Please turn in your Bibles to Colossians 1. Colossians 1, just to remind you, we're looking at Paul's intercessory prayer for the Colossians. He indicates his thankfulness in prayer for the church in Colossae in verses 3 to 8. And then in verses 9 to 14, he highlights what it is He prays on their behalf.
He tells us, or tells them specifically, those things which matter most at the throne of grace. We saw the occasion of His prayer. Verse 9, For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, Do not cease to pray for you. Paul had never been to Colossae.
The church had been planted by Epaphras. While Paul is in prison, Epaphras comes and visits him and gives him an encouraging word about the church in Colossae and the fact that they had faith in Jesus Christ, they had love for all the brethren, and they had a hope laid up for them in Heaven. Paul says, for this reason, we don't cease to pray for you." He indicates the content of his prayer specifically in verse 9b. This is the petition.
He says, we do not cease to pray for you, and then notice in verse 9, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. Theology mattered to the Apostle Paul. Theology mattered so much that when he prayed for this church, he asked that they would be filled with the knowledge of God's will. And that not only being filled with that knowledge, they would have the wisdom and the spiritual understanding necessary to put that doctrine into practice.
And the purpose for this prayer, the reason why Paul asks this, is found in verse 10. that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him." So doctrine, or what we understand about God, affects how we live for God. If we don't know Him, we won't walk worthy of Him. The idea, however, is that we, being filled with that knowledge, will walk consistently with it. We remember that the prophets of old indicted the nation of Israel so often for their lack of knowledge with reference to God.
Well, I'll just read beginning in verse 9 to verse 14, and then we'll pick up in our exposition. 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, being strengthened with all might according to His glorious power for all patience and longsuffering 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. Amen.
Well, let us pray. Our Father, we thank You for the Holy Scripture. We thank You that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God. and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. And our desire, Lord God, is that You would thoroughly furnish us unto every good work.
We pray, Lord Most High, that You would help us to have that knowledge of God that produces a worthy walk fully pleasing to You. And our God, we pray that You would forgive us for all of our sins and transgressions. Cleanse us afresh in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Fill us with Your Spirit and guide us and direct us into all truth so that we may indeed live as You would have us to do, Lord God.
And we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Introduction
Well, remember last week we considered what if Paul was staying at our house and some morning we got up in the morning and we wanted to go to the bathroom and on the way to the bathroom we overheard the Apostle Paul praying. I don't doubt that most of us would be tempted to stop and put our ear to the door and listen to what our brother was praying for. Well, we would have heard him pray that God would fill us with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. We would have heard Paul say, I want them to be filled with that knowledge so that they may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him.
And then we would have heard Paul describing what that worthy walk looks like. Hopefully we would then say, well, is that characteristic of my life? Is that how I walk with reference to the Lord? Because you see, that's what Paul does in the remaining section of this prayer.
He goes on in verse 10, having said that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, to describe what that walk looks like. He gives four words. They're called participles. We know them as I-N-G words.
Four of them to describe what this worthy walk looks like. Notice he says, one, being fruitful in every good work. Two, increasing in the knowledge of God. Three, being strengthened with all might.
And four, giving thanks to the Father. So those four things are characteristic of a worthy walk. Those four things are what we ought to be displaying or demonstrating if our profession of faith is real, if it is legitimate, if it is genuine. In other words, these four things identify a biblical Christian walk.
A walk that is worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him. And then Paul, in verse 12, begins to make a transition from his prayer life to theology. He goes from telling them about how he prays on their behalf to getting in specifically to Christian theology. Because remember, Papyrus told Paul that the church was succumbing or falling prey to some false teaching.
And so Paul realizes the best defense is a good offense. And so what he wants to do is enthrone Christ afresh to these Colossians so that they will be inoculated from the error and heresy that is being propagated there in Colossae. So we'll see something of that transition in verses 12-14. But
Marks of a Worthy Walk
first of all, the characteristics of a walk worthy of the Lord. Remember, we considered this. This is a very high calling. We have been saved by God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ so that we may walk worthy of the Lord.
We are not saved simply so we can go sit down and we can just enjoy those benefits as private persons, never having any effect upon anyone else. No, we are saved to serve. We are saved to manifest the glory of God. He has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light so that we may proclaim His excellencies.
So that we may testify to others who God is and what He's all about. Philippians 1.27, Paul says that we are to let our conduct be worthy of the Gospel. So we have a very high calling. We ought not to take these things lightly.
We ought to count the costs. We ought to consider the implications of salvation by grace through faith. And
Fruitfulness in Good Works
that first mark of a worthy walk is fruitfulness in good works. That's what Paul says. He says, I want you to be fruitful in every good work. We're not saved by good works.
We need to say this over and over and over again. Because the religion of man, the doctrine of Satan teaches this, that if you do enough good, you can secure a place in heaven. In other words, if your good works outweigh your bad works, then on that Day of Judgment, you'll hear, well done, good and faithful servant. That religion of man, that doctrine of Satan, is absolutely contrary to the Holy Bible.
Grace alone, through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone, is the only way any of us will ever hear, well done, good and faithful servant. The Bible teaches the doctrine of total depravity, that man is completely and utterly sinful, that man's heart, according to the prophet Jeremiah, is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. The Bible teaches us that man has gone astray. All we light sheep have gone astray.
Paul, when he summarizes human depravity, tells us in Romans 3, there is none righteous, no, not one. There is none who understands. There is none who seeks after God. There is none who has the fear of God before his eyes.
The Bible is clear that we are not saved by good works. In fact, the capstone on Paul's teaching in Romans 3 concerning the universal problem of sin and condemnation is revealed this way. He says, therefore, by the deeds of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight. Now, I understand, brethren, that when we do the deeds of the law, we can look good to others.
When we do the deeds of the law, we can impress friends and family. When we give an outward show of piety and religion, there will no doubt be people that say, what a good man, what a godly soul. But you see, Paul says, therefore, by the deeds of the law, no flesh will be justified in His sight. It is God with whom we have to do.
And by our law keeping, by our good works, by our deeds of righteousness, there will be no flesh justified in His sight. God, through the prophet Isaiah, indicted the nation of Israel. He says, for your righteousnesses are like filthy rags. The very best that they had were like menstrual cloths, soiled and filthy before a thrice holy God.
Paul tells us in Romans 3, one of the purposes for the law is so that we'll know sin. The law defines for us what is sinful conduct so that hopefully the sinner will then flee unto the Lord Jesus Christ. So we're not saved by works. We're not saved by our law-keeping, by our good works.
Turn to Ephesians 2 to see this very clearly and very evidently. Ephesians 2, verses 8 and 9. Ephesians 2 at verse 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. We're not saved by works.
We're not saved by good deeds. We're not saved by merit. We're saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Now, notice verse 10.
We are not saved by good works, but we are saved unto good works. In other words, God saves us so that we'll then go out and let our light so shine before men that they may see our good works and give glory to God. Notice in verse 10 of Ephesians 2. He says, For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
So even these good words, were prepared beforehand by our God so that we would walk in them. So you see, when Paul comes to pray, and Paul begins to define what a worthy walk looks like, he says, I want you to be increasing, or being fruitful rather, in every good work. We're not blobs. We're not spiritual slugs.
We're not sloths. We're not saved just so we can lay on the couch and say, isn't it great to be saved? We're saved so that we'll work. Not for salvation, but because we're saved.
It is natural. It is consistent. It is the fleshing out of what God has done in us. It is that desire to bring Him glory.
It is that desire to manifest His praise. It is that desire to do what we do so that the spotlight may be shone upon our great God. So that when people say, wow, that's a good thing you've done, you deflect it and you give the glory to God. You don't say, well, it's because I'm a really good guy.
I'm just a legitimately awesome dude. You ought to get to know me. You'll see even more stuff about me. No!
The Christian mindset and ethic is to deflect all praise and glory unto God. John Calvin commenting says, what is here said to the Colossians, let all believers take as said to themselves and draw from this a common exhortation that we must always make progress in the doctrine of piety until death. This is what Paul says. This is what a worthy walk looks like, being fruitful in every good work.
And when we ask the Bible, what is every good work, very often as Christians or religious types, we say, well, it's those things we do that are religious in nature. But that's not how the Bible identifies it. The Bible tells us that all things lawful, done for the glory of God, are indeed good works. 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17. Paul sets forth the inspiration, the profitability, the instructability of the Scriptures, and then he gives us this purpose, that the man of God may be thoroughly furnished unto every good work.
In this very book of Colossians, we see a contrast between the good works that they're now supposed to practice and the wicked things that they used to practice. Notice in Colossians 1, at verse 21, "...and you who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works." In Colossians 3, as he tells them, they are to avoid vice, they are to put off those things that used to characterize their lives. He says in Colossians 3, 7, in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them. Now you are to be fruitful in every good work.
You have been saved by grace alone through faith alone so that you can put off those wicked works, so that you no longer walk in that conduct, and so that you now may honor the Lord God Most High who has saved you. Even the act of employment, us working for secular employers, is a good work. And the Bible recognizes this. Notice in Colossians 3, 22-24, bond servants obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eye services, men pleasers, but in sincerity of heart, fearing God.
You're working in that factory and you're slapping rivets on that door panel. You do it for the glory of God. It was Roman Catholicism and a lot of bad theology that made this secular, sacred distinction that only the priests and those in full-time Christian service can really honor God in every good work. Everything else is just a necessary evil.
That is hogwash according to the Scripture. The preacher tells us in Ecclesiastes, whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might. Do all things for the glory of God, whether you eat or whether you drink or whatever you do. Again, lawfully.
I'm not saying when you visit prostitutes or when you take drugs. That's not the case. The only qualifier is that it's a lawful activity. That it's not something sinful in and of itself.
Paul says, I want you being fruitful in every good work. Verse 23 of Colossians 3, And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. For you serve the Lord Christ. When you take that time card and you punch in, it's Christ you serve.
That's why in your workplace you ought to be the best. Not because you're working for the man, but because you're working for the God-man. You're rendering service unto the Lord Jesus. Women, tending to little children, tending to the home.
These are good works. They are to be done for the glory of God Most High. They are done as a sacred act of worship unto the Lord. Paul characterizes Epaphroditus' visit to him in Philippians as an act of religious service.
Epaphroditus was sent by the church in Philippi to take supplies and gifts to Paul, who was in prison. Paul calls that religious worship. Paul says this is sacrificial. This is an offering unto the Lord.
You see, it's not just when you come in here, when you give a tithe or an offering, or you sing a hymn, or you bow in prayer, that you have somehow now gone into the realm of service to God. No, you are serving God 24-7 as a Christian. God looks upon us. God is well pleased with us.
Not in and of ourselves, but as we are in Jesus Christ. I love the summary statement concerning King Josiah of Israel in the account in 2 Chronicles 35. 2 Chronicles 35, I believe it does give us a wonderful illustration of this principle. 2 Chronicles 35, verse 26, Now the rest of the acts of Josiah and his goodness according to what was written in the law of the Lord. Our goodness is defined according to what is written in the law of the Lord. Our goodness, first and foremost, to our God, the first table of the law.
Our goodness, secondly, toward man, the second table of the law. Upon these two commandments, love to God, love to our brother. Upon those two hang all the law and the prophets. This is what defines a good work.
And Paul prays that they would walk worthy of the Lord. engaging in fruitfulness, being fruitful in every good work.
Growing in the Knowledge of God
Secondly, he says, I want you to grow in the knowledge of God. It's that theology thing again with Paul. He's a stubborn preacher, isn't he? He's just not going to let you forget what he wants from you.
He wants you to use your head. Not just to put a hat on. Not just to keep the water off. He wants you to use your head to study God.
He wants you to imitate the Psalter where it says, Great are the words of the Lord. They are sought out. They are studied by all who have pleasure in them. Paul wants them to be filled with all of the knowledge of God so that they may walk worthy of the Lord.
That worthy walk looks like this. Being fruitful in every good work. Growing in the knowledge of God. He's right back at that theology thing.
This is what he says. Increasing in the knowledge of God. Increasing in the knowledge of God. You see, moral uprightness isn't just in terms of, I haven't committed adultery, I haven't committed theft, I haven't dishonored the Lord in blasphemy, but it also means that I have studied Him.
I am learning about Him. I am increasing in the knowledge of God. I know more about the Trinity than when I first got saved. The beauty in the person of the Lord Jesus is more attractive to me now.
And I'm able to understand it better than when I first got saved. Do you notice with Paul, he does not accept a static Christianity? He does not want you to be a kindergartner for the rest of your life. He doesn't want you to just be able to say, I love you, God, for the entirety of your life.
He wants you to say, I love you, God, and here are the reasons why. Hymns and singing often reflect this. Sometimes these smaller, these choruses that are repeated ad infinitum are demonstrative of the little child who has just come to faith in the Savior. That little child needs to move on. to Luther's hymn.
That little child needs to move on to the psalms and the hymns with their rich doctrinal content so that there's maturation, there's growth. He's not just continually singing, Jesus, I love You. Jesus, I love You. As good as that may be, when your child is two and he says, Daddy, I love You, when he's 22 and you're on your deathbed, hopefully he can string together a few more reasons as to why he loves You.
There must be maturation. There must be growth. There must be an increasing in the knowledge of God. See, I have this zany idea that those who have been saved by grace want to learn more about their Savior.
And I think Paul had that zany idea too. I don't think Paul would have accepted the thought, well, you mean you don't study your Bible? You just listen to everything you're told by the preacher? We know Paul didn't have that mindset because when he was in Berea, the Jews in the synagogue searched and examined the Scriptures daily to see if these things were true.
Paul didn't say, don't do that, just believe me. I think if we got Paul to the side, in fact, this text verifies, Paul, does it bother you when people are flipping their Bibles? No! They better be flipping their Bibles.
The Bibles better have some mileage on them. You see, God is so great. God is so glorious and wondrous. And the knowledge of God is the best possible acquisition a man, a woman, a boy or a girl can have.
That my prayer is, is that not only would they be fruitful in every good work, but they'd be increasing. They would be growing. They would be saying in their own hearts, let me have at the Scriptures. They wouldn't be making excuses that I'm so busy, or my days are so short.
No, they'd get up early or they'd stay up late, because the knowledge of God is that vital. It's that important. They wouldn't take the paper over the Bible. They wouldn't take the Canucks over the Bible.
They wouldn't take the motocross over the Bible, or the guns, or the hunting. They would take God first. They would seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, knowing then that all other things will be added unto them. Being static in the Christian life is not an option.
If you are not increasing in the knowledge of God, you're not walking worthy of Him. It really is that simple. We ask the question, what is a worthy walk? And one of the ingredients is increasing in the knowledge of God.
If you don't read your Bible, if you don't come to preaching, if you don't listen to Bible study, if you don't fill your head with the Scriptures, you're not walking worthy of Him. See, we want to try to coddle and pet and help everybody to accept themselves and feel good. I'm sorry. If you're not increasing in the knowledge of God, you're not walking worthy of Him.
I don't care how old you are. I don't care how young you are. If you profess faith in Christ, a worthy walk looks like this. It doesn't do any good to say, well, that person doesn't read their Bible, that person doesn't go to church, that person never comes to Wednesday night, that person doesn't have sermonaudio.com on their favorite links.
You know what? Let God deal with that person. Let you deal with you. Isn't it amazing when it comes to things spiritual?
We want to make sure everybody else is doing so well. Oh boy, so-and-so should be here listening to this. Oh boy, so-and-so needs to read this book. How often in your heart of hearts do you say, Lord, thank You.
Thank You for speaking this Word to me, because I have been lazy. I have been a spiritual slug. I have been slothful. I've got moss growing on my spiritual body.
Thankfully, no one but you sees, God, because you're merciful and kind, and I can trust in your forgiveness, and I pray that you'll give me grace to go from here, to get rid of the moss, and to begin to increase in the knowledge of God. We want to take care of everything else. Solomon was right on in Proverbs 4. Keep your own heart with all diligence.
For out of it spring the issues of life. What's our temptation? To keep everybody else's heart. Well, what about so-and-so?
What about whoever? What about them? What about that? What about you?
Are you increasing in the knowledge of God today? If you're not, go do it. You see, we have a God of grace and mercy. We have a God who forgives us through the blood of Jesus.
We have a God that when we come to Him and say, Lord, I have not been increasing in the knowledge of you. Please forgive me. He'll forgive you. That's our God.
Isn't that great? That's why it's so great to be a gospel preacher. It's all about God and His grace and His mercy and His kindness and His love. That's truly good news.
See, it's not about a bunch of people saying, well, you haven't increased to this measure. We're throwing you out of the church. Kick you right out because you haven't grown. You haven't expanded in your units of knowledge.
God's gracious. God's good. God's kind.
Strengthened for Patient Endurance
Notice the third thing Paul prays, or Paul defines as a characteristic of this walk worthy of the Lord. Verse 11, literally, being strengthened with all might according to His glorious power for all patience and long-suffering with joy. Some versions attach with joy to the giving of thanks in verse 12. If I'm not mistaken, I believe the NIV does that.
It's a joyful thanksgiving. I think that's a tautology. That means saying the same thing twice. Of course thanksgiving is to be with joy.
That's a no-brainer. This joy attaches itself to the patience and long-suffering, which is an expression of Paul's characteristic, being strengthened with all might according to his glorious power for all patience and long-suffering with joy. You see, Paul knows that in local churches there are problems. Just ask him.
He wrote the letters to the Corinthians. Paul knows that in family life, sometimes there's a bit of abrasiveness that may occur. Paul knows that there may be a Christian husband out there who may be embittered against his wife. Paul knows that there's Christian wives out there that may struggle with submitting to their own husbands as to the Lord.
Paul knows that there's Christian children out there that don't always want to obey and honor their parents in the Lord. Paul knows that there are some fathers in the church, even, that will exasperate their children. They'll provoke them to wrath. They'll do mean things.
Maybe not physical torture and physical abuse and pain. They'll play with their minds in such a way that the kid doesn't know whether he's coming or going. Paul knows that there are troubles in the Christian life. So when he prays that he wants them to be fruitful in every good work, he wants them increasing in the knowledge of God, he wants them to be strong so that they can do it.
In other words, he wants them to have the resources necessary so that they may carry out this worthy walk. I mean, face it, walking worthy of the Lord is no easy task, is it? You might say, well, I don't know, I've never done it. Not as we describe it the way Paul says, I don't know anything about that kind of a worthy walk.
Well, I'm guessing if these four things are true of us with reference to a worthy walk, there will be times, there will be seasons in our life where we'll just cry out to God, Lord, please help me. So you see, Paul is saying that in this worthy walk, that strength is necessary. We need resources. We need vitality.
Jesus said, apart from Me, you can do nothing. How does the branch derive its strength? Through the sap that comes from the main branch, from the true vine. We've got to have that sap.
We've got to have those nutrients. We've got to have those resources so that we may thrive and flourish and grow. This is Jesus' whole analogy in John 15. He says, My Father will prune away the bad growth, Because that will sap the strength.
When you prune it away, all of the necessary nutrients go to the place that most desperately needs it. Well, Paul is praying the same thing, or Paul is saying the same thing here. He is saying essentially what the Bible tells us over and over again. What God demands, He supplies.
What God demands, He supplies. You need strength. And see, it can't be just some Send in your $39.95 for four equal payments, and we'll give you some strength." No, that strength ain't going to get it for the long haul. This strength isn't something that you're going to get at a Bible conference where you get sort of whizzed into a frenzy for a weekend, and then a few days later you're back to being a spiritual slug.
No, you need strength, baby. You need divine strength. You need resources that are fit for the task. You see, a worthy walk requires real men.
I don't mean to exclude women. I'm including men and women. Paul does this, by the way, in 1 Corinthians 16. He says, Be brave like men, even to the women.
The idea is being masculine in your faith. Being strong and earnest in your faith. Men can be very feminine when it comes to faith. Those ten spies that came back from the reconnaissance mission, they were spiritual women.
Oh, it's a good land, but there's big, big, big men there and we can't do it. Those are wimps. It's not being a real man. In the same token, a jail taking that tent peg and driving...
What's her name? It's through jail's hat. It was jail. Jail takes the tent peg and drives it through the head of Cicero.
He wants to lay down for a little rest after battling. And she says, lay right here, my master. Have some warm milk before you lie down. Just excuse me for a moment because I'm going to fetch the tent peg.
Wham! Spiritual manhood. You see, the Christian faith is not, you know, those signs, no wince. That's really how we can define Christianity.
And you know, in order to do this, you need strength from on high. Look at how Paul describes this strength. Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power. You know, one of the implications we can derive from this statement is that you can never say, I can't.
I can't do it. Oh yes, you can. You may not want to. You may be a little unwilling right now to do what it takes, but do not say you can't.
Because God has glorious power. God owns the cattle on a thousand hills. God has saved you by His grace. He can certainly enable you to deal with that particular sin that you still struggle with.
There is no such thing as an I can't attitude when we're dealing with power according to His glorious might. What does that even mean? It means He's got an armory full of resources. He has everything that you or I could possibly need.
And notice, with Paul, this strength is particularly necessary for patience and long-suffering with joy. I love this because Paul's a realist. Give them this extra endowment of strength, Lord God, so that they'll all go to China and North Korea and Maldives so that they can be gospel preachers. No.
Give them this strength so that they can deal with each other. Basically what he's saying. Isn't that amazing? We need strength to deal with each other.
We need strength to deal with each other. Why? Because the temptation is to not deal. Something happens between a husband and a wife, and instead of dealing with it, they both run to the corner, and they hide, and they brood, and they complain, and they cry, and they mumble, and they grumble, and all those sorts of things.
You need strength from on high so that you'll deal with it. Something happens in the church. Two brothers, two sisters that love each other have a falling out. What are they going to do?
They're going to pray to God, strengthen me so that I can deal with this. There's too much whimpery in the Christian church to just run. Let's go start a new church. Let's take our marbles and go home.
Let's just pray and fix it. We actually have this idea. Well, how could anybody ever sin against me? Get over yourself.
Paul tells us the ethic we are to imbibe. We are to forgive one another even as God in Christ forgave us. How could we hold a grudge in light of Calvary? That's something that I just can't get.
I cannot get it. I mean, I can get a lot of things. I can't get that. I can't get how we could hold a grudge to someone when Jesus has forgiven us everything.
Jesus paid it all! That's some. All of our adultery, all of our sin, all of our drugs, all of our alcohol, all of our blasphemy, all of our Sabbath breaking, all of our dishonoring the parents, all of our murder, and our lying, and our covetousness, and our thieving hearts, all of that covered under the blood of Christ. Taken by God and cast, as the prophet says, into the depths of the sea.
And then we're going to get our noses bent out of shape and not forgive? Paul says, I want you to be strengthened with might according to His glorious power for all patience and long-suffering with joy. This patience, if there is a difference, some say these two words are synonymous. I actually think the patience is first and foremost God-word.
It is a resolute endurance under difficult circumstances. There are trials in the Christian life. There are troubles. There are difficulties.
We have woes. How are we supposed to bear up? We're supposed to be patient toward God. It doesn't mean we can't pray.
It doesn't mean we can't cry out. We're going to see tonight Habakkuk the prophet. He cries out. He asks God, why?
That's a legitimate expression of Christian faith. Robertson says it's not a lack of faith, but a perplexed faith that troubles Habakkuk, and sends him to the throne of grace. We need patience for the Christian life. In fact, after Habakkuk offers up his second question, his second round of questioning to the Lord, he says, now I'm going to go sit on the watchtower, I'm going to wait for the Lord to respond, and then I'm going to figure out how to answer.
He lays it before him, and then he patiently waits for his answer. We need patience. We need endurance in the Christian life. The long-suffering, I believe, is man-word.
It is a patient endurance that does not retaliate against others. Long-suffering. Oh, they did this to me. I'm going to get them back.
Oh, she said this to me, I'm going to say this back." Sometimes this happens between professing Christian couples, even real Christian couples. Somebody will say something and the other has to retaliate. We need this strength from on high so that we won't retaliate. And you notice Paul says, with joy.
Because see, there's a patience and an endurance and a long-suffering that is based on brute strength. That is based on power. No, it's to be with joy. You're not just saying, I'm going to be patient and I'm going to be long-suffering to you because the Bible says it.
You're going to do it with a smile on your face. You're going to do it with love in your heart. You're going to do it with a genuine expression of joy for that person. They've said something vicious.
They've said something cruel. They've said something unkind. Not only are you not going to retaliate, you're going to bless them. You're going to pray for them.
You're going to love them. You're going to care for them. You're going to give them a hug. You're going to show them that Jesus Christ is really at work in your heart.
And that the strength that raised Jesus from the dead is at work in your heart. That's what it's about, brethren. That's what Christianity is about. And when we sin, we confess it.
There's going to be sins and offenses. I mean, that's something I always counsel people when they're going to get married. It's not a matter of if you sin against each other. Because there's this sort of glow that comes over two people when they first meet each other.
This glow of the sun. They can't see any blemishes or spots. Oh, they're just perfect. I love that.
Well, you know, in your married life, you may have a time where you don't always see eye to eye. What? Are you kidding me? What?
I don't want to be the bearer of bad news here, but you know, generally speaking, when you take two sinners, even redeemed sinners, and you put them together and they bounce off of each other once in a while, there's a bit of an abrasiveness. Oh, come on, you can't. Listen, it's not a matter of if you sin, it's when you sin. Here's how you need to deal with it.
You know, the church needs a great big dose of this as well. I mentioned one of my favorite authors is an Old Testament scholar by the name of Ralph Davis. I looked at his website, the pastor of a Presbyterian church in Mississippi. And one of the things on the front of the website I really appreciate, he says, if you're looking for a perfect church, let me just tell you to go somewhere else.
We're not perfect. We're not perfect. In other words, if we had a brochure, we have a brochure we ought to put in there. Look, when you come here, you'll be sinned against.
It's inevitable. I will offend you. I will hurt you. And I may not even know it.
You may be hurt, put out, offended, affected, and I may smile and sing and hum zippity-doo-dah without any clue whatsoever. It's going to happen. It has happened. Some of you are going, yeah, it has happened many times.
Very frequently, too. See, this is what Christianity is about. Endurance. The joy.
It's the guy running in the race and he's got the smile on his face. Everybody else is like they want to die. There's that one guy and he's smiling. You're like, what's up with that?
He ain't running the fastest. He's not at the front of the pack. He may be in the last. He's got a smile on his face.
What's up? I love running. I just want to be in this race. Just happy to be here.
That's the attitude that Paul says is characteristic of a Christian. And then
Thankfulness to the Father
notice fourthly, the fourth characteristic is a thankfulness to God. Giving thanks to the Father. A walk worthy of the Lord will be marked by thankfulness to God. And as we looked at last Sunday night, Acts 26, which does appear to be in the Apostle's mind, The same thoughts or the same things that come out in Paul's speech before Agrippa are, interestingly, things that he prays for the Colossian church here.
But this giving of thanks to the Father is important for two reasons. The first is because it's right. Our existential, me-oriented, hypersensitive age wants to do things because it first and foremost benefits me. We're to do things first and foremost because it's right before God.
We ought to be thankful because it's right. When we give something to someone and they don't thank us, we think they're wretches. Okay, you might be saying, well, no, that's not... Yes, you do.
When somebody is given something by you and they don't thank you, you think, at least in your mind, well, that's odd. They didn't even say thank you. Why? Because it's right to say thank you.
But not only because it's right, but because gratitude is a proper response to God's grace. Gratitude is a characteristic of God's grace-based way of dealing with sinners. In other words, as we are full of thankfulness to God, we are continually setting forth the truth that we're saved by grace. We're not patting ourselves on the back.
We're not congratulating ourselves. We're not saying that we made a better choice than others. No, we're going to be more like, Watts, why was I made to enter in when thousands starve and rather come? Gratitude, thankfulness, giving thanks to the Father is a legitimate expression of God's grace to us in the Scriptures, in salvation, in redemption, in His saving dealings with us.
When we are grumbling, whining, complaining babies, there is not a soul in this world who would hear us and say, wow, you're really full of gratitude toward God for His gracious salvation, aren't you? What does thankfulness do? It puts the spotlight on the giver, not the recipient. I'm thankful to you, God.
It's not like, oh, wow, you're a great guy. No, God's a great God. He gave. He has poured out.
Four Reasons for Thanksgiving
Interestingly enough, Paul gives us four reasons why we are thankful in this particular passage.
Qualified for the Inheritance
The first is because he has qualified us for an inheritance. We didn't qualify ourselves. This wasn't like a bank loan where we brought in our collateral and we said, I've got this to put up against the loan. And then the loan officer says, well, I've qualified you.
No. Not in the realm of salvation. God has qualified us because He's God. And He's gracious.
And we had no collateral. We had nothing to put up. We had no good thing to lay on the table and say, well, Lord, because of this, can I have something of this inheritance? No.
God has qualified us. And notice the language. He has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. We saw last week, inheritance is a very large biblical theme.
God made a promise to Abraham that there would be an inheritance of land. The Israelites went in and dispossessed the land. They then divvied up the land. They inherited this because of God's blessing.
Well, we have become inheritors of a land that far exceeds Palestine. We have become inheritors of Emmanuel's land, that new heavens, that new earth, that new Jerusalem, that place where moth and rust cannot destroy. God has qualified us, and we are to be thankful for this.
Delivered from Darkness
Notice, secondly, God has delivered us from the power of darkness. No, it's all God here. You see why we're thankful? Because of God.
He qualified us. He delivered us. What did He deliver us from? The power of darkness.
The tyranny of Satan. The dominion of godlessness. That's what He has delivered us from. Write in your margin or on your notes, Exodus 6 to 8.
Exodus 6, 6-8, background for what's going on in this particular passage in terms of a qualification for an inheritance, in terms of a deliverance from the power of darkness. It's the language God used when He delivered Israel out of the power of darkness in Egypt. And then notice thirdly,
Transferred into Christ's Kingdom
He not only delivered us from the power of darkness, but He has conveyed us, or He has transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love. John Edy 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. The word here used by Paul was often used to signify deportation of a body of men or the removal of them to form a colony. Isn't that a great idea, a great thought?
He's delivered us from the power of darkness and he has deported us. He has deported us. Deportation usually takes a negative connotation today, doesn't it? I've been deported.
You know, I was enjoying shopping at Walmart and all the good things. I got deported. I got sent back. Well, this is a gracious deportation.
This is a glorious deportation. It is from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of the Son of His love. It is a deportation upward, heavenward, Godward. And then the last thing he says,
Redemption Through Christ's Blood
he moves from three redemptive acts of the Father, qualifying, delivering and conveying or transferring us to a redemptive act of the Son. In verse 14, in whom? the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins." A lot to be thankful for, isn't it? A lot to be thankful for. In fact, we could probably all just bow our heads right now and say, God, forgive me that I am not more thankful in light of Colossians 1.
Forgive me that I don't consider this qualifying the qualification you've done for me to make me a recipient for this inheritance. God, I don't think about the fact that you've delivered me from the power of darkness. I mean, the power of darkness, the tyranny and dominion of sin. It's the language of Paul in Romans 3.
We're all under sin. It means like a slave master, a slave driver, someone whose resources are connected to the master himself. Do you thank God for that? You've delivered me?
You have taken me out of? The language of redemption is beautiful. It means to buy back unto oneself. That's what Jesus has done.
He has redeemed us out of the slave market of sin. You know, there's common misconception that we're in the slave market of sin saying, please take me, take me, take me. No. We're in there loving Him.
We're in there delighting in it. We're in there affected by it and we are enthralled. Christ comes and He grabs us and He pulls us out of there. I had to laugh at the church sign across the street from my house.
God's love is persistent but not pushy. I need a pushy God. To be quite honest with you, I need the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has sovereign power. who rips out my old stony heart and puts in a new fleshly heart. We need a God who is sovereign in His dealings with man, because no one can come to the Father unless the Father who sent me draws him.
Same word, by the way, in our studies in Acts 16, Paul and Silas were dragged. Same word. Only He doesn't drag us kicking and screaming and saying no. He, according to Psalm 110, makes us willing in the day of His power.
He changes our heart. He changes our affections. He changes our will. So that what was once aversion to us is now glory.
What once was offensive is now beautiful, even the kingdom of the Son of His love.
Application and Self-Examination
Well, brethren, as you look through this passage, and I urge you to do this, ask yourself, are you being fruitful in every good work? Are you growing in your knowledge of God? Are you being strengthened and knowing something of a joyful patience and longsuffering? And are you a thankful person?
Are you? Because those are the characteristics of a genuine Christian. How can I know I'm saved? Well, this is a good place to start.
You're trusting in Christ, you love the brethren, you've got a hope laid up for you in heaven. Do you walk like this? Does this identify you? Does this characterize you?
Yeah, not perfectly. I'm trying by the grace of God. Praise the Lord! Praise God!
From whom all blessings flow, because pagans don't want anything to do with this. Unbelievers don't like these things. They don't want to be fruitful in every good work. They certainly don't want to increase in the knowledge of God.
They couldn't care less about a joyful endurance and patience through adversity. Giving thanks to the Father, that does not identify the non-Christian. If these things are true, even if they're in seed form or small, praise God from whom all blessings flow. And then please consider these reasons for thanksgiving and praise.
It should never be the case where a Christian says, well, I really don't know what to thank God for. We have these meetings, hey, anybody want to share what they're thankful for? I'm always amazed that everybody doesn't stand up at once. That's what surprises me.
Because we should always say, I'm thankful to God who's qualified me for this inheritance. I'm thankful to God because He delivered me from the power of darkness. I'm thankful to God because He's conveyed me. He has transferred me into the kingdom of the Son of His love.
I'm thankful to God because through the blood of Jesus, I have redemption. I have the forgiveness of sins. See, the issue isn't, does anyone want to thank God? The issue ought to be, we all want to thank God all the time for the things that Paul specifies in this passage.
Closing Prayer
Well, let us pray. Our Father, we give You thanks for the Lord Jesus Christ. We give You thanks that He is the surety of a new covenant, of the new covenant that He made in His blood for the remission of sins. We just pray that You would identify each and every one of us with these characteristics, that You would cause them to flourish in our lives, and that we would always be a thankful people, giving all praise and all glory and all honor to You for what You have done in our lives.
We just ask that you would go with each one of us now. We pray that you would protect us and watch over us and cause us to worship you in spirit and in truth. And we pray through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.