Colossians 2:8-15 –

⁸See 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. ⁹For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, ¹⁰and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. ¹¹In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, ¹²having 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. ¹³And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, ¹⁴by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. ¹⁵He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.

Introduction

Welcome back to Colossians.

Two weeks ago, we considered 2:8-10 and the consequences of ideas. Paul warned the Colossian believers about the bad consequences of the bad ideas they were being confronted with. He also reiterated the alternative; the good consequences of the good ideas of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

In short, Paul explained that their choice really was binary. Either they would be taken captive by the ideas of the world (philosophy, empty deceit, human tradition, elemental spirits of the world) or captivated by Christ. His point is that a right understanding of Christ makes the choice as easy as it gets. Jesus and nothing is infinitely better than everything without Jesus. Living according to Jesus is eternal life, while living according to anything else is eternal death.

This morning, we’re going to pick up where we left off. That is, we’re going to look more closely at who Jesus is and what He’s done for those who receive Him in faith. As we do, you’ll see the big idea: With even the most child-like understanding of the gospel, the choice between living according to Christ and according to anything else is entirely obvious. The main takeaway is to learn and rehearse the gospel continually.

Captivated by Christ – Who He Is

To be captivated by something is to have it fill you with wonder and delight to the point that you feel enchanted by it. Have you ever been captivated by something like that? For whatever reason, God seems to cause me to be especially captivated by (I’m not really sure what to call it) certain landscapes (Glacier NP, the Canadian Rockies, the views of the North Shore of Superior from the SHT, the Utah NPs, etc.). They give me a sense of God’s presence (and my smallness) that I don’t really experience anywhere else. They really are captivating for me.

In some ways, that idea is at the heart of this passage for Paul. He knows that the Colossians will be captivated by something. For every reason, he urges them to be captivated by Christ.

Remember, then, the question the Colossians were continually confronted with is the same question that continually confronts all of us: Will we be taken captive by the ideas of this world or will we be captivated by Christ?

This sermon is meant to help you see the simple fact that nothing compares with Jesus. At best, every alternative to Christ is a disordering of something which enables it to provide immediate, but temporary and tiny pleasure; pleasure of the sort that ultimately ends in far greater and lasting discouragement and difficulty.

I was recently reading a book that enumerated and documented some of this in alarming detail. The author wrote,

There is plenty of statistical support for the contention that people [who look to the empty and deceptive philosophies of the world] are unhappy. Levels of self-declared depression and clinically diagnosed depressive symptoms have skyrocketed in recent years…

I wish I were merely talking about more adults confessing to being sad, but we are seeing an increase in depressed dispositions leading to an increase in behavior of desperation. The overall suicide rate increased a shocking 30 percent in the first twenty years of this new century. Roughly 5 percent of American adults have reported serious thoughts of suicide.

We know that alcohol and drug abuse has skyrocketed, and, in fact, deaths from alcohol abuse have risen precipitously, even for those over the age of sixty-five. Nearly one million people have died from drug overdoses in America since the year 2000, with a 30 percent increase in the number annually in recent years, and a 256 percent increase over that twenty-year period. The escalation in the rate of growth of opioid deaths began just after the 2008 financial crisis. Separate from those who tragically die from drug and alcohol-related causes, a stunning fifteen million Americans regularly abuse alcohol… The tragedy of lives consumed by drug and alcohol abuse is worsened only by deaths rooted in drug and alcohol abuse.

The use of antidepressants has doubled over the last twenty years, with a 35 percent increase in the last six years alone. It is estimated that thirty-seven million American adults regularly take an antidepressant medication (albeit at varying degrees of severity and dosage). We are talking about 15–20 percent of American adults needing medication for problems related to depression and anxiety.

I do not mean to say that becoming a Christian immediately eliminates all of these things or that mature Christians never deal with them.

But I do mean to say that many of them are the direct result, the consequences, of being taken “captive to philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world.”

I do mean to say that while the philosophers of this age promise much with all their offers of liberation and satisfaction apart from Christ, they simply cannot ultimately deliver anything but the kind of sadness and emptiness (ultimately death) described by the author I quoted.

I do mean to say that Paul was not thinking mainly in the abstract when he wrote of the alternatives to Christ. He knew that whenever we calibrate our minds or hearts to anything other than Jesus, our lives will reflect that in every manner of real-world pathology.

And I do mean to say that many of them will change dramatically when we begin to live “according to Christ.”

I do mean to say that living by faith in Jesus, and Him alone, only and always ultimately leads to fullness of eternal life and joy.

Jesus spoke directly to this in Matthew 13(:44-45), “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. ⁴⁵“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, ⁴⁶who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.”

Grace, the rest of this passage and sermon are meant to help you see the simple fact that nothing compares with Jesus; to help you see that He is the greatest treasure and nothing else comes close; to help you see that to really understand who Jesus is and what He’s done for those who trust in Him, is to be shocked that we ever looked anywhere else.

So, the million-dollar question is why would anyone believe that Jesus is the greatest treasure? Or, how is Jesus the greatest treasure? Or, what has He done that is so superior to all the alternative philosophies and traditions?

Paul answers those questions decisively, emphatically, and poetically by describing two aspects of who Jesus is and a handful of things He’s done for those who trust in Him.

Seeing Jesus for who He is and trusting in Him for what He’s done is a gift from God. We don’t deserve it. If we receive it, it is by grace alone. Therefore, as we make our way through Paul’s description of Jesus’ nature and work, my encouragement is to continually ask the Spirit to help you be as amazed by these things as they warrant. Ask the Spirit to help you to see them for what they are and how they compare to everything else. Ask the Spirit to shape your mind and heart, and cause you to live according to the truth and glory of these things above all else.

With that, consider with me the two aspects of Jesus’ nature that Paul highlights.

Whole Fullness of Deity (9)

In v.9, we read, “…in [Jesus] the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily…

That, of course, is a truly staggering statement. In some ways ...