If you were deceived, would you know it? In his last days on earth, Jesus expressed a concern to his disciples about the end times. He warned in Matthew 24:24 that false teachers would arise that, if given the opportunity would deceive even the elect! Jesus was concerned about deception. And he was concerned that some of us might end up being deceived in some important way. So the question I’d like you to address to yourself today is this; “in some way or another, have I been deceived, misled, mistaken, or in error about some essential truth?”
Four Dangerous Deceptions
Secularism – Worldly ideology that weakens and destroys faith (2:8-10).
Legalism – Obedience to the law masquerading as a relationship with Jesus (2:11-17).
Mysticism – spiritual experiences that replace abiding in Jesus (2:18-19).
Asceticism – depriving yourself of essentials instead of seeking Jesus (2:20-23).
Secular Humanism is man centered instead of Christ centered
Secularism– rejects religion, God and Christ.
Humanism –teaches that man is the master of his own meaning rather than faith.
Atheism –denies the existence of God.
Rationalism –believes that meaning only comes reason rather than God.
Relativism – The idea that there’s no absolute truth.
Existentialism –teaches that we create our own meaning, not God.
Hedonism – The idea that personal pleasure is the only thing with intrinsic value.
Nihilism – the rejection of all religious and moral principles; & life is meaningless.
Socialism – the state not God is ultimate authority.
Naturalism –the world came from natural phenomena. There is no supernatural.
Some of us have elevated facts and statistics to the level of God’s Truth.
God has a corner on truth.
The Dangers of Secularism 8
The secular is opposed to the sacred!
BEWARE! βλέπω blepo – Have a little discernment.
Secularism will CHEAT you and enslave you.
Four descriptions of secularism:
1. It is a Philosophy or a secular way of looking at life.
2. It is based on Empty Deceit because it is devoid of truth.
Romans 3:10-18 is God’s description of secular humanists.
Man is not as bad as he could be… until you give him the opportunity.
3. It is based on Manmade Traditions.
4. It is based on Basic Principles the world readily accepts.
The Benefits of Sacred 9-10
We are to seek Christ and the wisdom that dwells in Him!
First, “all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Jesus.”
#1 Jesus is fully God and fully man.
#2 Jesus has all the divine attributes of God the Father – He is all knowing.
Second, “You are complete in Him.”
Smarter doesn’t not equal wiser.
Only in Christ is your life full.
Third, “He is the head of all principality and power.”
Jesus is the ultimate authority.
It really takes a big measure of humility to admit that you are mistaken, and the most humble among us are truly the greatest among us. If you have given in to the philosophy of some secular idea, it’s going to take a big man, or a big woman to admit their error. I wonder if you are big enough to admit your errors. It’s my hope that all of us would be like the child, and be teachable.
MESSAGE
In his last days on earth, Jesus expressed a concern to his disciples about the end times. He warned in Matthew 24:24, that false teachers would arise that, if they were given the opportunity, they would deceive even the elect! That’s us, Believers.
Jesus was concerned about deception. And he was concerned that some of us might end up being deceived in some important way. It’s my concern as well. So the question I’d like you to address to yourself today is this; “in some way or another, have I been deceived, misled, mistaken, or in error about some essential truth?”
Well if you were deceived, how would you know it? If you were deceived, you would be thinking to yourself that your beliefs were true, not false! That’s the problem with deception. The deceived don’t know they are deceived! We humans tend to believe that our beliefs are the ones that are genuine, and it is the others who are deceived. Where do you go for trusted information?
So our goal, over the next four weeks, is to identify and expose FOUR major areas where Christians are sometimes deceived. These are blind spots that the Apostle Paul mentioned in Colossians 4. These are four things that draw us away from the life of abundance in Christ.
1. Secularism – Worldly ideology that weakens and destroys faith (2:8-10).
2. Legalism – Obedience to the OT law masquerading as a relationship with Jesus (2:11-17).
3. Mysticism – spiritual experiences that replace abiding in Jesus (2:18-19).
4. Asceticism – depriving yourself of some essential in the hopes that it will draw you close to Jesus (2:20-23).
Today we look at secular philosophy. Some people have called this secular humanism. It is any philosophical, human, typically non-religious viewpoint that doesn’t line up with Scripture. There are as many different versions of it as there are philosophers. Every version is slightly different, but they all have one thing in common. They abandon Jesus Christ in favor of their own wisdom. They are man centered instead of God centered. Let me list some of them.
- Secularism– rejects religion, God and Christ. It is currently the reigning philosophy of the world.
- Humanism – (often paired with secularism) teaches that man is the master and maker of his own meaning rather than faith.
- Atheism – Atheists are usually Secular humanists. Atheism denies the existence of God and believes that the universe came about from natural means.
- Rationalism – they believe that meaning only comes from our own reason and thought, rather than empirical evidence or from God.
- Relativism – The idea that there’s no absolute truth, only the truths that a particular individual or culture happen to believe.
- Existentialism – They teach that we create our own meaning. Meaning is not given to us by God.
- Hedonism – The idea that pleasure or happiness is the only thing with intrinsic value. And life consists of having fun and pleasing self rather than God
- Nihilism – the rejection of all religious and moral principles; the belief that life is truly meaningless.
- Marxism, communism, socialism- teach that the state is ultimate authority which brings about meaning, and faith in God is the enemy.
- Naturalism – believe that the world came from natural phenomena. And that there is no supernatural.
Let me just say that Secular Humanism, the main umbrella of all these philosophies is the current reigning philosophy of the civilized world. Many of your politicians, most of your educators, your news anchors, your entertainers and most of your employers and business owners are secularists.
These are the people you trust! These are the people that you elect! These are the people that your listen to! These are the people that teach you and your children! Is it any wonder that so many Christians have viewpoints that are non biblical! Is it any wonder that Christians have unwittingly intermixed secular ideals with their biblical faith and are ok with it.
Because after all, we’ve been told that “all truth is God’s truth!” That may sound good on the surface until you realize that sometimes it is used for insidious means. People have elevated facts and statistics to the level of God’s Truth. Some of us are really no different than the Roman Catholics who have elevated the Popes proclamations to the level of Scripture. We have our own popes! We’ve taken science, literature, politics, etc and have unwittingly elevated secular ideas to the level of Scripture, because we deem them to be facts.
Genuine Christianity teaches this: God has a corner on truth. God’s Word is Truth. Anything, even if it seems like it is true, that contradicts God’s revealed Word is NOT true. Give us time, research and some new ideas, and it amazing how often the old truths get thrown down, and the new truths are placed on the throne. The only safe thing for a Christian is to embrace God’s truth.
Now that I’ve warned you about the dangers of secularism using reason, let me warn you about the dangers of secularism from Scripture:
The Dangers of Secularism
8 Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.
Listen! The secular is opposed to the sacred!
Do you hear the warning there? BEWARE! βλέπω blepo – Have a little discernment. Christians need to be able to see, examine, understand, and perceive what is true or false, what is right or wrong and thus take heed and avoid the pitfalls of secularism. This is how you stop deception.
Because once you get sucked in by cheap substitutes like secular humanism, it will rob you and cheat you and then abandon you to the pit of despair. It will CHEAT you. συλαγωγέω sulagogeo – This word “cheat” is a little bit stronger than your ordinary everyday run of the mill word for mugging. This word means that they will carry you off as a captive or slave and lead away from your true home and from truth.
There are four descriptive words that explain exactly what secular humanism is.
1. Philosophy. φιλοσοφία philosophia – is literally the love of wisdom, and it relates to wisdom in any branch of art, science, or knowledge. If you love the principles of English, literature, math, science, agriculture, political science, counseling, history, or any of the other arts or sciences, I commend you… but beware, your professors and teachers, and your textbooks are likely teaching you those subjects from a secular viewpoint, and if you sit underneath them you are susceptible to their ideas.
2. Empty Deceit. It is empty, because once you expose it, you discover that it is genuinely has no substance to it. Empty – κενός kenos devoid of truth.
This has to do with how they sneak it past you. They use sophistry. When we use the word Deceit ἀπάτη apate, we don’t necessarily mean that they are lying. Some certainly are. But to lie means that they intentionally make a false statement. Deception does not require that one make a false statement, it does mean that they may conceal or misrepresent the truth. They just don’t tell the whole story. They don’t give you and objective view of both sides.
But you say, “Wait a minute! That’s not fair! That’s not the kind of teaching I got! My teachers were objective, thoughtful, intelligent and diligent!” I used to think that way. I used to think that most people were doing their best to be honest and forthright.
And I had a naive viewpoint of Romans 3. Have you ever read Romans 3? I used to ask myself, who are these people in Romans 3? I don’t know very many of them. The truth of the matter is, that man is not as bad as he could but… until you give him the opportunity. Let me read for you, from Romans 3, what God says about the secular humanists of the day.
10 As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one; 11 There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. 12 They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.” 13 “Their throat is an open tomb; With their tongues they have practiced deceit”; “The poison of asps is under their lips”; 14 “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.” 15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood; 16 Destruction and misery are in their ways; 17 And the way of peace they have not known.” 18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
This is God’s description of worldly, secular, humanists who don’t know God. It’s a little abrupt isn’t it. And yet, if God’s Word is true, you have allowed those people to give you the nightly news, to run the country, to entertain you, and to educate your children.
That’s why our country is struggling with its pronouns; that’s why they are teaching critical race theory in schools. That’s why we can’t define who is a woman. And that is why we are struggling with gender ideology.
3. Tradition – παράδοσις paradosis –The third thing that characterizes Secular Humanism is that it uses the traditions of men that have been passed down from one generation to the next. That’s what education is all about. Education is passing down the information from one generation to another. It must be true because your parents and teachers believe it. But just because something is thought to be true by your elders, does not make it true.
4. The Basic Principles of the World. Basic Principles – στοιχεῖον stoicheion. These are the assumptions that people of the world take for granted as true. If A is true then B must be true. The problem is, worldly assumptions, without God in the mix are madness. B cannot be true if A is false. We are not saying that everything you have learned in class is false, we are saying that the philosophies behind them likely are.
Why? Because they come from the World system – κόσμος kosmos – the ungodly multitude, alienated from God, and therefore hostile to the cause of Christ
Beware of the danger of Secularism. It will deceive you. However, God’s wisdom is superior.
The Benefits of Sacred
In contrast to the secular, we are to seek Christ and the wisdom that dwells in Him!
9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; 10 and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.
Three truths; First “all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Jesus.” That means two things. #1 Jesus is God. He is fully God and fully man. #2 Jesus has all the divine attributes of God, and in this case, what that means is that Jesus is “all knowing.” He knows everything. Jesus philosophy is the right philosophy because it is grounded in truth! The principles of Scripture are truth because God knows everything and has accurately revealed the truth to us!
Second. “You are complete in Him.” The Bible characterizes the secular man as ever learning, but never coming to a knowledge of the truth! Their minds are filled with facts, but their hearts are empty! Smarter doesn not equal wiser. But IN CHRIST, you are complete! πληρόω pleroo – Your life is full. If you abide in Christ you are lacking nothing! That’s because when even the simplest of us embrace the straightforward truths in the Word of God, it makes us wiser than the world.
Third. “He is the head of all principality and power.” Ephesians says that Jesus is the head of the church. But Colossians says that Jesus is the head of all principalities and powers. That means Angels, Demons, Presidents and Dictators. But it doesn’t stop there. He is head and shoulders above educators, entertainers, talk show hosts, newscasters, psychiatrists, counselors and anyone else with authority. He is the ultimate authority for everyone and everything.
Simply put, Jesus and God’s wisdom is superior to any and every philosophy man can possibly think up. Don’t waste your time coming up with something novel if it goes against God’s Word. It’s wrong.
Jesus is concerned about deception. And he is concerned that some of us may end up being deceived. So the question we have posed to you today is this; “have you been deceived, misled, mistaken, or in error about some essential truth?”
Don’t get sucked in by The Hollow Promises of Secular Humanism. Don’t drink the Kool-Aid. Don’t swallow the culture bait. Don’t be fooled by cheap imitations
It really takes a big measure of humility to admit that you are mistaken. And the most humble among us are truly the greatest among us. So if you have given in to the philosophy of some political party, some educational philosophy, some secular idea, it’s going to take a big man, or a big woman to admit their error. I wonder if you are big enough to admit your errors? I wonder if I am big enough to admit my errors.
If you are ready to put Christ’s philosophy ahead of every other belief that you have and give up your secular ideas, I’d like you to bow your head in surrender and do business with God. Admit that He is all wise and that you have foolishly trusted in human wisdom. Commit yourself to allowing God to change your heart and mind for Jesus Christ.
There’s an old Arab Proverb that goes like this.
He who knows not, and knows not he knows not, he is a fool—shun him;
He who knows not, and knows he knows not, is a child—teach him;
He who knows, and knows not he knows, is asleep—wake him;
He who knows, and knows he knows, he is wise—follow him.
Which one are you? It’s my hope that all of us would be like the child, and be teachable.
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