Message Notes for March 23, 2025

Series: Colossians – The Power of Christ in You

Title: The Pathway to Freedom in Christ

God has a plan for our lives that empowers us to a transformed life on this earth and an eternal inheritance in heaven. As we walk daily in the truths of our Christian faith we will live in freedom and strength against all worldly pressures and philosophies.

Colossians 2:6-23 ESV ⁶ Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, ⁷ rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.⁸ See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. ⁹ For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, ¹⁰ and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. ¹¹ In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, ¹² having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. ¹³ And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, ¹⁴ by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. ¹⁵ He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. ¹⁶ Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. ¹⁷ These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. ¹⁸ Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, ¹⁹ and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.²⁰ If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— ²¹ “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” ²² (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? ²³ These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.

What traps keep you from fully living in Christ?

Paul warns against these traps to the Christian faith:

Legalism – What you need to add to Jesus’ work.

Mysticism – What you need to connect to God apart from Jesus.

Asceticism – What you need to remove to experience Jesus. 

Christianity is Jesus plus nothing!

Family/Group Study Notes for the week of March 23, 2025

Series: The Power of Christ in You

Title: The Pathway to Freedom in Christ 

• What kind of traps do people fall into in seeking to walk with Christ?  
• Read Colossians 2:6-23. What does “being rooted and built up in faith” look like in daily life? How would this be the place of your family, your group, your friends? 
• What kinds of deceptive philosophies are out there today that oppose Christianity?  In what ways do you see people fall into them?  
• In what ways have you been held captive to freedom in Christ due to what you believe, experienced or hold on to? How have you seen this in others?  How does Jesus set the captive free?
• What does Paul mean by saying Christians have undergone a “circumcision made without hands”? How does baptism relate to this new spiritual reality? What does it signify about our identification with Christ? In vs. 13-15, what does Paul say are the gifts received in this new life?  Why do these gifts matter?
• In vs 16-17, Paul speaks of some legalistic practices that were used to judge others. What legalistic practices of religion are still used to judge people today? What does Paul say is the result of legalism and other human made practices?  What might be the difference between Christian legalism and personal legalisms in seeking to follow Jesus? 
• Where in your life do you need to more fully rely on Christ and His power to change you?
• Join in prayer for each other.  Pray for your church and for the spread of Christianity in the lives of those far from God.