Week 4 - 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

It might seem like an obvious point to make, but how we identify ourselves will go a long way toward determining our lifestyle choices and the rules we live by.  A dedicated  law enforcement officer will live by different rules than a self-identified criminal. An aspiring scholar will make different daily choices from a professional video gamer.   A military officer will have a different daily routine than a  jazz musician.  An olympic hopeful will have a different daily training regime than an Hot dog eating contest.

Can anyone share ways that the identities they have adopted have moved them to make distinctive decisions about their life?

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READ COLOSSIANS 3:1-14

1 Since then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. 7 You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8 But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. 11 Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.

12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

From Identity to MIndset

1. This passage starts with a command:  “Set your heart on things above, set your mind on things above.” (Colossians 3:1,2) Do you believe we have this power over our mindset?

2. What are some things that you find help improve  our mindset?

3. What is one practical thing we can do to develop this mindset?

4. What is the connection between this mindset and our union with Christ? (Col 3:1)

   Mindset and Lifestyle

5. Work through the various items in verses 5 - 10. How do you think “setting your mind on things above" will help you live out these ideals?

   Ethnic and Social Identity

   Colossians 3:11 reads  – “Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.”

   Here Paul cites some of the most contentious divisions between people of his day, and claims that, in Christ, these divisions have been eliminated.  He claims that our Gospel Identity, “Christ is all and is in all” transcended other divisions.  

6. In what sense is this true?

7. in another place, Romans 11:1  Paul affirms his Jewish identity — “I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin.“

8. How can Paul affirm his Identity as an Israelite in Romans 11:1, and yet say that ethnic identities are eliminated  in Colossians 3:11?

9. What do you think it means for us to affirm our ultimate identity in Christ, while still affirming our particular racial, cultural or social identity?