First Baptist Church
June 8, 2025
  • Why Do The Nations Rage

      • Psalms 24.1-3ESV

      • Psalms 24.4-6ESV

      • Psalms 24.7-9ESV

      • Psalms 24.10ESV

  • Psalm 24 (The King Of Glory)
  • O for a Thousand Tongues
  • All Glory Be To Christ

      • Colossians 2.6-7ESV

  • Show Us Christ
  • Backdrop of the Epistle (Part 2)

    III. The Purpose

    It’s hard to know for absolute certain why the letter was written but there certainly are strong indications of it’s intent. One of the primary reasons (and we will discuss 3 of them) that the letter was written was due to...

    A. False Teaching

    1. Significance of the False Teaching

    Well, in part, we can answer this by remembering some background material as well as looking at the contents of the letter itself.
    Recall, with me again, how is it again that this church was founded.… or in other words, who should be credited primarily with planting the church there. Epaphras (if you said Paul, I would give you partial credit only if you could explain why. The acceptable answer would be that Paul likely discipled Epaphras why he was ministering in Ephesus for 3 1/2 years, are through the ministry there, all of Asia Minor heard of the power of the Gospel.) What is though noteworthy of Paul’s relationship with the church at Colossae. Well, there is no actual relationship as far as we can tell. Paul had never met most of them. He only knew and met a couple of them. Then how did he know about them? Through Epaphras… How did Epaphras communicate to Paul about the church in Colossae. I can’t with absolute certainty tell you that they never communicated via letter, but I can tell you with certainty that Epaphras did indeed travel to Paul’s location in Rome. We talk about that last week when Paul in the final chapter of the book of Colossians tells the church that Epaphras sends his greetings to you. He can only do that if Epaphras is there with him.
    The final question that begs being mentioned is, why did Epaphras feel the need to travel all the way to Rome to visit Paul? What was so important that it required the commitment to travel some 1100 miles to Rome from Colossae?
    I believe it was Epaphras’ concern over the false teachings and heresy that was beginning to flourishing in the city that caused great concern for Epaphras. And it was perhaps starting to garner the attention of his church.
    Application:
    When Epaphras, the pastor of the church in Colossae, was unable to speak confidently to the church regarding the matters of this false teaching, who did he run to… the more mature, the more knowledge follower of Christ, his own mentor, Paul. And to what lengths did he go, great lengths.
    The application I draw from this is that we should never expect any one man or person to have all the answers. Even our own spiritual leaders like our pastors. That doesn’t disqualify them. In fact, it would be impossible to give Pastors and ministry leaders every thing they will ever need to know before they can serve. So should we cast them down, criticize them, or say they aren’t fit for duty because they don’t have “all their ducks in a row?” NO in fact, what does scripture say qualifies a ministry leader…
    -His desire and character (1 Timothy),
    -His gifting (2 Timothy, 1 Peter),
    -and finally his carrying out of his duties.
    What are his duties… Ephesians 4 is one such place, Shepherding (idea of soul care… loving and living with his people… not just public preaching but guiding and caring for even the lost sheep, teaching (again it doesn’t say he masters everything, it just says that he should faithfully teach what he already knows), and equipping (helping others to do the same.) But very convincingly, the Pastor should be willingly and wanting to receive the instruction and training from others. If we don’t know everything, we should seek to learn it from others who are more mature and more knowledgeable in such things. And as our people grow as we teach them, it is our responsibility that we continue to grow in Christlikeness through the never ending learning of God’s Word and how to take its truth and apply it to this life. This is disciple-ship.
    As I look at my time in Lafayette Indiana to receive instruction regarding how to counsel Biblically, I very much see it in the same manner as Epaphras traveling to Rome to receive instruction from Paul. A church would do well to support such thing because godly men, biblical men need this. I’m thankful so far that our church is supportive of this. But we can do better. Stage 2 though, is sending others to receive training. We do this very little, Awana is one place I can think of… but there should be much more… its a practice that we find in the Bible not just of Pastors like Epaphras going to receive further growth, but also other committed layman… like Aquilla and Priscilla, etc etc.
    Going back to our thoughts on the purpose of the letter, I do want to mention here briefly before we dive into the actual heresy that was spreading… that the letter written by Paul to confront the heresy was actually a preventative letter. John MacArthur brought that up when I was reading his commentary. So as I good student, I looked into that, and after re-reading Colossians again I found no verses that condemned the Colossian church for buying in and practicing such heresy. Paul would have done so if that was the case.
    So that being the cause, its another great reminder and a massive pluggin that the biblical church must desire to be warned and armed against the false teaching that in occuring around them. Prevent it before we defend it. It’s always easier to address something in its early stages before it completely spreads and infects us entirely. The pluggin is that our church is seeking to do that right now. Sunday school the next 2-3 months is aimed entirely at that very thing. Exposing, rebuking, and correcting false teachers. As 2 Corinthians reminds us… Destroying arguments and ever lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God… We are aiming to equip our people, but we can’t do that if you aren’t here. So I trust that you will take this seriously and come be equipped to hear and learn how and what to denounce so that we may set our affections on Christ alone.
    So now that we have addressed the significance of the false teaching, what is the identification of the false teaching.

    2. Identification of the False Teaching

    What was the false teaching that the church of Colossae was threatened and enticed with?
    As a city, we’ve noted before that Colossae was known for its broad acceptance of diverse beliefs and the prevalence of syncretism.
    Syncretism- “the reconciliation or fusion of differing systems of beliefs.”
    It was in fact known that many people in that time and city belonged to more than one religious sect. (Not exclusively under one set of teachings… but were not just listeners of different teachings but members of that sect.)
    This a massive problem because any modification to biblical doctrine and principle for the sake of a “better” religion is heresy. You cannot improve upon that which is already perfect. We will talk about this much more in detail as we get into these passages but it is true that mankind (Christians are not exempt) have continued to try to add to the complete and infalliable Word of God.
    So what exactly was the church of God in Colossae in danger of merging with it’s faith...

    a). Judaistic Legalism/Asceticism (Other Faiths)

    We read of this in primarily Colossians chapter 2.
    Colossians 2:11 ESV
    In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ,
    Colossians 2:16–17 ESV
    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 a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.
    Colossians: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary Judaistic Legalism

    Colossian heresy was an emphasis on keeping the Jewish dietary laws and observing holy days, such as the Sabbath, festivals, and the new moon. Paul tells the Colossians not to be intimidated. Such ceremonialism was not necessary for salvation. “Therefore let no one act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day” (2:16). Those things, Paul argues, were but a shadow of things to come. The reality is found in Christ (2:17).

    Not only do we read of the Jewish faiths and traditions that are trying to be added, but also another form of religious belief called asceticism.
    Colossians 2:18 ESV
    Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind,
    Colossians 2:20–21 ESV
    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”
    Asceticism we could rightfully define or substitute with the word monasticism (living like a monk). It involves the “severe self-discipline and avoidance of all forms of indulgence, typically for religious reasons”
    The Essenes were very much apart of that practice, believing all physical matter was evil and spirit was good. Go check them out.
    Applications:
    Roman Catholism/Branches of Charismatic Theology
    Galatians 1:6–10 ESV
    I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.
    The last verse is particularly challenging. We have a lot of pressures to just co-mingle with every branch of “christian faith” because the gospel shouldn’t be divisive. But the truth is the gospel is divisive. It’s man’s ways of salvation verse God’s ways of salvation. The line is abundantly clear on this. There is no compromise allowed here. If you add to or subtract from God’s gospel, it then is no longer his gospel but man’s. So no matter how much pressure we might receive, we simply cannot merge with every so called conservative faith as if we are all on the same side. We are not. We are on God’s side and his alone. When we start mixing these, we have “abandoned the true faith” and have led people astray.

    b). False Philosophy (Secular Beliefs)

    Not only were they in danger of merging several different religious faiths, but they were also in danger of merging true faith with secular thought.
    Colossians 2:4 ESV
    I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments.
    Colossians 2:8 ESV
    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.
    Emphasis on Philosophy & Special Knowledge (Wisdom)
    Colossians: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary False Philosophy

    The Greeks loved knowledge and prided themselves on the sophistication of their philosophical systems. They scorned the gospel message as too simplistic (cf.

    Applications:
    Today, syncretism is just as large and dangerous as ever. That’s why the book of Colossians is just as relevant today as it was when it was first written and read.
    Today, we may not struggle with Jewish tradition and Greek philosophy but we are just as much guilty in trying to merch the sacred with the secular.
    Examples: let’s talk about the concepts of self-esteem.
    Self-esteem has been defined as “feelings of worth based on skills, accomplishments, status, financial resources, or appearance.”
    Let me start off by saying.… Scripture nowhere consists of any idea that man struggles with a “poor view of self” or “low self-esteem.” In fact, biblical anthropology (the study of man- what the Bible says about man) teaches that man loves himself too much!
    Matthew 22:38–39 ESV
    This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
    That phrase to love your neighbor as yourself is a vital one. It’s called in the book of James the royal law, in Matthew.... the second greatest commandment, it’s summed up gospels as the golden rule, and Galatians tells us that to obey this is fulfill the entire law.
    Galatians 5:14 ESV
    For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
    But we need to clarify this phrase because many have believed, taught, and misinterpreted “love your neighbor as yourself” as a command to love yourself. But that is not what this is. To love oneself is our natural and normal response—it is our default position. There is no lack of self-love in our world. The command to “love your neighbor as yourself” is essentially telling us to treat other people as well as we treat ourselves. Scripture never commands us to love ourselves; it assumes we already do. In fact, people in their unregenerate condition love themselves too much—that is our problem.
    In fact, Timothy tells us that men continue to grow in darkness. That in the last days, sin will dominate in more grotesque ways. The first horrific sin that will be rampant at that time named here is the sin of loving self.
    2 Timothy 3:1–2 ESV
    But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,
    Obviously, some of us would say yes, we shouldn’t be too caught up with self-image and be proud. To get caught up on our accomplishments certainly “dulls” us to God’s glory and our need for him. But, people would say, those struggling with self-esteem and self-image are the ones hurting. They aren’t proud. Their the victims. This is the world’s mentality.
    Yes, in one sense, low self-esteem is the opposite of pride. But another sense, low-self-esteem is a form of pride. Some people have low self-esteem because they want people to feel sorry for them, to pay attention to them, to comfort them. Low self-esteem can be a declaration of “look at me” just as much as pride. It simply takes a different route to get to the same destination, that is, self-absorption, self-obsession, and selfishness.
    Wholly problematic.
    And again, no wonders why. The ideas of self-esteem came from psychologists like William James, Erich Fromm, Karen Horney, and Abraham Maslow.… who are all stanch atheists.
    In fact, Erich Fromm (very famous and much quoted psychologists, one of the earliest) said of Biblical counseling. “We bid goodbye to the theologians and their dead god.”
    Also undeniably problematic.
    And yet, the world is eager to here their findings because they believe it to be science. Tested, proven, verified. Alot can be said on that alone. I’ll make a plug in and say, our counseling blocks that we teach on Sunday nights will go much more in-depth with that more-often-than-not faulty claim that psychology is observable science. Not enough time to address that all here.
    But I wanna show you at least for this time, what the world is eager to hear. How does the secular psychologist deal with low-self esteem?
    Famed psychologist Abraham Maslow identified the various needs humans have, self-image, and how those needs, having a good self-image, impact our ability to achieve our full potential.
    He then went on to say, how to enhance self-esteem is not as clear or as simple as it may seem. That’s not very comforting. In other words, lots of observations have been done and nothing is yielding definite and consistent results across the same people groups. In other words, we cannot find a single antidote to the problem. There’s not one means that seemed to work throughout all their patients. Here’s what they “seemed” to find.
    “Cultivating healthy self-esteem may require a consistent effort that utilizes tools to enhance self-compassion.”- INCREASE SELF LOVE.
    -believe in ourselves
    -fake it till you make
    -affirm who you want to be and you will become it
    Here’s the real problem. What motivates such people to change… being more confident in what they see of themselves… wanting more affirmation from other people… loving themselves more.… breeds more sinful thought.
    Say they do get some measure of confidence, maybe the become really confident. Maybe they were an introvert, now they appear to be an extrevert, problem still lies in the love of themself too much. If they were did “shake off” the low-self esteem position, now they fall into the cocky, arrogant position. They’ve spent so much time thinking about themselves that now they rarely think of others. Lot of people want to a greater self-esteem so they can socialize with others. If that fails, then guess who they blame for the relationship failure. Not my fault, I’m good… I’m likeable… I’m fun… in fact, I’m the coolest person in this room. And that’s what they tell themselves. And when they always shift the blame to others, now what problems occur… more isolation (because who wants to be around a person like that, where they are never the problem), which equals more depression, etc.etc. So again more loving to themselves breeds more sinful thinking and actions. It’s literally the worst possible solution to the problem yet mankind totes it around as some wise thing.
    And that’s exactly what we will find the apostle Paul warning the Colossians believers of.... “wise philosophy...”
    Colossians 2:8 ESV
    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 2:20–23 ESV
    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.
    And yet, though this warning is still as strong today as it was then. We are still swept up into it. This area of Christian Psychology, some call it Integrationists, might be one of the largest areas now where Christians are guilty of syncretism. Merging human philosophy (which by the way is pioneered by the most dogmatic atheists) with Biblical principles. Christian Psychologists don’t believe the Bible can really help the sufferer. They need more than that to really help a person out. Need more marbles to their game of marbles.
    Here’s how real life Christian Psychologists have tried to help others by loving themselves more.
    “The reason we have inner city crime is because people don’t love themselves enough”
    “I travel alot, sometimes I find that when I am on the road I just feel badly about myself, and what helps is when I stand in front of a mirror and tell myself how much I love myself… if that doesn’t work I send myself 2 dozen roses and a card that says “I love you, you are a wonderful person.”
    -Dr. Jamie Marich
    They would say that Jesus loves you and share verses that are true about his love and then say that now Jesus wants you to love yourself too. Again, you cannot find that anywhere in the Bible.
    This is completely awful! And it has been going on for a long time. In the 19th and 20th century, counseling has been primarily been handed over to the “secular profession psychologists.” I’m not making this up, when I say people like Eric Fromm and Abraham Moslow (the guys that said we don’t need god) were asked by seminaries (theological seminaries) like Fuller to come and equip their Pastors with secular philosophies and psychologies so that they can actually help their people. What they again were saying is the Bible is not enough.
    But I can assure you, the Bible is enough.
    2 Peter 1:3 ESV
    His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence,
    If you want another great example… look at one of the most trauma affected men that has ever existed, and ask him what he thinks of the Bible. This man was a warrior who killed his tens of thousands, this mans life was extremely stressful, he held the highest power of authority in his nation and had a couple massive projects he was in charge of, this man was several times the object of peoples murderous intention, and he had his fair share of family relationship struggles… where infidelity, murder, rape, jealousy, and rebellious children were all parts of his existence. Many trauma patients are considered that when they only face one of these items, this man faced multiple.… and yet he knew of only one place that was sure to always “restore his soul”. This man was the man David. Countless numbers of the Psalms that he wrote prove the healing power of the Word of God. Psalm 19 perhaps is one of the greatest where he declares it to be perfect, trustworthy, right, radiant, enlightening, sure and altogether righteous.
    Psalm 19:7–14 ESV
    The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward. Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults. Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.
    David declares the Word of God to be perfect, trustworthy, right, radiant, enlightening, sure and altogether righteous.
    I want to stop and say real quick,
    For those who are struggling in relation to self-image. May I with absolute authority and confidence say that God’s Word HOLDS THE ANSWERS. He has the hope laid up for you in the trustworthy scriptures that are able to make thee wise. Trust in it alone. Don’t be false led astray into thinking that the “science” of the world holds the key. The secular world continues to change and evolve. They are ever learning but never come to the knowledge of the truth. They aren’t the wise ones though. Don’t trust in them. You’ll see that their philosophy will come to ruin. But trust in God’s infalliable, never changing words. They produce life. They are sweeter than the honey comb. More desirous than anything. David didn’t need psychotherapy’s. David wasn’t in a worse condition because these hadn’t been invited yet. No David new for a fact that only God’s word had the power to revive the soul. Let that be one of the messages that the book of Colossians adamantly convicts us of. Christ (His Word) plus nothing else, is fully satisfying and sufficient for all our earthly and eternal needs.
    CHURCH OF GOD SEE TO IT THAT NO ONE TAKES YOU CAPTIVE, BELIEVE THE TRUTHS OF GOD’S WORD AND THESE TRUTHS OF CHRIST ALONE.
    Sing In Christ Alone...

      • Colossians 2:11ESV

      • Colossians 2:16–17ESV

      • Colossians 2:18ESV

      • Colossians 2:20–21ESV

      • Galatians 1:6–10ESV

      • Colossians 2:4ESV

      • Colossians 2:8ESV

      • Matthew 22:38–39ESV

      • Galatians 5:14ESV

      • 2 Timothy 3:1–2ESV

      • Colossians 2:8ESV

      • Colossians 2:20–23ESV

      • 2 Peter 1:3ESV

      • Psalm 19:7–14ESV

  • In Christ Alone
First Baptist Church
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https://fbcohc-howard-city.faithlifesites.com
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