Key Truth: The sufficiency of Christ provides us with protection against worldly philosophies and the forgiveness necessary to walk in the victory of new life.

Introduction:

Q: What greater gift can God give you than eternal life in Christ?

“What was happening in Colossae was that the Christians seemed ready to deny the sufficiency of Christ for all their spiritual needs, and therefore, in practice, to deny the supremacy of Christ to which they were already committed.”
Dick Lucas, The Message of Colossians and Philemon

The Antidote to False Teaching: The Sufficiency of Christ:

Colossians 2:8-10: 

“We need the whole fullness of the Godhead to draw from. It is all there in Christ, for each of us. Whosoever will, let him draw freely. Why should we leave the fountain of living waters to hew out for ourselves with infinite pains, broken cisterns that can hold no water?
All we need is in Christ.”
Alexander Maclaren,
The Epistles of St. Paul to Colossians and Philemon

Q: What ways are you protecting yourself against philosophy and empty deceit born of human wisdom? What ways are you cultivating your knowledge of the person and work of Christ and its implications for your life?

The Gift of Forgiveness: Alive Together with Christ:

Colossians 2:11-15: 

“…baptism provides the initiation into God’s story of forgiving and reconciling love, definitively embodied in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. In response, people are called to embody the forgiveness by unlearning patterns of sin and struggling for reconciliation wherever there is brokenness.”

L. Gregory Jones, Embodying Forgiveness: A Theological Analysis

Q: What is required for you to be forgiven? Are walking alive in Christ as a result of your forgiveness in Him?

Colossians 2:8-15 teaches us that:
-the sufficiency of Christ protects us against worldly philosophy and empty deceit
-our forgiveness makes us alive together with Christ to walk in the victory of new life

Communion

Benediction:

Colossians 4:2,5-6