Introduction
We began to study Paul’s letter to the Colossians last week, when I said that Colosse was a city in the Roman province of Asia Minor which is now Turkey. At the time of writing the letter, Paul was under house-arrest in Rome. And at that time he also wrote his letters to the Philippians and to the Ephesians as well as to Philemon. I also said that we don’t think Paul had visited the city of Colosse when he wrote the letter, but he had heard about the believers there from Epaphras, who is mentioned in verses 7 and 8 of chapter 1. We think Epaphras may have been converted through Paul’s ministry and had become a minister of the gospel and planted the church in Colosse. And then he visited Paul to tell him about the church and about the challenges they faced from certain false teachers who were teaching a kind of Jewish mysticism.
And Paul was writing to warn the believers not to be led astray by the false teachers and their false doctrine. As he says in verse 4 of chapter 2, he’s writing to them so that no-one will deceive them by fine-sounding arguments. Paul wants them to stand firm in their faith in Christ, because, after all, all the fullness of God dwells in Christ; and God has reconciled all things to himself through Christ by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. So, stand firm in the faith, because Christ is supreme over all and he’s the only Saviour of the world.
And I made the point last week that comparing the true gospel with false gospels helps us to see the glory of the gospel. In order to know something well, you need to compare it with something else. When people are doing coffee tastings, they compare one cup of coffee with other cups of coffee. And it’s only by comparing one with others that you discover that one is sweeter than the others and another is more chocolatey than the others. Or my father used to read car magazines and the journalists who wrote for the magazines would compare one car with others to see which was faster and which was more economical and which was safer and which was the best deal. One car may seem fast until you compare it with another. To know something well, you need to compare it with other things. And by comparing the true gospel with false gospels, we get to see why the gospel of Jesus Christ is so much better than every alternative.
In the opening eight verses of the letter, which we studied last week, Paul expressed his gratitude to God for their faith and love. And the reason he gave thanks to God for their faith and love is because faith and love come from God. So, if it weren’t for God, none of us would believe in Christ and none of us would be able to love others. But he’s the one who gives us faith in Christ and he’s the one who gives us his Spirit to renew us in his image and to enable us to love one another.
And so, Paul expressed his gratitude to God for their faith and love. And he also referred to their hope of eternal life which is kept safe for them in heaven and which they heard about in the gospel. And the gospel is bearing fruit and increasing all over the world, because God uses the gospel to produce men and women and boys and girls who believe in Christ and who love one another.
In today’s passage — verses 9 to 14 — Paul tells his readers that ever since he and Timothy first heard about them, they have not stopped praying for the believers in Colosse. And he goes on to explain what he’s been praying for. What has he been praying for? Basically it boils down to this: that they will know God’s will so that they will live a worthy life and please God by (1) bearing fruit; and (2) increasing in knowledge; and (3) being strengthened to endure and to be patient; and (4) giving thanks to God the Father. And there’s a model prayer for us to use. There’s a pattern to follow when we pray. How should we pray for one another? We should pray as Paul did and pray that we will know God’s will, so that we will live a worthy life and please God by bearing fruit; and by increasing in knowledge; and by being strengthened to endure and to be patient; and by giving thanks to God the Father. And so, let’s turn to the passage to study it in a little more detail.
Verse 9
And so, he says in verse 9 that for this reason — or, as a result of hearing about their faith and love — Paul and Timothy have not stopped praying for the believers in Colosse. And in their prayers for them, they have been asking God to fill them with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. When he refers to spiritual wisdom and understanding, he’s referring to wisdom and understanding which comes from the Holy Spirit. So, Paul wants God, by his Spirit, to fill them with wisdom and understanding so that they will know God’s will.
When he refers to God’s will, he thinking about God’s revealed will. We distinguish between God’s secret will and his revealed will. God has revealed some things to us, but he has not revealed everything to us. For instance, he has not revealed to any us what will happen tomorrow or the next day or the next. God knows what will happen tomorrow, because he has planned it. And yet, while God knows what will happen tomorrow, he has not revealed it to us; and we won’t know what he has planned until it happens. That’s God’s secret will: it’s what he has decreed will happen.
But then there’s God’s revealed will: the things he has made known to us. So, what has he revealed to us? He’s revealed all his laws and commandments concerning our duty and what he wants us to do and how he wants us to live our lives. He’s revealed to us the things we should do in order to honour him.
And Paul is referring to God’s revealed will. He’s asking God to fill his readers with a knowledge of God’s revealed will or with a knowledge of God’s laws and commandments. He wants them to know God’s will for them so that they will know what to do in order to please God in their daily lives. And by saying he wants God to fill them with the knowledge of his will, he means he wants their whole life to be shaped and moulded and governed by their knowledge of God’s will. Sometimes we need a solicitor, because we need someone with a knowledge of the law of the land and who can guide us about our legal responsibilities and obligations. Sometimes we need a car mechanic, because we need someone with a knowledge of how cars work. Sometimes we need a builder, because we need someone who knows how to build things. In our daily lives, we frequently have to rely on someone with the knowledge and expertise that we don’t have. But Paul wants every believer in Colosse to be experts in God’s will and to know what they must do in order to live a life that is pleasing to God.
Let me say a little more about the phrase ‘spiritual wisdom and understanding’. This recalls what we read in Exodus 31 where the Lord told Moses that he had chosen Bezalel and filled him with the Spirit of God and with skill and ability and knowledge, so that he would be able to design all the gold and silver and bronze equipment for the Lord’s tabernacle. And the Lord also gave skill to the craftsmen to make what was needed.
They had just escaped from Egypt. And they had to build the tabernacle according to God’s plan. And God not only supplied them with the materials they needed, but he also gave the right skills to certain people so that they would know what to do to make these things.
And then, the phrase ‘spiritual wisdom and understanding’ also recalls what we read in 1 Kings 7 where we’re told about a man named Huram who was filled with wisdom and understanding in order to make what was needed for the Lord’s temple in Jerusalem. Solomon wanted to build a temple for the Lord. And God not only provided him with the materials he needed, but God also gave the right skills to Huram to make what was needed.
Paul alludes to those two Old Testament passages to make this point: just as Bezalel and Huram received wisdom and understanding from God in order to create objects for the tabernacle and temple which were pleasing to the Lord, so we receive wisdom and understanding from God in order to create lives which are pleasing to the Lord. And so, Paul prays to the Lord to give his readers the wisdom and understanding they needed to please the Lord. And we too should look to the Lord and pray to him for the wisdom and understanding we need to please him.
Verses 10 and 11
Paul tells us in verse 10 that he prays this in order that they may live a life worthy of the Lord; and that they may please him in every way. When he refers to living a life worthy of the Lord, he means living a life which is fitting for the Lord’s people. He wants believers to live a life which is suitable for God’s people. He doesn’t want us to dishonour the Lord, but to honour him in all we say and do in our daily lives.
Now, we mustn’t think that we can make ourselves worthy of God. We cannot earn God’s favour by the things we do; and there’s nothing we can do for him to make us worthy of salvation. We don’t make ourselves worthy, but we can live in a worthy way. We make the same distinction when it comes to the Lord’s Supper. None of us is worthy to receive the Lord’s Supper, but all of us are to come to the Lord’s Table in a worthy manner. That is, we’re to come in the right way. And none of us can make ourselves worthy of the Lord, but we’re to live in a worthy manner or in a right way.
And Paul goes to to explain what that means. And he refers to four things. The first two belong together: we’re to bear fruit in every good work; and we’re to grow or we’re to increase in the knowledge of God. These two belong together, because they recall what Paul wrote in verse 6 about how the gospel is bearing fruit and growing all over the world. And if you were here last Sunday, you might remember that I said Paul’s words in verse 6 recall what God said after creating Adam and Eve in the beginning. He said to them: be fruitful and multiple; or be fruitful and increase. Adam and Eve were to fill the earth with people in the image of God who honour God. But Adam and Eve failed to do what God commanded them, because they filled the earth with people who dishonour God. After God saved Noah and his family from the flood, God gave the same command to Noah. But Noah also failed to fill the earth with people in God’s image who honour God.
But what they failed to do, God is now doing through the gospel, because the gospel is bearing fruit and increasing all over the world by producing more and more people who trust in Christ for forgiveness and who love one another. It produces people who are being renewed in God’s image and who honour God.
So, according to Paul in verse 6, the gospel is bearing fruit and increasing all over the world. And now, in verse 10, he prays for believers to bear fruit and to increase. We’re to bear fruit in every good deed and we’re to increase in our knowledge of God. Adam and Eve produced people who did evil and who did not know God. So, think of their son, Cain, who did evil when he killed his brother, Abel. And think of all the people who subsequently turned from God to worship false gods and idols. But the gospel of Jesus Christ produces people who do good and not evil; and it produces people who know God and who know his will and who know what pleases him.
And so, we’re to bear good fruit in our lives. We have a greenhouse in the manse and Yvonne grows tomatoes and courgettes and cucumbers. Someone else in the church grows apples and plums and she shares them with me. Not all of us can grow that kind of fruit and those vegetables. But all of us can turn to God in prayer and ask him to help us to become people who are bearing good fruit in our lives. We can seek God’s help to produce a harvest of good deeds, which means loving and serving the people around us. And we can pray to God to help us to grow in our knowledge of him and of his ways.
And then, in verse 11, Paul mentions being strengthened with all power according to God’s glorious might, so that we may have great endurance and patience. We need endurance and patience in order to persevere and to stand firm in the faith in the midst of trials and troubles and opposition and temptation. Patience here means long-suffering. It means putting up with suffering. In the Lord’s parable of the seed and the sower, he referred to those who receive the word with joy, but who quickly fall away when trouble or persecution comes. So, we need to be long-suffering. We need to put up with suffering so that when trouble or persecution comes, we’re able to endure it and to persevere and not fall away.
And where do we get the strength we need to endure and to be patient? We get it from God, don’t we? Paul refers to being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might. The Lord our God is Almighty. He is all-powerful. There’s nothing he cannot do, because he is omnipotent. And he’s able to give us the strength we need to endure all things and to put up with suffering. Think of Paul with the thorn in his flesh. We don’t know what the thorn in his flesh was, but we know he suffered because of it and he wanted rid of it. He prayed to the Lord to take it away. And sometimes the Lord’s takes our problems and our trials away from us. But on other occasions, he gives us the strength we need to endure them. And that’s what the Lord did for Paul. God said to him, ‘My grace is sufficient for you.’ My gracious help and strength is all you need to cope with that thorn in your flesh. Or do you remember how Paul said in 2 Corinthians that he and his colleagues were hard-pressed and perplexed and persecuted and struck down. That’s what we are, he said. However, though we are hard-pressed, we’re not crushed. Though we are perplexed, we are not in despair. Though we are persecuted, we are not abandoned. Though we are struck down, we are not destroyed. Why not? It’s because God strengthened them and enabled them to endure all things and to put up with suffering.
Verses 12 and 13
So, Paul prayed for his readers to know God’s will so that they would live to please him. And the way they please God is by bearing good fruit and by increasing in their knowledge of him; and it’s by being strengthened to endure all things and to be patient in the midst of trials. And it’s also being thankful: joyfully giving thanks to the Father. This recalls what Paul wrote to the Philippians when he wrote to them about rejoicing in the Lord always and about doing all things without complaining or arguing. Often we complain and argue and we are lacking in joy. And so, we need to pray to God the Father to help us to live in a way that pleases him, which means joyfully giving thanks to him. Every day we should give thanks to God; and we should remember to give thanks to him in every circumstance, because he’s using every circumstance, every problem, every trial, every trouble, and everything else — good and bad — for our benefit. And so, we should remember to give thanks to him.
And in particular we should give thanks to him for qualifying us to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. When Paul refers to sharing in the inheritance of the saints, he has in mind the way the Israelites inherited from God the Promised Land of Canaan. It was his gift to them and the land was passed down from one generation to the next. But we inherit from God the Father an even greater inheritance, because we inherit from him the free gift of eternal life in the Promised Land to come in the new heavens and earth. It is his free gift to us, because he obtained it for us at the cost of his Son, who gave up his life for us on the cross to pay for our sins. And we become qualified to receive it, not because of anything we have done, but only because of what Christ has done for us on our behalf, by taking the blame for us and by sharing with us his own perfect goodness. And so, cleansed of our guilt by his blood and clothed in his perfect goodness, we are able to inherit eternal life in the presence of God in the new heavens and earth.
And so, we should give thanks to God the Father for giving us an inheritance which we do not deserve and could not earn, but which we receive through faith in Christ our Saviour. And Paul goes on to refer to the kingdom of light and the domain of darkness. God has rescued us from the domain of darkness and has brought us into the kingdom of his Son which is also the kingdom of light. Paul probably has the Old Testament in mind again and he’s perhaps thinking of the Israelites when they were slaves in Egypt. Egypt was the domain of darkness, because the Egyptians did not know God and they treated the Israelites wickedly, making their lives miserable because of the forced labour; and the Egyptians refused to let them go. But God saw their misery and he reached down and he rescued them. And after rescuing them, he brought them through the wilderness and into the Promised Land.
And what happened to the Israelites points forward to the good news of the gospel, because the Devil holds the whole world under his powerful grip. He has blinded the minds of unbelievers to keep them from seeing God’s glory. And he will not let them go. But God our Father has reached down and he has rescued us from Satan’s tyranny by his Son who died to set us free. And God our Father has brought us out of the domain of the Devil’s darkness and into the kingdom of his Son, where there is forgiveness and peace with God and where there is no darkness, but only life and light.
And we know from other places in the Bible that the Son’s kingdom will never end. Other kingdoms come and go, they rise and fall. They will not last and all are destined to perish. But the kingdom of God’s Beloved Son is an everlasting kingdom. It will never end. It will last forever. And the members of his kingdom will last forever as well, because the members of Christ’s kingdom will live forever with Christ their King.
Paul prays that we will know God’s will and live in a way that pleases him. And that means we should joyfully give thanks to the Father, who has rescued us from Satan’s grip by his Son and who has brought us into his Son’s kingdom of light. So, thanksgiving should characterise our lives here on earth. We should be known for being grateful people. We should be known for being people who are grateful to God who has saved us.
Verse 14
And having mentioned the Son at the end of verse 13, Paul launches into a kind of hymn of praise to Christ in verses 15 to 23. We’ll come back to the hymn of praise next week. But before he begins the hymn, he tells us in verse 14 that in him — in Christ — we have redemption, the forgiveness of our sins. When Paul refers to our redemption, he has the story of the Exodus in his mind again, when God redeemed or delivered his people from Egypt. In fact, in Exodus 6, the Lord told Moses to say to the Israelites: ‘I am the LORD and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you….’ Just as God redeemed them, so he has redeemed us. And he’s redeemed us by his Son who bore the punishment we deserve and suffered the wrath of God in our place. And because he has paid for our sins with his life, we receive forgiveness. God pardons us for all that we have done wrong and he accepts us as right in his sight for the sake of Christ who died for us.
And so, we have been redeemed: set free from condemnation and set free from death as the penalty for our sins. We have been redeemed and we can look forward to everlasting life in the presence of God.
Conclusion
Today’s passage began with Paul saying to his readers what his prayer was for them. And this should be our prayer for ourselves and for one another. We should pray that we will be filled with the knowledge of God’s will, so that we will live a life that is worthy of the Lord; and will please him in every way. And that means bearing fruit in every good deed; and increasing in our knowledge of God; and it means being strengthened by God to endure all things and to be patient in the midst of suffering; and it means giving thanks to God the Father for rescuing us by his Son from Satan’s dominion and sin’s condemnation. This should be our prayer for ourselves and for one another; and, while we go on living on the earth, we should not stop praying for this. And we should make it our aim to live a life that is worthy of our God and to please him in everything.
Sermons and Stuff 