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On Guard

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8 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world and not according to Christ.  Colossians 2:8
Many in our world today fear war.  There is good reason to fear war. What is worse than looming war is to be in a war and not realize it.  To not be prepared for war or battle means that war itself will overtake you and you have no way to defend your life against it.  This, I fear, is the state many believers find themselves in spiritually speaking.  They are in a war, unaware and epically losing.

Paul in essence sounds the bomb raid siren.  See to it, he says, watch out for, be on guard, look carefully, make sure of this, be settled and firm.  That no one takes you captive or carries you off as plunder, spoil, treasure of their own triumph, winning you over to their side.  See that no one carries you off as spiritual plunder, using you for their own purposes with no care for you as a person.  Be aware of spiritual pirates, as it were, to whom you are just an object to be captured.  Know you are in a war like this.

This capture and war takes place by (means of) philosophy and empty deceit.  This is not a knock on philosophy, but against wisdom and thinking not based on Christ.  Something my philosophy professor always said was that everyone is a philosopher and a theologian, the question is whether you are a good one, a thoroughly Christian one. This philosophy is the way you see life or your basic set of assumptions about the world around you and how you see and interpret the world.  As the NIV helpfully phrases it here:  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. 

So we need to know we are in a war of competing thoughts, ruling authorities and philosophies. How then do we notice or recognize subtle false teaching (spiritual piracy) when it comes?  We must see it in order to guard against it and not be taken captive by it. What are the identifying marks of rouge and false non-Christian philosophy?

Mark #1: Any way of thinking that does not depend on Christ.  When our thinking does not begin and depend on Jesus Christ It is already doomed to lead us astray. It is ultimately empty, shallow and hollow.  False teachers are deceitful and subtle in starting somewhere else than Jesus so that they are not accountable to the real Jesus.  They may give lip service to Jesus Christ and have a vague notion of God or Jesus but the cornerstone of their life and teaching is not Jesus.  Starting without Jesus or leaving him to depend on something else is disastrous.

Mark #2: Based on human tradition: God does have a thing for tradition, but the tradition that God sets up always and only points back to him and what he has done.  Human tradition on the other hand points not back to what God has done, but what man has done, and what he must keep on doing, in order to stay in the good graces of God. Whether for 5, 50, or 5000 years, human tradition tempts us to think it makes us acceptable to God or get his attention.  Yet human tradition in that sense is a flat contradiction of the gospel.  That is why it is so dangerous.  The gospel is not about what we do or continue to do to save ourselves.  It is that all that needed to be done for our salvation was accomplished for us by God through Jesus.  We must hold up any human tradition to that.  If it magnifies, proclaims, reminds us that we still have to work really hard to gain God’s approval then it denies the gospel.  If it magnifies, proclaims and reminds us of all that God has done through Jesus then it can stay because it shows us that our salvation has all been accomplished by Jesus and not us. 

Mark #3: According to the elemental spirits (or basic principles of this world). The basic way that world thinks about God and man.  It is often expressed in the sentiment that man(kind) is basically good.  This is the belief that man needs a little help to get through life or a way to manipulate the gods so we can gain have a good life and afterlife.  If this is the case we need no salvation.  We need just a little bit of help to be good enough on our own to not need Jesus.  This again, flatly denies the gospel which says that people are so fallen into sin that the only way to remedy that sin is the crucifixion and punishment of the perfect God and man Jesus Christ. Our sin debt is really is that great.  So bad that God would have to put his own son to death or allow us to suffer eternity in hell in order to uphold the justice of the universe. 


You are in a battle.  Know what you are fighting. On guard. 
– In Christ, My Only Hope, Pastor Steven

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