Encouragement and Prayer

Encouragement and Prayer

Spiritual Wisdom and Understanding

3 Scripture readings between songs

· John 1:1-5

· John 1:6-13

· John 8:12 and 9:5

Introduction

· Illustration of encouragement and prayer – Story of encouragement

· Think of a time when someone encouraged you, prayed for and it made all the difference in the world

· We learned 2 weeks ago, one purpose for Paul writing this letter is to combat false teachings

· The teaching that there was more that needed to be added to our faith and belief in Jesus to be a true Christian

· Our text today sets up the foundation for the church not to be fooled by these teachings

· But before he addresses this problem, he begins with encouraging the church and his prayers for them

Today, we are going to look at the text from 2 views

· In the view of Paul regarding his encouragement and prayers for the church

· And the view of the text itself

Colossians 1:3-14

3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, 5 because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, 6 which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth, 7 just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf 8 and has made known to us your love in the Spirit.

9 And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light. 13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Exegesis

VS 9-10

· VS 9 starts with, “And so, from the day we heard”

· NKJV: “For this reason…”

· “Therefore” is also frequently used

· When you see a “Therefore” ask yourself what it is “There for”

· This phrase ties VS 3-8 with 9-14

· Essentially Paul is saying, “Because of what I have just said, here is what I will now say”

· For our own study of the Bible:Make sure you spend time figuring out what writer is referring towhen you come across these phrases

· This helps us better understand what writer is saying next

· “And so, from the day we heard”

· Paul is referring to VS 4-5

· Heard of their faith in Jesus and the love for all the saints

· The faith and love produced from their hope of salvation laid up in Heaven

· When they heard the Gospel truth and came into a saving relationship with Jesus

· And the result of hearing about the Colossian church?

Paul says, “We have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding”

Spiritual wisdom and understanding

· Spiritual wisdom and understanding results in knowing the will of God

· Not only for our lives but God’s will for all of creation

· “Spiritual” means that this wisdom and understanding only comes from God through the indwellingHoly Spirit

· Spiritual wisdom and understanding revealed by the Holy Spirit alsocomes with the power of God that results in changed, transformed livesfully devoted to God

· We should ask ourselves, “Are we relying on our own power to live out our will?”

· Or, “Are we relying on the power of God to fulfill His will?”

Let’s look at God’s Will

· Learningwhat God’s will is requires a lot of time to teach because it is

multi-faceted

· Today we are going to learn 3 major aspects of God’s will as it relates to Colossians

1st, Wat is God’s will?

I have chosen 3 overarching areas

· The 1st comes from the Westminster Shorter Catechism written in 1647

· And it is written in question and answer form

· Question: What is the chief end of man?

· Answer: “The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever”

· God’s will is that we glorify Him

· The 2nd comes from Matthew 22:36-40 regarding LOVE

36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And Jesus said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

· God’s will is that we love Him and others

· The 3rd is the Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20

18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

· God’s will is for us to fulfill this commission

How can we learn what God’s will is?

· His will is revealed in the whole council of God – Which is the entirety of Scripture

· Now God’s will in Scripture is inseparable from Spiritual wisdom and understanding

· God’s wisdom comes from careful and prayerful study of the Bible

· God’s understanding comes from using what we have learned from the Bible to discernGod’s will and apply it to our lives

· Wisdom and understanding as revealed in Scripture also results in anincreased knowledge of God as we see in VS 10

VS 10-12, Paul gives us 5 other results from receiving Spiritual wisdom and understanding They empower us to, “Walk in a manner worthy of the Lord”

· Walkingrefers to our conduct and behaviors as well as our thoughts that are pleasing to God

1. “Producing fruit in every good work”

· The fruit of representingJesus in our Christian life in all we do

2. Increased knowledge of God

· This refers to our sanctification – Spiritual growth and maturity becoming more and more like Jesus

3. We are strengthened with the power of God for endurance and patience in all circumstances, especially during suffering and persecution

· And not only that, but we can do so with joy because Jesus is our victory over any situation we may face

4. They produce in us thankfulness and praise to God

· For our shared hope in our inheritance of eternal life with all the saints in Light, or all the saints in Christ, by grace through faith in Jesus Christ

· This is the reason for the 3 readings from the Gospel of John earlier

§ Jesus is the light of the world shiningin the darkness

§ He is the true Light that gives life of men

VS 13-14 shows us how is this accomplished? HIS WORK ON THE CROSS

13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness (or in other words, the domain of Satan and evil)

And transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Application

At the beginning of the sermon, I said we are going to look at the text from 2 views – At Paul and at the text

Starting with what we learned from the text

· 1st One Question: If Paul saw us today, individually and as a church, would he be filled with joy and thankful to God because we are filled with all Spiritual wisdom and understanding shown by us walking in manner that is worthy of the Lord?

· 2nd: Are we devoted to time in God’s Word?

· Since God’s will and His wisdom and understanding come from Scripture, it seems pretty obvious to me that if we aren’t regularly studying the Bible, we won’t receive wisdom and understanding or know God’s will

· Fulfilling God’s will for our new life “IN CHRIST” would seem like a long shot if were not in the Bible

· Neglecting God’s Word also puts us in danger of being swept away by false teaching and false doctrines

· Which is Paul’s concern in the letter – the false teaching in the Colossian church

Now, looking at Paul and how we can imitate him

· Are there people in our life that we invest our time with?

· Are there people in our life that we are encouraging?

· Are there people in our life that we are praying for?

Challenge – 3 things for this coming weei

· Can we commit to a ½ hour at least 3 days this week to study Scripture?

· Can we also commit to reading the entire letter to the Colossians?

· Last, can we write down 3 or more names of people who we can encourage and be praying for.

Prayer

Next week: Break from Colossians

· Since we will be baptizing a number of People soon, next week’s sermon is on baptism