

It is a warning of utmost importance and absolutely must be heeded by followers of Christ.

Lest we be puffed up for a moment and think that we are immune to error, or that we are somehow inoculated against the possibility of being deceived, Paul calls us on an active endeavor to make sure that we are not duped by false teaching.

“Takes you captive”

this is a rare word, used only here in the New Testament, that literally means to carry away the spoils of war.

Know this, dear one, there is a spiritual battle raging.

The enemy is the master deceiver.

There is a war being fought against the truth of the Gospel.

And in this war, to our dismay, but not without warning, there are many casualties.

May we not be numbered among the spoils of war carried of by the enemy.

“Philosophy and Empty Deceit”

Philosophy here encompasses the whole gamut of religious ideas or traditions.

The exchange of ideas about who God is and how to approach Him.

Empty deceit here refers to the fact that anything apart from the truth of the Gospel is a deceit, a fraud, a trick.

It may sound convincing or even supply a level of experiential evidence, but no matter how profound or deeply religious something may seem, if it is not the truth of God, it is an illusion.

Where to Philosophies and Empty Deceit come from?

Paul answers

Human Tradition

Elemental Spirits of the World.

“Human Tradition”

Tradition is that which is given from one to another.

Something passed down.

Simply because something has been believed and passed down for any length of time does not mean it is legitimate.

In fact, tradition without foundation usually serves to perpetuate error, not truth.

“Elemental Spirits.”

There is a debate as to exactly what Paul was referring to here.

It is possible that he is addressing a base form of astrology, in which, as was common for that day, there was a belief that the heavenly bodies were living beings that had sway and control over human beings and ideas.

It is also possible that Paul was referring to any kind of elemental or rudimentary religious teaching apart from the truth of Christian Scripture.

Matthew 15:

Within these human traditions and elemental spirits was found the teaching as doctrine the commandments that came from mere men.

Paul here minces no words.

He refers to a common heresy of the day called “Gnosticism” in which people based their religious experience off of “special Knowledge.”

He denounces all this kind of hyper-spiritual “revelation” as babble and contradictory.

No matter where the philosophy and empty deceit came from, Paul assures that it was not according to Christ.

That is the key point of examination.