Colossians # 3

             Colossians # 3                               Nov. 2 2025

-Our first week we looked at Paul's introduction  at the start of the letter and his encouragement to the people of Colossi as they have the word of truth the gospel vs. 5

-In vs. 3-5 and vs 9  Paul is telling the people of Colossi that they have been praying for them and encouraging them because of their faith in the gospel and they have this love for the Saints and faith and a hope because of Christ

-We also see an exhortation… the support for Epaphras in vs. 6-8

-In verse 9 we see the reason of the prayer

We have worked our way down to verse 10 where see the purpose of Paul writing and in particular the reason for thier prayers.

***READ*** Colossians 1:10               

…Pray…

So in verse 10 we basically have a four point sermon…

-Live a life worthy of the Lord

-Please him in every way

-Bearing fruit in every good work

-Growing in the knowledge of God

This speaks of what the people of Colossi are to do …

But being applicable to us it tells us what we are to do as well …How we are to live…

What the calling of a believer is…

What we are called to do as God's people!

When we put our calling as a believer first, that defines everything else we do… when we understand what it truly is to be a believer!

And you know this is something that is the plea of my heart as a pastor caring for God's people and especially caring about your spiritual condition. 

When we understand what it is that Jesus Christ did for us, and how that dramatically changes our lives… and when that change happens we understand that there is a calling in our lives to follow our Lord and Savior!

When we put our calling as a believer first, that defines who we in everything we do… when we understand what it truly is to be a believer!

So in verse 10 Paul talks about being worthy…

#1 ~Worthy~   vs. 10         

               ("live a life worthy of the Lord")

-Phil. 1:27 Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.

"What ever happens" …. Many things can and do happen in our lives…. Good things… bad things … confusing things and some things that we just don't understand.

-Work…Boss and Employee, Families…husbands and wives, children and parents… or just life!

Good times, difficult times, prosperous times and times of need… there are many things that affect our lives.

But whatever happens, we are to conduct ourselves, in a way that is pleasing to our Lord

-Ephesians 4:1

" I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received". 

Folks as Christians, as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ we have received a calling.

So what does living a life worthy of the calling mean?

It means telling the truth when a lie would be so much easier

It means saying no when everything within you wants to say yes when you shouldn't.

It means standing up for something, even if it might cost you

It means loving when you'd rather not

It means committing your life to God and trusting your future Him

It means not compromising in your stance again sin

It means choosing Christ, day by day, moment by moment, choice by choice, and breath by breath. 

It means giving of ourselves to something beyond what the eye can see, but not beyond what the heart knows to be true.

It means being like Christ.

Paul describes his actions along with others… 

***READ***1 Thes. 2:10-12 

So Paul talks about this calling and then he gives us some examples of what the calling should look like.

-First he gives the example vs. 10           

Holy, Righteous, and Blameless

-We are encouraging you to a life of worthiness vs. 11-12

Encouraging, Comforting, Urging to be worthy….

-There’s something that we must remember that we have been made new and that the old has passed away in the new has come and we must remember to live that way.

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

And I realize at times we can feel overwhelmed or get kind of bogged down as we strive to be worthy because after all, we are still sinful human beings. But there's something that we must remember!

Joshua 1:9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Isaiah 41:10 Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

God is always with us and it is Him who strengthens us.

#2 ~Please God~ vs. 10          ("and please him in every way ")    

 KJV- All pleasing…. NKJV- Fully Pleasing ….in every way…

-1Thes.2: 10-12

We are to be set apart….Holy, righteous, blameless…    

Set apart from the world, this is something that is necessary in order to please God…in the world but not of the world…we must be set apart! 

Rom. 12 : do not conform to the pattern of this world

1John 2:15 if you love the world, then the love of the Father is not in you

Col. 3:2 set your mind on things above, not on the things of this world

James 4:4 if you are a friend of the world, then you are an enemy of God.

These are pretty strong verses, very direct, telling us that we must deside between the world and God!

When it comes to how we live our lives as Gods people we cannot please the world in that sense we cannot please people, nor should we. Our goal should be to please God.

Don't get me wrong we are to love people and we are to reach out to them and share the gospel. However, we can't live the way the world does. We can't live to please the world!

1 Thes. 2:4

"We are not trying to please people but God"

Gal. 1:10

Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.

Paul makes that very clear in the statement,

We cannot please the world and Christ at the same time.

An interesting verse in 2 Timothy…

2 Tim. 2:4

No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer.

We are to please God.

How do we do this?  How do we please God and how are we to be worthy? One way as it tells us in the verse is…

#3~ Bearing Fruit~          

("bearing fruit in every good work")   vs.10b

***READ*** 2Peter 1:5-8

If we have these things in our lives we will be productive      (produce fruit)

GAL 5:22  

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control 

-Love ~ loving others and showing the love of     Christ as we serve him and others.

-Joy ~ having that joy in our lives, knowing that   we belong to Christ

-Peace ~ having the peace that passes all   understanding a piece that only comes from     knowing Jesus Christ.

-Patience ~ forbearance, restraint, with a calmness

-Kindness ~ A kind hearted generosity, and caring    for others. 

-Goodness ~ the goodness of God treating others   the way we want to be treated

-Gentleness ~ a benevolent meekness and a mild  good nature, a tenderheartedness

-Faithfulness ~ Faithful obedience to the Lord as    we serve him and his people.

Hebrews 13:15     "the fruit of our lips, confessing his name"

-The healthy believer will speak out for Christ

-The healthy believer will produce fruit….

-It can manifest itself in many different ways

Giving…serving…worship…obedience…giving to the poor…caring for the sick…working in the church…sharing the gospel…

How we live , how we act, how we function really depends on our foundation what our lives are rooted in.

…Fruit Illustration…

A farmer once planted two fruit trees on opposite sides of his property.  The one he planted to provide privacy and hide the unsightly view of an old landfill; the other tree he planted near a cool mountain stream which ran down beside his fields.  As the two trees grew, both produced began to flower and bear fruit.  One day the farmer decided to gather the fruit from the tree nearest his house " the one used to provide privacy from the landfill.  As he brought the fruit inside the house, he noticed that it was a little deformed " the symmetry of the fruit was not very good, but still the fruit looked edible. Later that evening, while sitting on his porch the farmer took one of the pieces of fruit for a snack.  Biting into the fruit, he found it to be extremely bitter, and completely inedible.  Casting the fruit aside he looked across the field to the other tree over by the mountain stream.  After walking across the field, the farmer took a piece of the fruit from the other tree and bit into it.  He found the fruit to be sweet and delicious he gathered several more pieces of fruit and took them to the house. The fruit was greatly affected by the nutrition of the root.  Just as the tree grew by the landfill to be bitter, and the tree by the stream produced sweet fruit, so the Christian has a choice.  He can either put down his roots into the soil like the landfill of fleshly pursuits, or into the cool refreshing stream of the person of Jesus Christ.  We must understand that the root is responsible for the fruit.  

-The fruit of the Christian is the outward evidence of the inward motivation.

-The fruit of the Christian is the outward evidence of the inward motivation.

   Psalm 1:1-3   NASB

How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!

But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night.

He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season And its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers.

Being rooted in Christ is the way to produce good fruit, it is all about Jesus… being in Him and making Him first place in our lives.

John 15:5 

"I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

Back in the passage in Colossians 1:10 it says…

That you may live life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way bearing fruit in every good work

When we put our calling as a believer first, that defines everything else we do and we will produce fruit…

And how do we do that? By growing a knowledge!

#4 ~ Growing In Knowledge~        

Vs. 10 … ”growing in the knowledge of God"  

 Increasing in Knowledge…

We saw this in vs. 9 and here it is again…   

… Spiritual growth cannot occur apart from knowledge…   (repeat)

Paul prays for the people to have knowledge and we must grow or increase in knowledge as it tells us in the passage.

2 Peter 3:18

"But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ".

And we do this by getting in his word and understanding how we are to live…

Having a love for God and His word.

Psalm 119 This the Mt. Everest of chapters…176 verses…Composed of 22 sections, each section containing 8 lines, In Hebrew all 8 lines of the first section start with the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet and the second section the second letter and the third section the third letter and so on until all 22 letters in the alphabet are complete with the 22 sections.  (In Hebrew)   8 verses x 22 section = 176 total verses.

And the structure of this Psalm also has 8 different reoccurring words throughout…law, testimony, percepts, statutes, commands, judgments, the word and ordinances.

-This points to the importance of all these things for example…

Psalm 119:10    With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments!

Psm. 119:96-97     To all perfection I see a limit, but your commands are boundless. Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long.

We fall short don’t we… I know I do! 

But you see as we grow in our knowledge, we love the Lord more and more as we learn more and grow closer to Him.

We begin to love the ways and the precepts, the statutes and the commands and the word of the Lord.

So we must also understand the importance of growing in our knowledge of our Lord and His word. 

Let me give you an example of having knowledge

If we are speeding and get caught do we deserve the ticket?  …Yes

Do we have Knowledge of the speed and the limit?  

Generally speaking…Yes 

But if we don’t know the speed limit we look for a sign.

We want knowledge or information to find out the speed that we should be travelling. 

(Now that's not to say we all travel at that speed… But that's another whole story in itself!)

But here's the thing if we are speeding, and we don't know it are we still guilty? …yes … 

We are still guilty even if we were unsure of what the speed limit is. Whether we know what the speed is or not we will still be held responsible! 

When the police officer pulls you over and you say, I didn't know the speed limit… Is he going to say oh OK then that's fine… No!

It is our responsibility to have the knowledge of the speed and even if we don't know it, we are still responsible to keep that speed. 

In the very same way…It is our responsibility to have knowledge of God and His word because we are still responsible to know what we believe and what it is that God wants from us!

Matt. 5:5

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

-Righteousness is gained by knowledge…

-In the Book

So what is Paul saying to the Colossians?

To be worthy and to please God by being fruitful and truly seeking knowledge…

Folks Pauls is in ernest prayer for the people of Colossi 

the church… and same thing applies to us today.

We Must live our lives worthy of the Lord, striving to please Him with our lives as we produce fruit for the Lord and for the kingdom as we grow in Him and knowledge of Him and His word.

Col. 1:10