March through Colossians - 3:18-22

Rather than comment on individual verses in this section, I want to remind you of the big-picture message of Colossians by helping you see how this section fits into and relates to the rest of the book.

Could you summarize the message of the book of Colossians in a couple of sentences? What if you were having lunch with a new believer and they said to you, “So, I know you’ve been doing that March through Colossians thing…can you help me understand what the book of Colossians is all about?” How would you respond?

I might say something like the following. Colossians is written to a group of people who had trusted in Jesus Christ for salvation but who were in danger of being led astray from the centrality of Christ by some false teaching in the church. The letter is mainly about the supremacy of Christ over all things, including the false teaching/teachers, and also including the salvation and the new life of believers in Christ. As a letter, it includes things like thanksgivings and prayers, personal greetings and benedictions. It speaks to both who we are in Christ and how we are to live in Christ.

So, how does today’s part of the letter fit into and relate to the rest of the letter? I said that Colossians speaks to both who we are in Christ and how we are to live in Christ. Today’s section mostly contributes to the how we are to live in Christ part. It talks about family and work, basically. It addresses wives and husbands, children and fathers, slaves and masters (which is related to but not equal to employees and employers). Paul has already said that God has delivered these believers from the domain of darkness and transferred them to the kingdom of his beloved Son. Now he is telling them what life in that kingdom should look like (as we said for 3:12-17). He is saying, “This is what it looks like to be a wife in the kingdom of God’s beloved Son, no longer under the dominion of darkness.” “This is what it looks like to be a husband who walks in a manner worthy of the Lord.” “Kids, this is what it looks like to live as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved.”

Part of the point is this: families matter; work matters. How we relate to each other in our families is significant. How we do our work is significant. Both of these spheres of our life should be characterized by the centrality and sufficiency of Christ. And when we lean into the sufficiency of Christ in our families and in our work, what joy and fulfillment we will experience! And we will be fulfilling our chief end: to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.

3:23-4:1 tomorrow.