Colossians (2011)

Prayer has high priority in scripture. It is good to interrupt and reevaluate a routine filled with responses to small crises. Prayer deserves focused attention, reflection, and concentration, which require time. God communicates with us through His Word. Our response is to communicate with Him through continual prayer and obedience in application of scripture. Since God’s revelation in scripture is sufficient, there is no need for Him to grant us new revelation in His answer. What are the categories of prayer? What specific prayer is Paul asking for as he continues to spread the gospel? How does the request to walk in wisdom apply when we try to communicate the gospel message? Find out to whom Paul gives his final greetings in Colossi and the roles they have had in Paul’s life. Note: Due to technical difficulties the audio and video may be out of sync on the video of this class.

Pastor Dean encourages us to listen to the excellent presentations from the recent Pre-Trib Conference where the core doctrine presented is the rejection of the sufficiency of scripture. In his address to masters and slaves, Paul is not making a statement about social change. Neither is he endorsing or rejecting slavery. Change is brought about by the application of Christian principles, and the universal principle here is; whatever you do, do it heartily as unto the Lord and not to men. Paul uses reward and repayment as legitimate motivation, not necessarily reward in time, but the reward of inheritance. Orientation to authority, accountability, obedience and humility of master and servant is a function of shedding the self absorption of the flesh and focusing on the pattern of service of Jesus Christ, the ultimate authority, in the same manner He subjected Himself to the authority of the Father when, as a man on this earth, he suffered injustice beyond any we will ever encounter.

The purpose of Biblical family roles in our culture has taken a back seat to personal agendas. This is one of the causes of the breakdown of the family. The percentage of stay-at-home mothers is way down. Radical feminism, increase of national debt, teenage motherhood, absence of fathers in the home and reduction of the amount of time parents spend with their children are the results of the deterioration of the family. It is the job of the parent in the home to train a child to function in every area of life. From Deuteronomy 4 understand the emphasis on instruction in the home as the way God thinks about the first line of education in a culture. What is the parent’s first duty with regard to his own education before he is qualified to competently educate his child? This lesson also includes Deuteronomy 4:25.

The family is where the next generation is trained. Its health is related to the health of a society. Honoring parents shows humility and respect which is the essential response to authority. A leader must first learn to follow. Observe a child’s response to the parent of the opposite sex as an indicator of the way he will relate to his spouse. In Proverbs, verses concerning how to train children are practical guides of implementation. See the nature of Proverbs as wisdom sayings, not promises. Understand what it means to “train up a child” and when that begins. When is the “rod of correction” appropriate? What is the common starting point of every baby? Is discipline always negative? What is the direction of our culture regarding child rearing? How does discipline relate to God’s love for us? What was God’s ultimate expression of judicial punishment?

The family is another of God’s Divine Institutions. It is a part of God’s absolute social law built into the fabric of a social human being who is created in the image of God. It has been in decline since the middle of the 20th century. Even conservatives are saying they need to separate social ideas from economic ideas in order to address other voting blocks, but the breakdown of marriage and family has wide economic consequences which are an integral part of economic realities. In Rome, in Paul’s day, family values had deteriorated, resulting in the increase of abuse of children and women. In what way does the Bible view children as arrows in the hand of a warrior? How is the reality of a Triune God related to absolute unity and distinction in marriage and family? See how a self-absorbed generation paves the road for destruction of a nation.

The issue in these passages is for husbands to love their wives. The analogy is to love as Christ loves the Church. You must understand the gospel in order to understand this kind of love. The purpose for Christ’s love for His Church is to sanctify, purify and present her to Himself without residue of sin, eternally set apart to God. A Christian marriage is a training aid to show the world the relationship between Christ and His Church. Learn how elements of doctrine are revealed through marriage and its unique oneness lived out through different roles with distinct identities.

The pattern for a husband’s love for his wife is a model of Christ’s love for His church. There is comparison also to Christ’s relationship of love for the Father and the love a husband has for his own body. Apart from cultural, transitory, romantic love, this is a broader, eternal, mental attitude love grounded in the character of the one who loves and his knowledge of God. Like God’s covenant love for Israel, a husband’s love will not be disrupted by circumstances. There is an element of substitution in the comparison of a husband’s love to the sacrifice of Christ for His church. Learn the definition of love and how it functions objectively only when it conforms to God’s intention in scripture.

Some of these passages have been misapplied inside and outside the church to justify sinful behavior. When authority is motivated by love there is no abuse or suppression. Authority without love is tyranny. The relationship of husbands and wives in obedience to these principles is related to their personal response to Jesus Christ, and lived out as a testimony to men and angels. Learn about the roles God has for men and women during the different seasons of life. See the “virtuous” woman in Proverbs and how, in her industriousness and obedience, she puts to shame the feminist concept of the modern woman, preserving her femininity and eliciting trust and praise from her family. This lesson also includes Proverbs 31:10-31.

This passage is for every member of the family. Key words addressed to women, here and in parallel passages, are submission, fear (respect), authority, suffering, humility, and obedience. These concepts have application in everyone’s life. Originally woman was meant to co-rule. The Fall changed everything. The redemption solution for women emphasizes submission. Do women want to be part of the solution or contribute to the intensification of the consequences of judgment? If suffering and sacrifice are related to submission, they are temporary teachers, necessary for growth and as a witness to angels and men. Submission is addressed to the woman’s volition and may require patience and endurance, but through obedience, God is honored, we are blessed and rewards are granted. This lesson also includes 1 Peter 3:1-6 and Titus 2:3-5.

Where do you find a definition of love from which to set standards, expectations and goals? Does scripture clearly define love? Attributes of love are introduced throughout scripture in concepts including submission, authority, grace, mercy, faithfulness, forgiveness and a multitude of others. Love is ultimately exemplified at the cross. While emotion and affection can be a part of love, they are more the result than the motivator. God sets the standard for love, so to understand love we must know God. For a believer, love for one another is a reflection of God’s love for us which is based on His integrity and righteousness. The Holy Spirit is our only means of approaching the love God wants His body to exhibit toward one another and to perpetuate the stability of His divine institutions. Note that the class series (Romans) on the video is incorrect.

Like relationships within the Godhead, the divine institution of marriage is defined through roles, with equality in person and distinctness in role. Authority and submission are foundational. Without authority we are left on our own, doomed to failure in our relationship with God and every relationship that flows from that pattern. If the idea of submission makes you want to fight for control, look carefully at the submission of our Savior. Successful marriages function through roles God has prescribed. Circumstances, feelings and cultural trends don’t alter Truth. See the effective analogy of dance and marriage; success in marriage is a function of the correct application of authority and submission carried out within marriage’s unique framework of intimacy, love and respect.

Marriage can be a great source of joy, or suffering, depending on whose rules of relationship you apply. See how relationship roles predate creation and how elements of creation communicate and reinforce God’s design in role distinctions. Where is the equality in marriage? Does headship imply greater value? Does submission imply lesser value? See how God’s original purposes for man and woman were directly frustrated because of the Fall. Appreciate how God did not abandon us in the hopelessness of judgment but provided a solution in ultimate redemption through Jesus Christ and spiritual recovery in time through the Holy Spirit and the Word.

See how the creation of a comic book character in the 1940s fed into the distortion of role God has for women and how it was accomplished with allure and humor, building to a fever pitch around the goal of female empowerment as a good thing. In the past, Satan’s subversion of truth required subtlety. Today Truth has been replaced by blatant lies that need no half truths as a disguise for acceptance. Learn how role distinction AND equality in essence preexisted the Fall yet remain God’s modus operandi for us as spiritual beings in a fallen world. In what ways can we use the creation narrative to demonstrate God’s intention regarding roles, authority, submission, accountability and a pattern for human history?

Critics discredit this verse as something out of the culture of Paul’s time that has no impact in our culture today. But scripture’s clear idea of gender roles had been revealed since Genesis 1. The world tries to define equality through roles while God defines equality in our very essence. The argument has been extended to the absurd in discussions about the gender of God. We are in the image of God. God is not in the image of man. There are references to God in masculine, feminine and neuter forms. Apart from Jesus in His incarnation, God doesn’t introduce himself as a man or woman, but as the leader, Almighty God. Learn about role distinction, authority and equality within the Godhead and how that has application in the structure of marriage relationships.

The foundation of a good marriage is orientation to authority, humility, submission and imitation of Christ and relationships within the Godhead. These are applications that extend to all relationships at every age and marital status. Preservation of this divine institution is essential for our culture to survive and for sanctification to live itself out in our lives. Marriage is defined in scripture, not by starry-eyed lovers or embittered divorcees. Marriage is to fulfill the purpose of God. The only way to know that purpose is to seek advice from scripture. Biblical roles for men and women create clarity. Our culture has attacked these roles creating gender confusion and cultural degeneration. Be encouraged about what the Bible teaches about marriage. Live out His truth in our confused culture and know abundance in a God-defined counter culture. This lesson also includes Genesis 1:26-28

God tells us to sing. Why? To express the word of God that dwells in us richly, teaching and admonishing in wisdom. Our inspiration is God’s grace; our motivation is truth; our audience is God; and our conduit is excellence. Worship, expressed in this way, will transform our values in the midst of a culture that has no absolute values. Excellence is in the standard. Adhere to the standard, and real beauty will be expressed. Our question is not, “Is this good enough?” Our question should be, “Is this the absolute best means to glorify God, reflect who He is and echo the Truth He has given?”

Congregational singing expresses our submission to God’s will and authority. Congregational music is a reflection of Christian culture, not an expression of society’s culture, tradition or a warm up to Sunday’s message. Culture is made up of all aspects of thinking and acting but apart from a Biblical base, it is all worldliness. To evaluate music we must embrace, separate and eliminate. The issue is embracing a standard before we can even consider our music. To embrace our music preference first is to apply an internal, subjective standard and sometimes results in leaning into the attraction of our sin nature. Learn about the source and mandates we embrace and why music is not a neutral element of worship.

Anything other than God’s idea of worship by means of Spirit and Truth is a breakdown of standards. Within God’s creation, if all areas aren’t addressed by His righteousness and holiness, then no area is addressed. That must mean that God’s character is the issue when we worship through congregational music. What source do we use to evaluate music for worship so that it reflects intrinsic, objective, Godly beauty? Is our appreciation of beauty a measure of its worth? Learn some fallacies and truths in the worship wars involving church music in our culture.

God commands corporate worship. It is valuable as an encouragement, a response to what God has done and a display of our joy. At the beginning of the 18th century Isaac Watts added a dimension to congregational singing. How was that change different than the changes brought about by contemporary church music today? Christians knew that all beauty existed in the mind of God and that to know beauty, we first had to know God. The Enlightenment shifted the idea of beauty to an internal, relative standard separate from the absolute standards of God. Beauty was in the eye of the beholder. Which idea reflects joy in worship which is all about God?

The purpose of singing hymns is to teach and admonish one another. Does that answer give us a hint as to what kinds of hymns we sing with regard to the words and the music? Will a repeated chorus of “Do Lord” teach and admonish through the potency of the written Word which is alive and powerful? What are some practical ways for us to make certain the Word of God is in our minds and our memories? If the reason we sing is to express our joy and response to God, is singing an option in worship? Is singing a significant part of our spiritual life?

We come to know the will of God through the accumulated wisdom of His Word. God no longer gives special revelation and examples of our set of circumstances may not be in Scripture. Learn the different categories of God’s will with illustrations from Scripture. Peace in this verse is the vertical peace of reconciliation which brings the horizontal peace within the Body of Christ. The real question in every life is, “How can I best serve God with my life?” With that focus, prayer and trust, the will of God is no longer a guessing game.

How do we find God's will? Does God always have a specific will for each detail of our life, or, for the issues that don't involve morality or biblical commands? Or is the test of decision making more often related to the process of how we make the decision, than the specific decision itself? In this lesson Pastor Dean continues to answer these and other questions related to knowing God's will and making wise decisions.

There are many erroneous ways Christians have interpreted this verse to try to understand how they can know the will of God. This has led to ideas which don’t conform to an understanding of what Colossians 3:15 really means. How can we know what God’s will is for our lives? Is the peace of God a feeling that permeates every moment we are operating inside the will of God? How does this verse relate to the harmony we can find within the body of Christ?

Christians may misunderstand the meaning of inner peace, seeing it as a manifestation of understanding God’s will in their lives. What are the criteria for knowing God’s will for your life? How does peace relate to unity within the Body of Christ? Contrast inner peace with the mental state of Jesus in Gethsemane just prior to the crucifixion. Can a Christian experience deep anguish and still be within the will of God?

Pastor Dean gives us the history of Memorial Day and the importance of its observance. We see the first of many reports on Pastor Dean’s trip to Israel, sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In an overview of the last half of Colossians 3 we understand that to live in the believer’s newness of life we are to live a certain way now that we are His. We learn that we teach and admonish one another through Psalms and hymns. We see how, as we grow, Christians serve in many capacities using spiritual gifts. Most importantly we learn that service to the Lord is what life is all about.

Legalism has been described as a list of things one should and shouldn’t do, and, by adhering to that list God will bless us. It reduces spirituality to morality. Is there anything wrong in aspiring to Biblical standards? No, as long as we understand that adhering to standards does not cause us to grow spiritually nor does it cause God to bless us. Every spiritual blessing already belonged to us at the moment we believed. All we have to do is live in light of that reality. How is that accomplished? For a believer, dominion of the sin nature died with Christ. To have new life the old life must die. Because our sin nature died with Christ (though our new natures continue to war with it during this life), we have the new life Christ’s resurrection makes possible. Our new life in Christ is empowered only by another gift, the Holy Spirit – something an unbeliever cannot have, no matter how moral.

Living the Christian life is based on our position in Christ. Distractions from this truth abound, but it is only being in Christ that offers the daily life impact resulting in God’s promised riches in Christ. We may admit that Christ is the answer to our final destiny, but everyday problems are sometimes given over to man’s solutions. The problems in Colossi are no different than what we encounter today. Man’s solution begins with autonomy from God, which is the foundation for the downward spiral into a maze of humanistic answers that position man farther and farther from the truth. All of life’s problems can be traced back to sin. Christ solved the sin problem and “in Him” we are given all we need for solutions in life through application of His Word. What remains is for us is to engage our volition to learn and apply these solutions against a tide of cultural and political trends that run counter to God’s Truth. Pastor Dean explains in depth what it means to be “in Christ.”

All believers are engaged in a cosmic spiritual battle. The conflict may not be within the obvious spheres of personal or physical enemies. Satan is our arch-enemy and inculcates his false system of thinking on the human race in various guises. At the core of Satan-promoted thinking is an assault on God’s authority. However, Satan is the master counterfeiter and disguises his false religions and philosophies with the robes of righteousness and light. This makes these systems attractive to our sin nature. Learn in this lesson the commonalities and dangers of Satan’s worldly thought systems that sabotage our reliance on the all-sufficiency of Christ and our spiritual growth.

All believers are engaged in a cosmic spiritual battle. The conflict may not be within the obvious spheres of personal or physical enemies. Satan is our arch-enemy and inculcates his false system of thinking on the human race in various guises. At the core of Satan-promoted thinking is an assault on God’s authority. However, Satan is the master counterfeiter and disguises his false religions and philosophies with the robes of righteousness and light. This makes these systems attractive to our sin nature. Learn in this lesson the commonalities and dangers of Satan’s worldly thought systems that sabotage our reliance on the all-sufficiency of Christ and our spiritual growth.

Are you spiritually toxic? An organized system of thought that applies various philosophies and solutions, along with a sprinkling of Biblical application, is indicative of a spiritually toxic believer. Making life work without complete and total dependence on Christ makes us become believers operating with Satan's thinking - human viewpoint. In this important lesson, we learn new insights into what defeat took place in vs. 15, and how it applies to spiritual warefare.

Since Pastor Dean has been out of the country for a few weeks, this lesson takes the time to go back and review what we had learned so far on the profound significance Paul places on forgiveness in Colossians 2:11-15. As we are reminded of when forgiveness takes place, we also learn of the four different types or areas of forgiveness. This lesson is important for a clear understanding of forgiveness all mankind has in Jesus' work on the cross, but also in how believers are to apply forgiveness in our personal walk.

As we continue learning more and more about walking in Christ, we must examine how the meaning of life is defined. Is it determined by what gives us our own personal sense of pleasure? When we suffer, do we get the feeling that God is perhaps withholding from us something good we would otherwise experience? And do we think we know what it takes to solve our own problems? As we grapple with today's worldviews of self-sufficiency, we learn more in this lesson what God's Word means by the word "sufficient."

The Greco Roman culture, not unlike our own culture, had no sense of sin. Yet we are again reminded by Paul, who uses the term 164 times, that we are "in Christ." But how do we receive Christ? How do we walk in Him? In this lesson, we learn that our walk experience is how we conduct our life, dependent upon God step by step and moment by moment. There are four keys in vs. 8 to walking in Christ. We are "rooted", we are "built up"; we are "established"; and we are "abounding". Understanding these concepts determines how your spiritual life grows and progresses. How well do you know doctrine? How is your own spiritual life growing?

The culture of Asia Minor was known for its different philosophies and a tolerance that different religions were accepted within the culture as having equal value. In modern day 21st century society, we experience the same thing. Yet, the Bible clearly teaches that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is a gospel of exclusivity. So how then are Christians to "think", living in such a pagan culture? And is there a secret to the Christian life? In this lesson, we begin to learn more about the 30 imperatives that Paul writes about that are to define the Christian life. The centerpiece of the Epistle of Colossians is in vs. 6-15. The core of that centerpiece is in vs. 6 and 7 - "walk in Him". We learn that this is both positional and experiential.

In the classic nursery rhyme, there is a line that says, "how does your garden grow?" As we begin to phase out of Paul's introductory section of Colossians, we begin to learn of the imperatives used to guide believers in the basic structure of the Christian life. In this lesson, we learn that order, organization, and self-discipline are keys to a good spiritual "garden". Are you including in your own daily structure reading God's Word, prayer time, and Bible study? If Paul were mentioning twenty-first century believers in his greeting as he was the Colossians, would he be thankful for our own orderly, organized, and self-disciplined spiritual life? How does your (spiritual) garden grow?