Worthy is the Lord!

Good morning everyone.

Great to be back with you again this morning.

If you have a Bible,

and you haven’t already,

please turn to the book Colossians, chapter 1.

And as we just read,

we’re going to be looking at verses 9 through 14.

Overview of Colossians

If you’re new to the Book of Colossians

or haven’t looked at it for a while,

let me give you a brief overview.

The book of Colossians is in fact a letter,

written by the Apostle Paul

to a church that would now be in modern-day Turkey.

What’s interesting about this particular letter

is that Paul had never visited the church in person.

From what we can gather,

one of the members of the church,

had travelled to see Paul,

looking for advice relating to struggles the church was going through.

So Paul wrote this letter to encourage the church,

to remind them not to give in to internal pressures,

and to encourage them with the truths of the Gospel.

At the very start of the letter, we see two prayers.

For this morning,

we are going to be focusing primarily on the second one.

Paul is praying that God would enable the Colossians to grow up in

wisdom and a greater spiritual understanding of Jesus, so that they would embrace all that He has for them.

So by way of reminder, let me re-read the text for us.

Read Scripture

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,

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;

being strengthened with all power,

according to his glorious might,

for all endurance

and patience

with joy;

giving thanks to the Father,

who has qualified you

to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.

He has delivered us from the domain of darkness

and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,

in whom we have redemption,

the forgiveness of sins.

Colossians 1:9–14

Pray

Story

A giant ship’s engine failed.

The ship’s owners tried one expert after another,

but none of them could figure out how to fix the engine.

After much hunting, they brought in an old man.

He’d been fixing ships for the last 50 years.

He carried a large bag of tools with him,

and when he arrived, he immediately went to work.

He inspected the engine carefully,

Moving from one side of it to the other, examining it from top to bottom.

After looking things over,

the old man reached into his bag and pulled out a small hammer.

He gently tapped one part of the engine

and immediately it shuddered back into life.

The engine was fixed!

A week later, the owners received a bill from the old man

for ten thousand dollars.

“What?!”

the owners exclaimed.

“He hardly did anything!”

So they wrote to the old man asking that he send them an itemized bill.

A few days later an itemized bill arrived in the mail.

It read but two simple lines,

Tapping with a hammer…… …… ……… $ 1.00

Knowing where to tap……… …… ……… $ 9,999.00

Introduction

Knowledge is important.

Each of us has a huge amount of it.

We go to school to gain it.

We go on to university to gain more,

and some of us have even worked hard enough to receive a PHD.

And without knowledge,

we won’t get far in this world.

But without the right type of knowledge,

we can’t achieve all we need to.

Our passage today is primarily about knowledge,

But not just any knowledge,

Spiritual knowledge.

To help us, I’ve broken our text down into three key simple points,

They are,

Filling

Strengthening

and Delivering

Let us start with our 1st point,  ‘Filling’.

Filling

Paul starts by praying,

“...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,

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;”

Colossians 1:9–10

Paul is praying big things here for the church.

And who wouldn’t want that?

To often I can find my prayers are small and weak.

I know I worship a big God

But somehow I forget to pray for big things.

I forget that I am talking to the one who upholds the universe by His very word.

That I am talking to the one who knows every hair on my head.

The God who loves me,

And wants to bless me.

I often need to be reminded that

“[God] is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think…’

Ephesians 3:20

So let’s us come to Him boldly,

with prayers of thankfulness and petition.

Trusting that He wants to answer us,

and loves to hear our voice.

Next, Paul goes on to talk about the ‘knowledge of [God’s] will’.

He says,

“[For] we have not ceased to pray for you,

asking that you may be filled

with the knowledge of his will…”

Colossians 1:9

But what does this mean?

This ‘knowledge of His will’?

First, let’s consider the idea of ‘will’.

In the Bible, there are two types of ‘will’,

when it comes to God.

The first is ‘God’s will of decree’

or ‘God’s sovereign will’.

‘God’s will of decree’ is when God ‘wills’ something to happen

and it does.

Nothing can stop it.

God says it going to happen,

and it happens.

An example of this would be Acts 2:23,

“But God knew what would happen,

and his prearranged plan was carried out

when Jesus was betrayed.”

Acts 2:23 (NLT)

This is an example of God’s sovereign will.

The second type of ‘will’ is ‘God’s will of command’,

or His ‘moral will’.

This is where God wills something to happen

but sometimes it doesn’t.

This isn’t because God doesn't want it to happen,

or God can’t make it happen,

but because He leaves it up to us,

and sometimes we don’t do it.

For example,

“You shall not murder.”

“You shall not commit adultery.”

“You shall not steal.”

Exodus 20:13-15

These are things that God commands us not to do.

This is His moral law.

God doesn’t want us kill each other.

He doesn’t want us sleeping with someone you’re not married to.

And He doesn’t want us take what doesn’t belong to us.

Instead,

He desires that we would cherish each other.

That we would be faithful in our marriages.

That we should be generous with our possessions.

So the question is,

when Paul talks about the knowledge of His ‘will’,

which ‘will’ is he talking about?

It can’t be God’s ‘will of decree’

or ‘sovereign will’

as we don’t have the power,

and the ability to carry it out.

Therefore Paul must be talking about ‘God’s will of command’,

‘God’s moral will’.

So Paul is praying “that God will fill us with the knowledge of His moral will”.

That is, all that God has revealed through His word.

But Paul is asking for more than just knowledge.

He’s asking that this knowledge comes with ‘wisdom’ and ‘understanding’.

And not just any ‘wisdom’ and ‘understanding’,

‘spiritual wisdom and understanding’.

We need the Holy Spirit to help us understand

the difference between ‘earthly’ wisdom and ‘spiritual’ wisdom.

We need that ‘spiritual’ aspect to help us grow in the knowledge of God.

Proverbs is a wonderful source of wisdom as you know,

and in Proverbs 3:5 we read,

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart,

and do not lean on your own understanding.”

Proverbs 3:5

One of the roles of the Holy Spirit is to bring illumination to our hearts.

To help us know and remember God’s word.

Jesus tells us,

“...the Helper,

the Holy Spirit,

whom the Father will send in my name,

he will teach you all things

and bring to your remembrance

all that I have said to you.”

John 14:26

Just as the Colossians need this spiritual wisdom and understanding,

so do we.

In Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, he reminds them that,

“The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God,

for they are folly to him,

and he is not able to understand them

because they are spiritually discerned.”

1 Corinthians 2:14

We need God’s Spirit to help us understand what is earthly,

and what is spiritual.

We need the Spirit to bring illumination,

and clarity.

And we need the Holy Spirit to show us what is truth,

and what is not.

My historical hero Charles Spurgeon says it this way,

“To know is not to be wise.

Many men know a great deal and are all the more fools for what they know.

There is no fool so great a fool as a knowing fool.

But to know how to use knowledge is to have wisdom.

Christ’s teaching will make him wise of thought,

and wise of heart.

All you want to know of God,

of sin,

of life,

of death,

of eternity …

Christ has either personally,

or by his Spirit in the word of God,

taught you.”

C. H. Spurgeon, The Fourfold Treasure, 1871

But what is the main point of this knowledge,

this spiritual wisdom and understanding?

Paul goes on to tell us,

“So [that we would] 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;”

Colossians 1:10

This is the reason we need wisdom and understanding.

So that we ‘walk in a manner worthy of the Lord’,

So that we can be ‘fully pleasing to him’,

So that we would ‘bear fruit in every good work’,

And so that we would ‘increase in the knowledge of God’.

But there is more, and that leads us to our second point, Strengthening

Strengthening

Let us remind ourselves again of what Paul prayed.

He asks God that the church would be,

“... strengthened with all power,

according to his glorious might,

for all endurance

and patience

with joy;

giving thanks to the Father…”

Colossians 1:11-12

Ok, so Paul is praying - in light of knowing God’s will,

that the church would be ‘strengthened’ with ‘power’.

This ‘power’ is in accordance with God’s ‘glorious might’.

And the power is given so we might live out our Christian lives

with ‘endurance’, and ‘patience’.

But more than that, we can walk

with ‘joy’ and ‘thanksgiving’.

This is glorious news!

But let’s go deeper,

and really see what Paul is saying to us.

First, he prays that we would be

‘...strengthened with all power,

according to his glorious might…”

Colossians 1:11-12

Like us,

the church in Coloss-e needed the power

to endure the circumstances of life.

Now it can be easy to assume that sometimes life just happens to us.

That things are kind of out of control.

And every now and again, bad things happen.

But that’s not what the Bible teaches.

The Bible tells us that God is a loving God,

and that all things are under His sovereign control.

But even still,

sometimes life can seem hard.

In a room this size there is no doubt a whole range of things going on.

Some small

and some larger.

Sometimes what this life throws at us can seem overwhelming,

and without knowing God it can be.

But God is walking with us

and he has given us the power to face even the most challenging of situations.

Listen to some of God’s promises to us as we walk through life’s challenges.

“I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”

Philippians 4:13

“God is our refuge

and strength,

a very present help in trouble.”

Psalms 46:1

And

“No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man.

God is faithful,

and he will not let you be tempted

beyond your ability,

but with the temptation

he will also provide the way of escape,

that you may be able to endure it.”

1 Corinthians 10:13

God is faithful through our trials.

He empowers us to walk that narrow path.

To stay the course.

And to keep running the race.

But how?

How does He enable us to do this?

Paul goes on to tell us, that we are

“...being strengthened with all power,

according to his glorious might,

for all endurance

and patience…”

Colossians 1:11

This power enables us to endure,

to hold on a little longer.

And when it feels like we’ve had enough,

and can’t deal with the situation any longer,

God gives us patience to wait on Him.

For the Colossian church,

this was to endure against the false teaching,

and the suggestion that some Old Testament practices were still needed.

But for us,

this speaks to any situation we may find ourselves in.

Any situation when we need more of God’s power

to endure and remain faithful.

Paul goes on to pray that we would be,

“...strengthened with all power,

according to his glorious might,

for all endurance

and patience

with joy;

giving thanks to the Father…”

Colossians 1:11-12

This is often the hardest part.

This is where we really need His power.

Paul is calling us to do all these things

with joy and thankfulness.

On our own,

maybe we can endure a hard situation.

Or maybe we can have patience when life doesn’t go our way.

But to walk through a serious trial with joy and thankfulness,

now that is pretty much impossible without God.

Now, the best way we can be joyful in times of trouble,

and to give thanks to God when things are not going well,

is by keeping the main thing the main thing.

When we think back on all that God has done for us,

when we remember who we used to be,

and who we are now,

there is so much to be thankful for.

D. L. Moody had a great way of describing things,

“Happiness is caused by things that happen around me,

and circumstances will mar it;

but joy flows right on through trouble;

joy flows on through the day;

joy flows in the night as well as in the day;

joy flows through persecution and opposition.

It is an unceasing fountain bubbling up in the heart;

a secret spring the world can’t see

and doesn’t know anything about.

The Lord gives his people everlasting joy when they walk in obedience to him.”

D. L. Moody, Secret Power, 1881

This idea flows into our final point, Delivering.

Delivering

Up until now Paul has prayed for things he hopes God ‘will do’ for us.

For God to ‘fill’ us

and for God to ‘strengthen’ us.

But now Paul transitions from talking about

what he hopes God will do in the future,

to reminding them

what God has already done in the past!

Paul tells us God

“...has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.

Colossians 1:12

Where once we were disqualified,

set apart from God through our sins,

alienated from his love.

Now we can be qualified,

forgiven by the death of His Son.

The Bible tells us that all who believe in Jesus

“... once were far off [but now] have been brought near…”

Ephesians 2:13

This is a great reminder of all that God has done for us.

As I was preparing this week, God reminded me of an old poem.

It was written in 1866 by Katherine Hankey, an English missionary and nurse.

It’s called ‘The Old, Old Story”.

Tell me the old, old story

of unseen things above,

of Jesus and His glory,

of Jesus and His love.

Tell me the story simply,

as to a little child;

for I am weak and weary,

and helpless and defiled.

Tell me the story slowly,

that I may take it in,

that wonderful redemption,

God's Remedy for sin!

Tell me the story often,

for I forget so soon!

The early dew of morning

has passed away at noon!

Tell me the story softly,

with earnest tones and grave;

remember, I'm the sinner

whom Jesus came to save.

Tell me the story always,

if you would really be,

in any time of trouble,

a comforter to me.

That is what Paul is doing once again.

He’s telling the old old story.

He tells us that God has,

“...delivered us from the domain of darkness

and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,

in whom we have redemption,

the forgiveness of sins.”

Colossians 1:13–14

This is the old old story.

All of us are like sheep.

And at some point, we have all gone astray.

We have turned to our own ways.

We have lived a life without God.

We have turned to Him and said, “I don’t need you, I don’t want you!”

Listen to these words by the Prophet Jeremiah,

“Be appalled,

O heavens, at this;

be shocked,

be utterly desolate”,

declares the LORD,

“for my people have committed two evils:

they have forsaken me,

the fountain of living waters,

and hewed out cisterns for themselves,

broken cisterns that can hold no water.”

Jeremiah 2:12–13

What a picture.

We had forsaken the very creator king.

The God of the universe.

We have tasted His goodness in our lives and said “No, I don’t want that”.

“Give me money,

give me fame,

give me self-exultation,

give me anything but you God!”.

This is the very essence of evil.

To see the Holy, Almighty, Loving God,

and turn away from Him to other lesser things.

To turn from God to broken cisterns.

To turn from the maker of the whole universe

and be satisfied with scratching about in the dirt.

The Bible calls this ‘sin’.

And the Bible is very clear when it says

“...the wages of sin is death…”

Romans 6:23

This is where we all once found ourselves.

And if you haven’t put your trust in Jesus Christ,

this is where you still are.

Lost and separated from God.

But God doesn’t leave us there,

The Bible goes on to say that

“...the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Romans 6:23

This is what Paul means when he says God has,

“...delivered us from the domain of darkness

and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,

in whom we have redemption,

the forgiveness of sins.”

Colossians 1:13–14

God has delivered us from the dominion of darkness,

That place we found ourselves before we knew God.

In darkness,

separated from Him,

going our own way.

But then He reached out and delivered us.

But not without a cost.

The sin that we could not pay for,

the sin that was separating us from God,

This sin God put upon His own Son.

Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died in our place,

but on the third day rose again,

showing that He had conquered both sin and death.

This is how we can move from the domain of darkness,

into the kingdom of His believed Son.

When we put our trust in Him and believe that he died in our place,

God declares our sins forgiven.

We are redeemed.

We are redeemed ‘In Christ’.

We are redeemed through His blood.

And we are redeemed according to the riches of His grace.

This is the old old story.

This is the glorious gospel.

Closing

So as we close let us remember,

First, let us be ‘filled’ with the knowledge of God’s will.

Let us be known as people of God’s word.

The Bible isn’t just God’s ‘inspired’ word,

It is God’s ‘inerrant’ word.

When we read scripture,

we are reading the very words by God.

Let us be people who read,

understand,

and remember God’s word.

Second, let us be ‘strengthened’ by the power of the Holy Spirit.

When hard times come,

let us endure.

When it feels like we can’t hold on any longer,

let us remain patient,

empowered by The Spirit.

And third and last,

let us consider all that God has done for us through Christ’s death on the cross.

And may this lead to deep joy and thankfulness in Christ Jesus.

To the praise of His glory!

Let us pray.