Encounter the Truth

Jonathan Griffiths: In addressing error and delusion, Paul starts with the issue of encouragement. The greatest defense for the believer's heart against error, it seems, is to be encouraged. Why is it that you and I are vulnerable to error, to delusion, when we are discouraged?

Steve Hiller: Welcome to Encounter the Truth with Jonathan Griffiths. I'm Steve Hiller, and I'm glad you're with us as we continue through our series, Walking Worthy. Jonathan, encouragement is such an important thing for a believer, but that question that you just asked, I think, is a great one. Why are we so vulnerable when we are discouraged?

Jonathan Griffiths: Well, we can go through these seasons of spiritual discouragement, can't we? We can go through seasons where we're just so aware of our sin, or we're so aware of opposition and pressure from outside or other circumstances in our lives that weigh us down. And in those seasons, I think we are vulnerable to being misdirected in spiritual terms, in being pointed to solutions for our spiritual problems that are not biblical solutions and are not centered on Christ—solutions of alternative gospels, solutions of religiosity, solutions of legalism.

I think particularly when we feel we're doing badly in our walk with Christ, we are vulnerable to suggestions of legalism and pushing ourselves harder and this kind of thing to make things right. And in every season of life, in every spiritual season, what we need is to fix our eyes on Jesus and to hear his word. Paul wisely puts his finger on the issue of encouragement as he warns the Colossians against false teaching and points them once again to Jesus Christ and his gospel.

Steve Hiller: Well, let's look at what Paul said in the book of Colossians. We're in chapter two, looking at the first four verses as we begin this message, Do Not Be Deluded. Here is Jonathan.

Jonathan Griffiths: It's so easy to be deceived and deluded, isn't it? It's easy to be taken in. We face threats of deception all the time in the course of daily life. Perhaps it's happened to you not long ago. The phone rings in the middle of the night. The voice at the other end of the phone tells us it's the credit card company's fraud detection department. Someone has made a big purchase on your card, they say. Was it you, they want to know? Please give me your credit card number, the security code, and your password before we continue the conversation. And it's a fraud. They're stealing your information while you're half asleep in the middle of the night.

Or it's the government tax department, says the mechanical voice at the end of the phone. You're in trouble over your tax return. Please give us your full name, date of birth, social security number. Or you're online shopping and the storefront, it looks genuine. You put in your payment information, your credit card, but it's a scam. You've been deceived. The email comes from a trusted name. There's an attachment. You open it. It's a destructive virus. And on and on it goes. There are whole industries devoted to deception and we are in constant danger.

Well, what is true in the realms of commerce and business is true in the spiritual realm, too. There are those who would deceive and mislead us for a whole variety of reasons and out of a whole variety of motivations, but who are immensely dangerous to our spiritual well-being. That was true now and it was true two millennia ago at Colossae. It was true for these early Christians to whom the Apostle Paul wrote his letter. And as we read Paul's words here at the opening of chapter two, we recognize that there is a sense of urgency in what he is saying and what he is doing. There is a feeling of concern. There is a threat of danger.

Paul names the danger right in the heart of our passage here. Notice it with me, chapter two and verse four: "I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments." There are those in the community who would have the capacity to delude these believers with plausible arguments about faith and salvation and good works and religious duty. And we'll explore this a little more in weeks to come. But there are those who would delude and unsettle them. And what makes these people dangerous is that their arguments are plausible.

And it's worth just pausing on that for a moment. You and I, we are generally not in much danger from implausible-sounding arguments. I mean, someone comes along and says, I don't know, that in order to gain salvation, let's just think of something really crazy here, you know, we need to eat roasted insects, move to Greenland, and communicate exclusively through Morse code. Okay, something really crazy. Someone comes along and says nonsense like that, and we would have the good sense, I think most of us, to dismiss them out of hand.

A few might be taken in. It's extraordinary what some people will actually believe. It's remarkable how people will join even the weirdest cults. But most of us, we won't be deceived by implausible arguments. Ridiculous, outlandish things, they generally don't take us in. But here's the thing: plausible arguments might take us in. Arguments that are pretty close to the truth, that resemble the truth, that use the same vocabulary and categories as the truth. Those arguments are actually a danger to us. Those are the arguments that should concern us.

And they are the arguments that concern the Apostle Paul. No doubt he wrote this letter in part to counter such arguments, to guard the Colossians against them. We don't know all the details of the false teaching that's concerning the apostle, that's circulating at Colossae. We only get hints about the false teaching. But just look ahead with me to verse eight to get a flavor. Paul warns them, "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."

See to it that no one takes you captive by that kind of thing. There was philosophy, no doubt very impressive-sounding in the way it's presented. There was outright deceit, deceptive arguments. There was human tradition, worldly thought. But none of this was truly according to Christ. The Colossians, they needed to know. They needed to know that in Christ they had everything. He's fully God, verse nine, and we have fullness in him. You know, the false teachers, they were probably suggesting that the Colossians were lacking something.

They didn't quite have fullness yet. They needed a top-up to their faith, to their spiritual experience, something extra to make their Christian experience full and complete and entirely satisfactory. And how familiar, actually as a side note, how familiar that kind of thing sounds. How often we hear variations on that theme. You know, just add this element. This is the missing element to your Christianity, this one belief, this one insight, this one experience, then you're going to have fullness once you get that.

Paul needed to emphasize that their debt had been canceled in Christ, verse 14. No more legal demands against them. He needed to admonish them not to allow anyone to pass judgment upon them, verse 16, on matters of law and ritual. And how relevant that concern is. How often we hear variations on that theme. If you don't observe these patterns, these rules, these rituals, you're not a Christian, you're not spiritually secure. And you know, a legalism or a ritualism or an adherence to a certain type of tradition, it leads to believers being judged by others, being unsettled in their faith.

Perhaps you've seen that. Perhaps you've experienced that kind of judgmentalism. Well, Paul wants to make sure that we're not taken in, that we're not deluded with plausible-sounding arguments, that our faith is not unsettled. How do we avoid being deluded? How do we stay firm in our faith in Christ? Well, in asking this question, we do well to follow the pastoral lead of the Apostle Paul and notice how he has been struggling for these believers, verse one. He's been struggling for them and for others in nearby Laodicea just a few miles away, and for all believers who have not seen him face-to-face.

How he has been struggling in prayer and in the teaching that he has sent now by his letter. He has a struggle for them. Well, what are the specific things, let's observe this, what are the specific things that he struggles for in prayer and so on for these believers in the face of possible delusion? What are the protections available to them and the protections against delusion available to us? First, an encouragement of heart. Now, that's the first protection. Notice it again, verses one and two: "For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face-to-face, that their hearts may be encouraged."

I find it very interesting that in addressing error and delusion, Paul starts with the heart and he starts with the issue of encouragement. Very interesting, isn't it? The greatest defense for the believer's heart against error, it seems, is to be encouraged. That's the first line of defense. Now, that's interesting. Why is it that you and I are vulnerable to error, to theological drift in our faith, when we are discouraged? What's the link there? Well, put simply, when we're discouraged, we lose sight, don't we, of the truth of the gospel, and we lose our confidence in the gospel.

And we're open to various forms of deception when we're in that vulnerable state. This can unfold and play itself out in a few different ways. If we're discouraged and struggling to live by faith, to see the hope that's set before us, when everything is bleak in our minds—you ever feel like that? When everything's bleak and we can't look beyond our circumstances to the promises of God and the hope of eternal life—we can actually be very vulnerable at that time to the draw of rite and ritual and tradition, particularly if we were brought up in something like that.

At times of doubt, at times of a sense of lostness, we want something that we can see or touch or experience in a tangible way. Something that we can do or participate in that will give us a sense of spiritual comfort. But you know, the danger is that those rites and rituals or experiences will become a replacement for faith and hope and trust in the gospel of grace. You see, our eyes are drawn away from Jesus and turned to be focused on rite and ritual. And that's the pressure that the Colossians were facing.

Remember again what Paul said to them at chapter two and verse 16. He says, "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." And maybe, I don't know, but maybe you have a background in some kind of ritualistic religion. Maybe you know all too well what we're talking about here. And in your own experience, when you go into a time of discouragement, a time of struggling in your faith, when you're going through a tough patch, suddenly ritual—food, drink, festival, new moon, Sabbath—suddenly you gravitate towards such things because you can see them, touch them, experience them, do them in some way.

But as you reflect upon it, even in light of what Paul's saying here, you can see that that becomes a draw away from gospel hope. That's one way in which we might become drawn away in a time of discouragement. Another one is through guilt, through a sense of condemnation. And this, of course, is much more common, perhaps much more powerful for us. Each one of us will, I believe, know something of this. You're not doing well in terms of obedience in the Christian life. You've stumbled into sin, perhaps. You've done that for the umpteenth time.

You're so disappointed in yourself, ashamed. Perhaps you're discouraged for sure. Who's been there? Who's there right now, perhaps? Maybe a number are. And when you're in that place, where do you go next? Where does your mind move? Where does your heart take you? Well, you start thinking, don't you, about the standards of God's word. You start thinking about his commands. You start thinking about how shamefully far short you fall. And you start wondering, you know, can I really actually even be a true believer?

You wonder, "Am I actually, am I actually saved? I mean, given my record of failure, how can a Christian be like this?" Isn't that how it goes? And in that place, we're vulnerable to legalism, actually. We're vulnerable to law. We're vulnerable to works righteousness. We think, you know, I've done so badly. I need to do better. And if someone will tell me how to do that or how I need to do that, I will hear it and I will receive it. If someone comes along with a harsh regime, a religious regime of rule-keeping, and tells me that this is going to be the way for me to move forward of promoting godliness, of getting past my sin, I might get taken in.

I might be ready to hear that in my vulnerability. You see, it seems that the Colossians were moving in that direction. Just notice verse 20 with me: "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 its regulations: Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch. These indeed have 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." You see, they're looking for something that might stop the indulgence of the flesh.

Now, when we're aware of our sin and we're aware of our failure, when we're discouraged, we're open to legalism, to harsh rule-keeping, to law that replaces gospel. It is a time of vulnerability. And in that time of guilt, in that time of discouragement, we can actually slip away from believing firmly in a gospel of justification by faith and slip into thinking again that our works play a part in our standing before God. Just listen to this from Martyn Lloyd-Jones, a British preacher of a former generation.

He writes this. I think it's quite insightful. He says, "If when you happen to fall into sin, you have a feeling that because of that sin you are not a Christian at all and never can have been—if that happens, you are still thinking in terms of justification by works. If you can be filled with doubt when you fall into sin like that or when something else happens to you, if you feel any kind of uncertainty about your salvation because of some kind of inadequacy or deficiency in yourself—if that makes you doubt whether you are a Christian at all—then you have reverted in your thinking to justification by works. Never in any way must our salvation be based on anything in us. It is entirely in the Lord Jesus Christ."

Now, that's very perceptive, what he's saying there. And the danger is real. We fall, we slip, we stumble, we sin, we grow discouraged. We revert to works righteousness, to justification by works, to thinking that our salvation depends upon our behavior. And so we spiral downwards. That's a nasty cycle. And to guard the believers from that, Paul struggles for their encouragement in prayer and in his teaching. He wants them to have the assurance and the joy of sins forgiven, of standing secure in the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

He wants them to live in the joyful freedom of knowing that whatever their failures, all is well because of Jesus. He wants them to be encouraged in heart. That's the first defense. That's the first bulwark of soul. And with that in mind, let me encourage you. If you belong to Jesus, if you have trusted in him, be encouraged today, knowing that all is indeed well between you and God. The righteousness of Jesus, it has been applied to you. The Father sees you in him, clothed in the righteousness of Christ. Your debt has been paid. Your future has been secured. The gates of heaven stand open to you, and the pit of hell is forever closed. Be encouraged.

Protection number one against delusion: an encouragement of heart. Now, protection number two: a unity in love. Paul struggles for them, verse two, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love. One question we have pondered is whether there are ways in which we could adapt our building here to make it an effective refuge center for times of emergency or disaster. Could we modify the building and its backup systems and so on to enable it to serve as a resource of that kind—a place where people could come for refuge and shelter and safety, a place of security in the face of threat?

The storm that we experienced recently naturally raises that question for us once more. Now, I don't know if that's something we'll ever pursue, but I want to capture that image and that idea in our mind's eye just for a moment because the reality is that the local church, the assembly, the fellowship of believers, this is a place of collective safety. We have a security together that we do not have apart. That's important for us to remember living as we do in such an individualistic age.

So often we think of ourselves as lone rangers traveling through this world, rugged individualists. So often in our society people are tremendously isolated and do have to navigate the challenges of life more or less alone. But the very nature and the very design of the Christian life is for us to function together, to live together, and to face together the challenges and perils that may come our way. And nowhere is that more true than in the case of the integrity of our doctrine and our defense against error.

We hold to the truth not just individually, but collectively and together as a church family. We sit under the preaching of the word of God. We have an eldership that gives us direction in our doctrine. We hold together to a shared understanding of the truth. We remind one another of the truth. We act as a form of accountability for one another in believing and teaching the truth. And that is a guard for us against error and drift. It's a well-worn thing to say that we're stronger together than we are apart, but it's really true, isn't it, when it comes to the church and when it comes to our collective hold on the truth?

And all this, it is grounded in relationship, in care for one another. It is grounded in our love for one another within the Christian family. As we are knit together in love—to use Paul's own language here—we are bound together in a place of protection and a place of safety. And Paul sees that. Paul knows it. And he's urgent in his prayers that this knitting together in love, this unity in love, would be protected and would be preserved. He knows that if the love cools within the fellowship, if the relationships start to fray, if the community bonds start to break down, the people will become more and more vulnerable to those plausible arguments that come in.

And we see what happens when relationships start to fray, don't we? If a church teaches the Bible pretty faithfully but something goes wrong relationally and relationships deteriorate and people then start scattering to other places, what we'll find is that some of the displaced people will seek out churches with sound Bible teaching, with similar doctrine. But you know, others will associate their disappointment and their hurt with the doctrine that they received and they'll end up either abandoning church altogether or seeking out a church with a different kind of theology.

That's what happens, doesn't it? You've probably seen it. And suddenly they are vulnerable to the plausible arguments that may come along. We know it with our children and our young people, don't we? We've seen it. The relationships are so important. And if they're here and being loved and they see the truth, well, they'll be guarded within that. But if the bonds of love cool and the young people drift away from the church family over time, we know the danger, we know the vulnerability, and the plausible arguments of false teachers can easily find a hearing and then start to take root.

And so, friends, if we would be guarded from error, if we would stay grounded firmly in the truth, we need to invest not only in our sound theological understanding, we need to invest in our relationships as well within the church. We need to ensure that we stick together and function well together. We need to be careful, don't we, that we aren't people who prize truth in a vacuum, who just care about doctrine. We need to make sure that alongside doctrine we care about people and that we care about love and truth at the same time. The local church, the family of God, it is a place of refuge and protection for us. And so Paul strives—he strives in prayer, he strives in his teaching—for the bonds of love of the believers to be strong, for the Colossians to be knit together.

Steve Hiller: Jonathan Griffiths here on Encounter the Truth and part of our message, Do Not Be Deluded. Hope you'll join us next time as we'll continue this message. If you ever miss a broadcast, come and listen online at encounterthetruth.org. Well, we depend here at Encounter the Truth on your generosity to keep the program and the podcast going. So thank you for giving to this ministry. And as you give a gift of any amount this month, we want to send you a book called Can We Trust the Gospels? It's written by Peter Williams. And Jonathan, I've got a friend who always says, you know, what you read is not necessarily as important as who you read. So, who is Peter Williams?

Jonathan Griffiths: Peter Williams is a really outstanding New Testament scholar based at the University of Cambridge. He's principal of an institution called Tyndale House Cambridge, which I think has a claim to be the leading biblical studies library in the world. I had the opportunity to spend quite a bit of time at Tyndale House myself when I was doing my PhD research. And so I know Peter and his work and he's a really outstanding scholar.

Steve Hiller: And so when I hear that, I hear super-intellectual, really heady. Am I going to be able to relate to a book like Can We Trust the Gospels?

Jonathan Griffiths: Well, Peter's a fine scholar and an intellectual to be sure, but he's written this book to serve the church, to serve the people of God. And he's worked hard to make it really accessible. And that's one of the great hallmarks of this book and it's one of the reasons why we want to get it into the hands of our listeners. Peter's tackling really fundamental issues: the trustworthiness of the Gospels, the reliability of the Gospels. And he's seeking to make the arguments in favor of the trustworthiness of the Gospels clear and simple and accessible. And I think his arguments are compelling and I'd love to get this book into the hands of our listeners.

Steve Hiller: Well, it's called Can We Trust the Gospels? and it is our thank-you gift to you as you financially support Encounter the Truth this month. You can give online at encounterthetruth.org or call us at 1-833-998-7884. That might be easier to remember as 833-99-TRUTH. Or again, the website is encounterthetruth.org. You can also write to us at Encounter the Truth, PO Box 5513, Ottawa, Ontario, K2C 3M1. Or in the US, at Encounter the Truth, 215 North Arlington Heights Road, Suite 102, Arlington Heights, Illinois, 60004. For Jonathan Griffiths and our producer Mark Breathet, I'm Steve Hiller. Thanks for listening and I hope you'll join us next time.