The Results of Spiritual Wisom
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1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
2 To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father.
3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, 5 because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, 6 which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth, 7 just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf 8 and has made known to us your love in the Spirit.
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.
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, 23 if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.
24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, 25 of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, 26 the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. 27 To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28 Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. 29 For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.
Pastoral Prayer
Cellwood Church - Pastor Jeff
Intro: Just a friendly reminder: Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day
I don’t say that to remind the women here - I say it to the men who are married, or even the young men who should express your love to your mothers.
But a friendly reminder is about as much help as I have to offer you guys, because if you were to ask me what you should get for say your wife - I will only ask what it is that they delight in.
You see, I know the things that my wife enjoys - She loves a bouquet of flowers to place on the dining table. But all at once, she is not a fan of those boxes of chocolate. What she really likes is a box of sour patch kids - preferably just the read and blue ones if that can be found.
But not all women delight in the same thing. My mom isn’t to prefer a bouquet of flowers. My mom would prefer to receive a gift card to her preferred flower-garden so she can pick up a new rose bush to plant in her garden.
So men, it’s Valentine’s Day tomorrow. What you need to do is know what pleases your - and then you ought to her gift - it doesn’t have to be big - that she will delight in.
If you want to do to please someone - you better know what they delight in. And if we wish to please the Lord, we must know what his will is as well.
This is our third week looking at Paul’s prayer request for the Colossians. If you’ve been here in the last few weeks, you should remember Paul’s one petition is that they would know what God wants - that is, that they would know the will of God - so that they can live in such a way that pleases the Lord.
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;
Tait has taken us through the first two weeks of this prayer.
We have considered what Pauls one request was: His one petition is this: That the Colossians would be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.
Paul’s one request to God on behalf of the Colossians was for them to God’s will - Paul wanted the Colossians to know what God’s desire was for them - that’s what Paul means by a knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual understanding
This is Pauls one petition - and the purpose of the petition is as follows in v 10 - Paul want’s the Colossians to have this spiritual wisdom so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him.
That’s the purpose of Paul’s petition
This brings us to where we are this week. What follows the petition and the purpose are four participles - a participle is simply a verb that is turned into an adjective.
Paul enumerates on four things that please the Lord
These participles are easy to spot, because they all end in ‘ing’
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.
So what we have in these verses are the four results of having spiritual wisdom.
If you know what God’s will is - then you will know how to please him. And what pleases him is as follows
That we would bear much fruit, that we would know God more, we would be strengthened by the Lord to endure, and we would give the Father thanks for what he has done.
Let’s consider these one at a time. These are the results of Spiritual wisdom, and these are the things that fully please the Lord.
Colossians 1:10 (ESV)
10 so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work
Being filled with a a knowledge of God’s will, and having all spiritual wisdom and understanding will result in doing every good work
1. Spiritual wisdom results in doing every good work
1. Spiritual wisdom results in doing every good work
This shouldn’t come to a surprise to any of us that us doing good works is a result of being filled with all spiritual wisdom, for when are filled with this knowledge, and have the spiritual wisdom to apply the knowledge, the result is that we obey all of God’s commands.
But what might surprise some of us is this - the Colossians are already doing good works. Remember back in v6 Paul made mention of the good fruit that the Colossians had.
6 which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth,
What can we learn from this?
It enough that the Colossians bore fruit yesterday. And it’s not enough for us to have had fruit yesterday either. Both they and we ought to continue all the more to produce more and more fruit, because when we bear much fruit, God is pleased with us!
So understand, if we are to please God - then we must bear fruit in every good work. But before we can do every good work, we must first possess spiritual wisdom and understanding so we can know what God’s will is.
So how can we know what God’s will is for us? How can we know what pleases him? How do we become wise in knowing the will of God? We can know God’s will by going to God’s Word.
7 The law of the Lord is perfect,
reviving the soul;
the testimony of the Lord is sure,
making wise the simple;
While the heavens declare the glory of God, there is no need for us to gaze up into heaven like the men of Galilee wondering what God’s will is for our life is:
8 He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?
We could spend the day reading through all the laws of God so that we can know what is good…you shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, honor your father and mother, and, you shall love your neighbor as yourself… and the list could go on, and we ought to obey all these commands for they are the unfading unchanging Word of God that reveal God’s will for us. But what would profit us more this morning is considering what makes these laws and their instructions good…
With this in mind, Let’s consider for a moment the quality of these works - Paul calls them good works
Colossians 1:10 (ESV)
bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;
What makes these works good - is that they are commanded by God who alone is good
The repeated refrain from of the creation account in Gen 1, after a given day of creation - Moses records “And God saw that it was good”
God is the one, and has always been the only one, who is able to define what is good and what is not good.
But men have never been content with God’s decree. And we have been defining good and evil for ourselves ever since the fall.
6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.
We need not trust the wisdom that comes from man - nor the mere appearance of wisdom that comes from our sinful and deceptive hearts - for the wisdom that comes from the natural man proves to only be folly
If you wish to know what is good… do not trust your heart, for your hart is deceptive and wicked.
Of those who have surprised the truth, Paul wrote,
22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
and again
14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.
This wisdom to discern what is good, is not a wisdom that comes from learning stacks of information from the school of men. Let me take this a step further. The wisdom that Paul has in mind not gained simply from sermons, or from seminary… but instead, this wisdom is a spiritual wisdom that comes directly from the Spirit himself, who is able to make a person wise.
So what do you do if upon examining of your quality of your works you find that there is little to no good fruit? I’ll tell you - you don’t just fix it in your own strength, but instead we need the work of the Spirit who alone can make the blind see.
What we need is not simply a tablet of stone with laws written… what we need is for the law to be written on our hearts, so that we would rightly know what is good and what is evil.
If we have spiritual wisdom, we will do good works… this is the quality of the fruit that we will bear. Now let’s consider the quantity of that fruit.
The quality of our works is to be good
And the quantity is this:
Colossians 1:10 (ESV)
10 so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work
Do you want to live a life that is fully pleasing to God? Then you will bear much fruit in every part of your life.
Parenting, working, recreation, retiring, moving, staying, eating, drinking, sleeping, whatever else it is, you name it… in every part of your life, you ought to be producing every good work.
There isn’t a single portion of our lives that doesn’t belong to God. And there isn’t a single portion of our life that should lack good fruit.
Oh that we would be as industrious in doing every good work, as we are industrious in making a living for ourselves.
If we wish to bear every good fruit, we need to grow in wisdom - and if we are going to grow in wisdom, we ought to go the the the source of all wisdom through prayer. He alone will make you wise, and he alone will produce fruit in your life.
4 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. 5 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.
Christ died so that we would be forgiven… but he did not die to only deliver us from the penalty of sin. He died also so that we would be delivered from the power of sin.
If you lack every good fruit, it is owing to the fact that you lack spiritual wisdom. So if you wish to please the Lord, then go to the one who can make you wise and fruitful. I want you to please the Lord, so I am praying that you would 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;
2. Spiritual wisdom results in an increased knowledge of God
2. Spiritual wisdom results in an increased knowledge of God
The Colossians already knew God. Remember, they had already heard and understood the grace of god in truth (v6) The Colossians had a saving knowledge of God already. But the result of knowing the will of God is this - they will have an increasing knowledge of God.
Now, there are a lot of people who are not keen on this subject… many think that an increasing knowledge of God only decrease the passion and love one might have for God. They think that knowing God will create a stuffy intellectual Christian rather than a burning hot passionate follower of Jesus.
Paul knows nothing of such a foolish claim - his desire for himself and for all the saints, is for them to grow in a knowledge of their savior.
We don’t really believe this kind of logic do we?
Does a lover of football love the sport less when they watch it every week?
Does lover of a food ever grow tired of eating a delicious meal?
Does a parent grow wearing of hearing their children tell them that they love them?
Come on - whoever thinks a growing in a knowledge of God will result in a lesser love for God clearly knows very little about God - For the more you know about God and what he has done for you - the more you will love him as well.
Oh that we would all increase in our knowledge of God. Some of us have spent decades in the church, only to have little to nothing to show for it.
12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, 13 for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child.
Oh that we would desire to know more about our God who has rescued us. For a lifetime of seeking him will leave us in greater wonder of what he has done - don’t take it from me, I’m not even 30.
I love talking with Tait about the Word. After every sermon he preaches, he tells me that he needs another month just to reflect on and digest all the wonders that God has shown him!
18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Oh that we would know the love of God, who gave up his only Son so that we could be adopted into his family to receive eternal life. What a mystery!
If we want to increase in our knowledge of God - then ask the Lord give you spiritual wisdom. But this order might surprise some - don’t we know God first, and then gain wisdom? For the infant in faith, this is true. But for the growing saint, a knowledge of God’s will produces the knowledge of God himself.
We might compare this to the relationship of a husband and wife, or any other human relationship for that matter. A husband might know a good deal about his wife, where she grew up, her birthday, her age, her height, and the things like these… but if a husband does not have any understanding of his wife’s will her desires and pleasures, one might question if he really knows her at all. But if a husband learns something new about what his wife’s desires - his knowledge of his wife grows as well.
So it is, plenty can be learned about God, simply by learning what his will is for us.
8 You shall sanctify him, for he offers the bread of your God. He shall be holy to you, for I, the Lord, who sanctify you, am holy.
The set apart nature of the Priests of Israel help us know something of God’s holiness - that he himself is unlike other common things - he is holy holy holy - and he is unlike anything that has been created by him.
14 “You shall not commit adultery.
What can we learn about our God, but that he is a jealous God. And his glory he will not give to another.
44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
When we love our enemies - it reflect the love that God has for us,
10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.
When we are filled with the knowledge of the will of God - the result of it is this. We will increase in our knowledge of God.
Spurgeon sums this up better than I could ever put it.
The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, Vol. XXIX Spiritual Knowledge and Its Practical Results (No. 1,742)
Look at that. It seems, then, that holiness is the road to knowledge. God has made it so. If any man will do his will he shall know of the doctrine. If you read and study, and cannot make out the meaning of Scripture, get up and do something, and it may be, in the doing of it, you shall discover the secret. Holiness of heart shall increase the illumination of your mind.
So it is, if we are filled with the knowledge of God’s will, our knowledge of God will increase.
Look at what else happens when we are filled with all spiritual wisdom
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;
3. Spiritual wisdom results in supernatural strength
3. Spiritual wisdom results in supernatural strength
First off, Paul tells us that this wisdom will strengthen us with all power…
If we are to be strong at all, something external needs to be introduced to our weary frame
We all need food and water. We need oxygen. We need to be warm… but not too warm. And even still, with all these added to us, we are still weak. We ought to recognize just how weak and frail our bodies are. Without God’s common grace given to us… we would be nothing. A man without God’s grace, is like Sampson without his hair.
But if you think you are great and strong, then consider then the humiliation of Nebuchadnezzar
29 At the end of twelve months he was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, 30 and the king answered and said, “Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?” 31 While the words were still in the king’s mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, “O King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken: The kingdom has departed from you, 32 and you shall be driven from among men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. And you shall be made to eat grass like an ox, and seven periods of time shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will.” 33 Immediately the word was fulfilled against Nebuchadnezzar. He was driven from among men and ate grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hair grew as long as eagles’ feathers, and his nails were like birds’ claws.
He who thinks he is strong ought to humble himself before the Lord before the Lord humbles him. For we were made from the dust, and to the dust we shall return.
But lest a Christian think himself to be a worm, continue to grow in wisdom so that you might receive this supernatural strength - the strength that comes from God
11 being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy;
Those who have spiritual wisdom, who have a great knowledge of their great God… those who are filled with this knowledge are given a kind of power that is foreign to the world. It is the power that comes from God’s glorious might.
It’s this power that made Joshua and children of Israel strong and courageous when going into the promised land. Joshua knew of God’s glorious might that overthrew Pharoah and his army.
And when King Saul and his army were too scared to face Goliath, what made the little shepherd boy David so brave as to face that giant without any armor, except he knew that the glorious might of his God that would defeat Goliath.
Such bravery is not the result of ignorance to danger. Rather, this bravery came from the fountain of their knowledge of God and his will.
Consider the glorious might of God that he has displayed throughout the ages.
Creates everything that is by the word of his mouth
Seriously… think about it
Destroyed Pharoah and his army with the blast of his nostrils
16 But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.
consider him who makes armies march around cities to destroy them instead of laying seige to them.
Consider the might of God who made Gideon’s army weak so that all would know that the Lord won the battle.
And consider the incarnate word, who spoke, and the wind and sea obeyed… who spoke, and demons fled, who spoke, and the sick were healed, who spoke, and the dead were raised.
Look at the glorious might of our God and consider this:
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
We are going to need this strength
11 being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy;
We certainly will face our share of trials. Our Lord told us that we would. So be it tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger or sward, we will need endurance and patience if we wish to remain faithful to the Lord… And the means to accessing this strength lies in being filled with all knowledge and spiritual wisdom. This is essential to our endurance in the faith.
But there are some who are of such a demeanor who can withstand great trials… certainly men have done so before. But what makes this power from God unique, is that this patient enduring is done with joy
This strength is what causes persecuted prisoners sing praises to their God.
This strength is what makes believers count it all joy when they face trials of various kinds
It is this strength from God that empowered John Hus to gladly die for Christ. And while being burned alive, Hus sang praises to his God.
Let me ask it again:
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
And this leads us to the final result of Spiritual Wisdom
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.
4. Spiritual wisdom results in gratitude towards the Father
4. Spiritual wisdom results in gratitude towards the Father
I’m only going to dip our toes on this final point to round out the fourth effect of gaining spiritual wisdom. But there is no way we could give this final point sufficient attention in the remainder of our time.
And this is exactly what Paul does here in his letter. Notice how this prayer propels Paul into the heart of the letter. Try to discern where Paul’s prayer ends and where his discourse begins;
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.
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, 23 if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.
There ought not to be such thing as a grumpy Christian. How can we grumble against our God who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light?
Ahh, but then again, Israel grumbled in the wilderness, and we often do the same. And our grumbling is owing to our ignorance of what God has done.
So what must you do about this? You must be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom. You must learn about what God has done for you.
Oh that we would be filled with a knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him.
bearing every good work, increasing in knowledge of God, being strengthened with his glorious might, and giving thanks to the Father.
To this end, let me do for you what Paul did for the Colossians. Let me pray that God would give you think spiritual wisdom so as to fully please the Lord.