Spiritual Growth

Introduction

Everyone needs prayer. Our friends need prayer, our siblings need prayer, our parents need prayer, our pastors need prayer, our teachers need prayer, our small group leaders need prayer, we ALL need prayer. Paul starts most of his letters off with an introduction of who he is and who he is writing to and then he immediately lets them know he is praying for that church and what he is praying for them. I think its so awesome to note that Paul is never praying for deliverance from government oppression, he is never praying for things in the physical, but he is always praying for their spiritual well being. Most everyone Paul is writing to is under some type of persecution but he doesn’t pray for them to be immediately delivered but he is praying for them from spiritual attacks and for spiritual growth. Let this prayer that Paul gives to the Colossian church encourage you as well. Not only in your own life but encourage you to pray these things for others.

Paul prayed for spiritual wisdom (v.9)

Remember the gnostics and the Judaizers were teaching this new spiritual perfection and salvation based on keeping the law. So Paul is using the words like knowledge, wisdom, and spiritual understanding (words these groups were using) in his prayer.

Paul is reminding them from v.6 that they heard the gospel and understood the grace of God in truth. They had already had a spiritual experience with God you don’t need a new one you need to grow in the experience you have already had!

GOD WANTS YOU TO KNOW HIS WILL. - Acts 22:14 says “The God of our fathers appointed you to know his will, to see the Righteous One and to hear a voice from his mouth.” and Ephesians 5:17 says “Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” God wants us to know His will and understand his will. He doesn’t want us wandering around aimlessly in our spiritual walk with God taking a guess at what he wants from you next. God wants us to know what he is doing He is not a God of confusion. (John 15:13-15 “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.”)

GOD WANTS US TO BE FILLED WITH THE KNOWLEDGE OF HIS WILL- The word “filled” is used many times and is a key word in the book of Colossians (1:19, 25;2:2, 9-10;4:12, 17) and means to be complete or filled fully. In Christ we have all that we need for the voyage of life. (John 1:16 “And of his fullness have all we received”) Being filled in the New Testament shows you what you are controlled by. If you are filled with anger your actions are controlled by your anger in that moment. If you are filled with the Spirit you will be controlled by the Spirit. So Paul is praying that we should be controlled by the full knowledge of God’s will…but how? WE UNDERSTAND THE WILL OF GOD THROUGH THE WORD OF GOD. God gives us a general will for all His children that is clearly given in the Bible (love God, love others, show grace, speak truth, etc.) and the specific will of God for any situation must agree with what has already been revealed in His word. So…Knowing the Word directly impacts if we know God’s will for our lives.

Paul prayed for daily obedience (v.10)

The false teaching in colossae promised spiritual knowledge without relating it to daily life. IN THE CHRISTIAN LIFE, KNOWLEDGE AND OBEDIENCE GO TOGETHER. THERE IS NO SEPARATION BETWEEN LEARNING AND LIVING. Real spiritual wisdom must affect your daily life. Studying the deep truths in the Bible and digging deeper in the Word does you NO GOOD if it does not translate to how you live your life. Fix yourself on having a burning heart of devotion to Christ instead of a big head that leads to arrogance.

All biblical truth is practical. IF WE ARE GROWING IN KNOWLEDGE WE SHOULD ALSO BE GROWING IN GRACE. (2 Peter 3:18 “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity.”)

We must remember this cycle: grow in wisdom, then walk, then work. I cannot work for God if I don’t walk with Him, but I cannot walk with Him if I am ignorant of His will. “The believer who spends time daily in the Word and prayer (Acts 6:4) will know God’s will and be able to walk with Him and work for Him.” -Warren Wiersbe

Christian service is a result of Christian devotion. The work that we do for the Kingdom of God is an outpouring of the life that we live abiding in Christ. (John 15:4-5 “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”)

Paul prayed for moral excellence (v. 11-14)

Your character matters. Your character will dictate your actions and ultimately your character is changed by your knowledge of God’s will and your choice to act on it instead of acting on your own sinful desires.

Paul emphasizes patience, longsuffering, joyfulness, and thanksgiving. (Proverbs 16:32 says “He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit, than he who captures a city.”) Patience means “endurance when circumstances are difficult.” Without patience it will be very difficult to learn any other fruitful character trait. Patience is ENDURANCE IN ACTION. Patience isn’t a Christian sitting in a rocking chair waiting for God to do something, but it is a soldier on the battlefield, keeping on when the going is tough. Too many people quit when the circumstances get difficult.

We need to be longsuffering as well. Patience has to do with our circumstances but longsuffering deals with how we react with people. God is longsuffering towards people because of His love and grace. So we must reflect that as well. We have to have grace towards people when they don’t deserve it. Patience and longsuffering go together like knowledge and obedience. You can’t be patient in your circumstances and not be longsuffering with others. You must pray for both and lean on God’s strength for both to be produced in your life.

Paul says we must be joyful in our circumstances and thankful to the Father. Joy is a fruit of the spirit that the Lord works in us. It isn’t something that we can produce in ourselves. Our joy comes and is independent of our circumstances or the people around us. When circumstances are dark, when people are hateful towards you, you can still have spiritual joy in your life. However, we all can remember times where we lost the victory and joy in a situation because of the problems that we face or the people we let speak into our lives and we give in and allow those things to dictate our joy.

Thankfulness is the essential characteristic of the Christian life that produces a God-focused life instead of a Me-focused life. When we allow our joy to be compromised by our situation we turn from thankfulness to God to a critical and complaining spirit. The main object of thankfulness and praise is verse 12-14.

Conclusion

GOD WANTS YOU TO KNOW HIS WILL AND GROW IN YOUR SPIRITUAL UNDERSTANDING.

IN THE CHRISTIAN LIFE, KNOWLEDGE AND OBEDIENCE GO TOGETHER.

YOUR CHARACTER MATTERS.