Christ Hits the Center Every Time

In one paragraph

The message this Sunday worked through Colossians 3:1-11, a passage that includes one of the New Testament's several lists of vices. Pastor Carl made the case that these lists were written to Christians about their own lives, not as tools for judging the world, and he tied that warning to the Lord's Supper the congregation shared at the close of the service. Pastor Carl opened by returning to...

Read together

1. Romans 6:7 cited as established evidence that the old sinful self was crucified with Christ and sin has lost its power
2. Galatians 2:20 Paul's statement of being co-crucified with Christ, no longer living but Christ living in him
3. Galatians 5 (works of the flesh) list of vices including sexual immorality, idolatry, strife, envy, drunkenness, written to Christians
4. 1 Corinthians (vice list) list including sexual immorality, adultery, homosexual activity, greed, drunkenness, cited as written to Christians
5. Ephesians 4-5 adds lying, evil talking, fornication, obscene talk, empty words, disobedience to the accumulated vice lists
6. 2 Timothy (vice list) list of sins in the last days including lovers of self, money, pride, brutality, lovers of pleasure rather than God
7. Colossians 3:1-11 the main text of the sermon, covering the old self and new self, vice lists, and Christ as all in all
8. Romans 1 (God gave them over) used to explain the wrath of God as God giving people over to their own desires and a debased mind
9. Psalm 19 referenced briefly in connection with Romans 1 and what can be known about God through creation
10. 1 Timothy 3:16 closing benediction about the mystery of godliness, Christ revealed in the flesh, proclaimed among the nations, taken up in glory

Talk about it

1. Pastor Carl described the vice lists in the New Testament as written to Christians, not just about the world around us. How does it change the way you read those lists when you remember they were addressed to believers?
2. The sermon described the wrath of God not primarily as lightning bolts from above but as God giving people over to what they have chosen. How does that picture of God's wrath sit with you, and does it change how you think about the consequences of persistent sin?
3. Pastor Carl shared the story of a woman who said something wrong in front of unbelievers and felt she had ruined any chance with them. He suggested that going back and saying 'I was wrong, can you forgive me?' is often better than insisting on being theologically correct. Where have you seen that play out in your own life?
4. The survey Pastor Carl cited found that 97 percent of churchgoing Christians believed God is forgiving, but only 19 percent believed God punishes those who do wrong. Why do you think the idea of God's judgment has faded so much, and what is lost when it does?
5. Pastor Carl closed by saying Christians are often more known for pointing out the sin in the world than for the kind of self-examination Paul calls for in this passage. What would it look like practically for this group to turn that lens on ourselves before we turn it outward?