Colossians Summer Study
Growth by the Strength of God
JULIANNE ATKINSON |GUEST “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory” (Colossians 3:1-4). I used to go fishing with my grandparents in the lagoons and ocean near their house in Savannah. We would choose bait specific to the fish that we wanted to catch. I’d squirm as I put the raw shrimp on the hook. What I really preferred was to squeeze the squishy, glittery plastic worms that caught the light of the sun like a fish’s scales. Whatever bait we used looked just like what the fish preferred to eat, smelled like what smelled good to them, and moved as they expected. Yet inside the bait is a terrible and deadly hook. Sin can act in a similar way. It’s like a shiny bait that catches our eye and makes us think we’ll be fulfilled and satisfied. Nestled inside the glittery facade is a sharp barb that leads to deep pain. The longer we live, the more we can see the devastation that sin wreaks in our lives. As the Puritan theologian John Owen soberly puts it in his book, The Mortification of Sin, we need to “be killing sin or it will be killing you.”[1] The more we let it get a hold of us, the deeper the hook embeds itself. We find it increasingly hard to remove. And we reap serious consequences. As believers, we know these things about sin and its effect in our lives, but what do we do about it?...
Colossians 3 and Lessons Learned from My Wedding Day
BETHANY BELUE | CONTRIBUTOR It was a beautiful fall day when my husband and I stood in front of a sanctuary, with family and friends gathered around, and entered into a covenant of marriage. As our nerves jittered and our hearts pounded, our pastor pointed out words from four verses that the Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Colossae. Almost nine years later, these words continue to remain in my heart and have overflowed into my marriage and family. Colossians 3:12-15: Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Our pastor encouraged us with four truths from this passage as we entered into this binding covenant. Love as you have been loved, forgive as you have been forgiven, encourage as you have been encouraged, and serve as you have been served. Love, forgive, encourage, and serve. These are words I’ve always wanted to offer in my relationships, but the Lord has specifically used the way they were taught from this passage to show me more of my need for Jesus and how it is only through Him that we can offer these things to others. Love as you have been loved It’s hard to love others. Over the last nine years of marriage, I’ve realized how much I really don’t have what it takes to love another person without the help of Jesus...
Idolatry of Authority and the Supremacy of Christ
KC JONES|GUEST [4] I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. [5] For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ. [6] Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, [7] rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. [8] See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. [9] For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, [10] and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. (Colossians 2:4-10) It should not surprise us on this side of the Garden that the forbidden tree from which Adam and Eve took and ate the fruit was known as “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Gen. 2:17). Knowledge has always been prized and coveted by mankind because of the inherent belief in all of us that it contains power. And, like Adam and Eve, we crave such power because we believe we can and should be in control of our own lives and perhaps over everything else in the universe. A People Deceived Paul warns the church at Colossae of this temptation. He writes, “See that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to Christ. For in Him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in Him, who is the head of all rule and authority” (Col. 2:8-10). This deception is of the same nature as that which the serpent used to lure and entice both the first man and woman to twist the words of their master and disobey His command. First, the serpent planted a seed of doubt by simply asking a question, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” (Gen. 3:1). The woman replies by correcting the serpent, yet she adds her own variation as well, “’We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die’” (vs. 2b-3) Eve’s alteration suggests that even before the rest of the story unfolds, she believes God’s rule is up for personal interpretation. She inserts herself as a figure of authority, adapting and using language to meet her own desires....
From Suffering to Strength: Gospel Ministry that Changes Everything
24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, 25 of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, 26 the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. 27 To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28 Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.29 For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me. (Col. 1:24-29) It’s easy to think gospel ministry is reserved for those on a stage or under a spotlight – pastors, missionaries, or the formally trained. But nothing could be further from the truth. Gospel ministry is life. Every believer is called to gospel ministry, wherever God has placed us. Whether you're raising children, serving in retirement, leading Bible study, or showing Christ’s love at your job, you are part of this glorious mission. Colossians 1:24–29 shows us just how glorious (and gritty) that calling can be. If the preeminence of Christ in creation, the Church, and in reconciliation sets the stage for Paul’s ministry (Col. 1:15-23), then Colossians 1:24–29 reveals how that truth transforms everything about the way he serves. For Christian women seeking to live faithfully in their homes, churches, workplaces, and communities, Paul’s example is both a challenge and a comfort. Rejoicing in the Burden: Paul’s Attitude in Ministry (v.24) Some might believe the hardships we face are a detriment to ministry. How can God possibly use me to further His kingdom if I struggle with depression, have a rebellious child, or battle anxiety every day? Paul knew suffering; beyond his thorn in the flesh (2 Cor. 12:7), his life was marked by hardship. Yet, he tells the Colossians he rejoices in his suffering for their sake. In other words, he considers his personal distress as a way of carrying on Christ’s work, and the challenges he faces can and will be used by God to spread the gospel. For that reason, he rejoices in his suffering. We have a choice when faced with hardship. We can either become bitter and pull away from the service God has called us to, or we can choose joy—a settled satisfaction in Christ and in His provisions—and be open to how God might use us amid our hardship or perhaps even because of it. Don’t wait until life feels “together” to serve. God uses us right in the middle of the mess to point others to Jesus...
Growth in Prayer and Gratitude
MEGAN JUNG|GUEST “We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you” Colossians 1:3). For 20 years, I’ve heard the same refrain. “I know I need to pray more...” “I know I should be grateful, but…” Regardless of location: my counseling office, a coffee shop on a college campus, or my seminary office, I have seen the exhausted, downcast, guilty expressions accompanying these words. I feel it too. I understand the tension about prayer and gratitude: I know what I need to do, and I don’t know how. Longing for gratitude and a robust prayer life is often coupled with frustration and uncertainty about how to change. Many of us feel like something stands between us, prayer, and gratitude. Some of us feel like we’re living a cosmic game of Tetris, trying to place spiritual disciplines between waking hours and a billion tasks. Not to mention a desperate need for rest. Some of us are embarrassed because we don’t feel like we have the right words. Others have pain, anger, or mistrust standing between us and the Lord. And if we’re honest, even the most mature Christians sometimes offer rote prayer and gratitude that feels boring and disengaged. (If you find yourself bathed in the mercy of a consistent, rich, grateful prayer life, we praise the Lord for His goodness to you! Please share with others how the Lord has brought you to this place. Sister, we need your witness and encouragement.) The Necessity of Prayer and Gratitude...
A Family Resemblance
BARBARANNE KELLY | CONTRIBUTOR We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. (Colossians 1:3–5a) I’ve been going through a box of old photos found in my dad’s attic, and I’m seeing the faces of my great and great-great-grandparents for the first time. I’ve seen their names written in the branches of our family tree, but for the first time I’m able to look for family resemblances in their eyes and smiles. I marvel at seeing my infant grandmother tenderly held in the arms of her parents under the shade of their garden, held with the same affection with which I held my own precious children. I’m connected to my great-grandmother in more ways than DNA can explain. I never met her, but her blood flows through my veins, and her love for gardening and family, along with her physical characteristics, have been shared down through the generations. When Paul wrote to the church in Colossae, he was writing to saints he’d never met. The gospel had been carried to them by his co-laborer Epaphras, had taken root, and was “bearing fruit and increasing” (1:6–7). Paul’s joy overflowed in thankfulness to God as he recognized the family resemblance in these unseen saints when he heard of “[their] faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that [they] have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for [them] in heaven” (1:4–5a). How did these saints and fellow brothers and sisters at Colossae resemble the family of Christ? They bore the traits of faith in Christ Jesus, love for all the saints, and a hope laid up in heaven. Faith, love, and hope are spiritual characteristics which set the family of God apart from the rest of the world. Faith The word “faith” is repeated five times in the letter to the Colossians, and each time it refers to a specifically objective faith in God the Father and/or the Lord Jesus Christ. This isn’t the baseless faith of the world that calls us to “just believe,” or worse, to “believe in yourself.” The faith that characterizes all Christians is “faith in Christ Jesus (1:4; 2:5), “the faith” in which they need to continue (1:23), “the faith” which is key to walking in Christ (2:6–7), and it is faith in the powerful working of God through which they were raised in baptism with Christ (2:12). Paul sees the family resemblance in the Colossians’ faith because he knows it’s nothing they’ve done in themselves; it is God’s gracious gift (Eph. 2:8)....