Colossians 1:9-14: Living Like You Belong
Colossians • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Today we continue our journey through the book of Colossians.
Today's text,
is Colossians 1:9-14,
where Paul builds upon the opening of his letter.
Paul begins by writing to this young church in the faith,
highlighting the important reality of living a life marked by God.
Because they are marked by God,
they are called to be saints—
set apart for His purposes—
and to be faithful in all they do,
living as those who are fully devoted to Him.
As people marked by God,
these believers possess an eternal hope.
And it is this hope that has fueled them
to build a reputation of genuine faith in Jesus Christ
and sincere love for all the believers.
This hope took root
when they embraced the true gospel of Jesus Christ
and came to understand the grace of God in truth...
Building on the foundation he has already laid,
Paul continues his letter by writing these words in Colossians 1:9.
9 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,
Paul's prayer
is for these young believers to continue on the path they have begun.
He desires that this young church
would continue to grow in the things of God.
Because Paul understands,
that a healthy tree is a growing tree.
And when a tree stops producing new growth,
it is often one of the first signs
that something is wrong beneath the surface.
There is a sobering reality:
no one is beyond the reach of complacency.
None of us are exempt
from the danger of growing cold
toward the things of God
when we begin to coast on yesterday's victories.
I have said many times that complacency is,
in my opinion,
the greatest struggle facing the church today.
Too often,
we treat the symptoms of complacency
as the problem instead of addressing the root cause.
David committed adultery and murder,
but those sins
were the fruit of a heart
that had first become complacent toward God.
Complacency has a way of quietly creeping into the lives
of those who have experienced past victories.
It is easy to win a battle
and then begin to coast afterward,
slowly losing your hunger to know God...
(staying hungry… Easier to stay hungry when desperate)
The greatest enemy of tomorrow's growth,
is becoming satisfied with yesterday's victory.
That is why Paul prays
that these believers would never stop growing.
He prays that they would be filled
with the knowledge of God's will
in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.
Paul is showing us that knowledge of God's will is essential,
but so is having the wisdom
and understanding to rightly apply that knowledge.
There are two passages about knowledge that I want us to consider.
Hosea 4:6 says, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge."
Then Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 8:1, "Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up."
Knowledge is important
because God has given us the ability to learn,
discern,
and grow in understanding.
I believe many people in the church are hurting
and broken
because they have never pursued a deeper knowledge of God.
God has given us His Word so that we might know Him,
yet too often we neglect to study it
and grow in our understanding.
But there is another reality we must recognize.
Knowledge by itself is not enough.
We live in a time
when people have access to more information
than any generation before us.
Yet information alone does not produce godliness.
In fact,
knowledge without humility often produces pride.
As Scripture reminds us, "Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall."
Knowledge alone puffs up.
So,
simply possessing knowledge
is of little to no value
unless it is accompanied by spiritual wisdom and understanding.
That is why Paul's prayer is not merely that they would know God's will,
but that they would possess the spiritual wisdom
and understanding
necessary to faithfully live it out...
Story of the doctor who smokes... (Illustration)
Knowledge fills the mind.
Wisdom directs the life…
Paul continues to build upon this reality
by showing that knowledge,
accompanied by wisdom and understanding,
is never an end in itself.
It is meant to transform the way a believer lives.
In other words,
what we know about God should shape how we walk with God.
10 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; 11 being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy;
6 grade basketball story… only went to his left...
(We will default to what we know)
[know God—God will be default of how we walk]
Paul wants the believers to know God so well that,
no matter what they face in life,
they will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord.
It doesn't matter what kind of storm they encounter.
It does not matter what trial comes their way.
They will continue to walk
in the ways they know best.
And when God is what they know best,
then even when life applies pressure,
their response will still be to walk with Him.
The goal is,
that they will be so entrenched in the knowledge of God,
that obedience will be a way of life...
I sometimes challenge the popular idea
that people simply "rise to the occasion."
More often than not,
I do not think people rise to the occasion
as much as they return to what they have consistently practiced.
When pressure comes,
our habits are revealed...
Paul and Silas—returned to what they knew best (Worship)
Daniel— returned to what he knew best… (Prayer)
I would argue that many of the heroes of the Bible
were not made great by a single extraordinary moment.
Their greatness was revealed
in those moments
because they had spent years faithfully walking with God.
When the pressure came,
they didn't suddenly become spiritual giants.
They simply returned to what they knew best.
They prayed
because they were people of prayer.
They trusted
because they had learned to trust.
They obeyed
because obedience had become their way of life.
The extraordinary moment didn't create their faith—
it revealed the faith they had been cultivating all along…
That is the basis of Paul's prayer
for the church in Colossae.
He isn't praying
that they would merely survive difficult days.
He is praying that they would know God so deeply,
be filled with His will,
and grow in spiritual wisdom and understanding so that,
regardless of what life brings,
their natural response
would be to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord...
Paul understood that,
if this church is going to have the power to endure with patience
while remaining filled with joy,
it will only come as they grow in their knowledge of God.
This isn't merely knowing facts about God.
It is the kind of knowledge
that is joined with spiritual wisdom and understanding.
It is a knowledge that says,
I can endure whatever comes my way
because I know God is faithful.
It is a knowledge that says,
I can patiently persevere
because I know God will never leave me nor forsake me.
It is a knowledge that says,
I can have joy even in suffering
because I know the Lord is my strength.
The deeper this church grows in their understanding of who God is,
the more they will continue walking in a manner worthy of the Lord.
Because the Christian life isn't sustained by willpower.
It is sustained by a growing revelation of the God we walk with.
And the more we understand God's character,
the more gratitude begins to overflow from our hearts.
That is exactly where Paul takes us next.
He moves from praying that they would know God more deeply
to reminding them of why they have every reason to give thanks...
Paul writes...
12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. 13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
The Sheep Detectives...
(sheep named Sebastian in a carnival—Faught dogs)
[Shepard paid the price—out of darkness into light]
Paul tells the church that they have every reason to give thanks.
This young church has every reason to have grateful hearts
because the Father has called them out of the domain of darkness
and transferred them into the kingdom of His beloved Son.
When the Good Shepherd paid the price of their redemption,
they were made qualified to be part of the family of God.
It was not because of anything they had done.
It was not because they had finally gotten their lives together.
It was not because they had earned God's acceptance.
It was because Jesus paid the debt they could never pay.
Because of His redemption,
their sins were forgiven,
their debt was canceled,
and they now stand qualified to share in the inheritance of the saints in light…
You know,
we live in a world that is constantly trying to disqualify us.
It reminds us of our past.
It reminds us of our failures.
It reminds us of our shame.
It reminds us of our guilt.
It tells us we will never measure up.
But the Father,
sent His one and only Son
to wash away the stain of our sin by His blood,
so that we could be made qualified
to belong to the family of God.
Jesus stepped in and paid the price for our freedom
so that we could receive an eternal inheritance that we could never earn...
The good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ,
is that
when the price of your redemption was paid by Jesus Christ,
the Father declared you qualified...
Before you had done one good work...
Before you had cleaned yourself up...
Before you had proven yourself...
Jesus had already done
everything necessary to make you right with the Father.
Your qualification is not based on your performance.
It is based on Christ's redemption.
That is why Paul says, "Giving thanks to the Father."
Because our standing before Father is not something we achieved.
It is something we received through Jesus Christ.
The work of the cross did not simply only forgive your past—
it qualified you to belong to the family of God...
The deeper I know God,
the clearer I see His redemption.
The clearer I see His redemption,
the firmer I stand in my identity.
And the firmer I stand in my identity,
the more faithfully I walk in the life He has called me to live...
There is an old story about a little boy
who grew up in an orphanage.
Every day he wondered
if anyone would ever choose him.
But over time he gave up believing…
After years of living at the orphanage,
This young boy began to not expect much from life
because when rejection is all you have ever known,
you begin to believe it is all you will ever have.
Rejection had become his identity.
It shaped the way he saw himself.
It shaped the way he saw the world.
Then one day,
a family came.
The little boy did not expect anything to happen.
He had watched family after family walk through those doors…
And time after time,
he was rejected.
It was always the strongest child.
The smartest child.
The child who seemed to have the brightest future.
But the story was always the same,
it was never him that was chosen.
Nevertheless,
this day would prove to be different.
They saw this young boy...
...and they fell in love…
As the adoption papers were drawn up,
the father willingly paid every legal fee required to make that little boy his son.
The papers were signed.
The price was paid.
Legally, everything had changed.
He was no longer an orphan.
He was a son.
He had a father.
He had a family.
He had a home.
He had an inheritance.
But although legally his identity had changed...
...his thinking had not.
When the family would sit down for dinner,
the boy would not come to the table
because he did not feel like he belonged.
At night,
instead of sleeping in the bed his parents had prepared for him,
he slept on the floor
because that is what he had done his whole life…
Week after week...
Month after month...
He continued living like an orphan,
even though he was a son.
Finally,
one evening,
his father picked him up,
sat him on his lap,
looked him in the eyes,
and said four words that changed the boys life forever:
Son... you belong here...
I think many of us live like that little boy….
(Walk like orphans instead of walking like sons)
[live like you belong…]
