Asking The Right Question

We're going to continue now in the book of Colossians as we're going through this rather short series in the book of Colossians where we're focused upon this one main idea of the sufficiency of Christ in all things.

I'm going to read to you verses 8 through 23 to begin and what I want you to hear as we read this is, you know, what we need is really pretty simple. We need Christ. Because Christ, in Him, what we have is what philosophy, what shadows, what ascetics, what any kind of worldly program or worldly idea pretends to offer but ultimately cannot provide.

What worldly programs promise is at best only pretense, at worst, and well within the realm of possibility, demonic distraction meant to deter you from your progress towards Christ. Jesus is sufficient and Jesus actually provides what God promises because in Christ all the word of God, all the promise of God is yes and amen.

And more than that, Jesus, I want you to think of this as we read this in a moment, He's not the best answer. He's the only answer. Not the best. The only answer. And if Jesus provides what God promises, it's an easy step then to say that what He provides is what you actually need.

And the question that needs to be asked just might be, what is the question we're trying to answer? What issue do you need to resolve? Are we even asking the right question? Where am I in relation to my growth in Christ?

How many times have I stumbled on that path towards His image? How am I progressing towards Him? Are we even asking the right questions? Well God willing, this message will help us to focus ourselves and ask the right question and ask the questions that the scripture actually answers.

So with that, please stand for Colossians chapter 2, beginning at verse 8. See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elementary spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.

For in Him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in Him who is the head of all rule and authority. In Him also you are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised Him from the dead.

And you, who are dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands.

This He set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them. Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or Sabbath.

These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. Let no one disqualify you insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions puffed up without reason by a sensuous mind, and not holding fast to the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with the growth that is from God.

If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations? Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch, referring to things that all perish as they are used, according to human precepts and teachings.

These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.". God bless the reading.

Now, if it be His will, the proclamation of His word, please be seated. You know, what I just read to you, there's really some warnings. And this morning we're going to go through verses 8 through 15, and we'll leave the rest of it for this afternoon, going through verse 23, but what I read, we do have those warnings to us, where the Apostle Paul warns us about the incursion of worldly ways, of human-made, man-made ways to attain that which Christ and Christ alone can give, that which Christ and Christ alone is able to give.

So again, it's a question, we're asking even the right question, is the question going to lead us into the right place? Is the question going to be answered by the Scripture? And by question, I mean asking the right question of the Scripture, which means, obviously in the spiritual sense, are we asking questions about where we are with Christ?

Where is our progress? Are we still reaching out for the prize of the upward calling of God in Christ Jesus? That continual process that we will endeavor and engage for as long as we are here until the Lord returns.

Sometimes we ask the question, why am I sad? Why am I in this condition in relationships? Why are my finances this way? And oftentimes those just aren't the right questions. Sometimes the question is just so much simpler and so much more basic and so much more convicting.

Where am I with Christ? I don't mean salvation. I speak to you who are saved. I do not believe that if you're really truly saved, if you have faith that God has given you, that you can become unsaved.

But this progress, this trajectory to have towards Him, in order to see where we are with Him, if we're not satisfied with where we are now, and I don't mean we're never satisfied because Christ is so wonderful, we should never be satisfied with where we are, that is true.

But I'm talking about those of us who have been stymied in our growth. Those of us who seem to have slowed down. We had some momentum a few years ago or a few weeks ago or months ago, whenever it was, and seem so stalled out.

How do we get going again? Where do we find the answer? Oftentimes the question has to be, what did I allow to come in? What worldly way of thinking has infused itself with me and slowed me down in that progress?

So we have three warnings about just that. Verse 8, see to it that no one takes you captive. Verse 16, let no one pass judgment on you. And then verse 18, let no one disqualify you. And each of these has a corresponding reason that Paul gives us to cement them into place.

So one of the most helpful skills we can learn, of course, is to ask the right question. In grade schools, who, what, when, where, why, and how, in seminary we're taught to ask just those questions of the text, and pretty much the same way we learned in grade school.

When you read a text, who's speaking? What are they trying to tell you? Why is this in the scripture? That sort of thing. You have to ask the right questions. Because asking the wrong question is always going to get you what?

The wrong answer. It may be the correct answer technically, but if it's the wrong question, it's pretty useless. So when we're talking about our progress in Christ, when we're talking about growing in the Lord, that has to be the question.

So the right question as we approach this text, again, where am I in my progress towards the image of Jesus Christ? And why am I where I'm at? And if that's the case, then the next question would be, what have I allowed to slow me down or get in the way?

So these warnings to the Colossians Church, most scholars believe them to be preemptive. We have no solid evidence that whatever it is Paul is railing against here, and we've given some ideas about it as we've gone through these sermons, whatever it is, we can't be sure of two things.

We can't be sure of what exactly it was, Gnosticism, Asceticism, worship of angels, Jewish regulations. There's reasons to believe any of those might be it. And we also cannot be positive that those things had actually gotten into the church.

I think Epaphras had gone to Paul and said, you know, there's all these things around that little church in Colossae, and we need help in defending ourselves against them preemptively before they come in, because they're always trying to work their way through the door.

So preemptive strike, if you will. Philosophy and empty deceit, verse 8, judgment over food and drink and festivals and Sabbaths, in verse 16, Asceticism and angels in verse 18. They hadn't found their way in, but it would seem that there was enough concern for Epaphras to go to Paul and say, Paul, we need some communication from you, the apostle, highly regarded even though you've never been to Colossae, we need your help to keep these things out.

And if we're one who needs help because we've let these things in, let this message resound as clear as I can make it. Repent of that, come back to the Lord, and rededicate yourself to His ways. The first warning we have is in verse 8.

See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy or empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. Now see, philosophy and empty deceit there are a pair, the one describing the other.

So philosophy, the word actually means lover of wisdom, and what Paul says here is it's really an empty deceit. Now let's understand that not all philosophy is bad, any more than all philosophers are bad.

One thing to be careful of though, what we need to be discreet about is that the range of studies for a degree in philosophy is pretty rigorous. People who have degrees in philosophy have studied rhetoric, they've studied logic, they've studied persuasive speech, and they know how to be what Paul says earlier in this same letter, plausible.

They give you plausible arguments, they make good sense, they catch you. We spoke last week about this, where you can sit and you can hear someone speak, and they're telling you things that sound wonderful, you get excited about them, and then like a mist when you go out and by the time you get in your car they kind of vanish, you go, wait, what did he say?

What was that about? What was that wonderful way to greater sanctification? We need to be careful, we need to be discreet about it, we need to be discerning, we need to be careful about what we take in.

Now, I don't tell you to not read, I don't tell you even not to read things that are against your faith. I think it's good to know what's going on outside in the world. I'm not saying take them in and believe them, but to know, to be aware.

One thing I love about John MacArthur, some of the books he's read is I didn't even know that those things were going on, but when I read them he shows in the book, like Charismatic Chaos, he shows just how important it is for us to understand what's going on, so we can protect ourselves.

So I'm not saying don't read those sorts of things, but be discerning about it, be careful. Understand what you're reading. Is it a polemic against your faith? Well, don't take it in, but you may want to know so you can talk to your neighbors what they're being exposed to as well.

Don't be influenced by it. Understand it. And I'm not saying, you know, we're not going to have a book-burning festival here. We just need to be careful. You know, today we even have people called influencers.

That still bothers me when you hear about this person, and what do they do? Oh, they're an influencer. I go, what? No, you're an accountant, or you're a plumber, you're a carpenter, you're an engineer, you're something.

An influencer. It's all around us. We need to be careful what's influencing us. Is it philosophy, empty deceit, man-made things? And then we need to take it to Scripture and say, is this going to draw me closer to Christ or not?

And perhaps we've taken those in, and that's what's slowed you down. That's what's given you another path, or maybe a slight tributary from the narrow path that Jesus Christ lays before us. I would tell you, don't be afraid of those things out there.

Just be careful. Be wise. That's a philosophy. Empty deceit sounds repetitive. I mean, how could deceit, the word could also be vanity, so it'd be empty vanity. How could it be anything but empty? I mean, it just sounds repetitive.

And the pair of words there, empty deceit, is further described by another pair, it says, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world. So don't be taken captive by these things.

Philosophy, empty deceit, human tradition, those are according to human thought, human invention, according to elemental spirits. Those two words, elemental spirits, I mean, it has a long and varied history of interpretation.

Doug Moo and Dr. O 'Brien represent kind of a modern consensus, and what I like is the way they use the language, because they use the language well, and they tie the phrase to the common usage of Paul's day, and they have conclusions that meet Paul's purpose in the entire letter.

So very simply, here's what they say. Elemental spirits, he says, according to elemental spirits, when he says elemental spirits, they were godlike powers, small g, godlike powers that were thought to each have its own authority over a realm of the physical world.

So a god of the stars, a god of the clouds, a god of the rain, that sort of thing. These deities, these mini gods, these astral beings, if you will, whatever they were, could also be placated by what is referred to in verse 18 by ascetic practices, and we'll get to there this afternoon.

But that's what the elemental spirits were, they were thought to be, these deities that controlled these different aspects of the physical world. And Paul says, don't be taken captive by them. So you have philosophy and empty deceit, human tradition, and it's according to the elemental spirits of the world, it's giving in to that old way of thinking or believing, that old religion that the Colossians probably had, many of them themselves and all around them anyway.

So what's this like? Sometimes we say, well, I'm just reading the book. It's just a book. I'm just meditating like the book told me to because it's good for my self-esteem, which that book told me God wants me to have.

What's the problem with that? It could take you captive. Is it philosophy? Is it empty deceit? Is it human tradition only? Is it biblical? As Alistair Begg says so many times, I speak as to sensible people.

God's given you a mind. He's given you discernment. He's given you his spirit. What are we reading? What are we taking in? The word tradition implies something that is long-term, something that is tried and true, empty deceit according to human tradition.

The word even means the handing down of statements or beliefs from generation to generation or long-established ways of thinking and acting. Well today, traditions come up pretty quick, don't they? I mean, they're not even long-established.

They don't even get a chance to ferment. I mean, when Paul speaks of human traditions, he meant things outside of what God would have handed down from one generation to the next. Think of how quick it moves today.

You ever heard of a show or something like that being presented as this is going to be an instant classic? It's impossible. How can you have an instant classic? A classic has to be tradition. A classic has to be tried and true.

It has to ferment for a while. A classic has to be given over a number of years so a lot of people can look and say, that was good, like a good old movie or something like that. Today, the human is at the forefront.

If this doesn't work for you, reject it and start your own new or better tradition, tailor-made to you. And you look inside that label of the suit that's tailor-made for you. And what do you see? Well, you don't see Brooks Brothers.

What do you see? You say, made for me by me, custom-made for me by myself. I mean, today even language has changed for the need of the moment to the point that sometimes I don't really know what people are talking about.

So we need to be careful. This human tradition, it's all around us and it doesn't even have a chance to become a tradition. It happens so fast. Language is changing week by week almost. Instant classics.

I heard on the news, I think I talked about this a few weeks ago, a new contraceptive method that will benefit, and I quote, people who are at risk of becoming pregnant. Goodness sakes. We hear of people suffering from the disease of addiction disorders.

I recently saw a banner that said hypersexuality, which is a new term for me. I imagine I had a long tradition of many, many days, but it said that hypersexuality is a symptom of ADHD. What's the problem with all these?

What's the problem with these human constructs? Well, two. First of all, they're attractive and we sort of want them in. And why do we want them in? Because they sort of give us an excuse. Oh, I'm not being immoral against my spouse, my husband or my wife.

I'm hypersexual because I'm ADHD. Oh, I'm not abusing alcohol or drugs. I have an addiction disorder. I won't even begin to talk about pronouns. We never come out of this. These are the type of philosophy, human traditions, elemental spirits that raise you up and set Christ just a little bit lower.

It's captivity. It's not according to Christ. That's the bookends that Paul gives us. You don't be taken captive. It's not according to Christ. And what is not according to Christ will take you captive.

What is not according to Christ will entrap you. It will ensnare you with the plausibility and will wrap you up so tight that you are its prisoner. You are its captive, whether you know it or not. You've got to be careful of what we take in.

Captive is a unique word that's found only here in our Bible. It means to be carried off as booty, as a prize of war. It means to be victimized or brainwashed, to take control of someone, to lead them astray or to prey on someone spiritually.

All that and that word that Paul uses, this unique word in our whole Bible, see to it that no one takes you captive, puts you back into slavery, ensnares you. You know, watching my now Las Vegas Raiders, I've been a Raiders fan for a long time.

For a lot of years it's been a gut-wrenching experience. I mean, I just can't even start. My son and I like the Raiders. We still like to see the silver and black. How do we enjoy the games now? Because they really are bad.

They've got some hope this year, but I've been saying that for a lot of years. But how do we enjoy them? We look for how they're going to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. They've got the game in hand.

Okay, good. I've got to chuckle. Somebody's been watching. But really, they've got the game in hand. It looks like they're going at them. They're going to win this game. And they find a way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

And sometimes that's kind of fun. Brethren, you know, when we fall away into some man-centered way to gain what only Christ can give, to get a hold of something that He freely gives us, what do we do?

We snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Because this word here about being captive, don't be taken captive, what Paul seems to mean is don't be captured again because you've been set free by Christ.

So don't give yourself back to that enemy from which He freed you. The shackles have come off, as it says in that great hymn, my chains fell off, I rose and followed you. Verses 9 -10 repeats some of what we had in that great hymn in chapter 1, where it says, For in Him, in Christ, the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in Him who is the head of all rule and authority.

Speaking of just what His people, what He has done for His people and who He is, He is Him in whom all the fullness of deity dwells bodily. Jesus Christ came, He was God in the flesh, the Word became flesh, He dwelt in His body on this earth and He rose, or excuse me, He rose in His body and He ascended in that same body and the angels told the apostles, He will return in the same way you saw Him leave.

So for in Him, the whole fullness of deity dwells, all that it means to be God, God the Son is, as is God the Spirit, as is God the Father, and you have been filled in Him who is the head of all rule and authority.

So believers, you and me, we're filled with the fullness of Him in whom all the fullness of God dwells, and dwells pleasantly, dwells eternally, and it's because it is His by nature. And that's Christ's, and He's the one who dwells in you.

He's the one who guards us against these things that come in. He goes on, in Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands by putting off the body of flesh by the circumcision of Christ.

Moses and Joshua and many of the prophets looked ahead to the day when God by His Spirit and because of Christ would perform in the inner man what is only represented by this procedure on the outer man.

The circumcision of Christ, that's not just for men, that's men and women alike, that's all who believe in Him, circumcised, set apart, made holy, made sanctified to God. You were circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, putting off the body of flesh, putting off that sinful flesh by the circumcision of Christ.

The heart of flesh, that's Ezekiel 36, 27, and the regeneration of sinful man by the Holy Spirit in Titus chapter 3 verse 5, fulfill this hope that He had and that's in us in the church. Having been buried with Him in His baptism in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the powerful working God who raised Him from the dead.

You know as Paul warns us against these things, as Paul speaks of philosophy, empty deceit, human traditions, all these things that will not get us where we're going because we're asking really the wrong questions.

He reminds us of this, that we've been buried with Him in baptism, that's faith, baptism being that outer profession of the faith that we have inside and raised with Him through faith in the powerful working God who raised Him from the dead.

Paul says something similar in Ephesians 1, 19 where he speaks of the power of God that He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead that works toward us who believe in Him. We go from spiritually dead to life together in the resurrected Lord who is our life, who is life itself, who is in 1 Corinthians 15, 45 a life-giving spirit.

And how did He do this? How did He accomplish this? Well verse 13 tells us, He forgave us the sins for which Jesus died, those sins and only those sins. And you who are dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with Him having forgiven us all our trespasses by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with His legal demands.

So I cannot count for you the sins, nor can you count for yourself those sins. But I can tell you which of those sins Jesus suffered and died for. It's become one of my favorite numbers. What of your sins did Jesus die for?

What of your sins did Jesus die for and suffer for and reconcile before God His Father? He's forgiven all our trespasses. No superlatives. All simply means all and that's a blessedly good number. But a moment ago I was speaking of captivity and I want to circle back to that.

Because being carried off as a war prize is what is implied in that. He disarmed the rulers. Look at verse 15 again. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them.

In other words, victory. Victory over those elementary spirits, elemental spirits that seem to run things. Victory over even death. Jesus subdued the strongman who's Satan. Jesus plundered him of his possessions and that's you and me.

Paul wrote of being displayed last in a Roman victory parade. Last because he and his fellows were of such little note, they were so unimpressive that the conqueror, the Roman general, didn't want to even show them off.

They last as if someone not even worth conquering. So do you know where the spiritual forces of darkness are? What is their status? They've been disarmed. Jesus has conquered them. You know the most humiliating thing a defeated soldier can do is to be forced to lay down his arms.

Now sometimes a conquering general will allow his defeated foe the dignity of keeping a sword or a sidearm, but not Jesus. Not for the rulers and authorities he defeated by his cross and his resurrection.

They've been put to open shame. Do you start to see now what it means when you look to the world for help? When you take in human tradition, philosophies, empty deceit, and that sort of thing? Are you starting to see what it means when we do that?

Not just slowing us down in our path towards Christ, because it takes us off the path. When we look to the world for help, for helping what Jesus Christ offers, for helping what the Spirit within you leads you towards.

I'm not talking about helping your math class. I'm not talking about helping your physical fitness. God leads that to your needs and to your judgment. Help in gaining what God has said is now yes and amen in Christ.

What does it mean when we give into the world human philosophy, empty traditions? You'd see I'm mixing those things up because I think that would be Paul's meaning there too. It's snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

Like my frustration with the raiders, but so much more important. When we give into those things outside of these four walls, outside of the Scripture, it's to redignify those forces that have once been arrayed against you and say to them, you come back up here to a better seat.

You come back up here to the place of honor. I will give you that honor. You come out from the public shame, from the defeat that Jesus worked on you, and I'll bring you back up a little bit. That is what we do.

When we look to anything other than God by His Spirit and the Scripture He's given us to accomplish that which God would have us to accomplish. And what is that? Romans 8 says, we're predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son.

Anything taking us off that path or anything that is not from Scripture and by His Spirit will take you off that path. So sometimes the problem is just with the question. They're answering or asking the wrong question.

You know, I was a young boy. I read a book. I forget the name of it. I thought it was up Periscope, but I don't think it was that. It was the story of a submarine, a U .S. submarine on patrol in the Pacific Ocean in World War II.

And at one point, they get trapped by a very savvy and determined Japanese destroyer or destroyer, captained by a very savvy commander. And he's got them trapped, and of course, in those days, you didn't have nuclear power, so you only had the air that was there when you closed the hatch and dived.

And they're getting depth charged, and they're running out of air. And at one point, the captain calls the crew up into the control room. He says, men, we have three choices. We can stay here and take a chance that he'll give up before we suffocate.

We can surface and surrender, or we can surface and fight it out, which is almost impossible. Submarines are so vulnerable when they're on the surface against a surface ship. Well, one man, a very young sailor, when he was given the option, or the men were given the option to surface and surrender, he raised his hand.

And then when he saw that for the next option, which is to surface and fight it out, he saw that he was the only one who voted there. He burst into tears. I'll never forget the scene in the book where the captain comes up, puts his arm around him, and says, it's okay, boy, you just answered the wrong question.

That's what we do sometimes with the questions. We ask the wrong question. Why am I not happy? Why is this not working out the way I wanted it to? Why, why, why? When the question really should be, what have I allowed in that is not of Christ?

What human tradition have I trusted because it looked like it was more practical? Maybe it would work more quickly? And what do we leave behind? Growth in Christ? Faith being strengthened by seeing that God's word is good and perfect and acceptable, Romans 12 .2?

We need to ask the right question if we're ever going to solve anything. Maybe for this morning, the question that needs to be asked is, what elemental worldly principle have I allowed in? What ruler and authority, defeated by Jesus at the cross and consigned to the most disgraceful position in his victory parade, which of those have I taken by the hand and given a place of prominence in my life once again?

Paul's warning is severe. He is concerned. See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit. I would add in this message, see to it that you're not captive again. Again, Matthew 12 .29, where Jesus, the strong man, plunders his house.

He wraps him up. He subdues him. Jesus subdued Satan at the cross and plundered him of you and me, brought us into the kingdom of light, into his kingdom. As it says in 2 Peter, then gave us all things pertaining to life and righteousness.

Everything we need to grow in holiness in the scripture. Have you slowed down in that path? Do you have that same acceleration towards Christ that you had a few years ago when you were first saved? What has slowed you down?

Ask yourself, what have I allowed in? What has slowed you down? Ask yourself, what methodology have I accepted? Why are you not where you thought you should be in accordance with growing into Christ's image?

One answer could be, if we ask the right question, I've allowed human philosophy and vain deceit to come in, and I've trusted it too much. If that's you, you can repent. First John 1 .9 says, if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

If you don't know Jesus Christ, you may well accomplish a wonderful relationship, a fat checking account, and a successful career, all to the glory of you, and none to Christ. Christ will be glorified when you're condemned.

I would call upon you to repent, believe in Jesus Christ, trust that God put him on the cross to die for your sins. Trust that message, and know in your heart that God raised him from the dead, and will raise you also.

And whatever it is that you have to leave behind in order to be with him is well worth it. But you have to ask the right question first. Amen. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, I give you thanks for the day, and I thank you for this message.

I thank you, Father, for the protection that your scripture gives us. If only we would look and read it and obey it. I thank you for your spirit, Father, and I pray that you would give us what we need to defend ourselves from all the things that Paul says here, the traditions and the philosophies and the vain deceits and the elemental spirits.

All these things, Father, we reject, and we look to you and you alone by your spirit to guide us on that path that would please you most, which is to be conformed to the image of your Son, Jesus Christ.

In whose name we pray, amen.