NASHVILLE (BP) — This weekly Bible study appears in Baptist Press in a partnership with Lifeway Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention. Through its Leadership and Adult Publishing team, Lifeway publishes Sunday School curricula and additional resources for all age groups.
This week’s Bible study is adapted from the MasterWork curriculum.
Bible Passages: Colossians 3:11
Discussion Questions:
- Have you ever considered someone or something to be your “everything” or your “all”? Explain.
- If asked for the numbers describing “all your net worth,” “all your physical property,” or “all your family,” would you be able to come up with those figures?
- How can we assess if “Christ is all” in our lives?
Food for thought:
Christ is the mainspring both of doctrinal and practical Christianity. A right knowledge of Christ is essential to a right knowledge of sanctification as well as justification. He who follows after holiness will make no progress unless he gives Christ His rightful place.
Christ is all in all the counsels of God concerning man. There was a time when this earth had no being. Solid mountains, boundless seas, stars in heaven — they once did not exist. And man, with all the high thoughts he now has of himself, was unknown.
Where was Christ then? Even then, Christ was “with God” and “was God” and was “equal with God” (John 1:1; Philippians 2:6). Even then He was the beloved Son of the Father (Proverbs 8:23; John 17:5, 24). Even then He was the Savior “foreordained before the foundation of the world” (1 Peter 1:20), and believers were “chosen in Him” (Ephesians 1:4).
A time came when this earth was created in its present order. Sun, moon and stars; sea, land and all their inhabitants were called into being and made out of chaos and confusion. Last of all, man was formed out of the dust of the ground. Where was Christ then? What does Scripture say? “All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made” (John 1:3).
Then sin entered the world. Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit. They lost that holy nature in which they were first formed. Sin came as a barrier between themselves and their holy Father in heaven. Where was Christ then?
That very day He was revealed as the only hope of salvation. The very day Adam and Eve fell, they were told “the seed” of the woman would “bruise” the serpent’s “head,” that a Savior born of a woman would overcome the devil and win for sinful man an entrance to eternal life (Genesis 3:15).
Since then, salvation has only been found in Christ. By Him all saved souls have entered heaven; without Him none have ever escaped hell.
Anyone who thinks little of Christ is opposed to God! Perhaps you give Christ a little honor, a little reverence, a little respect; but in all the eternal counsels of God the Father — in creation, redemption, restitution, and judgment — Christ is all.
Masterwork
MasterWork is an ongoing Bible study curriculum based on works from a variety of renowned authors and offers pertinent, practical messages that adults will find uplifting and enriching. The list of authors and their books to be studied in upcoming months can be found at Lifeway.com/masterwork.
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