Coming Up: Sonday November 16, 2014
Colossians 2:11-23 - Christ Brings FREEDOM
Read: Colossians 2:11-14
I find it amazing to think of how people can be resuscitated after they have technically died. We have all seen it on television or in movies. The person is in the hospital and their heart has stopped. The doctors and nurses are madly pumping the patient’s chest and trying to start the patient breathing again. Eventually they pull out the defibrillator and zap the persons heart, hoping to start it again. In the movies at least it is always a great relief when the patient responds and is returned to life.
This is actually a very accurate picture of what God has done for us. We see this in verse 13. We were dead in our sins and the uncircumcision of our flesh. We were dead on the table. We had flat-lined. There was no life to be found in us and no way that we could bring ourselves back from the dead. Yet God made us alive with Christ. He brought us back from death. He resurrected us. By His grace alone He saved us from our sin and made us alive.
We see throughout this passage that God is the one doing this work, not us. In verse 11 it is he who circumcised us. Paul is not talking here about physical circumcision but about the circumcision of the heart that God has accomplished in us. Paul is talking about the cutting away of our sinful, broken nature to make us right with God. God is the one who had done this circumcision.
Not only that, but through baptism we have died with Christ and through faith we have been raised with Him from the dead. This is not a work that we could have done ourselves, Christ had to come and to suffer and die to pay the penalty for our sins. God had to work in our hearts to bring about faith in Himself. We needed God to make us alive with Christ. We needed God to forgive us for all our sins and take the law that stood against us and nail it, and our sins, to the cross forever (vs 14).
God has graciously worked to make us right with Himself. He has done the work of forgiving our sins and dealing with our sinful nature. It was not by special ceremonies, by following the law or by keeping certain rules that we were made right with God. It is entirely through His grace.
This week we will see that there were false teachers in Colossae who were teaching that the Colossians needed to obey these kinds of rules to be right with God. Paul is reminding them that they are already right with God through Christ.
It is easy for us to be subtly tempted to do the same thing. We start to trust rules, or discipline or our service to others as the source or sign of our righteousness before God. Let us always remember that it is God who has graciously resuscitated us and restored us to Himself.
Prayer:
Use the Bible passage from today and the reading notes to write down your prayer points before you pray.
Adoration:
Confession:
Thanks:
Supplication:
¥ Praise God that He has graciously worked in us through Christ to forgive our sins and to make us alive with Him. Pray for those you know who don’t know this grace through Christ. Pray that God would soften their hearts and give you opportunity to share the gospel with them.
In the Old Testament circumcision was not only a physical sign but also a example of what God’s people are to do with their hearts. In Deuteronomy 30:6 God says that He will do this for His people. Let’s praise God that He has circumcised our hearts through Christ.
1. How would you explain this passage in simple language to a new believer?
2. How does this passage apply to the idea that we can earn our salvation or be right with God by works? How would you explain this to an unbeliever?
Intro: Sometimes we get so sick we need someone to look after us and help us.
Share: A time when you were so sick you needed someone to look after you. How were you sick? Why did you need help? Who helped you?
Read: Colossians 2:13-14 The Bible tells us that Sin has made us very sick. So sick in fact it says that we were dead in our sins! We couldn’t do anything to make ourselves better. We needed someone to help us. According to these verses who helped us? What did He do? What do we need to do? (Faith/Trust Him)
Pray Together: Thank God that He helped us when we were dead in our sins and that He made us alive in Jesus.
Read: Colossians 2:13-14 The Bible tells us that Sin has made us very sick. So sick in fact it says that we were dead in our sins! We couldn’t do anything to make ourselves better. We needed someone to help us. According to these verses who helped us? What did He do? What do we need to do? (Faith/Trust Him)
Pray Together: Thank God that He helped us when we were dead in our sins and that He made us alive in Jesus.
Intro: Sometimes we get so sick we need someone to look after us and help us.
Share: A time when you were so sick you needed someone to look after you. How were you sick? Why did you need help? Who helped you?
Read: Colossians 2:13-14 The Bible tells us that Sin has made us very sick. So sick in fact it says that we were dead in our sins! We couldn’t do anything to make ourselves better. We needed someone to help us. According to these verses who helped us? What did He do? What do we need to do? (Faith/Trust Him)
Pray Together: Thank God that He helped us when we were dead in our sins and that He made us alive in Jesus.
Read: Colossians 2:13-14 The Bible tells us that Sin has made us very sick. So sick in fact it says that we were dead in our sins! We couldn’t do anything to make ourselves better. We needed someone to help us. According to these verses who helped us? What did He do? What do we need to do? (Faith/Trust Him)
Pray Together: Thank God that He helped us when we were dead in our sins and that He made us alive in Jesus.
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