Today’s passage: Colossians 3:1-4

Helpful thoughts:

• The focus of the false teachers was on the self and in the physical and temporary.  Christians keep our eyes up on Christ and eternity!
• Christ is presently at the right hand of God the Father.  This is a position of authority and where Christ makes intercession for us (Romans 8:34).  No other teacher or leader in the church could ever come close to the authority and access of Jesus.  Look to Jesus.
• When Paul writes, “your life is hidden,” he refers to the safety and security we have in Christ.  Jesus is our shelter, our protection, our sin is covered by his blood.
  • He is our authority, our access to God, and our safety.

Questions to consider:

1. Why is it best for us as a church to never tire of making much of Jesus?  Why is he the greatest thing we could think about, talk about, preach about, sing about, etc.?
2. How does focusing on Jesus and his gospel rightly shape who we are what we are to do as Christians and as the church?
3. What is the promise given to us in verse 4?  What will be true of us forevermore when Christ returns?

Today’s passage: Colossians 2:20-23

Helpful thoughts:

• The “elemental spirits of the world” simply refers to the basic principles of life or the worldviews held by the cultures of the world.
• If a person abstains from things or participates in them, for the purpose of self-achieved righteousness and salvation, both are indulgences to the flesh.
  • A person who abstains from all things for the purpose of feeling super religious, they get their reward…which is nothing more than to feel super religious.  But they have not saved their soul.
• Those who have “died with Christ” (Who are truly saved) understand our righteousness is found in Christ alone.  We are saved by grace, through faith, in Christ alone.

Questions to consider:

1. When we add other rules or forbid certain actions to ensure our salvation, who will our confidence eventually be placed in for our security?   When those rules and actions are not found in the Bible (Which they aren’t) to whom do we go to learn them?  How careful must we be to base our faith on Scripture alone?
2. In what way can withholding or abstaining from certain things become just as much of an indulgence of the flesh as participating or consuming them?  Why/How are both contrary to the gospel?
3. Why then do we refrain from certain actions or activities?  Why do we seek to do what is right and refrain from doing what is wrong?  What is our right motivation to pursue righteousness?

Today’s passage: Colossians 2:16-19

Helpful thoughts:

• The list of things people might try to pass judgments over were things false teachers were trying to add to what Jesus already fully accomplished for us at the cross.
  • Jesus + anything is not the gospel!
    • This would be the true definition of legalism.  Adding laws as extra burdens on people to make them “earn” their salvation.
• Asceticism is severe self-discipline.  This would have referred to forms of extreme fasting for spiritual “illumination” and “vision.”
• In Christ, in the gospel, in the Word of God, we (the church) have everything we need to be healthy and growing!  Don’t settle for less!

Questions to consider:

1. What kinds of various things were people trying to add to the gospel which Paul listed in this passage?  Which ones sound similar to what people might do in our culture today?  Which ones sound very different (Strange even)?  Why?
2. What is the root motive and desire behind all of these additions to the gospel and Christ (see the end of verse 18)?  Who is man trying to promote and appease when we altar the faith or create different forms of religion?  Why is that so sinful and destructive?
3. What would be some traditions and practices our church has that are not directly biblical (Not that they’re bad, just not biblically mandated), that if we were to make it more important to our existence and life than it is, they would become legalistic and detrimental to our growth and health?

Today’s passage: Colossians 2:9-15

Helpful thoughts:

• Jesus is fully God and fully man.
  • He is not 50% God and 50% man.
  • He is not 200% of a being. (100% God + 100% man)
  • He is fully God and fully man.
• Because Christ is in us and we are in Him (“you have been filled in him.”) there is nothing else we could possibly need!  If you have Jesus, you have everything.
• There are two illustrations in this passage:
  • Circumcision – OT Circumcision was a cutting off of the flesh which pictured whose the people were.  This illustration of circumcision points to the cutting off of “the flesh” (Meaning, the “old self,” or our sinful past, being slaves to sin).
  • Baptism – When the person is immersed, there is a picture of our “old self” dying and then being raised to new life (Romans 6:4).

Questions to consider:

1. In what ways is Jesus better than anything else we could want in this life?
2. What is the main point of the illustrations of circumcision and baptism in this passage?  What was the single point Paul was making with both illustrations?
3. How was our sin debt canceled?  Why have we been forgiven?  What did Christ do for us?

Today’s passage: Colossians 2:6-8

Helpful thoughts:

• We received Jesus by grace through faith.  We walk in Him by grace through faith.
  • Knowing this and seeing the results of God’s continued kindness to us results in thanksgiving!  He gets the glory and praise.
• To understand what it means to be taken “captive,” imagine a pirate ship catching up to you and boarding your boat, then stealing all of your possessions.  They took control of your ship, stopped your progress and took all that you had accumulated.
• The word translated as “spirits” can also be translated as “principles.”  Paul is warning the church to not adhere to the world’s view of life, to maintain a distinctively biblical worldview.

Questions to consider:

1. Who is Jesus to you?  What word did Paul emphasize in verse 6?  Why is it important we acknowledge Jesus in this way?
2. In what ways do the “pirates” take us captive?  What are the means Paul mentions in verse 8 of being taken?
3. How do the common worldviews of today contrast and disagree with what the Bible teaches?  How does salvation by grace through faith, sanctification by grace through faith, and Jesus as Lord compare to a culture of self-help, self-esteem and self-empowerment?  Why is the biblical worldview so freeing?

Today’s passage:  Colossians 2:1-5

Helpful thoughts:

• Laodicea (Revelation 3:14-22) was only nine miles away from Colossae.
• If you really want to know the deep mysteries of God, look no further than Jesus Christ!
  •   The false teachers of the day would offer people deeper understanding and knowledge than what they were receiving through the Scriptures and the teaching of the Apostles.  But in truth, in Jesus “are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”
• The church may have wanted Paul to be present with them, but they had something even better than the knowledge of Paul, they had the Word of God!
  • Even 2,000 years later, we might think those who were alive in the first century had it better, but we have such amazing access to the whole of the Scriptures!  They were hearing and seeing things in real time…we have the Spirit-inspired historical account and God’s description and explanations.  We are truly blessed to have the whole counsel of God’s Word.

Questions to consider:

1. What does the mention of the church in Laodicea and what we know about them from Revelation 3 bring to your mind?  What must churches do to remain healthy?  What was Paul telling the church in Colossae to focus on to remain grounded and healthy?
2. In what ways are the writings of the Scriptures even better than being a eye-witness to the events of the life of Christ?  What limitations would people have had if they were in the crowd at one of Jesus’ teachings or miracles?
3. How should the vast access we have to the Scriptures today affect our knowledge of the Word of God?  Or, simply put, why should you read and study the Scriptures faithfully?

Today’s passage: Colossians 1:24-29

Helpful thoughts:

• Christ’s suffering was not incomplete and we do not need to finish suffering in order to finish the work of our salvation.  However, Jesus promised us that the afflictions He endured would come upon those who followed Him as well (John 15:18-20).  This is what Paul means by “Christ’s afflictions.”
  • Paul rejoiced in the persecution he endured because it was an indicator to him that he was following Jesus!  The message he preached resulted in at least two things:  (1) The birth/growth of churches and (2) persecution.  This meant he was being faithful!
• The people of the Old Covenant (Old Testament) did not know all that was to come in Jesus Christ.  The whole of the works of the Messiah had been a mystery.  The people of the New Covenant have seen the mystery revealed in Jesus.
• The goal of Paul’s ministry was not just to get conversions, but to present the people “mature in Christ.”

Questions to consider:

1. How much effort did Paul put into his work to proclaim and teach the gospel of Jesus Christ (Verse 29)?  What does it mean to toil and struggle with all the energy God put in him? (Note:  Verse 29 is not a command, but a testimony of Paul’s.  Though it can be an encouragement for us to work hard for Christ.)
2. Why was Paul able to rejoice in his suffering?  What kind of rejoicing do you think it was?  Was Paul giddy in his persecution or do you think he endured sadness and grief mixed with hope and peace?  Why?
3. How long did Paul’s suffering last (1 Peter 1:6)?  How long will he be thankful he did what he did to bring on that suffering (Knowing that God was glorified and souls were saved)?

Today’s passage: Colossians 1:21-23

Helpful thoughts:

• The truth of our natural condition: “you, who were once alienate and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds.”  It is by the grace of God we are saved!
• Salvation is given to us freely, but its cost was astounding.  Jesus paid it all on the cross.
• We do not change to become a Christian (Again, Jesus paid it all!), but Christians do change.
  • James 2:18
  • Ephesians 2:10
  • 1 John 1:6

Questions to consider:

1. As a Christian, why is it right to strive for righteousness?  What motivates us?  When is it right to say, “If you continue in sin, how can you be confident you are truly a Christian?”
2. In contrast to our natural state (Verse 21), how will we be presented to God (Verse 22)?  Who ultimately ensures this change will take place (Romans 8:28-30, Philippians 1:6)?  How does this promise fuel and inform our efforts to change and grow in the grace of God?
3. What was Paul’s mission (Primary objective) as a minister of the gospel?  How do we carry on that work today?