Foundations: Empowered
Join us as we take a closer look at each building block of FHC’s Mission Statement using the book of Colossians as our lens:
“To be a relationally driven community that seeks to encounter God, empower Christ-centred lives, and faithfully serve others"
Scripture: Colossians 3:1-11
What’s the issue behind the issue? That’s the question on Paul’s mind as he addresses some of the biggest issues facing the Colossian church by listing off their sins in categories and ordering them from the most surface level to the most intimate. Here’s a helpful diagram of how this might look to us if we were to place them in order:
The point of the subtlety with which Paul addresses these issues is to point us to the deeper issues behind our sins. The problem is that so often in life we find ourselves remedying surface-level realities while ignoring the inner reality that is the true problem plaguing us. The result of such an approach is that we think we’ve fixed the problem by replacing it with a new surface-level habit only to discover that we continue to struggle with the same sins over and over again. The issue is further compounded as these sins continue to grow and their roots dig only deeper to the point where they become a part of ourselves and it becomes increasingly difficult to separate the sin from the sinner. To use Paul’s example, what might have started as just an act of sexual immorality or lust can grow into an evil desire that then gives way to an idol in our lives that we worship and delight in. This is also true of the various things in life that we attach our identities to such as in verse 11 where Paul offers another look at our inner realities by listing them as Greek or Jew (nationalism), circumcised or uncircumcised (religion), barbarian or Scythian (cultural influences), slave or free (social or financial status). Amidst all of these lists that eat away at our true identities is the prevailing truth that through placing our hope in Jesus we go through the process of putting to death each of these things and in doing so we discover our true selves which are “hidden in Christ”. Therefore if we truly want to discover ourselves and be #authentic, we all need to undergo the painful process of “putting off” the hidden layers of our current selves so that we can truly embrace what Christ is calling us to “put on”. Practically speaking, for some this process might mean seeking professional therapy to discover the deep hurts we carry that lead us to sin. For others, it may be as simple as confessing our sin to another to disarm it of its power. No matter what, God’s promise to each of us is that we do not go through this process alone and that Jesus joins us in this by taking the lead and nailing each sin to the cross.
“Apart from the before, the now has little meaning. The now is only a thin slice of who I am; isolated from the rich deposits of before, it cannot be understood... The before is the root system of the visible now." - Eugene Peterson
Study Questions:
1.) Have you ever considered seeking therapy? If so, what was your experience? What did you discover?
2.) What does the word “authentic” mean for you in your life?
3.) What does it look like for us to “set our minds on things that are above”?
4.) Have you ever struggled to break a pattern of sin? What was it like?
5.) Which identity listed in verse 11 do you struggle with most?
