Accessing The Power Needed For Life

Transcript

GRM 883
1/11/2004
Accessing the Power Needed for Life
Colossians 1:9-14
Gil Rugh


I want to take you back one more time to the book of Colossians chapter 1. I want to finish a sentence of Paul in dealing with prayer. In Colossians chapter 1 verses 3-8 form one sentence and verses 9-14 form a second sentence. Some of our English Bibles break it up into shorter sentences, but as Paul gave it, there were just two long sentences that comprise this great information on prayer. Not just instruction on prayer, but he is revealing his heart concerning prayer, how he came into the very presence of God, what he said when he was there. We noted in verses 3-8 the emphasis is on the thanks that he offered to God for His gracious work in the lives of the Colossians. He began in verse 3, “we give thanks to God praying for you.” His thanks centered in the fact that they had faith and love and hope, manifesting the work of God in their lives in salvation. This was a result of hearing and believing the word of truth, the gospel, at the end of verse 5. The end of verse 6 he talks about that they had “heard and understood the grace of God in truth.” This is truth, the Word of God, the message concerning Jesus Christ as the Savior of the world, the one in whom we must believe to be forgiven, to be cleansed. Paul is going to move into a tremendous section regarding that as he moves through Colossians chapter 1.

Paul is thrilled. He has never been to Colossae, he doesn’t know most of the Colossians personally, but he is thrilled as he has heard that they have come to trust Christ, and their lives are manifesting the mighty transformation that God brings about in a life of one who has come to know Him as Savior.

Verse 9, he continues the subject of prayer, but he redirects the emphasis. He expressed his thanks to God and why he thanked God for the Colossians and what God was doing in the Colossians’ lives. Now in verses 9 and following he tells the Colossians what he is interceding before the throne of grace for them, his intercession on their behalf. So, in verse 9 he says, “For this reason also since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you.” The day we heard of it, the day we heard of what? Well, the day we heard about your salvation, since we heard of how you’ve not only believed, but you are growing in the Lord. Verse 3 he started out by talking about that we have prayed for you. Verse 4, “ we heard of your faith and your love and your hope,” and that moved him on to further elaborate on that thanks. Now he goes back to the matter of his prayer. “For this reason,” that I’ve just elaborated, “he gave thanks to God for. Since the day we heard of it,” and Epaphras, the man who had carried the gospel to Colossae had shared with Paul something of the mighty work of God in the lives of the Colossians, according to verse 7. Since the day we heard of it we have not ceased to pray for you. We’ve emphasized what a mighty man of prayer the Apostle Paul was. I am convinced that when I do arrive in glory, probably one of the most overwhelming things that I am going to experience as I reflect on life on this earth, is how could I have spent so little time in prayer. When I stand on the streets of gold in the splendor of the city described in the closing chapters of Revelation, in the presence of Almighty God on His throne, I am sure I am going to wonder why did I spend so much time trying to do so much, giving it my best effort, and so little time coming before the throne where the power of Almighty God was available to me. I should have spent much more time in prayer and much less time in activity.

The Apostle Paul was a man of prayer. Here he is praying for the Colossians. He can’t even get into the letter. On other matters he has to tell them about his prayer life for them, and he’s never met them, he’s never been there. But he says I pray for you all the time. You know Paul wrote to the Romans and he had never been to Rome when he wrote the letter to the Romans. So, he didn’t know most of them personally, but you know what he says in chapter 1 verses 9-10, he’s telling them how he prays for them. You add that to the people where he had ministered, places like Ephesus in chapter 1 he refers to his prayers for them. In the letter to the Thessalonians in I Thessalonians 1 and he talks about praying for them. What a prayer ministry the Apostle Paul had, praying for those he had met and those that he hadn’t met. Praying for the mighty work of God in their lives, for their salvation, for their continued growth and development.

Here’s what Paul is praying for the Colossians. You want to know what you can pray for me, what you can pray for others? Here’s an example. “We have not ceased to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.” I want you to be filled with the knowledge of His will. To be filled, something done to them, that they be filled. Many of you are familiar with Ephesians chapter 5:18 where Paul talks about being filled with the Holy Spirit. Same words, same form there. What does it mean to be filled with the Holy Spirit? We’re familiar with that concept. It means to be under the control of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit fills, controls, dominates, orders our lives. That’s what Paul is talking about here. That you may be filled with the knowledge of His will. Filling with the knowledge of His will means that you are controlled by the knowledge of what God would have you do and be. That knowledge is not just facts you have acquired, it is truth that has been taken into your mind, into your heart. It’s become such a part of you that it now controls you. You are controlled by the knowledge of His will. You are to be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding. You know if knowledge relates to the truth, the facts that we gather, the spiritual wisdom and understanding relates to the ability to put that into practice. You know you can have a lot of factual knowledge and not know how to use it. I always use myself as an example, because it’s obvious to anybody who knows me. I’m not very technically oriented, that is a kind way to say I have no technical ability at all. But you know I like to read. I read a lot of things. I read a lot of things I don’t know anything about. I’ll even read things about computers, even enough that I can sit there when people are talking about computers, but you know I don’t know anything they’re talking about. I’ve read it, I can talk about gigabytes and megabytes and hard drives and software. All I can do is turn it on and type. You know I don’t really know anything about it. I don’t have any real wisdom or understanding of it. Sometimes we gather some factual things, but we really don’t understand it. We all have those areas of our lives. What Paul is talking about here is I want you to know His will. I want you to know it in spiritual wisdom and understanding so that through the ministry of the Spirit in your life this truth that you’ve learned of God and His will for you becomes part of your living. You know what to do. Now these go together. Note the words we have, we have knowledge, we have wisdom, we have understanding. We have these things, verse 10, “so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord.” We see the fuller picture, and then I want to back up and take a few pieces here. The world around us lives in a self-help day. You know you go to the bookstore, and you can find all kinds of self-help books. That kind of thinking has infiltrated the church. Now we want to pick up the church’s ministry with verse 10, telling people how they should walk, how they should live their lives. But that is a result of taking in the truth of God, of mastering that truth and knowing how to use it and apply it in your life. That’s why we come to study the Word of God, which is the Word of truth. Because if you take in the truth as a child of God, and you learn it and you grow, you are ready to handle whatever situation comes. You don’t need 13 steps on how to be a good husband or a good wife, 10 steps on how to raise children, seven steps to success in your job. That’s what the world does. What the believer does is take in the truth of God as his food so that it becomes part of his life and he submits to that truth and the ministry of the Spirit in his life, the character of God that is produced that makes him the husband that he should be, that makes him the father he should be, or her the wife, the mother, the employer, the employee. It is a supernatural process, and the decay of the evangelical church today is it wants everything from verse 10. Just give me something practical, something I can take home, something I can put to practice in my life. Give me a how to. God says I want to nourish your soul, I want my truth and my spirit to fill and control your life. It’s like our children. They’re in the stage, we give them guidance on certain things to do, but we are raising them what? To be able to make their own decisions. That’s some of the tension we have as they become adults. They begin to make their own decisions and we still want to make their decisions for them. We end up with what? Difficulty.

So, it is with the children of God. Some Christians just want to be told what to do. I don’t want to get mired down in theology, I don’t want to get into any serious Bible study, I just want to know how I ought to live my life and what the Lord wants me to do. You have to start in verse 9, as we are picking it up, so you can get to verse 10. You must be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.

Come back to I Corinthians chapter 1. This is foundational truth for the Christian life. We’re talking about those who have been born again, have come to place their faith in Christ alone as their Savior, and experienced the forgiveness of sins that we’ll get to in a moment. Now have the Spirit of God dwelling within them. Look at I Corinthians chapter 1. Paul is drawing a contrast between the wisdom of the world and the wisdom of God, what is true wisdom and what is foolishness. Verse 18, he says the “For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing.” People who are on their way to destruction, on their way to hell, see the whole issue of the cross of Christ as God’s provision for salvation as foolishness. “But to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written,” God speaking, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, the cleverness of the clever I will set aside. Where is the wise man? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?” In the wisdom of God, the world and its wisdom did not know God. They’ve come up with all kinds of ideas of how they’ll get to God, how they become acceptable to God. We have innumerable religions and religious beliefs and practices all over the world, a display of man’s wisdom, and none of it is able to bring a person into right relationship with God and prepare them for eternity.

But at the end of verse 21, “God was well pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.” That’s God’s plan. Down in verse 24, it’s Christ, the power of God, Christ, the wisdom of God. That’s how God works. It’s not man’s way. His plan of salvation, well you have to be religious; you have to do your best, you have to try to keep the Ten Commandments, you have to join a church and be baptized and partake of the sacraments, you have to be the best person………. No, that’s man’s wisdom. God’s wisdom says you have to realize you can do nothing, you are a sinner, condemned by God to hell. There is absolutely nothing you can do. But God intervened on your behalf and sent His Son to die on the cross to pay the penalty for your sin. If you will turn from your sin and place your faith in Him, you will be forgiven. That’s the foolishness of the message preached. That’s it, that’s God’s plan of salvation.

Look in chapter 2 of I Corinthians, verse 2, for “I determine to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” The Greeks prided themselves in their wisdom. When Paul came to the city of Corinth, he said, you know what? “I determined I would only focus on Jesus Christ and His death on the cross to pay the penalty for sin.” Verse 4, “my message, my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit in power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God. But we do speak wisdom among those who are mature, a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age.” There’s a reminder here. “The rulers of this age and the wise men of this age, they are passing away. The glory of man is like the flower of the field. It comes and it is gone, but the Word of our God stands forever. Heaven and earth will pass away, my Word will not pass away,” Jesus said. A reminder here of what is enduring and eternal.

Verse 7, “But we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery.” Verse 8, “it’s the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age had understood.” It’s revealed wisdom, it’s wisdom you must come to God for, which is given in this book called the Bible. Come down to verse 12, “Now we have received not the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things freely given to us by God, things which we speak not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit. Combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.” The natural man, a soulish man, a man apart from the Spirit of God does not accept the things of the Spirit of God. They are foolishness to him, he cannot understand them because they are spiritually appraised, spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual appraises all things. The end of verse 16 he says “But we have the mind of Christ.”

That’s God’s provision, that’s the contrast that exists between the way of man and the way of God. Now we have to be careful that we don’t become enamored with the ways of man that we adopt them as the people of God. You go into the average religious bookstore and their self-help section looks just like the secular bookstore’s self-help section. You go to a secular bookstore, and they’ll have religious books on self-help as well as nonreligious books. The evangelical church has become a major producer of the self-help material. Because somehow, they think the wisdom of the world is what will accomplish the work of God; and besides, it’s nice to have the world recognize your books as a best seller as well as the church. But you understand the world understands nothing of spiritual things. We just read that in Corinthians.

So come back to Colossians chapter 1. We must have knowledge of His will, which comes through the Word. The Bible is the truth of God. We just saw that in Colossians 1:5, the Word of truth, the gospel. Jesus said to His Father in John 17, your Word is truth. So, if you didn’t have a knowledge of His will you are going to have to have a knowledge of His Word, because this is the revelation of His will. The mind of God is revealed in the Word of God. But Paul is praying now to be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.

Hosea the prophet in the Old Testament, Hosea chapter 4 verse 6 said, “my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” Isn’t it a pitiful thing? What are known as evangelical churches, Bible-believing churches today, you go and the teaching of the Word of God has gotten shrunk to a smaller and smaller portion of the service. The teaching that goes on for a shorter time is lighter in its variety. Because it has to be practical, it has to be something that I can take with me. It has to be three points that will help me with this or that, or why did I go. I don’t want to learn musty theology or old, Biblical stories and accounts. I want to learn how to live my life. Do you know what happens as the Bible is taught less and less and God’s people get into God’s Word in a less serious way for a littler amount of time? They don’t know His will, they lack spiritual wisdom and understanding. They are like a child that grows up without any oversight and is never taught anything. He blunders through adult life, making mistakes, doing foolish things. We say he is like a kid; he should know better. Now we see the church of Jesus Christ blundering around in spiritual immaturity, wrestling with things and struggling with things and trying to set up self-help programs and counseling programs because people have to cope with life. Life is difficult and it’s complicated, and we need expertise outside ourselves, and all this foolishness. Because we have abandoned the knowledge of His will and true spiritual wisdom and understanding, and the confusion of the world has overtaken us.

Look at verse 10 of Colossians 1. “I have not ceased to pray that you would be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord.” That means to please Him in all aspects. Paul said you’ll walk in a manner worthy of the Lord if you are filled with the knowledge of His will with all spiritual wisdom and discernment. That is the result of being filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding. You will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord. In a manner that is suitable, appropriate for those who belong to the living God, those who are partakers, as Peter said, of the divine nature. I walk in a manner fitting, worthy. It’s as if I stood before the Lord at the end of this day and He said your walk today was pleasing to me. You conducted yourself as I wanted you to conduct yourself. Your conduct and behavior today was an apt and fitting representation of my work in your life. I am pleased. That’s what it means to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him. Note this, in all respects. This is a provision sufficient for me in every area of my life. We have tried to compartmentalize our lives like the world does, as though being a godly husband is different than being a godly employer or employee. Being a godly parent was different than being a godly Sunday School teacher. This provision of God is for us in all respects and every aspect of our lives. Paul wrote to the Ephesians in Ephesians chapter 4 verse 1 and he said “walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called.” He wrote to the Philippians in Philippians chapter 1 verse 27 and he said, “conduct yourselves worthy of the gospel of Christ.” He wrote to the Thessalonians in I Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 12 and said he was writing “so that you would walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you.” What a standard, that we walk in a manner worthy of the God who has called us. I belong to the living God. Well of course we could tell, it’s evident in your life. What area of my life? Well of course, every area. You can’t compartmentalize your life. Well you know I’m a godly person, I just can’t …(fill in the blank). What do you mean? I’m to please Him in all respects. That’s what Paul is saying. Beautiful passage. I walk in a manner worthy, not that the Lord says well what about this area. Well, Lord, look at every other area. No, this means I please Him in all respects.

What does it mean to please the Lord in all respects? He gives four participles that explain it to us. Our participles in English are usually “ing” words, and some of these are. Let me mention the four to you, then we’ll walk through this. First one is bearing fruit, middle of verse 10, please Him in all respects, bearing fruit. Then he elaborates on pleasing Him. The second one, increasing, at the end of verse 10 there, increasing in the knowledge of God. The third one doesn’t look like a participle in your English Bible, strengthen. In the Greek text it is. We might put it being strengthened, the participle there with it, being. Being strengthened or strengthened, but it’s the third participle. The fourth participle that modifies pleasing Him in all respects is giving thanks, giving thanks. This is what it means to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, what it means to be pleasing to Him in all respects. It means we are increasing in the knowledge of God; we are bearing fruit in every good work.

Look at bearing fruit first. We are to be fruitful people. Paul enumerated this up in chapter 1 of Colossians, verse 6, “this word which has come to you and is constantly bearing fruit and increasing.” Now we are increasing in the knowledge of God, but we are also bearing fruit. Reverse the order. We are bearing fruit and increasing. What does it mean to bear fruit? Well the first thing that comes to our mind is what? The fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace and so on. The character of God being produced in us. Jesus told His disciples in John 15 that His Father is glorified when we bear much fruit. The fruit is the character of God being developed in us, manifest in us. It’s a result of His working in us, and God is pleased with the conduct of our lives when we are bearing fruit in every good work. We are about the work of God, and I don’t just mean when we’re teaching Sunday School or preaching sermons or here at church. But in every good work, everything we’re doing for the honor and glory of God, we are manifesting His character in the doing of it. I cannot segregate my life, when I’m at work it’s not possible for me to manifest the character of God. No, I’m bearing fruit in every good work, in all that I do. The believer shouldn’t be doing anything but good work, the things that are pleasing to God.

Increasing in the knowledge of God. As verse 6 said the “Colossians were bearing fruit and increasing.” Paul is just now reiterating some of these things. He’s praying that what is going on in their lives will continue to go on, so that they’re bearing fruit and he’s praying they’ll bear fruit in every good work. It will be an ongoing process. They had been increasing, the Word of God has that work in a life, it increases in a life. Paul is praying that it will continue to increase, and they will continue to increase in the knowledge of God. Did they know God? Of course, they gave thanks for that, their faith and their love and their hope in the first part of his discussion about prayer. But you know, we’re not done. That ought to be growing. I don’t know where we get the idea as believers that we know enough about God. I don’t know anything in the Bible, but I know enough about it so that our involvement in the study of the Bible begins to fall off. Oh, it’s important that you really……… we tell new Christians get into the Word every chance you can, be involved in every opportunity you can. That’s basic as a new believer. But somehow as older believers it’s not as important. Paul’s prayer for the Colossians is that they never lose sight of its importance and that mighty work of God in their lives continues and that means they’ll be increasing in the knowledge of God. Let me tell you, you cannot increase in the knowledge of God if you’re decreasing in your knowledge of the Word of God. When you know about God outside the Word is a result of your applying the Word of God in the different situations and circumstances of your life and seeing His hand at work. What is the future of the coming generation in so-called Bible-believing churches that are trying to reduce the teaching of the Word to 20-minute self-help messages. We will raise a generation that is not increasing in the knowledge of God but are muddling around in the wisdom of the world.

Increasing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power. This is a tremendously significant portion. “Being strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience with joy.” The life that he has been talking about is dependent on the power of God. That’s why I do not believe in promoting reformation in the world. We preach a message of regeneration. We’re not trying to tell lost people to clean up their lives. That moves them no closer to heaven. The people most in danger of hell are the self-righteous people like in Jesus’ day, the Pharisees and the Sadducees. We’re talking about the unleashing of the power of God in the life of the child of God. That power comes into a life at salvation, the Spirit of God takes up residence in the life, and now that power is to be turned loose in greater and greater ways in the life of the one who belongs to God. We are being strengthened with all power. There’s an emphasis here, and the words translated strengthened and power are the same basic words, different form of the same word. We get it in English, dynamite, dynamo. You could translate it to get the play here, being empowered with all power, according to His glorious might or strength. Only the power of God can accomplish what we’re talking about, where the character of God is being produced in a life, where a person is able to live his life step by step in every situation as God would have him do it, in light of the knowledge of God, in a way that pleases God. You say well wait a minute; I’ve never been in that situation. I’d have to have somebody walk me through it. Well, I’m not saying you shouldn’t learn what you can about different situations you may face. But the fact is, when the power of God is at work in your life you are ready for whatever God brings into your life and to handle whatever God brings into your life.

Strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might. Turn over to Ephesians chapter 1. Paul is a man, since he was a man of prayer you find his prayers are often taken up with talking about the strength and might and power of God. Because he knew when the strength and power of God was at work in a life, that person would be prepared and equipped and able to deal with whatever came up in his life. I may not know the physical problem he’s facing; I might not know the family difficulty that he is going through. I might not know the situation in his job, but I know if the power of God is at work in his life, he will be able to handle it as God would have him handle it. Look at Ephesians chapter 1 verse 19. What is Paul doing here? He is praying. And he starts all his prayers, verse 15, “Since I heard of the faith you have in the Lord Jesus.” Verse 16, “I haven’t ceased to give thanks for you.” Same thing he did for the Colossians. What did he do? He’s always making mention of them in his prayers, end of verse 16. Verse 17, “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ might give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.” What are we talking about? Wisdom, knowing Him. “I pray,” verse 18, “that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.” These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might. He’s saying basically the same thing he’s said to the Colossians, rearranging words. I want you to experience the power, the might, the strength of God. That’s how it works in the lives of us who believe, that’s what I’m praying for you.

Look in Ephesians chapter 3. Here he is talking about his prayer for the Ephesians again. Verse 14, “for this reason I bow my knees before the Father,” verse 16, “that He would grant you according to the riches of His glory to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man.” I mean, remarkable. I want you to experience the power of God in your life, and that power will produce His love, as he goes on to talk about. Verse 19, “you’ll know the love of Christ,” and on it goes. That’s what happens when God’s power is working in a life, God’s truth is permeating you. Now whatever has come up, whatever I’m dealing with, remember Paul is writing Ephesians, he’s writing to the Colossians as a prisoner. But He’s experienced the working of God’s mighty power in his life. Remarkable, remarkable.

Come back to Colossians chapter 1. “Being strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might.” You know, that’s sufficient. I think if I only had a little more strength, if I only had a little more power. Paul says I’m praying you get strengthened according to the strength of God, the mighty power of God. What? “For the attaining of all steadfastness and patience.” That word joyously, you can take it with what follows or with the steadfast and joyously. I think it should go with the steadfast and joyously, but the other is true. But there is a preposition in front of the word joyously, it’s with joy, literally. I think he’s talking about attaining all steadfastness and patience with joy. That’s when I need the joy, when I have to be steadfast, when I have to be patient, to do that with joy, and in evidence of the working of God’s power in my life.

Paul is praying for the power of God to be manifest in a life so that you can go through your trials, your struggles, and be steadfast, patient, and have joy in the doing of it. That word steadfast is a compound word, Greek word, it means to live under something, to remain under something. That’s what is means to be steadfast. Sometimes we translate it enduring. Doesn’t say God removes the pressure, but He enables you to walk as you should under the pressure, to be patient as you should, to not lose it. One commentator on the Greek text says the word here means patient endurance that does not retaliate. This word patience is a fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22. We’re talking about how the Spirit of God works in a life. You know we’ve got some kind of artificial counterfeit view of the work of the Spirit of God in the life in much of what is passed off as Christianity today. They’re running to the bookstore, they’re running to the seminars and all, looking for the patterns and the help and the coping and the dealing. I’m saying, I don’t get that idea as I read Paul, a prisoner in Rome, writing to the Colossians and talking about the power of God that he is praying will be unleashed in its fullness in their lives, and they can have the fullness of joy as they continue steadfastly and patiently. They’re pleasing God in every aspect of their life. We have some poor Christians running around saying oh I need a book that will tell me how to be a better parent, oh I need a book on how to be a better… Throw them all in the trash and get out The Book and say God I belong to you and your Spirit dwells in me, and your truth is alive. I need just to start filling myself with the truth and add to my diet of the Word. Now Lord your Spirit is the resource that I have through your Word, and when I have to bear up under the difficulties and the trials and be patient, it’s not a cause of grumbling and murmuring and complaining. You know what the problem is, we’re trying to do it in our own strength. As one of the preachers of bygone days said, there is no work so hard as the work of the Lord done in the energy of the flesh. You know pretty soon we’re charging along, all of a sudden it feels like we’re trying to run in wet concrete. Pretty soon it feels like the concrete is setting and I don’t know if I can pick up my legs for the next step. We just say you know I’ve run out of energy, or as the world says it, we’ve burned out. Now, oh wow I’ve found a solution, I have burn-out. Oh, now I need sympathy and so the church has the world’s solutions and the world’s problems. We’re burnt out, I just can’t go on, I’m overwhelmed. You know, I had such problems, I just got burnt out. Well, you know what? You’re doing things in your own strength. You know what happens? You burn out, whatever that means. It just means I can’t go on anymore.

You know what we’ve got in the church? It’s like our cars. You know we think maybe with the passing of time this happens. I have a car that has about 100,000 miles on it. Still runs good, body doesn’t look as good as it did new. But the motor still runs good and it will go as fast as it ever did. Gets me where I’m going. You know why? The motor is working. Some Christians, you know they’re like they’re going downhill, and they turn the motor off. But the momentum’s carrying them down the hill and they’re still saying I’m going plenty fast; things are going fine. Then all of a sudden, they get down to the bottom of the hill and they have to go up the next hill, and all of a sudden they lose momentum quickly, and all of a sudden here I’m stuck. Now I seem to be going backwards, you know we call them backsliders. Why? Well, you know now we go to church, you know what they tell you to do? How to push the car. That’s a big help. No, don’t get in with the steering wheel and push with one leg. Get out, because then you can push with full force. You know that two or three people, somebody gets on the passenger side, opens the door and pushes in that corner. Then two people get on the back bumper and push. That’ll do it. Well, you know that is a more efficient way to push a car. In fact, if you can get four friends to push, you can sit in. That’s the best way. No, it’s the best the world has to offer. You know the best way? Turn on the ignition and let the motor drive the car. You know so many Christians are trying to do, find a better way to push the car, so they’re coming to church for a self-help sermon. Oh, I got four steps on how to be a better husband. Another way of saying that anytime somebody tells you, oh yeah you just learned how to push the car. When the Spirit of God wants to empower us, when God’s plan is we live with the provision of His glorious might working in us. I mean that is sufficient for everything, enabling me to please Him in all respects and to do it with joy. I’m not just plodding on because you don’t have any choice. I mean I’d like to give up, but I can’t because what’s the alternative. Here is Paul in prison and he’s not writing saying, you know I’d like to give up, but I just know that’s not a possibility. I despair, but I don’t know what else to do. Luke’s been here and tried to counsel and comfort me and I’ve had others come through and they’ve given me ways to meditate and six steps to finding success in prison, and… He’s writing about the mighty power of God; and he’s praying that the Colossians who have been experiencing it will experience it in a fuller way. That ought to be going on. If the Lord gives you a long life and you live to be 100 you ought to be continuing increasing and growing. You oughtn’t to be sitting back saying yes, I remember when I was a young Christian, and I had that enthusiasm. Yeah, I remember I went to every Bible study I could, too. Yeah, I used to go to church, yeah I was in…….., but you know. But what? Don’t you wind down? I don’t know. Does the power of God ever diminish? If the power of God is winding down, I mean do we have the law of entropy going on here and God is winding down. You know His power started out with a blast in my life and now it’s just sort of getting weaker and weaker, like a battery that’s dying. Paul knew nothing of that kind of power of God. We oughtn’t to either, because there is no power of God like that. That’s a counterfeit, that’s me and my energy, because I had momentum as I was trusting the Lord and drawing on His power. I was going forth and then as I thought more and more I could do it and I could do with less intake. You know I filled the car up last week; I don’t have to fill it up this week. If it runs out of gas, but if it runs out on a downhill, that’s all right, I’m still going. Then I hit the grade and all of a sudden, I am dead. We have the mighty power of God available.

That’s why we structure the ministry of our church around the teaching and proclaiming of truth. Doesn’t mean you never talk about what the Bible says about your home and your family, and the Bible says about work. But you know it’s God’s truth that is the solution. When God’s power is working in my life, I can do it. You know I found out when I learned to swim, I could swim in the swimming pool. You know what I found out when I went to the ocean? I could swim in the ocean. Oh, I learned to swim in the swimming pool, I can’t swim in the ocean. Why not? That’s the way God’s power is when it’s working in your life. Wherever He takes you, wherever He puts you His power is sufficient.

All right, we’ll wrap up verses 12-14 quickly. Fourth participle, giving thanks to the Father. What is Paul praying? That a major part of their life here will be giving thanks to the Father. You know what? They never lose sight. Giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. We saw this inheritance of the saints in light back up in verse 5 when he talked about the hope laid up for you in heaven. That’s the same thing as the inheritance of the saints in light. That’s the hope laid up for you in heaven, that’s what God has provided for us. He’s hoping that they continue to grow and increase in their thanks, permeates their life. It’s not that I’m thankful for the day I’m saved and the weeks and months following, but 25 years after I was saved somehow the coolness has set in. Giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints. Is that any less amazing after you’ve been a believer for 30 years than it was after three days? No. In fact, in many ways, it grows. So, our thanks ought to grow.

That reminds Paul, how did He qualify us to share in the inheritance of the saints? He rescued us from the domain of darkness, He transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. There is no other way for this to take place, but through the work of the Son of God, and that work being applied to your life. Christ rescued us from the domain, the authority, the realm in which satan rules, the realm of darkness. Christ used that expression in Luke 22:53, the domain of darkness. He transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son. We’re not in that kingdom yet, but we belong to it. We’re citizens of heaven, even though we’re not in heaven yet. We have the inheritance of the saints in light, and we will enter into the kingdom that He has prepared for those who love Him. We’re not in there yet, but it is part of the promise. That’s the inheritance, that’s the hope. The ultimate anticipation in that kingdom is, heaven and earth will merge, the very throne of God will be centered in that kingdom and we’ll have heaven on earth, literally.

The kingdom of His beloved Son in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. You know what redemption is? The forgiveness of sins. The word redemption means to set free by paying the price. The penalty for sin is death, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. The wages of sin is death. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came and died on a cross to pay the penalty for sin, so we can have redemption in Him, the forgiveness of sins. When a person places their faith in Christ they are forgiven. The death of Christ is applied to their account, they become a child of God. They have been qualified to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. What a marvelous work God has done. I mean here we are, Paul has just talked about what he’s thankful about and what he’s praying for, for the Colossians. Is that the kind of prayer you pray for the other believers in this church? Other believers in other places? Doesn’t mean they don’t have physical problems, they don’t have family problems, they don’t have job problems. You know what? Paul knew the power of God would take care of it all.

We need to get ourselves back in line. Number 1, there is a problem in the church. People who are unbelievers come in, sit, enjoy it, become part of it. Remember I Corinthians chapter 1? The man apart from the Spirit of God is unable to understand the things of God. They’re uncomfortable with just studying the Bible. I don’t want to throw out the Bible, I just want things that are more practical and helpful. Because the Bible is not practical and helpful to an unregenerate person who does not have the Spirit of God. They would like what the world gives, but they want what the world gives to be given in a religious context so they can soothe their religious feelings. So, they get a self-help sermon that uses the Bible, and everybody is happy. We need to come to grips with, do you know the living God? Have you ever experienced His mighty power in your life in salvation? Not, have you attended this church. Not, have you been baptized here? Have you ever experienced the mighty power of God in salvation in your life? If not, that’s the beginning point. Once you have, then it’s a matter of staying on that path. Having begun by grace, are you now perfected by a law? Same issue as Paul wrote to the Galatians in Galatians 3:3. It’s the same pattern. Same way I was saved, I’m going to walk by faith. Same way I was saved, I took in the Word of God and believed it and submitted to it. Now I walk how? By taking in the Word of God, believing and submitting to it. That enables the Spirit of God to work His mighty power in my life. What about the difficulties in my marriage? What about the difficulties at my job? The mighty power of God producing the character of God, providing the sufficiency of God, enables me to continue steadfastly and patiently with joy in a manner that is pleasing to Him in every circumstance and every situation.

What a provision. You want to come to hear a self-help sermon this morning when you can learn of the power of God that He wants you to experience in its fullness in your life? I don’t want to accept someone’s self-help book. I want the fullness of what God has for me in His provision. Let’s pray together.

Thank you, Lord, for who you are. Lord if we’d be honest, all of us, even as your children, admit we so easily become self-sufficient. We think that we can handle it, we can do it, we don’t need more of your Word, we don’t need more of you. We think we can ride on yesterday’s provision; we think we can get by on last week’s intake. Soon we’re weary, soon we’re discouraged, soon we’re disheartened. It leads to despair, confusion. Lord, I pray that we would sharpen our focus with your Word again, to rejoice in the wonder of the provision that you have made for us. We would be overflowing with thanks for what you’ve done in our lives and the lives of others. I thank you Lord that that provision continues, goes on, and will bring us into the glory of your presence. We praise you in Christ’s name. Amen.