Christ Is Good Enough

In one paragraph

This message worked through Colossians 2:6 through 3:4, with the Lord's Supper celebrated at the close. The core concern was simple: the finished work of Christ is enough, and nothing added to it, whether religious philosophy, human tradition, or self-made spiritual codes, adds anything real. The passage was read as both a warning against being pulled away from Christ and an encouragement to keep...

Read together

1. Colossians 2:1 Paul's struggle for those he has not personally met, that their hearts may be encouraged
2. Colossians 2:2 hearts knit together in love, attaining full assurance of understanding and true knowledge of God's mystery
3. Colossians 2:3 in Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge
4. Colossians 2:4 warning that no one deceive them with persuasive arguments
5. Colossians 2:5 Paul absent in body but present in spirit, rejoicing in their orderly faith
6. Colossians 2:6 just as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so be walking in him
7. Colossians 2:7 firmly rooted, being built up, established in faith, overflowing with gratitude
8. Colossians 2:8 warning not to be taken captive through philosophy, empty deception, human tradition, or elementary principles of the world
9. Colossians 2:9 in Christ all the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form
10. Colossians 2:10 in him you have been made complete, he is head over every ruler and authority
11. Colossians 2:11 circumcision performed without hands, fulfilled in Christ
12. Colossians 2:12 buried with him in baptism, raised with him through faith in God who raised Christ from the dead
13. Colossians 2:13 when dead in wrongdoings, God made you alive together with him, forgiving all wrongdoings
14. Colossians 2:14 the certificate of debt with its decrees against us was cancelled and nailed to the cross
15. Colossians 2:15 Christ disarmed rulers and authorities on the cross, making a public display of them
16. Colossians 2:16 no one is to judge in regard to food, drink, festival, new moon, or Sabbath
17. Colossians 2:17 those things are shadows of what is to come; the substance belongs to Christ
18. Colossians 2:18 warning against being defrauded by those delighting in humility and worship of angels, taking a stand on visions
19. Colossians 2:19 not holding fast to the head, from whom the whole body grows with growth from God
20. Colossians 2:20 if you died with Christ to elementary principles, why submit to their decrees
21. Colossians 2:21 decrees such as do not handle, do not taste, do not touch
22. Colossians 2:22 those things are destined to perish with use, according to commandments and teachings of men
23. Colossians 2:23 have appearance of wisdom in self-made religion, humility, and severe treatment of the body, but no value against fleshly indulgence
24. Colossians 3:1 if raised with Christ, keep seeking things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God
25. Colossians 3:2 set your minds on things above, not on things of earth
26. Colossians 3:3 you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God
27. Colossians 3:4 when Christ who is our life is revealed, you will be revealed with him in glory
28. Ephesians 2:8 salvation is by grace through faith, cited in comparison to how Colossians was written around the same time
29. Hebrews 12:2 Jesus is the author and perfecter of our faith, cited when discussing looking to Christ

What was said

• When a tradition or religious rule starts to feel more important than Jesus himself, pause and ask whether it points you toward Christ or has become an end in itself.
• Set aside a few minutes each day this week to pray specifically that God's will would be done in your own life, not just in the world around you.
• If guilt over past sin is still something you carry around, take a moment to remind yourself that certificate of debt was nailed to the cross and you are not required to keep hauling it.
• When someone presents a persuasive argument that adds requirements on top of faith in Christ, measure it against Christ himself rather than against how convincing it sounds.
• Fix your attention on Christ throughout the week by returning, even briefly, to the reality that He is seated at the right hand of God and is interceding for you right now.

Talk about it

1. The preacher described Paul writing from prison and said 'praise God he got stuck' because we got his letters out of it. When has something that felt like being stuck or confined actually produced something good in your life or in someone else's?
2. The message drew a distinction between receiving Christ by faith for salvation and continuing to walk in him by that same faith for sanctification and growth. How does that distinction land with you, and where do you see yourself leaning more on one than the other?
3. The preacher talked about how human traditions, whether in a Southern Baptist church in Georgia or anywhere else, can quietly become as sacred to us as the gospel itself. Can you think of a tradition or practice in your own church background that you have treated as non-negotiable? What would it look like to hold it more loosely?
4. Paul warns against being taken captive by philosophy, empty deception, and the elementary principles of the world, and the preacher connected that to things as everyday as superstition and the idea that bad things happen because you must be living wrong. Where do you see that kind of thinking still show up, either in culture or in yourself?
5. The message ended with the image of Christ seated at the right hand of God, interceding for us right now, and the call to keep setting our minds on things above rather than on things on earth. What practically gets in the way of that for you, and what has actually helped you stay focused there?