Play Your Part in the Band

In one paragraph

This message was the fourth week in a series through Colossians, working through the practical injunctions of Colossians 3:18 through 4:1. The pastor read the whole of chapter 3:1-17 as the grounding for those commands, then worked through each role in order: wives, husbands, children, fathers, bond servants, and masters. The point throughout was that these instructions only make sense as the...

Read together

1. Luke 7:47 Jesus speaking about the sinful woman who anointed his feet, forgiving much leads to loving much
2. Colossians 3:1-4 foundational passage read aloud, seeking things above where Christ is seated
3. Colossians 3:5-17 read aloud as grounding for the practical injunctions, putting off old self and putting on new
4. Colossians 3:18 wives be submitting to your husbands as is fitting in the Lord
5. Colossians 3:19 husbands love your wives and do not be harsh with them
6. Colossians 3:20 children obey your parents in everything for this pleases the Lord
7. Colossians 3:21 fathers do not provoke your children lest they become discouraged
8. Colossians 3:22-25 bond servants obey earthly masters with sincerity of heart fearing the Lord, working as for the Lord
9. Colossians 4:1 masters treat your bondservants justly and fairly knowing you also have a master in heaven
10. Genesis 3:16 cross reference for wives submitting, the longing after the husband after the fall
11. Esther 1:20 cross reference cited for wives submitting, the king's decree that every wife will serve her husband
12. Ephesians 5:22 cross reference cited for wives submitting to their husbands
13. 1 Peter 3:1 cross reference cited for wives submitting, the quiet witness of a loving wife
14. Ephesians 5:25 cross reference for husbands loving wives, raising the bar by comparing it to how Christ loves the church
15. 1 Peter 3:7 cross reference cited for husbands esteeming and honoring their wives
16. Ecclesiastes 9:9 cross reference cited in the context of husbands loving their wives
17. Romans 13 referenced in context of being subject to earthly authorities, connected to the bond servants and masters discussion
18. Philemon studied immediately before Colossians, connected to the bond servants and masters passage and the situation of Onesimus

Talk about it

1. The pastor read Colossians 3:1-17 as the foundation before getting to the practical commands. What does it tell us that Paul grounds these household instructions in who we already are in Christ, rather than just giving a list of rules to follow?
2. The pastor pointed out that the commands to wives, husbands, children, and fathers are all present tense in the Greek, meaning ongoing habits rather than one-time actions. Which of those four commands do you find hardest to sustain as a daily pattern, and why?
3. The pastor used the image of a band where Carl leads and sets everyone else up to succeed, as a picture of how the whole family system works when each person plays their part. Where have you seen that principle hold up in your own family, and where have you seen it break down?
4. When he got to the bond servants and masters section, the pastor said Paul was fighting the institution of slavery on the grounds that slaves are people, but had to do it from within the situation as it existed at the time. How does reading Philemon alongside Colossians change the way you hear what Paul is saying to both groups?
5. The pastor admitted that preparing to preach on husbands and wives made for a hard week personally, because looking at these commands honestly shows us our own failures. How does that kind of honest self-examination push us back toward Christ rather than just toward trying harder?