Colossians 1:9-14- IN HIM WE HAVE REDEMPTION
Notes
Transcript
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
Recap of Colossians- what is the heresy? What did we see in verses 1-8
So applicable to us today because we live in a world with CONFUSION ABOUT WHO OUR SAVIOR IS!
Main Point: We can LIVE because we have been REDEEMED!
Main Point: We can LIVE because we have been REDEEMED!
BODY
BODY
As we dive into Colossians 1:9-14 this morning, we are going to approach this a little differently.
Last week I mentioned that Paul writes with a LOT of run-on sentences. And as he writes a prayer of thanksgiving about the Colossians, he uses a few long sentences that span across verses.
So, today, we are going to read verses 9-12 and then go back and talk about them more in depth.
As we begin, remember, Paul has just been talking to the Colossians- this church he’s never met before about the report he’s heard of their great FAITH AND THEIR GREAT LOVE FOR ONE ALL THE SAINTS!
Picking up in verse 9, Paul says:
9 For this reason also, since the day we heard this, we haven’t stopped praying for you. We are asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, 10 so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, so that you may have great endurance and patience, joyfully 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the saints’ inheritance in the light.
Because of their great faith, Paul and Timothy who he mentions in verse 1 and others with them- have not been able to cease praying for the Colossians!
Life isn’t easy for this Colossian church. Their strong faith and their love are incredible because they do not face an easy road! Heresies on two sides, earthquakes destroying the city, etc. This is not easy!
But Paul states that he and others haven’t stopped praying for the Colossian believers.
He hears of these challenges and what is his response? HE PRAYS!
He goes before GOD ALMIGHTY WITH HIS REQUESTS!
He doesn’t grow anxious worrying about what to do for them; he doesn’t grow angry that he can’t go help, he doesn’t grow discouraged at the state of the world. Instead, he PRAYS!
APPLICATION- the same should be true for us!
When we see discouraging things, instead of growing anxious or angry, instead of growing discouraged and depressed, we should PRAY!
GO TO GOD! A continuous theme throughout the New Testament is the importance of prayer.
Think about it! Ephesians 1, Ephesians 3, The Lord’s Prayer twice- once in Matthew, once in Luke, John 17, Acts 7, Philippians 1 and I could keep going!
Prayer matters!
So no matter what is going on, DIVE INTO PRAYER! PRAY OFTEN LIKE WHAT PAUL IS SAYING HERE!
Paul does have specific requests that he prays for. He shares these with the Colossian believers.
His first one?
He asks that they would be filled with the knowledge of God’s will.
There’s then two ways that Paul says he wants them to be filled with this- by wisdom and spiritual understanding.
And there’s a specific reason for this. He prays this so that they “may walk worthy of the Lord.”
Knowing the will of God isn’t just about making the right decisions when it comes to buying a house or taking a job, knowing God’s will is about HOW WE WALK!
Knowing God’s will is about WALKING IN A WAY THAT IS WORTHY OF THE LORD!
That’s different. I think that we have a tendency to think about God’s will in the big picture only but to not consider that God’s will EFFECTS HOW YOU LIVE TODAY!
The way that you love your spouse, or your child, the way that you work at your job, the way that you interact with people around you- this is all under God’s WILL!
So Paul prays that the Colossian believers would be FILLED WITH THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD’S WILL!
And let’s be clear- this knowledge is TRANSFORMATIONAL!
If we understand what God has designed for our lives- if we understand GOD’S WILL FOR HOW WE LIVE, then it will change the way that we live!
Let me give you a practical example. If you work, you probably have an annoying coworker. Can we just be honest about that? I have one too. His name is 2:00 P.M. Daniel. He’s always a little tired and he tries to drag me down with him. (Lol)
Listen, though, there’s different ways that we can interact with that annoying coworker. You can ignore them and just pretend that you don’t notice them. But at least for me, when I did that in the past, it didn’t work.
Or, maybe you could LOVE THEM and care about them with wisdom.
You could WALK IN THAT RELATIONSHIP IN A WAY THAT IS WORTHY OF THE LORD!
Friends, my point is so simple- if we want to know God’s will and we want to see it in action; then we HAVE TO BE WILLING TO SACRIFICE some of our comfort!
Living in a way that is worthy of the Lord is not always EASY, but it is WORTH IT!
When we walk in that way, Paul says that it is “FULLY PLEASING TO HIM” the him referring to GOD!
So think about that- the next time that your least favorite coworker, or that family member is driving you crazy, walk in a manner worthy of the Lord.
Don’t get angry; instead, meet them where they are. CARE ABOUT THEM!
Paul’s prayer continues on as he says that he prays for them to be “bearing fruit in every good work AND growing in the knowledge of God.”
There’s two things he’s praying for here.
First, he prays that the Colossians BEAR FRUIT IN EVERY GOOD WORK.
Secondly, Paul prays for them to grow in their knowledge of God.
We’ll talk about both of these, so let’s start with the Colossians bearing fruit.
Paul prays that God would work through the Colossian believers and that in EVERY GOOD WORK they would bear fruit!
In other words, that their lives would BE MARKED by bearing fruit!
The gospel is not stationary. The gospel is moving and working and so if we follow God and if we LIVE OUT OUR FAITH, WE WILL BEAR FRUIT!
This fruit is not apples and oranges, it’s men and women, boys and girls being saved and becoming faithful disciples! That’s the fruit that we are after!
We saw that even this last week as we celebrated two baptisms! THE GOSPEL MOVES AND IT PRODUCES FRUIT!
And one thing that Paul highlights is how fruit does involve good works!
Listen, our salvation is ONLY by faith. Hear that! But, our good works do matter! They set an example for the world! Our good works help us reach our community!
Our good works open the door for us to PROCLAIM THE GOSPEL- which is the MESSAGE OF GOOD NEWS!
The second thing that Paul prays for is for them to grow in their knowledge of God.
There are two parts of knowledge of God. First, we need to KNOW ABOUT GOD! Secondly, we need to know GOD! WE NEED TO LEARN FROM GOD!
These to statements sound similar but they have two very distinct differences.
First, we need to KNOW ABOUT GOD!
Listen, if you want a relationship with someone you want to know a little bit about them right?
I’ve used the example before of Hope when I asked her out. I knew that she liked running, liked peanut butter and loved Jesus!
I knew a little ABOUT HER!
And as we started dating, I learned more ABOUT HER!
I asked questions and I learned about her background, her preferences, etc.
I LEARNED ABOUT HER!
The same is true with God! We have HIS WORD, we need to LEARN ABOUT GOD!
God tells us so much about HIMSELF in scripture! We need to LEARN ABOUT GOD!
But learning about God isn’t enough, just like knowing ABOUT Hope wasn’t enough.
I needed to KNOW Hope and we need to KNOW GOD!
We need to be in RELATIONSHIP with GOD!
A relationship isn’t just us reading or thinking, it’s LOVING! WE NEED TO ENGAGE IN A RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD!
EXPAND AND APPLY- be real and honest.
Paul keeps going and he prays for the Colossian believers saying, “being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, so that you may have great endurance and patience…”
Paul prays for strength! He sees the struggles and the challenges that these believers face and he prays for strength!
Friends, if you are feeling low; if you are hurting; if you are struggling, you can PRAY FOR STRENGTH!
Sometimes I think we can be slow to pray for those simple, daily things. At least I can be!
It’s easy to pray for your family member who is in hospice, but don’t neglect praying for STRENGTH!
And it isn’t any strength, it’s strength that comes from JESUS!
Notice that- Paul doesn’t say, “Give ‘em strength God.” It’s “BE STRENGTHENED WITH ALL POWER ACCORDING TO JESUS MIGHT!”
That’s a CHRISTO-CENTRIC PHRASE! It’s a CHRIST-CENTERED PRAYER! Paul appeals directly TO JESUS FOR STRENGTH AND WE CAN AND SHOULD TOO!
He prays for strength for a reason- so that you may have great endurance and patience!
Paul prays for them to have great endurance!
This is the same word used to describe the gospel growing in ALL THE WORLD!
Another way to say this is that Paul is praying that they would have ALL ENDURANCE! EVERY KIND OF ENDURANCE! IN ALL THINGS, PAUL PRAYS FOR THEM TO ENDURE!
And how will they endure? Well, it goes back to the preceeding sentence. They will endure not by their strength but by the STRENGTH OF JESUS!
Do you want to stand strong? GREAT! TRUST GOD!
And I’m preaching to myself here!
If you want to stand strong in the face of challenges, if you want to stand strong for the gospel, we are going to have to do it prayerfully!
Trust me, it won’t work for us to try and stand on our own strength.
It isn’t just endurance that Paul prays for. Paul also prays for PATIENCE!
HAVE ENDURANCE IN THE LORD AND THEN HAVE PATIENCE!
And how do we have patience- IN THE LORD’S STRENGTH!
If you want to be patient- and trust me, we all NEED TO BE PATIENT, it is only going to happen in GOD’S STRENGTH!
Are you picking up on the trend in this prayer? It’s all about JESUS AND OUR DEPENDENT NEED FOR HIM!
Prayer is DEPENDENT! PRAYER IS POWERFUL AND PRAYER IS DEPENDENT!
The way that Paul prays, the way that JESUS teaches us to pray, the way that other New Testament writers pray, it’s dependent!
It’s a prayer of “LORD, I NEED THIS AND THERE’S NO WAY THIS IS HAPPENING WITHOUT YOU!”
Their prayer is PASSIONATE AND DEPENDENT FULLY ON JESUS!
Paul doesn’t give 6 steps for patience, instead, he says, “I PRAY FOR YOU TO HAVE PATIENCE BY JESUS’S STRENGTH!”
So hear me on this point of application- wherever you are today, however you feel, PRAY ABOUT IT!
PRAY DEPENDENTLY!
Do you need patience? (YES) THEN PRAY ABOUT IT! TRUST JESUS TO GIVE YOU PATIENCE!
Do you need endurance? PRAY ABOUT IT!
DO YOU WANT TO BE STRENGTHENED? PRAY DEPENDENTLY! Do you want to see Cornerstone and Savoy changed for the LORD? PRAY DEPENDENTLY!
Pray DEPENDENTLY AND PASSIONATELY, TRUSTING JESUS!
The next thing that Paul says is that he prays “joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the saints’ inheritance in the light.”
Paul PRAYS JOYFULLY BECAUSE OF WHAT GOD IS DOING AND HE PRAYS THAT THEY WOULD PRAY JOYFULLY!
He prays joyfully because despite the challenges that he faces and that these Colossian believers face, GOD THE FATHER HAS SAVED THEM!
That reality- the reality of salvation has two major implications.
Paul prays joyfully ad PAUL GIVES THANKS!
Are you noticing a trend in Colossians?
THERE’S SO MUCH FOR US TO BE THANKFUL FOR!
And notice, our prayer life, no matter what we are facing- SHOULD BE JOYFUL!
THESE BELIEVERS ARE GOING THROUGH IT! BUT THEY ARE TO PRAY JOYFULLY!
Paul here is thankful because GOD HAS ENABLED US TO SHARE IN THE SAINTS INHERITANCE!
This is the reason that we give thanks! We have been given an inheritance!
Our inheritance comes IN THE LIGHT- that is in JESUS!
Paul uses this to transition into the last part of his prayer.
13 He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son he loves. 14 In him we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
This is Paul’s KEY POINT in this passage!
The rest of his prayer is so important, but we cannot miss this!
There’s something that he does in here that’s really interesting.
Paul switches his verbal tense. Paul uses a tense called the AORIST. The aorist isn’t a PAST-TENSE form, it’s a “COMPLETED” form. In other words, it talks about something that has been accomplished. And he uses that throughout these two verses.
So first, Paul talks about how HE- GOD- rescued us- ALREADY DONE- from the domain of darkness- that is earth and sin.
And what does God do when he rescues us? WE ARE TRANSFERRED- COMPLETED!- into the KINGDOM OF THE SON HE LOVES!
THAT IS HEAVEN! BECAUSE OF JESUS, WE HAVE BEEN TRANSFERRED INTO THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN! That is JESUS’S KINGDOM!
And then in verse 14, Paul says it any more bluntly. IN HIM- IN JESUS, WE, that’s US- HAVE REDEMPTION!
REDEMPTION! THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS!
I love how straight-forward Paul is. Let me be equally straight forward. GOD HAS SAVED US BECAUSE OF JESUS!
THAT WORK HAS BEEN ACCOMPLISHED ALREADY!
THIS IS A JOYOUS STATEMENT!
I can’t help but exclaim it! “IN HIM WE HAVE REDEMPTION THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS!
In who? IN JESUS!
Who has redemption?
WE DO!
And when do we have redemption?
RIGHT NOW BECAUSE IT HAS ALREADY BEEN ACCOMPLISHED!
The price has been paid! WE HAVE REDEMPTION!
Listen, this is the best news ever! WE’VE BEEN REDEEMED! WE’VE BEEN BOUGHT OUT OF THE PUNISHMENT THAT WE DESERVE BY JESUS!
And how were we redeemed? BY GIVING HIS LIFE FOR US ON THE CROSS!
This is urgent! Do you KNOW JESUS? Do you know Jesus as your redeemer?
GOSPEL- CALL FOR ACTION- REPENT AND BELIEVE! PLEAD AND PLEAD! We preach this every week because this is THE MOST IMPORTANT THING! HOW HAS YOUR LIFE CHANGED BECAUSE YOU HAVE BEEN REDEEMED? (HOPE, JOY, PURPOSE!)
CONCLUSION
CONCLUSION
Because of Jesus we have Strength, Endurance and Peace.
Because of Jesus we have a Mission!
Because of Jesus we have Strength, Endurance and Peace.
Strengthened by Jesus! We can face any trial, any challenge! We also have the strength to walk in a manner that is worthy of the Lord!
As we talked about, Strength in this context has to do with capability.
There are times where we may feel INADEQUATE, or UNCAPABLE! Times where we think, “GOD, HOW CAN I DO THIS?”
And we might be right! From an earthly perspective, we probably CAN’T DO IT!
The Colossians for instance are facing recovering from an EARTHQUAKE AND REBUILDING!
It isn’t just rebuilding. The town is embroiled in chaos spiritually. There’s misunderstanding everywhere and in the middle are these Colossian believers trying to HOLD TRUTH CLOSE! It had to feel hard!
BUT THEN PAUL REMINDS THE COLOSSIANS OF WHAT HE PRAYS FOR THEM!
HE PRAYS FOR THEM TO BE STRENGTHENED, or MADE CAPABLE!
And friends, we can pray the same thing.
This is such a missional point.
We’ve talked about this before, but only about 18% of Champaign County knows Jesus personally. 82% can feel overwhelming! We can ask ourselves- “HOW CAN WE TURN THIS AROUND?” Like we aren’t that big! But just think- we can pray and ASK JESUS FOR STRENGTH!
Every week we end our services reading Matthew 28:18-20. It gives us our mission- go and make disciples! But the beautiful thing is that we DON’T DO THAT ON OUR STRENGTH, WE DO IT ON GOD’S STRENGTH!
So practically, let’s be PRAYING FOR STRENGTH!
We have endurance- we can ENDURE! We are not easily shaken. We are going to preach truth, we are going to live truth and we are not going to stop. Challenges will come, but we will endure!
THE MAIN THING- THE GOSPEL- IS GOING TO BE THE MAIN THING! We can do that because of JESUS!
If we try to pull our strength or endurance from ourselves, we WILL FAIL! But we don’t! We trust Jesus in all of those and we know that JESUS IS FAR GREATER!
Listen, I’m not old, but I’ve walked in hard times. I’ve walked in hard times where I’m discouraged and I’ve walked in hard times where I feel like I’m hanging on by a thread.
There was a stretch of time in Seminary where I was working full time at a school, interiming at a church, taking seminary full time, had just gotten engaged, was helping with some stuff at ANOTHER CHURCH and I’ll be real- I FELT EXHAUSTED!
I couldn’t keep going!
At the same time, some things came up at the school I taught as a result of some poor decisions by our administration. And I found myself having to broker peace between KANSAS CITY and OUR SCHOOL! That’s a long story for another day.
But as this was all going on, I was exhausted. I remember laying in bed one night totally unable to sleep. It was probably 3 AM and I was absolutely exhausted. And do you know what hte Holy Spirit reminded me of?
I was trying to ENDURE ON MY STRENGTH! But it’s not about OUR STRENGTH, IT’S ABOUT GOD’S STRENGTH!
So please hear me this morning- ENDURING ON JESUS’S STRENGTH IS DEEPLY PRACTICAL!
Prayer is so important in this. This is where we pray dependently, trusting God and not ourselves to get us through this!
This is where we put our opinions and desires aside and choose to TRUST GOD AND RELY ON GOD KNOWING THAT GOD HAS IT ALL UNDER CONTROL!
Peace- We have peace NOT BECAUSE LIFE IS PERFECT BUT BECAUSE OF JESUS!
Think about these believers- earthquakes, heresies everywhere. It wasn’t an easy time.
Think about today- unrest, upheaval, stress, anxiety skyrocketing, an election coming, general concern everywhere we go!
BUT WE ARE CALLED TO HAVE PEACE!
AND HOW? BECAUSE OF JESUS!
We have peace because we know that we are not alone in this!
Instead, we have peace because we know that JESUS REIGNS!
DAY AFTER DAY, YEAR AFTER YEAR, JESUS REIGNS!
We have peace because we are STRENGTHENED BY CHRIST TO ENDURE AND TO HAVE PEACE!
And why do we have peace? BECAUSE WE KNOW THAT OUR SALVATION HAS ALREADY BEEN ACCOMPLISHED! This is what Paul just talked about in verses 13 and 14!
GOD BOUGHT YOU AT A PRICE! IT WAS A PRICE THAT JESUS PAID GLADLY! WE HAVE BEEN REDEEMED!
So why do we have strength, endurance and peace? BECAUSE WE ARE NOT OUR OWN! WE’VE ALREADY BEEN REDEEMED! WE’VE BEEN BOUGHT BACK!
That’s also the message that we take with us to our world! We take the message of OUR REDEMPTION with us!
Because of Jesus we have a mission.
Because of Jesus we have a mission.
The Bible isn’t just about us- the Bible gives us a clear mission.
The mission that we have is BECAUSE OF JESUS!
Our mission is two-fold- it’s to tell the world and to make disciples!
This is actually directly in our text.
We see Paul give a reminder of our redemption- which once again is not because of us! I CAN’T REJOICE ABOUT THIS ENOUGH! OUR REDEMPTION HAS BEEN PURCHASED!
If you hear nothing else today, hear this- JESUS LOVES YOU AND HE HAS REDEEMED YOU! BELIEVE IN HIM AND BE REDEEMED!
We also see Paul praying for the spiritual growth of these believers- THAT’S DISCIPLESHIP!
So Practically…
REPENT, BELIEVE
LIVE OUT YOUR FAITH!
PRAY, BE A DISICPLE!
We have to be disciples before we can disciple others
Are you a disciple of Jesus? DO YOU FOLLOW JESUS? DO YOU KNOW JESUS PERSONALLY, or do you just know about Jesus?
4 ways that we are here to help you be a DISCIPLE!
Sunday Morning Service
Community Groups
Cornerstone Equipping Class- Starting June 2- This is a class to help us KNOW GOD MORE!
We are going to be looking at how we STUDY HARD PASSAGES OF SCRIPTURE! Because as we MAKE DISCIPLES, WE NEED TO BE READY TO STUDY HARD PASSAGES WITH OTHERS!
THIS IS A MISSIONAL THING!
Practical Theology Corner coming at the end of the month with a series on DISCIPLESHIP AND PRACTICAL RESOURCES FOR DISCIPLING YOURSELF AND OTHERS!
We will have a number of different resources coming to PTC over the year. We’ll have resources on discipleship, anxiety, responses to things in the culture, a series on Body Image and Eating Disorders which is a HUGE challenge facing teens and adolescents in addition to adults and much more!
PTC will be on our website and we’ll announce it everywhere- FACEBOOK, HERE, EMAIL, when it goes live later this month!
Missionally- this is why we are here! We are here to join together in this mission! And that mission? BRING THE GOSPEL TO THE WORLD AROUND US! BRING THE MESSAGE OF JESUS’S SALVATION FOR US TO THE WORLD AND TO MAKE DISCIPLES!
So let me challenge you, this is a VISIONARY TEXT!
Vision point to get across- GOD CAN AND WILL WORK THROUGH CORNERSTONE! Do you BELIEVE HE WILL?
Pray