Colossians 1:9-14

God is pleased when believers grow in knowledge and character and when they express gratitude for the salvation.

Colossians 1:9 HCSB

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,

Paul’s letter changes gear from thanksgiving to intercession.

Paul’s prayer that the believers will live there lives that please God.

Does it take deep knowledge, strict living, or a miraculous experience to please God? yes or no.

We. like the Colossians, need to know that truth about what pleases God so we won’t be enchanted by error.

“Filled with the knowledge of His will” Paul wants the Colossians to know God’s will and then let that knowledge control them.

The word “filled” means to control.

To be filled with something (an emotion like fear or jealousy) means to be under its controlling influence that causes us to do thing we might not do otherwise.

Being controlled by God’s will should cause us to do things we might not other wise do — things like enduring rather than giving up.

Wisdom refers to the comprehension of truth, while understanding refers to the application of truth.

Being controlled by God’s will means believers comprehend the principles of Scripture and then put them into Practice.

Colossians 1:10–12 HCSB

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. May you be strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for all endurance and patience, with joy giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the saints’ inheritance in the light.

Being controlled by God’s will is not an end to itself; it is only a means to an end. The goal is to live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way.

The word worthy refers to conduct that is expected and appropriate for God’s children.

If pleasing God is the Goal, how do we achieve it?

Paul spells it out in verse’s 10-12. By bearing fruit, growing in knowledge, being strengthened for adversity and giving thanks for salvation, we please God.

We see in verse’s 10-12 there are 4 things Paul writes to help us with living a life that pleases Him.

First, Believers please God when they are bearing fruit in every good work. Good works in the life of the believer please God because good works are God’s plan for the believer ()

Second, God is pleased when believers are growing in the knowledge of God. The more we know of God’s character, His ways, and His expectations, the more we are able to bring our lives into conformity with what pleases Him.

Third, our lives please God when they are characterized by endurance and patience. Life is often difficult and challenging. At those times we need endurance — the ability to pass through any experience and trust God to see us through. At times, people are less than friendly, at those time we need patience — the capacity to be long-suffering with people and not retaliate when we are wronged or irritated.

Finally, believers please God when they are joyfully giving thanks to the Father for the blessings of salvation. Salvation is ours by Grace alone, grace is seen in our participation in the inheritance. We don’t earn an inheritance. We receive it.

Colossians 1:13–14 HCSB

He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son He loves. We have redemption, the forgiveness of sins, in Him.

Colossians 1:

God delivered us from the ruling power of darkness, and the good news doesn’t end there. God has transferred us; he has moved us from one place to another. He has taken us from satan’s dark realm and placed us into the bright light of Jesus’s kingdom.

God’s work of salvation, for which believers are joyfully to give thanks, is pictured further with redemption and forgiveness.

To redeem someone means “to buy them back and set them free.”

Jesus’s death was the price paid to but us back and set us free from sin. Because of Christ’s death on our behalf, we are set free from both the penalty and the power of sin.

Forgiveness parallels redemption.

Forgive literally means “to send away, to cancel.”

Through the death of Jesus, God has canceled the dept of our sin. It was the dept we could never repay; but since Jesus paid the dept for us, God has forgiven the dept.

Paul wants us to know the truth about pleasing God so that we won’t be victims of the well-disguised lies of those who might lead us astray.