I Surrender All or I Surrender Some

In one paragraph

The message worked through Colossians 3:12-4:6, moving from the qualities that belong to people chosen by God into the specific household commands Paul gives to wives, husbands, children, fathers, slaves, and masters, and then outward to how Christians are to engage with people outside the church. The preacher connected all of it to a single thread: voluntary surrender to God and to one another,...

Read together

1. Colossians 3:12-17 Main passage read and expounded at length, covering chosen, holy, beloved, compassion, kindness, humility, forgiveness, love, peace of Christ, and doing all in the name of the Lord
2. Colossians 3:18 Wives be subject to your husbands as is fitting in the Lord
3. Colossians 3:19 Husbands love your wives and do not become bitter against them
4. Colossians 3:20 Children obey your parents in everything for this is pleasing to the Lord
5. Colossians 3:21 Fathers do not antagonize your children so they will not become discouraged
6. Colossians 3:22-25 Slaves obey your human masters with sincerity of heart fearing the Lord, doing work heartily as for the Lord
7. Colossians 4:1 Masters grant your slaves justice and fairness knowing you also have a master in heaven
8. Colossians 4:2-4 Devote yourselves to prayer with thanksgiving, praying that God would open a door for the word to proclaim the mystery of Christ
9. Colossians 4:5-6 Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, speech always with grace seasoned with salt
10. Ephesians 5:1 Be imitators of God as dearly beloved children, cited when speaking of forgiving one another
11. Ephesians 5:21 Mutual submission noted before the specific household commands

What was said

• Pick one person you have a complaint against and choose to forgive them this week, the way the Lord has forgiven you.
• If you are a husband, ask yourself whether bitterness has crept into the way you treat your wife, and take one step to address it.
• If you are a father, think of a specific way you may have been antagonizing or discouraging your child and go out of your way to encourage them instead.
• Let the word of Christ dwell in you by spending time in it daily, and let a psalm, hymn, or song of gratitude be part of your week.
• In every conversation with someone outside the faith this week, lead with grace and kindness rather than argument, and look for an opening to share what Christ has done in your life.

Talk about it

1. The sermon talked about putting on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience as things chosen and beloved people wear. Which of those is hardest for you to put on consistently, and what gets in the way?
2. The preacher said 'he who is convinced against his will is unconvinced still' and that kindness, not argument, is what opens people to the gospel. Have you seen that play out in your own experience, either coming to faith or sharing it with someone else?
3. The passage commands husbands to love their wives and not become bitter against them, and fathers not to antagonize their children so they don't become discouraged. The sermon pointed to the 'father wound' as a real and common thing. Where do you think bitterness and antagonizing quietly take root in family life before we even notice them?
4. The preacher stayed with the first-century context of slaves and masters rather than jumping straight to a modern workplace application, arguing that Colossians may have been written partly because of Onesimus the runaway slave carrying the letter back. What does it do to how you read those commands when you hold that specific situation in mind?
5. The sermon closed on the idea that our speech toward outsiders should start with grace, unmerited favor given before anyone earns it. Where in your own life right now is there someone toward whom it would cost you something to lead with grace rather than waiting for them to deserve it?