Well, would you please take your Bibles and open them up this morning again to the book of Colossians.
Our passage this morning is chapter 1 verses 9 through 14.
If you don't have a Bible, that's okay.
We provide them in the seat backs in front of you, but I would encourage you as always, please have a Bible open as we walk through this passage together.
We're picking up in verse 9, and we left off last week with Paul telling the Colossian church how he prays for them, how he thanks God for them, and how he thanks God for the work of his grace at work in them.
He had heard about this from his friend Epaphras, who came to Paul while he was there in Rome and updated him on the church at Colossae.
And so we pick up here halfway through Paul's train of thought in verse 9 this morning, and again, we'll read through verse 14.
And when you found that in your Bible, let's stand in honor of the reading of the Word of God this morning.
Colossians 1 verses 9 through 14.
Paul says,
Let's pray once more.
Father, we ask once more, God, would you speak powerfully through the preaching of your Word.
Let it fall on fertile soil this morning.
And draw our hearts' attention to Christ.
Would you give us wisdom and knowledge and insight, God, empowered by your Spirit, so that we might walk in a manner worthy of the Lord.
We pray this in Jesus' name.
Amen.
You may be seated.
How can I pray for you?
As a pastor, that's a question that I find myself asking fairly often.
And oftentimes, the response that I will get to that question tends to be focused on circumstances of life.
So maybe someone is dealing with a sickness.
Maybe someone that they love is struggling in some way.
Maybe they're having some sort of difficulty at work or at home.
It's about their life circumstances.
And of course, I love to offer up prayers like that to the Lord.
And the Lord loves to hear prayers like that and loves to answer prayers like that.
But it's a little bit surprising sometimes when we open up passages like this.
And we see that the way the Apostle Paul tends to pray is very different from the way that you and I tend to pray.
And it's not that needs like that don't matter.
Of course they do.
But to the Apostle Paul, it seems like they don't matter most.
Paul's prayers for the saints here in Colossae and other places in Scripture are shaped by their greatest and most urgent need.
Namely, that they would know the breathtaking power of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
And then that they would go living in the power of the new life that Christ has purchased for them in the gospel.
You remember how last week we started our series through the book of Colossians.
And we saw that these believers in Colossae are wrestling against a dangerous and a false teaching there in Colossae.
This teaching told them that they did not have enough.
The gospel is a great start.
And Jesus is a great place to begin.
But what you really need is more of our man-made rules and man-made regulations.
You need more of our secret, special knowledge.
You need more of what we have to offer you.
And then, maybe then, you will be spiritually full.
Maybe then you will have the knowledge that you need of how to live a life that's honoring to God.
But you remember from last week, Paul, right off the bat, told them,
No, no, no, no, no.
The gospel of Jesus Christ is enough.
Jesus and his finished work on the cross is enough.
You don't need to add to it all of these man-made rules and regulations.
This morning, as we look to our passage, what we see is that because the gospel is enough,
we can pray specifically and boldly to the Lord on behalf of our brothers and sisters in Christ
that they would realize for themselves all the glorious power of God for them in the gospel.
So let's take a look at this gospel-shaped prayer this morning for the saints.
And we're going to see it in three parts.
This will be our outline this morning.
If you're taking notes, I'll try to make it easy for you to follow along.
We'll see three parts this morning.
First, the prayer.
Second, the purpose.
And third, the power.
And as we do, I just want you to notice here, just briefly, I want to make this comment.
There is no copyright on this prayer.
And it would be my desire for us as a church that we would lift this prayer straight off the page
and pray this daily, if not weekly, for one another and our brothers and sisters in Christ.
So let's see what Paul's praying here.
First, we see the prayer.
The prayer.
And we see this in verse 9.
Look there with me.
He says,
And so from the day we heard, meaning the day that we heard about you,
the day that we heard about your faith in Christ from the Paphras,
from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you,
asking that you may be filled with knowledge.
Now, Paul is here for just a moment.
And remember, again, what's going on in Colossae.
Because if you were a member of the church at Colossae and you heard those key words, right?
Filled.
Knowledge.
You would have some alarms lining up.
Lighting up.
Your ears would perk up at hearing this.
Because Paul is hijacking the language that the false teachers are using.
These are their lines.
This is the exact same angle that the false teachers are taking.
Remember, they're promising.
They're coming to the church at Colossae saying,
If you really want to reach spiritual fullness,
you need some of our special knowledge.
If you want to be spiritually filled,
well, you need our man-made regulations.
Paul knows exactly what he's doing here.
And this is a strategic use of these key words here.
And he says,
Yes, I agree.
Fullness matters.
Knowledge matters.
But the Christian's path to fullness is not through human regulation.
But rather, it is through divine revelation.
Say that again.
The Christian's path to fullness and knowledge is not through human regulation and man-made rules,
but rather through divine revelation.
It is not through secret, special knowledge of the few and the elite.
It is through personal, intimate knowledge of God as he has revealed himself in the gospel.
This is why Paul prays that you may be filled with knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.
When this knowledge of the will of God is not the prized possession of a few elite Christians.
Rather, every single Christian can be filled with the knowledge of the will of God.
Do you believe this?
Every single Christian, meaning every single man and every single woman, every single boy, every single girl,
who has heard the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ,
and by his grace has understood the grace of God in truth,
they can be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.
Do you realize, Christian, it is entirely possible for you to genuinely be filled with knowledge of his will?
Why? Well, because he has given us his book, his word, his revealed will,
and he has given every Christian his spirit to empower the reading and the studying and the preaching of the word of God
so that we might understand the revealed will of God.
We have his word and we have his spirit,
and Paul says, well, that's enough for you.
Now, this is one of the major issues in the Protestant Reformation.
If you've ever studied this era of church history in the 16th century,
for centuries the medieval church restricted access to the average believer.
And they told them that only the priesthood, only the papacy, only the bishops, only the pope
could rightly interpret the will of God.
And so in order for the average Christian in the pews to understand what God's will is,
well, they have to go through the professional clergy.
They get their directions from the top.
They get their directions from them.
Entire worship services like this were held entirely in Latin,
which, oh, by the way, nobody spoke or understood except for the clergy.
They just had to go in faith that these elite special people with this elite special knowledge,
that they were giving them the truth.
But of course, we know the story.
The reformers made the dangerous decision to actually take up and read the word of God for themselves.
And then they made the dangerous decision to go and translate the word of God
into the language of the common people
and to write and publish commentaries on the word of God
that could be read and understood by average Joe in the pew.
And guess what happened?
The reformation took place and caught like wildfire.
You didn't have to be a spiritual elite to grow in the knowledge and the will of God.
You simply had to have the spirit of God and the word of God.
So Paul, understanding this, prays for these believers
that they would be filled with all knowledge of his will.
They don't need the secret knowledge of these false teachers.
They simply need the word of God and the spirit of God,
which, by the way, they already have because the gospel has come to them.
But then we should ask, well, what does that knowledge actually look like in practice?
This is going to be our second point this morning.
We should ask why?
To what end does Paul pray these things?
And we'll spend the bulk of our time here in this second point.
Second, we see the purpose of Paul's prayer.
Why does Paul pray that they would be filled with knowledge?
To what end?
And what does he hope that this knowledge will produce in them?
He tells us in verse 10,
Don't you want to do that, church?
This is such a vital truth.
I need to stop here and make this point.
Do you understand that true knowledge of God,
it accords with a godly life?
True knowledge of God will be lived out in your life Monday through Saturday.
True understanding of who God is,
it must necessarily result in a life lived for God's glory.
There is absolutely no place for a classroom only,
intellectual only, academic only, so-called knowledge of God
that has no impact whatsoever on a Christian's daily life.
If you can study about God in a book and then shut the book
and go out the door and live in blatant, unrepentant sin,
you should know that is not biblical Christianity.
And you may have knowledge about God,
but you may not know God.
You can come to church,
and you can sit through the sermon,
and you can sing the songs,
and then go home.
And if there's no actual difference in your life
compared to your non-believing neighbors,
again, you may be doing religion,
but you may not actually be walking with the Lord.
The great theologian Herman Bivink,
he says it like this.
He says,
Scripture knows nothing of a knowledge that is merely academic.
To know God is to love Him,
to fear Him,
and to trust Him.
And to be filled with the knowledge of His will
means that our entire existence is captured by His truth.
Friend, is this true of you?
Here Paul says,
to be filled with the knowledge of God
and all spiritual wisdom and understanding.
That sort of fullness will show itself up in your life.
Be filled, again,
so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord.
And so my question becomes then,
well, what in the world does that look like?
What does that look like?
Paul gives us four clear marks
of a God-fearing life here in this passage.
Four clear marks of a God-fearing life.
You can use this sort of as a self-assessment tool
as you look at your own life.
The first mark he says,
he says,
the God-pleasing life bears fruit.
The God-pleasing life bears fruit.
He says,
bearing fruit and increasing in every good work.
This is what the gospel does in the life of a believer.
Isn't he,
this is what he said earlier in the chapter.
As he said,
the word of the gospel in all the world
is bearing fruit and increasing
as it also does among you.
And that fruit of the gospel,
it doesn't just look like a polished exterior
that just keeps all the rules
and looks good on the outside.
He says,
no, no, no, no, no.
That fruit looks like faith in Christ.
It looks like love for all the saints.
He tells us in Galatians,
that fruit looks like love and joy and peace,
patience and kindness and goodness
and gentleness and faithfulness and self-control.
This is the fruit that the Spirit brings about
in the lives of those who have trusted
in the good news of Christ.
The path to bearing fruit
is not rigid, ritualistic, legalistic,
man-made rule-keeping traditions.
It's found in driving your roots
deeper and deeper into Christ.
What does he tell us?
Abide in me and you will what?
You will bear much fruit.
That's Mark number one.
Mark number two, Paul says,
the God-pleasing life increases in knowledge.
The God-pleasing life increases in knowledge,
bearing fruit and increasing in the knowledge of God.
Key word here, increasing.
Increasing.
In other words, church,
the God-pleasing life is not stagnant.
The God-pleasing life is a constant pursuit.
The God-pleasing life is not content
with where you are in your knowledge of God.
The God-pleasing life is eager to grow
and eager to learn not just knowledge about God,
but again, knowledge of God.
Let me ask you, church,
how are you increasing in your knowledge of God?
What are you learning about him
that's not just going into your brain,
but seeking down into your heart
so that you love him more?
What are you marveling at about who God is
and what he's done?
Theology is not just for the nerds.
Okay?
Theology is not just for the spiritual elite.
Theology is the study of God.
And guess what?
We're going to be doing theology
for the rest of eternity,
if you're in Christ.
For all of the rest of eternity,
we're going to be studying
and diving deeper
and increasing in our knowledge
of who God is
and marveling at his attributes,
that he's good
and that he's holy,
that he's infinite,
that he's eternal,
that he's gracious,
that he's wise,
that he's just,
that he's kind.
We will spend the rest of eternity
growing in the knowledge of God.
Paul says,
if you're in Christ,
guess what?
You can start right now.
Where do we start?
Again,
we have his own special revelation
right here.
We have his own revealed will,
his own special self-revelation
of who he is in his word.
But why do we study the word of God?
Why do I, week after week,
just open this book up
and try and communicate what it says?
It's because this is where God
makes himself known.
The word of God
empowered by the spirit of God
for the growth and the good
of the people of God.
That's the recipe.
You can start in prayer
and communicating with him
and speaking back to him
and talking with him
and praying his words back to him.
You can read a thousand good books.
We can benefit, church,
from the centuries of wise believers
that have gone before us.
It's almost embarrassing
how much knowledge and wisdom
we can gain from others.
This is what the Christian life is.
It's a communal pursuit
of the knowledge of God.
It's a body growing up
and walking together in his will.
But of course,
the truth is that this type
of lifelong pursuit
requires strength, doesn't it?
It requires strength.
It requires strength,
not our strength,
but rather his strength.
This is the third mark
that Paul gives us.
The God-pleasing life,
verse 11,
requires his strength.
He prays that they would be filled
for a life pleasing to him,
being strengthened with all power
according to his glorious might,
for all endurance and patience
with joy.
You know,
the thing about legalism,
this rigid law-keeping,
right?
Think about it like this.
Legalistic, ritualistic,
religious law-keeping
does not require the power of God.
This is why we're drawn to it,
to be honest.
Legalism does not need God's help.
It does not need God's strength.
What does it demand?
It demands your strength.
It gives you a list of do's and don'ts,
and it says if you just muscle up,
if you just grit your teeth,
you can get it done
if you try hard enough.
If you're serious enough about God,
you can check off this list
and you will make it.
You can do it
if you're really serious about the Lord.
That's what legalism tells you.
But true Christianity,
you know what it says?
You can't do this.
Here's the motivational talk
you didn't know you needed this morning,
right?
The gospel of Jesus Christ,
it says you cannot live a life
worthy of the Lord
in your own strength.
You can't do it.
You can't begin to discern
His own will
by your own knowledge.
It's spiritually discerned.
You can't begin
to live a life
that's pleasing to Him
in the slightest bit
by your own merit.
The sooner we grasp this truth,
the better off we'll be.
Christian books
have no place
in the self-help section.
The bad news is
we can't do it.
But the good news is,
Paul tells us,
God Himself supplies
the strength that we need.
God Himself supplies the strength.
He gives us everything that we need
to live a life that's pleasing to Him.
It is His provision
that makes the God-pleasing life possible.
It is His power
that makes the God-pleasing life possible.
It's His strength
that makes the God-pleasing life possible.
And apart from His strength,
you can't do it.
If it were,
based on our own strength,
to hold on to Him
or to climb a ladder
up to reach Him,
guess what, church?
We would lose our grip on Him
every single time.
This is why Paul prays
the way that he does.
May you be strengthened
with all power
according to His glorious might
so that we may endure
and have patience
and joy.
This is God's work.
And when you realize, church,
that the entire Christian life
is empowered by His strength,
and then and only then
will we understand
the fourth mark here
of a God-fearing life.
Fourth.
Fourth and finally.
Verse 12.
He says,
the God-pleasing life
is filled with gratitude.
He says,
giving thanks to God the Father.
Giving thanks to God the Father.
The fact is,
you will not give thanks to God
if you believe
that it all depends on you.
You will not give thanks to God
if you believe
that it's all dependent
on your strength.
When you go to a hotel
and you don't walk up
to the hotel door
and open it yourself
and lug your own bags inside
and then turn
and thank the doorman.
Gratitude is the overflow
of a recognition of need.
Gratitude is the overflow
of a recognition
that you have been served.
You have been helped.
You have been unable
to do something
and someone has taken it
upon themselves
to do it for you.
Someone else has served you
in a way that you
could not serve yourself.
But the man or the woman
that's relying
on their own strength,
the man or the woman
that's depending on human effort
to keep man-made rules,
they don't overflow with thanks.
You know what they overflow with?
Pride.
It's either pride
when you do it well
or it's despair
when you don't.
It's not God,
thank you
for what you've done.
It's not God,
thank you for saving me.
It's not God,
I was unable
and I was lost
and I was dead in sin
and you made me alive
in Christ.
You did what I couldn't do.
You kept the law perfectly
when I failed.
You abolished death.
You resurrected Christ
from the grave.
I couldn't do any of that
on my own.
No,
legalism says,
well look what I can do.
I can keep my rules
and I can puff myself up.
I can pad my own stats
and get my own recognition
for my own pride.
Paul looks down this road
of legalism
and he sees the end of it
because Paul has lived this himself.
He sees the end
of what comes
from these legalistic rules
and regulations
and at the end of that road
is not glory to God.
It is glory to self.
And so he says,
you know what?
A life that is pleasing to God,
it looks like humble gratitude.
Overflowing.
The thanksgiving.
Because at the end of the day,
the God-pleasing life
understands that
God's pleasure in you
is not based on your performance
for Him.
Can I say that again?
Church, do you understand?
Christian, do you understand?
God's pleasure in you
is not based on your performance
for Him.
Be free of depending
on your own strength.
faith.
Be free
of religious legalism
that demands more
and more
in order to earn God's favor.
Be free of these lies
of the enemy.
God's favor,
His pleasure in you
is not dependent
on your performance
for Him.
It is based on
the finished work
of Christ
that is given to you.
Not by your rule keeping
but simply by faith.
This is the power of God
that will guard us
from the temptation
to perform our way
into God's grace
and it's this power of God
that will enable us
to live a life
worthy of the Lord.
It's the power of God
and the gospel of Christ.
The finished work
of Jesus Christ
is enough.
This is where Paul points us
in our third
and final point
this morning.
Third,
we see the power
for a God-pleasing life.
What is it?
The power is
the gospel
of Jesus Christ.
It's not
these man-made rules.
It is
the gospel.
And don't you love
how Paul's prayer
is just
so rooted
in the gospel
of Jesus Christ?
He reminds
these saints,
these brothers
and sisters
in Christ
all the way
off at Colossae
not what they
have to do next
but what God
has already done
for them
in Christ.
The gospel
by definition
is a miracle
of God's grace.
Don't you realize
grace can't be earned?
Then it's not grace.
If you earn grace
it's not grace anymore.
It's a paycheck.
God says
the gospel
is a message
of God's
unmerited grace.
no man
can add
anything to it
on their best day.
No Christian
can rob from it
on their worst day.
It is grace
upon grace
towards sinners
like us
in Christ.
It's a finished work.
Paul shows us
what God
has done for us
in three
absolutely
breathtaking actions
here.
And we'll walk
through it
and then we'll close.
What has God
done for you?
Christian
Paul tells us
one
he has qualified
you
to share
in the inheritance
of saints
and light.
God has qualified
you
to share
in the inheritance
of the saints
and light.
You know
the lies
of legalism
they give you
this list
of do's and don'ts
in order to be
qualified.
If you just
check this box
then you will make it.
And just so we're clear
that's not
just a problem
back then in Colossae.
This is a right now
problem isn't it?
It's a right here
problem isn't it?
Our hearts
are so wired
to return
to this legalistic
performance
based religion
where we think
we gotta do something
to measure up
and earn God's favor.
The lie
that we can believe
is that we must
do certain things
in order to
be qualified.
What does Paul say?
God
has qualified
you in Christ.
God
has qualified
you
in Christ
to inherit
this glorious
inheritance
of the saints
in light.
Not only this
verse 13
tells us
he has
delivered us
from the domain
of darkness
and again
do you notice
this is past tense?
This is past
this is something
God's already done.
He has delivered
us from the domain
of darkness
and I know
what you're thinking
man it looks
plenty dark
around here
doesn't it?
In this country
where we live
this area
of the world
where we live
there is
plenty of darkness
all around us
isn't there?
The same was true
in Colossae
they wrestled
with all the same
powers of darkness
that we wrestle
with here.
How in the world
can Paul say
he's delivered you
from the domain
of darkness?
We're still in it.
Paul is saying
something has
happened
so that you
even though you
still live
all around it
it's all around you
something has
happened
so that you
can say
I no longer
belong to this
darkness all around me.
What's happened?
Christ
has triumphed
over the powers
of sin and darkness
at the cross.
Christ has
shattered
all the power
all the authority
of the enemy
at the cross
in the empty tomb.
Christ has
disarmed
the rulers
and the authorities
he has conquered
the dark domain
at the cross
of Christ.
So now
even though
we live
in a fallen world
those who belong
to Christ
can say with confidence
I don't belong
to this domain
of darkness anymore
the gospel
has set me free.
He has qualified us
he has delivered us
and look at the rest
of the verse
says he has
transferred us
into the kingdom
of his beloved son
in whom we have
redemption
the forgiveness
of sins.
here's some good news
for you church
if you are
in Christ
simply by faith
in him
you are already
right now
in this present moment
you are a citizen
of the kingdom
of God
he has already
transferred you
into his kingdom
you belong
to his kingdom
John Calvin
says it like this
he says
this is a word
transferred
this is a word
used of empires
when a king
takes an entire
population
and relocates them
into a new
glorious territory
we are not merely
improved prisoners
in the old kingdom
we are fully
naturalized citizens
in the new kingdom
of his beloved son
our legal standing
is completely new
and our old master
has no right
to demand taxes
or obedience
from us
ever again
by his finished
work
Christ Jesus
has purchased
everything we need
for our redemption
Christ Jesus
by his blood
has purchased
the forgiveness
of all
of our sins
Charles Spurgeon
commenting on this passage
he says
it is a done thing
we are not arriving
at his kingdom
we are already there
we are wrestling
to get out of the dungeon
of darkness
the doors have been
smashed
and we've been brought
out
into the glorious
light
of the sun
church
this
perfect
finished
work of Christ
this is the power
that we need
to live a life
pleasing to God
nothing else
this is the power
that we need
to resist
all the many lies
from the enemy
that tell us
to do more
be more
achieve more
in order to be
spiritually full
Paul says
if you are in
Christ
you have everything
you need
in him
the power
for a God
pleasing life
is yours
right now
in
Christ
friend
if you are
not
a believer
in Christ
my prayer
for you
this morning
is that
you would be
free
from the lies
of performance
from the lies
that would tell you
that you must
do more
achieve more
be more
in order to be
pleasing to God
but rather
that God
by the power
of his spirit
through the
proclamation
of his word
would open
the eyes
of your heart
so you might
trust fully
in the finished
work of Jesus
Christ
it's enough
and church
my prayer
for you
is that
you too
would look
to the finished
work of Christ
and that you
would leave
here walking
in a manner
worthy of the
Lord
resting in the
power of God
at work in
you who believe
because of what
he's done
I would ask
one thing of you
as we close
by way of application
church
would you
pray this
prayer
for me
this week
I told you
there's no copyright
on this prayer
I want you
some of you
have committed
to pray
for me
and I appreciate
that so much
if you're looking
or wondering
what to pray
for your pastor
please take this
prayer
and would you
pray that for me
and then would you
look at your
your fellow brother
and sister
in Christ
and would you
pray this
for one another
this week
would you pray
for one another
that they would
be filled
with all spiritual
wisdom and understanding
and the knowledge
of his will
so as to walk
in a manner
worthy of the
Lord
not to earn
his favor
but because they
have been given
his favor already
in the finished
work of Christ
to pray
that we would
walk in a manner
worthy of the
Lord
because he has
qualified us
delivered us
transferred us
redeemed us
forgiven us
all at the
cross of Christ
let's pray
father
we praise you
God for the
finished work
of the gospel
we praise you
God for the
finished work
of Christ
we praise you
that his
work is enough
father that he
alone is what
qualifies sinners
like us to share
in the inheritance
of the saints
in light
we pray that we
would not
fall victim
to the many
lies of the
enemy
that would
lead us
away from
fully trusting
in the finished
work of Jesus
in the gospel
we pray God
that we would
walk in a manner
worthy of the
Lord
fully pleasing
to you
bearing fruit
in every good
work
we praise in
Jesus name
amen
may