Colossians 2:8-10: “The Philosophy of Men Or The Sufficiency of Christ?”

Colossians 2:8-10: “The Philosophy of Men Or The Sufficiency of Christ?”

Wednesday, July 26th, 2023

RECAP: So going back to the beginning of things here. At the time he wrote this letter, Paul was imprisoned in Rome. He’s in the worst and most infamous prison in the whole city. It’s an awful place: diseased, rat-infested, sewage and waste everywhere, locked up with the worst of the worst as far as criminals go, very little light, only foul air to breathe, hotter than you can imagine, chained up and laying on stone day after day, and awaiting execution. And he’s visited by a man named Epaphras who oversees the church in a city close to Ephesus, called Colossae. And Epahras explains what’s been happening with the believers there, how they’ve grown, how they’ve shown their love for one another, and how much work the Lord has done in them. And then he tells Paul the reason for his visit. That some false teachers have crept into the church and began teaching things that threaten to undo all of the great work that’s been done in these people’s lives through Christ. And at the heart of this false teaching were these attacks on both the Deity of Christ and His sufficiency in salvation. And it wasn’t like these false teachers went in there and said “Jesus isn’t Deity. The end” and then all the people were wowed by the depth and sophistication of their argument. I mean it’s like someone on television says “God is a myth”, we aren’t all going to say “Oh wow – good point”, and then just walk away and burn our Bibles. No, the arguments and explanations that these false teachers were making were both plausible and confusing. And the gospel hung in the balance. It needed to be corrected and Epaphras needed help and he found it in Paul. 

So here’s Paul in the very worst of circumstances, in the worst conditions, and he doesn’t just wave Epaphras off and say “Look where I’m at dude”. I’m so sorry that the believers in your church are confused. Be a better teacher. Tell them to grow up. No. Paul doesn’t say any of that. Just the opposite. He cares so much for these people – people by the way that he’s never even met – that he pens this very loving, very encouraging letter to them in order that they be built up and that they hold fast to the truths that they’ve been taught. 

And in Chapter 1 of his letter, Paul starts out immediately with thanks to God for the faith and love that the Colossians were showing one another, noting that they were able to do that because of the living hope that’s laid up for them. Not just the future hope that awaits them in heaven, but the living hope they have presently in Christ. 

Paul goes on to tell them that he prayed for them regularly – he said that he prayed for them without ceasing. And that was such a great reminder for US in our own prayer life; that we persist in our prayers for others. And that by doing that, by staying in prayer for others, we find OURSELVES in constant communication with our heavenly Father. And I think prayer is something we should spend some time understanding. It’s literally the most powerful thing a believer can possibly do. And yet, it’s so easy to say things like, “Welp, I guess all I can do is pray…”. As though prayer is somehow both powerless and only to be used as the last resort in a situation where we’ve exhausted our own energy. I catch myself saying that sometimes, “All I can do now is pray”. As though prayer is like a “wild card” in the game of life where you want to make sure you save it until you REALLY need it. No. Prayer is never described like that anywhere in Scripture. Never. Jesus Himself was a man of prayer. He was CONSTANTLY going off to pray. In fact, prayer was such a marker of His ministry that it was the ONLY thing that the Disciples ever asked Him to teach them how to do. And it was because they saw how powerful it was to the Lord’s earthly ministry. So… good reminder for us to engage in prayer FREQUENTLY. ANd by the way, it doesn’t have to be the kind of formal prayer that we often think of when we think of prayer. It’s the kind of prayer that you SPEND TIME with the Lord in your thoughts, the kind of prayer where you’re talking to Him while you’re on a drive, when you’re getting ready in the morning, when you’re winding down in the evening, when you’re working, or whatever. But constant communication is so vital to us as God’s children. Actually, it’s one of the reasons that He commands us to pray.