Sermon Tone Analysis

*Title: *Paul’s Prayer Part 2: The Result of Knowing God’s Will

*Text: *Colossians 1:9-14

*Theme of the book of Colossians: *Jesus Christ:  The pre-eminent and all-sufficient Savior* \\ Theme of Text: *Paul’s prayer for the Colossians is for discernment of God’s will and the power to do it.

(O’Brien)

*Proposition: *To please God, you must have a worthy walk.

*Introduction*

* *

Last week we talked about knowing God’s will.

In Colossians 1:9, Paul prayed for the Colossians to know God’s will.

I explained that we could know God’s will; it is not a mystery!

I said that there were six things that we knew were God’s will.

God’s will for you is to be saved, spirit filled, sanctified, submitted to authority, suffering for him, and satisfied or thankful.

If you are still confused about God’s will, then look at the handout last week and read the verses and explanations.

Paul continues his prayer for the Colossians by praying for them to have a worthy walk.

Paul prayed for the Colossians at regularly appointed times, and he prayed constantly for them throughout the day.

He may have prayed for their physical and temporal needs, but he was more concerned about their spiritual needs!

Paul had a deep pastoral care for these people.

He wanted them to have a deep knowledge of God’s will and he wanted that to lead to a life that pleased the Lord.

This was his primary concern!

I find that often times our prayers are very shallow compared to Paul’s.

We pray for health issues, financial problems, or things that we would like to happen.

Very rarely do we pray as Paul prayed: for spiritual needs.

Paul prayed earnestly and fervently for spiritual needs.

Take note of Paul’s prayers, pray like Paul prayed; pray that Christ will be magnified and glorified in you life.

/Illustration/: Pleasing God.

It is easy to please your girlfriend and fiancé, but after you get married, you stop pleasing your wife.

Sometimes a new Christian wants to please God in everything because of the amazing work that Christ did, but then after a while the excitement dies off.

The new Christian stops wanting to Please God so much.

Now this week we are going to study how God’s will should lead us to have a worthy walk.

The result of God’s will is conduct that is pleasing to the Lord!

God wants each one of us to have a worth walk that is pleasing to Him.

We will discuss four characteristics of a worthy walk that pleases the Lord.

Before we look at these four characteristics of a worthy walk, we should understand what Paul means by a worthy walk.

To please God, you must have a worthy walk.

*Walk Worthy of the Lord*

Paul uses the phrase “walk worthy” often.

He is basically saying that we should have conduct that is worthy of the Lord.

It is conduct that will please the Lord (Philippians 1:27).

When the Bible talks about a person’s walk, it is referring to their daily life and conduct.

It is the way that you live your life day by day.

Paul says in many places that we are called to walk worthy of the Lord.

God has called us into his kingdom to be his children, therefore, he wants us to walk worthy (1 Thess.

2:12; Eph.

4:1) Walk in a way that is consistent with your identification with the Lord.

/Illustration/: A duck walks, talks, and acts like a duck.

A Policeman walks, talks, and looks like a policeman.

1 Thessalonians 2:12  so that you would walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.

Ephesians 4:1 Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called,

 

Last week we studied God’s will.

We saw that God has not left his will as a mystery, but he has revealed his will to us in His Word.

That is the same with our walk.

God has told us how to live a pleasing walk.

This seems like a hard thing to achieve.

In fact, it seems impossible to please the Lord since he demands holiness.

It is not impossible, because God asks us to do that.

He has given us everything that we need for life and godliness (2 Pet 1:3).

To be a true follower of Christ, we must give up everything to follow Christ!

Matthew 10:37-39  “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. 38 “And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. 39 “He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it.

Here are some references that will lead to a pleasing walk to the Lord.

We are to walk in humility (Eph.

4:1–3); in purity (Rom.

13:13); in contentedness (1 Cor.

7:17); by faith (2 Cor.

5:7); in good works (Eph.

2:10); different from the world (Eph.

4:17–32); in love (Eph.

5:2); in light (Eph.

5:8); in wisdom (Eph.

5:15); and in truth (3 John 3–4).

Philippians 1:27 (NASB95) \\ 27 Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I will hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;

 

Remember, to please God, you must have a worthy walk.

The first characteristic of a person that is walking worthy of God is that they will be “bearing fruit for God.”

 

1.

*Bearing Fruit for God v. 10. *

A person that is walking worthy of God will be fruitful in their life.

This is a result of salvation.

Rom.

7:4-5 tells us that God has redeemed us, therefore we should be bearing fruit.

An unsaved person does not bear fruit for God, but bears fruit unto death.

This means that even the good thing that an unsaved person does is truly good, but only is a conformation of their depraved status.

Romans 7:4-5  Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. 5 For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were /aroused /by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death.

John 15:1-16 is a key text to understanding what bearing fruit means.

This passage tells us how we can bear fruit and that bearing fruit is only from God’s blessing.

A true follower of Christ will always bear fruit in their life.

Christ said in John 15:8 that by bearing fruit we will prove that we are Christ’s disciples.

This is a natural result of the Gospel.

The power of the Gospel bears fruit as we studied Col. 1:6.

When a person is saved, they will continue to bear fruit by spreading the Gospel.

In 2 Peter 1:5-8, believers are told what things make a person fruitful.

Peter says that if you do these things, then your life will not be unfruitful for the Lord.

\\ 5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in /your /moral excellence, knowledge, 6 and in /your /knowledge, self-control, and in /your /self-control, perseverance, and in /your /perseverance, godliness, 7 and in /your /godliness, brotherly kindness, and in /your /brotherly kindness, love.

8 For if these /qualities /are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

* *

*Application: *To be fruitful in every good work, one must be continually involved in knowing God’s Word.

Paul says that fruit is a result of having spiritual knowledge and understanding of God’s Will and Word.

To bear fruit, you must be learning, applying and obeying God’s Word.

*Illustration: *Paul uses the illustration here of a fruit tree, not of grain.

Think of how grain grows.

It grows for a season, and then the farmer cuts down the grain.

A fruit tree lasts for many seasons; in fact, a fruit tree will usually bear more fruit each growing season.

Just as a tree is nourished by water and sunlight, so a believer is to be nourished by the Word of God and by seasons of prayer.

* *

To please God, you must have a worthy walk.

The first characteristic of a person that is walking worthy of God was that they will be “bearing fruit for God;” the second characteristic is that they will be “growing in the knowledge of God.”