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I fear that Christianity often becomes a pursuit of style at the expense of substance. So I decided to write a “Meat and Potatoes” blog, digging into Scripture with as few frills as possible. Since God has provided the meat—His Word—I’m calling the blog “. . . And Potatoes,” in the hope that these mini-sermons can help enhance the flavor of the main dish. You hungry? Let’s dig in!

Good, Clean Violence

7/27/2017

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I generally abhor violence. I am appalled and sickened by the violence man perpetrates against man. And yet, every now and again, I embrace violence. When a sniper makes a terrorist’s brains explode or a cop bounces a rapist’s head off the pavement during a takedown, I kind of like violence. When the heinous bad guy in the movie gets stitched with bullets or plowed into by a bus or just knocked out by a good right cross, I cheer. Perhaps that speaks to a heart condition that needs attention, and perhaps that makes you appalled at me. But I would suggest to you that violence is not always a bad thing. In fact, sometimes violence is a very good thing. Sometimes, violence is a holy thing. And I’m not even going Old Testament to prove it. Instead, I want to look at one of my favorite passages of Scripture—one short verse that in some of my darkest days brings me encouragement. It’s found at the end of Paul’s letter to the Romans, where we read “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.”[1]
 
I cherish this verse for the same two reasons I’m in favor of capital punishment. (I know that talk of capital punishment could open a can of worms, but let’s leave that for another time). With capital punishment justice is served. Scripture teaches that there were, in Israel’s case, certain sins/crimes that deserved a punishment of death,[2] and I think some of those same crimes still warrant such a penalty. Capital punishment also drastically cuts down on recidivism. I haven’t looked it up, but I’m pretty sure there has never been a rape or murder committed by a corpse.
 
Similarly, one day, the devil is going to get a cosmic helping of justice, and we are going to be rid of him and his attacks. The book of Revelation tells us that the devil will be bound in the Abyss for a thousand years, and then will be released to deceive the nations one final time. He will gather them for battle, an army like the sand on the seashore. John records what will happen next:
 
They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
 
We tend to have a misconception of hell. Culture has warped our thinking such that we view hell sort of like Mordor, the bastion of evil, from whence the devil and his minions launch their attacks. But Jesus gave us the truth about hell when he said, “When the Son of Man comes in his glory . . . [the King] will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.’”[3] On that day, justice will be served, and the devil’s scorched earth destruction will be no more. We tend to focus on what comes next, primarily the New Heaven and New Earth of Revelation 21—and rightly so. But I don’t think we are wrong—in fact, Paul’s words would suggest we ought—to also celebrate the demise of our archenemy, the “roaring lion,”[4] that “murderer”[5] and “father of lies,”[6] the “accuser of our brothers and sisters.”[7] In Romans 16, Paul uses a violent metaphorical image to describe the devil’s fate, and it is one we can relish in. I picture the saints—those who have “been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained” and who had “called out in a loud voice, ‘How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?’”[8] along with those who have suffered innumerous afflictions, temptations, and trials over the centuries—I picture those saints standing as one and unleashing a bloodthirsty cry of victory when the devil is defeated.
 
I tend to think in terms of sports metaphors, and the closest comparison I can come up with—and it falls woefully short yet resonates with me—is when thousands upon thousands of fans packed into a stadium suddenly erupt to celebrate a game-winning touchdown or walk-off homerun. The stadium vibrates and the TV cameras shake in what can only be described as bedlam. And when that win comes against an archrival or an opponent that has long had the upper hand, or when it was particularly hard-fought or long-awaited, that eruption is even more voluminous, even more palpable. If you’re a sports enthusiast like me, you’ve experienced it to some degree. Now imagine the moment when the greatest enemy any of us has ever known, the enemy who first rebelled against God, the enemy behind so much of our suffering here on earth, is violently put down once and for all. Good riddance!
 
Coming back to Romans 16:20, let me briefly highlight four specific phrases in this text. The first is “God of peace.” This would seem an odd descriptor for Paul to use considering the statement he is making. Would not “The God of Wrath” or “The God of Justice” or “Our Avenger” have been more apropos? Not if we understand true peace. The Bible often talks about being peacemakers, but there is a telling phrase even in Paul’s earlier instructions to individual Romans to “live at peace with everyone.”[9] He prefaces that by writing, “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you . . .” In other words, sometimes you can’t live peacefully because the other guy refuses to do so. Imagine a boxer who, in the midst of a heavyweight bout, decides to be peaceful. He’s going to get his bell rung by the other boxer. Imagine a country or countries that try to make peace with an evil dictator. You don’t need to imagine the outcome—there are ample accounts and documentaries about World War II to inform you how that played out. Or look at the world around us, where the devil and his demons are not bound and fully restrained. Evil is on the rampage everywhere—murders, rapes, shootings, bombings, wars, rumors of war . . . The lesson is this: true peace cannot exist while evil endures. Only when evil is ultimately vanquished will there be peace. President Reagan famously used the phrase, “peace through strength,” and I think it applies to this passage. God is the God of peace because He is one day going to implement true peace by annihilating that which stands in the way of peace: evil.
 
Paul writes that God will act “soon.” Those words were penned almost two thousand years ago, which doesn’t meet any possible definition of soon I can think of. This is not the only time we see biblical writers talking about the end times with such language. So were they all deluded into thinking Christ was returning within a few years or decades? Some would suggest so, and I won’t claim to know the apostles’ minds, but I do believe they were inspired by God, and so I think a more accurate understanding of “soon” is achieved by the idea of immanence. In other words, it could happen at any moment. Or perhaps “soon” is meant to be interpreted in light of eternity, where “a day is like a thousand years”[10] and thus a couple millennia (or more) is indeed soon. At any rate, we know the time is coming and is drawing closer each day. It is soon.
 
I’ve already addressed the violent nature of the word “crush.” To use another sports example, “crushed” never means a 17-14 squeaker. It means a 56-7 beatdown. If you crush a soda can when you’re finished, it doesn’t come back into form. It’s obliterated for its purpose. So too will it be with the crushing of the devil. Interestingly enough, this is not the first time we see this particular word employed to describe his demise. Way back in Genesis 3, shortly after the fall, when God was pronouncing His curse as a result of sin, he spoke to the serpent—that is, the devil. God said, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”[11] This is commonly understood to be the first prophecy about Christ, and note the word the NIV uses to describe what Christ will do to the devil. He will crush (or strike) his head. Remember the cross, the agony and horror, the separation from God, the wrath of all man’s sins that Christ bore. That is described, in this prophecy, as a strike or a bruise on the heel. I.E., a nuisance comparatively. What must that crushing/striking of the serpent’s head be like if Christ’s sufferings are reduced to a bruised heel in comparison? I can’t wait for the devil to find out!
 
The last phrase we see is “under your feet.” This is not uncommon language in the Bible, as both Luke and the author of Hebrews quote the Psalmist: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”[12] In biblical times, even more so than now, the foot was something of a “less honorable”[13] part of the body. It was dirty, smelly, uncouth. So to be reduced to a footstool was a humiliating and thoroughly unpleasant experience. Psalm 110:1 and the New Testament quotations are referring to Christ’s dominion over his enemies. But Paul uses a similar phrase to describe the destiny of the devil. Our monstrous enemy will be reduced to something so low and pathetic that we walk over it. This again speaks to utter destruction.
 
I believe this verse exists to bring us encouragement. Scripture often reminds us that “our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.”[14] And part of that eternal glory is the absence of our enemy, the extermination of sin and suffering (punishment and protection). Now, I get it, Bible verses aren’t bumper stickers you can slap up when you’re discouraged, and suddenly that loved one comes back to life, that marriage is restored, that diagnosis is reversed, that wayward child trades drugs for Bible studies. But as I wrote previously, biblical joy is the celebration of future circumstances (eternal glory) in the midst of present circumstances. Believe me, I know that isn’t easy. I write this in the midst of the crap of life. I know that’s strong language, but I can’t think of any other way to put it. Sometimes life just blows. But I hope that these words of Paul can be some small encouragement to you as they are to me. They should not be our sole focus in looking forward to eternity, nor even our main focus. That would be a disservice to seeing Jesus face to face and celebrating forever with Him. But I do think they should be part of our focus, as they are part of why we will be celebrating.
 
The battle is real. Our enemy is real. And if you’re like me, there are days when he kicks your butt. But there will also be a day when “The God of peace will soon CRUSH Satan under your feet” (emphasis added with great enthusiasm).


[1] Romans 16:20
[2] See Exodus 19:12, 21:12-17; Leviticus 20:10-16, 20:27; Deuteronomy 13:1-5
[3] See Matthew 25:31-46, emphasis added
[4] I Peter 5:8
[5] John 8:44
[6] Ibid.
[7] Revelation 12:10
[8] Revelation 6:9-10
[9] Romans 12:18
[10] II Peter 3:8
[11] Genesis 3:15
[12] Psalm 110:1; see also Luke 20:42-43; Acts 2:34-35; Hebrews 1:13
[13] I Corinthians 12:23
[14] II Corinthians 4:17

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An Opportune Time

7/19/2017

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Most of us are probably familiar with the brief noted words Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. All three Synoptic Gospels record essentially the same phrasing, with Matthew adding a hint more nuance:
 
Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”
Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”
Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.”
When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing.
Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour has come, and the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners. Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!”[i]
 
The essence of Christ’s prayer reveals His dual nature—the human pleading for deliverance from the cross and the divine submitting perfectly to the Father’s plan. It is a prayer we can often empathize with and one we would do well to emulate. But I think there is far more at stake here than we might initially realize, and the consequences are staggering. To unpack this a little more, we must start by backtracking to the beginning of the Gospels. Matthew 4 and Luke 4 both record Jesus being tempted in the wilderness by the devil, and both record three specific temptations posed to him. To be sure, those were not the only temptations Christ faced. Scripture tells us He “has been tempted in every way, just as we are.”[ii] And Luke tells us at the end of the narrative that “When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.”[iii] I would suggest that the opportune time in question is several years later in the garden, with the crucifixion bearing down upon Christ.
 
Scripture does not mention the devil in the garden, nor is there a specific indicator of his presence. But just as the devil isn’t physically or recognizably present in our temptations, neither did he have to be in all of Christ’s. But make no mistake, Jesus was facing a temptation as he prayed. Remember, His very purpose in being born was to die, “to give his life as a ransom for many.”[iv] He repeatedly spoke of doing the Father’s work and fulfilling His divine purpose. To not go to the cross, to walk away, would have been an act of disobedience. In addition to a very real and very human dread of the agony of crucifixion and of the spiritual pain of bearing the wrath of God for the sin of the world, Jesus also bore the weight of this temptation.
 
Think about it for a moment. Here was a man facing a death sentence, and not a civilized lethal injection but the worst form of death the cruelty of humanity could devise. But unlike every other human who has stood on death row—waiting for the needle, the chair, the hangman’s noose, the guillotine’s blade, or the executioner’s nails—Jesus was different. Unlike everyone else, He was in control of the situation. As He told Peter, “Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?”[v] Earlier, he’d told the Jews “No one takes [my life] from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.”[vi] Jesus could have walked away from the cross. At any moment, He could have ended the pain and been done with it all. He knew “all that was going to happen to him”[vii] as He knelt in the garden; as He told Peter, James, and John, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death;” and as He was in such anguish that “his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.”[viii] His brain was being bombarded with reminders of the horror that faced Him, an attack made worse by the temptation to avoid it, to run, disappear, leave His disciples as they would leave Him, and let sinful, rebellious mankind fend for itself. If that seems beneath Jesus, do not forget He was fully human and could not be fully human if not tempted with self-preservation in the face of an excruciating death.
 
Pulling against that, of course, was Christ’s “reverent submission”[ix] to the Father. He didn’t demand God get Him out of the mess and didn’t plot and scheme last-ditch escape strategies. He acknowledged “everything is possible for you,”[x] but concluded with the famous words, “yet not my will, but yours be done.”[xi] What a battle was raging!
 
But there is yet one more force at play, one more consequence hanging in the balance. Consider for a moment—and I do not mean this blasphemously or irreverently—that Christ had given in to the terror and slipped out of the garden while the disciples slept, had called those legions of angels, or had “come down from the cross”[xii] and saved Himself. The repercussions would have echoed throughout the ages, because the long-prophesied sacrifice for sins would not have been made. Redemption would not have been purchased. You and I would still be in our sins, the veil separating us eternally from God. All mankind would be doomed to hell. ALL mankind. Every single sinful person ever born—a group that would now include Jesus of Nazareth.
 
I know we’re speaking theoretically. But had Jesus disobeyed the Father, He too would have been guilty of sin. Since God cannot look upon sin—the very reason he forsook Christ on the cross when He bore the sin of the world—He could not then look upon a sinful Jesus. No longer “a lamb without blemish or defect,”[xiii] Jesus would have been an insufficient sacrifice to redeem mankind . . . and thus to redeem Himself. He would have been relegated to the same fate as every other sinful human being, with no back-up Messiah to come and save Him, no contingency plan. Had He not gone to the cross, Jesus Christ would have been rightfully and justly damned to hell along with the rest of us.
 
That was the weight that was upon His shoulders as He asked Peter, “Couldn’t you keep watch for one hour?”[xiv] That was the burden that brought Him to the brink of death before one lash of the flagellum, one thorn penetrated His skull, or one nail pierced His flesh. That was the enormity of every temptation he faced from childhood and puberty through the time of testing in the wilderness and the soul-crushing agony of the garden.
 
I do not mean to suggest that it was eternal self-preservation that drove Jesus to the cross; that is clearly not the message of Scripture. He was motivated by His love for us, out of obedience to the Father, and by “the joy set before him.”[xv] Rather, I mean to highlight the incredible gravity of the situation. The temptation to avoid indescribable pain and suffering was as real for Jesus as it would be for you or me, if not more so given His supernatural ability to avoid it. And the consequences of His decision had eternal impact for all of creation as well as for the Creator who had entered into His world. Everything hinged on that moment.
 
I find this all very fascinating, but it is not just something to ponder for pondering’s sake. Rather, it should give us a greater appreciation for the One “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!”[xvi] Similarly, that appreciation is not just for appreciation’s sake. I close with words penned to the Hebrews, as they show us the relevance of this pondering and appreciation:
 
Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death . . . For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.[xvii]
 
Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.[xviii]


[i] Matthew 26:36-46
[ii] Hebrews 4:15
[iii] Luke 4:13
[iv] Matthew 20:28
[v] Matthew 26:53
[vi] John 10:18
[vii] John 18:4
[viii] Luke 22:44 (see NIV footnote)
[ix] Hebrews 5:7
[x] Mark 14:36
[xi] Luke 22:42
[xii] Mark 15:30
[xiii] I Peter 1:19
[xiv] Mark 14:37
[xv] Hebrews 12:2
[xvi] Philippians 2:6-8
[xvii] Hebrews 2:14-15, 17-18, emphasis added.
[xviii] Hebrews 4:14-16

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The Best Defense

7/7/2017

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“See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces* of this world rather than on Christ.”[1] (*Previously, the NIV translated the phrase “elemental spiritual forces” as “basic principles.” Surveying a variety of versions, it seems the combined terminology gives us the best understanding of the original language used.)
 
Paul’s warning to the church in Colossae is just as pertinent to the church today, if not more so, and carries with it two implications. The first is that we can be taken captive. Strong’s Concordance defines the Greek word sulagógeó with words and phrases like “plunder,” “lead captive,” and “make victim by fraud.” But we don’t need to explore the Greek to know that being taken captive is not a good thing. Yet I fear that many of us never think about the possibility. A common picture of the Christian life is that of a ship. Many of us—Christians and non-Christians—view life as a cruise through the Caribbean. We look forward to warm breezes, panoramic vistas, plentiful buffets, maybe flirting with good-looking members of the opposite sex, and otherwise living a life of utter relaxation. I know I fall into that line of thinking, and to be clear, Scripture doesn’t outright condemn any of those behaviors. The problem is, there be pirates in these waters. And they are hostile toward us, seeking to plunder and lead captive. While we’re looking forward to second desserts and shuffleboard tournaments on the lido deck, they’re plotting our demise. What’s interesting is that we are not actually on a cruise ship. We’re on a battleship, only we’ve ripped out the gun mounts and replaced them with soft-serve ice cream stands. We’ve retooled the elevator to make it a fun ride for kids. We’ve stopped using our radar to detect enemy positions and tuned it to locate the next tropical paradise where we can temporarily make port.
 
Now, I’m sure some of you are thinking I’m overstating this or are wondering who this “they” I keep referring to is. Paul gives us the answer in his letter to the Ephesians: “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”[2] Strong’s defines this enemy as the “ruler of this world, that is, of the world as asserting its independence of God; used of the angelic or demonic powers controlling the sublunary world.” The Apostle Peter clarifies this for us: “Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”[3] In short, we’re talking about spiritual warfare. Frank Peretti’s novels give us a fictional, perhaps sensationalized, albeit probably more realistic than we’d like to believe picture of this battle, and it is one that spills over into the physical, tangible world. Just ask Christians who find themselves embroiled in legal battles for trying to live out their Christian beliefs. Or the Christians who find themselves at the tip of the spear or point of the sword for professing the name of Christ.
 
However, if we turn our focus back to Colossians 2, we see it referring to another casualty of battle—the mind. We can be taken captive “through hollow and deceptive philosophy.” We can start to buy into the devil’s lies. We can start to stray from the truth of the Gospel. Just look at what some Bible-believing Christians think about abortion, marriage and the family, social justice, or the sufficiency of Christ. Heretics—those teaching doctrine contrary to Scripture—are a dime a dozen, and many of them are well-meaning Christ-followers who have been made “victim by fraud”—who have “exchanged the truth of God for a lie,”[4] perhaps without even knowing it or meaning to.
 
The first implication of Colossians 2:8 is that we can be taken captive. The second implication is that we can do something about it. Note the verse does not say, “Hope that no one takes you captive,” or even “Pray that no one takes you captive.” Rather, it says, “See to it that no one takes you captive” (emphasis added). Paul is commanding the church to be on its guard. Peter warned “Be alert and of sober mind.”[5] We are not on an 80-year vacation aboard the MS Paradise of the Seas; we are to man battle stations aboard the USS Sanctification.
 
That naturally raises the question of how do we see to it that no one takes us captive? If we are commanded to be on guard, what do we do? One of the things my dad used to tell me, and that annoyed me at the time (as did many things he said) but for which I am now grateful (as I am for many things he said), was in relation to the focus of one’s thoughts. He would say, “Don’t think about a pink elephant.” I’ll ask you as he asked me, what’s the first thing that pops into your mind? Likely, a pink elephant. His point being, if you dwell on what you’re not supposed to think about or do, it often makes it harder not to think about it or do it. Instead of not thinking about a pink elephant, think about something else. Reorient your focus. Scripture uses this method as well (and I suspect it may be where Dad picked it up). Rarely—if ever—does Scripture command us not to do something without also redirecting our focus toward what we should do:
“Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life.”[6]
“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”[7]
“But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.”[8]
“Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.”[9]
“However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name.”[10]
 
Get the idea? To use vernacular from the military or the world of sports, the best defense is a good offense. To that end, Paul gives us four strategies to see to it, and I’ll touch on each briefly. We find them in the preceding verses: So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.[11]
 
One of the key points my pastor has stressed over the last few years is that the gospel is not just a message we need for salvation, but rather we must continue to live gospel-centric lives. We don’t receive Christ, stick our salvation in our back pocket, and then ignore God or His ways of living. This was a key theme of Paul’s letter to the church in Galatia, summed up in Galatians 3:3: After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh?
 
The word “rooted” is one my church has also picked up on for our children’s ministry. The idea is that we are deeply grounded. When we look at a large tree, we see what is above ground. With the exception of when it intrudes upon our sidewalk, we are unaware of what is below ground—a root system that rivals that which is above ground in size. This serves as an anchor for the tree when storms come blowing. Paul writes that we are to be rooted in Christ. He is to be our anchor, and we are to be built up upon that foundation—not on any other.
 
Carrying on that thought is the idea of being strengthened in the faith. Consider an athlete who continues to work and train at his or her discipline. They will grow bigger, stronger, faster, more skilled. If they never train, never practice, never keep their bodies in shape, they will start to perform poorly in actual competitions. The same is true for Christians. If we are not learning and studying and growing in our faith, we will fail when the rubber meets the road.
 
Paul also instructs us to be “overflowing with thankfulness.” This seems like an odd strategy until we consider for what we are thankful. We need only back up a chapter to discover what that is: . . . and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.[12] This brings us back full circle, reminding us of the fight we face and in which we are combatants, whether we like it or not.
 
There is a final point to make, and it is one which I wish I could unpack more fully. We are warned against “hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.” In the next verse, we’re reminded “in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form.”[13] Our focus needs to be on Jesus Christ, the Almighty God of the universe, and His Word, His truth, His standard. The opposite is that which is hollow—“having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power”[14]—and which is based off human traditions and worldly ideas instead of Scripture. This bad theology is deceptive, and we can be deceived. But we have been given warning, we have been given strategy, we have been given power in the form of the Holy Spirit so that we can avoid being taken captive.
 
See to it!


[1] Colossians 2:8
[2] Ephesians 6:12
[3] I Peter 5:8
[4] Romans 1:25
[5] I Peter 5:8
[6] Romans 6:13, emphasis added
[7] Romans 12:2, emphasis added; see also Romans 12:16-21
[8] Galatians 5:13, emphasis added
[9] Ephesians 5:18, emphasis added
[10] I Peter 4:16, emphasis added
[11] Colossians 2:6-7
[12] Colossians 1:12-14
[13] Colossians 2:9
[14] II Timothy 3:5, ESV
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