Bible Study Notes - A Faithful Community

A Faithful Community – Colossians 1:1-15

What does it mean to be faithful?

Faithfulness to Christ is a challenge that Christians have faced since the beginning of the Church.  The teachings of Christ inherently clash with the secular, humanistic and dominant cultures in which believers live.  How shall disciples balance then tension between faith and citizenship?  When forced to choose, will our allegiance go to Christ or to the State?  Are we Americans who happen to be Christians or Christians who happen to be Americans?

In many instances, people in the Church lack the character and will to lead lives of Christian integrity.  Spiritual immaturity, insincerity, divided loyalties and incomplete faith suffice to explain this regrettable occurrence in many disciples’ lives. Still, the question remains, “How does a genuine believer practice the Christian life on a daily basis?”  More practically, how do we obtain the spiritual power and mental will to align our profession of faith with daily behavior? 

B.  Biblical Background

The saints at Colosse asked similar versions of these questions.  Paul’s letter to the Church teaches them about the rules for Christian living.  He informs them that the power they seek emerges their unqualified acceptance of the gospel and teachings of Christ.  Their town was populated with diverse people who adhered to many different religious and ideological beliefs.  Understandably, some new and young believers would fall prey to the temptation to blend Christianity with their former patterns of thinking.  This type of syncretism inevitably led to moral compromise.  Paul writes to instruct them that they can no longer recklessly indulge their physical instincts to the detriment of their Christian witness.  Instead, they must make an irreversible commitment to Christ and live in accordance with His teachings.  When they do so, they will discover pleasantly the power of the Holy Spirit who will equip them with integrity.

“The more things change; the more the stay the same.”  Today, we will learn from the example of the Colossians.  The contemporary American church faces a similar predicament.  Many persons characterize themselves as Christian and spiritual; but they do not necessarily follow any moral or ethical code.  They live with one foot in the world and the other in the Church.  On the left, they satisfy their physical instincts and every lust of the eyes and flesh.  On the right, they want assurance of eternal salvation and entrance to heaven.  This duality and spilt personality severely weakens the power of the gospel witness.  I suspect that many people do not come to Christ because they encounter so few Christians who strive genuinely for integrity.  The mass media relishes reporting scandals in the Church with the underlying intent of suggesting that there is nothing to believing in Christ.  It is therefore most imperative that modern believers live with a clear discernible difference from the cultural norms and values of the dominant society.