Brad's Bistro

Suggestions for leading a study:

Familiarize yourself with the passage in context, including the book itself. Who wrote it to whom, and why?
Read through the study guide a couple times to get the “big idea” as well as the flow of the argument
Have the group read through the passage in it’s entirety before beginning the study. One of the goals is to try to get your members to learn how to study Scripture methodically, and this is an important step.
Be prayed up
Have fun!

Beating the Devil with a Big Ugly Stick

Colossians 3:8-15

⁸See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.

⁹For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, ¹⁰and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. ¹¹In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, ¹²having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.

¹³When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, ¹⁴having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. ¹⁵And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

Discussion Questions

-Verse 8 warns us against being taken “captive” by the values of this world, using the language of being captured and enslaved by an opposing force. How do you think that happens to us?

-verses 9 and 10 tell us we should find our fulfillment in Christ instead, because he is over all spiritual powers in this world. How can we get “filled up” by Jesus, and how does that help to set us free from the ways that Satan would use to keep us captive?

-Read verses 11 and 12. These verses remind us that we can’t just blame the devil: we have our own sinful natures to contend with. Paul says that being baptized is like having that problem “cut off.” Do you think that takes care of it once and for all? If not, what else do we need to do?

-Read verses 13-15. According to verse 14, how exactly did Jesus manage the forgiveness of all our sins?

-Verse 15 tells us that when Jesus did that, he took away the weapon that the enemy uses to keep us captive. How does that set us free?

-Do you think that having that freedom releases us to do anything we want? If not, why not?

-Where in your life do you need to replace an attempt to keep rules and regulations with the freedom that comes from being filled up with Christ?

Leaders' Guide

Beating the Devil with a Big Ugly Stick

Colossians 3:8-15

This powerful passage of Scripture deals with how Satan attempts to enslave us through making us believe that we have to measure up to legalistic standards which were all nailed to the cross with Christ, hence defeating the enemy by taking away his best weapon. Instead, God wants to replace that with being filled up by Christ.

-Verse 8 warns us against being taken “captive” by the values of this world, using the language of being captured and enslaved by an opposing force. How do you think that happens to us?

Throughout this passage Paul is using the picture of an invading force taking people captive and enslaving them. First, it us being held captive, and in the end Jesus turns the tables to gain victory over the powers that had formerly held us as slaves. The how question is for opening the discussion, and will be explored in more detail in the lesson. People may think in terms of real demonic activity, or it may bring to mind addictions or similar problems the ensue when we devote ourselves to the things of this world.

When Paul uses the term “powers and authorities”, he is speaking of real, malevolent spiritual forces that are behind the false philosophies of this world. Christ is pictured as supreme over them, and having his fullness by implication gives us access to that same level of authority. The issue is, of course, how we achieve that fullness, which is not addressed in the text and so open for discussion. The spiritual disciplines of our lives are certainly part of that. What is probably being emphasized here is our initial commitment to Christ, which gives us access to all that he is. The question as to how that sets us free is that when we are full of Christ there is no room left for Satan. He is kicked out, because there just isn’t any room for him. This is an introduction to the primary point of the whole lesson: that being set free from Satan and his wiles is a matter of focusing on being filled with Christ.

The question as it is worded skirts the whole issue of circumcision, which may or may not be comfortable for your group. It is still a powerful symbol, however, as the physical act was how you were identified with the people of God in the old covenant, which is now replaced by a spiritual indentification which happens through our relationship with Christ. Here that reality is connected to the physical act of baptism, which is still an outward symbol that endures for the Christian. However, it is still a just a symbol of “putting to death” the sinful nature that Paul is speaking of, and we need to experience the reality of it. The answer to what else we need to do lies in returning to the previous point: We need to fill ourselves up with Christ. The thing to emphasize here is that having the “fullness of Christ” means to have that available to us. If we don’t do what we must to root out the other stuff, we will not be completely full of Christ and him alone.

-Read verses 13-15. According to verse 14, how exactly did Jesus manage the forgiveness of all our sins?

These are some of the most powerful and amazing verses in Scripture. Paul says that the way in which Christ accomplished the forgiveness of our sins was to nail to his cross the standards by which we were being measured. Without the law, it becomes impossible for us to fall short, because there is nothing there to fall short of. It is an amazing picture that he paints of how we attain the freedom we have through grace, and in most cased different from how people have thought of forgiveness. The image here is one of Christ leading his vanquished foes (the spiritual “powers and authorities”) in chains through the heavens, to be mocked and ridiculed as entirely powerless.

-Verse 15 tells us that when Jesus did that, he took away the weapon that the enemy uses to keep us captive. How does that set us free?

One of the most powerful weapons Satan has is guilt. Without any standards left to be measured against, guilt becomes a non-issue.

-Do you think that having that freedom releases us to do anything we want? If not, why not?

Here is the rub with all of this, of course. Our first assumption is that without those laws and rules and regulations, we have no guidance or guidelines whatsoever. Obviously, Scripture does not affirm this and, in fact, gives us plenty to go on in regards to our behavior. God still insists on holiness: but as a way to enhance a relationship to him, not as a way to make sure we “measure up” to a contrived set of laws in order to be good enough for him.

-Where in your life do you need to replace an attempt to keep rules and regulations with the freedom that comes from being filled up with Christ?

Here is where you may need to make sure you wrap up and review the main point: God wants to set us free from having to try to meet the requirements of the law, something which is spoken of here as the weapon Satan uses to enslave us through guilt. Instead, he wants us to focus on being filled up with Christ. There may be specific areas of struggle where people have been trying hard not do to the wrong thing, when in fact the real solution would be to try just as hard to develop their relationship with Christ.