Tuesday November 18, 2014

Read: Colossians 2:2-5

“...There is nothing that Satan so much endeavours to accomplish as to bring on mists with the view of obscuring Christ, because he knows, that by this means the way is opened up for every kind of falsehood. This, therefore, is the only means of retaining, as well as restoring pure doctrine—to place Christ before the view such as he is with all his blessings, that his excellence may be truly perceived.”

John Calvin

Calvin hit the nail on the head. In his battle against the Roman Catholic Church and the false teaching and distortion of the gospel in his day he concluded that false teaching is, at it’s heart, a distortion and dimming of who Christ is. The best (maybe even only) way to combat this kind of false teaching is to grow in our understanding of Christ. When we lose sight of who Christ is we open ourselves up to all sorts of false teaching and confusion.

That is what Paul is saying here in Colossians 2 as well. We saw yesterday that Paul is struggling for them so that they might be encouraged in heart and united in love which leads to full riches of complete understanding so that they might know the mystery of God, namely, Christ. Paul says that in Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Why is Paul telling them all this? Why does Paul desire for them to grow in knowledge of Christ? He tells us in verse 4: “so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments.” Paul wants the Colossians to grow in knowledge of Christ so that they would be confused and led astray by all sorts of false teaching.

Remember that there were false teachers in Colossae who were causing the Colossian believers to get murky about the gospel and who Jesus is. Paul is reminding them that all the truth and knowledge to be found is found in Christ alone. He is clearing up their picture of Christ so that they might not be deceived by false teaching.

There are plenty of false teachers who would try to make our view of the gospel and of Christ murky too. We read them in books, hear them on the radio, see them on TV and on the Internet. Sometimes they seem to have very fine and convincing arguments. All these false teachers are trying hard to convince us, to muddle our picture of Jesus and to deceive us.

How do we combat these false teachers? How should we avoid getting deceived by fine sounding and clever arguments? We grow in understanding of Christ.  We are to work to keep our view and understanding of Christ clear and, as Calvin says, to truly perceive His excellence. In the words of the old Hymn we must “turn [our] eyes upon Jesus.” Let us be disciplined in our study of God’s word, grow in encouragement in heart (vs 2) and in unity in love (vs 2) so that we might grow in understanding and that we might know Christ more deeply.

Prayer:

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

Adoration:

Confession:

Thanks:

Supplication:

¥ Pray that God would help you to have a clear, undistorted picture of Christ and what He has done. Pray that you and the other believers you know would grow in understanding and knowledge of Him.

¥ Pray for those believers around the world who are deceived by false teaching. Pray that God would clear up their view of Christ and that they might not be deceived any longer.

 Word Moment:

We don’t have to only study the gospels to gain understanding about who Christ is and what He has done. Jesus Himself told us that the whole Bible teaches us about Him (Luke 24:27). Even the Old Testament.

 Discussion Questions For Families and Groups

1. How can you guard against a murky view of Jesus? How can you maintain a clear view of who He is and what He has done?

2. How can you help one another to do the same?

 Discipleship Moment For Girls

Intro: Unfortunately not everyone tells the truth all the time. Sometimes people try to trick us or confuse us.

Share: An example of when someone tried to confuse or trick someone else by not telling them the truth. What happened?
Read: Colossians 2:2-5 Unfortunately there are people out there who pretend to teach the Bible but are actually trying to trick us. Paul says if we grow in knowledge of Jesus we won’t get tricked. How could we grow in knowledge about Jesus?
Pray Together: Pray that God would help us to grow in our understanding of Jesus. Pray that He would protect us from getting tricked.

 Discipleship Moment For Boys

Intro: Unfortunately not everyone tells the truth all the time. Sometimes people try to trick us or confuse us.

Share: An example of when someone tried to confuse or trick someone else by not telling them the truth. What happened?
Read: Colossians 2:2-5 Unfortunately there are people out there who pretend to teach the Bible but are actually trying to trick us. Paul says if we grow in knowledge of Jesus we won’t get tricked. How could we grow in knowledge about Jesus?
Pray Together: Pray that God would help us to grow in our understanding of Jesus. Pray that He would protect us from getting tricked.