Colossians Lesson 2 Home Study Questions The People of Christ Colossians 1:1-14 This treasure of the church was written to a group of Christians who could not have been more than six years old in the faith. Its purpose is to encourage them to hold firmly to the word of truth that had come to them (1:5-6) and to inspire them to live lives that were consistent with their faith (1:10). The book contains some of the clearest statements about the deity of Christ in the entire New Testament. Written to a small, seemingly unimportant church in a small town of diminishing importance, it is a short little book. May it impact our lives out of all proportion to all the smallness associated with it. It is a very important small book! Please take time to read the entire Scripture passage before you begin the questions. Questions marked For deeper thought or For further study are optional. Those marked For personal thought need not be answered out loud in your Core Group. Record the verses where you find your answers. Day One Write God s Word for the week: Colossians 1:13-14. He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Colossians 1:1-2a Introductions 1. Read this short book in its entirety, in one sitting if at all possible. It should not take more than 20 minutes. Record at least one idea in this book that you are eager to think about in depth. Share with your Core Group the reason for your choice and your excitement. 2. a. How does Paul describe himself in verse 1? b. Why do you think he chose that description for himself?
8 COLOSSIANS LESSON 2 HOME STUDY QUESTIONS 3. a. How does Paul describe the Christians to whom he writes? b. Read Hebrews 10:10 and 1 Peter 1:14-23. What qualifies a person to be called holy? c. For further study: Get to know Paul (known then as Saul) better by reading the story of his salvation and call to ministry recorded in Acts 9:1-31. Record two specific things about him that particularly interest you. Day Two Write God s Word for the week: Colossians 1:13-14. Colossians 1:2b-5 Calling of a Saint 4. The Bible often speaks of grace. One definition of grace describes it as the covenant love of God; another defines it as undeserved, unearned favor with God. a. Record what the following passages teach about the gracious way God works with us. 1) Lamentations 3:21-26 2) Luke 15:11-24 3) Ephesians 2:8-10 b. Now write your own definition of grace. 5. Faith is both a belief and an action. After reading the examples of faith in Mark 10:46-52 and Luke 7:36-50, write your own definition.
HOME STUDY QUESTIONS COLOSSIANS LESSON 2 9 Day Three Write God s Word for the week: Colossians 1:13-14. Colossians 1:6-8 Contribution of a Saint 6. Verse 6 tells us that the gospel is producing fruit all over the world. List some examples of ways that the gospel has produced fruit in a. some faraway places in the world b. your part of the world, country, state, or city c. your own life 7. From verses 7-8, comment on the way the news of God s love was getting out. 8. What do you glean from the example of Epaphras about the importance of teaching biblical truth as an essential part of faithful ministry? (Read also Romans 10:11-14.) Day Four Write God s Word for the week: Colossians 1:13-14. Colossians 1:9-12 God s Will for a Saint 9. a. What did Paul constantly ask God to do for the Colossian Christians?
10 COLOSSIANS LESSON 2 HOME STUDY QUESTIONS b. Why did he pray this way? c. How would you describe a life that is worthy of the Lord? 10. For further study: How can you know God s will for your life, according to the following passages? a. Psalm 37:3-8 b. Proverbs 3:5-6 c. Romans 12:1-2 11. a. What is the source of power available to a Christian? (See Philippians 4:13.) b. What is God s purpose for making His power available to us, according to verse 11? c. The presence of the power of God in our lives does not guarantee the absence of problems. What effect should it have? 12. What qualifies a person for an inheritance in God s kingdom? (See also Ephesians 1:3-14.) 13. For further study: What do the following verses tell us about the security of our inheritance? a. Ephesians 1:13-14 b. Titus 1:2
HOME STUDY QUESTIONS COLOSSIANS LESSON 2 11 Day Five Write God s Word for the week: Colossians 1:13-14. Colossians 1:13-14 The Inheritance of a Saint 14. Scripture describes Satan as the ruler of the kingdom of the air (Ephesians 2:2) and the prince of this world (John 14:30). What did God rescue you from when you began to follow Christ? (See Ephesians 6:11-17.) Give a general biblical answer and also a specific personal answer if you choose to share. 15. For further study: What are some of the aspects of your inheritance? a. Romans 8:17 b. James 2:5 16. When a piece of jewelry is taken to a pawn shop, it must be redeemed by its owner for a certain price within a certain length of time, or it becomes the property of the shop owner. Using this analogy, describe what happened to you when you were redeemed by the blood of Christ. 17. Describe what takes place when God forgives us of our sins. (For help read Psalms 32:1-5; 51:7-10; 103:12.)
12 COLOSSIANS LESSON 2 HOME STUDY QUESTIONS APPLY WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNED The passage we have just analyzed consists of Paul s prayer for the Colossians. Reread verses 3-14, noting specific ways in which he prays for them. How does his prayer compare to the prayers you pray for those you love and thank God for? Should you consider changing the way you pray? Day Six: Class Notes
COMMENTARY COLOSSIANS LESSON 2 13 Day Seven The People of Christ Colossians 1:1-14 Paul greets the believers at Colossae and immediately begins the body of his letter by telling them how and why he prays for them. I. The Addressees (Colossians 1:1-8) Surely the best thing that could ever be said about a group of believers is that they are holy and faithful. Yet the concept of being holy and faithful seems unfamiliar and uncomfortable to most people today. Character of a Saint (Colossians 1:2) The phrase holy man may bring to mind the image of a man with long hair, sitting in a lotus position in a cave, and saying wise things to pilgrims who come seeking truth. But the Bible gives a very different picture. The Greek word translated holy in the NIV is the word also used for saint. It is hagios and is used 229 times to describe ordinary people in the New Testament. In classical Greek, hagios indicated a person who caused awe, amazement, respect. In the adjectival form it means clean. In the Greek religion, it was used of the most beautiful and sacred items in a temple things not accessible for public use, reserved for the use of the gods. Therefore, when Paul calls the Colossians holy or saints, he is calling them vessels cleaned and set apart for God s pleasure and personal use. So holy means clean and set apart and faithful means adhering firmly and devotedly to a person or a cause in this instance, Christ. THINK ABOUT what a reputation Paul credited to the Colossians! That is what God thinks of you, too! Because of what Jesus did on the cross to pay for your sin, God looks at you and declares you to be a person who is clean, set apart, available, useful, loyal, steadfast, and true. Are you trusting Him to make you be the person He has declared you to be? He already sees you that way. Incredible, isn t it? How does the world see you? How do you see yourself? Are the three views the same? We should ask God to make it so and give Him our full cooperation. Greeting of a Saint Paul finishes his salutation by uniting two greetings that were familiar in the first century. Grace comes from the same root word as the most common 2010 Community Bible Study
14 COLOSSIANS LESSON 2 HOME STUDY QUESTIONS greeting in Greek correspondence. Peace was the customary greeting of the Jews. Acknowledging that God our Father is the source of both the grace and the peace he wishes for the Colossians adds immeasurably to the rich meaning of Paul s opening words to them. In essence, he is saying, May God bless you far beyond what you deserve and give you peace both with Himself and with others and also an inner peace not dependent on your circumstances that you can receive only from Him. These two great gifts came to the Colossians and come to every child of God as a birthday present on the occasion of our birth into His family by faith in Christ. Grace and peace to you from God our Father. What wonderful gifts! Calling of a Saint (Colossians 1:3-5) The calling of every saint is to experience faith, love, and hope. This triplet is used 11 times in the Epistles. It is almost shorthand for genuine Christianity (R. Martin). Notice the progression: faith in Christ brings about love in Christians, which produces hope in heaven. When we have faith in Christ, we are freed from the jealousy and competition that are the norm in the world and are able to show the love of Christ as described in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. Seeing this type of love developed in our lives is living proof that God is at work in us. We really are saints, and that confirms our hope of heaven. Contribution of a Saint (Colossians 1:6-8) Evangelism: The good news of which Paul is speaking had been brought to the Colossians by Epaphras, whom Paul calls our dear fellow servant. God s plan for evangelism is not to bring all the unsaved into the church where the pastors can convince them to become Christians. It is rather to entrust [the gospel] to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others (2 Timothy 2:2). Prayer: Perhaps the most often discussed yet infrequently understood aspect of the Christian life is prayer. What is prayer? Is it praising God? Is it petitioning God? Is it informing God? Prayer is a conversation between man and God. Therefore, effective praying involves both speaking and listening and consists of several different elements. Speaking (the active part of prayer) involves: Praise: recounting God s attributes and actions and thanking Him for His great accomplishments on our behalf. General Petition: Thy will be done, a phrase from the Lord s Prayer recorded in Matthew 6 (KJV), is a general petition. Ultimately, all true prayer should be for the will of God to be done.
COMMENTARY COLOSSIANS LESSON 2 15 Specific Petition: Give us each day our daily bread, another phrase from the same prayer, is an example of a specific prayer for God s specific provision or intervention. Such definite prayers build our faith, for when they are answered, the answer is more obviously God s response to our prayer. Putting thoughts into words: We can talk with God about any and every event. The Bible repeatedly urges constant communication with God; e.g., Pray continually (1 Thessalonians 5:17) and Give thanks in all circumstances (1 Thessalonians 5:18). Note that these two examples emphasize both the act and the attitude of the one who prays. Listening (the passive part of prayer) involves: Reading Scripture in order to hear God speak rather than to learn facts about Him. Meditating on Scripture. Give the Word time to sink in by thinking about what you read and learned about God s plans and purposes. Being alert to God s acts and voice in circumstances and events around you. Trying to see the situation for which you seek wisdom from God s point of view. Prayer is not just sitting with folded hands, working through a shopping list of requests it is a great exercise of faith. Serious prayer requires serious effort and is hard work. Paul begins his letter to the Colossians by taking them before his God and Father in prayer. His prayer involves two great requests: (1) that they might perceive God s will; (2) that they might have the power to perform God s will. Paul states that he has been consistently, constantly asking God to fill the believers with knowledge of His will. THINK ABOUT how if we listened carefully to our own praying, it would tell us a great deal about our concept of God. Some of us would discover that we pray as though we believe God is ignorant. Our prayers are full of details and intricate plans to inform God, so He might act wisely. Others of us pray as though we believe God to be immoral. Our prayers sound like a lecture in ethics, designed to help God act in a good and fair manner. Other prayers sound as if we see God as a vending machine. Many of our prayers sound uncomfortably like James and John who said to Jesus, We want You to do for us whatever we ask (Mark 10:35). God wants us to pray believing that He is holy, just, wise, and good. And, if we really want our prayers answered, we should make a conscious, concerted effort to know what God s will is. In other words, we should seek to know what He wants us to pray. In 1 John 5:14 a pattern is given: If we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.
16 COLOSSIANS LESSON 2 COMMENTARY II. Learning to Live According to God s Will (Colossians 1:9-14) As Paul begins to pray for his dear friends in Colossae, he presents them with the twopart formula for successful living: live a life worthy of the Lord and please Him in every way. How can we learn to live a life that pleases God? First of all, by learning to pray in a way that pleases God. In verses 9-10 Paul picks up a common biblical triad of knowledge, understanding, and wisdom. The three appear in Proverbs 1:5-7 as a threefold formula for successful living. Paul states that the Colossians will need all three if they are to know and to do God s will. The three words are sometimes used as synonyms, but they are quite distinct. Knowledge: facts, the basis for right living, what you need to know. Understanding: meanings, the motivation for right living. What you know means nothing if you don t understand what the facts mean. Wisdom: application, the skill for right living. Knowing and understanding how to apply understood truth produces the proper response a life that pleases God. How Can We Please Him in Every Way? Colossians 1:10b-12 gives some answers. God will be pleased if we bear fruit. The fruitfulness of good works is the result of the growing knowledge of God (Ephesians 2:8-10). A second characteristic of a life that pleases Him in every way is its source of power His glorious might. His power at work in our lives will produce not only the fruit of good works (action), but a change in our inner being (attitude). Paul prays in Ephesians 3:14-21 that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being. It is crucial that believers recognize the source of the power they possess. Compare the statement here to Philippians 4:13: I can do all things through [Christ]. The emphasis in this verse is not on the all but rather on the through [Christ]. THINK ABOUT how it is not that I can do anything I desire, but that anything I must do can be done through the power of Christ. God does not ask us to be superheroes. But if you must get past a great obstacle or deal with a great hurt, Christ promises to be there with you and help you over it. Endurance is one of the character traits that God s power gives. It is a trait greatly needed by a distance runner; it is the ability to hang in there and continue to do what is necessary, to refuse to give up or quit. Patience is a more passive trait that usually is tested by difficult people or circumstances. It is the ability to hang in there with grace and peace when there is nothing you can do to alter the situation. Enduring implies more pain
COMMENTARY COLOSSIANS LESSON 2 17 or suffering; patience, more ability not to give up on someone or retaliate. Jesus for the joy set before Him endured the cross and endured such opposition from sinful men (Hebrews 12:2-3). He was patient with His disciples (Luke 31-34, 39-46; John 14:5-9) when they failed to live up to their potential and seemed confused or obtuse. Patience and endurance are related but different the mighty power of God is needed to produce the fruit of both in our lives. Joyfully Giving Thanks Pleases Him (Colossians 1:11-12) Joy is from the Greek word chara, meaning gladness. (See also Galatians 5:22; Philippians 2:17; 4:4.) In the New Testament, joy is constantly linked with hardship and suffering. In today s world, there is a tendency to believe that if we can escape hardship, then we will have joy. The Bible indicates that just the opposite is true. Pastor Max Dunham, in his book on Colossians, writes: Joy is no flippant exuberance, no gushy bubbling of surface feeling, self-conjured up. It is the subdued ecstasy of knowing and being known, of loving and being loved by God. Joy stirs within and expresses itself some times only in quiet confidence, in determined obedience that is not morbid or stoical; always giving forth from the one who is gifted with it. A sort of glow, more like the early morning dawn than the brilliant noonday sun, more like indirect light that illumines a room without announcing its source than a flashing neon or brilliant spot. Joy, unlike happiness, is not dependent on circumstances and people. Joy is the expression of Christ indwelling us, the fruit of the Spirit ever growing out of the soil of difficulties and suffering. THINK ABOUT Paul s prayer for the Colossians and personalize that prayer. Reread Colossians 1:9-12, thinking of yourself and your own needs and desire to grow. Which of the things that Paul asks the Father to do for them do you most desire for yourself? Why not stop right now and do more than Think About It. Pray about it! Colossians 1:12 says that the Father... has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. This is one of the most amazing statements in all of Scripture because it underscores once again that salvation is not the result of man s clamoring after God but is a gift freely given by God Himself. An illustration may help to make the point. A few years ago, the U.S. Congress grappled with the issue of a large alien population illegally living within our borders and came to the conclusion that it was in the best interest of the United States and those people to grant them amnesty from the immigration laws. Now this was clearly an act of grace. There is no standard by which these aliens could have been judged to deserve resident status. They had come here illegally and by law should have been deported to their own country. However, Congress chose to qualify them.
18 COLOSSIANS LESSON 2 COMMENTARY You may or may not approve of the decision Congress made, but it certainly paints a picture of what God has done for us. Through Christ s death on the cross, God paid for our sin and has now qualified us to be citizens of the kingdom of His Son. There is nothing that we have done to deserve such loving treatment; it is simply an expression of His love and grace, and the very thought of it should produce joyful gratitude. The Reason for Living to Please Him (Colossians 1:13-14) Why should we want to live a life worthy of the Lord and please Him in every way? The motivation is what He has done for us our salvation. We do not try to please Him to earn our salvation, but rather we respond to His gracious, undeserved gift to us. Consider what He did: He rescued us. Christ set us free from bondage but that is not all we needed. A slave can run away or get rescued, but he is still owned. He is legally still a slave. He needs more. He redeemed us. The Greek word apolutrosis literally means emancipating a slave or paying a ransom). Christ paid the price for our redemption He set us free. He forgave us. Some might object at this point: Forgave us of what? We re basically good people. What is it that God finds so offensive about our lives that He would feel He needed to forgive us before He could welcome us into His family? God s desire is to free us from all the passions, habits, influences, and relationships that hold us down the things that keep us from enjoying life as He designed it to be. Fear, jealousy, anger, prejudice, hatred, ambition, sexual lust that destroys us and degrades others, impatience, selfishness, greed, and a host of other human weaknesses that ruin our relationships and make it difficult for us to sleep with a clear conscience these are the behavioral and emotional patterns from which He has rescued and redeemed us. These are the offenses He has forgiven. Is there one of us who can honestly say, There is nothing in my life that causes me to feel ashamed nothing that endangers my relationship with others or makes me wonder, if I should die tonight, whether or not God would overlook it and rejoice that I had come to spend eternity with Him in heaven? Even the best of us, when we are honest, must admit that there are those attitudes and behaviors in our lives that hold us captive. We need to be delivered, redeemed, and forgiven. So we should give thanks to the Father who has qualified us, and do so joyfully. THINK ABOUT how in recent years it has been unacceptable to shame someone for behavior or attitudes that were clearly wrong. But the downward spiral of our entire culture has made it absolutely necessary to assign blame and denounce shameful
COMMENTARY COLOSSIANS LESSON 2 19 behavior. Our desire to extend grace may keep us from confronting issues that are harmvul and evil. Part of true godly love is speaking the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15). On the other hand, if we will judge our own shameful actions and attitudes, then God and others will not have to shame us: If we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment (1 Corinthians 11:31). What pleases a parent immeasurably? To see his or her child behave in a noble way without any reminder telling the truth, sharing possessions willingly, being kind and gentle. Do you suppose God the Father feels any differently about His children than does a human parent?
20 COLOSSIANS LESSON 2 COMMENTARY PERSONALIZE this lesson. Paul s opening statement in his prayer for the Colossian believers is that he always thanks God for them because he has heard of their faith in Jesus Christ and their love for the other believers. If he were praying for you now, could he pray the same way? The apostle John wrote in his first letter that it was impossible for a true believer not to love his brother (1 John 2:7-11). The love of other believers is one of the litmus tests of true faith. The people in the church at Colossae were not all alike there were Jews and Gentiles, men and women, slaves and masters, rich and poor. Different education and cultural backgrounds undoubtedly influenced not only the kind of food they enjoyed, but the kind of preaching and music they preferred. But Paul says their love for each other is well-known he has heard about it. In another letter he urged the Romans to stop passing judgment on one another and live in unity. Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God (Romans 15:7). True faith in Christ Jesus will produce accepting love between believers of all denominations and races. It will enable us to accept the differences that can and often do divide us. We can experience unity in diversity, and that will please God. Is that not the goal of our lives to please Him in every way? May grace and peace from God our Father be ours as we seek to please Him! And may our acceptance of each other cause those who observe our unity to praise Him! Review: The People of Christ Write God s Word for the week: Colossians 1:13-14. 18. What in this week s lesson had the greatest impact on you?