Trading Deceptive Philosophies for Commitment to Christ - A Sermon Based on Colossians 2:1-14

Paul wrote the letter to the Christians in Colossae to help them understand the importance of a Christ-centered faith. In the first half of the second chapter of the epistle, Paul makes it clear that once a person makes a commitment to Christ, they must never turn back to their old way of living nor allow the philosophies of the world to distract them from 100% commitment to Jesus Christ.

Colossians 2:1-15
1 For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you, for those in Laodicea, and for all who have not seen me in person. 2 I want their hearts to be encouraged and joined together in love, so that they may have all the riches of assured understanding and have the knowledge of God’s mystery—Christ. 3 All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Him. 4 I am saying this so that no one will deceive you with persuasive arguments. 5 For I may be absent in body, but I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see how well ordered you are and the strength of your faith in Christ. 6 Therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in Him, 7 rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, overflowing with gratitude. 8 Be careful that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit based on human tradition, based on the elemental forces of the world, and not based on Christ. 9 For the entire fullness of God’s nature dwells bodily in Christ, 10 and you have been filled by Him, who is the head over every ruler and authority. 11 You were also circumcised in Him with a circumcision not done with hands, by putting off the body of flesh, in the circumcision of the Messiah. 12 Having been buried with Him in baptism, you were also raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. 13 And when you were dead in trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive with Him and forgave us all our trespasses. 14 He erased the certificate of debt, with its obligations, that was against us and opposed to us, and has taken it out of the way by nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and disgraced them publicly; He triumphed over them by Him.

Verse 1 - For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you, for those in Laodicea, and for all who have not seen me in person.
• Though Paul did not live in Colossae, he still struggled a lot to help the church there.
• Struggle was a key part of Paul’s life and ministry.
• The Greek word in this verse for struggling is ἀγών (agon) and refers to the 100% all-out effort that an athlete puts into winning a competition.
• In order to have a strong faith and be a blessing to those around us, we cannot be half-hearted Christians. Anything worth doing is worth putting our all into.

Verse 4 - I am saying this so that no one will deceive you with persuasive arguments.
• Paul wanted them to know that struggle was a part of the Christian experience so that they would not be deceived by false teachers who taught otherwise.
• Our culture today is filled with false teachers who appeal to our fleshly instincts and attempt to distract us from 100% commitment to Christ.
• The word deceive is the Greek word παραλογίζηται (paralogizomai) and refers to a debater who presents an alternative version of truth that sounds plausible but is actually based on falsehood.
• Many of the world’s philosophies sound good on the surface, but are built on complete falsehoods. We must not be deceived by those philosophies.

Verses 6-7 - Therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, overflowing with gratitude.
• Paul reminded the believers in Colossae that it was not enough to just claim to receive Jesus; they had to walk the walk.
• Many people can quote Bible verses, say the Lord’s Prayer or Psalm 23 or sing the latest praise songs, but fail to live the Christian life.
• To walk the walk consistently, we must sink deep roots into the Gospel of Christ and build up our spiritual strength so we can be firmly established in our faith. When we sink deep roots into the Gospel and establish ourselves strongly in the faith, we discover a life that overflows with gratitude.
• Gratitude leads to joy and greater levels of happiness in life.

Verse 8 - Be careful that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit based on human tradition, based on the elemental forces of the world, and not based on Christ.
• Colossae had a number of prominent false religions, each based on a different underlying philosophy. Paul wanted the Colossians to be careful not to be taken captive by those ideas.

Prominent false religions in Colossae and how they relate to modern philosophies:
• Worship of the goddess Cybele was known for its unrestrained sexuality. They celebrated sex in any form and with anyone refusing to accept any guidelines or moral codes. There are many people in our modern world who still think that sex should have no guidelines. At best, this leads to a lot of broken hearts and at worst it leads to the exploitation of women and children.
• Worship of Apollo was very artistic in nature, focusing on music and poetry, with a twist of mysticism (magic) thrown in. Though on the surface the music and poetry piece is fine, the use of magical arts in their worship sounds very similar to the New Age movement today. Though many New Agers are lovely people, their dabbling in the mystical realm leads them further and further from the truth instead of closer and closer to it.
• Worship of the goddess Artemis included being in tune with nature. She was the original Mother Earth. Her followers wanted to protect the Earth and saw the Earth as a living entity. As Christians, we must care for the earth as good stewards, but we should never worship the earth. It is an object, not a god. While caring for the environment is very important, we should never put it before caring for people or obeying God.
• Poseidon was worshipped as the god of the sea. He was seen as a passive-aggressive god who sometimes liked his followers and gave them calm seas to fish in and sometimes sent storms to destroy them. No one knew how to please him. There are still passive-aggressive people in the world who think everything revolves around them and no one can please them. We must not allow such people to drain the life and energy out of us.
• They also worshipped Pluto, the god of the underworld. This cult was obsessed with death and often included evil and/or painful rituals that might result in death. It was a gruesome religion. There are people in our modern world who are focused on death or the macabre. The live for death related music, television shows, and media. There are also people who actually worship the Devil through Satanic rituals that bring pain and/or death to their victims.
• Finally, there was Merkabah Mysticism. This was a mixture of Jewish and Greek religious ideas that was closely related to Gnosticism. This philosophy required radical obedience to the Old Testament law interwoven with regular periods of 12-40 days of asceticism. This asceticism included: fasting, celibacy, wearing simple clothing, poverty, sleep deprivation, and self-mutilation. Followers of Merkabah Mysticism hoped to ascend into heaven to commune with angels and/or God or any number of other gods and then return to earth to share what they learned. Though Paul may have been referring to any or all of these philosophies, based on a number of comments throughout this epistle, it was most likely Merkabah Mysticism that was causing the most difficulty for the Colossian believers.

Verse 8 - Be careful that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit based on human tradition, based on the elemental forces of the world, and not based on Christ.
• Paul makes a distinction between philosophies based on the forces of the world and those based on Christ.
• The world appeals to our emotions, our desire to be liked, our sensual urges, and our fallen sinful nature.
• Christ calls to us to follow His example of real love and sacrifice. Christ calls to us to do all things for the glory of God instead of for our own glory.
• For our commitment to Christ to be real, there can be no turning back.

Verse 11 - You were also circumcised in Him with a circumcision not done with hands, by putting off the body of flesh, in the circumcision of the Messiah.
• Paul uses the concept of circumcision to emphasize how spiritually these believers could not go back on their commitment to Christ, just like the Jews could not undo their physical circumcision.
• Every Jewish male was circumcised when they were a week old.
• In biblical times most cultures did not practice this, or only practiced it for a selected few.
• The Jews were the only known group to make it universal for all males.
• Circumcision was something that could not be undone (obviously!).
• Even male converts to Judaism had to be circumcised in order to become Jewish.
• The concept in Jewish thought was, once a Jew, always a Jew. There was no going back.
• Paul uses circumcision as an illustration of how our commitment to Christ must be a lifelong commitment, not a temporary one. Once we become a Christian, there can be no going back.

Verse 12 - Having been buried with Him in baptism, you were also raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.
• Paul then goes on to explain how the early church used baptism as a sign of a person’s commitment to Christ.
• Baptism in the early church was done by immersing a person completely under the water. In fact, the word baptism comes from the Greek word baptizo and means to dip under or to immerse.
• As we are immersed completely under the water, it symbolizes how Christ was buried under the ground for us. When we come up out of the water, it symbolizes how Christ rose from the dead and coming out of the tomb.
• Though churches sometimes baptize infants or young children, people in the early church were not baptized until they were old enough to make a personal commitment to Christ.
• Those who have never been baptized should do so as a public testimony of personal commitment to Christ. Those who were baptized by their parents as infants or young children should consider being re-baptized as their own personal commitment to Christ.

Verse 14 - He erased the certificate of debt, with its obligations, that was against us and opposed to us, and has taken it out of the way by nailing it to the cross.
• The Romans used the cross as a common means of public execution. It was the way they terrorized the population into submission.
• When Romans executed someone on a cross they would make a list of their crimes and nail it to the cross with the person so everyone would know what a bad person they were.
• This was often called a certificate of debt, referring to the debt the person owned society for their crimes.
• When Jesus hung on the cross, His righteousness, goodness and holiness was so great that He paid off the certificate of debt that each believer owed.
• We no longer have to feel overwhelming guilt for our sins, for Jesus has taken them out of the way. We should feel gratitude instead!

Conclusion:
• Though the Christian life includes struggle, if we sink deep roots into our faith, the victory is worth the entire struggle.
• The world is full of philosophies that can distract us from our faith. We must not be swayed by any of them.
• Once we make our personal commitment to Christ, we should be baptized as a testimony of our commitment and then never turn back from our faith.