Sermon Tone Analysis

*Text*: Colossians 2:8-10

*Title*: Complete in Christ

*Theme of the book of Colossians: *Jesus Christ: The preeminent and all-sufficient Savior* \\ Theme of Text:  *Man’s philosophy is flawed and false; Christ is completely God and completes the believer.

*Proposition: *Completeness only comes in Christ.

You can only be complete in Christ.

\\ * *

*Introduction*

Is your life complete?

The nineteenth-century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche scorned Christianity as the religion of weaklings.

He was among the first to proclaim that God is dead.

Yet he could not live with the implications of his philosophy.

Guinness writes, “For Nietzsche to be consistent, he needed to become his own superman, but his views were overwhelming even for himself.

As he poised over the abyss, he shivered with the horror of being ‘responsible for everything alive.’

In the impossibility of this situation, madness perhaps becomes his only possible freedom from the overbearing responsibility.

‘Alas, grant me madness’ ” (/The Dust of Death/, p. 24).

Tragically, Nietzsche’s wish was granted.

He spent the last eleven years of his life insane.[1]

* *

The remainder of the verses in chapter 2 can be outlined a few ways.

I hope that these outlines will help you as we study this chapter.

It can be outlined as follows:

 

/Outlined by False Teachings/:

·        Verses 8-10               Gnosticism~/ Philosophy

·        Verses 11-17             Legalism

·        Verses 18-19             Mysticism~/ Angel Worship

·        Verses 20-23             Asceticism

 

/Outlined by Doctrines/

·        Verses 8-15               The doctrine of salvation

·        Verses 16-23             The doctrine of sanctification

 

In these verses from 2:8-3:4, Paul uses 15 words that he never uses again in his writings.

This gives an indication that Paul was specifically dealing with the false teachers attacking the Colossians.

He was using vocabulary that was common to the false teachers; by doing this, he could use their own terms to dismantle their false beliefs.

The unique words that Paul uses here do cause some problems for interpretation from the original Greek another language, but with a little bit of study, you can understand this passage clearly.

The false teachers at Colossae had some /Gnostic/ elements in their teachings.

Gnosticism was a common teaching during the early centuries of Christianity.

The word “gnostic” comes from the Greek word for knowledge.

They were named Gnostics because they believed that knowledge was the way to salvation.

Gnostics believed that they could awaken their “divine spirit” through knowledge, even though the soul and body are evil.

Knowledge was the true “savior” for Gnostics, not Christ.

They believed that they could “enlighten” themselves through knowledge.

Once they were “enlightened,” it did not matter how they lived.

These teachings are contrary to Scripture and must be rejected, yet some Gnostic elements remain in false religions today.

Even today, many religions have a false view of Jesus Christ.

/Christian Science:/ They believe that Jesus is “an idea, a principle-but not God Incarnate.”

Just like the Gnostics, they believe that Jesus was just a man and not God.

/Jehovah’s Witnesses:/ They believe that Jesus is an angel who became a man.

They believe that he is /a/ god, but that he is not God the Son, the second Person of the Trinity.

They deny that Christ is truly God alone!

/Mormonism:/ They believe before Jesus’ incarnation, he was the spirit-brother of Lucifer~/Satan.

They also believe that he was the husband of the Marys and Martha, and that he rewarded by becoming the ruler of the universe.

/Islam:/ They believe that there is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the prophet of Allah.

They believe that Jesus is just a prophet of Allah, and that Jesus did not die on the cross.

They believe that Christ is not part of the Trinity.

/Buddhism:/

/Confucianism: /

 

The main problem with these false teachings (just like the false teaching in Colossae) is their absolute denial of Christ’s deity.

They were denying the fact that Christ is God!

By denying Christ’s deity, they were trying to rob believers of the source of their faith.

A person cannot be complete without Christ.

Only Christ can truly complete you.

If Christ was not God, then no person could be “complete.”

Fortunately, Christ is God, and we can be complete through Christ!

 

*I.

**The Incomplete Philosophy of Man        2:8*

In this verse, Paul does not give the beliefs or doctrines of the false teachings since his readers knew the false teachers well.

Instead, Paul gives a brief description of the method and source of the false teachers.

These false teachers were trying to lay claim on people that were fully and completely Christ’s.

Paul tells the readers to “beware” or “see to it” that no person is able to mislead you by their false teachings.

Don’t let someone rob you of the fact that you are complete in Christ!

 

/Illustration:/ Having over 11 million members, over 60,000 full-time missionaries, getting about 80% of their converts from Protestant backgrounds, with over 310,000 converts annually, the Mormon church proves to be one of the fastest growing movements.

http:~/~/www.doesgodexist.org~/NovDec03~/TheNewMormonChallenge.html

http:~/~/knewkingdom.blogspot.com~/2005~/12~/mormonism.html

 

Paul uses another military image here.

He literally says, “Do not let someone carry you off as a captive.”

These false teachers were trying to steal the believers from the church of Colossae.

That is the same as it is today.

Many people in false cult religions today were once members of good Bible preaching churches.

How does something like this happen?

How can a person that goes to a Bible preaching church fall to a false religion that denies Christ?

It is because they start to listen to the philosophy and empty teachings of the false religion.

* *

*a.      **The Method of the False Teachers     8a*

The method of the false teachers was to use “philosophy and empty deceit.”

This is the only time that this Greek word for “philosophy” is ever used in the New Testament.;

therefore, this must have been a term specific to the Colossian heresy.

The false teachers also used “empty deceit.”

This means that they were misleading people through lies that had no true basis.

Not all philosophy is bad, because there is a Christian philosophy of life.

Philosophy means, “To love wisdom.”

Philosophy is basically the attempt to answer the questions “Who am I?”, “Why am I here?,”

and “Where am I going?.” The Bible answers all those questions, so the philosophy of the Bible is accurate.

Unfortunately, even today, people are lead away from Christ by religions that are full of errors.

This happens because the “Christian” does not know the truth.

He has gone to church for years, yet he does not know what he believes about Christ or the Bible.

He does not know the true philosophy or teachings in the Bible, so he is ignorant and becomes captivated by a fascinating and interesting philosophy.

This leads to being carried away by the false teachers.

* *

*b.      **The Source of the False Teaching      8b   *

*                                                 i.

**The Tradition of Men   *

The basis of the teaching was really just the “traditions of men.”

That is why it was just a worthless lie.(2

Timothy 3:13-15; Ephesians 5:6) It was just a futile attempt by man to deny Christ as God.

If a person denies Christ’s deity, then they are trying to say that Christ or God has no authority over them.