Colossians Study – Session 3
CrossPointe Community Church – Denton,
TX
January 27, 2013 - Larry Reynolds,
Teacher
3. Prayer of petition (9-14) - The portion of Colossians on which we are going to
focus in this session is brief, only about 135 words in the NASB. But the number of ideas crammed into those
few words is remarkable. This passage
touches on a wide range of subjects including praying effectively, living a
life pleasing to God, being productive as a Christian, growing in spiritual
maturity, being consistent and patient in our Christian walk, being thankful
and many more. In this paragraph, which
is in the form of a prayer of petition, Paul asks two things on behalf of his
readers:
“…that
you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and
understanding…” (v.9b)…that they may know God’s will…
“…that
you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord…” (10a)… that they may do God’s will…
The first part of verse 9 sets the stage for the
prayer to follow.
“…for
this reason…” – Either a
reference to the entire previous paragraph where Paul expressed thanks to for
their spiritual welfare, for the progress of the gospel, for the work of
Epaphras or the last part of v.8 where Paul says Epaphras informed him of the
love the Colossians had for him…
“…since
the day we heard of it…” - Refers to day Epaphras reported to him
about the situation in Colossae…
“…we have not ceased to pray for you…” - Reminiscent
of statements like Ephesians 6:18 says we are to “...pray at all times in
the spirit...” or I Thessalonians 5:17says we are to “...pray without
ceasing...”…of course, doesn’t mean we spend every waking moment with heads
bowed and eyes closed in prayer...means we are to live in such close fellowship
with God that we just naturally bring before him people who cross our minds
or situations with which we come in
contact...as one writer put it, “Through the day [Paul] would think of
the Colossians; how they were doing and what was threatening them, and he would
breathe a prayer for them. This is what
he means by ‘we have not ceased to pray for you.’ We can pray for each other in that same
wonderful way.” [Ray Stedman,
“Growing Up,” sermon on Colossians 1:9-14]
1) That they
may know God’s will (9b) – “…that
you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and
understanding…”
That request
would have had special meaning to the Colossians because Paul deliberately uses
a concept often used by the false teachers who had infected that church...the
heresy infecting the Colossian church was an early form of a philosophical
system known as gnosticism...the word gnostic comes from the Greek word “gnosis”
which means knowledge...the gnostics claimed to have a secret knowledge about
the universe...and only those people who were let in on their secrets, who were
filled with their knowledge, could live full or complete lives...
And in this
prayer Paul says to the Colossians that there is a knowledge with which you
should be concerned...but it’s not the secret knowledge claimed by the
gnostics...it is knowledge of God and His will for your lives...and to drive
his point home Paul uses a word for “knowledge”
in v.9 which trumps the word commonly used by the gnostics...they used “gnosis”
which just means knowledge, but Paul prayed that the Colossians would have “epignosis”
which carries the idea of deep or thorough knowledge... And if you’ll look
carefully at the text you will see that this kind of knowledge is characterized
by two things— wisdom and understanding...
·
wisdom (sophia) means to grasp truth, to understand
truth...
·
understanding (sunesis) means to be able to apply truth to
life...
What is the
word in that for us?...we live in world exploding with information but starving
for knowledge...to get information all have do is turn on computer, enter a
word or phrase into a search engine, and you will be overwhelmed with more
information than can possibly use...we don’t really need more information, we
desperately need more of the kind of knowledge about which Paul is talking in
this passage — knowledge of the will of God...that is a knowledge found only in
God’s Word…
2) That they may do God’s will (10a) – “…so that you my walk in a manner worthy of
the Lord, to please Him in all respects…”
For
Christians knowledge is never an end in itself...we are not encouraged to grow
in our knowledge of God’s will merely to satisfy our intellectual
curiosity...we are to grow in knowledge so that we will live right...right
knowledge must always lead to right conduct...The Christian life is not a life
of merely gaining and sorting information about God or about the Bible...it is
not a life of barren orthodoxy...it is a life of growing relationship with the
Lord Jesus Christ...
In the
Scripture, the word “walk” is often used to describe a person’s
pattern of conduct or habit of life...Paul saying, “I pray that you will
live in such a way that your life would reflect well on the Lord you serve and
that your life would be pleasing to Him.”...following that statement in
first part of v.10 Paul uses four participles, each followed by a prepositional
phrase, to describe a life which is worthy of the Lord and pleasing to
God...such a life is a life of—
·
bearing fruit
in every good work...(10b)
·
increasing in
the knowledge of God...(10c)
·
being
strengthened with all power...(11)
·
giving thanks
to the Father...(12-14)
To please
God or to do God’s will be must BEAR FRUIT (10b) – “…bearing fruit in every good work…”
Want begin
by focus first on last part of that statement...the “every good work”
part...since the inception of the church there has been much misunderstanding
among Christians about the appropriate role of good works in the lives of
followers of Christ...two extremes have surfaced time and time again in
Christian thought...
·
On the one hand,
there have always been those who have insisted good works are necessary for
salvation...they believe that for us to be accepted by God and to be welcomed
into heaven, we must somehow earn that by doing enough good works to outweigh
our sins...people who believe good works are necessary for salvation ignore
such biblical statements as Ephesians
2:8-9 - “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of
yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should
boast.”
·
On the
other hand (and the other extreme) there have always been those who have
insisted that good works have no role/ place in the life of a Christian...they
say that since we are saved by grace and since salvation is God’s doing, not
ours, there is no need for us to be concerned with good works...those who take
that position ignore the rest of that statement in Ephesians 2...for after
saying we are saved by grace not by works, the very next verse says, “For
we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God
prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”
Point of all
that is that while we are not saved by good works, we are saved for
good works...as NT teacher in seminary, Dr. Curtis Vaughan, was fond of saying,
“Works are not the root of salvation; they are the fruit of salvation.”
Now focus on
the phrase “bearing fruit” part...the word “fruit”
is used at least four ways in the NT...
·
Sense of fruit of
personal righteousness or goodness...the list of personal virtues in Galatians
5 described as “the fruit of the spirit” is a good example of
that...
·
Describe new
converts to Christianity...Paul described the conversion of the household of
Stephanas as the “first fruits of Achaia” [I Cor.16:15]
·
Sense of service
and ministry to others such as when Paul spoke of doing “fruitful labor”
in Philippians 1:22...
·
Sense of praise
and worship...Hebrews 13:15 says, “Through Him then, let us continually
offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is the fruit of lips that give
thanks to His name.”
That kind of
activity should be the norm, the
pattern, the continual habit of a Christian...the verb form of the phrase “bearing
fruit” is in the present tense...that denotes not a one time action or
occasional action...it denotes continuous, habitual action...
To please
God or to do God’s will be must INCREASE IN KNOWLEDGE (10C) – “…increasing
in the knowledge of God…”
“knowledge of God” – Significant how that is worded…not about but
of… growing spiritually is not merely gaining more information about
God...growing spiritually is becoming more intimate with God...and this simple
phrase in Colossians 1:11 tells us two very significant things about spiritual
growth in the life of a Christian...
·
The verb tense of
“increasing” is also the present tense, describing a continuous,
on-going activity... something you start at a particular point in time and
never stop...in our spiritual pilgrimage there never comes a time when we
should feel that we have arrived...that we can stop “increasing in the knowledge
of God”...
·
The verb “increasing”
in the active voice...that means the subject, which in this case is us, is
doing the acting, not being acted upon...in other words we are responsible for
the “increasing in the knowledge of God” in our lives...it is not
something someone else can do for us...we must do it ourselves... far too many
Christians find it easy to blame their lack of spiritual progress on someone
else
To please
God or to do God’s will be must BE STRENGTHENED WITH ALL POWER (11) – “strengthened with power, according to His
glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience…”
Like the
other verb forms in this list of things characterizing a life pleasing to God
--”bearing fruit...increasing in knowledge of God...giving thanks to
God...” strengthened is in the present tense...that is, it denotes a
continuing activity...God is continually giving us strength...however, unlike
the other verb forms in this list, “strengthened” is not in the
active voice...it is passive...means that it is not something we do, it is
something which is being done to us...we don’t make ourselves strong...God
gives us strength...
The word
translated “strengthen” is same word Paul used in Philippians
4:13 when he said, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”...this
is a principle which appears time and time again in Scripture...
·
Moses said in
Exodus 15:2, “The Lord is my strength and song...”
·
David said in
Psalm 28:7, “The Lord is my strength and my shield...” and in
Psalm 46:1, “God is our refuge and strength...”
·
Isaiah said in
Isaiah 40:29, “[God] gives strength to the weary, and to him who lacks
might He increases power...”
The strength
God gives us, He gives for a purpose...and that purpose is to help us stand and
even excel in times of adversity...in last part of v.11 Paul uses two very
special words...one word the NASB translates “steadfastness” and
the other word is translated “patience”...both of those words
have to do with handling adversity...
·
”steadfastness” (hupomone)
is translated patience in some Bibles...however, “steadfastness” or “endurance”
is a much better translation...compound word…hupo – in or under… meno –
abide, remain, or stay…so literally the word means “to say under” …it carries the idea of having the ability to hang
in there in difficult times...it is just the opposite of cutting and running at
the first sign of trouble...Winston Churchill once made this positive statement
about one of his generals...”The impression I [have of him is] an iron
peg hammered into the frozen ground--immovable.” [Harbour, Colossians notes] ...and if we don’t allow God to develop in us this
quality of endurance, perseverance, it is not likely we will accomplish much of
anything else...
·
”patience” (makrothumia) is one of the great words of the
Bible...it is sometimes translated “long-suffering” and that is
excellent rendering of the word...compound word...first part means “long”
and second part means “passion” or “temper” ...means have long
fuse as opposed to short fuse...while “hupomone” carries idea of being
patient in difficult situations ...”makrothumia” carries idea of being
patient with difficult people...it is the kind of spirit which refuses to
retaliate, to strike back, to take revenge on those who do us wrong...
All this is
to be done “joyously” or literally “with
joy” (meta charis)… the life of “steadfastness” and “patience”
is not a grim endurance contest or struggle with situations and people…it is a
joyful experience… the word carries the idea of having joy in any circumstances
of life…it is more of an attitude than a feeling…
To please
God or to do God’s will be must GIVE THANKS TO THE FATHER (12-14) – “…giving thanks to the Father who has
qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. For He delivered us from the domain of
darkness, and transferred us to the Kingdom of His beloved son, in whom we have
redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”
These verses
remind us that every Christian is the recipient of some amazing, priceless
blessings from God...if you will look carefully at these verses, you will see
Paul states four specific things for which we should be thankful...we should be
thankful because God has “qualified us”...”delivered us”...”transferred
us”...”redeemed us”…
·
“..qualified
us to share in the inheritance of the saints…” - …the verb translated “qualified us”
in v.12 is a rare word... it means “to make sufficient, to empower, to
authorize, to make fit...”…the
only other time it is used in the NT is 2 Cor. 3:6 where it is translated in
the NASB as “made us adequate”…God
has made us adequate to participate in “the
inheritance of the saints”…there is some debate concerning precisely
what is meant by the word “inheritance”…some
say it refers to the life that we have waiting us in heaven…others says it
refers to the spiritual blessings we experience in Christ that begin in this
life and extend into the next life…either way, we gain “the inheritance” not based on our merit but on God making
us adequate for it…
·
“…delivered
us from the domain of darkness…”
– The word delivered” carries the idea of being rescued or
liberated...the picture is that of people in dire danger...they are about to be
overcome, and just at the last moment another person steps in to save them...”domain
of darkness” refers to that realm of life which is controlled by
ignorance, falsehood, evil, and sin...Jesus used this exact phrase to describe
the forces of Satan which constantly opposed and attacked Him...the phrase
refers to that realm of life controlled by Satan rather than by God...There is
a sense in which all of us were at one time trapped in the realm of spiritual
darkness...we were separated from God and we were helpless to do anything to
save ourselves...we were in danger of spending eternity separated from God...
Jesus came to our world for the express purpose of rescuing us, of leading us
out of a life like that...
·
“…transferred
us to the kingdom of His beloved Son…” - That statement refers to a common practice in the ancient world...
in those times, when a nation defeated an enemy, often the key leaders of the
defeated nation were deported to another nation...in effect Paul is saying, “We
were held captive in the kingdom of sin and darkness. Jesus defeated those
powers over us and transported us to a new and better kingdom.”
·
“…in whom we
have redemption, the forgiveness of sins…” – The root meaning of the word “redemption” is “to buy back”… through His sacrificial
death Jesus bought us back, paid the price for our sinfulness, and gave us
forgiveness. One of the great blessings
we have in Christ is the blessing of continual forgiveness of sin...we no
longer have to live weighed down by the burden of guilt...one writer put it
this way: “The forgiveness of sins
means we can start every day with a fresh, clean slate. All of yesterday’s mistakes have been washed
away, not in order that we might go back and repeat them, but that we might
have nothing against us as we begin again.
Every day we start in afresh until we learn to do it right. God is with us. He cleanses the past continually. The forgiveness of sins is something we ought
to rejoice in every day, because the burden and guilt of yesterday is no longer
dragging us down. We are free to walk in
liberty and peace. How grateful we
should be for these incredible blessings! [Stedman, sermon on Colossians 1:9-14, December 7,
1986]
Based on
Colossians 1:9-14, how can we tell if we are making progress in our walk with
the Lord?
