PRAYING FOR WISDOM
Proverbs 14:12 warns, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the ways of death.” So that we might not simply follow a way that “seems right,” but is right, is “the way,” let us pray with the psalmist this adaptation from Psalm 19…
Father, how can thus of us so young in our faith keep our way pure? You have told us, by guarding it according to your word. With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your way! Jesus is the way! Let your revelation in him be stored in my heart, that I might not sin against you. Blessed are you, O LORD; teach me the way and the truth! With my lips I declare all the ways and truth of your Word. In the way of your Son I delight as much as in all riches. I will meditate on his life and work and fix my eyes on him. I will delight in your Son; I will not forget your Word.
GETTING INTO COLOSSIANS
Watch The Bible Project’s video overview of Paul’s letter to the Colossians (at least through the 5:03 mark), which you can find here. Then read Colossians 2:1-23.
If you have time and need the refresher, you can watch The Bible Project’s video “Intro to Spiritual Beings,” which you can access here.
Remember that Paul was not writing to convince the Jesus following Colossians of the collaborative spiritual and physical realities, for this was their worldview. Instead, he is writing to demonstrate to them the dynamic shift in how these realities relate through the life, death, and resurrection of Christ Jesus.
REFLECTING ON TRUTH
Pastor and author, A.W. Tozer famously remarked that “What comes into our mind when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” For, as Tozer continues, “The history of mankind will probably show that no people has ever risen above its religion, and man’s spiritual history will positively demonstrate that no religion has ever been greater than its idea of God.”
On the testimony of Epaphras, Paul assumes the Colossian saints desire for the work of God among them and in them to continue to grow and bear fruit in their lives and their city (1:3-8). The only question remaining is: what idea(s) of God—who he is, how they relate to him and to one another—will give shape to the practices of their budding faith?
New Testament scholar Douglas Moo, argues that “it is the matter of how individual believers find spiritual ‘fullness’ that is precipitating issue in the letter” to the Colossian faithful. Paul is attempting to get the saints of Colossae and Laodicea to ask questions. He is advising those who have “received Christ Jesus the Lord” (2:6), to think. Specifically, to think about what is influencing their ideas of God and how that shapes what they are doing to mature (grow) spiritually.
Will, their faith be deluded by “plausible arguments” (2:4) or stifled by “philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world” (2:8)? Will their faith succumb to the subtle and direct judgments of those same forces promoting particular means of maturing (2:16-23)? Or, will they hold “fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God” (2:19)?
Paul’s argument throughout the chapter is that there is one resource for discernment, a singular grace of God in truth necessary for the Colossian faithful to grow in depth spiritually and be fruitful in everyday life: Jesus. Jesus—his life, death, and resurrection—has triumphed over those ideas of God that take us captive. We are dead to them…if we’ll think about it.
USE THESE QUESTIONS TO HELP YOU PRAYERFULLY REFLECT INDIVIDUALLY AND DISCUSS AS A DNA GROUP.
Paul expounds on his warnings and teachings to the Colossians in one of his letters to the Corinthian saints,
“The world is unprincipled. It’s dog-eat-dog out there! The world doesn’t fight fair. But we don’t live or fight our battles that way—never have and never will. The tools of our trade aren’t for marketing or manipulation, but they are for demolishing that entire massively corrupt culture. We use our powerful God-tools for smashing warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ. Our tools are ready at hand for clearing the ground of every obstruction and building lives of obedience into maturity.” (2 Corinthians 10:3-6)
Because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, Jesus’ teachings, his dinners, his conversations, his actions, and his habits give us all we need to have the right idea of God. As the author of Hebrews reminds us, Jesus “is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature” (Hebrews 1:3) As you reflect on the life and work of Jesus, try and answer these questions…
What idea of God would we have if we knew him primarily through Jesus?
What does Jesus reveal to us about how God sees humanity, and what he desires of us?
What does Jesus reveal to us about how God wants to relate to us, and how we are to relate to him?
What picture of spiritual maturity does Jesus paint for us?
Think about where growth comes from, how quickly (or slowly) it matures, and what the means of reaching/maintaining maturity are.
What does Jesus reveal to us about how sin operates, how God relates to evil and rebellion, and how God fights it?
How does Jesus (re)shape the things you do to grow spiritually?
BE ZEALOUS & REPENT
Repenting is one of the most ordinary and extraordinary practices of our faith heritage. The stories and letters that ground our faith are replete with the exhortation to and examples of repentance. In a nutshell, repentance is the turning away from one thing and grabbing hold of something different. It is not merely the ceasing of an action or attitude, but the replacement of what is let go with something completely other than what is released.
Tozer gives us the things we need to let go of this week. Like Paul, he reminds us,
"That our idea of God corresponds as nearly as possible to the true being of God is of immense importance to us. Compared with our actual thoughts about Him, our creedal statements are of little consequence. Our real idea of God may lie buried under the rubbish of conventional religious notions and may require an intelligent and vigorous search before it is finally unearthed and exposed for what it is...
...I believe there is scarcely an error in doctrine or a failure in applying Christian ethics that cannot be traced finally to imperfect and ignoble thoughts about God."
So, prayerfully ask, answer, and share…
What idea(s) about God do you need to let go?
And what idea(s) of God in Jesus do you need to grab hold of instead?