Sunday Sermon Colossians 1:12-14
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Introduction
Introduction
Good morning and welcome to First Community Church, where we worship God in Spirit and in Truth, one verse at a time.
I apologize for not being with you today in person, but know I am with you in Spirit.
And before I forget, I wanted to give you a warm and love filled Happy Thanksgiving!
Please continue keeping Judy and Ernie in your prayers as their son Dave lost his wife this past week. Church, they were married for 44 years. So please lift them up and reach out in whatever way the Holy Spirit leads you.
Prayer
Prayer
Read Colossians 1:9-14
Read Colossians 1:9-14
You might notice that the slide on the screen says 12-14 and that it correct, but I wanted to include 9-12 to give us a backdrop and a clear understanding of where we are headed this morning.
See church, we are shifting from petition or asking for something, to praise. We will focus most of our time here. Paul praise God here, for what has already been done.
I believe this is an important concept and that it is a template for our own prayer life church.
Let’s take a look at a few scriptures where Paul uses this same methodology
Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business; but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”
Here in the early church, we see Peter and the Apostles laying don the ground work for pastors and really for all of us.
They gave themselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the Word.
This was true of Paul’s life as we see right here and as your read his other epistle church.
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Did you see that Paul instructed the Philippians to give thanks or praise to the Lord, but also to supplicate, to ask, or to petition the Lord for needs?
Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men,
Did you see that?
The terms that Pauls used while writing Timothy combine petition and praise, asking and thanking.
And Church, these really become the ingredients to any biblical pattern for prayer.
Petition, supplication, or asking God if you may.
Praise or thanking God for what he has done, is doing, or will do, or even promised he will do!
Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.
You have not, because you ask not!
Review
Review
One of the chief reason Paul is writing this letter is because of the heresy or the false teaching that stated pouring into the church.
Strange doctrines were beginning to spring up in Colosse. Before Paul deals with the heresies, he will first clarify some important truths.
Last week we looked at Paul’s prayer for the Colossians and we focused on knowledge and what role this plays in our lives.
And then we made are way through verses 9-12.
Right belief church, produces right behavior. Paul always places doctrine before duty in his letters, because one will not know how to behave unless he knows what he believes.
For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.
Paul tells us in the verses not only to be filled with the knowledge of God’s will for us
But to also walk worthy. Notice the order of operation. Knowledge then walk. Without the knowledge of how to walk, one cannot walk.
And remember church, this is not talking about some intellectual assent, but rather taking the knowledge you learn through today’s study and in your personal study and putting it in shoe leather.
Remember, that wisdom is the application of knowledge.
Paul petitions the Lord, that we would walk worthy church.
Walking in the Bible means daily conduct
What does it mean to walk worthy and please the Lord?
Paul tells us here in the text:
that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy;
Being fruitful in every good work
That we would be increasing in the knowledge of God
That we would be strengthened with all might according to God’s glorious power
That we would have patience , longsuffering, and joy
Patience is in regards to our circumstances, while longsuffering is toward others.
Joy is a byproduct of these. We cannot have joy church, without patience and longsuffering
looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Jesus is the perfect example of this.
giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.
This verse continues Paul’s description of what it means to walk worthy of the Lord pleasing Him.
Giving thanks is another way we walk worthy church!
I thought it was interesting that the Sunday before Thanksgiving that we come to a text in the book we are studying on giving thanks and before we dive into these power packed verses, I wanted to give you a few illustrations:
In the late 1800’s George Mueller operated an orphanage that at one time had 1,000 orphans. One morning there was no food to eat, but he called all the children and staff together and prayed thanking God for the provision of food, even though no food was on the table. A few moments later a baker knocked on the door. He told Mr. Muller that God had led him to bake bread the night before and give it to the orphanage. Before the bread was given to the children, a milkman knocked on the door. He said that his milk truck had broken down and he wanted to give the milk to the orphanage.
George Muller gave thanks, even when it took faith to do so.
Two friends met each other on the street one day. One looked forlorn, almost on the verge of tears. His friend asked, “What has the world done to you, my old friend?” The sad fellow said, “Let me tell you: three weeks ago, my uncle died and left me forty thousand dollars.”
“That’s a lot of money.”
“But you see, two weeks ago, a cousin I never even knew died, and left me eighty-five thousand dollars, free and clear.”
“Sounds to me that you’ve been very blessed.”
“You don’t understand!” he interrupted. “Last week my great-aunt passed away. I inherited almost a quarter of a million from her.”
Now the man’s friend was really confused. “Then, why do you look so glum?”
“This week—nothing!”
We can often come to the point where we expect to get certain blessings that God never promised us, and when they do not come, it is easy to get bitter.
Here is verse 12 we see Paul shift from the asking or petition to praising or giving thanks
What does the Word of God teach about giving thanks?
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
By the way thankfulness is mentioned a few more times here in Colossians:
Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving;
And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.
Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness; you will be enriched in everything for all liberality, which through us is producing thanksgiving to God.
For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving; for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
But I will sacrifice to You With the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay what I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord.”
The Lord is my strength and my shield; My heart trusted in Him, and I am helped; Therefore my heart greatly rejoices, And with my song I will praise Him.
Offer to God thanksgiving, And pay your vows to the Most High.
Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.
Church, there are hundreds of verse that teach us to give thanks
Gratitude=Attitude=Altitude
Thanks-eucharisteo (“good” + “grace”) – to be grateful, feel thankful
What are you thankful for this morning, what has God done in your life? What is he doing and promised to do church?
Being thankful is directly related to good mental health, good physical health, emotional health, and church guess what, being thankful helps us to be more physically healthy as well.
So take heart!
God commands us to be thankful
Church, when I would ask my mom how she was doing, her reply was always, “I counted my blessings today!” She said this no matter how bad she was feeling inside.
So remember, let us not forget the old hymn that goes:
Count your blessings name them one by one
Count your blessings know what God has done!
When is the last time you counted your blessings?
Getting back to the text, Paul switched from prayer to praise
He says that giving thanks to God is one thing that shows we are walking worthy
He says that being grateful church, is pleasing to the Lord
Do you know what the opposite of thankfulness is? It is selfishness church!
The selfish person says, “I deserve what comes to me! Other people ought to make me happy!” But the mature Christian realizes that life is a gift from God, and that the blessings of life come only from His bountiful hand.
Here is these verse Paul gives us 5 things to be thankful for, let us read the verses at hand:
giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.
Do you see them?
We give thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.
Father emphasizes the personal, relational aspect of our union with God. Before our salvation, God was our Judge. We stood condemned before Him for violating His holy, just laws. But when, through the grace of God, we placed our faith in Christ, God ceased being our sentencing Judge and became our gracious Father.
Not only has God adopted us as His sons, but He has also qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.
What does being qualified mean?
Qualified hi-ka-noō- it means “to make sufficient, to empower, to authorize, to make fit.”
Church, this means that we are not qualified through our own efforts.
God has qualified us through the finished work of Christ.
The finished work of the cross
It is the Lord who does it, not us!
Before God saved us by His grace we were truly unqualified for our inheritance. Several passages in Ephesians describe our helpless condition:
And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.
that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.
Praise God church, that He qualified us and that we no longer walk the way we used to walk! Our strut has changed thanks be to God!
We are partakers of the inheritance with the saints in the light.
What does it mean to inherit something?
Before we go there, I wanted to share that there is an OT allusion here:
The picture in Paul’s mind is the division of the land of Canaan in the Old Testament. After Israel conquered Canaan, they divided up the land by lot. Each tribe received a portion of the land to live on and pass on to their descendants after them.
Do you have to work for you inheritance? Do you think if you are bad the Father would take it way form you?
Inheritance-kleros- allotment (will) n. — an allotment, especially according to the terms of a will.
The Bible has much to say about our inheritance.
First and foremost our inheritance consists of eternal life.
Can you work for your salvation? Certainly not!
Now a certain ruler asked Him, saying, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’ ” And he said, “All these things I have kept from my youth.” So when Jesus heard these things, He said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” But when he heard this, he became very sorrowful, for he was very rich.
The ruler asked Jesus what must he do to inherit eternal life?
The point is we cannot do anything church, that Christ did it all!
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
2. We will give thanks to The Father who has delivered us from the power of darkness.
This word delivered us means “rescued from danger.”
We could not deliver ourselves from the guilt and penalty of sin, but Jesus could and did deliver us.
Church, before we believed upon the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, we were in danger of spending eternity apart from God. The sword of God’s judgment was hanging over our heads!
But this deliverance involved something else: we were delivered from the authority of Satan and the powers of darkness.
See church, he gnostic false teachers believed in an organization of evil spirits that controlled the world (see Col. 1:16; 2:10, 15): angels, archangels, principalities, powers, virtues, dominions, and thrones.
3. We will give thanks because He has conveyed or transferred us into the kingdom of His Son and his love church.
The word conveyed or transferred was used to describe the deportation of a population from one country into another.
History records the fact that Antiochus the Great transported at least 2,000 Jews from Babylonia to Colossae.
Jesus Christ did not release us from bondage, only to have us wander aimlessly. He moved us into His own kingdom of light and made us victors over Satan’s kingdom of darkness.
Remember church, we do not fight for victory, but from victory!
4.We will give thanks church for In whom we have redemption through His blood !
The word redeem or redemption means “to release a prisoner by the payment of a ransom.”
Paul did not suggest that Jesus paid a ransom to Satan in order to rescue us from the kingdom of darkness.
By His death and resurrection, Jesus met the holy demands of God’s Law church!
Satan seeks to accuse us and imprison us because he knows we are guilty of breaking God’s Law.
But the ransom has been paid on Calvary, and through faith in Jesus Christ, we have been set free.
And according to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
5. We will give thanks church for the forgiveness of sins.
The word translated forgiveness means “to send away” or “to cancel a debt.” Christ has not only set us free and transferred us to a new kingdom, but He has canceled every debt so that we cannot be enslaved again.
Satan cannot find anything in the files that will indict us!
As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.
God’s forgiveness of sinners is an act of His grace.
We did not deserve to be forgiven, nor can we earn forgiveness. Knowing that we are forgiven makes it possible for us to fellowship with God, enjoy His grace, and seek to do His will. F
orgiveness is not an excuse for sin; rather, it is an encouragement for obedience. And, because we have been forgiven, we can forgive others.
Jesus Christ is preeminent in salvation. No other person could redeem us, forgive us, transfer us out of Satan’s kingdom into God’s kingdom, and do it wholly by grace.
I close with an outline that I think is worth reviewing and it is called the ladder of grace:
THE LADDER OF GRACE
Colossians 1:9–14
This passage should be read in its reverse order to get progressive experience.
1. Forgiveness of sins (v. 14).
2. Redemption through blood (v. 14).
3. Translated into the Kingdom (v. 13).
4. Delivered from the power of darkness (v. 13).
5. Partakers of the inheritance (v. 12).
6. Strengthened with all might (v. 11).
7. Fruitful in every good work (v. 10).
8. Filled with the knowledge of His will (v. 9).
Paul prayed for the Colossians and gave thank for what God had done!
Are you thankful for the work of the Father in your life? Have you counted your blessings lately?
Prayer
Prayer
Announcements
Announcements
Does anyone have any announcements at this time?
Operation Christmas Child- see Kathy
2. Angel Tree- this is a local outreach, we still have 6 angels left to be adopted this Christmas season. See me if your interested.
3. The CAC will be handing out thanksgiving meals starting at 2pm.
Benediction
Benediction
Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe
Sin had left a crimson stain
He washed it white as snow
The Lord Bless you!
Your Mission starts now!
Have a wonderful week and Thanksgiving!
Give thanks!