Walking Worthy

Introduction

We have been talking the last few weeks about what it means to be more like Jesus and to grow in the spiritual disciplines. But what is the point of these disciplines? to what end are they to?

Paul here discusses what it means to “walk in a manner worthy of the Lord”.

Working with youth I find myself going to camps and trips. One thing that I have tried to do in my life and I have sought to teach my students as well is that you leave a place “better than you found it”. That means that you pick up your trash. But now just your trash, but the trash that may not even be yours that has been left around. Oftentimes students will say “that’s not mine” and I will say “pick it up anyways”. It means cleaning tables, putting chairs and tables back where they are supposed to be, and being kind to those who serve you. It is one way that I can teach students to “walk worthy”. Because if people in a restaurant see a shirt with the name of the church they are going to expect a certain level of behavior.

Walking worthy means that we live in a way that glorifies God. But how do we learn to walk worthy?

What is God’s Will for your life?

In this passage Paul has one prayer for the church in Colossae. That they would be “filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, so that you may walk worthy of the Lord”

The point of spiritual disciplines is this, that we would be filled with the knowledge of the Lord’s will. For our lives, for our families lives, for the lives of our community. It comes when God’s character is revealed in us that we are filled with His knowledge.

This understanding of God’s will is not some deep spiritual understanding where you hear the voice of God. Rather, it is having such a deep relationship with Christ that you recognize how He would respond to a given situation.

In acting there is a specific type of acting called “method acting”. That is when an actor doesn’t just walk onto set and get into a role. But for months and months they get into the mind of the character that they are portraying so that they don’t just know the lines that they are going to say but that they understanding how that character would say it and the actions that character would take.

This is how we become more like God. We invest in being like Christ. In fact, we look so similar to Christ that we become Christ to those around us.

This is what it says in vs. 10. That we “walk in a manner worthy of the Lord”.

Are you bearing fruit?

Bearing fruit here is seen as a result of our knowledge of God, of our growth in spiritual disciplines.

See, serving in the church and in the community is not separate from our spiritual disciplines and from our relationship with God.

It is fundamentally intertwined. The way we relate to God will tell us how we relate to people. Our growing as Christians happens as we further our knowledge of God but our knowledge is also shaped by the way we act like Him in our day to day lives.

One way I read it said “understanding will fuel holiness; holiness will deepen understanding.”

So what do we mean by fruit?

What is the product of your faith in Christ? Has it directly impacted those you come in contact with?

So as Brad has talked about, we want to encourage you all to be strengthened in the spiritual disciplines. But we hope we can help with the outflow of your faith.

That’s what we are going to do today.

What we want to give you today are opportunities to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord and to bear spiritual fruit. We want you to have opportunities for you to serve so that you may begin this journey with us. This doesn’t mean that the first thing you do will be perfect for you. But we do believe it will help you to be filled with the knowledge of God’s will and from that you may gain spiritual understanding to where you desire to serve.

So even if you don’t know exactly how you may want to serve, sign up anyways! It may surprise you. It may also be hard, but as we saw with Christ. We are never told it will be easy to follow Him.