A Thanksgiving Prayer (Transcript only due to technical difficulties).
A Thanksgiving Prayer
Col 1:9-14
Intro to Passage:
Turn with me to Colossians, As Thanksgiving day approaches this passage is particularly fitting. 9-14 is a summary of the prayer that the Apostle Paul has for the Colossians. In fact it is a thanksgiving prayer. It starts out with Pauls desire to see them grow in maturity and ends with thanksgiving for God’s redemption of the Colossians and indeed all God’s people. Last week we saw how Paul thanked God for the faith they had and now we are going to see what requests Paul is making for the church in colossi.
Let’s read Colossians 1:9-14.
Read/Pray:
Colossians 1:9–14
9And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,
10so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;
11being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy;
12giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.
13He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,
14in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Sermon Intro:
We live in a dangerous world, A world filled with immature Christians, baby Christians, men and women who have access to every spiritual opportunity yet squander it on feel good self-logy. (not theology, which is the study of God, but self-logy which is navel gazing).
I sat down to think through the the dangers of an immature Christian:
-Self-centered vs Christ Centered
Can damage a church, split
damage to families
Weak worship
worldly worship
-Led astray by every wind or doctrine. Desiring special knowledge, vision, (Jesus calling).
-Ultimately an embarrassment to Christ
Urgency to have mature Christian today. Like in Paul’s day. Every day I'm seeming a decay of Christianity in America. The faith is not always attacked from the outside, but the inside. Due to a great ignorance to the Word.
Because our Church has a great need for Mature Christians we must have Spiritual Wisdom, Walk in a God-pleasing manner, and we must Worship Jesus Christ.
I) A mature Christian must have Spiritual Wisdom (verse 9)
II) A mature Christian must Walk in a God-pleasing manner (Verse 10-11)
III) A mature Christian must Worship Jesus Christ (Verse 12-14)
A mature Christian must have Spiritual Wisdom (verse 9)
Spiritual intelligence, growing by the will of God by knowing the Word of God
Paul pray’s for these people. Paul in prison, Paul under house arrest, Paul at risk for execution takes time to pray, without ceasing, do you do that? In times of your trials and suffering do you pray for others? Can we be more like Paul?
But I don’t want to spend as much time on Paul’s praying as we need to focus on the content of what he prayed for. Paul lays out three types of knowledge here in verse 9, knowing, wisdom, understanding. Each of these is a different Greek word with different emphasis. First Paul prays that they will be …
a. Filled with the knowledge of His will
What is Paul talking about here? He said that he wants the people of Colossi to be filled, This word filled is fascinating and should be explored a little bit. The image is that of a cup filled to maximum volume. It also carries that sense of bringing to completion. Being filled by the Holy Spirit, so full you are controlled by it. But we are not to be filled by any old thing, but by the Knowledge of His will. Ephesians says it this way.
Eph 1:9–11
9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ
10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,
Knowledge of God is only found in His revealed word. We do not discover who God is without Him showing us in the Bible! So many people think they can discover God’s will with their Bibles closed, this is not how it works!
So knowledge here is what is revealed in Scripture, the Bible.
(APP)
But just knowing what the Bible says is not enough. Many people are experts in what the Bible says, in fact a sign of Christian immaturity is when this knowledge puffs up, those believers who know every prophecy and jot and tittle of the law yet don’t know how applies to life.
But more often there are Christians who don’t even know that the Bible says much less how to find the principles out of it. This is where Spiritual wisdom comes in.
b. Spiritual wisdom
Another way to remember these three areas is, (OIA) Observe, interpret, apply. We gain knowledge by observing what the Word says, then we must gain Spiritual wisdom (Sophia). This is not some esoteric up in the clouds type of wisdom, not this spiritual but not religious thing. No Paul is talking about understanding the principles of Scripture by the revelation power of the Holy Spirit. Another way to say this is to interpret what is being said.
(APP) What does this look like in the real world? Well every passage of Scripture has principles that can be drawn out. We have the knowledge of the passage before us, we are getting the background and looking at the construction (what we are doing here in verse 9). What is the principle here? That we need to be filled with knowledge wisdom and understanding. All based on our reading of Scripture. But now we move into understanding, or application.
c. Understanding
insight, understanding σύνεσις ἔν τινι insight into, understanding of something.
If a mature Christian is filled with knowledge, and has the wisdom to make it into principles then he must be able to understand how it relates to life. How does God’s will apply to your everyday life? Do you see this model in our preaching? This is why I feel most comfortable teaching and preaching through Scripture like this. We are able to get knowledge of the text, see what the principle is behind it and then apply it to our lives through the power of the Spirit’s illumination.
Transition: Spiritual Wisdom is not stagnant it grows into action.
II) A mature Christian must Walk in a God-pleasing manner (Verse 10-11)
Illustration: When I first started dating my wife, I kept a little notebook. I studied her likes and dislikes, I wrote down her favorite flowers, her favorite colors, her favorite poems and poet. All these things I did because I liked her and desired to grow my relationship with her. But all that knowledge translated into action. I knew her favorite flowers so I would buy them from time to time. My knowledge of her translated into action. Our knowledge of God must translate into action.
a. A manner worthy
Verse 10 shows how verse 9 influences a walk worthy of the Lord. I like how,
Eph 4:1–3.
4:1 I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called,
2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,
3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
How do we walk in a manner worthy of the Lord? A tangible example is how we live with one another. Are you bearing with your brother’s and sisters in Christ? Are you eager to maintain peace with fellow members in the Church?
b. Fully pleasing (10)
2 Corinthians 5:9 So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him.
Our whole Christian life is to be pleasing to Jesus Christ. Just like my study of my wife my goal was to be pleasing to her, we are to make our life work a study in Jesus Christ. Our aim is to please Jesus. How do we learn about Jesus apart from His word? You can’t! That’s the whole point! Everything you do needs to be a result of your knowledge of God’s will and how to please Him. That is what it means to be a believer of Jesus.
For Paul it is important for the church in Colossi to walk and be fully pleasing to Christ. This is the first step in combating the false teachers that are going to be addressed latter in the book. This is a prayer as well as an exhortation.
(App)
Is that how you are living your life? Do you make your decisions based on this? When you have a conflict with someone, is it pleasing to God to sit and mope about it? Is it pleasing to Jesus that you are being angry at a fellow brother or sister in Christ? No it’s not. How do you deal with a situation like this? The Bible is clear, before you go to worship and you realize your brother/sister has something against you, you go and make it right. The principle is “he who knows, goes”
Matt 5:21-24:
“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire. So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
God cares so much about your interactions with other people that he wants to to deal with it because it will affect your worship! Do not miss this! Go and be reconciled. We know that the way to do it is to go first to the person you wronged or they wronged you. So far as it depends on you, you are to make things right! Don’t delay, because God is not pleased with conflict in the Church.
c. The third aspect to Christian living that spills out into vs 11, Christian living is that which, through the knowledge of God, is constantly bearing fruit and increasing in good deeds
vs 11, increasing in power endurance, patience and joy (joy under pressure).
Transition, This joy is a natural bridge to thanksgiving and worship that Paul bursts into here in verse 12-14. Lets go back over the progression Paul lays out for a mature Christian life.
III) A mature Christian must Worship Jesus Christ (Verse 12-14)
a. Qualified to share inheritance of (12)
Notice what we give thanks for. What HAS already been done!
Paul uses exodus language for verse 12-14. By expressing it this way Paul is able to use a whole world of imagery relating to Israel’s exodus from Egypt and her entry into the promised land. The ‘inheritance’ alludes to the promised land of Canaan; ‘the saints’ is a regular term for the people of God, indicating that they are set apart from the world for his service.
The addition of ‘in light’ differentiates between the new and the old inheritance (the glory of heaven, not the land of Canaan) and also sharpens the moral contrast with the kingdom of darkness (v. 13), where the young Christians had formerly dwelt.
b. Delivered from darkness, transferred to kingdom of the Son (13)
Not only that, but God delivers us! Again he alludes to the exodus, this time referring particularly to the dramatic rescue operation in which God delivered his people from the dark power of Egypt (see Exod. 6:6; 12:27; 14:30), transferring them into a new land: for he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves. The harsh rule of the prince of darkness has been exchanged for the wise sovereignty of God’s Son (cf. Rom. 5:21; 6:16ff.). Paul shares with other New Testament writers, and with Jesus himself, the belief in the existence of a dark power to whom the human race, and the world, is subject because of sin—and the belief that, in Jesus Christ, God has defeated this power and is establishing his own kingdom in its place.
c. How He does it? Redemption (forgiveness of Sins) (14).
But sin is always a power that holds people in thrall, so, in Paul’s teaching, forgiveness must include the breaking of that power. It is inconceivable that God should forgive the past, and then send us back incapable of living a new life. Pardon without deliverance would be a mockery, and it is never so contemplated in the New Testament. We ought not to speak of ‘mere forgiveness’ as though this were but an initial blessing of the gospel. The gospel is precisely the offer of freedom because of the forgiveness of our sins. That forgiveness flows from the cross where Christ not only cancelled our debt but also disarmed our enemy (2:14, 15).
R. C. Lucas, Fullness & Freedom: The Message of Colossians & Philemon, The Bible Speaks Today (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1980), 42.
What is now clear once again is that words which might appear conventional are packed full of meaning. Paul is protecting the young church at Colossae. He cannot stand by while the new teachers speak of a new and superior gift of freedom. Have the believers forgotten what their Lord and Saviour has done for them? Can they be dissatisfied with that great work of redemption at the cross? Is Christ not sufficient both to pardon and to deliver them from all their sins? Then let them be filled with knowledge and power for this—a life of increasing goodness and gratitude to the end.
R. C. Lucas, Fullness & Freedom: The Message of Colossians & Philemon, The Bible Speaks Today (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1980), 43.
Conclusion:
Paul prays that the church in Colossi will grow to be mature in Christ, this is done through Spiritual Wisdom, Walking in a way that is pleasing to the Lord, and Worshiping Jesus Christ. We saw that to be mature in Christ we must be people of the Book, that leads us to walk a life that is pleasing to Christ, and leads us to thanksgiving and worship of our one true God. This means that we accept no other substitutes, nothing in this world, everything must fall under the Word of God. Of those three areas what do you find the most difficult?
To start you must be born again in order to start your journey of faith. If you have never made the decision to follow Jesus, if you have never given your life to Him, now is the time to do it! Come talk to me in the back if you do not think you are a believer. The most important decision of your life is to follow Christ. If you struggle with growing in knowledge of God the Father through His word, make a plan, come to Bible study on Thursday night and gain tools in how to observe, interpret and apply the Bible to all of life. Or do you struggle to walk out the Christian faith? Do you struggle with interpersonal conflict? Go to the person you have a problem with and talk with them, do so with humility and the right motives, that is to be reconciled not just to be right. You cannot truly worship if you let conflict fester in your life. If you need help with this the elders and myself are available to walk with you through it. Finally this thanksgiving, let us give thanks to God for the forgiveness of sins and the redemption through the beloved Son, Jesus Christ, Pray with me.