Mysticism’s Influence on the Church

Transcript

GR 982
8/24/1997
Mysticism’s Influence On the Church
Colossians 2:18-19
Gil Rugh

Colossians chapter 2 in your Bibles. Paul’s letter to believers at Colossae, Colossians chapter 2. The last part of Colossians chapter 2 is taken up with Paul’s warning and exhortation about the danger of the false teaching and false teachers that are attempting to infiltrate and influence the church at Colossae and the churches in that surrounding region. The false teachers are really under the guise of trying to help them spiritually, really attempting to lead them away from faithfulness to Christ. The Colossian heresy we have identified as really Judaism, Judaizers, not just Jewish beliefs, but the Judaizers who attempted to mix beliefs from the Mosaic Law, Jewish additions to the Law, and the message of Christ all together. It was a group and a kind of teaching that was a problem in numerous places. It comes up again and again in the New Testament. The book of Galatians deals almost in its entirety with the heretical teaching of the Judaizers. At Colossae this false teaching, this heretical teaching, really is a mixture of legalism, mysticism and asceticism. Legalism has to do with trying to make yourself acceptable or more acceptable to God by your own efforts. It is an attempt to do what God requires in your own strength. It really is a rejection of God’s grace.

Now again keep in mind, this is papered over so that it looks attractive. But legalism is an attack on the grace of God. These teachers who would encourage the Colossian believers to keep the Law or parts of the Law in order to be more godly, more pleasing to God, really are attacking God’s grace. In Romans chapter 11, verse 6, Paul spoke about the fact that there were a group of Jews who were a remnant according to God’s gracious choice, according to an election of grace. Then he goes on to say “if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace.” So you see when you make salvation or the Christian life--sanctification--a matter of works, keeping the Law or parts of the Law or a set of external commandments to be obeyed, you have really denied God’s grace. And that’s what legalism is. The Scripture is clear. And we have seen this in verses 16 and 17, this matter of legalism, and we have seen that legalism is not a way of salvation. You cannot be saved by keeping the Ten Commandments, for example. And the Scripture is clear. “By the works of the Law [and the Ten Commandments are part of the Law] shall no flesh be justified in His sight; For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law,” Romans chapter 3, verses 20 and 28.


Now we need to be careful as God’s people. Not only are you not saved by keeping the Law or by following a set of external laws or regulations, but you do not grow and develop as God’s child once you are saved by keeping the Law or following a set of external commandments. Paul wrote to the Galatians in chapter 3, verses 2 and 3, that certain teachers there wanted to put believers back under the Law or parts of the Law with circumcision. “This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?” Well naturally you received the Holy Spirit by believing in the gospel of Jesus Christ and His death, burial, and resurrection as payment for your sin. Then the Holy Spirit came into your life. Well then Paul goes on, “Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” You have been saved by God’s work of grace and now you are growing to maturity by your own efforts? That is foolishness. Now we know that that does not mean that there are not commandments we have to obey as Christians. There is the law of Christ which are the commandments of the New Testament. But the Mosaic Law as a unit, one entity, has been brought to completion in Christ.

True, nine of the Ten commandments are repeated in the New Testament. We obey those commands, not because they are part of the Mosaic Law, but because they are a part of the commands given to us in Christ in the New Testament. And the obedience to that flows from within not from without. It is a result of the work of God in salvation in transforming our hearts and making us new creatures in Christ now indwelt by the Holy Spirit and living under His power, and thus submitting to His word and having His character produced in and through us from within. The major distinction between legalism and grace: legalism attempting to conform ourselves to a set of rules and regulations; and grace, God transforming us by His power working through us and in us.

Paul now continues, having dealt with the legalism aspect of this heresy, to move on to another aspect of the heresy--mysticism. That is dealt with in verses 18 and 19. And again, there is overlap because this teaching forms a unit, if you will, of the heresy being promoted--comprised of legalism, mysticism and asceticism. Yet we see the different elements as Paul sets them forth. Verses 18 and 19 deal with the subject of mysticism. Webster’s Dictionary defines mysticism as “the belief that direct knowledge of God, spiritual truth for ultimate reality, can be attained through subjective experience.” It would also include vague speculation, a belief without sound basis. Mysticism looks for truth within. You come to know God through your subjective experiences rather than His objective revelation. That is what we are dealing with in mysticism--that subjective, inner feeling that guides and directs a person, that their feelings just tell them that this is what God is like, this is what God would do or is doing. I know it in my heart, which means this is what I feel is true, and this is what God has done in my life. There is a place for personal testimony but only as it is reflecting the objective truth that has been worked out in my life.

The Scriptures are objective truth. They stand outside of me and outside of you. They say the same thing today they said 2000 years ago. They stand unchanging. My feelings change. My personal convictions have been altered. But the Word of God does not change. “Heaven and earth will pass away, but God’s word will not pass away,” Jesus said. Mysticism would like to transfer the standard of truth, right and wrong information about God, from an objective standpoint to a subjective standpoint. Now again, these Judaizers did not come in and say “Let’s discard the Word and go on your experience.” They bring in a mixture. “Oh, of course, we need the Word.” But in mysticism a change occurs--the authority in your life, the guidance in your life, the knowledge of God, ultimately comes from subjective experience not objective revelation.


This whole area is becoming more and more pervasive in the evangelical church today where we subtly, but very perceptively, have moved from an emphasis on the objective revelation of the Scriptures to the subjective feelings of a person. In our whole society, we have come to think of every person as their own authority. No one should tell anyone else that what they are doing is wrong or that they are inferior in any area or anything like that. Everyone has their own inner light, if you will. That begins to affect our thinking as believers. We begin to think people who say “this is truth; this is right; this is wrong; this is sin,” those people are arrogant, they are narrow, when in reality they are biblical. And we see it is just the reverse of what Scripture says.

Look at verse 18. It begins with a command. “Let no one keep defrauding you.” “Let no one keep defrauding you.” Now that is a command that in many ways is parallel to the command that was given in the beginning of verse 16. “Let no one act as your judge.” Both are commands given in the present tense. We call it present imperative. “Let no one act as your judge.” Those believers in verse 16 were not to allow false teachers who would want to impose the Law on them to act as their judge in that matter, to intimidate them.

Now he says, “Do not allow anyone to keep defrauding you of your prize.” This expression to defraud of your prize comes really from one compound word. There are two ideas in the word, and both are true and biblical. One, the word can mean to act as a umpire. It is a compound word. The word to be an umpire with the word against in front of it. So let no one rule against you. He is saying basically the same thing as he said in very 16. “Let no one act as your judge.” The basic word without the preposition on the front is used in Colossians chapter 3, verse 15, when he says “and let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.” That word translated rule is the basic word that we have translated defraud of your prize in chapter 2. “Let the peace of Christ act as the umpire in your heart.” You might translate chapter 3, verse 15, with the preposition against on the front of it--umpire against you, rule against you. So don’t allow these Judaizers to intimidate you into thinking that you are not biblical, that you are not being godly because you will not conform to their way of thinking, to their rules and to their subjective experiences that they want to make authoritative for the church.

And the other possibility is the translation we have in the New American Standard Bible. “Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize” or “let no one defraud you.” The word “keep” defrauding has been added to give you the flavor of the present tense, but here literally “let no one defraud you of your prize.” And the word not only means umpire but it can mean a prize. The compound word can mean defraud. Part of the problem is this is the only time this compound word is used in the New Testament. And it is rarely used outside the New Testament. But it is used to defraud of a prize. And if that is the flavor here, the warning is not to allow these false teachers to defraud you of the prize that God has promised in Christ. Initially that prize would refer to His salvation. Because as we’ll see at the beginning of verse 19, these false teachers have no relationship to Christ. So people who follow them are led away from Christ, not to Christ. The danger is you will listen to these false teachers, accept what they say and be deprived of the salvation that you can humbly have in Christ.


It is also a warning to believers that if they follow these false teachers, they will not arrive at the maturity that God intends for them in Christ, which would be the subject of verse 19 as well. Whatever the emphasis here, it is clear. Believers are not to allow themselves to be influenced by these false teachers, not to accept their false authority, and to be on guard to the damage they would do in the lives of those that come under their influence.

You know in Galatians chapter 5, verse 4, Paul warns the Galatians about the danger they face. The Judaizers were influencing the churches in Galatia. They were saying that you have to be circumcised to be saved, you have to keep parts of the Law to really be a godly person. Paul says “you have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by Law; you have fallen from grace.” If you follow the heresy of legalism and mysticism, you have been cut off from Christ as a way of salvation. You have fallen from grace, and there is no salvation apart from the grace of God because you can’t be saved by your own works. This is a serious area and a serious matter. What he is going to do is elaborate this, and it becomes clear the kind of issue and why we need to take a stand. This is important for the church; the church gets infiltrated because we don’t grasp the seriousness of the situation. Why do we always have to be so hard-nosed? Why do we have to be against everybody? Can’t we let them have their beliefs, and we have ours, and we all get along because we talk about Christ? Wrong. It is too serious for that.


So he is going to describe four characteristics of these false teachers. You'll see why you don’t want to come under their influence. You won’t want to let them rule against you as to what your Christian life ought to be and how it ought to be lived. You don’t want them to defraud you on what you can have only in Christ and an ongoing relationship with Him. And there are four participial phrases, four statements, each built around a participle. Let me mention them to you, then we are going to walk through them individually. Number one, characterizing these false teachers who would defraud you: they are characterized by delighting in self-abasement and worship of angels. The participle we have there is the word we have translated “delighting.” That is one characteristic, two aspects--self-abasement and worship of angels. We will talk about the details in a moment.

Number two characteristic of these false teachers: “Taking his stand on visions he has seen,” “taking his stand on visions he has seen.” Number three: “Inflated without cause by his fleshly mind,” and to put it into participial form for us in English, “being inflated without cause by his fleshly mind.” Number four, the first statement in verse 19: “Not holding fast to the head.” “Not holding fast to the head.” You will probably see a progression here, because no doubt the fourth one stands out, and it is marked off as even separate in its own way by the conjunction “and.” That is sort of the climax. And this is the real problem--they have no connection with Christ, as we will see.

Let’s take them in order. These false teachers who want to defraud the Colossians, they are delighting in self-abasement and worship of angels. The expression in self-abasement and worship of angels dramatically join these two things together so that the worship of angels is a further expression of their self-abasement. That one preposition “in” connects the two expressions joined by the conjunction--we have it as “and.” Shows they are closely related together. This word translated self-basement is a good word from the standpoint it is used of believers often. It is a desirable quality in a believer's life--it means humility. But in the context here, and in other places, it can be used negatively of a false humility, a self-generated humility. And clearly that is what he is talking about here. This self-abasement, this self-induced humility, manifests itself in the worship of angels. You know it is one thing if you say that I am a humble person; it is another thing if I tell you I am a humble person. As soon as I start to lecture you on how humble I am, you have serious questions. That is not true humility; that is self-induced humility which is another way of saying 'pride'.


Now these false teachers evidently were approaching this subject in this kind of way. We don’t have a lot of details, but their self-induced humility expresses itself in the worship of angels. And thus you come across something like this: “You know we are sinful beings, contaminated by sin. And I would never think of myself as worthy of personally coming into the presence of a God who is completely holy. Rather, this God has surrounded Himself with angels. And remember we as human beings are a little lower than the angels. And we know from the Scriptures that the throne room of heaven is inhabited by angels. And one of the angelic order, called the Seraphim, guard the throne of God declaring, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.” Further, the Jews knew that the angels were the instruments that God used to give the Mosaic Law. They had been used as intermediaries between God and man. So you see it is easy to talk about worshiping angels and using angels as a go-between between God and man from the standpoint of expressing it as humility. I am too humble. I realize how lowly I am. I would not consider myself worthy to step into the throne room of God in glory. But rather the angels who always serve in His presence, who behold the face of God, I come to them because I am so humble.”

Turn over to Hebrews chapter 2. In reference to the Old Testament Law, we are told, “For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?” You see, we are told that the Mosaic Law was given through angels. In Psalm 68, verse 17, we are told that when they were on Mt. Sinai when God met with Moses, there were a whole host of angelic beings with Him. In Acts chapter 7, verse 53, when Steven is about to be stoned, he is speaking to the religious leaders of Israel and he says that the Mosaic Law was given through angels. So angels serve as mediators. When God gave the Law to Moses, He used angels to communicate to him. So see it's easy to develop and see God intends that the angels stand between Him and man. And it only makes sense that if we have a true sense of our sinfulness and our unworthiness, and if we are truly humbled before God, that we would not think of ourselves as worthy to come into His presence, but that we would come before the angels. And besides, doesn’t the book of Revelation tell us that the angels bring the prayers of the saints in the bowls before the Father in heaven?

So there is lots of Scripture for us to understand how humbled we are. You know, we can have made a good case. I almost had myself convinced. That is why I have to come to the Word of God and look for the consistency of the Word. And I find that thinking is not humility. That is self-induced humility, because the Scripture tells me that Jesus Christ the Son of God has become my High Priest, and He has provided access into the presence of God. And I come not because of my worthiness, but because of His worthiness; not because I am acceptable by what I do, but because He is acceptable because of what He does. So the Scripture says “Let us come with boldness to the throne of grace because we have a faithful High Priest.” The Scripture also tells us in I Timothy chapter 2, verse 5, that “there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” One mediator, the man Christ Jesus. Well, what about the angels? They are not mediators. They are not to be worshiped. Let me tell you, anyone you pray to is an object of worship. Anyone that you come to as greater than yourself to seek a representation between you and God, you are worshiping. It was self-induced humility that promoted this worship of angels, even though it might have been promoted under the guise of being more humble, more honoring to God. Jesus said to Satan in the temptation in Matthew chapter 4, verse 10, and He was quoting Deuteronomy chapter 6, verse 13, when Satan says, If you will fall down and worship me, I will give you all the kingdoms of the world. Jesus said what? “You shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.” You say, well that was Satan. Well, in the Book of Revelation when the angel had given so much revelation to John that John fell down and worshiped the angel. Revelation 19:10 the angel said, “do not do that; I am a fellow servant of yours and your brethren who hold to the testimony of Jesus; worship God.” This is repeated in Revelation chapter 22 and verse 9. The end of Hebrews chapter 1 says the angels are “ministering spirits, sent forth to serve on behalf of those who are the heirs of salvation.” A crucial matter, this idea of intermediaries between God and man.

The Roman Catholic church has built a whole system of praying to the saints to intercede for us to God, and Mary is at the pinnacle. Some of you saw the article from Time magazine, the cover story of Time magazine (You should read it, if you haven’t) on Mary. I just happen to have the article here. Can you believe that? “Hail Mary. A growing movement in the Roman Catholic church wants the Pope to proclaim a new, controversial dogma that Mary is a co-redeemer.” This is from August 25th, 1997. Do you realize that the Pope receives letters or signatures on requests at the rate of 100,000 a month asking him to declare an official Roman Catholic doctrine and dogma that Mary is co-redemptrix with Christ, co-redeemer? “Each signature is attached to a special petition asking the Pope to exercise the power of Papal infallibility to proclaim a new dogma of the Roman Catholic faith that the virgin Mary is co-redemptrix, mediatrix of all graces, an advocate for the people of God. If the drive succeeds, Catholics would be obliged as a matter of faith to accept three extraordinary doctrines: that Mary participates in the redemption achieved by her Son; that all graces that flow from the suffering and death of Jesus Christ are granted only through Mary’s intercession with her Son; and that all prayers and petitions from the faithful on earth will likewise flow through Mary who then brings them to the attention on Jesus.” This is what theologians call high Mary-ology. Now interesting from Time Magazine. “It seems to contradict the New Testament belief that there is only one mediator between God and man, Christ Jesus, I Timothy 2:5. In place of the Holy Trinity, it would appear there would be a kind of holy quartet, with Mary playing the multiple roles of daughter of the Father, mother of the Son and spouse of the Holy Spirit.” So you see who has become the most important figure? The one who is related to all three members of the trinity in an intimate way. Daughter of the Father, mother of the Son, and spouse of the Holy Spirit.

I don’t want to go through a lot of the details. I may use some of this material with you on a later date. This Pope, Pope John Paul the Second—who many Evangelical Christians are saying is a born again Christian and are promoting an alignment and reunion between Evangelicals and Catholics. Listen to what the Pope said. April 1997, in the recent statement by the reigning Pope: “Having created man, male and female, the Lord also wants to place the new Eve beside the new Adam in the redemption.” The new Adam is Christ, Romans 5. The new Eve is Mary. The Lord wants to place the new Eve beside the new Adam. “Mary, the new Eve, thus becomes the perfect icon of the church. We can therefore turn to the blessed virgin, trustfully imploring her aid in the awareness of the singular role entrusted to her by God, the role of co-operator in the redemption.” The co-operator, she operates with Christ in the work of redemption.

Another interesting alignment as well--the feminists who have been anti-catholic have done a dramatic change recently. “Feminists, who 20 years ago dismissed Mary as the oppressive virgin mother created by a clerical patriarchy, now celebrate her as a free woman who chose to say 'yes' to God at the enunciation where Eve said 'no' in the Garden of Eden and thus made salvation history possible.” So now the feminists have joined hands with the Roman Catholic church, and what do they say? Salvation was made possible by Mary. She is assuming a higher and higher role, and on the article goes. Although as the article tells me, it says precious little about Mary in the Bible. We are going to see where this kind of teaching comes from as we proceed with the Colossian heresy.

That is just one example of a system that would attempt to create intermediaries between God and man. The existing Pope has devoted his Papacy to the virgin Mary. Now what interests me in all of this is not what the Roman Catholics are doing, because nothing has really changed in Rome, but there are those who profess to be Evangelical Christians today saying we ought to be joining hands with Rome. They are saying we ought to be joining hands with those who are promoting a form of the Colossian heresy. But Paul says these people have no connection with Christ. This is a serious issue. How do people who claim to be Christians get so confused? How does the church so lose its way? Paul writes a letter about heresy confronting the church two thousand years ago, and the same heresy confronts the church today, and people are thinking it is a wonderful thing. I am talking about people like Bill Bright who established Campus Crusade for Christ, Chuck Colson, Jack Van Impe, J. I. Packer and on the list goes. But they are saying we ought to be joining in accord with Roman Catholics. Do you get any idea in our study of Colossians that Paul thought the Colossian believers ought to be joining hands with those promoting the Colossian heresy? The devil has not created something new; he is recycling an old heresy. You know what is wrong? The church today is basically ignorant of the Word of God and so is functioning in the realm of mysticism on the basis of its feelings which is the next area.


Come back to Colossians 2. Not only do they have self-humility, self-generated humility in the worship of intermediaries between God and man, but they also in Colossians 2:18 are “taking their stand on visions they have seen.” These false teachers take their stand on visions they have seen. And what he is basically saying is that much of their theology is not rooted in the Scripture; it is rooted in their experiences. That article is a good example, using the Roman Catholic Church as an example. No one is claiming that the Scripture says Mary was taken to heaven without dying (the Roman Catholic Church declared it dogma around 1950, the infallibility of the Pope) anymore than the Scripture says that Mary was conceived immaculately, without sin. Then in the late 1800's the Pope declared it infallibly a dogma of the church. Where do they get this? Now people write petitions to the Pope at the rate of 100,000 signatures a month. Declare a dogma. Where do you get that from? These people feel like it is the right thing to do. They went to a place where there was supposedly an apparition of Mary, and they had an overwhelming experience. Now we want this to be our doctrine. We have created it subjectively out of our own experiences.

One commentator said, “Such ?spiritual orientation’ is a treadmill. The seekers of these experiences can never be satisfied, and the experience becomes the hermeneutic [the way you interpret] and the authority behind spiritual life; so-called spiritual experience is everything.”

The modern day Charismatic movement is a great example of this. I have been watching some of these preachers this past week. It amazes me how often God or an angel speaks to them. Now I like the personal way they do it. God appeared in my room, and God said to me “Benny, I want you to tell these people tomorrow to give their money.” “Lord, now you don’t really want me to say that.” “Now Benny, you listen to me.” “Oh, Lord I don’t think it is.” “Benny, you do what I tell you now.” I mean, they are carrying it on like you know it goes on. I ask, “Does this have anything to do with Scripture?” Do you find this kind of silliness going on in the word of God?

The Apostle Paul in II Corinthians 12 tells about being caught up to the third heaven and having such an overwhelming revelation, but he says, you know, I’m not even allowed to speak about it. These people, God turns up the foot of their bed and talks to them. And they talk back to Him and say, “No, God. I don’t think that is a good idea.” And God says, “Look, you listen to Me.” Do you find this kind of familiarity and triteness going on in the Word of God? I'm thinking, nobody listens to this except me, because I am trying to find out what is wrong. Then they have a fund raising thing and money is coming at the rate of seven million dollars a day.


They have the so-called Pensacola revival going on in Florida. And it is spreading to other places, including our city, because God said something or these people are experiencing something. So people are going there so they can catch the experience and bring it back to their city and their church. Where is the Word of God in this, that I've got to go down there and catch something like I am catching the flu from what somebody is experiencing? I want to go down there and rub against them, and then I will get back here and you rub against me, and we will have the same experience? That has anything remotely connected to the objective authority of the Word of God? We have to be careful because what happens to us? People tell these stories. They got a new car out of it. They got a new house. Their sickness was healed. And all of a sudden, those subjective experiences that have never really been verified (and when they go to verify them, they evaporate) but they tell me something I want to believe. I don’t want to toil and labor in the study of the Word of God. I want to get zapped. You come down to the front here and I will lay my hands on you, and you will get slain in the Spirit, and you will flop over. All of a sudden, an instant spiritual impact in your life. Sure beats the detailed study of the Word. And suddenly we are looking for more experience and less truth.

Now we don’t really say that. We just subtly find our way to some place where what? Where I go away feeling like I worshiped. I go away feeling like God has worked in my life. What does that mean? I don’t know. You have to know it. It loses any trace of objectivity outside of myself. Then I pass that along. Well I went to that meeting, and in that meeting the Spirit got ahold of me and I felt totally different. Come with me and you will feel totally different too. But what’s that got to do with biblical Christianity? You see the characteristic of these false teachers. They take their stand on visions they have seen on their own subjective experiences, and they want you to accept their experience as authoritative in their life. God didn’t come into my room and stand at the foot of my bed. An angel in glowing light didn’t come into my bedroom this morning. So I have to get it from you, because He came to your room. It is amazing. And people believe this. John Avanzini gives his testimony of how in Africa God spoke to him and gave him the rule of biblical economics, and when he went and revealed it the next day, people were throwing money over the balconies. They finally had to tell them stop. Now I have got to say I was tempted to try it! I mean, I would love to say if you are just throwing the money up here. “stop it.” It just isn’t true. It is not biblical. It is somebody’s experience. It is story theology. But I would like it to be true.

Third characteristic of these teachers. They are inflated without cause in their fleshly mind. Inflated means filled with air, puffed up. And there is no reason for it. They think they are great. And you note the combination here to start it off. Self-abasement in the worship of angels, inflated without cause. So in one sense they are coming across that they are so humble. On the other side, they are all puffed up in their fleshly mind. Let’s face it, it is great arrogance to say, God spoke to me last night. God told me to tell you this. God revealed this to me for you. And you can’t listen to these individuals and be exposed to this and not be impacted by their sense of authority and self-importance. You are hearing from them the words of God, not because they are telling you what the Scripture says, but they are telling you 'God told me this. As I was getting ready for this meeting tonight, God said to me...' “Inflated without cause by their fleshly mind.”


“Fleshly mind” Listen to a couple of quotes from Romans chapter 8, verses 6, 7 and 8. These are just portions of these verses. “For the mind set on the flesh is death...because the mind set on the flesh in hostile toward God...and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” These are people under the control of fleshly minds. They are hostile toward God. Do we want the church of Jesus Christ to be influenced by the life and teaching of those who are hostile toward God, by those who cannot please God?

People will say, do you think they really know that they are deluding and deceiving people? I don’t know the answer to that. But you know what happens? Sometimes sin so gets you in its clutches, you lose touch with reality. Doesn’t that happen in sin? I mean look at a person that is involved in a sinful behavior. You scratch your head and say, Open your eyes, dummy. I mean, this is just foolishness. How often people after going through certain sinful behavior say, I don’t know what I was thinking of. I don’t know what happened. You know, your sin so takes control of you, you lose touch with reality. And ultimately some people become a mental case. We need to be careful about this whole area. I don’t know whether they know or not. Paul doesn’t deal with it. He doesn’t get into the fact of 'well maybe demons were influencing them.' I don’ t know. But really, the cause is that they are under the control of fleshly minds. They are unregenerate people. 'Oh, wait a minute. They say a lot of good things.' You know what Paul points out here? What’s wrong with them, not what’s right! That is the key.

You know we are having problems now with the processing of meat. And you know if you put the meat on a scale and weigh the bacteria, you would say the bacteria is nothing. But it does a great deal of damage, doesn’t it? We are to look at this heresy a lot more seriously and significant in the spiritual realm. They are puffed up without cause by their unregenerate minds.

And the fourth characteristic, the climax: They are “not holding fast to the head.” This is the explanation of the problem. They have no connection to Christ. “Not holding fast to the head.” The grammatical structure here in the Greek text can mean rejecting the head. They have no connection with the head. That is the point. This analogy of Christ as the head of the body was used over in chapter 1, verse 18. “He is also head over the body, the Church.” Well these are people who have no connection with Christ who is the head of His body, the Church. They are unregenerate people.


In John’s gospel chapter 15, verses 4-6, Jesus used the analogy of the branch and the vine. “You abide in Me, and I in you. For just like the branch cannot bear fruit unless it abides in the vine, so you cannot bear fruit unless you abide in Me.” Jesus said, “Without Me, you can do nothing.” In other words, if you don’t abide in Me, you are cut off and cast into the fire. He is saying the same thing with another analogy. Here are people who want to teach the church, who want to influence the church, and they have no relationship to Jesus Christ. This is serious business.

“Not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body [talking about the body of Christ, the Church] being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments [That is the activity of the individual members of the body exercising the spiritual gifts God has given them] grows with growth which is from God.” Now here you see God’s plan of salvation and growth. You come into a relationship with Christ through faith in Him. You are made a member of His body, and now you are brought to maturity not by a combination of Scripture, legalism, mysticism and asceticism, but by the supernatural working of Christ through His Word and the members of the body. God develops the body. You have a “growth which is from God.”

Turn back to Ephesians chapter 4 which is paralleled to this. And really verses 7-16 can be read in connection with this, but we’ll break into it. In verse 11 of Ephesians 4, certain gifts that involve the teaching and preaching of the Word of God are mentioned. These gifts which involve the communication of God’s truth are given--verse 12, “for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to Christ.” That is the growth which is from God. The growth is from Christ and into Christ. It comes as a result of His working through the Spirit Whom He has given to the body, and that is God’s plan for developing His people. “As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies...” See the parallel to the Colossians? According to the proper working of each individual part causes the growth of the body, or the building up of itself in love, that is the growth which is from God. God’s people nurtured and nourished on God’s Word. “As newborn babes,” I Peter 2, “long for the pure, unadulterated milk of God’s word that you might grow with respect to your salvation.”


The church today continues to look for a way around, a shortcut. We want instant growth. I would like some kind of experience that would transport me into glory now. This study of the Scripture, this serious reading of it and studying of it, and taking it into my life, that is hard work. You know, it is like you go to a football game, what happens? In the emotion of the moment you get caught up with it. You may not know a lot about football. You know things will be going on and you get caught up in it. You scream and you holler, you say, now what were they doing? You just get caught up in it. I do; we all do. You're swept along with it. Believers want to go to church, I want to go to church, and have some kind of feeling when I come out. We can manipulate minds, and the bigger the crowd, the easier it is to manipulate people because you have the crowd effect. But that doesn’t produce growth.

We had a tragic case recently of a little girl murdered in Colorado. There has been much in the news about these beauty pageants for young girls. What do they do? They dress them up, they put make-up on them, they put the clothes on them, and in one sense they look like they are 21 but they are only 6. It becomes something ugly and distorted, does it not? You don’t have a true 21-year old. You don’t have the true maturity that comes from growth over years--you have a distorted picture. So to grow people to maturity in Christ, we want something that will look good; but if you don’t have growth which is growth from God, you don’t have genuine maturity. You have something that is ugly and distorted. It can have appearances that make it look like maturity, but it is not real. There is only one way to grow. Paul is warning these Colossians not to be confused, not to be led astray.

These false teachers have no association with Christ. You come under their teaching and what happens? You are not taking in the Word of God in its purity. Now you cannot function in connection with others who are taking in the Word and thus be brought to maturity by the supernatural power of God over time. You have accepted a substitute which has some appearances of the real thing, but it is not the real thing. You see, we are at the heart of what God is doing in the church today. We are commanded not to be defrauded of our prize, not to allow these false teachers to rule against us--whichever emphasis you want, they both are true.

Recognize the characteristic of these teachers. they have a false humility and misdirected worship. They have an experience-based doctrine. They have pride which is produced by an unregenerate mind. They are fully confident. And it is their confidence, their overwhelming, settled confidence that causes us to wonder, be taken back, be intimidated. It is the confidence produced by a fleshly mind. They have no connection to Christ. That being the case, they have absolutely nothing to offer, nothing to offer in the context of salvation, nothing to offer in the context of sanctification. The door must be shut tight. I don’t want to imply we have anything in agreement. Can I tell ultimately whether they are saved or not? This is the question I always get. You mentioned some names, are you saying they are not saved? I am not saying that. I cannot see their hearts. I know what the teaching is here. I know what the scripture says about it. I know what the scripture says about these characteristics. I know what my responsibility is in life. But God will have to sort out the wheat and the tares in His time. We as believers ought to have the discernment that the Scripture requires of us so that we can grow and mature in Christ, so that the beauty of His person can be seen more and more fully in us. No short cuts; we want the growth that is a growth from God. Let’s pray together.


Thank you Lord for a wonderful salvation, a wonderful Savior. Lord, He is all we need, all we desire and all we long for. He is our sufficiency; He is our adequacy. Lord, may our appetite for Your truth grow and increase. May we love Your Word more than our food, more than material possessions. Lord, we desire to grow. Make us on guard and alert as a church to be careful of those things, those influences, those teachers, who would turn us aside from the purity of devotion to a precious and sufficient Savior. We pray in His name, Amen.

GR 982 Colossians 2:18,19