The World’s Philosophy (철학)

Colossians 2:8 “See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.”

1. INTRODUCTION

a. What is philosophy? Well we know that in the Greek it is a combination of two words, philo which means love or lover and Sophia which means wisdom. So when we combine the two, it means love for wisdom or lover of wisdom.

b. So the question is, what is philosophy? Many people have a misunderstanding because people believe that philosophy is a way of life or principles (원칙) that person lives by. But philosophy is primarily an activity, it is a quest after wisdom. It is a unique type of thought that’s objective is wisdom.

c. So if philosophy is the quest for wisdom, what is the world’s quest for wisdom? I summarize that the philosophy of this age is self fulfillment (완성). Afterall, everyone wants to be fulfilled in this life. This gives people purpose and meaning to their lives and I believe it is important. I don’t want people to think that as Christians, these things don’t matter. These things do matter. Our lives are important and we should make the most of our lives. But the problem that we wrestle with is, at what expense?

d. Jesus tells us in Matthew 6:24 concerning wealth and God, that nobody can serve two masters. The reality of this statement is that you can’t be self fulfilled if you are serving two masters. What Jesus is teaching us is, that anything in this life can be fulfilling but if the purpose of your life is to fulfill your life, you can’t do that. Rather, if you serve God as your purpose in life, than you will be self fulfilled because God will cover that void. Jesus is simply telling us you can’t fill that emptiness in your life by yourself, only God can fill that emptiness.

e. This is the same thing that Solomon tells us in Ecclesiastes 1:16-18. In Ecclesiastes 1:16, Solomon tells us that he increased in wisdom more than everyone in Jerusalem who was before him. He was the wisest king to have ruled. Then in verse 17, Solomon says that he set his mind to know wisdom and madness. The attempt to ‘understand’ wisdom on the one hand and folly on the other is not a quest for two different things, but a genuine (진심) attempt to discover how to make wise decisions in the face of alternatives. Solomon wasn’t looking for two separate things, but rather understood that when you quest for wisdom, wisdom is understanding how to use knowledge in situations. The ability to discern what to do in each situation through knowledge is wisdom. Therefore, when he says that he was seeking wisdom and folly, he was telling us that he was seeking how to apply his knowledge in the world he lived.

f. The result of his study is given to us in verse 18. The more wisdom he understood, he realized it caused much grief and the more he increased in knowledge, resulted in more pain. We don't want to separate grief and pain because the point of what Solomon was telling us is that as he acquired more knowledge and wisdom, the result was not joy. It wasn’t a freedom from the world. Rather, it was more frustration and more pain.

g. This is the same conclusion that Paul provides for us in our text for today. Paul reminds us that the world’s philosophy will lead us to deception and secondly, It is not of Christ.

2. BODY

a. Leads to empty deception (2:8a)

i. Paul starts verse 8 by commanding his listeners to keep watching or be on the watch, be alert. What is Paul’s command for being awake? He says that nobody takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception.

ii. Paul reminds us that the world will extend its philosophy to you. You will be bombarded by the philosophies of the world. If we look at our own lives, we come to realize that one thing we realize is, life is short. As you get older and older, you start to realize time go faster and faster.

iii. When I was young, I didn’t realize how fast time was going. If anything, I was always thinking to myself how time was going so slow. When will I be old enough? Fill in the blanks. When we are young, we are looking forward to getting older because we feel like as you get older, there are more benefits. But just like Solomon tells us in Ecclesiastes, as he sought more wisdom and he accrued more knowledge, he realized that it led to more pain and suffering.

iv. So how does the world lead us with its philosophy and empty deception? Well life’s philosophy tells us one thing. Life is short so you should enjoy it. I think this is a universal truth that everyone understands, but many people understand it the wrong way.

v. Jesus told us about this as well. In Matthew 7:13-14, Jesus spoke about the narrow gate and the wide gate. We realize that this is talking about salvation, but the wide gate here is talking about the love of the world. The love of the world reminds us of one thing. It reminds us that life is short so we should do what makes us happy. There are truths in that statement. I am not saying that all of it is wrong. But we must be wise. Wisdom tells us how we are to distill truths such as this. Life is precious and life is short. But how do we not be swayed by the world’s philosophy and empty deception?

vi. When we think about the world’s philosophy, a phrase that has come to resurface is carpe diem. Carpe diem (카르페 디엠) was uttered by a Roman poet Horace (시인) over 2000 years ago which meant seize the day, has been one of the most powerful and used philosophical ideals (이상적인) in history (역사).

vii. In recent years, that phrase has changed. It has become an acronym that young people today say. They say YOLO which means you only live once so, seize the day. Capture the day, make the most of your life. Now as positive as it sounds, there are some positive aspects to it, but it has been hijacked. It has been hijacked by consumer culture (소비자 문화), where the term carpe diem has been used to say, life is short, so just buy what you want. In a culture of instant one click buying, carpe diem has been used to seize the day and buy it.

viii. What carpe diem has come to be is simply, enjoy the things of life because there’s no tomorrow. This is a phrase that has been used all throughout the Old and New Testament. Isaiah 22:13, Proverbs 23:35, Luke 12:19, 1 Corinthians 15:32. All of these phrases repeat this idea of Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. Let’s enjoy the things of this world because after we die, there’s nothing left.

ix. You see the world’s philosophy is not the phrase carpe diem. Carpe diem is not all bad. Rather, the reason we are to seize the day is corrupt. The world’s philosophy is seize the day because all we have on this earth is all that there is. The empty deception that Paul was warning his listeners was the same thing. Remember what Paul has been preaching to them. In 1:20-22 Jesus reconciled all things to Himself, He made peace through the blood of His cross. Jesus reconciled us to the Father. He reconciled us to Himself. He provided a new way of life, not death. Paul reminded his listeners that our lives don’t end here. Our lives live on after our death. That was why Christ died and resurrected from the death. It was so that our death would be overcome by His resurrection. That’s why He preached Jesus Christ and His resurrection (Acts 17:18).

x. The World’s philosophies will take good things and poison them. That’s exactly what it has done to carpe diem. It has taken the hope out of carpe diem and instead infused it with a false hope. Paul is warning us from the same thing. Don’t be enslaved to the world’s philosophies, the traditions of men. Don’t look to the principles of the world. 1 John 2:15-16 tell us what those principles. Don’t look to the things that will end when you die. Colossians 3:2 Set your minds on the things above, not the things that are on the earth.

Think about the things of the world. 1 John 2:15-17 remind us of those things. The love of the world and the things of the world, are all temporal things. They are things that are good but should never be my life’s goal. This is why Paul tells us not to focus on temporal things. Why? Because as James tells us in 3:15 that this wisdom is not which comes from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. What type of wisdom is this? The wisdom that sows what it tells us in 3:14. Bitter jealousy and self ambition. It is rooted in the things of this world.

xi. How Paul? How do we do this? Colossians 3:1, if you have been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is. Look to Christ. Don’t look at the things of this world. Look to Him. Why? Colossians 1:20-22 because He has reconciled you to Himself. Because He has taken a useless people, a people who were at war against Him, and has poured the love of God in our hearts so that now we have beating hearts that love Him and are alive in Him.

b. Is not of Christ (2:8b)

i. This is why Paul concludes 2:8 by telling us the elementary principles of the world, the things of this world are not of Him. What Paul is reminding his listeners is that you are trying to find God in everything other than Christ. You are looking to your wealth, to your possessions, to your power, to everything else other than to Christ. This is why Paul designates the last phrase by saying, “rather than according to Christ.”

ii. It is clear that the false teachers are proclaiming a doctrine and demanding practices that do not depend on Christ. Rather they are teaching a doctrine that proclaims how they must be self sufficient, self fulfilling. But Paul tells us the opposite. He reminds us that Christ is the one in whom God exclusively is to be found, the one through whom the world was created and through whom it is redeemed, and the one who has decisively defeated all the hostile powers. Any teaching that in any way detracts from Christ’s exclusive role is by definition both wrong and ineffective.

iii. It’s like the false teaching that is going on today. Just as Paul was preaching against the false teachers in Colossae because they were trying to add unto the finished work of Christ, that is the same thing we encounter today. People are telling us what we have to do to earn God’s salvation without looking to the finished work of Christ.

iv. I want to go back to the example of carpe diem. How can we use carpe diem in a way that honors Christ? Seize the day for Christ. Life is short, live every day thinking that today is your last. Live your life to honor Christ. Don’t live your life for yourself.

Rather, live for Christ who loved you to die on cross to make peace through the blood of His cross. Live your life for Christ and live every day with the motivation that today is your last. Carpe Diem.

3. CONCLUSION