Preschool
The Lord is my rock. Psalm 18:2
Complete in Christ
Memory Verses
Primary
Blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it. Luke 11:28
Junior
But he said, Yea rather; blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it. Luke 11:28
Background Scripture: Colossians 1–2
Lesson Scripture: Colossians 2:2–10, 14–19
Introduction
“I’ve tried in vain a thousand ways my fears to quell, my hopes to raise; but what I need, the Bible says, is ever, only Jesus.” Over a hundred years ago, James Proctor, an infidel who became a Christian, penned these words titled “In Jesus.” He aptly describes the futility of living a self-centered life without the Lord. Souls without salvation are incomplete, but Christ will fill that deep longing with His peace.
Key Verse
Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ (Eph. 4:13).
Lesson Scripture
Colossians 2:2 That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ;
3 In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
4 And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words.
5 For though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the stedfastness of your faith in Christ.
6 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:
7 Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.
8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
10 And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:
14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;
15 And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
16 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:
17 Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.
18 Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,
19 And not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God.
Studying the Lesson
The apostle Paul may never have visited the city of Colossae. He may have heard of the faithful brethren there from Epaphras, a fellow missionary. Whether Paul had met them or not, he prayed for them and carried them in his heart. In spirit, Paul was in the midst of the Colossian congregation of saints, rejoicing as he felt their love for Christ and how they had come to know Him. He was also aware of the challenges in their Christian lives and wrote this letter to encourage them to remain stable.
Verse 6 in our lesson scripture tells us that receiving Christ Jesus into our hearts is but the beginning of our Christian journey. We need to grow in understanding the truths of God’s Word, and thereby we grow in our Christian lives. There are mysteries awaiting our discovery. One mystery that seemed to baffle the Jews was the inclusion of the gentiles as God’s people. For many centuries God’s chosen people were, with few exceptions, the natural descendants of Abraham. Now after the Holy Spirit was given to all humanity, “they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham” (Gal. 3:9).
Wherever the truth is preached, Satan is there with his false doctrine. Often our greatest weakness lies in reaching back to the lifestyle we embraced before our conversion. It appears the Christians at Colossae were grappling with some old laws of cleanliness and holiday observance. Many Old Testament rituals were fulfilled in Christ when He was nailed to the cross. However, some early Christians had a hard time leaving those laws behind.
The voluntary humility and worshipping of angels mentioned in verse 18 could have been that the Colossian Christians professed to be unworthy to address God in prayer. They would perhaps direct their prayers through an angel. Christ is honored when we pray to the Father in the name of Jesus.
Satan would like us to fill our minds and conversations with things that do not edify. The Scripture speaks of paying too much attention to things that we have not seen. One area could be imagining what our departed loved ones are now doing in heaven. The Bible would infer that they are resting. We know there are people who have had a vision of the “great beyond,” but were they not simply given a glimpse into the future? We do not build doctrine on these revelations, but if they can motivate us on in our journey to that Celestial City, may God be praised.
Practical Truths for Today
“And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul” (Gen. 2:7). God placed in each one of us a part of Himself that wants to return to Him. We will never find fulfillment if we leave God out of our lives; there will always be a void.
As Paul was preaching to the people of Athens, he introduced to them the indwelling Christ. “In him we live, and move, and have our being” (Acts 17:28). We are totally dependent on Him. He keeps our hearts beating and our minds thinking. Though it takes lots of effort to make a living, He will help us face the challenges of life. May we not forget our need of the Lord as we go through the busy day, and may we be alert to the promptings of the Holy Spirit.
“But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace” (Eph. 2:13–14). As we remember the cross of Calvary and what it has done for us, we see our own sinfulness. The greater our realization of how much we have been forgiven, the greater is our love for God and His people. We press closer to our spiritual brothers and sisters and overlook minor differences and do not require of them more than the Lord requires. When we allow feelings of entitlement, thinking that we deserve salvation, we will also tend to think uncharitably of others. The apostle Paul detected in the Roman Christians a feeling of superiority toward the Jews who rejected Christ. He warns them of this danger. “Be not highminded, but fear: For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee” (Rom. 11:20–21).
“Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt” (Rom. 4:4). A laborer feels he is entitled to his paycheck because of the work he has done; he does not consider it a gift from his employer. Likewise, if I feel I am entitled to salvation because of my works, salvation is no longer a gift. “If righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain” (Gal. 2:21). Everything that Jesus suffered—the shame, the mock trial, the scourging, forsaken by God and man—was all necessary for our salvation. It took the best of heaven to redeem us.
“Complete in Thee, no work of mine could take, dear Lord, the place of Thine.” 1 Sometimes Satan provokes an unrealistic searching of our hearts, trying to find “something else” to repent of. He likes to cast doubts on our soul, making us fear that there is some hidden sin or other hindrance in our lives that we are unaware of. Such thoughts are not of the Holy Spirit. The sacrifice that Jesus offered on the cross of Golgotha avails for all our sins. May we humbly accept this truth and follow Him joyfully.
Affluence creates an environment of self-dependence and can be a detriment to our fellowship. We need to realize how much we need each other. John Bunyan writes in Pilgrim’s Progress about Christian and Hopeful traveling through the Enchanted Grounds. The very air of that region tended to make them drowsy and lethargic. Hopeful wanted to stop and rest and would have fallen asleep, possibly never to awaken. But Christian remembered the warning the shepherds had given them about this place, and through his encouragement, Hopeful was kept awake. The pilgrims then decided to relate their conversion experiences to each other in order to remain alert.
The prophet Daniel foretold of a time when “many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased” (Dan. 12:4). Satan has turned this restlessness to his advantage. Many of us are running hither and yon. Abundance of money (or credit) plus ease of travel keeps us on the go. The accessibility to knowledge that many of us carry in our pockets existed only in science fiction but a decade or two ago. Where does this leave us as Christians? “Is this vile world a friend to grace to help me on to God?” 2
Today’s technology can be very useful in spreading the gospel and encouraging one another. But there is also unlimited false teaching propagated over the internet. Satan delights in using, to his advantage, our unsanctified inquisitiveness coupled with our easy access to writings of many persuasions. It is not uncommon to see two contradictory articles on the same subject and quite possibly neither of them is the truth. Meanwhile, the inspired writings of the church are often not read.
The Israelite of old who brought the sacrifice for his sin to the priest would have felt he met the requirements of the ceremonial law and had atoned for his transgressions. However, this pales in comparison to the peace that floods our soul when, upon a full surrender to Christ, our sins are forgiven. “For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect” (Heb. 10:1). If it were not for the sacrifice of Christ on the cross, we would still be under the law. Some people continue to abide under the law, subjecting themselves to outward forms that have been handed down for generations but have no scriptural basis.
Illustration
We find in our lesson scripture two references to being knit together. We think of wool being spun into one continuous thread of yarn and how the finished product shows no individual fibers. Are we willing to lose our identity in this same way? If a knitted article has a loose end and someone pulls on it, the whole thing unravels. Every row is dependent on the adjacent row to keep it together. Imagine shopping for a knit article of clothing. The front looks perfect, but as we turn it over, we see a gaping hole where threads are broken and unraveled. Such a garment is not fit to be worn. So, we need to be just as close to, and dependent on, each other in Christ.
It is our privilege and duty to show to the world that we are complete in Christ.
Questions
- What are some signs that our “knitting” together (vv. 2 and 19 of the lesson scripture) is unraveling?
- What might be some signs that I am not fully trusting in Christ for my justification?
- How do we keep our awareness of Christ amid our busy schedules?
- What is the right amount of time to set aside for personal devotions?
- 1 Aaron R. Wolfe, 19th century
- 2 Isaac Watts (1674–1748), “Am I a Soldier of the Cross”
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Source: COGICM Daily Bible Readings (Daily Bible Readings, PO Box 124, Glenn, CA 95943).