October 6

Those people who are bringing wrong ideas into your church will tempt you away from Christ. They speak so well, with their impressive arguments and clever ideas. However, those ideas are really lies, because they come from men and not from God. Stand against such attacks by the devil.

Don’t Get Hooked by Imitation Freedom

You know how it is when you see an advertisement or a product that claims to be the “secret” to this or that, only to be disappointed when you discover that the advertisement was a fake and the product was worthless? Paul says in Colossians 2: 8, “see to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit… and not according to Christ.” There are counterfeit versions of Christian faith all around the world. Some of them may sound wise and deep, but when you take them seriously they won’t lead to life. The enemy does not have to get you to bow down to him and worship him in order to get you out of your focus on Christ. He only has to get you off of Christ. There are a thousand religious imitations he could sell you.

But there is a spiritual FACT and it is this: “in Him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily” (Colossians 2:9). Jesus is not a halfway Savior. He is God the Son come in the flesh. And “you have been filled in Him, who is the head of all rule and authority” This means that you don’t need a spiritual go-between, an experiential moment, or some additional religious rite in order to come to God. In Christ you have it all already.

Paul describes this as a spiritual surgery: “In Him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands… having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through faith”. This is not surgery on the body. It is surgery on the old self. In the moment you believed in Christ, God performed an operation on you that no human surgeon can match. He killed your old nature and raised you a new creation.

Or take the courtroom drama: “And you, who were dead in your trespasses… God made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt… This He set aside, nailing it to the cross” (verses 13–14). You see, every sin you have ever committed was written down on some heavenly piece of paper like a police rap sheet. Jesus took that list, and He nailed it to His cross in triumph and declared that He had paid “paid in full.” Now is that theory? Or do you see that this is a FACT for those of us who are in Him?

Then Paul shifts the scene to the spiritual universe: “He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in Him”. Satan and the demons are like a gang of gangsters who have been disarmed by the police. But more than that, the Sovereign Lord Christ not only defeated them, He put them to public shame. You are not fighting on the battlefield to win the war, you are fighting from the war room.

This is why Paul says, “See to it that no one… judges you according to the traditions of men in their elemental spiritual powers” (verses 16–17). Dietary rules, special feasts, or Sabbath were all like shadows that pointed to the reality, which is the Messiah. If you were looking at a shadow and the sun came up, you would not continue to stare at the shadow. You would look at the substance. Don’t let anyone “disqualify” you with traditions, angel worship, asceticism, visions, or anything else made in heaven. None of that will make you grow. Spiritual junk food will only puff you up, it will not build you up. Only coming to the Head and holding fast to Him will do that. Only in Jesus Christ.

Paul asks the question: “Why do you treat it as though you still did not exist when you died with Christ?” (verses 20–21). All of these man-made, man-observing, man-serving religious mantras and slogans may seem to be wise, but what can they do to the flesh?. Nothing. Only Jesus’ death on the cross can kill that. Ritual religion is no substitute for a living Savior.

Fact: you have been forgiven. Fact: you have been raised with Him. Fact: you have been filled up with all of Him. Fact: the devil is under your feet. Fact: the Law and the shadows have passed away. You are in Christ. Live like it is true.

Jeremiah 6:16-8:7
Colossians 2:8-23
Psalm 78:1-31
Proverbs 24:26

Read Today’s Scripture – Click Here

Click on the Play Button below to Listen to Today’s Scripture

New Testament: Colossians 2:8-23

Summary: Alive in Christ, Let No One Disqualify You

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

Our trust in Christ must be strong, to defend us from wrong ideas

Be careful, Paul says to Colosse’s Christians. There are many people who want to lead you away from the simple truth of the gospel (the good news about Christ). They want to rob you of your trust in Christ, to take away the joy of your relationship with Christ.

Now that you are a Christian, Christ must be your guide (verse 6). You must constantly depend on him for the strength and power to live in the way that pleases God (verse 7). So you need to keep to the gospel message that you have learned. You need to grow and to develop your trust in Christ. You need to learn a grateful attitude, and constantly to give thanks to God.

Otherwise, those people who are bringing wrong ideas into your church will tempt you away from Christ. They speak so well, with their impressive arguments and clever ideas. However, those ideas are really lies, because they come from men and not from God.

That is why so many people approve of false teachers. Unless our faith (trust in Christ) is strong, we all much prefer our human ideas to God’s word. In other words, we want to control our own lives, and not to allow God to direct us.

Human traditions and rules seem to give us control over our own lives: we know what we are doing. However, that feeling is not real. In reality, we are giving other people (and not God) the right to direct our lives. That was why the false teachers taught these rules: they wanted to control people’s lives (2 Corinthians 11:13-20). When Christians accepted their authority, they were not just allowing wrong teachers to direct their lives. The devil was using those wrong teachers to spoil Christians’ relationship with Christ. Christians need to stand against such attacks by the devil, by such means as the Bible, prayer and faith (trust) in Christ (Ephesians 6:10-18).

What should fill a Christian’s life?

Colossians 2:10

Wrong teachers were coming into the church at Colosse. They tried to persuade the Christians there to follow their traditions, or to believe their new ideas. However, a true Christian needs none of these things. Paul insists that the traditions were of human origin, not from God. He calls the teacher’s ideas ‘empty lies’, in other words, lies that have no value (2:8).

Paul then contrasts those ‘empty’ things with what should fill a Christian’s life. It is Christ who should fill the Christian’s life, not false ideas or human tradition. No tradition and no false, human wisdom can ever bring God into a person’s life. A strict religion with careful rules about behaviour cannot do it (2:20-23). Those things depend on human effort – but no amount of human effort can earn for us a right relationship with God (Romans 4:1-8). Only Christ can give us a right relationship with God. He will give us that relationship if we put our trust in him (Romans 1:16).

The wrong teachers argued that Paul was emphasising Christ too much. Instead, they wanted Christians to accept their authority and to follow their rules. Paul replied that those teachers had not in reality understood about rule and authority. Christ is fully God (2:9). Therefore, all rule and authority properly belong to him (1:15-16).

So, we must never allow anything else to replace Christ’s rule over our lives.

From: usefulbible.com – by Keith Simons