Like a Sheep

One of my all-time favorite group games is capture the flag. The goal, obviously, is to capture the other team’s flag. But, if you get tagged in the other team’s territory, you are captured. You must follow the tagger to jail and wait there until someone from your team comes to rescue you. You have been taken captive!

In the city of Colossae during Paul’s day, a fierce battle was taking place. This wasn’t a battle with swords and shields, however. It was a battle over the hearts and minds of the people. Some were seeking to challenge and subvert the gospel and influence the new believers to follow other ways instead of relying on Jesus, who rescued them by His life, death, and resurrection.

Paul warns the Colossians against these false teachings by explaining that if they abandon the truths of God’s Word, they will be taken captive. Paul describes the false teachings as “empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense.†While Jesus is “the way, the truth, and the life†(John 14:6), the enemy is “the father of lies†(John 8:44), who sometimes contradicts the Bible outright and other times twists words to make it seem like the Bible says something that it doesn’t. Believers are often tempted to listen to these false ideas, but if we forsake biblical truths and replace them with lies, we’ve been taken captive. Only Jesus gives us freedom by the gospel.

As believers, we are called to carefully consider the big-picture ideas behind what the world teaches and compare them to the gospel. We are constantly bombarded with all kinds of messages about what is right and wrong and how to live a good life. Sometimes it can feel overwhelming trying to discern who to listen to. But once we’ve put our trust in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, His Holy Spirit is in us, and He helps us sift through every message with the filter of the gospel. When we embrace the truth of God’s Word, He helps us avoid being captured by the empty and deceiving ideas of the world. • Jonathon Fuller

• What false teachings were the Christians in Colossae encountering (Colossians 2:1-23)?

• Even if we get sucked into believing something false, God doesn’t give up on us. As Christians, we’ve already been rescued by Jesus, and nothing can change our eternal destiny with Him. We can ask God to help us know the truth and rest in knowing that He is faithful to help us.

Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ. Colossians 2:8 (NLT)

Read Verses:

Matthew 18:11-14; Luke 19:10