Living Out The Gospel

Colossians 1:9–14 CSB

9 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, 10 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, 11 being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, so that you may have great endurance and patience, joyfully 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the saints’ inheritance in the light. 13 He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son he loves. 14 In him we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

“For This Reason”

Prayer

If we are going to live out the Gospel, prayer must be an active part of our spiritual lives. We cannot be arrogant that we begin to actually believe that we can do this in our own strength. Paul lived and displayed this continuously.

Prayer is one way we show our dependency on God and not only that it is how we align ourselves with the will of God.

Listen, we do not simply want to have a thriving ministry. That’s cool and all but that’s not the ultimate goal. Our goal is simple, to be faithful. God is doing something in the world, in state, and in our city. We want to how God wants for us to operate in what He is doing. We don’t just want to follow the latest trends and fads. No, we want to align ourselves with His will and leave it at that, even if it boring and mundane at times.

Provision

Paul had just expressed his thankfulness at hearing that the gospel had taking root in Colossae (as it was all over). His joy is in the fact that the power of God was in that place changing lives. This produced a thankfulness but also a confidence in Paul. And it is with this confidence that Paul prays.

Matthew 6:5–6 CSB

5 “Whenever you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by people. Truly I tell you, they have their reward. 6 But when you pray, go into your private room, shut your door, and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

When we go before God we must go believing in Him.

Hebrews 11:6 CSB

6 Now without faith it is impossible to please God, since the one who draws near to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

“What He Prayed”

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 1

that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding,

filled=full like eating/satisfied

with is will=”The ‘knowledge of God’s will’ is more than simply an insight into how God wants his people to behave: it is an understanding of God’s whole saving purpose in Christ, and hence (as in v. 10b) a knowledge of God himself.

N. T. Wright, Colossians and Philemon: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 12, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1986), 61.

Wisdom and Spiritual understanding= For Christians to ‘grow up’ in every way will include the awakening of intellectual powers, the ability to think coherently and practically about God and his purposes for his people. Paul never plays off spiritual life against intellectual understanding”. N. T. Wright, Colossians and Philemon: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 12, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1986), 62.

Romans 1:20 CSB

20 For his invisible attributes, that is, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what he has made. As a result, people are without excuse.

I Pete 3:15

Koine Greek

Christian Standard Bible (Chapter 1)

10 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,

Colossians 1:11–14 CSB

11 being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, so that you may have great endurance and patience, joyfully 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the saints’ inheritance in the light. 13 He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son he loves. 14 In him we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.