Okay, you can turn in your Bibles to Colossians chapter 1. Colossians chapter 1. I had to go see the surgeon today in Vancouver. I didn't get back till 2, so I didn't want to just try to throw together 2 Samuel 7, so I thought we'd look at Colossians 1.
Surgeon said everything was great by the way, looked at my x-ray and said it was doing well and so that was encouraging to hear. Colossians chapter 1, our focus is going to be on verses 10 to 14. A couple weeks ago when we're in 2 Timothy 4, when Paul tells Timothy to preach the word, I had mentioned that that was the 11th hour for Paul. It was the last letter that Paul had written And that's the last formal command that he gives to Timothy, and thus the church, preach the word.
I made the note that we ought to pay attention to a man who speaks in the eleventh hour. We ought to hear what's heavy on his heart, what is important to him, and I think that's a good thing as we go to 2 Timothy. As well, I think we ought to listen to what's important to the Apostle Paul when he prays. And that's what's in view here specifically in verses 10 to 14.
We learn a lot from the apostle Paul at the throne of grace. And tonight we'll look at his prayer specifically and see what is important to him for the people of God. But I'll begin reading in chapter 1 at verse 1. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy, our brother.
To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are in Colossae, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the saints, because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel, which has come to you, as it has also in all the world, and is bringing forth fruit, as it is also among you since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth. As you also learn from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf, who also declared to us your love in the Spirit. For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.
That you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. strengthened with all might according to his glorious power, for all patience and long-suffering with joy, giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of his love, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.
All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence. Amen.
Introduction: Paul's Prayer Life
Well, Paul, as I said, prays. And we're gonna look specifically at verses 10 to 14, but if you go back to chapter, or back in chapter one at verse three, he begins there. And that's a good study. If you ever want to sort of, Bring some freshness to your own prayer life.
Study the prayers of the Apostle Paul. Learn to pray the way that Paul does. The things that were of concern with Paul at the throne of grace are good helps to us and things that we ought to be concerned with at the throne of grace. We see him here lay before God his petitions on behalf of these people.
Note, in verse 9, the occasion of his prayer. He mentions that he's heard from Epaphras concerning their love in the Spirit. In other words, Epaphras was a messenger. He comes to Paul.
He tells Paul what's happening in Colossae. And in verse 9, Paul says, for this reason we also, since the day we heard it. In other words, when we heard that you had, by the grace of God, come out of darkness into marvelous light, had been formed as a local church, we put you on our prayer list. You were certainly near and dear to our hearts.
It's good for us to value the people of God. It's good for us to value the church of God. It's good for us to pray for them. He goes on to indicate the frequency of prayer on behalf of the Colossians.
He says, we do not cease to pray for you. Now when you read things like that in the Bible, it probably doesn't mean that all Paul ever did all the time was pray for the Colossians. No, we know that Paul ate and Paul drank water and Paul built tents and Paul went to other churches. The idea is, is that when we pray, we think of you.
When we pray, we pray for you. Such that we can say, we do not cease to pray for you. You're always near and dear to our hearts. You are in our minds when we come to the throne of grace and we lay these petitions before you.
And then he goes on to say specifically what the content of his prayer is on behalf of the Colossians. We do not cease to pray for you. Now notice, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. That in and of itself is a blessed thing.
How many times do you and I pray for each other that we may be filled with the knowledge of God's will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding? It's good for us to pray for pregnant ladies. It's good for us to pray for unhealthy persons. It's good for us to pray for the various situations that confront the local church.
But it's also good to pray in these sort of abstract kind of ways. that we would be filled with the knowledge of God's will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. Now notice, that's the petition. Paul says, for the Colossians, I want you to be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. Now note the reason for this or the purpose for this petition.
That's found in verse 10a. That you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him. So Paul wants the Colossians to walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him. How are the Colossians going to walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him?
Well, it's going to be because they're filled with the knowledge of His will and all wisdom and spiritual understanding. You see that? When we know what the will of God is, through prayer and through the study of Scripture to be sure, it's in that state or in that sphere that we then may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him. This whole idea of walking worthy means to walk in a manner that is consistent with the will and the mind of God.
This idea of walk, or as the old King James has it, let our conversation, it means the totality of our lives, it means the orientation of our lives. Paul uses the language in Ephesians 4.1, I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called. So you see, at least in two instances, in two separate churches, in two separate locations, Paul wants the people of God to walk worthy of the calling with which they were called. He wants them to walk faithfully before the Lord God.
Philippians 1.27, a similar thing. He says, only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel. And again in 1 Thessalonians 2 and verse 12. 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse 12, that you would walk worthy of God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory. So you see it is consistent with Paul that he would pray for the people of God who have been saved by the Lord to then walk consistently with the Lord, to walk in a manner that is worthy of the Lord.
So back in Colossians. He asks that they would be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding with the specific goal that they may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him. That ought to be our goal. That ought to be the prayer we offer up for the people we love.
That ought to be our prayer for the church. that we would walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him. Not just pleasing Him, you know, once a week. Not just pleasing Him when we come together on the Lord's Day to worship in the morning and evening, but fully pleasing Him. Whether it's a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, or Saturday, we ought to be conscious of the fact that the people for whom we pray, those who have been redeemed by sovereign grace, ought to strive to be fully pleasing to the Lord God Most High.
Now, I think this introduces a question. What does this look like? What does it look like to walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him? Have you ever asked the question?
If you've ever asked the question, that's good. We should ask the question. And thankfully, Paul answers the question. So we see, the petition, be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.
The purpose for the petition, that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him. And now by the means of using four participles, or four descriptive phrases, Paul will flash out what a worthy walk looks like. So these are the sorts of things we pray for one another. These are the sorts of things we pray for our wives, or our husbands, or our children, or our parents, or our fellow churchmen.
This is what we pray for other churches. We pray that they would be filled. We pray that they would walk worthy, and that that worthy walk would look like this.
Fruitful in Every Good Work
Note in the first place that they would be fruitful in every good work. This is a worthy walk before the Lord. It is to be engaged in good works. It is to be engaged in those things that are pleasing to God.
The reality is that we are justified by grace alone, through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone. We'll never enter into heaven because of our good works. We'll enter into heaven because of Christ's good works. because of his active obedience to the law of God, to his passive obedience in his death at Calvary. It is based solely and alone upon what Jesus Christ has done that any sinner will ever enter into heaven.
We all agree and we all affirm that as faithful Protestant believers, as those who love Scripture and those who have been set free by the grace of God. However, we realize that there are good works that follow that faith in Jesus Christ. They are not a condition of our salvation, they are not a cause of our salvation, but they are a consequence. Because we have been saved by grace through faith in Christ Jesus, we will do good works.
And Paul says that a worthy walk before the Lord that is fully pleasing to Him will mean fruitfulness in every good work. Our confession describes it this way. It says that faith thus receiving and resting on Christ and His righteousness is the alone instrument of justification. Can't be any clearer than that.
It is the alone instrument of justification, yet it is not alone in the person justified, but is ever accompanied with all other saving graces, and is no dead faith, but worketh by love. This is James' emphasis. James is not teaching a contrary method of salvation to the Apostle Paul. James affirms sovereign grace, James 1.18. of his own will, he brought us forth by the word of truth.
James affirms the same salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, and Christ alone. James, however, is dealing with a bunch of deadbeat professors that never engage in good works. And so James says that faith without works is dead. He's not saying faith plus works in order to be saved, but he says that a genuine faith will always issue forth in good works, like our confession says.
Yet it is not alone in the person justified, but is ever accompanied with all other saving graces. But you know, Paul emphasizes good works as well. Notice in Ephesians chapter 2, a passage that celebrates the grace of God, a passage that celebrates the reality that we're saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, nevertheless emphasizes that as a result of that faith, there will be good works. Notice in Ephesians 2.8.
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. Now notice, for we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. So even the good works, God predetermined.
Even the good works, God predestined. God is the one who is sovereign over these things, as Paul tells us in Philippians 2. Notice in Philippians 2.12, we are told, to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. He's not saying work for your salvation with fear and trembling.
Work out. We can only work out what God has sovereignly put in. But work out your own salvation with fear and trembling for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. So in our good works, God still gets the glory, God still gets the praise, God still gets the honor, but we are indeed engaged in that particular activity.
One final passage in a Pauline epistle, look at Titus. It's always intrigued me that in the space of three short chapters, three times good works are emphasized in Titus, and I've often wondered if that's because of the type of people that Cretans were. Notice in Titus chapter 1 verse 12, one of them, a prophet of their own said, Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons. And then Paul says this testimony is true.
Paul didn't respect their safe space. Paul, we're Cretans. How could you dare agree with that? It was a general characteristic.
If I say that San Francisco is a sodomite city, it doesn't mean that everybody in the town is a sodomite, but that is the prevailing sin in San Francisco. Well, the same sort of thing is true in Crete. One of their own said, Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons. So, it is intriguing to me that thrice in this epistle that they are pressed to engage in good works.
Probably they had to lose that old Cretan flavor as they had become Christian believers. Notice in Titus 2.14, well, verse 11, for the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people." Note, zealous for good works. Chapter 3, verse 8, this is a faithful saying, and these things I want you to affirm constantly, that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. Notice in 3.14, and let our people also learn to maintain good works. to meet urgent needs that they may not be unfruitful.
Brethren, the doctrine of justification by faith alone was never calculated to produce an antinomian, lawless, hyper-Calvinistic people that don't do things that are pleasing to God. The doctrine of justification by faith alone is the only means by which genuine good works are possible, because what God has done in us through the power of the Christian gospel then produces in us and through us those good things that He has created before that we should walk in them. And back to Colossians, this is an interesting contrast with the former conduct of the Colossians. They were to be fruitful in every good work.
Notice what he says in 121, and you who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works. Yet now he has reconciled. So this is what characterized them before they were Christians. They were enemies in their minds by wicked works.
Notice as well in chapter 3 at verse 7. He says, in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them. So you see, for the new man in Christ Jesus, they are to be fruitful in every good work. So if we ask the question, what is a worthy walk of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, look like?
In the first place, it means to be fruitful in every good work.
Increasing in the Knowledge of God
Notice in the second place, they were to be increasing in the knowledge of God. Brethren, if we are stagnant, we are not being what God called us to be. Again, this reflects what Paul wants for the people for whom he prays. I think this is something that ought to characterize all of God's people, increasing in the knowledge of God.
That doesn't mean you're going to be Jim Renahan. It doesn't mean you're going to be C.H. Spurgeon. It doesn't mean you're going to be John Calvin or John Gill.
It doesn't mean you're going to be John Owen. In fact, I think we can all rest assured we're probably not ever going to be John Owen. But that doesn't mean we ought not to be increasing in the knowledge of God. Go back to Hosea the prophet and see how God indicts the people of Israel in this particular time.
Hosea the prophet, chapter 4, his specific charge against Israel. He highlights sins concerning them. Notice in verse 1 of Hosea 4. Hear the word of the Lord, you children of Israel, for the Lord brings a charge against the inhabitants of the land.
This charge is a legal term. It is what a prosecuting attorney does in the courtroom. So, Hosea is functioning as the prosecuting attorney for God, and he brings this to bear upon the nation of Israel. Notice, there is no truth or mercy or knowledge of God in the land.
And then notice in verse 6, my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for me. Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children. There's a similar indictment in the prophet Malachi, specifically with reference to the priesthood.
In Malachi chapter 2, verse 7. Malachi 2.7, for the lips of a priest should keep knowledge. It's the function of the priest. It is to keep knowledge, it is to teach the people, similar to what we're seeing in 2 Timothy 4.
Paul tells Timothy, preach the word, be ready in season and out of season, convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. We're going to consider the reasons this Sunday night, for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. Well, the priest is to maintain sound doctrine, the people are to receive it. In Paul's context, Timothy is to preach sound doctrine, the church is to receive sound doctrine.
So in Malachi 2.7, for the lips of a priest should keep knowledge, and people should seek the law from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. But you have departed from the way. You have caused many to stumble at the law. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the Lord of hosts.
Therefore, I also have made you contemptible and base before all the people because you have not kept my ways but have shown partiality in the law. So back to Colossians 2, what does a pleasing walk look like? Now, we would say being fruitful in every good work. It's the person that visits widows and he visits orphans and he, you know, sees them in their distress.
That's right. But he also reads his Bible. and he reads Burkhoff's Systematic Theology, and he reads his Confession of Faith, and he does read Calvin, and he does read Owen. I'm not saying, you know, you all have to read that. But you see what Paul is saying?
To walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, certainly means the practical aspects of do-goodery. But it's also the abstract, theoretical growth in knowledge, learning more about God, expanding your understanding of who God is. There is a necessity to increase in the knowledge of God. And I think the reason for that is because the Bible links this together.
The more we know of God, the more we love God. And the more that we love God, the more we'll go about those things like doing good works and doing those things that are pleasing in His sight. Brethren, we need to increase in the knowledge of God. This is what He says we are to do.
Remember in the high priestly prayer of our Lord Jesus Christ, Jesus says, sanctify them by thy truth. Thy word is truth. Again, do you know how paradoxical that is in the modern mindset? We think of sanctification as being not sinning.
We think of sanctification as not doing bad things, and we think of sanctification as doing good things, and that's part of it. But Jesus prays, sanctify them by thy truth. Jesus says that the truth of God in the heart and mind of a man, which incidentally are synonymous in the Bible, It's not like we really understand who God is with the mind, and then we respond to Him with the heart. Mind and heart are synonymous in the Bible.
Mind and heart is the glob of what can't be seen about a man. It thinks, it wills, it loves, it emotes, it does all that thing. The Bible uses heart and mind synonymously. But we are to understand, we are to know, we are to grow, we are to increase in knowledge.
It is by the truth that God sanctifies His people. And then as well in 2 Peter 3.18, Peter says to do what? He says grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I've thought this and I've probably said this before.
If we knew there was a Christian who was watching internet porn and he would or would not repent or she would not repent, we would discipline them. And yet there's probably a whole host of Christians that are not increasing in the knowledge of God. They don't read their Bibles, they don't read their confessions, they miss church frequently, they are stagnant, they are even going backwards at times. Now, I realize there's an ebb and a flow, there's seasons where you're extra busy in life and, you know, you get a few verses in, praise God, but if the general tenor of your life is not to increase in the knowledge of God, that's bad.
You see, we are so set on internet porn bad, not increasing in the knowledge of God, eh, not so bad. Now I'm not saying engage in internet porn. Stop, it's wicked, repent from it, but stop and repent because it's wicked to not increase in the knowledge of God. Paul the Apostle highlights that what a worthy walk looks like, fully pleasing Him, is robust in good works, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God.
Strengthened for Patience and Long-Suffering
Notice he goes on thirdly. He says, in this worthy walk, you will be, verse 11, strengthened with all might according to his glorious power for all patience and longsuffering with joy. So Paul realizes that if we are going to walk a worthy walk, fully pleasing him, the Lord is certainly at work in us. It is the Lord who is strengthening us.
It is the Lord who is strengthening us with all might according to His glorious power. He sustains us, He keeps us, He enables us to press onward. You see, this walk worthy, fully pleasing Him isn't something, you know, we're just great at good works and we're just great at increasing in the knowledge of God. No, behind the scenes he is strengthening us with all might according to his glorious power, but note the specific focus for all patience and long-suffering with joy.
Paul understands that the Christian life typically isn't going to be a life that is unmolested. Paul realizes, as did Jesus before him, the Christian life is going to be tough. You're going to have hardship. You're going to have opposition.
There's going to be resistance to you. So Paul knows and Paul prays and Paul wants for the Colossians to be strengthened with all might according to the glorious power of God so that they'll have patience and long-suffering with joy. Some attach the with joy to the thanksgiving that follows, but I think the with joy goes here specifically with the patience and long-suffering. So you see Paul's emphasis.
You need to be fruitful in every good work, you need to increase in the knowledge of God, and you need to be strengthened with might in the inner man according to the glorious power of God, so that you'll have patience and long-suffering with joy. What is patience? Patience is resolute endurance under difficult circumstances. This probably speaks more to our disposition before God, right?
We need that resolute endurance and patience before God. Have you ever gone through a season of trial and difficulty? What is one of the biggest challenges? It's not to complain against who?
God, right? Because we're Calvinists, we're Reformed. We know that the Lord is sovereign. We know that whatever comes, comes from the hand of God.
We sing, number 94, whatever my God ordains is right. We sing, number 21, God moves in a mysterious way, his wonders to perform. Well, we don't always associate him moving in a mysterious way when everything is going our way. We have to acknowledge he moves in a mysterious way when everything seems to be going against us.
So when there are afflictions and trials in the Christian life, Paul wants his hearers, he wants the Colossians, and by extension us, to have that patience so that we don't get upset with God. So that we'll faithfully endure under God. We will not complain and murmur. But as well, long-suffering.
This is probably man-word. Paul doesn't want you to go buy a gun and shoot your enemies. Paul wants you to have a faithful endurance and a perseverance without a retaliatory spirit against those who give you grief. So patience with reference to God and long-suffering with reference to men.
And in order to do that, you must have God strengthen you with all might according to His glorious power. You see, in order to walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, you not only need to be fruitful in good works and increase in knowledge, but you need to be patient under the chastening hand of God, and you need to have long-suffering toward those in your life who really bug you, who really press you, who really distress you. And that long-suffering and patience is to be surrounded or packaged with joy. You see, it's a patience and a long-suffering that doesn't look like you're just, you know, bearing it out.
No, you're happy under the hand of God. You are cheerful under the discipline of your Father. Now, I know it's hard to laugh when you're in the midst of trial and affliction. We don't sit there and say, thank you, Lord, keep bringing it on me.
But there's a joy, there's a contentedness, there is an ability in the believer because he has been strengthened with all might according to God's glorious power that in the midst of trial he's able to be patient a joyfully patient before his God and joyfully long-suffering toward his neighbor that's trying him and vexing him. You see, if I'm long-suffering toward you and I let you know it, that's really not long-suffering, is it? If I tell you what a meathead you are and how difficult it is, but I'm really going to go the extra mile and be long, that's not long-suffering, brethren. It must be with joy so that the person you're being long-suffering to doesn't know the great lengths of distress you are going through in dealing with this particular person.
You see, if I'm long-suffering with you and I make sure you know it, that's not being long-suffering. But if I'm joyfully long-suffering, I'm going to grin, I'm going to be happy, I'm going to make sure that you know that I love you and that I'm resolved to deal with your meat-headery. That would be a Cam-ism. Shout-out to Cam.
Do you see this worthy walk? It's multi-faceted, isn't it? See, we think, well, you know, I'm doing good over here. I'm engaged in the good works.
I visited old people today. Check that off for the worthy what? But you need to increase in the knowledge of God. And you also need to be patient toward God when you're in suffering.
And you certainly need to be long-suffering and patient with others, and you need to do so with joy when they are vexing you, and trying you, and testing you, and bringing distress to you. Now, if they're that bad, rebuke them. Be a biblical Christian. Deal with them and tell them, brother, sister, what you're doing is wrong and you're not supposed to do that.
But if it's something that you're not going to rebuke them for, it's something that's, you know, it's not that, you know, that big of a deal, then be long-suffering toward them with joy.
Giving Thanks to the Father
And then note the fourth thing that sort of rounds out this view of what a worthy walk of the Lord is, fully pleasing Him. It is to be giving thanks to the Father. It's thankful. What does a worthy walk look like?
It looks like thankfulness. We need to be a thankful people. It's intriguing to me how many times thankfulness comes out in this short letter to the Colossians. Notice in 1.3, we give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you.
So you see, Paul practices what he preaches. He doesn't just pray that the Colossians will give thanks to the Father, but Paul himself gives thanks to the Father. We have it here in our text, verse 12. Notice in chapter 2, verse 6, As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him, and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with what? with thanksgiving.
Have you ever noticed how many times the Bible sets forth as a characteristic of the people of God that they are thankful? Do you know that thankfulness is so consistent with a grace-based salvation? Because thankfulness recognizes that it is a grace-based salvation. Unthankfulness toward God seems to indicate that we are okay in and of ourselves, but a thankfulness towards God recognizes His grace, His mercy, His kindness, and His gifts given to us.
Notice in chapter 3, verse 15. and let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body, and be thankful. Notice in verse 17, and whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. Notice in chapter 4 at verse 2, continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with Thanksgiving. We see it in Ephesians 5.
We see it elsewhere throughout the Pauline corpus. We see this emphasis upon thankfulness. What does a faithful Christian or a worthy walking Christian look like? Yes, he's engaged in good works.
Yes, he's increasing in the knowledge of God. Yes, he's strengthened with all might so that he can patiently and with long-suffering and joy bear up under the trials and difficulties. But he's a thankful man or woman. It's not just Thanksgiving one time a year.
And then if we ask the question, and I think we should, what should we thank God for? Well, Paul answers that. Isn't Paul wonderful? Paul just keeps going.
He keeps telling us. The structure of his prayer is really, if you like outlining and stuff, Paul can be outlined in his prayer closet.
Grounds for Thankfulness
Notice the reasons why we ought to give thanks. You ever had that? You know, you go around the Thanksgiving table. We do this at our home if we're going to have a meal together.
You know, tell us something that you're thankful for. And typically it goes around and everybody says something they're thankful for. That's a good thing. Have you ever seen somebody, and I don't really know what to say.
What do I say? What don't you have to thank God for? I mean, you just start in the morning, keep going all night. You've got plenty to thank God for.
Well, Paul highlights here specifics, giving thanks to the Father, notice, who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints and the light. Thank God that he has destined you for glory. Thank God that heaven is your future. Thank God that you are in route to Emmanuel's land.
Thank God that he has qualified you. It wasn't your work, It wasn't your merit, it wasn't your law keeping, it was the Father who qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints and the light. That means that one day, either when I die or when the Lord Jesus Christ returns, we will enter into that place where there is no more sorrow, there is no more pain, there is no more death, there's no more suffering, there's no more hunger, there's no more thirst. I often think that the people in the third world get more benefit out of those passages that promise no more hunger, no more thirst.
I mean, brethren, we really can't relate to that. But if we were in the Sudan and we were a believer and we heard that, we would probably just be thrilled at the concept that we will go to a place one day where there'll be no more hunger, no more thirst. We won't have to look at our little babies who are starving. Or when you get these reports from Haiti and people are eating dirt to try and get sustenance.
We are heading to that place because the Father has qualified us. Notice, secondly, God delivered us from the power of darkness. He's made us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. Why?
Verse 13, He has delivered us from the power of darkness. We're no longer steeped in darkness. We're no longer in that bondage. We're no longer in that place of utter depravity and utter helplessness.
We are now qualified to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. The light of the world has come, and because he has come, we are going to be blessed as partakers in that light. The Father has delivered us from the power of darkness, the spiritual darkness, its control over us. Notice in Acts 26, Paul uses this image, and it's beautiful.
Acts 26, beginning in verse, we'll get right to it, in verse 16. But rise and stand on your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness, both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I will yet reveal to you. I will deliver you from the Jewish people as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you, to open their eyes in order to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me. So you see those same sorts of concepts that Paul sets forth in there.
He prays, he wants, he desires that the Colossians walk in this worthy manner, fully pleasing God, being fruitful in good works, increasing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened so that they may suffer with joy, and that they may be a thankful people to the Father who has qualified them for this great inheritance. And who has delivered them from the power of darkness? I mean, that's a great thing to thank God for, isn't it? Do you ever struggle?
Thank you, Lord, for my food. Thank you, Lord, for my wife. Thank you, Lord, for this house. And thank you that I'm not in hell.
We can get a little more creative and start to think about the spiritual benefits that we have received. Thank you, Lord, that I see now. Thank you, Lord, that because of the light of the world, the light that has come into this world, thank you that I have now had my eyes open and I understand what the truth says. Thank you that you have set me free from that bondage of darkness.
Notice, we ought to be thankful that God transferred us to the kingdom of the Son of His love. Verse 13b, He has delivered us from the power of darkness and He has conveyed us or He has translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love. We are now kingdom citizens. John Eady says plainly, that kingdom which has Christ for its head and founder, which is partially developed on earth and shall be finally perfected in heaven.
He goes on to say, the word used here by Paul was often used to signify the deportation of a body of men or the removal of them to form a colony. That's what this conveyment meant or this transfer or translation meant. It was to deport them to another place and that's what's in view. Murray Harris says, the imagery of verses 12 and 13 suggests that believers have been rescued from the gloomy domain and tyrannical rule of Satan by being transplanted as free colonists into the kingdom and peaceable sovereignty of Christ to become citizens in the realm of light.
I mean, just ponder these things, and they ought to cause us to thank the Lord that He has delivered us from this gloomy tyranny under Satan. I mean, just think back to when you were unconverted. What was it that got your attention? What was it that got your money?
What was it that got your time? And now thank the Lord God Almighty that you are no longer stuck to and engaged in that, and you've been translated into the kingdom of the Son of His love. And we don't serve Him as we ought, we don't serve Him as we should, but we certainly serve Him like we did in that. And we can praise God for that.
And then he goes on, notice. Be thankful that He has indeed redeemed us from bondage. In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. Now Paul does something interesting here.
Prayer is giving way to instruction in theology. Grammatically, these verses are still attached to Paul's prayer, but Paul now goes into instruction. So you see, thank God for this, for this, for this, and then he mentions the kingdom of the son of his love. He highlights something specific concerning the son of his love in verse 14, in whom, that's the son of his love, We have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sin.
Certainly thank God for that, but now He'll theologize. Now He'll engage in some Christology. Now He develops in verses 15 to 20 how it is that Christ gives us that redemption through His blood. So we move from prayer to theology, and thus ends Paul's prayer.
Summary and Application
So in summary, the Apostle prays that we would be filled with all wisdom or in all wisdom and spiritual understanding so that we would walk worthy. Walking worthy of the Lord, brethren, that is our goal. That is what's in view. That's how you ought to pray for your spouse.
That's how you ought to pray for your children. That's how you ought to pray for parents. That's how you ought to pray for one another. Now, that doesn't mean every morning, every time you say the same thing.
I think Christians, we do this. We hear a message on prayer, you know, the Lord's Prayer, for instance, and then we, you know, for a week, we'll pray through that Lord's Prayer, and then we fizzle out, and we kind of, you can be, you know, movement, you can have movement through Scripture, pray through the Lord's Prayer, pray through the commandments. pray through the Psalms, pray through the prayers of Paul, but keep these concepts in your head. Yes, we ought to pray for the downtrodden and poor. Yes, we ought to pray for the hurting amongst us.
I'm not saying never do that, but I am suggesting that there's a spiritual dimension that we need to pray for as well. I heard a good sermon today that just really impacted me. It was Dale Ralph Davis, and he mentioned... The text was in 1 Kings 11, when it deals with Solomon's downfall.
And it was when Solomon was old. And Dr. Davis really pressed this. We spend a lot of time on dealing with youth.
We spend a lot of time on young people in Sunday school, and then the youth... We don't spend a lot of time on old people. And he says Solomon was old when he fell. Solomon was old when he had his heart turned away from him.
What do the old people in our church need prayer for? Yes, for new hips, and yes for new knees, and yes for, you know, all that stuff. But that they would be what Paul says here. That they would be fruitful in every good work.
That they would be increasing in the knowledge of God. that they would be strengthened, that they would have joyful patience and long suffering, and that they would be a thankful people. You know, that is important for the old people in our church, for the middle-aged people, for the young people. This is a sort of prayer that we ought to be offering up on behalf of the people of God as the Apostle does here. And then we ought to just ask ourselves in terms of a real practical approach to a passage like this.
Does my life look like that? I mean, not me praying. Do I pray like this? But am I the sort of person that Paul prays that I would be?
You see the difference there? Yes, there's instruction on Paul at the throne of grace. We ought to be like Paul and pray these sorts of things. But we also ought to ask the question, are we the kind of people that Paul prays we would be?
Are we walking worthy of the Lord? Are we fully pleasing Him? Are we doing good works? I mean, in the reformed world, we need to constantly be encouraged.
It's justification by faith alone, but you need to live consistently with that profession of faith. You see this. You have, on the one hand, people that are social justice warriors, good works. They do all these good works.
They don't always have a robust doctrine of justification by faith, which is a bit scary. But then you get into the Reformed Church, we have a robust doctrine of justification by faith, but not so many good works. See, we need the emphasis of James and we need the emphasis of Paul. We need to have justification by faith alone.
But we need to recognize it's not a faith that remains or that is alone, but it's accompanied by all these other traces. And of course, are we increasing in the knowledge of God? Would Paul say, hey, I prayed for you and I'm asking you, are you increasing in the knowledge of God? Could you imagine that if you were one of the saints in Colossae and Paul came to visit and you're in the back of the church?
Good sermon, Paul. And he says, are you increasing in the knowledge of God? He'd probably want to say, yeah, are you growing in your understanding of who God is? Brethren, there is no better venture, there's no better pursuit as a Christian than the knowledge of God.
This is it. This is what we were created for. This is what Jesus defines as eternal life. This is eternal life, that they may know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.
That's the essence of eternal life, John 17, 3. Certainly that ought to be our pursuit. And are we the sorts of people that are being strengthened with all might according to His glorious power so that we're patient toward God under His afflicting hand, and that we're long-suffering toward others, and that we are such with joy? And are we thankful?
So we say, Paul, you're a great preacher. Are you a thankful person? Well, yeah, I think so. I thank God for my turkey once a year.
Now, are you thanking God who has qualified us to be partakers of this inheritance with the saints and the light? Are you thankful to this God who has brought you out of darkness, who has transferred you into the kingdom of the Son of His love? Are you thankful to this God who sent His Son that through Him we have redemption even through His blood? So it's one thing, and yes, we ought to pray like Paul, but we ought to be the sort of people that Paul prays we would be.
Well, let us close in prayer.
Closing Prayer
Father, certainly there are many things that we have considered tonight. Help us to take these things to heart. Help us to pray through these things in our own lives. And God, help us to be mindful of the spiritual dimension, that we are not just bodies, that we are souls, that we are spiritual men and women and people in our church, whether young whether old, whether in between, all have spiritual needs, and I pray that you would cause us, as we pray, as we intercede for one another, to take these things to the throne of grace on their behalf.
Go with us now, we pray, and bring us together on the Lord's Day, bring us together even on Saturday to rejoice in the wedding of Steele and Rebecca, and we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.