Reconciliation and Hope Lesson 9

What can you yourself do in order to remain faithful to God and to the truth He has given us? That is, what choices are you making that reveal who truly has your heart?

In our lesson for this week, Paul provides some vital principles for how a Christian family functions best. Paul also gives other valuable principles that are helpful for a variety of social relations, both inside and outside the home.

In this week’s lesson Paul teaches that if we’re too focused on earthly things, we can’t be useful to God. Setting our minds on things above (Col. 3:1) gives us the strength to live out Christlike, practical love—like blessing those who mistreat us (Matt. 5:44–45). We can’t do this by human effort; we must die to self so Christ can live through us, transforming our lives now and for eternity.

In this week’s lessons we’ll see Paul warn the Colossians about false teachers promoting human traditions, rituals, and ascetic practices. He shows that Colossians 2 isn’t dismissing God’s Sabbath but addressing man‑made regulations that distracted from Christ.

In this week's lesson, Paul shows that reconciliation through Christ’s death extends from the entire universe to each individual. Once separated from God by sin, people are personally restored through faith as the cross actively transforms lives and reveals God’s hidden plan in the gospel.

This week we will look at one of the most comprehensive and sublime statements about Jesus in the New Testament. What does it mean that Jesus is “the image of the invisible God,” yet also “the firstborn over all creation” (Col. 1:15, NIV)?

This week’s lesson concludes our study of Philippians, and it is packed with valuable lessons and maxims for daily living.

To guard against the possibility that some might consider their works as contributing to their salvation, Paul makes it clear that righteousness is from Christ as a gift that comes by faith, not by the law.

The light and power of heaven is available to all of us who have surrendered our lives to Jesus. But too often either we expect God to do it all or our own ideas and plans get in the way.

This week we’ll look at the biblical basis for unity in the church, focusing especially on the amazing condescension of Jesus, the lessons we can gain from beholding Him, and how we can grow to be more like Him.