Christ Is All and in All

In one paragraph

This sermon from Colossians 3:1-11 worked through Paul's lists of vices and what it means that those lists were written to Christians, not just as a critique of the outside world. Pastor Carl moved from that conviction toward the Lord's Supper, using communion as the natural landing place for honest self-examination. Pastor Carl opened by revisiting a diagram he had used the two previous weeks,...

Read together

1. Romans 6:7 Old sinful selves crucified with Christ, no longer slaves to sin, entered as prior evidence
2. Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ, Christ lives in me, life lived by faith in the Son of God
3. Galatians 5:19-21 Works of the flesh list including sexual immorality, idolatry, strife, drunkenness and the like
4. Galatians 5:22-23 Fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control
5. 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 Vice list including sexual immorality, idolatry, greed; as such were some of you but you were washed and justified
6. Ephesians 4-5 Additional vice list including lying, evil talking, fornication, obscene talk, empty words, disobedience
7. 2 Timothy 3:1-5 In the last days times of difficulty, people lovers of self, money, proud, brutal, lovers of pleasure rather than God
8. Colossians 3:1-11 Main passage: raised with Christ, seek things above, put to death earthly vices, put on the new self, Christ is all in all
9. Romans 1:18-32 God gave them over to their lusts and debased minds as expression of His wrath; what can be known of God is plain from creation
10. Psalm 19 Referenced alongside Romans 1 to support that what can be known about God is plain
11. Philippians 2:6 Though being in very nature God did not see equality with God as something to be grasped, used to illustrate Christ's humility
12. 1 Timothy 3:16 Great is the mystery of godliness, Christ revealed in flesh, vindicated in spirit, proclaimed among nations, taken up in glory

Talk about it

1. Pastor Carl described how the lists of vices in the New Testament were written to Christians, not just about the outside world. When you read through those lists, what is your honest reaction, and how does it change things to know Paul was addressing believers?
2. The survey from 1993 showed that while 97% of churchgoing Christians believed God is forgiving, only 19% believed He punishes those who do wrong. Why do you think the idea of God's wrath has faded so much, and what difference does it make practically if we lose it?
3. Pastor Carl described the wrath of God not primarily as immediate punishment but as God giving people over to their own desires. How does that picture of God's wrath sit with you, and where do you see it at work?
4. The woman who came up after the first service felt she had ruined her witness with unbelievers by saying something she knew was wrong the moment she said it. Pastor Carl suggested that going back and apologizing, rather than defending herself theologically, was the better path. Do you agree, and what makes that kind of humility hard?
5. Pastor Carl closed by pointing out that we often use these vice lists to judge the world around us, when Paul wrote them for self-examination. How do you personally guard against that outward-pointing tendency when you read passages like this?