Growing Together in Christ

“He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,  in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

- Colossians 1:13-14

 

Note: This series is tied to our Sunday morning Adult Bible Study. In addition to reading the weekly devotional, I encourage you to read the appropriate portion of Colossians, answer the questions linked to at the bottom, and join us in Bible Study at 8:45am for a great discussion!

 

Paul’s letter to the Colossians is a writing intended to address a particular problem at a particular time in the life of the church. From the text of the letter we can deduce that Epaphras, the leader of the church in Colossae, had traveled a great distance to seek council from Paul. There were some among the Christians in Colossae who were advocating a false teaching, a worldly philosophy that was attempting to supplant the one true gospel of Jesus.

 

But before Paul begins to address this problem, he takes time to greet the Christians in Colossae and remind them he is praying for them. Day in and day out Paul thanks God for the faith of the Christians in this dwindling town in Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey) and prays that they may continually be built up in Christ. Paul’s prayer is that the Gospel these Christians have received, the Good News of their redemption (Col. 1:14), would bear fruit in their lives.

 

This fruit, according to Paul, looks like doing good in their world, increasing in knowledge of God, endurance, patience, joy, and thanksgiving. All of this not in order to be welcomed into the Kingdom of God but because they had already been brought into the Kingdom. Paul desires the Christians in Colossae to continue on the life-long journey of spiritual growth and development.

 

Indeed, this is our prayer too. Having received the Gospel of Christ, we pray that God would continue to develop us into mature followers of Jesus. This we do together as a church body as we search the scriptures, discuss them, and ask questions together.

 

View the entire study on Colossians here Colossians Bible Study - PDF Version