Tuesday October 28, 2014

Read: Colossians 1:3-8

“A little hope is effective. A lot of hope is dangerous,” says President Snow in the film adaption of The Hunger Games. Seeking to use hope and fear to control the population and keep them submissive to a tyrannical regime, he observes that giving the people too much hope is dangerous. If this is true then those who are in Christ have a ridiculously dangerous amount of hope. We have the kind of hope that can change hearts, transform people and shatter empires. We have a kind of hope that changes and effects everything in our lives.

Paul talks about this hope that we have in Colossians 1:5, a hope that we have stored up in heaven. What is this hope? This is the hope of eternal life given to us through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Without Him we would be entirely without hope in this world (Ephesians 2:12), under the righteous judgment and punishment of God for our rebellion against Him. But God intervened. Jesus Christ, God the Son Himself, lived a perfectly sinless life without any kind of rebellion against God and then died a horrific death on our behalf that He didn’t deserve. He paid the penalty so that we could be made right with God. He was raised from the dead showing that God’s wrath was satisfied completely and that death had been defeated forever.

Now, because of what Christ has done on our behalf, we have the hope of a glorious future. A future with no suffering, no sin and no evil. A future where we will spend eternity with God, serving Him and loving one another. We look forward with certainty to the day when we stand before God and are declared righteous because of Christ and are ushered into His kingdom forever.

This indestructible hope that is stored up for us in heaven changes everything about how we live now. Notice that Paul mentions two things that grow from this hope in our lives. Firstly, we have faith in Jesus Christ. Because of what He has done for us and the hope that we have in the future through Him we grow in faith in Him. We grow in our trust in Him and putting our lives in Him. An understanding of God’s grace and this hope that we have been given must result in faith in Him.

Secondly, this hope that we have in the future grows in us a love for all the saints. If we understand what Jesus has done for us and are living in light of the future hope we have in Him then we must love those other believers around us. This isn’t an optional part of being a Christian. If we understand the Gospel and truly believe what God has done then this will grow love for other believers in our lives.

Think about it. God the Son Himself was willing to suffer and to die for the other believers around you because He loved them so much. How can we not love them? God has graciously brought about faith in Himself through the work of His spirit in their hearts. How can we not love them? And we will one day spend eternity with them in perfect relationship with God and with them. How can we not love them? If we truly understand the Gospel and all that God has done we cannot help but love our fellow believers.

Prayer:

Use the Bible passage from today and the reading notes to write down your prayer points before you pray.

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Adoration:

Confession:

Thanks:

Supplication:

¥ Thank God for the incredible, life changing hope we have in Christ. Pray that He would help you to live in light of that hope, that He would grow your faith and trust in Him.

¥ Pray that He would grow your love for other believers and that you would be bold in serving them and building them up. Pray specifically that you would grow in your service of the other believers in your church.

 Walk Moment:

Loving other believers is not just about having nice feelings inside, its also about how we live. If we truly love others then we will serve them, encourage them, build them up and be devoted to them. Pray that God would give you opportunities to love like this.

 Discussion Questions For Families and Groups

1. What practical things could we do to grow in our love for other believers?

2. How would growing in understanding of the Gospel and the hope we have in the future grow our love for one another?

 Discipleship Moment For Girls

Intro: It’s fun to look forward to something exciting that will happen. When you’re super excited about something what do you do?

Share: A time when you were excited about something that was going to happen. What were you excited about? What did you do?
Read: Colossians 1:5 Paul says that we live differently because of the hope stored up for us in heaven. Do you know what that might be? Why do you think that hope is so exciting? Are you excited about heaven? Why or why not? How could this excitement change what you do?
Pray Together: Thank God for the hope He gives us through Jesus.

 Discipleship Moment For Boys

Intro: It’s fun to look forward to something exciting that will happen. When you’re super excited about something what do you do?

Share: A time when you were excited about something that was going to happen. What were you excited about? What did you do?
Read: Colossians 1:5 Paul says that we live differently because of the hope stored up for us in heaven. Do you know what that might be? Why do you think that hope is so exciting? Are you excited about heaven? Why or why not? How could this excitement change what you do?
Pray Together: Thank God for the hope He gives us through Jesus.