January 2011 - December 2012
The epistle to the Colossians is a book that focuses on the sufficiency of Jesus Christ and the significance of that for our spiritual life: for the way we think and the way we live.
The author of this epistle is the apostle Paul.
There was heresy going on in Colossee, which was a blend of different ideas. We run into the same kind of thing today. There is all manner of blends of religions today. People think they can pick a little bit of this and a little bit of that, mix it together and add a sprinkling of something else and come up with something they think works for them, and make some new religion. Religion isn’t something that you can believe in because it just “works for you,” it has to be something that has objective reality and objective truth, and is internally coherent and consistent. Yet most of what most people believe is nothing more than a bunch of irrational bilge that somehow makes them feel good rather than deal with what the Word of God says about their basic condition as a sinner. People don’t like to recognize they are a sinner and in disobedience to God because in arrogance they are rejecting the truth.
So with this Colossian heresy, we see the focus is on the sufficiency of Christ. It is that which helps us to realize that no matter what the issues are that we face today, the solution is still the same. It is still the sufficiency of Christ. There are three areas of sufficiency that are always attacked by false teaching and by Satan: the sufficiency of Christ, the sufficiency of grace, and the sufficiency of God’s Word. If God’s Word, God’s grace, and Jesus Christ aren’t enough, then where are we going to get help? We going to go to psychology, to science, sociology, or to some other area of human thought and thus we are going to dilute and diminish the power of God, and we end up destroying grace, destroying Scripture, and destroying the reality of who Jesus Christ is. This is the reason Paul is writing.
Video DVDs of these lessons can be ordered here and here.
To view all video Bible studies in the Colossians series, click here (Vimeo) or here (YouTube).
Sunday, September 16, 2012
by Robert Dean
Passage: Colossians 3:18-21
Series: Colossians (2011)
Duration: 53 mins 57 secs
Critics discredit this verse as something out of the culture of Paul’s time that has no impact in our culture today. But scripture’s clear idea of gender roles had been revealed since Genesis 1. The world tries to define equality through roles while God defines equality in our very essence. The argument has been extended to the absurd in discussions about the gender of God. We are in the image of God. God is not in the image of man. There are references to God in masculine, feminine and neuter forms. Apart from Jesus in His incarnation, God doesn’t introduce himself as a man or woman, but as the leader, Almighty God. Learn about role distinction, authority and equality within the Godhead and how that has application in the structure of marriage relationships.
Sunday, September 23, 2012
by Robert Dean
Passage: Colossians 3:18-21
Series: Colossians (2011)
Duration: 56 mins 42 secs
See how the creation of a comic book character in the 1940s fed into the distortion of role God has for women and how it was accomplished with allure and humor, building to a fever pitch around the goal of female empowerment as a good thing. In the past, Satan’s subversion of truth required subtlety. Today Truth has been replaced by blatant lies that need no half truths as a disguise for acceptance. Learn how role distinction AND equality in essence preexisted the Fall yet remain God’s modus operandi for us as spiritual beings in a fallen world. In what ways can we use the creation narrative to demonstrate God’s intention regarding roles, authority, submission, accountability and a pattern for human history?
Sunday, September 30, 2012
by Robert Dean
Passage: Colossians 3:18-21
Series: Colossians (2011)
Duration: 1 hr 0 mins 34 secs
Marriage can be a great source of joy, or suffering, depending on whose rules of relationship you apply. See how relationship roles predate creation and how elements of creation communicate and reinforce God’s design in role distinctions. Where is the equality in marriage? Does headship imply greater value? Does submission imply lesser value? See how God’s original purposes for man and woman were directly frustrated because of the Fall. Appreciate how God did not abandon us in the hopelessness of judgment but provided a solution in ultimate redemption through Jesus Christ and spiritual recovery in time through the Holy Spirit and the Word.
Sunday, October 07, 2012
by Robert Dean
Passage: Colossians 3:18-21
Series: Colossians (2011)
Duration: 1 hr 12 mins 18 secs
Like relationships within the Godhead, the divine institution of marriage is defined through roles, with equality in person and distinctness in role. Authority and submission are foundational. Without authority we are left on our own, doomed to failure in our relationship with God and every relationship that flows from that pattern. If the idea of submission makes you want to fight for control, look carefully at the submission of our Savior. Successful marriages function through roles God has prescribed. Circumstances, feelings and cultural trends don’t alter Truth. See the effective analogy of dance and marriage; success in marriage is a function of the correct application of authority and submission carried out within marriage’s unique framework of intimacy, love and respect.
Sunday, October 14, 2012
by Robert Dean
Passage: 1 Corinthians 13:4-7
Series: Colossians (2011)
Duration: 49 mins 20 secs
Where do you find a definition of love from which to set standards, expectations and goals? Does scripture clearly define love? Attributes of love are introduced throughout scripture in concepts including submission, authority, grace, mercy, faithfulness, forgiveness and a multitude of others. Love is ultimately exemplified at the cross. While emotion and affection can be a part of love, they are more the result than the motivator. God sets the standard for love, so to understand love we must know God. For a believer, love for one another is a reflection of God’s love for us which is based on His integrity and righteousness. The Holy Spirit is our only means of approaching the love God wants His body to exhibit toward one another and to perpetuate the stability of His divine institutions.
Note that the class series (Romans) on the video is incorrect.
Sunday, October 21, 2012
by Robert Dean
Passage: 1 Corinthians 13:18 & Ephesians 5:22-27
Series: Colossians (2011)
Duration: 1 hr 3 mins 30 secs
This passage is for every member of the family. Key words addressed to women, here and in parallel passages, are submission, fear (respect), authority, suffering, humility, and obedience. These concepts have application in everyone’s life. Originally woman was meant to co-rule. The Fall changed everything. The redemption solution for women emphasizes submission. Do women want to be part of the solution or contribute to the intensification of the consequences of judgment? If suffering and sacrifice are related to submission, they are temporary teachers, necessary for growth and as a witness to angels and men. Submission is addressed to the woman’s volition and may require patience and endurance, but through obedience, God is honored, we are blessed and rewards are granted.This lesson also includes 1 Peter 3:1-6 and Titus 2:3-5.
Sunday, October 28, 2012
by Robert Dean
Passage: 1 Corinthians 13:18 & Titus 2:3-5
Series: Colossians (2011)
Duration: 55 mins 21 secs
Some of these passages have been misapplied inside and outside the church to justify sinful behavior. When authority is motivated by love there is no abuse or suppression. Authority without love is tyranny. The relationship of husbands and wives in obedience to these principles is related to their personal response to Jesus Christ, and lived out as a testimony to men and angels. Learn about the roles God has for men and women during the different seasons of life. See the “virtuous” woman in Proverbs and how, in her industriousness and obedience, she puts to shame the feminist concept of the modern woman, preserving her femininity and eliciting trust and praise from her family.This lesson also includes Proverbs 31:10-31.
Sunday, November 04, 2012
by Robert Dean
Passage: Colossians 3:18-21 & Ephesians 5:25-33
Series: Colossians (2011)
Duration: 1 hr 2 mins 14 secs
The pattern for a husband’s love for his wife is a model of Christ’s love for His church. There is comparison also to Christ’s relationship of love for the Father and the love a husband has for his own body. Apart from cultural, transitory, romantic love, this is a broader, eternal, mental attitude love grounded in the character of the one who loves and his knowledge of God. Like God’s covenant love for Israel, a husband’s love will not be disrupted by circumstances. There is an element of substitution in the comparison of a husband’s love to the sacrifice of Christ for His church. Learn the definition of love and how it functions objectively only when it conforms to God’s intention in scripture.
Sunday, November 11, 2012
by Robert Dean
Passage: Colossians 3:18-21 & Ephesians 5:25-33
Series: Colossians (2011)
Duration: 46 mins 10 secs
The issue in these passages is for husbands to love their wives. The analogy is to love as Christ loves the Church. You must understand the gospel in order to understand this kind of love. The purpose for Christ’s love for His Church is to sanctify, purify and present her to Himself without residue of sin, eternally set apart to God. A Christian marriage is a training aid to show the world the relationship between Christ and His Church. Learn how elements of doctrine are revealed through marriage and its unique oneness lived out through different roles with distinct identities.
Sunday, November 18, 2012
by Robert Dean
Passage: Colossians 3:20-21 & Ephesians 6:1-4
Series: Colossians (2011)
Duration: 53 mins 49 secs
The family is another of God’s Divine Institutions. It is a part of God’s absolute social law built into the fabric of a social human being who is created in the image of God. It has been in decline since the middle of the 20th century. Even conservatives are saying they need to separate social ideas from economic ideas in order to address other voting blocks, but the breakdown of marriage and family has wide economic consequences which are an integral part of economic realities. In Rome, in Paul’s day, family values had deteriorated, resulting in the increase of abuse of children and women. In what way does the Bible view children as arrows in the hand of a warrior? How is the reality of a Triune God related to absolute unity and distinction in marriage and family? See how a self-absorbed generation paves the road for destruction of a nation.