2023.07.24 Hopewell @Home ▫ Colossians 3:1–11

Read Colossians 3:1–11

Questions from the Scripture text: What has happened to believers with Christ (Colossians 3:1)? What should they seek? Why—Who is there? What else are we to do with “things above” (Colossians 3:2)? Upon what are we not to set our minds? What has happened to believers in Colossians 3:3? With Whom is their life hidden? Where is their life hidden? Who will appear (Colossians 3:4)? Who also will appear with Him? In what condition? What are we to do with our worldly aspects—that part of us that will end with this world (Colossians 3:5)? Which specific, worldly (sinful) aspects of us (that we are to put to death) does he mention? What is happening because of these things (Colossians 3:6)? What two ways does Colossians 3:7 describe how they used to act upon their inward sin? What six other things do Colossians 3:8-9 identify as things that believers need to put off? What have believers put off (Colossians 3:9b)? What have they put on (Colossians 3:10)? In what is the new man renewed? According to whose image is the new man renewed? What factors/aspects are not part of the newness of the new man (Colossians 3:11)?

How do you live, when heaven is your new culture of origin? Colossians 3:1–11 looks forward to the devotional in the upcoming midweek meeting. In these eleven verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that those who belong to heaven put to death whatever desires, and put off whatever behaviors, don’t belong in heaven. 

God has saved us by Christ. In our place, Jesus has lived the perfectly obedient life that we could not. In our place, Jesus has died under the wrath and curse of God that we deserve but could never satisfy.

But God has not only saved us by Christ. He has saved us in Christ. When we believe in Jesus, we are joined to Him. Colossians 3:3 tells us that we died in Christ’s death. But it also says that our life is hidden with Christ in God—so that if you trust in Jesus Christ, the way to read Colossians 3:1 is not so much “if then you were raised with Christ,” but rather, “because you have been raised with Christ." Christ didn’t just give His life for us, but as Colossians 3:4 says, Christ is our life.

And God has saved us for Christ. We live on earth, but the purpose of our earthly life is the glory of Christ by Whom and for Whom we have been saved. He is seated at the right hand of God, and His is all the glory. Colossians 3:11 tells us that Christ is all and in all. And what is part of the glory of Christ at His appearing? Our appearing with Him—also glorious.

Christ will take those who were full of the things in the lists of Colossians 3:5 and Colossians 3:8—we formerly walked in them (Colossians 3:6)! And, He will have made us entirely the opposite. He has “renewed us in knowledge according to the image of [Christ].” What will be the great distinguishing characteristic about us on that day? Not our ethnicity, or ceremonial markings, or culture, or socio-economic status—but that we have been transformed from wickedness into the spitting moral images of Jesus Christ.

So, as we consider Him where He is right now, and how we have been saved to bring Him glory, that gives us marching orders for the rest of our lives. Christians often want to know about the particular future events of our lives. But Deuteronomy 29:29 calls those “secret things.” Whatever else we are called to, we are called to put to death the list in Colossians 3:5, to put off the list in Colossians 3:8, to follow Jesus in obedience to all the commands of His Word—what Deuteronomy 29:29 calls “the revealed things.”

Why? Because we have been saved not just by Christ and in Christ. We have been saved for Christ. We were resurrected in Him so that we might bring Him glory by putting sin to death. Even the law was unable to do that in us, but Christ is doing that. We both please Him and honor Him, as we put to death the deeds of the body!

How does God’s method of killing sin point to your only hope? Who is that hope? What hope does He give?

Sample prayer:  Lord, we thank You for uniting us to the Lord Jesus, Who has risen from the dead and ascended to take His seat in heaven. Grant that, by Your Spirit, the priorities of heaven would be our priorities on earth, we ask in Christ, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP110B “The Lord Has Spoken” or TPH447 “Christ, of All My Hopes the Ground”

Walking Worthy [2023.06.07 Midweek Devotional in Colossians 1:9–14]

We walk worthy by God's grace, unto His glory and from His Spirit's working.

(click here to DOWNLOAD video/mp3/pdf files of this sermon)

True Encouragement Comes From Thankfulness in The Lord [2022.11.09 Midweek devotional in Colossians 1:3–8]

True encouragement comes from thankfulness in the Lord

(click here to DOWNLOAD video/mp3/pdf files of this sermon)

Thankful for, Loving, Praying for, Inquiring about, and Edifying the Saints [Family Worship lesson in Colossians 1:3–9]

How do believers encourage one another? Colossians 1:3–8 looks forward to the devotional in this week’s midweek meeting. In these six verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that one of the ways that believers especially encourage one another is by thanking God with and for one another.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

2022.11.07 Hopewell @Home ▫ Colossians 1:3–8

Read Colossians 1:3–8

Questions from the Scripture text: What does the apostle give to Whom (Colossians 1:3a)? When doing what (verse 3b)? For what two things is he thankful and toward whom, respectively (Colossians 1:4)? What has been the foundation of this faith and love (Colossians 1:5)? Where did they hear of this hope? Where did this gospel come, and to where has it now gone (Colossians 1:6)? What is it bringing forth? What did they hear and know, that produced this fruit? From whom, also, had they learned this grace (Colossians 1:7)? What two things does the apostle call Epaphras? What else has Epaphras declared, to whom (Colossians 1:8)?

How do believers encourage one another? Colossians 1:3–8 looks forward to the devotional in this week’s midweek meeting. In these six verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that one of the ways that believers especially encourage one another is by thanking God with and for one another.

Just as he testifies that he always does when he prays for them, so the apostle here also does as he writes to them: he gives thanksgiving to God. Let us learn to be full of thankfulness to God, so that it comes out in everything that we do!  Especially when we are going to be rebuking or warning of danger, as the apostle will be against Jewish legalisms and Greek philosophizing, we can have and communicate a right attitude if we begin with whatever thanksgiving we can give for whatever true evidences of grace we can see. 

By offering thanksgiving not only in his prayers but also here in the letter, the apostle models for us three great subjects of thankfulness in our prayers: the measure of God’s grace, the means of God’s grace, and the ministers of God’s grace.

First, we are to be thankful for the measure of God’s grace. Indeed, to measure this is to measure God Himself. As not only our Father in Christ, but Christ’s everlasting Father within the Godhead (Colossians 1:3), we see that in His Son, God has given Himself to us and for us. So when we praise God for giving them faith (Colossians 1:4a), and love (verse 4b), and hope(Colossians 1:5), we do so knowing the great cost at which these have all been purchased: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son!” Jesus is “our” Lord because His Father gave Him to be so.

Second, we are to be thankful for the means by which God’s grace is given us. This great gift of God Himself, with its great fruit in their lives of faith and love and hope, has come to them in a very simple fashion. True words entered their ears (Colossians 1:5b). What a marvelous gift God gives us, when He gives us to hear the words of the truth of the gospel! What extraordinary blessing He bestows on us and wonders He works in us through such an ordinary means as preaching! And it was like this not only in Colossae but in the whole world; it was the preaching of the gospel that bore this fruit (Colossians 1:6). How important, then, to stick to this preaching and reject the false self-advancement either of moralism like the Judaizers or humanistic philosophy like the Greeks.

Finally, we are to be thankful for the ministers by whom God’s grace came to us. Paul had not planted the church at Colossae; Epaphras had. Still, the apostle piles up the affectionate (“beloved fellow-slave”) and commendatory (“faithful servant of Christ”) language. There is no spirit of rivalry here—only joy over another’s labor and a desire that those who have benefited would also be grateful to God for him. He gladly affirms to the Colossians Epaphras’s Christ-wrought service. For his part, Epaphras had done quite similarly, telling Paul of the Colossians’ Spirit-wrought love. Let us learn to incubate thankfulness for believers’ graces when speaking to God, so that our speech to one another may be filled with mature thanksgiving for one another.

What gives God’s gifts to you their true measure? How does your thankfulness reflect the greatness of God’s gift of Christ? What place does this give preaching, prayer, and the sacraments in those things for which you are thankful? How do you practice fostering and expressing your thankfulness for other Christians? 

Sample prayer:  Our gracious God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—how glorious is Your goodness to the children of men that for us You have given God the Son! Every one of your good gifts to Your adopted children in Him come in that love—but especially that Christian faith, love, and hope that we have in heaven with Him. We bemoan before You how small our thankfulness has been—both for Your grace and for those means by which You give it to us. Help us to treasure  Your means of grace, and those believers with whom You have united us in grace, especially in the Son of Your grace, Jesus Christ, in Whose Name we ask it, AMEN! 

Suggested songs: ARP22C “I’ll Praise You in the Gathering” or TPH433 “Amazing Grace” 

2022.02.17 Hopewell @Home ▫ Colossians 4:16–18

Read Colossians 4:16–18

Questions from the Scripture text: What were the Colossians to do with the letter first (Colossians 4:16a)? Where else were they to do this (verse 16b)? What else were they to read (verse 16c)? To whom were they to speak (Colossians 4:17)? What were they to tell him to do? Who wrote out Colossians 4:18? What did he want them to remember? How did he greet them in closing?  

Having sent a number of greetings already, the epistle closes not with greetings but with reference to several components of public worship: the reading of Scripture, the ministering of the Word, prayer, and benediction.

Public (congregational) reading of Scripture. We’re familiar with 1 Timothy 4:13, which commands Timothy to “give attention to reading.” Many, probably rightly, think that he’s referring to reading in public worship. It’s even clearer in Colossians 4:16. First, this epistle was to be read among (“with”) the Colossians, not just by them. The preposition is even clearer once they send this letter on. It is to be read in the church of the Laodiceans. The Laodiceans already had a letter, possibly (probably?) what we now call Ephesians, and they were to pass it along for reading in worship as well. This is also evidence that the New Testament books were being recognized as Scripture as they were written (cf. 1 Corinthians 14:37; 2 Peter 3:15–16; 1 Timothy 5:18b with Luke 10:7).

Ministry of the Word. The congregation is to encourage Archippus to “see to the ministry which [he had] received in the Lord” (Colossians 4:17). Considering Colossians 4:12-13, though Archippus may have been a preacher already, it seems that he is currently filling Epaphras’s shoes in that faithful pastor’s absence. It is biblical and good for a congregation to encourage its minister to keep on in and focus upon his ministry.

Prayer. There is an assumption in Colossians 4:18 that this is a praying congregation. Paul, nearly blind now, is writing the greeting in his own hand (cf. 1 Corinthians 16:21; Galatians 6:11; 2 Thessalonians 3:17; Philemon 19). The difficulty for him to do so adds a personal intensity. But before the final blessing, he takes the opportunity to give a prayer request in his own hand. “Remember my chains.” It’s easy to forget the difficulty of others’ circumstances (hence the emphasis on giving and receiving of news in Colossians 4:7-9). Here, the Spirit emphasizes to us that we remember those who are imprisoned for the gospel, as well as those who preach the gospel. Paul is both.

Benediction. Although the apostle craves their intercession, the last word is a word of blessing. This, is a pattern throughout his epistles, sometimes shorter, sometimes longer. It is one final reminder that the Lord Jesus is Yahweh, Who blessed His people—most famously, perhaps, in Numbers 6:22–27. He came in order to secure our blessing, and having risen and ascended to glory, He now pronounces that blessing upon us. 

These four things being integral parts of the public worship, we can see how the apostle has closed his letter in a way that especially commends to them the public worship of God. To us, too, he has done so. Just as Colossians was to be passed onto the Laodiceans, and Ephesians was on its way to Colossae from Laodicea, so also now these letters have come to our own churches, where they are read and preached as holy Scripture. Where we remember others together in prayer. Where we have the Lord’s blessing pronounced upon us. What a glorious thing is the congregational worship of Christ’s church!

How does your life, and your household’s life, reflect the importance and blessedness of public worship?

Sample prayer:  Lord, we thank You for Your gift of the public worship in the congregation, and for prescribing to us in Your Word what we should do in that public worship. Truly, You have filled it with that which is good and glorious! Forgive us for how lightly we sometimes take it, and by Your Spirit make us to be diligent and zealous in it, we ask through Christ, AMEN!

2022.02.10 Hopewell @Home ▫ Colossians 4:7–15

Read Colossians 4:7–15

Questions from the Scripture text: Whom does Colossians 4:7 introduce? What three things is he called? What will he do? What does the apostle emphasize in Colossians 4:8a? What does he want to know from Tychicus (verse 8b)? What does he want Tychicus to do to them? Whom else is Paul sending (Colossians 4:9)? What does he call him? Where is he from? What will he do? What four people greet them in Colossians 4:10-11? Concerning whom do they receive special instruction (verse 10)? What does the apostle call these men in verse 11? From what identity are they? What have they proved to be? Who greets them in Colossians 4:12? What does the apostle call him? What is he always doing? For what, specifically, does he pray? What does the apostle testify that Epaphras has (Colossians 4:13)? For whom? Who else greets them in Colossians 4:14? Whom does the apostle ask them to greet (Colossians 4:15a), and especially whom in that church (verse 15b)? 

Believers communicate with one another. The apostle sends Tychicus with news (Colossians 4:7). To get news from the Colossians (Colossians 4:8). Along with Onesimus, who will also bring the news (Colossians 4:9).  It’s not surprising that we would communicate with one another. We have a God Who is triune in Himself. Being relational is part of Who He is. And He has redeemed us by the Son, Whom He also calls the “Word.” His Spirit announces to us the gospel, the “good news.” He created by His Word, upholds all things by His Word, gives faith by His Word, sanctifies by His Word, and preserves by His Word.  

Colossians has been a book about how Christ has the first place in all things, and believers are united with Him in heaven and being made like Him by His Word. So, we ought to take away from this section that some of the Christ-likeness in the apostle and his associates can be seen in their interest in knowing one another and how things are with one another. Ought we not have such an interest? “Social media” is a proverbial whipping boy today, but it can serve a good purpose. Letters and messengers are, after all, a form of social media.

Believers greet one another. Aristarchus and Mark greeted (Colossians 4:10). The latter is notable, because it implies a patching up of the disagreement at the end of Acts 15. The apostle commands the Colossians to welcome him. Jesus Justus greeted (Colossians 4:11). Epaphras greeted (Colossians 4:12). Luke and Demas greeted (Colossians 4:14). And the Colossians were to greet: the Laodiceans, Nymphas, and Nymphas’s household (Colossians 4:15). Though it has become common to talk about “house churches,” this latter probably referred to a large, Christian household. Every Christian household should be a “church in the house.” And so we do well to greet one another within a house, and greet other believers from other houses. Again, this is not surprising, since there is love and fellowship within God Himself, and one of the main things that the gospel has done is reconcile us to God and to one another. This ought to be expressed in the pleasure that we have in one another’s fellowship.

Believers comfort one another. The apostle sent Tychicus to comfort their hearts (Colossians 4:8). Aristarchus and Mark and Jesus Justus had comforted the apostle (Colossians 4:11). The two words are different, and the first one actually comes from the same word that describes the ministry of the Holy Spirit to us. The meaning is much broader than comfort (encourage, rebuke, counsel, help, etc.), and it is a reminder that believers ought to seek and seize whatever opportunity we may to do whatever good we can to one another.

Believers pray for one another. There is one thing that we can always do for one another: pray. Epaphras labored in prayer for the Colossians (Colossians 4:12). He labored fervently in prayer for them. The goal of his praying was the same as the goal of the “comfort” ministry that we ought to have for one another: that they would stand perfect and full/complete in all the will of God. There’s nothing better for us to aim at for one another than heaven, so there’s nothing better for us to aim at for another than each other’s being fit for heaven. 

What aspects of our Lord’s character, and fruit of our Lord’s work, is showing up in your relationships and interactions with other believers?

Sample prayer:  Lord, we thank You for the fellowship that You have given us in Your Spirit, and in Your Son. Forgive us for failing to treasure and love one another as we ought. We are selfish in our thoughts, often uninterested in how things are going with others. We lack intentionality about comforting one another’s hearts or welcoming one another. How often can it be said of us that are fellow laborers? That we labor fervently for one another in our prayers? That our great aim for one another is to see each other perfect and complete in all the will of God? That we have great zeal for one another? But all of these come from Christ, Who has done and continues to do all of these things for us. And we have just read from Colossians about many believers in whom Christ had done such work by His Spirit. So, count Christ’s righteousness for us, and do the same work in us by Your Spirit, which we ask in Jesus’s Name, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP67 “O God Give Us Your Blessing” or TPH400 “Gracious Spirit, Dwell with Me”

2022.02.03 Hopewell @Home ▫ Colossians 4:2–6

Read Colossians 4:2–6

Questions from the Scripture text: In what must they continue (Colossians 4:2)? In what manner? Being what? With what? For whom also must they pray (Colossians 4:3)? That God would open what? So the apostle can speak what? What has already happened to him for this? What must he do to the mystery (Colossians 4:4)? By doing what in the way that he ought? How must they walk (Colossians 4:5)? Toward whom? Doing what? What must their speech always be with (Colossians 4:6)? What does grace do to speech? What must they know?

Colossians 3:18–4:1 focused especially on how to do all in the Name of the Lord Jesus (cf. Colossians 3:17) in all our domestic relationships. But what about those outside our home and church? 

First of all, for all these relationships, inside and out, our hope is in the Lord. Therefore, prayer is the primary thing. It’s not the only thing; there’s much more that the Lord commands. But this is a necessary aspect of doing all in the Name of the Lord Jesus: not only doing what He prescribes, but doing it only by His power, and therefore bathing all that we do in prayer.

Sadly, our flesh is sluggish to pray, easily distracted in prayer, and quick to leave off. To the sluggishness, Colossians 4:2 says, “continue”! To the distraction, verse 2 says, “earnestly”! And to the leaving off, verse 2 says “being vigilant”! 

And it will not do to persist as if the outcome is in doubt—as if our persistence is what is making it come about. No, “with thanksgiving” (verse 2) means that’s a joyously, confidently expectant persistence… praying because you know He’s hearing and answering.

As said above, prayer is not the only thing, and we find this out by what the apostle asks them to pray for. His own ministry. When he says “as I ought to speak” in Colossians 4:4, he makes it clear that it is his duty to speak clearly (“make manifest”) what God has done and revealed (“the mystery,” Colossians 4:3) in Christ. It’s an action that he must take. But he will only be able to do so by grace, so he asks them to pray not only for opportunities but for his faithfulness when the opportunity comes.

Although not called to be preachers who clearly show forth the mystery of Christ, the Thessalonians do have an analogous ministry (as does every believer). They too are speakers of a sort. We all have conversations in life, and we ought to see them as “open doors” provided by God. Opportunities not to be wasted but rather “redeeming the time” (Colossians 4:5). 

So, we should seek to have everything we say colored by God’s provision of grace in Jesus Christ. Without this consideration, it’d be like our speech is unseasoned: bland at best, rotting and possibly deadly at worst. How many conversations most believers have that are no different than they would have been without the gospel—graceless, saltless, wasted speech! So we must pray for wisdom and walk in wisdom, because each one we speak to will have a different best way to “speak up for grace” to them. Just as there is a way that the apostle ought to speak (end of Colossians 4:4), so there is a way that all believers ought to speak (end of Colossians 4:6)!

What part does prayer have in your daily routine? What part does prayer have in your continual inner conversation? What does the amount of thanksgiving in your prayer tell you about the level of confidence in Christ with which you pray? What are you doing to build skill in having conversations that are seasoned specifically to each one?

Sample prayer:  Lord, You wisely ordain all things. Forgive us for how much of our speech is graceless, saltless. Grant unto us opportunity for the gospel, and by Your Spirit, provide our own wisdom for making the most of those opportunities. Whether in our families and churches, or with outsiders, grant that we would do all in the Name of the Lord Jesus, in which Name we also pray, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP67 “O God Give Us Your Blessing” or TPH400 “Gracious Spirit, Dwell with Me”

2022.01.27 Hopewell @Home ▫ Colossians 3:18–4:1

Read Colossians 3:18–4:1

Questions from the Scripture text: Who are to do what to whom (Colossians 3:18a)? In what manner (verse 18b)? Who are to do what to whom (Colossians 3:19a)? And not do what (verse 19b)? Who are to do what to whom (Colossians 3:20a)? In how many things? Why (verse 20b)? Who are not to do what (Colossians 3:21a)? Why not (verse 21b)? Who are to do what to whom (Colossians 3:22a)? In how many things? In what manner (verse 22b)? Why (verse 22c)? What vocations does Colossians 3:23 cover (verse 23a)? In what manner are they to be done (verse 23b)? For what payment (Colossians 3:24a)? Why can we expect that (verse 24b)? What if we don’t do right (Colossians 3:25)? Who are to give what to whom (Colossians 4:1a)? Why (verse 1b)? 

It’s one thing to live the church lifestyle when we are at church: “put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering, bearing with one another, forgiving one another” (Colossians 3:12-13)—And praise and thanks be to God that to facilitate this, He gives us His peace to rule in our hearts (Colossians 3:15) and His word to dwell richly in us (Colossians 3:16)!

But how much more we will want to sing God’s Word and have it sung to us, when we see the primary group of church members to whom we have been assigned to live such a loving, forgiving, harmonious life: wives and husbands, children and parents, bondservants and masters!

A wife’s submission is fitting (Colossians 3:18)—which means that a marriage that lacks this submission is out of order and fails to communicate the beauty of the Lord Jesus in His people. 

The husband’s general command to love his wife (Colossians 3:19a) is followed up with a warning against one of the primary things that gets in the way of this: bitterness (verse 19b); let him instead be understanding, giving the benefit of the doubt, freely letting go of disappointments, covering over a multitude of faults by mighty, overcoming love. 

Children’s obedience is to be in every area, lest they try to place anything outside their parents’ jurisdiction. This of course doesn’t mean to obey anything that would require disobedience to Christ, but that applies to every area—which is exactly the number of areas in which their parents rule over them. This is easy when a child still enjoys pleasing his parents (and he should never outgrow this (cf. Exodus 20:12). But let the Christian child remember that he has a Father in heaven, Whom he should increasingly enjoy pleasing through the rest of this life and forever. The child that is growing in Christ should take an increasing pleasure in obeying his parents as he gets older!

Finally, in the workplace, everyone is working for one great Master: the Lord Jesus. This doesn’t remove authority distinctions among men: here there are even slaves and masters! But it does shape how everyone does everything: obedience in every part of the job (Colossians 3:22a), integrity even when “only” God is looking (verse 22b), wholehearted diligence (Colossians 3:23), and even kindness and fairness (Colossians 4:1). Why? Because it is all being done unto Christ, and He Himself will reward and punish. So the reward at work is much more than the paycheck, and punishment for wrong is much more than disciplinary action or firing.

Let us hone our Christ-like relationships in our homes and workplaces. These may be the hardest places to do it, but this is ground zero for where Christ commands us to practice it. And they give us the most opportunities in which to obey Him in this and serve Him in this and please Him in this! And then, when we interact with the wider congregation, we may know that it is not the self-deceiving hypocrisy of desiring to be well thought of, but rather the wider expression of a gracious work that the Lord has been doing in our lives as a whole.

Who are the most difficult people in your family or workplace with whom to follow these commands? What do you need to be doing differently to do so? Who can enable you? By what means does He do that?

Sample prayer:  Lord, what beautiful things are families and work, which You created and designed before the Fall! But by our sin, we have made them sometimes the most difficult and unpleasant parts of our lives. Forgive us our sin, and give us the grace to love and live according to the life of Christ in us. Make our homes places of love, and our workplaces bustling enterprises of service unto King Jesus, for we ask it in His Name, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP128 “How Blessed Are All Who Fear the LORD” or TPH128B “Blest the Man” 

2022.01.20 Hopewell @Home ▫ Colossians 3:15–17

Read Colossians 3:15–17

Questions from the Scripture text: What do we have from God (Colossians 3:15a)? What must we let it do and where? To the peace of God also, God has done what to us (verse 15b)? In what? What must we be toward God (verse 15c)? What has God provided by which all this happens (Colossians 3:16a)? Where must it dwell? In what manner? In all of what? By doing what to one another (verse 16b)? In what three types of songs? Singing with what, where, unto Whom (verse 16c)? To what do these instructions apply (Colossians 3:17a)? How must it be done (verse 17b)? What do people who do things in Jesus’s Name always do to Whom, through Whom (verse 17c)? 

The entire Christian life ought to be one of thankfulness. 

In our inner life, Colossians 3:15-16a. The peace of God (verse 15a) is something that we already have with Him in Jesus Christ. But, we are called to make increasing application of that peace in our lives. 

It’s one thing to know what He’s done for us; it’s another thing to have the thoughts, feelings, and decisions of our hearts shaped by what He’s done for us. It’s one thing to know that the hostilities between us and Him have been canceled; it’s another to remember that this happened to us as part of the entire body of all believers, and that we must not maintain any hostility with any of them (verse 15b). It’s one thing to retain the fact of peace with God; it’s another to persist in thankfulness to Him (verse 16c).

How can we maintain such an inner life? By having Christ’s word not only as something that we hear or read or remember about, but as something that dwells in us—indeed, that dwells richly in us.

In our worship lives, Colossians 3:16b–c. Do you want the Word of Christ to dwell richly in you? Then you must follow the prescription of Him Whose Word it is: corporate worship, and especially corporate singing. We know that we are to receive the Word meekly as it is read and preached, as we seek for it to be the “implanted” Word which is able to save our souls (cf. James 1:21). And if we have considered the sacraments scripturally, we know that one of their great purposes is to drive this Word home to us with greater assurance and comfort. But perhaps you have not considered that there is a third part of corporate worship that is designed for the driving home of Christ’s Word into our hearts: corporate song.

To make his case, the apostle marshals three words that come from Psalm-titles in the Greek translation of the Old Testament that the Colossians would have used (“Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs”). Some who don’t know this think that this verse justifies corporate worship songs from outside Scripture, but even they must see that Colossians 3:16a makes it plain that this is referring to singing Christ’s Word, not ours. Others, who know the origin of the words, think that this means that we are only to sing the Psalms. But do they think that we are not to sing those Psalms that lack these words? If we consider all of Scripture to be the Word of Christ, then we are to sing from all of Scripture. Ultimately, the apostle has made His point: by putting songs in His Scriptures, God has made it clear that He has designed our singing of His Word as a mechanism by which His Word dwells richly in our hearts.

But not only is such singing to teach and admonish one another as it aims at our brothers, it must also aim at the Lord. The word “grace” in the original is closely related to the word for “thanks.” God’s grace produces thankfulness in the heart. It is instructive that in the parallel instruction in Ephesians 5:19, the apostle uses the word “melody” (meaning tune, and especially instrumental accompaniment) where the word “grace” appears here in Colossians 3:16. There, Ephesians 5:20 immediately explains that this accompaniment of the heart is “giving thanks.” So, as we address one another with Christ’s Word in corporate singing, the true accompanying instrument is the grace-formed heart as it plays the tune of thankfulness unto God. 

This is the sort of singing that God has designed to make His Word dwell richly in us.

In all of our speech and conduct, Colossians 3:17. Christ’s Word is to be as frontlets between our eyes (cf. Deuteronomy 6:8b), controlling how we think about everything, and as if bound to our hands (cf. Deuteronomy 6:8a), controlling how we do everything. It is not only to be in our hearts (Colossians 3:16a, cf. Deuteronomy 6:6), but continually in our mouths (“in word,” Colossians 3:17a, cf. Deuteronomy 6:7). 

Speaking or doing in the Name of Jesus (Colossians 3:17b) does not mean that we can apply His Name as a label to whatever we wish to say or do. Speaking or doing in the Name of Jesus means that we speak and do only, always according to the Word of Jesus. The peace-ruled heart is a word-filled heart that expresses itself in a word-saturated life. And what is the hallmark of such a life? All speech is spoken with thanks to God through Christ (verse 17c). All actions are done with thanks to God through Christ.

A Christian is someone who has put on Christ (cf. Colossians 3:1–11). What is one of the great hallmarks of such a person? Hearts, songs, and lives of thankfulness to God in Christ!

In which of these areas do you most need to grow in thankfulness? What are you going to do about it?

Sample prayer:  Lord, how we thank You for raising us with Christ, hiding our life with Christ, making Christ our life, and uniting us with Christ. What a glorious peace with Yourself You have given to us in Him! But we have much failed to enjoy and apply that peace. By Your Spirit’s almighty work, make Christ’s Word to dwell richly in us, so that we will live lives of thankfulness to you, we ask in Christ’s Name, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP100 “All Earth, with Joy” or TPH488 “May the Mind of Christ My Savior”

2022.01.13 Hopewell @Home ▫ Colossians 3:12–14

Read Colossians 3:12–14

Questions from the Scripture text: What does the apostle call them in Colossians 3:12? With what two characteristics? What five things are they to put on? What two things are they to do (Colossians 3:13a)? If what has happened? What is the pattern for this (verse 13b)? How does the command in Colossians 3:14 relate to the rest? What are they to put on most of all? How will it function among the others?

Election and predestination are unto something far greater than merely escaping wrath. They are unto Christ-likeness. Ephesians 1:4 says, “just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.” Romans 8:29 says, “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son.” And it is in our identity as “the elect of God, holy and beloved” (Colossians 3:12) that our passage begins to flesh out what it should look like to have “put on the new man”—Christ (Colossians 3:10-11) instead of Adam (Colossians 3:9). 

In other words, the believer’s big question about election ought not to be whether or not election is real (since God declares it) or if it is fair (since the perfectly righteous God has done it) but rather, “unto what have I been elected?” (since it is this after which we are to strive). 

Christ is our life (Colossians 3:4a), and we are to appear with Him in glory (verse 4b), so we are to grow into His likeness. As we love Him and love one another, we will pursue the perfection that is His character (Colossians 3:14). What then are we to put on if we are putting on Christ and His love? 

Tender mercies—compassions of the heart. Kindness—goodness to all, and especially to the Lord’s. Humility—taking for ourselves a low position and considering others above ourselves. Meekness—the gentleness that would rather suffer harm than inflict it. Longsuffering—like meekness but after the fact; patiently putting up with being wronged rather than giving into fury or trying to get payback.

All of these characteristics are especially needed in one particular situation: “if anyone has a complaint against another.” The characteristics of Christ in the Christian come to bear most when he is sinned against. Both as God and as our Mediator, Christ has been sinned against infinitely more than any of us could have been. And the great act of His redemption has been to bear the guilt Himself in order to forgive us. Being sinned against is one of the greatest opportunities for Christlikeness that a Christian can have. 

And when the opportunity comes, we must seize it by the two commanded actions in Colossians 3:13: forgive one another. We practice for the forgiving of wrongs by bearing with one another’s continual weaknesses and annoyances. And then when idiosyncrasy overflows into genuine offense, the exercise of Christ-like graces in bearing with one another will have strengthened those graces that we might readily forgive one another. So let us live out of love for God and love for others, that when the time comes we might by grace seize our opportunity and forgive.

What opportunity do you have to bear with others? What opportunity do you have to forgive? What are these really opportunities for you to put on and to do?

Sample prayer:  Lord, we thank and praise You Who have elected and loved us that we might well love You. Forgive us for missing our opportunities to display the qualities of Christ in us, and make us to put on His character so that we may imitate His conduct, which we ask in His Name, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP24 “The Earth and the Riches” or TPH464 “The Beatitudes”

2022.01.06 Hopewell @Home ▫ Colossians 3:9–11

Read Colossians 3:9–11

Questions from the Scripture text: What mustn’t we do to one another (Colossians 3:9a)? Why not—whom have we put off (verse 9b)? What else have we put off? Whom have we put on (Colossians 3:10a)? What is new about him (verse 10b)? In accord with what? What eight factors no longer shape what believers are like (Colossians 3:11)? What one factor shapes what a believer is like? How many believers have Him in them?

A man once tried to explain away how he often lost his temper by saying that he was just a hot-blooded Middle Easterner. But Jesus was from what we now call the Middle East. Did He lose His temper? Of course not (cf. Colossians 3:8). 

Whenever He was angry, it was always because it was right for Him to be angry, and He was in control of His anger rather than His anger controlling Him. Neither was He hateful or bitter (“malice,” verse 8). Neither did He speak lightly, or even offensively, of God (“blasphemy,” verse 8). And filthy language had no place in His mouth. Neither did Jesus lie (Colossians 3:9a). This is not surprising, since God cannot lie (cf. Titus 1:2), and Satan is the father of lying (cf. John 8:44). 

When a believer has put off the “old man” that he was in Adam (Colossians 3:9b), he hasn’t just become a new person than before; he has become a new kind of person. He has “put off the old man with his deeds” (verse 9b). The new man that the believer has put on is a man that has Christ in him—for believers, Christ is “in all” (Colossians 3:11b). 

And Christ completely shapes the character of this new man. Nationality or cultural tradition or social class might previously have shaped a man’s character. But for the new man, none of these shape him, “but Christ is all” (Colossians 3:11b). Some mistakenly think that passages like this one, or its parallel in Galatians 3:27–28, mean that believers no longer recognize these distinctions and should do away with ideas like nationality or family traditions. Not only does this lead to the nonsensical (and greatly immoral) idea that there is no longer a distinction between male and female (Galatians 3:28), but it misses the point in both passages: believers have put on Christ!

And in Christ, they have been renewed “in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him” (Colossians 3:10). The word for “knowledge” here refers to the substance of what is known. Not only are believers renewed in comprehending concepts; they are renewed in their personal experience and exercise of those things. They not only know about being in the image of God; they are renewed into imaging God. No longer do we carry the character of Adam; we are renewed and restored into the character of Him Who created Adam (verse 10b).

This is another blessed consequence of the incarnation. Because God Himself became the last Adam in Jesus Christ, when we put on the new man, we are renewed into imaging the character of God, as we were originally created to do. If you have put on Christ, you are a new man; act like Christ, not Adam! 

What are some Adam-like characteristics or habits that you tend to excuse on the basis of nationality, gender, or tradition? How can you be able to put these off? Are you, then, one who is able? Will you?

Sample prayer:  Lord, we bless Your Name for creating us new in Christ Jesus and making Him to dwell in our hearts through faith. Forgive us, for when we act according to the old man whom we have put off. Make us to embrace our new identity in Christ and to enjoy our union with Him by growing in likeness to Him, which we ask in His Name, AMEN!

2021.12.30 Hopewell @Home ▫ Colossians 3:5–8

Read Colossians 3:5–8

Questions from the Scripture text: What are believers to do to which aspects (“members”) of themselves (Colossians 3:5a)? Which six members of themselves does verse 5b mention as being “on earth” (i.e. from our former fleshly/earthly nature, rather than from their new/Spiritual/heavenly nature)? What is coming because of these things (Colossians 3:6a)? Upon whom (verse 6b)? What have believers previously done (Colossians 3:7a)? When (verse 7b)? What are we to do with the things in which we no longer walk or live (Colossians 3:8a)? What four expressions of members does verse 8b specifically identify?

This passage teaches us very clearly how to think about our remaining sin and how to respond to our remaining sin.

Recognize remaining sin as part of us but no longer the nature of who we are. Christ is our life now (Colossians 3:4), which means our life is hidden with Him in God (Colossians 3:3b), and our former self has died (verse 3a). What is this former self who died? Among other things, it is a self that walked in sin and lived in sin (Colossians 3:7). 

Does this mean that believers no longer sin? No. There are remnants of our former self that are not set “on things above” but rather “on the earth” (Colossians 3:5). In Colossians 3:2, the apostle was not talking about geography but mindset. He was not talking about ignoring this world but rather about setting the principles and priorities of heaven over-against the principles and priorities of a fallen world. 

So when he tells us to “put to death your members which are on the earth,” he is calling to our attention that there are aspects of the believer’s now-deceased former self that are themselves still alive and kicking. They do not belong to who we are now, but they are still attached to us and part of us. Believers should recognize their remaining sin, and take responsibility for their remaining sin, even while rejoicing that their remaining sin is no longer “who they are” (Colossians 3:3a, Colossians 3:7; cf. Romans 7:17–18, Romans 7:22–23).

Kill remaining sin, and put it off, as that which has no right to us and no place in heaven. It’s important for us to see what the apostle is telling the Colossians in Colossians 3:5. Colossae isn’t Corinth, but the believers there have all of these things yet in their hearts to some extent. So do all believers on earth today. 

One of the ways that gullible westerners have been such easy prey for Islamic jihad is that they thought they could be friends. They did not realize that there were enemies present. They did not know or act as if they were at war. If you are a believer, you are at war. If you fail to recognize your enemy, or think that you can coexist with your enemy, you will only harm yourself. 

A little bit of lust is not okay. Kill it. Enjoying the filthiness of a joke is not ok. Kill any remaining tendency to smirk at what is crass. Being controlled by your emotions is not ok. It’s something you should kill. Thinking something is fun because it is forbidden is called evil desire. Suffocate it. Complaining against God’s providence to you, or wishing it was different, is to put yourself and the desired thing in the place of God. You don’t shrug at that “remaining fallenness”; you ruthlessly execute it and seek to be content with God Himself as your Portion. 

(Hasty) anger and wrath are not just part of life. It is part of your former life. Put that off, and start getting dressed for heaven. Hostility and bitterness in your heart are malice. That’s the clothing of the old man, not suitable for resurrected residents of heaven. Get rid of it. Light speaking of God is indicative of someone who has not come near to Him and knows not His glory. Refuse to have such speech attached to you. Filthy language has no place in your mouth; wash it out by the Spirit, and never let it back in.

Yes, it is a fact that believers have much that is earthly and fleshly yet attached to them. But we have a new life in Christ that is from heaven and for heaven. We must be killing that which remains from our former self, and putting off that which is suitable only to our former life.

Which of these things that you should be killing is most “alive” still in your life? Which of these things that you should be putting off do you still “dress” in most often? How can you be confident in this killing and putting off?

Sample prayer:  Holy, holy, holy God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—how we thank You for creating us that we might enjoy You. And especially for redeeming us in Christ, killing our former, wicked selves and raising us up together with Him to reflect and enjoy Your holy glory. Forgive us for being so passive about letting things from our former selves linger, and give us zeal in the pursuit of that life and character that belongs to our new and eternal life with You. For, we ask it through the Name in which You have saved us, Jesus Christ, AMEN!

2021.12.09 Hopewell @Home ▫ Colossians 3:1–4

Read Colossians 3:1–4 

Questions from the Scripture text: What has happened to believers (Colossians 3:1)? With whom? What, then, should they seek? How does verse 1 proceed to define above—who is there? Where is He sitting? Upon what should believers set their minds (Colossians 3:2a)? Upon what shouldn’t they (verse 2b)? What has happened to them (Colossians 3:3a)? Where is their life now (verse 3b)? What is Christ to us (Colossians 3:4a)? What is He going to do? Who else will appear with Him (verse 4b)? In what condition? 

The second half of chapter 2 emphasized how manmade religion is a cheat that hinders us from actually holding fast to the actual Christ. We are in a battle against what comes from us, so why would we approve as spiritually helpful anything that came from man instead of that which has been given by God?! 

Now, turning the page into chapter 3, we have a similar exhortation from the converse perspective. However useless man’s ideas are, that much more efficacious is Christ and His ideas. Do we not realize how glorious a thing it is to be a Christian—to be raised with Christ (Colossians 3:1a)? Do we not realize how glorious He is, in union with Whom we have been raised—sitting at the right hand of God (verse 1c)?! 

Seek those things which are above (verse 1b)! Set your mind on things above, not things on earth (Colossians 3:2)! 

We mustn’t make the silly mistake of thinking that this means that we are not to be acting in, and reacting to, our earthly circumstances. In the next passage, “your members which are on the earth” are defined as that which is sinful. From us apart from Christ. By contrast, then, the “seek those things which are above” means to have the priorities of heaven in dependence upon the power of heaven. 

Our eternal survival is sure. Our life is hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3b). So why would we live according to the priorities, or by the power, which we have renounced and to which we have died (verse 3a)? No, we have been raised with Christ (Colossians 3:1a). We have a new dominating principle for our life. We have a new indomitable power for our life. It all ends with us radiating with His selfsame glory in the last day (Colossians 3:4). 

You’ve stopped living for the priorities of the flesh. Stop living by the pseudo-power or pseudo-wisdom of the flesh! 

What are heaven’s priorities for your life? What does it look like to live for that? How has God given you to have Christ as your power for this? What use are you making of those means as you hope in Him? 

Sample prayer: Lord, you have raised us up with Christ to new, invincible, eternal life in Him. Forgive us for when we slouch into living to indulge our flesh. Forgive us for when we foolishly think that spiritual gains can be made by anything that man has come up with. By Your Spirit, grant us instead faithfulness in the means that You have appointed. And make those means effectual to us by the power and life of Christ, we ask through Him, AMEN! 

Suggested songs: ARP23B“The Lord’s My Shepherd” or TPH457“Jesus, Thy Blood and Righteousness”

2021.12.02 Hopewell @Home ▫ Colossians 2:20–23

Read Colossians 2:20–23

Questions from the Scripture text: What has happened to believers (Colossians 2:20)? With Whom? From what? But to what are they subjecting themselves? And where does this imply they think their life is? To what sorts of regulations were they subjecting themselves (Colossians 2:21)? What point does the apostle make about the objects of these commands in Colossians 2:22a? From where were these rules coming (verse 22b)? What do these things have an appearance of (Colossians 2:23a)? What kind of religion is this? What else does it appear to have (verse 23b, cf. Colossians 2:18)? How much value does such worship have, against what?

A Christian is someone who has died with Christ. Colossians 2:20 doesn’t teach this so much as assume it. Even Old Testament religion was just shadows that couldn’t save, except there be faith in the saving Christ (cf. Colossians 2:16-17). Much less could men’s traditions or “wisdom” do us any true good (cf. Colossians 2:8). Clinging to Christ was a rejection of such things. The apostle reminds us of these things by noting that Christians “have died with Christ from the basic principles of the world.” 

Therefore, a Christian must live as someone whose life is in Christ. But there’s a strange thing that many who have made a start in this Christian faith proceed to do at some later point. Christ is seated above (cf. Colossians 3:1), but many Christians act “as though living in the world” (Colossians 2:20). They get accustomed to living by manmade rules (Colossians 2:21-22). This is a form of seeking to have life from men for pleasing men, rather than seeking to have their life from Christ for pleasing Christ. 

And he must reject all manmade religion, since it comes from the very flesh that we are trying to kill. If these manmade religious ideas were patently stupid and wicked, they wouldn’t be dangerous. To be sure, some manmade rules are rather obviously legalistic. But it is those that have “an appearance of wisdom” (Colossians 2:23) that are the most dangerous. 

We think they have humility by exalting God and bringing man low. We think that they are wonderfully spiritual—perhaps even self-denying. But inventing religion puts man in the place of God, despite any appearance of humility. And inventing religion indulges the self, despite any appearance of self-denial.

The apostle makes this clear by the word that our translation has rendered “self-imposed religion.” It’s a mashup of the word for “will” and a word for “worship”—“will-worship.”

We have Christ, and in Christ we have the power of heaven. Let us not revert to powerless, earthly religion, however much we might reason that it were wise or spiritually meaningful to us.

What is the only way to be justified? What is the only way to grow? Where is your life? What is something that Christians find “spiritually meaningful” that Christ has not commanded? Is it, then?

Sample prayer: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, how marvelous it is that You have rescued us by being our life in Christ! In Him, we have died unto any hope or help that comes from man. Forgive us for how we often live as if manmade religious ideas now have hope or help in them for us! Grant instead your own life, through Your own appointed means, through which Your Spirit gives us life from Christ, through Whom we ask it, AMEN! 

Suggested songs: ARP23B “The Lord’s My Shepherd” or TPH459 “My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less”

2021.11.25 Hopewell @Home ▫ Colossians 2:16–19

Read Colossians 2:16–19 

Questions from the Scripture text: Whom should believers let judge them in these matters (Colossians 2:16)? What five matters are named? Is the fifth one singular, or plural? What does Colossians 2:17 say these plural sabbaths, and these other four things, were? Who gave these “shadows” and where? When would the body, to which these shadows belonged, come? Who is the body to which they belonged? Of what might believers be cheated (Colossians 2:18)? Whom should they permit to cheat them? In what two things might such cheat-ing religion delight? Into what might such cheat-ing religion intrude? What kind of mind does such religion demonstrate? What does this fleshly mind do to a man? What does holding fast either to shadows or to manmade ideas in religion keep us from holding fast to (Colossians 2:19)? 

 What sorts of things threaten to keep us from holding fast to Christ? 

Holding to shadows and outward forms, Colossians 2:16-17. The Mosaic administration had food laws, feast days, and sabbaths that were shadows of Christ. In every age, there have been Christians who were tempted to observe such regulations—and even those who have judged others for not keeping them. But finding meaning in the shadow, after Christ has come, is a diversion from clinging to Him Who is the Substance (body). Rather than the multiple high-day sabbaths of the Jewish calendar, they were to cling to Him Who revealed Himself as the LORD of that Sabbath which had been instituted even in the Garden of Eden. In the New Testament, Christ is even more obviously the Substance of such ordinances as baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and especially the New Testament Sabbath, which Scripture actually calls “the Lord’s Day.” We must be careful to engage Him Himself in these ordinances and not focus on the rites and external forms. 

Observing man-made religion, Colossians 2:18. If we are to beware of missing Christ Himself as the Substance of biblical religion, much more must we resist any religion whatsoever that hasn’t been given to us by God. For, we cannot give Christ to ourselves. What fools we would be if we invented religious things to do and claimed that the substance of them was Christ! It’s ironic to come up with rituals that purport to express or foster humility (Colossians 2:18), when the very coming up with it is an act of arrogance—taking for oneself the divine prerogative of inventing religion. False teachers had introduced such things in Colossians, as well as the worship of angels. But how could a fleshly mind create true religion, when we have no access to genuinely spiritual things “which he has not seen”? 

These are things that cheat us, Colossians 2:19 (Colossians 2:18a). From Christ, our Head, alone is the whole body nourished. From Christ alone is the whole body knit together. From Christ alone can the whole body grow. God alone gives the growth, and He has given that growth in Christ alone. Adding anything because it feels meaningful, or we think it feeds us or grows us, is to cheat ourselves of Christ. 

Hold fast to Christ, the Substance—Christ, our Head! 

What are some man-invented religious observances that people today think are spiritually meaningful or helpful? Why is it so important not to observe them? 

Sample prayer: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, You have given Yourself to be our spiritual life in Jesus Christ. You alone can give life and growth, but we cheat ourselves and let others cheat us by failing to engage Christ in the religion that He has commanded. Even worse, we have even thought that manmade religious days and actions could have spiritual value. Forgive us, O Lord, and make us to cling instead to Christ. For we ask it through Him, AMEN! 

Suggested songs: ARP23B “The Lord’s My Shepherd” or TPH354“Not All the Blood of Beasts"

2021.11.18 Hopewell @Home ▫ Colossians 2:11–15

Read Colossians 2:11–15

Questions from the Scripture text: What has happened to those who are in Christ (Colossians 2:11)? Without what was the circumcision made? By what was this circumcision made? Who/Whose is this circumcision?  How else is this circumcision described in Colossians 2:12? Who has done this work through our union with Christ? What else had He done? What condition are we in apart from Christ—what two ways does Colossians 2:13 describe it? What has God done to once-dead believers? What had to be done to their trespasses in order for God to make them alive? What had to be wiped out for us to be forgiven (Colossians 2:14)? What has Christ done to this certificate of debt? Whom did He disarm (Colossians 2:15? What else did He do to them? By doing what?

The apostle has been exalting Christ as God Himself in-fleshed (incarnated) to be our Redeemer—and therefore as our complete and only hope and help. Now, he continues by opening how the covenant signs in both the Abrahamic/Mosaic administrations and the New Testament administration have their substance in Christ.

We didn’t need the putting off of a part of our flesh, which is what physically happens in a circumcision. We needed the putting off of our entire fleshly self (Colossians 2:11c). There was no hand and no knife that could do this (verse 11b), but Christ has done this (verse 11a)!

The new sign, baptism, doesn’t focus upon removal from ourselves but rather union with Christ—not so much the undoing of our earthly self, but God the Son and God the Spirit coming for us and to us from heaven (cf. Romans 10:6–13; Galatians 4:3–7). Just as with circumcision, what we do on earth is a reminder that God Himself does what we cannot do; we can only pour water, but God has sent His Son, and the Lord Jesus has poured our His Spirit. 

And this is what accomplishes that removal of our fleshly self to which circumcision looked forward. In fact, union with Christ gives us not just burial of our former self because the Christ to Whom we are united has died (Colossians 2:12a, cf. Romans 6:3, Romans 6:5–7), but also an even greater resurrection, because the Christ to Whom we are united was raised from the dead (Colossians 2:12b, cf. Romans 6:4, Romans 6:8–11). The person we are in Him isn’t dead in trespasses (Colossians 2:13a) but alive and forgiven by Him (Colossians 2:13b). Nothing—not even our former (now-cancelled!) guilt before God’s law can hold back the life of Christ in us (Colossians 2:14). And if that guilt and law have no power over us, much less do all the supposedly powerful enemies over whom Christ has triumphed (Colossians 2:15).

Circumcision displayed the need for a Christ (Colossians 2:11). Baptism displays a Christ Who has met that need in His incarnation, death, resurrection (Colossians 2:12-13)—a Christ who applies Himself to us by the pouring out of His Spirit!!

Now, how can those who know that Christ is God, who know that Christ has become man for us, who know that Christ died so that our former self and our guilt could be eliminated in Him, who know that Christ has risen again so that we might have indestructible life to walk in newness of life, and who know that Christ Himself pours out His Spirit so that the third Person of the Trinity is applying Christ and His benefits to us— … how could those who know these things turn from such a God and such a Christ to anything else for their hope or help for righteousness or holiness?!

That’s the question that you face in your spiritual life and growth, dear Christian. And your baptism answers that you can’t, that you mustn’t. You must stick completely and confidently to Christ!!

What are you tempted to think is going to make the difference in your spiritual growth going forward? Who is Christ, and what does your baptism say you have in Him?

Sample prayer: Lord, You Yourself are our salvation—our forgiveness, the end of our former life, the substance of our new life, our victory over the devil, our victory over sin. You are God, and You have given Yourself not only for us but also to us, in order to be ours. Forgive us for when we forget what we have in You and either despair over growth or think that something else is what is really going to make it effective. Thank You for our baptisms; make us to heed what they signify and seal to us we ask in Your Name, AMEN!!

Suggested songs: ARP23B “The Lord’s My Shepherd” or TPH193 “Baptized into Your Name Most Holy”

Relying Only upon Jesus, Our God (Family Worship in Colossians 2:4–10)

For what is the apostle willing to suffer and labor so much? Pastor leads his family in today's "Hopewell @Home" passage. Colossians 2:4–10 prepares us for the second serial reading in Morning Public Worship on the coming Lord's Day. In these seven verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us Jesus is God: in Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge; in Him all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily; He is the head of all principality and power. Because there are false hopes for knowledge and power that threaten to divert believers' attention from Christ, he is willing endure much in order to see them steadfastly walking by faith in the same One Whom they have received as Lord.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

2021.11.04 Hopewell @Home ▫ Colossians 2:4–10

Read Colossians 2:4–10

Questions from the Scripture text: Who is speaking (Colossians 2:4)? To keep what from happening with what other words? What is the apostle’s location (Colossians 2:5)? Where are his thoughts and affections? How does he feel? About what? What have they done with Christ (Colossians 2:6a)? What must they now do with Christ (verse 6b)? What two verbs does Colossians 2:7 use to describe the relationship to Christ of those who are walking in Him? In what have they been established? Through what mechanism? In what must they now abound? With what attitude of heart? What will such an attitude protect them from (Colossians 2:8)? What four things threaten to compete with Christ in their thinking and values? What is the truth about what dwells in Jesus (Colossians 2:9)? What does Jesus have that He does not have as God but only as man? What do they have, who are in Him (Colossians 2:10)? Of what is He head? How much of it?

Man longs for knowledge and power. God created us with knowledge of Him and with capacity to learn more. God created us to take dominion over the world. But we can’t. We’re fallen into wickedness and weakness, sin and misery.

How can man recover himself? It’s impossible. Impossible in a near-infinite number of ways. Impossible in every way except one: if God Himself is also the Christ (Colossians 2:2), in Whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 

There are many things that promise knowledge and power. Philosophers try. And history is full of snake-oil salesmen whose empty promises and infomercials have the same, subtle message of the ancient snake, “you shall be like God.” Manmade religious traditions stack up generations of devotion to produce the appearance of meaning and the experience of sentiment. Then there are the irreligious, who promise knowledge and power through “the basic principles of the world” (almost certainly some form of sorcery in which men believe that they can control hidden powers or beings that are behind the visible world). And to that list of illegitimate sources of knowledge and power, we can add anything else that we think is going to take us to the next level or get us over the hump. Anything, that is except Christ.

This is why the apostle was so willing to suffer (Colossians 1:24) great conflict (Colossians 2:1) for the Colossians: in order that no one would deceive them with persuasive words (Colossians 2:4), lest anyone should cheat them (Colossians 2:8) with anything that is not according to Christ. 

The Colossian Christians—and every true Christian—began by receiving Christ Jesus the Lord (Colossians 2:6a), being established in the faith (Colossians 2:7b). Having begun by being rooted in Him, they are now to be built up upon Him (verse 7a). We don’t begin by faith in Christ and then grow and walk in some other way. We begin by faith in Christ. We grow by faith in Christ. We walk by faith in Christ (Colossians 2:6b).

This is what the apostle rejoiced to work at for the Colossians: steady persistence in faith in Jesus Christ (Colossians 2:5).

Not only is everything else an empty, deceitful cheat; it is something far worse. Blasphemy. In Christ, God dwells bodily. No, more than that. In Christ, the fullness of God dwells bodily. No, more than that. In Christ, all the fullness of God dwells bodily. The apostle has piled up the language in Colossians 2:9 to make it clear that this is no mere Man with a divine principle in Him or with Him. No, this is God Himself having added humanity to Himself.

This is the complete source of the Christian’s knowledge and power. Just as in Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Colossians 2:3), so also He is the Head of all principality and power. The only truth is truth that has as its foundation that Jesus Christ is God. The only power is power that has as its foundation that Jesus Christ is God. 

Anything else is an empty, lying cheat. And blasphemy. Walk by the Christ in Whom you were established, dear Christian!

What are you tempted to think will get you to the next level or get you over the hump in your faith or your life? What do you think will protect you from Covid, or government overreach, or your remaining sin, or the destruction of your life? How is Jesus Christ your God the foundation of all true science? Of all true spirituality?

Sample prayer: Our God, we thank You for Your mercy to us, that You have given Yourself to be our knowledge and power in Jesus Christ. Lord Jesus, in You all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily. Forgive us for when we try to attain knowledge or power in any other way than those You have given to us. Make us to find our fullness only in You and from You, Jesus Christ our God, in Whose Name we ask it, AMEN! 

Suggested songs: ARP73C “Yet Constantly I Am with You” or TPH508 “Jesus, Priceless Treasure”

2021.10.28 Hopewell @Home ▫ Colossians 2:1–3

Read Colossians 2:1–3

Questions from the Scripture text: What does the apostle want them to do (Colossians 2:1)? Of what does he want them to know the greatness? For whom had he had this conflict? What was notable about these people? What effect did the apostle hope that this knowledge would have upon their hearts (Colossians 2:2)? On their relationship? Unto all of what riches? And unto what knowledge? Of both of Whom? What is hidden in Christ (Colossians 2:3)? How much of it?

If the apostle rejoiced in sufferings (cf. Colossians 1:24), he must have been FULL of joy, for he had great conflict (Colossians 2:1). This is one of the great differences that genuine Christianity can make—not that it gets us out of suffering (the contrary is often true), but rather that it turns the suffering into fuel for rejoicing.

Genuine Christianity enables great caring. Perhaps you have heard someone express the idea that they were unable to keep caring so much because of how much stress or pain it caused. For the apostle, not only does he care deeply for the churches that he himself had planted and pastored, but he cares for Colossae, Laodicea, and for other churches that had never even seen his face in the flesh. Does this caring cause suffering? This letter is evidence of that!

But treasuring Christ enables the apostle to value suffering for Christ’s sake, and it is exactly this treasuring of Christ that these Colossians are going to need (cf. Colossians 2:4-10). So, he lets them know that not only is his own treasuring of Christ what has transformed his own suffering, but that what he is battling and suffering for is that they, too, may treasure Christ.

What is that believers’ hearts need? Treasuring Christ (Colossians 2:2a).

What is it that knits believers together in love? Treasuring Christ (verse 2b). The “persuasive words” of Colossians 2:4 will not be able to “deceive” (Colossians 2:4) or “cheat” (Colossians 2:8) them, if their congregational fellowship is built around treasuring Christ together. How important it is, dear believer, that your congregation’s fellowship not be built around hand-wringing over the times in the nation, or even hand-wringing over the deceptions in the church, but rather around the all-surpassing value of Christ, which soundly answers these problems. How important it is to have a congregation whose hearts are knit together in love by treasuring Christ exceedingly!

What is it that gives us assurance of understanding—with the riches, with all the riches that this assurance of understanding brings? It is to treasure Christ. The most important thing to understand is that “glorious mystery” of Colossians 1:27—God’s way of making and growing Christians is through union with Christ… their certainty of entering glory comes from the fact that the Lord of glory already dwells in them. 

This is the “mystery of God” from Colossians 2:2. God is Triune. He is Father, Son, and Spirit. God the Father has given His Son not only for us to die in our place, but also to us to be united to us and dwell in us by His Spirit. God the Son has not only died on the cross, risen again, and ascended into heaven, but He has come to reside in believers by His Spirit Who He gives to them. 

Any wisdom or any knowledge that does not point you back to this gospel of God becoming a Man to die for sinners is no true wisdom at all and no true knowledge at all. This gospel is the mystery of God, the story that no one could have anticipated, but that God has planned, and God has revealed: God has died for believers and come to dwell in believers. Whatever we see about Him in His world and in His word should make us marvel that THIS is the One Who died for us; THIS is the One Who dwells in us! And this is the treasure of all wisdom, and the treasure of all knowledge—to know this about the Christ Whom we treasure!

Who died to atone for sinners? Who dwells in believers? How does this impact your suffering? What part does this have in your fellowship? How does this relate to everything else that you know?

Sample prayer: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we praise You that You have revealed Your triune nature by this marvelous salvation with which You have saved us. Not only has the Son been the One Who became man to atone for us, but now He has come and dwelt in us by the Spirit! Forgive us when we seek to have our hearts strengthened by lesser things, or when we build our fellowship upon lesser things, or when we seek our assurance from lesser things. Grant instead that our hearts would be strengthened by treasureing Christ. Grant that our fellowship would be built upon treasuring Christ. Grant that our assurance of understanding would come by treasuring Christ—all of which we ask in His Name, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP73C “Yet Constantly I Am with You” or TPH508 “Jesus, Priceless Treasure”