Sermon 3

A Worthy Walk; the ground of apostolic prayer

Summary: The Apostles’ unceasing prayer is meant to result in the saints being filled and walking worthy.

Text: Col 1:9-14.

We left off last week with Paul and the brothers in prison giving thanks and always praying for the saints. Their thanksgiving and prayer is grounded on their having heard of the Colossians’ faith and their love for all the saints. We were being challenged by the text to glory in the eternal inheritance/hope laid up for us in heaven. This hope will bring about a boundless kind of love for all the saints in us. For this morning, the apostle continues his prayer. He mainly asks that the saints be filled so as to walk worthy of the lord. What does it mean to be filled, and what does a worthy walk look like? These are the qustions that we shall be seeking to answer this morning. I invite you to join me in asking God’s help again.

Unceasing Aposltolic Prayer

We can say that from the day that Epaphras brought news about the saints at Colossae, the apostles have not stopped praying for them and thanking God for them. We did say last week that the frequency of the prayer for the saints is “always”. They have continuosly lifted up prayers and thanks to God on their behalf. They pray in order that the saints might be filled with the knowlege of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding. Lets ask, is this the purpose for the prayer or the content thereof? I think the answer is yes! He is both praying so that (purpose), and that (content) the saints might be filled. What does it mean to be filled?

Paul says that he’s praying for them to be filled with knowlege of the will of God in all spiritual wisdom and understanding. I think the apostle knows that the saints need God daily and they need his knowlege to stand in the midst of the false teaching that has infested the area. Such knowlege is an act of God, and that is why he prays. It seems to me that what he says next can shed light on what it means to be filled with the knowlege of the will of God in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.

2. Result of Apostolic Prayer

What follows is an infinitive which is the result of being filled. When the saints are filled, they will walk a certain way. What does the walk of the saints look like? Paul lines up a number of participles which i think are descriptions of what a worthy walk looks like. They will walk worthy; bearing fruit and increasing, being strengthened, and giving thanks to God the Father of our Lord Jesus. It will help to look at each of these participles closely. You must have figured that I take these participle as manner. The saint in his walk must be;

a. Bearing fruit and Increasing.

We recall that the apostle had used these very two words in describing the Gospel in verse 6. He said the Gospel was bearing fruit and increasing everywhere as was the case with the Colossians. He used a mood which meant that the gospel was being fruitful and incresing by itsel. No power out side of the gospel was bringing about the growth of the Gospel. However, the two participles he uses in speaking about the saints are active and passive. They have to acticely bear fruit and be increased. Their fruitfulness is fruitfulness in every good work. The saints have to be applying themselves to every good work. You sure recall that Paul said the saints are created in Christ for good works which God has beforehand prepared that we must walk in them. For it was the work of an apostle. He is faithfully walking in the god works prepared beforehand that he shaould walk in them. He is praying that, being filled, the saints might walk a worthy walk of being fruitful. The participle that is paired with fruitfulness is in the passive. While the saints have to be actively bearing fruit in every good work, they are being increased by another hand. Increase is what is done on the saints. They don’t increase themselves. I see here divine sovereignty and human responsibility. The saints are responsible to doing the works prepared for them. They are responsible to serve the Gospel. But God is the one who brings the growth. This reminds of what Paul says to the Corinthians in chapter 3:6. He planted, Apollos watered, but it was God who gave the growth. Dear friends, for everyone of us who are saved, God has prepared good works beforehand that we might walk in them.

We must slow down again and notice that the increase or, being increased is in the knowlege of God. While the saints apply themselves to walk in good works, God sees to it that he increases their knowlege of him. This seems to say that we know God being in his service. This will certainly not sit well with our friends who go to the mountain to have revelations from God. This means that part oof the walk that is worthy of the Lord is bearing fruit in every good work and being increased in the knowlege of God. Friends God wants to be known. Howabout we apply ourselves to serve him and have him reveal himself to us so we grow in his knowlege.

b. Strengthened with power.

The next partciciple that the apostle enploys as he states what is means to walk in a manner worthy of the lord is again a passive. He says the saints would walk being strengthened with power. The believers do not strengthen themselves, God does the strengthening. He strengthens them according to the might of his glory. The purpose of the strengthening is so that they completely be steadfast and patient. Again we are speaking of a context where false teaching is on the rise. The believers need help standing in the face of that. God brings the help in his strengthening the believers. The are able to be steadfast and patient because they are empowered by God. The winds and waves of false teaching and even the troubles of this life will come hard against the believers. We always need God strengthening us in the face of these.

c. Giving thanks to the Father

Let me start by sayng that there is a prepositional phrase; “with joy” whose role in the text does not seem to have concensus. Is Paul saying that we are staying steadfast and enduring with joy, or that we are giving thanks with jo? Wherever you choose to plce it, you must realize that joy in God is capital. If you are enduring with joy, then it must be that you trust that God will come through on his promise to the believers. You must be living with the hope of eternal life in view. If you are giving thanks to God the father with joy, then you are thankful and joyful about what the Father has done for the saints. God the father is further described as the one who;

has qualified the saints for a share in the inheritance of the holy ones. What this means is that for the saints to inherit eternal life is not a work that the saints do. Dear friends, we all were disqualified untill God qualified us. You can not be prideful as a Christian because you understand how unqualified for God you were, we all were.

he has also delivered them from the power of darkness. Am not sure about you but this gladens my heart. God has delivered me from the power of darkness. That means believers have no other need of delivereance. The one that the Father has done is enough. My hatred for soul therapy increases eachtime i read this verse. God’s deliverance is complete, needing no adding to it. The devil has no power over the believer anymore. Yes we once walked in the deadness of our trespasses, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who woks in the sons of disobedience. We once were under his authority, but not anymore. Don’t get me as saying that you sinned in the past because satan led you, NO! You sinned because you loved sinning, and that is why God shall bring sinners to judgement. They loved sin and its fake promisses when they should have loved God.

he transfered them into the kingdom of his beloved son. God does not end at delivering the saints from the domain/authority of darkness, but he also relocates/transfers them into a new kingdom; the kingdom of God’s beloved son. Tha says no believer is now under satan’s rule anymore. We have been moved from his domain. He no longer has any authority over us. The time of his rule in our lives is done with. The Father has moved us away from satan’s domain. But where has the Father moved the believers to? We have been moved to the kingdom of the beloved Son of God. Jesus is now our king for we live in his kingdom, under his authority. We recall Jesus teaching his disciples to pray and say; “they kingdom come”, so whose kingdom are we talking about? The Son’s or the Father’s? Again the answer is YES! Paul is here making a statement on the deity of the Son. We shall delve deep into that subject next week. The next verse says in the beloved son, we have redemption; the forgiveness of sins. The verse is structured so that the “forgiveness of sins” defines for us what redemption is. It is in Christ that our sins are forgiven. You sure recall that the writer of Hebrews says that there is no forgiveness of sins without the shedding of blood (9:22). Because he was offered once to bear the sins of many, Christ shall appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him (Heb. 9:28).

We have been in this sermon seeking to answer two questions; what it means to be filled with the knowlege of the will of God, and what it means to walk worthy of the Lord. Paul says that when the saints are filled with a knowlege of the will of God, the result will be a worthy walk. We have found that walking worthy means; bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowlege of God, being strengthened in all power according to the might of his glory, and giving thanks to the Father.

I remember John the Baptist in Matthew 3:8 asking that the Pharisees and Saddusees to bear fruit in keeping with repentance. He meant for them to live in a way which accords with repentance. The strengthening work of God is meant to produce steadfastness and patience. It seems to me that a worthy walk is reflected in the believer bearing the fruit of the spirit. It could go without saying that, a Christian is filled with the knowlege of the will of God when they are walking worthy of the lord.

Dear friends we have to walk, knowing that we have been rescued from the domain of darkness and have been tranfered to the kingdom of the beloved Son of God. The devil and his cohorts have no more power or authority over us. In the beloved Son of God we have redemption; the forgiveness of our sins. Let me say that it is complete forgiveness. God does not forgive us in part it is in full that we are forgiven. Jesus gave himself once for all so that we are no longer under the wrath of God but are free in Christ. He shall return again to save those who are eagerly waiting for his return. Are you hoping in the heavenly hope of the saints? Don’t give up hoping. Your lord shall return, who has cleared your sin in full.