Before We Get Started

For our discussion today, we will be using the sermon series discussion guides. If you would like to follow along you can access this discussion guide on the website at mosaicchurchaustin.com and then select “community group resources” in the menu options.

Prayer

Because the primary goal of our time together is to establish relationships and learn how to walk with one another in all that God has called us to be and do, we’d like to begin by praying for one another. So, does anyone have anything you’d like us to pray for or anything to share regarding how you’ve seen God moving in your life that we can celebrate together?

This Week’s Topic

Over Every Power

Today’s Topic

The Way Into the Wardrobe

Discussion Questions

Colossians 2:1-10

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. 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, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments. 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.

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.

For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority.

What Are the Powers

Dr. Walter Wink, The Powers that Be: Theology for a New Millenium

All of us deal with the Powers That Be. They staff our hospitals, run City Hall, sit around tables in corporate boardrooms, collect our taxes, and head our families. But the Powers that Be are more than just the people who run things. They are the systems themselves, the institutions and structures that weave society into an intricate fabric of power and relationships. 

These powers surround us on every side. They are necessary. They are useful. We could do nothing without them. Who wants to do without timely mail delivery or well-maintained roads? But the Power are also the source of unmitigated evils.

Can you name one or two powers at work in the world that directly impact your life?

How do you feel about those powers, generally speaking?

What Do the Powers Do?

RJ Woodward

In Colossians, the principalities and powers are Christ-created structures designed to give order to life, be it the state, morality, religious rules, or ethics. So although they can be tyrants, they were designed to bring life.

 

What is an example of a power that you feel does a good job giving order to your life?

How does humanity’s fallenness create vulnerabilities in the powers in the world?

Where do you see opportunities for the powers in our world to create life in your family, neighborhood, or city? 

How Do We Defeat the Powers?

Matthew 5:43-48

You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

How did Jesus model loving your enemies during his life?

What powers worked against Jesus, ultimately causing him to be crucified?

Consider the powers you’ve named so far in your life an in the world, how could your ability to love your enemies cause those powers to create more life in the world?

What Will Happen to the Powers?

Colossians 1:15-20

The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

What does the promise that Jesus has made peace through his blood shed on the cross mean for the powers in the world?

How have you witnessed Jesus’s authority bringing redemption through a power in the world?

What powers do you long to see redeemed in new ways?

Closing Time

In your final moments, pray for God’s redemptive authority to move in the powers you have discussed to create greater life in the world.