Raised with Christ aka Full Life in Christ
Colossians 2:6-15
International Sunday School Lesson
February 10, 2013
Commentary
By
Jed Greenough
I imagine that a lot of you have contemplated becoming missionaries. In the passion of your faith you have longed to do your part in the work of the Great Commission. Thank God that we have people who have not just witnessed to a neighbor but have set out to unfamiliar environs to do just that. But have you ever wondered what they sometimes unknowingly have shared besides the gospel?
There is such a beautiful simplicity to the gospel that people sometimes think they need to add a measure of pizzazz in order to make it palatable or worthy of attention. Instead of preaching Christ and Him crucified as Paul concentrated on most have always added their spin to it. Some of it seems simple enough on the surface but it is the stuff of which our separations as a church are created.
Imagine a series of five remote islands that are each a day’s journey by boat apart. Each of the islands is visited by a different missionary. One is Methodist, the next is a Baptist, another is Lutheran, a fourth is from an independent Christian church and the final one is Jesuit.
Imagine then a year later when people from the five islands gathered together in an annual get-together for trade and a refreshing of relationships. Those present excitedly wish to witness to their neighbor and find they have already been witnessed to. Now they excitedly talk about their new faith when the differences they have been exposed to start to put up barriers instead of drawing them even closer. There are differences in baptism, communion, and roles for men and women, healing, gifts of the Spirit and so many more.
This is what I thought of when I read Paul’s letter to the Colossians. I imagined how much better a witness would have been accomplished on each of these Islands if they would have just received Bibles in a language they understood and nothing else. And I imagined then what their gathering would have been like.
We may not preach a need to be circumcised or to follow some other aspect of the written code but we may preach a gospel that bears little resemblance to what Paul preached.
Do we teach that we have the solution to your aging parents, your finances, how to be good stewards or be better in our household roles? These are all admirable but are often hours spent away from the gospel and an in depth study from the word. If that in fact had been done those other things just naturally follow but most would consider that an unappealing approach for churches today.
It is my opinion that there is one way to depend on Christ but there are many ways and layers to hollow and deceptive philosophy.
For Discussion:
1. Is the place where you worship guilty of “hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world” rather than on Christ? Can you even discuss it?
2. If you are willing to admit there is a problem, what are you willing to do about it?
3. If your place of worship were to change what it taught in an attempt to rely more on Christ and less on the basic principles of this world, what would be the consequences? Are they really consequences?
4. Consider what Christ meant when he spoke of worshiping in spirit and in truth.
5. It is not just for the preacher and teacher to consider what you “preach and teach” but also the Christian in general.
6. Discuss how according to the signs of the end of the age this type of teaching especially telling people what their “itching ears want to hear” shall become prevalent.
7. If we are aware of this how much of a test should we hold our preaching and teaching to assure we aren’t a part of what was warned would occur?
8. If you were to preach or teach sermons or lessons from today’s passage of scripture, reread the scripture verse by verse. How many ideas for these messages come to mind in just 5 minutes? Give it a whirl and discuss how God’s word is sufficient for our lives without our coming up with ways to make it relevant to today’s world.
Upcoming Adult Sunday School Class Commentaries
2-17-13: Clothed with Christ Colossians 3:5-17
2-24-13: Disciplined for Life aka Spiritual Disciplines for New Life Colossians 4:2-17 or 4:2-6
3-3-13: Daniel’s Vision of Change Daniel 7:1-3, 9-14 or 7:9-14
3-10-13: Daniel’s Prayer Daniel 9:4-14, 17 or 9:4b-14
Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 Biblica. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved
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