Week 3 - Fall Focus 2023
Reminder: At the start of each meeting, set the time when you will suspend the Bible study discussion (you do not have to discuss every question) so that you have sufficient time to share requests and pray for one another.
OPENING
What social media app is your biggest distraction?
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I recently heard it said: “We see what we are looking for.”
At a practical level, you know this is true. Automotive enthusiasts notice fancy cars, fashionistas notice designer shoes, botanists notice the flowers that are blooming…
There are some things in life we have to learn to look for. A skilled physician might see symptoms of a disease that a layman would miss, a trained analyst might see a business opportunity in a spreadsheet that others find incomprehensible.
To see the grace of Christ, our true Identity in Christ, and His hand on our lives, we need to train ourselves. We need to develop a vision.
The Bible promises you will see Him when you learn to look for Him.
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READ COLOSSIANS 1:24-2:23
24 Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of His body, which is the church. 25 I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness— 26 the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people. 27 To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
28 He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. 29 To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me.
1 I want you to know how hard I am contending for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally. 2 My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 4 I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments. 5 For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how disciplined you are and how firm your faith in Christ is.
6 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in Him, 7 rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
8 See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.
9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, 10 and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority. 11 In Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, 12 having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through your faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.
13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; He has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. 15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
16 Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. 17 These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. 18 Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you. Such a person also goes into great detail about what they have seen; they are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind. 19 They have lost connection with the head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.
20 Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules: 21 “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? 22 These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings. 23 Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Reread Colossians 1:28-2:1 – What is Paul contending for? The word “contend” (fight, wrestle, argue) implies active effort or even struggle –
According to 2:2-2:3, what is the goal and concern of his contention?
Verse 6 speaks of “receiving Christ.” The remainder of verses 6 and 7 go on to speak about what builds on receiving him. How do you think this looks practically?
Sometimes we speak of being “United with Christ” or being “in Christ” as the heart of the Christian Identity. How do verses 6-7 describe what being united with Christ looks like?
According to verse 8, what is the danger of hollow and deceptive philosophies?If Paul were here today, what modern Ideas would he label as hollow and deceptive philosophies in danger of taking us captive?
Verses 9-15: The place of sacraments
Note: “Circumcision” administered to (male) infants and converts was the sacramental sign on initiation into the covenant community in the Old Testament. It was instituted by God to Abraham in Genesis 17 and perpetuated by the people of God until the beginning of the New Testament Church. At that time “Baptism '' replaced it as the initiation rite for membership in the covenant community (see Acts 15:6-11). Both were administered as signs of connection with God. In Old Testament teaching, the physical sign meant nothing without a spiritual reality (see Deuteronomy 30:5-7).
5. What does Colossians 2:9-11 say about the use of these sacraments in this passage? How do these sacraments work to point us to Christ ?
6. What does Paul say about rules and rituals in verses 2: 16-23? Why do you think they “Lack any value to restrain sensual indulgence”? Why are they opposed to the reality found in Christ (v. 17)?
7. What do you think the reality found in Christ is?
8. The New Testament teaches that there are two sacraments instituted by Christ, Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. How would you contrast the New Testament Sacraments with the rules and rituals? What is the essential difference?
9. How do you think we can train ourselves to see the reality found in Christ?