Message
Passions of a Godly Life
Powerful Living
Colossians 1:9-14
06-23-19
As we have been wandering around in the book of Colossians, we have found many different aspects of our faith that tells us that this life we have in Christ is anything but dull and boring. Rather, it is a life that is lived each day with vibrant life, joy, and an expectancy of fullness in Christ.
Faith with Passion (Colossians 2:6-7)
~ rooted, built up, and established
Prayer with Passion (Colossians 4:2-4)
~ steadfast, watchful, with thanksgiving
Suffering with Passion (Colossians 1:24-29)
~ rejoicing, filling what is lacking
Fullness with Passion (Colossians 2:8-14)
~ vigilance, fullness, barriers removed
Church with Passion (Colossians 1:1-8, 2:1-4, 3:12-17)
~ bearing fruit, forgiving, teaching, singing, thanking
Family with Passion (Colossians 3:17-24)
~ everything in Jesus name, pleasing the Lord, revering the Lord, living for the Lord
This is what life in Christ looks like. I love listening to some of you talk about the struggles you have been through lately and sharing how God has brought you through it, how God has strengthened your faith, how God and drawn you closer to Him in the midst of the struggle. That is part of what we have been talking about as we see our lives lived out with passion for our Lord and Savior. We want to talk more about that this morning from Colossians 1:9-14. This morning I want to read the entire passage and then we will meander our way through it to see what God has for us this morning concerning our passions for Him as we strive to live a godly life.
Colossians 1:9-14 (ESV)
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.
Living Powerfully with Passion (Colossians 1:9-14)
This is a prayer that Paul has for the church at Colossae. Here he is, praying for a church he didn’t start, a church he has probably never visited, yet he prays for them as if he were intimately involved with them. If he prays for the church at Colossae in this manner, what should our prayers sound like as we pray for the Chapel family? A body of believers we are intimately involved with.
I hope you do pray for the church. I know many of you pray for individual needs in the church, but do you pray for this body of believers as a church? On our Wednesday prayer list, we have the Chapel listed as a prayer request. We pray the leadership. We pray for unity, spiritual growth, and passion. When Paul prays for the church at Colossae, I think I can say that his prayer for them is very similar. Let’s look at this beginning at verse 9.
~ Knowledge, Wisdom, Understanding (v. 9)
In Paul’s prayer, he asks that the church of Colossae will be filled with three things. Those three things are knowledge, wisdom, and understanding. At first glance we may think that they mean the same thing or at least something similar. But he is not listing these three things as different ways to say the same thing, not at all. These three things are related to each other, but far from being the same and they have a profound impact on our living passionately for the Lord.
-- Knowledge - ἐπίγνωσις (epignosis) which means recognition, knowledge, it is described as having real knowledge or true knowledge. In a world of social media and virtual reality, some may not even know what true reality is. It is knowledge from knowing something personally. I don’t just know about it; I know it personally. When we place our faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we enter into a personal relationship with Him. As we grown in this relationship, we gain very specific and personal knowledge about Him. Much like when we enter into a marriage covenant relationship with a spouse. We certainly feel like we may know a lot about the person we are going to marry before marriage, but after we enter into this relationship, and begin living daily in each other’s lives, we have ἐπίγνωσις (epignosis) about them, personal knowledge. This is not virtual knowledge or social media knowledge; it is individual personal knowledge.
Paul prays for a personal knowledge of God’s will for them. How can they know that? How can a person know God’s will? Through instruction in the Word, personal communion in prayer, and encouragement of the believers in the church family.
-- Wisdom - σοφία (sophia) which means skill, wisdom, it is the ability to use knowledge for correct behavior. Paul’s prayer is for spiritual wisdom. This is living in a way that is congruent with our divine knowledge. Living our life in alignment with what we know about God, what personal knowledge we have of our Savior Jesus Christ. Wisdom is putting into practice what we know.
-- Understanding - σύνεσις (sunesis) which means running together, or a union together, like what happens when we comprehend or understand something. Have you ever had a time when someone tells you something and it just didn’t make sense? Then with more explanation suddenly something clicks, and you say, “O, now I understand.” That’s σύνεσις (sunesis). It is illustrated with two rivers coming together into one. Two thoughts or ways of thinking coming together into one. Now let’s read verse 9 again.
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,
Living with power and passion for God must begin with a personal knowledge of Jesus Christ and His will for us. Then taking what we know and living skillfully in alignment with that knowledge is spiritual wisdom. When all this knowledge and spiritual wisdom runs together in understanding, it leads to a powerful and fruitful life. The result of these three powerful terms is life changing for the believer and for the glory of God.
Unfortunately, many Christians simply read the Bible or listening to the preaching and teaching of the Word with academic intellectualism. In other words, it is simply head knowledge with no wisdom or understanding. When God teaches us something from the Word through personal study or teaching and preaching, we must make application to our lives, which is wisdom. We need to allow what we learn to run together with our life which is understanding. We cannot have a powerful and passionate life with just head knowledge. It must impact our lives, our hearts, our souls, and that is what Paul talks about in verses 10-11.
~ Powerful, Fruitful Living (vv. 10-11)
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;
The word “walk,” is a way to refer to how we live our lives. Talk about passionate godly living! Our life is different because of what we know in a personal way about God, how we wisely use our skill and abilities to make that knowledge a part of our lives, and let them run together comprehensively in a powerful and fruitful life. Paul says he is praying that the church of Colossae will have knowledge, wisdom, and understanding so they can walk worthy of the Lord and fully pleasing to Him. In other words, this should produce in each of us a manner of life that is consistent with who we are in Christ. If we have identified ourselves with the saving sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross for us, we should live worthy, or consistent with, who we are in Him.
** Illustrate living as Micah’s grandfather
Why would we do that with God? Now don’t confuse this with the idea of living life in a way to earn salvation. Every person who has put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of their lives are saved and completely justified at that moment. They stand with their debt of sin removed and when God sees them, He sees a person who stands as holy and right before Him. But as we are told in Romans 7, we still struggle with the sin nature of the flesh. So even though we are saved, we strive to walk worthy or live according to who we are in Christ. The things we do after salvation are not making us worthy of God, they are a fruit of our salvation through God.
John MacArthur tells us that “The Bible identifies spiritual fruit as leading people to Christ (1 Cor. 16:15), praising God (Heb. 13:15), giving money (Rom. 15:26–28), living a godly life (Heb. 12:11), and displaying holy attitudes (Gal. 5:22–23).” You see, the more we know about our Lord and wisely put into practice things that we know are consistent with this relationship we have with Him, the more we will enjoy fruitful living. Some kind of fruit will result from the good things we do, whether or not we can see the result.
Man, this is good stuff, isn’t it? I get pumped when I realize the kind of passionate life I can have in Jesus if I will just begin to pursue knowing my Lord better and making my life consistent with who I am in Him.
Verse 11 continues by telling us that we will not only be fruitful, but we will be “strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy.” This is spiritual power for living that is in accord with the power of Christ. As a believer, you and I should desire to have the power that he is talking about here. This is not a power for selfish aims but power to live in a worthy manner. And notice that it is a power that is in accord with God’s power, not our power. It is according to His glorious might!
The purpose of this power is indicated with the word “for.” What is it for? The power is so that we can be steadfast and patience with joy. The word steadfast, has the idea of endurance. God gives us the power to keep on enduring, though we falter and stumble, though the temptations are great, though we feel we cannot possibly win. God’s power gives us what we need to continue on steadfastly and endure. Also, His power is for patience. You know as well as I do that, we need patience when it comes to the struggles of this life. Everyone wants the difficulty to pass quickly and for everything to be fine again. But we have the power of God for all endurance and patience.
It says with joy. Joy accompanies the strength of endurance and patience, why, because we know who has our life in His hands. We may face difficulty when it comes to living for the Lord, we may face persecution, we may even suffer physical or monetary loses, but we can still have joy because we know we have His power for living. This God given power is to provide the divine strength needed for the believer to live for Him, to persevere in the faith, to resist temptation, and ultimately, to know the joy of the Lord.
This should give us great confidence and passion in living for the Lord. As we grow in our knowledge of Him, live in light of who we are in Him, walking in daily consistency with who we are, He strengthens with His power for all endurance and patience with joy. With all of that, we should be so thankful for God’s work in our lives. Look at verse 12.
~ Thankful, Delivered Heirs (vv. 12-14)
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.
Three reasons every believer should be thankful; believers are qualified, delivered, and transferred. First, you should be thankful because He “has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.” The word “qualified” is ἱκανόω (hikanoo) meaning to be made sufficient. You are sufficiently qualified to share in the inheritance of the saints. The only way we are qualified or made sufficient is through the finished work of Jesus Christ as Savior and redeemer. Without Jesus Christ, the only thing we are qualified for is condemnation for our sin. But because of Jesus we are qualified to share in the eternal inheritance of believers in the glories of Heaven along with all the other saints of light.
This is so important for people to understand. There is nothing I can do that can qualify or make myself sufficient to have eternal life. The only way I am sufficient to be a part of the glorious inheritance of Heaven is through Christ’s sufficiency. I am so thankful that He has made me sufficient!
Second, we should be thankful that “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness.” Before salvation, we were on the wide path to destruction, we were slaves to sin and under its penalty, and we were condemned to an eternity separated from God; eternal death. Before salvation, I lived my life in the domain of darkness and under its curse. But when we put our faith and trust in the finished work of Jesus on the cross of Calvary, we are delivered from that! Hallelujah!
Third, we should be thankful because Jesus has “transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” Jesus redeemed us, He paid the price, He bought us.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
Because the price has been paid, we are transferred from one kingdom to another. We are transferred from the kingdom of the world whose ruler is Satan, to the kingdom of God whose ruler is God’s beloved Son, Jesus Christ. Because we have been redeemed and transferred to the kingdom of His dear son, we receive the forgiveness of sins. Hallelujah again! Somebody, please say “Amen!”
If you are a born again believer, if you have put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, Jesus has qualified you to share in the most tremendous thing you can imagine, an eternal inheritance in the glories of Heaven with our Savior. If you are not giving thanks to the Father for that, there is something missing in your life. You need Jesus.
Conclusion
Listen, I don’t know where you stand with the Lord. Often in a gathering of people like this you will have people all over the spectrum. People who could care a less about whether they are even here, they just want to look spiritual and so they go to church once in a while. People who may think they are saved but have no real joy or fulfillment in their life. People who compartmentalize their life with Sunday as their religious day and the rest of the week they don’t even think about God. People who strive to live out the Christian life in their own strength and continually fail. People who strive to live for God but find the distractions of this life to great and fall away from Him. People who love the Lord with passion and strive to live for Him though it is not perfect. I don’t know where you are on that spectrum, but you do, and I know God does.
Paul is praying that the people of the church of Colossae will find living a godly life something that is full of passion and love for Him. That they will be filled with knowledge, wisdom, and understanding of their life in Jesus Christ. That they will live in a way that is consistent with their faith in God. That they will enjoy the fruit of a life lived for Him. That they will enjoy the power of God’s might to live with endurance and patience. That they will be thankful for being made sufficient to share in the eternal inheritance of the saints because Jesus has delivered them from the kingdom of darkness and transferred them to the kingdom of His dear Son. They are redeemed! That’s what Paul is praying for.
That is my prayer for you here today also. Living the Christian life with great power. It may be you are unsure whether you are saved. It may be that you are struggling in your walk with the Lord. Listen, we want to help, will you let us?