"For though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the stedfastness of your faith in Christ. As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily."
In today's lesson, Paul, although he had never personally met any of the Colossian Christians, shared and declared a common bond with them through their common faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Herein, Paul warned the Colossians to; "beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ."
That warning was a common theme to the early churches because he knew that there were forces of evil whose great desire it was to destroy those who would perpetuate the good news of God's grace through the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Sadly, the very things Paul so vehemently warned those early churches about have been almost entirely incorporated in most of today's "churches". False "philosophy" is being taught instead of the pure gospel of Jesus Christ, "vain deceit" has replaced the loving compassion that Christ instilled into His true disciples.
"Church"goers today spend far too much time and energy on personal comfort and outward appearance and very little, if any, on developing the inner spirit through the truth of the gospel of Christ.
Group pomp and ritual have replaced humble solitary prayerful worship. Modern "Christians" have become as the Laodiceans, to whom Jesus said; "I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth."
I fear that many among us who today claim the Christian mantel will be spit out when, as Jesus said; "For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God."
It's not too late, we can still turn our efforts back toward the task that was originally given us, we can still preach with a loud voice that through God's loving grace, eternal salvation comes through faith in Jesus Christ crucified.~
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