WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOUR RELIGION?

WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOUR RELIGION? Colossians 2:18-23 February 10,  2002 Given by Pastor Rich Bersett [Index of Past Messages] Introductory Sitting on the side of the highway waiting to catch speeding drivers, a state Police Officer sees a car puttering along at 22 MPH. He thinks to himself "This driver is just as dangerous as a speeder!" So he turns on his lights and pulls the driver over. Approaching the car, he notices that there are five old ladies - two in the front seat and three in the back wide eyed and white as ghosts. The driver, obviously confused, says to him, "Officer, I was doing exactly the speed limit! What seems to be the problem?" "Ma'am," the officer replies, "You weren't speeding, but you should know that driving slower than the speed limit can also be a danger to other drivers." "Slower than the speed limit? No sir, I was doing the speed limit exactly...Twenty two miles an hour!" the old woman says proudly. The State Police officer, trying to contain a chuckle, explains to her that "22" was the route number, not the speed limit. A bit embarrassed, the woman grinned and thanked the officer for pointing out her error. "But before I let you go, Ma'am, I have to ask...Is everyone in this car ok? These women seem awfully shaken and they haven't muttered a single peep this whole time." "Oh, they'll be alright in a minute officer. We just turned off Route 119." Obeying the rules is always important. But as a Christian you should always be alert to who is writing the rules. The believers in Colosse were in danger of being duped by impostor rule-makers who were teaching that, since they were Christ-followers, they should be doing a better job of obeying the rules. And they had a long list of rules-some right out of the Old Testament and others coming out of popular religious ideas and human traditions. Concerning these false teachers Paul tells the Colossian believers to "…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." (Colossians 2:8) This is a stern warning from Paul. We instruct our young children to never go with strangers because you never know--they might be up to no good, and they might be planning to hurt them. We explain that even if a stranger makes an attractive offer, like candy, or if they say, "Your parents asked me to come and pick you up," don't go with them. Paul is being the spiritual father here. He warns the church there are spiritual hucksters out there who will lead you astray. He had said the same thing to the Ephesian elders when he met with them one last time: "I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from among your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard!" (Acts 20:29-31) The freedoms Christ has given to Christians The church of Jesus must be alert to the strangers who masquerade as good, humble teachers, but are teaching wrong doctrine and trying to lead them astray. And the particular damage they are out to do is to steal the Christians' freedom, and put them back into bondage to the law of sin and death. Chapter two of Colossians covers four freedoms that are the birthright of believers: 1. We are free from Old Testament regulations. Hebrews 8:13 makes it clear that the New Covenant has rendered the Old Covenant obsolete. Jesus is the great high priest and by His sacrifice we are forgiven and there is no more need for laws and sacrifices (Hebrews 8:6-13; 9:23-28; 10:8-18). "Therefore, do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ." (Colossians 2:16-17) 2. We are free from sin and the guilt of our sin. Because of the death and resurrection of Christ, we who were buried with Him in baptism have been raised with Him through faith. Colossians 2:13 says, "When you were dead in your sins…God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins…" Then he says that under the Old Covenant, the Law stood against us, but by His death on the cross, Jesus cancelled the Law's accusation. Verse 14 says He "cancelled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross." Under the New Covenant I am free, "…because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death." (Romans 8:2) 3. The third freedom we experience in Christ is freedom from Satan's demonic powers. Read on in verse 15 - "And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross." In the first century, when a Roman general defeated an enemy army, he would be treated to a parade through his home town. He and his ranking officers would march through town with wagonloads of the spoils of war behind them. And then would follow the enemy POW's (even their generals), stripped of their uniforms and weapons, chained to one another and marching in utter dishonor and humiliation. Spiritually speaking, this is what Christ did to Satan's powers and authorities. Ever since His death and resurrection, we who place our faith in Him are marching with Him in victory over the enemy. We are free from the power of demonic forces. 4. Fourth, we are free from man-made regulations. Skipping ahead a bit, look at Colossians 2:20-22 - "Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: 'Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!'? These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence." Last week we dealt with verses 16-17 in which Paul told his readers, "Don't let anyone judge you concerning eat, drink or religious festivals." In short, he said these rules and regulations simply don't apply to you. You are free from the Law through Christ. Again, there was nothing wrong with a Christian voluntarily following dietary restrictions and attending religious festivals. But he must avoid either of two mistakes: he must not do so under any sense of obligation, and he must not obligate any other believer to do it. The danger of religious eccentricities Now we will focus on verses 18-19. Paul begins this short section with another "Don't let anyone" (just like the lead-in at verse 16). "Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions." (Verses 18) Apparently the concept of angels was pretty popular in first century Colosse, just as it is today, at least with some. The history of theology has taught us that a prevalent heresy that was growing in the first century was one that put forth the idea of heavenly intermediaries who were sort of emanations of God. Those closer to God were almost exactly like Him. They would send out additional emanations, which would be farther away from God and would be, according to these teachers, "less divine", but still heavenly beings, because they weren't earthbound. (They also taught that matter was evil, spirit good.) Now these teachers of error were mistaken in a couple of ways. First they believed in this man-made idea, which actually originated with Greek philosophers like Plato who taught in the 4th century BC. The second mistake was trying to graft such speculative ideas into the Christian faith. Further, the teachers said that such partial gods (demi-urges) were angels. But the Bible makes it clear that angels are created beings, and are not divine. Some of the false teachers who came from this group later taught that Jesus was also a demi-urge, one of many emanations from God. They were trying to marry human philosophy with Christian teaching. See Paul's warning again at Colossians 2:8. Like oil and water, Christianity and human philosophy do not mix well. Similar notions are all around us today. Some cultic offshoots of Christianity teach that Jesus was an angel, and that He either was human but never God, or He was God but never became human (spirit and matter just don't mix, they thought). John wrote later in the first century, "Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world." (1 John 4:1-3) The Bible is very clear - there is "…one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave his life as a ransom for all men…" (1 Timothy 2:5-6) There are those who exalt some followers of Christ in history to the status of special saints to whom we should pray. They are in the same tradition as the false teachers of Colosse. The Bible teaches unmistakably and repeatedly that we are all saints who trust in Christ. Never does the scripture exhort us to pray to anyone but God, and we are privileged through Christ to have direct, unmediated access to the Lord. You don't need any more help than what Christ has done for you. Christ ALONE is your mediator. The last mistake the heretics make about angels is that they worship them. If there is any one strong teaching that is explicit in all the scripture it is this-that God alone is to be worshiped. If you add anyone to that very short list of characters worthy to be worshiped, whether it's Buddha, a cosmic force, Mary or a tree, you have departed Christianity and gone off into some other religious realm. Paul's description of those realms is that they "depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ," and if you follow them, you have been taken "captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy." (2:8) Paul says in verses 18 that these false teachers not only are caught up in the worship of angels, but they delight themselves in "false humility". False humility means that they act like humble people, but really are proud. Humility is simply recognizing that I am subject to God and acting in concert with that truth--that He is in charge of me and I am submitted to Him. Pride is the opposite of humility and proud people don't believe or obey what God says. They make up their own rules and their own systems of belief. So if you think you are humble, but you put yourself in the place of God, you are suffering from "false humility" and you are deceived. One of the hallmark statements of such false humility is, "I'm just trying to be true to myself!" or "I call 'em as I see 'em". False humility is the champion of false teaching because, under this delusion, everyone is right and no one is wrong, because, whatever you think is right is right. And whatever I think is right is right (to me). The problem of human pride relying on human wisdom is this: there is no objective standard of truth. Paul would call them "human commands and teachings" (2:22) and "hollow and deceptive philosophy" (2:8); and he would charge that they have an "appearance of wisdom". He admits that false teachers often come through with "fine-sounding arguments" (2:4) but he says they are deceit, and to follow them is to become "captive" (2:8) True humility (as opposed to false humility) recognizes God as God. It is His to say what is right and what is wrong. In our world there is a very popular notion that charges Christianity with narrow-mindedness. How can Christians dare to say that Christ is the only way and other religions are wrong? Who are they, anyway, to think their way is the only way!?" They insist that Christians ought to be more tolerant of others. The bottom line issue is the existence of God. Ironically those who charge believers with intolerance usually don't deny there is a God (of course, He is many things to many people, they say). But if there is a God, He is by definition in charge. If He is in charge, it is up to Him to determine who is and who isn't right in what they believe or do. Jack Felton asks this basic question: "If God really is God, isn't he entitled to have certain criteria to determine who can have a relationship with him and one day enter his home?" (More Jesus, Less Religion page 35) By virtue of His position, God is the one (the only one) who is allowed to set up criteria for determining right and wrong. It was Jesus who said, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except by me." (John 14:6) "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." (Acts 4:12) Now, either God has spoken or He hasn't spoken. But we cannot listen to these words of Jesus and say He was a pretty good teacher, but He was wrong on this point, because "I think it is very narrow and discriminatory." Jesus is either true God or a colossal fraud. Babe Ruth was once called out on strikes by an umpire whose name was also Babe-Babe Pinella. Ruth yelled in his face, "You tomato-head! There are forty- thousand people in this stadium who know that was a ball and not a strike." Umpire Pinella's cool response was, "Maybe so, but mine is the only opinion that matters!" Say you had wanted to go to the Super Bowl and watch that "game". You fly down to New Orleans and walk to the Super Dome and try to enter the door to the stadium. The man stops you and says, "Where's your ticket?" You say you don't have one, and you don't think you need one. His response? "Are you crazy? You have to have a valid ticket to get into this game!" How do you respond? "Well that's mighty narrow-minded of you! Who gave you the right to decide who gets in here and who doesn't? What's so all-fired great about your little tickets anyway? Are you saying that ticket-holders are better than the rest of us?" They'd be taking you away in a white van, my friend. Paul's point here is that the false teachers were delivering teachings that were just made up by other men, not the truth of God. He says "Don't let such pretenders to authority disqualify you for the prize." (2:18) Their intent, designed and carried out by Satan, is to rob you of your freedom. Then he clarifies how the false teachers substantiates his claim to authority: "Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions." (2:18b) This is why Paul calls their humility false-because they are proud, thinking they have secured some secret wisdom through their visions or meditation. Then in verses 19 he says such people have "…lost connection with the head…" By that Paul didn't mean they were out of their minds (although they might have been), but he meant they were disconnected from Christ, the Head of the church. The imagery is striking. Imagine a body going through motions, but having lost connection with the head. None of the movements would make much sense, nor certainly have much meaningful purpose. Picture a mouth speaking something, but somehow losing it's connection to the brain. This is how Paul describes teachers who are not getting their signals from Christ. What they are teaching is anything but truth. So, to follow their teaching is dangerous. They say they have revelations, but they are not true revelations! There are a lot of people who will tell you anything just so they can take you captive, either for monetary gain, or simply for the purpose of deceiving you on behalf of the Father of Lies. What's scary is that many of them have no idea they are in error, but really believe they are doing you some good by teaching you what they purport to be truth. Be careful of anyone who tells you they heard from God. That they even made such a strong claim should make you suspicious. Any Christian who does think he heard from God knows that he is responsible to determine whether he really heard from God or not. How? By confirming the information with the Word of God. There will be no contradiction between what God revealed in His written Word and what He is allegedly saying to you. Here is good counsel on how to deal with "revelations" people impose on you: 1. BE SKEPTICAL. 1 John 4:1 - "…test the spirits to see whether they are from God…" Almost every time that the Bible warns Christians about false teachers, the assumption is that they are from among the Christians! This is why Paul they have "lost connection with the Head," John said, "…you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us..." (1 John 2:18-19) Never respond immediately in agreement with a teacher you do not yet trust. Be skeptical-don't get in the car with just any stranger. 2. COMPARE WITH SCRIPTURE. The good news is, there is a standard of truth. 2 Timothy 3:16 - "All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." The whole business of knowing God's will is not subjective guess-work, or who sells the most books, or who gets on Oprah, or who is the smoothest talker, nor even who's the most popular and sought-after speaker on the Christian circuit. There is a standard - the Book. Read it, get to know it, and you will be inoculated against error, and able to recognize false teachings you encounter. 3. EXAMINE THE LIFE OF THE TEACHER. When Jesus warned about false teachers, He said, "Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. BY THEIR FRUIT YOU WILL RECOGNIZE THEM." (Matthew 7:15-16) Over and over again, the scripture warns the believers to beware of false teachers. They can be cunning. They are operating in the church (of course they are-if Satan is trying to lure believers into his trap of false teaching, where else would he go?). Just a short list of names would be enough to convincingly remind us that not all who say they are teaching the Word of God really are: Jim Jones, David Koresh, Marshall Applewhite (Heaven's Gate) How will you know if they are true prophets or false prophets? Watch their lives and see what kind of fruit they bear-both in their personal behaviors and in the lives of their disciples. In that Matthew 7 passage, Jesus went on to repeat His judgment criteria: "Thus by their fruit you will recognize them. Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord' did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'" (Matthew 7:20-23) Children of God, there are many deceivers out there, in the church and in the world, who would love to wreak havoc with your faith in Christ. The driving force behind all deception is the devil. He would love to get you confused with false teaching. I urge you, in the Name of the One who said, "I am the Way the TRUTH and the Life," don't climb in the seat beside just any teacher who seems religious.     [Back to Top]