Untitled Sermon (10)

PRAYING WITH PAUL

Traveling with Paul must have been quite the adventure (see 2 Cor 11:24-following).

One item on Paul’s daily to-do list must have been a prayer meeting. In most of his letters he mentions praying for individuals and/or the congregations meeting in the places where he is writing.

The people of Colossae are no exception. He has already expressed thanks to God for their faithfulness and love.

In vs 9-14 Paul voices a prayer for believers in Colossae.

Paul asks that these believers would be

filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding…

so that they

…may walk worthy of the Lord…

The primary purpose of Paul’s prayer is for believers in Colossae to live distinctly from the world around them. His prayer suggests that our walk grows from the extent of our knowledge of God. Our distinctive life will be marked by four specific qualities that are identified in the body of Paul’s prayer.

First, what is it to have ‘knowledge of God’ in wisdom and spiritual understanding?

How does one ‘know’ God - who is unknowable, unfathomable? First, we can know God because He has made Himself known.

Second, as the OT makes clear ‘knowing’ God is always expressed in obedience and conformity to His character.

Knowing God’s will is Paul’s shorthand for acknowledging how God’s character and nature are revealed in His commands. As one obeys His commands, one draws nearer to God.

As Daniel and his friends illustrate (Dan 1-2) the knowledge of God’s will results in distinctive behavior.

Paul locates our knowledge of God in the realm of the Spirit of God. Unlike the OT believers who knew God through His commands and His laws, now in Christ the knowledge of God’s character and nature are revealed as the Holy Spirit indwells believers.

As Paul’s prayer indicates, truly knowing God always leads to a distinct way of living.

bearing fruit…

In Galatians 5 Paul identifies the ‘fruit of the Spirit’ (singular). These are the qualities and characteristics we find as we study Jesus. These qualities are not a pick and choose list, but are to be the product of our daily walk with Jesus.

growing in the knowledge of God

This is not just about accumulating more facts about God - though there is no end to knowing about Him. In John 8:31-32

John 8:31–32 HCSB

So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, you really are My disciples. You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Jesus suggests that as we continue in His word, that is, as we take steps of obedience we will come to a knowledge of truth, truth that will set us free.

A common emphasis in most of the Roman world of that era was that some gods and goddesses can NOT be known except by a select few. Only certain individuals can access the necessary information. Those who ‘knew’ created elaborate rituals and practices to keep out all but the most dedicated individuals.

Knowing God, as Paul observes, is not restricted to an ‘elite’ few, but available to all who seek Him.

being strengthened with all power

Paul is specifically referring here to a spiritual power that enables believers to endure and have patience. Often when we think of spiritual power we refer to miraculous healings. For Paul, and other NT writers, the power of God is most clearly exhibited in our weakness, in our ability to stay faithful to the ways of God - even in the midst of challenging circumstances.

This ‘power’ or ‘ability’ is linked to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in Paul’s prayer for believers in Ephesus (see Eph 3:16) which believers in Colossae may have already read.

To ‘be strengthened with power’ is not just something that happens to us. Being strengthened in something in which we participate. Most of us have known physical therapy. While a therapist may have manipulated our muscle or joint, we had to actively participate.

In the same way the Holy Spirit indwells us, empowering us, and we are to exercise that power as we endure, as we patiently wait. James, the half-brother of Jesus, writes

James 5:7–8 HCSB

Therefore, brothers, be patient until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth and is patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. You also must be patient. Strengthen your hearts, because the Lord’s coming is near.

joyfully giving thanks for our share in God’s inheritance

In the OT inheritance was linked to the place God chose for His people to dwell, and the place where God would dwell with them.

In the NT inheritance is not tied to a physical location but to an identity with a global people of God.

Philippians, Colossians, Philemon The Purpose of Paul’s Prayer (1:10–14)

Paul consciously compared God’s working in Israel then with his working in Christians. It specifically referred to the dividing of the land so that each tribe would get its allotment of the inheritance. Here, Paul applied that situation in Israel to the allotment of the believers. God gives believers a spiritual inheritance, the redemption that is in Christ.

The Christian’s inheritance is described as “of the saints in the kingdom of light.

Of all people we are to be known for joy. Instead far too often believers are known as dour, sad, discouraged people. When we contemplate what God has done for us, when we reflect on all we have been given through our knowledge of God we are to be joy-filled people. We have been rescued - literally - from a future of darkness and suffering through the redemption God grants in Christ.

Our joy is a result of living in a new kingdom - one where God’s rule is absolute, where God’s rule is unchallenged, where God’s presence is never-ending.