Cult proofing yourself

November 12, 2021 (Friday)

 

Deception (with will and knowledge) and error (honest mistake) has followed the church from day one. Paul seems to be constantly fighting those two things. Let’s look over his shoulder as he writes to the Colossian church, “Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him.” [Colossians 2:6 ESV] Following Jesus starts with Jesus and continues with Jesus. As you received Jesus in faith, do not be lead away from Jesus.

 

Paul gave the Galatian church a “tongue lashing” when he wrote, “How foolish can you be? After starting your new lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort?” [Galatians 3:3 NLT] I cannot emphasize this enough; if a church or teacher adds anything to salvation in Jesus alone, or devises methods to acquire any means of grace, or suggests any more is necessary, other than Jesus, it is a lie.

 

Paul continues to advise the Colossians, “Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.” [Colossians 2:7 NLT] Growing and building are not automatic. It tends to be the immature that fall for Satan’s lies. One symptom of being susceptible to deception and error is a lack of thankfulness. Thankfulness leans on what you have. Thanklessness focuses on what you do not have.

 

Paul continues, “See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.” [Colossians 2:8 ESV] Emanuel Lasker, (a chess world champion in the early 1900’s) said that in life the skill we need to acquire is NOT the ability to distinguish the false from the true. The real skill is to discern between the true and the APPARENTLY true. For that to happen we need to develop triggers to alert us to deception and error. Here’s a key: anything that relies on tradition should be rejected BECAUSE tradition is a path away from Jesus.

 

Pointing us back to Jesus, Paul states, “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.” [Colossians 2:9 – 10 ESV] Paul is stating that Jesus is God and lives in us. Anything or anyone that would claim greater, equal, or surrogate authority is false.

 

One of the deceptions/errors Paul fought against was the idea one needed to do something other than accept Jesus through faith to be saved (go to Heaven). The immediate battle was against those that claimed you needed to be a Jew. “When you came to Christ, you were “circumcised,” but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision—the cutting away of your sinful nature.” [Colossians 2:11 NLT]

 

Think about this for a bit. Israel was (and still is) God chosen people. God established an eternal covenant with them. They abandoned Him at several points in their history, but God never abandoned them. He always left a remnant. It makes sense to say you must become a Jew (circumcision), they are God’s established line of faith. Anything outside that faith is illegitimate. It makes sense, but its wrong (see Matthew 3:9 and Ephesians 2:14).

 

Paul continues, “He destroyed the record of the debt we owed, with its requirements that worked against us. He canceled it by nailing it to the cross.”  [Colossians 2:12 CEB] I like the image of “destroyed the record” because something destroyed can never be used again. The debt we owed, due to sin, we can never repay. Jesus destroyed it, canceling it by nailing it to the cross.

 

Wait, wasn’t Jesus nailed to the cross? That’s the point.