Memory Text: “Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one” (Colossians 4:6, NKJV).

INTRO: Last week’s Good Word lesson focused on our new life in Christ. This week we focus “living with others,” which seems to include many and different challenges from our life in Christ. While baptism alone does not perfect our characters, Paul describes how followers of Jesus and “clothe” themselves with the “new self” received in Christ. Colossians 3:1-17 clearly describes these changes which we are to “put away” and other with which we “clothe ourselves.”

Q: When Paul says in Colossians 3:5, “Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly,” why does he use such a strong phrase, “put to death…”? How can a person have such strength to destroy evil in one’s life and still “clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility,” etc. in vv. 12-17?

Q: Why do you think that Paul offers such important advice in Col. 3:18-21 to husbands, wives, and children, in the midst of his admonition to the Colossian church about what makes for a united fellowship? What role does the family play in church unity?

Q: How does Paul’s advice to masters and slaves apply to life in the Christian West where slavery is outlawed today? In what ways does this counsel still apply to Christ-followers today?

Q: What evidence might we look for that indicate the truths of God’s word “dwell in us richly”? What evidence should we see that our individual transformation is uniting us in fellowship with other believers?

CLOSING SIDEBAR:

“Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt.”
— Colossians 4:6 (NKJV)

“Many people are looking for an ear that will listen. They do not find it among Christians, because these Christians are talking where they should be listening. But he who can no longer listen to his brother will soon be no longer listening to God either. This is the beginning of the death of the spiritual life. Those who cannot listen long and patiently will soon be talking beside the point.”
— Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together

Paul reminds believers that unity is shaped by everyday interactions. Gracious speech nurtures trust, diffuses conflict, and strengthens fellowship. As believers learn to speak with wisdom and kindness, the church becomes a place of encouragement and peace.

NEXT WEEK, we’ll look at our last theme in Paul’s letters to the Philippian and Colossian churches, “Standing All in the Will of God.” My thanks to Naomi Cueto and Faith Montes, our program engineers, and to all of you for listening in. Until next time, for the “Good Word,” I’m Phil Muthersbaugh.