SS Text for Sunday and Thoughts - What's on Your Mind? Scriptures: Colossians 3:1-14

Unit: Battle for the Mind
Lesson: What's on Your Mind?
Scriptures: Colossians 3:1-14

To really get the gist of this passage you must go back to Col. 2:20, where Paul asks his readers a pointed question: Why are you living like you belong to the world when, in Christ, you are dead to it? The sorts of regulations the Colossian Christians were following were "human commands and doctrines" that had no eternal value. Christians should not define themselves by what they don't do, but by the One to whom they belong. Our identity is in the resurrected Christ, not in the rules that govern our dead flesh. 

"Fat Tuesday," the day before Lent begins was this week. 

• Do you find it perplexing by the increased frequency at which evangelical Christians are practicing this Roman Catholic tradition?
• Are you or do you know anyone observing Lent?
• What is their or your reason for doing so?
• What value do they think it adds to your/their relationship with Christ?

As you understand what prompted Paul to make his statement in Col. 3:1, read our lesson passage again. "So," it begins (in the HCSB), because our identity is in Christ, seek what is of Christ. If we want to engage in new ways of thinking we must remember what motivates new thought. Paul told the Roman church to be transformed by the renewing of their minds so they would know what God's will is (Ro. 12:2ff). That transformation is a passive occurrence; we don't do it ourselves. God is in the business of transformation, and He transforms us into Christ's likeness in His process of sanctification. What good thing in our flesh could possibly be transformative? What causes us to avoid the things of this world and turn to the things of God?

We see this truth reinforced in Col. 3:10: We are "being renewed," not renewing ourselves. Our obedient actions do not renew us, otherwise we could be sanctified by good works and would contradict the gospel. Rather, our obedience flows out of a love-response to the Renewer's work on our behalf. A person in your class may ask, "But how do I do all the things this passage is teaching? That's a lot to obey." They're right! It is a lot of work. Thank God that's not what saves us. Find comfort in the fact that Paul teaches, "Here (meaning in our renewal in knowledge according to the image of our Creator)" we are equal. There is no dividing line between one believer and another in terms of our status of redemption. We aren't made equal by our works. We don't have to worry about being less holy or Christ-like than the person sitting next to us in Church. Christ is our all and He is in all of us.