Prayer for the Church

Introduction

So good! It’s good to be in God’s presence with you. Go ahead and take a seat. Open up your Bibles to . If you don’t have a hard copy Bible, download that YouVersion app and you can follow along. By way of reminder, this is a letter that Paul wrote. Paul was an apostle and the greatest missionary in history. But, he actually didn’t plant, he didn’t start this church. Epaphrus learned from Paul in Ephesus and took it back to Colossae and started this church. And Paul is so thankful that the gospel has made it to this region, but he is also hearing that they aren’t really getting who Jesus is. So Paul is going to remind them of the sufficiency and sovereignty of Jesus. And last week we looked at how Paul is giving thanks for the faith they have, and now before we get into the meat of the letter, where Paul is going to give us some important doctrine, he starts with a prayer. So we are in chapter 1:9-14. And before we get into it, I want to tell you, as I started studying this, there is something unique about these six verses. In Paul’s original letter, in Greek, this is only one sentence. This is only one sentence. And I was talking to a buddy at work about this because I thought it was so interesting, and he asked the appropriate question: does that affect its meaning? And I said, yeah it does. This is one, long run-on sentence where Paul is pouring out his heart for this church that he’s never even been to. So, for one, everything we read in here is all connected; these aren’t disjointed ideas. Second, I think it speaks to Paul’s passion, and I hope you feel that this morning. On Thursday, there was an art hop in Reedley, I actually saw a few of you there. And it’s cool, a bunch of different shops opened up their shops and let various artists display their work. And there were a lot of kids there too. And most of them, you kinda just peruse, maybe stop for a little bit as you look, but then you keep in moving. But this one store I went into there was this little girl that cracked me up. She was a photographer and she immediately starting talking a mile a minute about each picture. She explained where she was, why she thought to take the picture, what she liked about it, and she didn’t take a breath between pictures. She finished explaining the first couple and then kinda directed me, and if you’ll step right over here… the thing about this picture is… She was hilarious! But she was so passionate about her art! This is what Paul is doing. He loves these people and he’s so passionate about Jesus and he just crams all these really important truths into one cohesive prayer. So with that said, let’s go ahead and read it starting in verse 9.

English Standard Version Chapter 1

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, 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; 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.

Knowledge = Knowledge of the Gospel

So good. You see how all these ideas are just crammed into one prayer? Well, let’s go ahead and go through it, starting in verse 9. And Paul starts by saying, ever since we heard of you, we have not ceased to pray for you. Right away, we see Paul’s passionate love for these people. He sincerely cares for them. And this an intercessory prayer; Paul is interceding for these believers. When you pray to God for the benefit of another. And what it is the first thing he prays? That they may be filled with the knowledge of God’s will. And when I read this, I see it through American eyes, I think of God’s will for my life. That Paul is talking about God’s guiding will in the life of every individual believer, but that’s actually not the “will” that Paul is talking about here. When Paul talks about God’s will in this letter, he’s referring to His bigger will. Namely, to save lost people through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. The gospel! That’s the will Paul is talking about here. And back in verse 6 he said they have heard gospel. They have heard the truth. But as we know, their knowledge of that truth is lacking in some areas. But Paul’s prayer here is not that they would get introduced to the gospel. That’s already been done. But he wants them to be filled with the gospel. But I think many people are fine with having an introductory knowledge of God and the gospel. We don’t care to learn about it applies to everything in life and how it has the power to transform every area of our lives. I hope we come to this text, to this letter of Colossians, with soft hearts asking that God will fill us with the knowledge of His will.

And back in verse 6 he said they have heard gospel. They have heard the truth. But as we know, there knowledge of that truth is lacking in some areas. But Paul’s prayer here is not they they would get to know Jesus a little bit. He wants them

What, How, and Why

And at the end of verse 9, he has these two descriptions of having the knowledge of God’s will: “in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.” So what’s the distinction of these three apparently similar words. We see knowledge, wisdom, and understanding. These words are really similar to their Greek counterparts. Knowledge is at the more intellectual level, and wisdom and understanding are the same type of thing we have in English. So why does he list them all? Here’s what he’s saying: I want you to have the knowledge (the what), the wisdom (the how), and the understanding (the why). The what, the how, and the why. We need to know what the gospel is, how to actually apply it to our lives, and the understand of why it’s so important and what God’s purpose is behind it. Can you answer those questions about the gospel? What is it? What is the gospel? How does the gospel affect my life? And why is the gospel so important? Or why did God do it this way? Those are Paul’s prayer for this church. That they would have a full comprehension, intellectually and experientially, of the gospel. Awesome.

Putting Knowledge into Action

Let’s look at the first part of verse 10. So we have that knowledge, wisdom, and understanding, “so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him...” So what the purpose of all this head knowledge? It’s not so you can keep cramming your head full of facts. It’s so that it translates into action. So we can walk in a way that is worthy of the Lord. And sometimes we see knowledge and action as mutually exclusive. That I can be really good at one, and if I don’t have so much of the other, that’s OK because I’m really strong in this other area. That’s not how this works. says:

English Standard Version Chapter 12

2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

When our mind is really changed, then our being is transformed. Our mind our actions are irrevocably linked. And again, :

English Standard Version Chapter 1

22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

See if we are filling our heads with knowledge, but never putting it into action, we’re actually fooling ourselves. If you’re learning, learning, learning about Jesus and the Bible, but you never put into action, you’re actually deceiving yourself. So Paul wants to protect these people from that trap. He wants to show how knowledge naturally leads to a changed life, to a changed walk.

Thinkers vs. Doers

And when it comes to knowledge and action, I think we lean one of two ways. If you’re like me, you’re feeling what I’m talking about. It is so easy for us, to take in gobs of information about God or the Bible and be perfectly content with just leaving it there and never putting into practice. How many of you are that way? And then there’s our doers. You love to just go out and there and do it. These are the people that start playing a new board game without reading the directions first. So you might have the action down, but maybe you’re lacking in getting the wisdom and understanding. Anyone here like that? Well, let’s do some self-assessment and see where you’re at. Which way do you lean? See, but here’s the cool thing. Knowledge and action have a good, healthy, symbiotic relationship. They don’t starve the other, they feed each other.

Attempt at Sharing the Gospel

Like I said, I tend to just want to learn things and not put them into action. Let me start with a story about where someone like me needs to grow. A few weeks ago I was getting my oil changed at Wal-Mart and I was just sitting there waiting and there was this young woman who was also waiting. And I had brought my laptop and I wanted to just keep working. I didn’t really feel like socializing. But I just asked the Holy Spirit if he wanted me to talk to her. And by the way, I was kinda hoping he would say I didn’t have to, but he never seems to answer that way. So I start a conversation with her. Find our her name is Brittany, and I learn a little about her. She has a boyfriend and he has a toddler and she’s basically the mom to this little boy. And the Holy Spirit gave me courage to talk about church and Jesus. And so I start asking her questions about her faith and where she’s at. And then I eloquently and passionately presented the gospel to her and she came to the Lord! No, that’s not what happened! I wish it did. But I did bring up Jesus, but it was clumsy and awkward and probably even half-hearted. And you know what I learned, while I have all this head knowledge about sharing Jesus, when it came to actually doing it, and learned I have a lot of work to do. But I was also encouraged to keep trying! Now what about the other side?

Friend Not Paying Taxes

Now that you’ve seen how thinkers struggle, let’s pick on doers. I was talking to a friend, and he doesn’t live around here, so we were catching up on life. And I really need to emphasize how close of a friend this is, otherwise you’ll think I’m a jerk. (And you might still come to that conclusion anyway.) But we have been extremely close friends for more than a decade and we have shared our deepest sin struggles with each other. And this friend is the epitome of a doer. He is the ready, fire, aim type. He is so willing to just throw himself out there and just make things happen. And he’s really good at it. Anyway, we’re talking about work and he’s saying how he doesn’t love it, but at least it pays well and it’s allowing him to help put his wife through school. But his pay is 100% tips, and he tells me excitedly that none of it gets taxed so it’s very lucrative. And my eyes widen as he’s describing the setup. And my mind goes to Jesus’ words in Matthew:

English Standard Version Chapter 22

21 They said, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

And I didn’t want to say anything, but I felt the Holy Spirit nudging me. So I said, “you know that’s actually a sin.” The horror on his face! Yes, so now you can feel free to call me a jerk. Haha! But he says, “No, it’s fine, none of my coworkers are paying taxes either.” And he says, “There’s a guy planting a church that I work with and he doesn’t pay taxes either. And you know I used to feel bad about it, but...” And I said, “but you have numbed your conscience. You need to repent.” And he paused and he said, “wait, are you joking?” And I said, “no, I’m being serious. God’s word says we are supposed to pay taxes.” And we ended up changing the subject and I didn’t hear from him for a while after that. But when I called him a few weeks later, I didn’t bring it up, but he did. He said, “You know how you called me out on not paying taxes?” And I said, “oh yeah.” And he said, “Well, my wife and I prayed about it and God showed us you were right, so we’re going to start paying taxes on the money.” How cool was that? See this is a guy who loves the Lord and is walking with him, but he was needing to increase in his knowledge of God. And you don’t know what you don’t know. He didn’t know it was a sin, but once he learned it was, it repented. See this is where doers have room to grow. But we need both.

But that’s what happens with knowledge and action. The knowledge that I had that I should share the gospel with people motivated me to action. And then actually doing the action motivated me to learn more. And my friend is out there doing and he was in community and that brought to light that he needs to grow in the knowledge of God. So, if you’re like me and you like just keeping the knowledge to yourself, go share it with somebody! And if you’re more of a doer, when you go do those things, you’ll realize that you need to increase in the knowledge of His will. So go apply yourself to the Word. And when we do that, our life will be fully pleasing to Him.

Pleasing God

Let’s talk about pleasing God. Because Paul says in verse 10 we can walk in a way that is fully pleasing to Him. Is that even possible? I think we miss this idea in Christianity quite a bit. We don’t tend to focus on the fact that we can please him, and here’s the reasoning. In culture, people think “well, I’m a good person. I do more good than bad. I don’t necessarily believe in a higher power, but if there is one, they would see I’m a good person.” But we know the gospel, and we know that’s not true. In Romans, Paul makes this very clear in 3:23:

English Standard Version Chapter 3

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God

And we desperately want people to get this. So the banner that we wave is that there’s no amount of good we can do to earn God’s favor. And then, to the people who are saved, we say, “there’s nothing you can do to make God love you any more or less.” These are all true. But what is the consequence of emphasizing these ideas? The motivation for holiness is lost. If I can’t earn salvation and there’s nothing I can do to make Him love me more, why be concerned about growing in holiness? Why does it matter what I do and how much I’m growing to look like Jesus. The reason that is so often missed, is to please the Lord! You are to be motivated to please Him just like you have an inherent desire to please your Earthly father. It is not only possible, but it’s encouraged! And I first read about how we can please God in Kevin DeYoung’s The Hole in our Holiness. And since I think this is missed so much, let’s quickly look at a handful of examples:

: Presenting your body as a living sacrifice pleases God.

: Looking out for your weaker brother pleases God.

: Teaching the word in truth pleases God.

: Praying for your governing authorities pleases God.

: Supporting family members in need pleases God.

: Sharing with others pleases God.

: Keeping the commandments pleases God.

The Bible is constantly calling us to obedience, not to earn our salvation, but to please God. So as we look at the rest of what it looks like to walk in a way worthy of the Lord, know that it’s not worthy as in worthy of His righteousness. Only Jesus did that. But we can walk in a way that is worthy of the Lord as in it is pleasing to God. That you can walk in a way that makes your heavenly Father’s heart swell. That he looks on your thoughts and action and it’s like a fragrant smell. As He watches your walk, He can’t help but smile. That’s why we strive to walk in holiness! And in Paul’s prayer, he goes on to describe what walking in holiness entails.

“Walk” and its Four Participles

So, remember how I said this whole prayer is one big long, run-on sentence? Well, there is only primary verb. And that is the walk you see in verse 10. So I want to do a quick grammar lesson because it’s important to see the flow of thought to break this sentence down. Like I said, these are not disjointed ideas. So if you have your Bible with you go ahead and circle or underline “Walk”. That is the main verb here, but the verb is followed by four participles. And I’m going to school again so I had to relearn what these are, but it’s really just an “-ing” word. And the importance of these words is that they describe or modify a verb. And in this prayer, we see four “-ing” words that help color our understanding of what it means to walk in a way worthy of the Lord. So put your finger on walk and let’s find those words. “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; 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.” You see how all those things describe what it means to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord?

bearing fruit

increasing in the knowledge of God

being strengthened

giving thanks

Well let’s look at what they mean.

Bearing Fruit

The first two are exactly what we’ve been talking about. Someone who is walking with the Lord is bearing fruit and increasing the knowledge. It’s not either/or, it’s both/and. So first, you need to be a doer. Like Paul says in Ephesians:

English Standard Version Chapter 2

10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

God didn’t call us into His Kingdom so we could lounge around all the time. Yes, there is peace and rest in His Kingdom, but there is also work to be done. And it’s not a punishment, but a joy. Because this idea of work is tied into the idea of fruit. So you shouldn’t doing these works out of bitterness, but out of the Holy Spirit. So the fruit you bear should be:

English Standard Version Chapter 5

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

And these four descriptions also can serve as a great litmus test for your own walk with the Lord.

And these four “-ing” words can also serve as a great litmus test for your own walk with the Lord. Are you doing work for the Lord? Are you serving? And the work you produce does it resemble the fruit of the Holy Spirit? Or is done bitterly with resentment, lacking all joy?

Increasing in the Knowledge of God

How about increasing in the knowledge of God. I am convinced there are many people in the Church who have stagnated in their knowledge of God. I had a Bible teacher ask me this question once, “do you think, if you had eternity, you would be able to learn everything there is to know about God?” What a puzzling question. Even in heaven, when we will see more clearly, we will still always have more to learn about God. His ways are unsearchable. Yet some of us are perfectly content with the knowledge we already have of him. But here’s your litmus test: when is the last time you learned a new facet of God? And I don’t just mean intellectually, but there is also a knowing that is experiential. Are you getting to know God more and more as you get older? Or does it seem like you already know enough about God? Keep growing. Keep pressing in. There is always more to learn. There is always another level of intimacy of relationship that you can find with the Lord. So those are the first two “-ing” words, bearing fruit and increasing in the knowledge of God.

Being Strengthened

The next one is not something we do, but something that is done to us, for us. We are “being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy.” And we are not strengthening ourselves. We are being strengthened by God. This isn’t pulling yourself up by your bootstraps when things get hard, but it’s falling on the Lord when things get tough. And it is his strength for the work of ministry, in the good works, in the bearing fruit. God never asks us to do anything he’s not prepared to strengthen you for. If he did, he wouldn’t get the glory! So turn to God for your strength. And you when you have suffering turn to God for strength and he will supply it. He will help you to be patient and to endure. And you won’t endure with clenched teeth, but in true serenity. When you walk with the Lord through life and you’re constantly being strengthened by God, your demeanor will change. Worry will fade and you’ll find that his burden is light, not because the load the load is light, but because the power in you is immeasurable. And there’s something unique about verse 11. Aren’t the words “power” and “might” pretty close? Well, one thing I love about the Bible is no words are in there by accident. Just like in the beginning of the passage how he talked about knowledge, wisdom, and understanding, when you really stop and meditate on the differences, the distinctions, the Holy Spirit will show you. So why does he say “power” and “might” in verse 11? This is so cool. Remember one of the reasons Paul is writing this letter to correct some false doctrines that Jesus is not sufficient or sovereign. These two words are directly connected to these ideas. God is powerful. How much power are we strengthened with? All power? How able is Jesus? All able. How competent is Jesus? All competent. And might, was often used in reference to a ruler. A king would be called mighty if he had political power and clout: his words would come to pass. Not only is Jesus powerful, but he is mighty, he is sovereign. How sovereign? Gloriously sovereign! That’s who is strengthening you! Don’t ever say you need Jesus and something else! You don’t need Jesus and caffeine! You don’t need Jesus and anything else. You just need Jesus. He is enough. He is more than enough! He is more than you will ever need. He has all power and he will strengthen you with His glorious might! He has made that resource available, but still some of us aren’t asking Him for strength. Ask Him! Be strengthened!

Giving Thanks

And after all those three “-ing” words, verse 12, the last element of our walk is to give thanks to the Father. We thank Him for the fruit He helps us bear. We thank Him for the knowledge He helps us increase in. We thank him for how he strengthens us to endure with patience. And we thank him because he has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.

Our Redemption, Identity, and Citizenship

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

And as we read verses 12-14 there are some phrases that don’t not make sense, but maybe we get the sense we’re missing something. These words and phrases

inheritance

saints in light

delivered

domain of darkness

kingdom

redemption

Paul is talking about a transferring of citizenship, but this isn’t the first time this has been done in the Bible. In Exodus, God delivered his people out of slavery in Egypt. But here’s the thing about people, we forget our new identity. We forget our new citizenship. And we start acting like God hasn’t completely changed who we are. Like the Israelites, after they fled Egypt and Pharoah sends his army to recapture them, this is what they said in Exodus Chapter 14:11 to God and to Moses:

English Standard Version Chapter 14

11 They said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”

How quickly we forget. And they were so eager to enlist themselves as slaves to Egypt once more. We’re not turning back to Egypt, but we turn back to the domain of darkness. We turn back to sin. We say, I don’t want to do good works for God, I don’t want to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, I don’t want to walk in holiness. I just want to be a slave again. And the master you’re turning back to is sin. And Moses’ response to the Israelites wanting to submit themselves to Egypt is exactly what we need to hear when we’re tempted to stop walking with the Lord and submit again to sin:

English Standard Version Chapter 14

13 And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. 14 The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”

Who’s doing the work? God is. He says you only have to be silent. Just zip it and watch. God will take care of it. How powerful is that. And so that’s what Paul is doing at the end of his prayer. He’s just finished listing out all the things that are done as part of walking with the Lord, but many of us take that list as things we need to work harder at. But that’s not at all what Paul is saying. Paul is saying God has already qualified us. That is a completed action. He has already delivered you. It’s done! He has already transferred you to Jesus’ kingdom! You’re not on a work visa where you have to keep showing him the good work you’ve done to stay in the country. Your citizenship has been transferred. And it’s not dual citizenship. Your old citizenship to sin has been revoked. You’re in God’s house! It’s done! And what does that mean in the present? It means we are redeemed! Just as a person would have purchased a slave, we were slaves of sin, but Jesus purchased us with his blood. He paid the penalty and because of His sacrifice we are forgiven! We are no longer in the domain of darkness; we have been transferred to the kingdom of his beloved son! That’s our new reality. Our new normal. And there’s nothing normal about it! It’s supernatural. We are in God’s glorious kingdom, so act like it! Don’t submit again to the yoke of slavery. That’s what Paul is reminding the Colossians. That’s Paul’s prayer for the church. That’s my prayer for our church. Let’s remember our identity. Let’s remember where our citizenship lies.

Conclusion

So let’s walk in a manner worthy of the Lord. Let’s bear fruit. Let’s do good works. And while we’re doing that, let’s never stop learning more and more about God. And let’s never stopping getting know God relationally. And as we’re going, let’s stop trying to do it out of our own strength, let’s turn to Jesus. He is sufficient. He is sovereign. And let’s thank Him for all he does in and through us. And how do we do it? Not by trying harder, but by remembering who we are, whose we are, and where we are. We are saints. We belong to Jesus. And we’re in God’s Kingdom. And as you walk in this way, your life will be pleasing to the Lord.