Week 20 The Way Out of the Storm
“I would rather stand alone in the light of truth than in the crowd filled with error.”
Adrian Rogers
Passage
1Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
2Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.
3For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
4When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.
5Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry.
6For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience,
7and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them.
8But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth.
9Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices,
10and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him—
11a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all.
Colossians 3:1–11 (NASB95)
"Storm path-rspb Conwy DSCN6713" by ianpreston is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
Background
Quote- Adrian Pierce Rogers (September 12, 1931 – November 15, 2005) was an American Southern Baptist pastor and conservative author. He served three terms as president of the Southern Baptist Convention (1979–1980 and 1986–1988). Rogers was born in West Palm Beach, Florida. He entered Christian ministry at the age of nineteen. His first job as a senior pastor was at Fellsmere Baptist Church, a small congregation in Fellsmere, Florida. He performed his first baptism in the C-54 Canal near Fellsmere. In 1972, he became the senior pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee, where he remained until March 2005. During this period, the church's membership grew from 9,000 to 29,000, and the church moved into a new, megachurch facility.
In November 2005, Rogers contracted pneumonia as a complication of cancer, and died following a period of mechanical ventilation at the age of seventy-four.
Passage-The book of Colossians is a Prison Epistle. Paul wrote it circa 60-62 A.D. It was written to counter and respond to heretical teachings and encourage believers to serve with fervor and passion. The basic problem was a Judaic-Gnostic heresy that sought to mix Greek philosophy with Christian theology. Gnostic philosophy taught that matter was evil. In order to avoid having their pure god create evil, they had created a system of lesser deities that overflowed from their god. These lesser gods were far enough removed from the pure god that they were able to create the universe (which was composed of evil matter). They named this lesser deity the Jehovah God of the Hebrews.
Lesson Notes
Opening Statement
The storm surrounds us, swirls around us, and obscures everything. Just when we think we have a path out of it, something happens to block that path. We stumble and wander having tried everything. At least we think we’ve tried everything.
Ask: Is the way out of our difficulties contained in today’s passage?
Point: Yes, it is. Please re-read the following from Today’s Passage:
1Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
2Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.
Colossians 3:1–2 (NASB95)
Ask: What does that mean in verse 1, “…if you have been raised up with Christ…?”
Point: Consider how a crucifixion likely began. The cross is laid down and the person nailed to it. Then that cross is raised up and set in the hole that will hold it upright for the duration.
Ask: So, what is being raised up with Christ mean? Is there a hint in Today’s Passage?
Point: Yes. Please re-read the following from Today’s Passage:
3For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
Colossians 3:3 (NASB95)
Ask: What does that mean to be dead and have our lives hidden with Christ in God? Is there an answer in Today’s Passage?
Point: Yes. Please re-read the following from Today’s Passage:
9Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices,
10and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him—
11a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all.
Colossians 3:9–11 (NASB95)
Ask: What are these “evil practices” we are supposed to have lain aside? Let me guess, the answer is in Today’s Passage, isn’t it?
Point: Yes. Please re-read the following from Today’s Passage:
5Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry.
6For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience,
7and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them.
8But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth.
Colossians 3:5–8 (NASB95)
Ask: Since we’ve covered all the rest of Today’s Passage, where does verse 4 fit into all this?
Point: Verse 4 is the promise that we rise with Jesus if we work to put off the evil, immorality, impurity, abusive speech, etc and become the new self.
Ask: That sounds like a “works-based salvation.” How is this not works-based?
Point: The caterpillar eats leaves but once it sheds the cocoon and becomes the beautiful butterfly it eats nectar. Putting off the deeds of the old self in favor of the deeds of the new self is an outward demonstration of the inward change.
Ask: How is that still not works-based?
Point: Because Jesus said we should do these things to show the world what Jesus has done for us. Please read the following:
20“So then, you will know them by their fruits.
21“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.
22“Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’
23“And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’
Matthew 7:20–23 (NASB95)
Ask: “I’m not breaking the law. The police aren’t after me. What does Jesus mean here?”
Point: Jesus does not mean breaking the worldly law of Man. The words of Christ from the above Matthew passage mean trying to claim the title of Christian doing some of the things God commands but knowingly ignoring others to keep the World happy.
Ask: So, we don’t have to change anything about our lives and we’ll be fine, right?
Point: No. That is not putting off the old self and taking on a new self if we stay the same. We cannot remain walking in the ways of the World if we claim to follow Jesus Christ Please read the following:
23For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror;
24for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was.
25But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.
26If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is worthless.
27Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
James 1:23–27 (NASB95)
Ask: How do we remain “unstained by the world” if we are living in it, surrounded by it, and perhaps brought up by it?
Point: Please read the following:
5This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.
6If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth;
7but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.
1 John 1:5–7 (NASB95)
Closing Statement
What is the way out of the storm? 5Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?” 6Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. John 14:5–6 (NASB95). In the middle of the storm when you’ve tried everything you can think of, try Jesus. Come to Him through prayer and the Holy Spirit and He will guide you. The path may not be easy or even clear but through your obedience to His way He will guide you to where you need to be. Jesus is the way to make it through the storm. Jesus is the truth about what is and isn’t a good path to follow out of the storm. Jesus is the light that illuminates that correct path. Only His way is God’s way. Anything else is the folly and evil of Man.