Wednesday November 26, 2014

Read: Colossians 2:16-17

How do we measure whether people are godly or not? It’s an interesting question. We all tend to have our ways of measuring whether or not people live up to our standards of godliness. We look at whether they swear or not. We consider whether they drink alcohol or how much they drink. Do they smoke? What is their family like? Are their children well behaved? Do they dress up to go to church? What do they do in their spare time? What do they do in the church? These are all questions that we often consciously or unconsciously use to weigh up other Christians and determine how godly they really are.

The false teachers in Colossae had a similar system of measurement. They would judge people by matters of what they eat or drink, whether they observe certain religious festivals or celebrations and what they do on the Sabbath. They were judging the Colossian believers based on their own external standards of measure.

Paul tells the Colossians not to let these false teachers judge them based on these standards. These things are not the measure of whether God is pleased with the believers or not. They are not the measure of what it looks like to be godly or not.

Why? Paul tells the Colossians in the next verse. These things, eating and drinking, celebrating certain days and not others, are only shadows of the true thing that measures godliness and makes us right with God. Christ Himself. Those regulations and rules were only ever meant to point us towards Christ, not as measures of how godly we are or how much God loves us. True godliness and true relationship with God comes through Christ alone, not by keeping these manmade rules and regulations.

This applies easily to our day as well. We often use the things mentioned earlier to measure the godliness of others. Often we allow others to judge us based on these things. Instead we are to remember that true godliness and relationship with God comes through Christ alone, not through keeping these external rules and regulations.

But this doesn’t mean that we can do whatever we want either. We aren’t to judge others by these standards but that doesn’t mean we throw out all standards. God’s word still guides us about how to live a godly life and to please Him. If our godliness and our salvation is truly found in Christ Jesus then we will desire to live a holy life that pleases Him. We will obey the standards and commands that He has given us in His word.

As Christians we are blessed to be freed from the burden of the law and from using external measures to see if we are right with God. Instead we can be totally confident in the saving work of Jesus Christ as we seek to please Him in the way that we live.

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 be at work in your heart and the hearts of all in your church. Pray that He would help you to grow in godliness and help you to live in a way that pleases Him. Pray that He would convict you of sin and help you as you seek to live a holy life.

¥ Pray for PlayPals as they meet at ChristLife today. Pray that the mums would be encouraged and that the gospel would be clearly lived and taught. Pray that God would be at work in the hearts of those who don’t know Him.

 Witness Moment:

How do we communicate the gospel to unbelievers around us? Do we communicate, even unintentionally, that being right with God is about smoking or drinking or what you wear or do we demonstrate that relationship with God is about Jesus Christ and what He has done on our behalf?

 Discussion Questions For Families and Groups

1. What are some of the things that we wrongly look at to measure someone else’s godliness or their relationship with God? See if you can come up with more than the ones listed in the study.

2. Are there things that we can rightly use to measure our godliness and the godliness of others? What are they?

 Discipleship Moment For Girls

Intro:  It is great to be a Christian. Unfortunately sometimes we can get confused about what that means.

Share:  What do you think it means to be a Christian? How do you think you become a Christian?
Read: Colossians 2:16-17 When Paul wrote these verses some people were confused about what it meant to be a Christian. What are some of the things they thought it meant to be a Christian? Being a Christian is really all about Jesus and having faith in Him. What does it mean to have faith in Jesus? Do you have faith in Jesus?

Pray Together: Thank God that He has given us Jesus. Pray that He would help us to have faith in Him.

 Discipleship Moment For Boys

Intro:  It is great to be a Christian. Unfortunately sometimes we can get confused about what that means.

Share:  What do you think it means to be a Christian? How do you think you become a Christian?
Read: Colossians 2:16-17 When Paul wrote these verses some people were confused about what it meant to be a Christian. What are some of the things they thought it meant to be a Christian? Being a Christian is really all about Jesus and having faith in Him. What does it mean to have faith in Jesus? Do you have faith in Jesus?

Pray Together: Thank God that He has given us Jesus. Pray that He would help us to have faith in Him.