Main Character Part Two
What If You're Not Missing Anything
Colossians 2:1-15 NIV
I want you to know how hard I am contending for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally. 2 My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 4 I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments. 5 For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how disciplined you are and how firm your faith in Christ is.
6 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, 7 rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
8 See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces[a] of this world rather than on Christ.
9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, 10 and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority. 11 In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh[b] was put off when you were circumcised by[c] Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.
13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you[d] alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. 15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.[e]
The hunger of the human heart that is unfed by what is authentic will go for what is inauthentic. If human beings need something vital badly enough, they may even destroy themselves trying to get it.” -Dallas Willard
- Who am I? (Identity)
- You are in Christ. (Col. 2:6-7)
- Where do I find fullness? (Purpose, meaning, and identity)
- You have been brought to fullness in Him. (Col. 2:9-10)
- How do I know I’m one of the good people? (Righteousness)
- Your debt has been canceled. (Col. 2:13-14)
- How do I actually change? (Power)
- Christ has disarmed the powers and made you alive with Him. (Col. 2:13-15)
Colossians 1:16-20 NLT
Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.
He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,
for through him God created everything
in the heavenly realms and on earth.
He made the things we can see
and the things we can’t see—
such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world.
Everything was created through him and for him.
He existed before anything else,
and he holds all creation together.
Christ is also the head of the church,
which is his body.
He is the beginning,
supreme over all who rise from the dead.
So he is first in everything.
For God in all his fullness
was pleased to live in Christ,
and through him God reconciled
everything to himself.
He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth
by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.
Jesus has already accomplished what any substitute promises. (check)
The world tells you to fight FOR identity, righteousness, security, freedom, and victory. The Bible says that in Christ, you live FROM identity, righteousness, security, freedom, and victory.
Jesus is sufficient. To believe you need something else besides Him is to underestimate the sufficiency of the cross and the power of the Gospel. (check)
Jesus has already filled, forgiven, freed, and raised us. Therefore, do not surrender yourself to anything that tries to promise what He has already provided. (check)
“The man who has God for his treasure has all things in One.” -A.W. Tozer
“Our heart is restless until it rests in you.” -Augustine of Hippo
