Sunday, July 28, 2019
*This sermon was originally preached under the title
“Filling the Emptiness” at Oak Forest Baptist Church, in Chesterfield, VA,
April 27, 1997. A version of it was
subsequently preached under the title “New Life in Christ” on February 29, 2004
at Greenbrier Baptist Church in Arlington, VA.
“See to it that no one takes you
captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition,
according to the elemental spirits of the universe, and not according to
Christ” (Colossians 2:8). I hear ‘taken
captive’ and I think of being kidnapped or of being a prisoner of war. Horrifying images of Liam Neeson’s triology Taken come to mind.
But imagine this scenario. A young man and woman fall for each
other. He was adventurous, ready for the
next journey, not wanting to be tied down.
But now he’s not going anywhere.
She has captured his heart. Captured. It describes the terror of a kidnapping and the
beauty of falling in love.
“See
to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit,
according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the
universe.
Remember Yvonne Hill? No? She
was like anyone of us and would feel welcome in our church. Yvonne was a 38-year-old mother of five. She was married to Stephen, an inspector for
a tile company. She was a mail sorter at
the post office. Stephen and Yvonne,
with their kids, had a close knit family.
She had a deep desire to know God.
Yvonne Hill? No?
How about Michael Sandoe, from
Abingdon, Virginia? Surely you remember
him, a 25-year-old army paratrooper and veteran of Desert Storm, America’s
invasion of Iraq in 1991. The son of an
evangelical pastor, the young man was popular in high school, and an army hero
after high school. From a small,
historic town near the Virginia-Tennessee border, he went on to see the world
and serve his country.
Don’t remember Yvonne Hill or
Michael Sandoe? I’ll try one more: Julie
LaMontagne. No? Really?
This 45-year-old nurse from Massachussetts saw her father die of
cancer. She lived in different parts of
the country, including California. She
was a good student, a positive influence on her younger brother, and she was a
religious person. Julie LaMontagne? No?
Think about our church family. How many among us are caring parents? How many work hard at our jobs? How many served in the military? How many love their families? Yvonne Hill, Michael Sandoe, Julie
LaMontagne; to borrow a popular TV show title, this is us.
“See
to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit,
according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the
universe.”
These
three along with 36 others were taken captive by bad philosophy, empty deceit,
and false religion. In Colossians 2:8, “elemental
spirits” likely refers to evil spirits or demons[i] that have beguiled human
beings. The deceived individuals
developed religious practices in their response to the evil that’s taken over
them. Then, they in turn drew others
around them into this false religion.[ii]
In
Colosse, the deception came from local deities and the priests who served
them. Paul taught that the Jesus
represented the one and only God. Verse
9 says in Jesus “the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.” Paul said anyone who taught anything other
than faith in Jesus is a liar and a fraud.
He wanted to help people get away from using idols and household totems
to pray to false Gods like Aphrodite and Artemis. He wanted to help the
Colossian church lead people to the one true God.
Yvonne
Hill, Michael Sandoe, Julie LaMontagne did not fall prey to 1st
century Greek gods. What human tradition
and elemental spirit captured these three and 36 others? As I lay out the rest of their story, be
thinking about what has grabbed a hold of your attention. What movement or passion or relationship or
politics or religion is trying to capture you or someone you love?
In
their search for meaning, in their quest for truth and a fulfilling life,
Yvonne, Michael, and Julie fell under the spell of Marshall Applewhite. He founded the Heaven’s Gate cult, an
American UFO millenarian religion. On
March 26, 1997, 39 members of the group were found dead in a house in Rancho
Santa Fe, California. They had
participated in ritual suicide in order to reach what they believed was an
extraterrestrial space craft that was following the Comet Hale-Bopp.[iii]
Of
course if you knew Yvonne, Michael, Julie, or one of the others who
participated in this fatally tragic hoax, you ask might why? Why would they fall for this treachery? How
were these bright, hardworking people, good neighbors and good citizens, taken
in like this? God only knows the warped
spirituality of Applewhite himself. Was
he deceived by a demon, one of the elemental spirits of Colossians 2:8? Is that how evil happens? A demon from Hell draws in one person, a
particularly charismatic person, and he in turn suckers the vulnerable and the
searching?
We
are that. We are vulnerable, searching
beings. We are certainly no better or
smarter or more pure than Yvonne, Michael, or Julie. You might remember a few years ago, we had a
bright young woman share her new member testimony here in church. She was incredibly smart, earning a graduate
degree from UNC and immediately after graduation, a job in her field, here in
Chapel Hill, a competitive job market.
This
talented Christian went from joining the church to becoming extremely activity
in ministry. She served in music
ministry, hosted a small group in her home, served on the elder board,
including a year as chairperson, and went on one of the mission trips to
Ethiopia. No one could be more of a core
leader in our congregation than her.
But, before all that happened in her life, before she came to HillSong,
she was in a cult. If we are not convinced
by the stories of Yvonne, Michael, and Julie, maybe we see our own
vulnerability when we hear a similar story from one of our own.
Right
here in our morning worship, she told her story of being seduced into a
cult. That cult, thank God, did not call
on its members to commit suicide. But
she will tell you it was just as dangerous a deception. Eventually, her sister helped her escape the
lies and turn to the only true God, our Heavenly Father, revealed in the Son,
Jesus, and present with us, God the Spirit.
We thank God for her rescue and for all people who are rescued from
cults like this. At the same time, we empathize
with and grieve for the loved ones of those lost when cults go bad.
The
Heaven’s Gate tragedy is not the only one is America’s history. On April 19, 1993, a subgroup of the Branch
Davidian religion led by David Koresh, who claimed to be the group’s final
prophet, ended a 51-day standoff with law enforcement. The final result was a firefight and
explosion which resulted in the death of 76 Davidians. How did those followers fall under David
Koresh’s spell? Why would they let him
convince them to get in a hopeless firefight against federal officials?
November
18, 1978, Jim Jones, founder of the People’s Temple convinced or coerced over
900 of his followers to kill themselves by drinking cyanide-laced Flavor Aid. Jones was a truly gifted leader who built a
community that in many ways seemed ideal and ahead of its time. But as wonderful his religion seemed, why
would the followers knowingly drink poison?
One of the songs they sang in their worship services had this line, sang
with great joy and enthusiasm: “something’s got a hold on me.”
Paul
knew what he was saying when he wrote, ““See to it that no one takes you
captive.”
The
best and brightest among us can be lured down the road to destruction by
temptation. The devil lures us in so
that we fall prey to him even when we think we’re pursuing truth and seeking
God. No one sets out to practice a false
religion. Whether someone commits crimes
or hurts himself as a result of his cult participation, he himself doesn’t see
it as false. He thinks he’s pursuing
truth.
Think
you’ll never fall for such a thing as a cult’s lies? Think back to what I asked you to
ponder. What has grabbed a hold of your
attention? What ideology or trend or
social force or past time is trying capture you or someone you love?
Paul
wrote this because of how concerned he was for the church in Colosse. Some kind of competing theology was
afoot. In 1:12, he prays the church will
endure. What trial did they have to
endure? What trials have we endured? Paul writes in 1:13, “[God] has rescued us
from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved
son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” And in verse 21, he reminds the Colossians
they were once estranged from God, hostile in mind, and doing evil. The reconciliation has come about through
Jesus’ death (1:22).
I
contend that we, without Christ, are just as estranged from God. Temptations lurk all around, in every
environment in the world as it is today.
We need the endurance Paul prayed for the Colossians. We need the rescue God provided them through
faith in the crucified, resurrected Jesus.
He is the fullness of deity (2:9) and we come to fullness in him. Any teaching, any promise, any offer that
claims to give life apart from a relationship with God in Christ is a lie that
leads to our destruction.
We
see our baptism language in Colossians 2:13-14.
“When you were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh,
God made you alive together with him, when He forgave us all our trespasses,
erasing the record that stood against us with its legal demands. He set this aside, nailing it to the
cross.”
Our
connection to Jesus is our protection against false teaching. The Holy Spirit helps us avoid falling into
temptation and rescues us when we do. Colossians
2:16 says the Lord “disarmed the rulers … triumphing over them.”
Your
life and my life have meaning, joy, hope, and a bright future when we are ‘in
Christ.’ We aren’t captured by His
Spirit. We willingly give ourselves to
Him. That’s your invitation this
morning. Look to the cross and realize
that Jesus died that you might have joy-filled eternal life. You need not fear the enemy that lurks. Turn to the God that saves, the only true
God, and find yourself in Him.
You’ve
thought about your life this morning. As
we sing our final song, come and give to him the things you need Him to take
and receive from Him what you need and cannot get yourself. Come and receive God’s grace.
AMEN
[i] David
M. Hay(2000), Abingdon New Testament
Commentaries: Colossians, Abingdon Press (Nashville), p.87. Hay says the Greek word stoicheia actually refers to supernatural beings that Paul’s
Colossian readers understood to be threatening their salvation.
[ii]
N.T. Wright (1986), Tyndale New Testament
Commentaries: Colossians and Philemon, IVP Academic (Downer’s Grove, IL),
p.107.
That is incredibly helpful, thanks!
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