Christ Preeminent (Part Three): Walking Worthy

Transcript

JRNT 25
07/16/2023
Christ Preeminent (Part Three) Walking Worthy
Colossians 1:9-12
Jesse Randolph

We are only about midway through what’s already been a very busy summer. There have been camps. There’s been VBS. There have been travel events and occasions we’ve had guest preachers. There have been a few different one-off sermons from yours truly. Now, today, at long last, we’re back in our Christ Preeminent series. Our Sunday-morning study through the book of Colossians. We’re just two sermons into this book. And just two sermons into this series. But we’re going to be making a lot of headway, I can assure you, in this book, over the next couple of months. So, I hope your seatbelts are fastened. I hope you’re ready. To embark on what I pray will be a very rich and profitable study of this incredible litter letter.

Now, it’s been a while. I think it’d be good if we spent some time on the front porch this morning sort of reestablishing ourselves as to what’s going on in this letter. So, by way of a very brief review, you’ll recall that Colossians was written, at least in human terms, by the Apostle Paul. Under the guidance and direction of the Holy Spirit, of course. He wrote this letter somewhere around 60-62 A.D. and as he did so, he was wearing chains. He was sitting under the watchful eye of a Roman Guard, in a prison cell in Rome. The motivation behind Paul’s letter here, to the church at Colossae. A church he never visited. But a church through his faithful gospel preaching in nearby Ephesus, he had certainly indirectly influenced. The motivation behind Paul’s letter to Colossae, came from a man who had visited him there in Rome. This man’s name was Epaphras and Epaphras was a native of that city of Colossae. He was likely the man that the Lord used to plant and start the Colossian church. Epaphras, you might recall, had traveled some 1,300 miles to Rome. Not only to see Paul, but to tell Paul of this encroaching danger of this heresy, that was starting to take root in this early Colossian church. Now, having heard of this multi-dimensional heresy. Which contained a hodgepodge of bad ingredients sent straight from hell. You know, a pinch of philosophy. A spoonful of tradition. An ounce of ascetism. A sprinkle of angle worship. A dash of deception. Among other things . . . Paul, as he wrote this letter to the Colossian church, did so, not only to equip these believers against the danger of the heretical teachings that were coming into their assembly. But also, to get them to set their focus on, their attention on, their gaze on, the One who had saved them. The One who bought them. The One who was and is their Master. Not only their Master, though, but the Ruler and Master over all things. The Lord Jesus Christ, who is Christ Preeminent.

With that, we turn to our text this morning. I’d invite you to open with me in your bibles to Colossians 1. We’ll be looking this morning at Colossians 1, and we’re going to look at verses 9-12 this morning. God’s word reads:

“For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, 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, so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all power according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light.”

Now, a bit more review as we get ready to dig deeper into this text. In the first sermon I gave you in this series, we went more through an overview of the book of Colossians as a whole. We were introduced to the key characters, the geographic setting, the historical setting and the theological controversy that was brewing there and those sorts of things. Then, the last time we looked at this book, in sermon #2 in this series. The title of that sermon was “Giving Thanks to God.” We looked at the many different reasons that Paul had for giving thanks to God for this church. A church he had never personally visited. But a church he clearly cared deeply about. In fact, if you would, allow your eyes to go up to Colossians 1:3 for a reminder of the various ways in which Paul was giving thanks to God for this dear collection of believers.
Colossians 1:3 – “We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints; because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel which has come to you, just as in all the world also it is constantly bearing fruit and increasing, even as it has been doing in you also since the day you heard of it and understood the grace of God in truth; just as you learned it from Epaphras, our beloved fellow bond-servant, who is a faithful servant of Christ on our behalf, and he also informed us of your love in the Spirit. That brings us back to our text. Where now Paul lays out his prayer for the Colossian church.

Now, there are a number of different ways that we could go about this passage and dig into this passage. For instance, we could look at this passage as being a model prayer that Paul is modeling for each of us. We could leave here this morning feeling very convicted about how inadequate and lacking our prayer lives are. We could also go a different way of spending multiple months in just these four verses and doing sort of the Martyn Lloyd-Jones thing, where you dissect the meaning of every single term and phrase, and never make any progress in the text. But you do come away with a very deep understanding of the unique definitions of every term and phrase. Or we can do what I plan to do here this morning, which is to locate the central idea in Paul’s prayer here. The golden thread, if you will, and not lose our grip on that thread, as we look at each facet and aspect of what’s going on in this text.

That’s what we’re going to do here this morning. We’re going to fix our attention on what I believe is the central propositional truth in this passage. What we’re going to see is that in this text, the main thrust of Paul’s prayer for the Colossians. The focal point of his prayer. The fulcrum of his prayer. Was that these early believers. For whom Paul was so very thankful. Was that they would “walk worthy.” That’s the title of this morning’s sermon. “Walking Worthy.” I’ve given it that title, because if you look at verse 10 here, in Colossians 1, right in the middle of our passage. You’re going to see the purpose clause for this entire section. Look at the first few words there in verse 10. He says, “So that.” That’s a Hina-clause, or a Henna-clause. It’s a purpose statement. “So that.” Meaning, you really need to pay attention to what comes next, and then look at what comes next. So that you will “walk in a manner worthy of the Lord.” So, as Paul here addresses the early Colossian church. As he gives thanks to God for them. As he prays for them. At the heart of it all is this prayer that they would “walk in a manner worthy of the Lord.” That’s the big idea here. The central focus here. That’s going to be the big idea for the message this morning.

Now, the Christian life, as we know from other passages in scripture, is described, not only as “walking”, but it’s described as a “race.” I Corinthians 9:24 says, “Run in such a way that you may win.” Hebrews 12:2, commands us to “run with endurance the race that is set before us.” Meaning our lives in Christ are to be run with purpose and direction and focus. But as we strive to “run to win” . . . as we seek to “run to win.” We have to remember that the Christian life, in scripture, is more often described as a “walk.” As believers are called to “walk worthy.” Here are a few cross references you can jot down. Ephesians 4:1 says, “I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called.” Or I Thessalonians 2:12 says, “. . . walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.” Then, our passage, Colossians 1:10, “. . . walk in a manner worthy of the Lord . . .”

Bringing it back to Colossians, Paul’s overarching concern for this church, was that they would live lives worthy of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul was completely aware of the heretical teachings that were now infiltrating this church. He wanted to help them “mark and avoid” those teachings. So that they could instead set their minds on and fix their gazes upon the truth. Specifically, the truths they knew about Jesus Christ. So that they could live more faithfully for Him and honor Him and serve Him and strive to walk as He walked.

So again, this idea of “walking worthy.” Or the worthy walk. Is the central idea of this text. If these four verses could be represented by the wheel of a bicycle, “walking worthy” would be the hub of that wheel. Then out of that hub would come these many different spokes. In fact, in our text, I counted eight of those spokes. Which are going to serve as the eight points for the message this morning. Those points, I’ll run through them real quickly. Don’t worry, we’ll go through them one by one.
As Christians, we’re to be Walking Worthy:
In Reliance Upon Prayer, that’s one.
Seeking the Lord’s Will
Pleasing the Lord
Bearing Good Fruit
Increasing In the Knowledge of God
Relying Upon the Strength of the Lord
Demonstrating Steadfastness and Patience
And Joyously Giving Thanks
Those are the eight “spokes”, the eight points. We’ll get right into it with our first point this morning. Where we see in verse 9, that the follower of Jesus Christ is committed to:

1. Walking Worthy In Reliance Upon Prayer (verse 9)
Look at the firs few words here, verse 9, it says, “For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you . . .”

Now, let’s stop right there. We note that Paul begins here with this transitionary phrase: “For this reason also, since the day we heard of it . . .” he says. Well, what “reason” also? On what “day” did you hear it? What is the “it” that you’re talking about here, Paul? Well, as the Spirit moved him to write these words, what Paul is referring to, with that word “it” in verse 9, is the highly-positive report he got from Epaphras, back in Colossians 1:4. In fact, let’s go right back there again. Look at Colossians 1:4, this is the essence of the good report that Epaphras gave to Paul. “Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints; because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel which has come to you, just as in all the world also it is constantly bearing fruit and increasing.” Praise the Lord! That’s quite the report. But then, even look down in Colossians 1:8, it continues. He says, “. . . and he also informed us of your love in the Spirit.” It is this entire bundle of good news which Epaphras had shared with him. Which feeds into what Paul says here in Colossians 1:9, when he says: “For this reason also, since the day we heard of it.” The “it” being the glowing report Epaphras had given him about the faith of the Colossians. “Since the day we heard of all of that” Paul is saying. “We”, meaning Timothy and Epaphras and I, “have not ceased to pay for you.”

Don’t miss that. That clear connection that’s being drawn here, by Paul, between thanksgiving and prayer. He’s already made this connection up at verse 3 of chapter 1. “We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you.” He’s going to do it again in verse 12, as he closes out his prayer, and says he is “. . . giving thanks to the Father.” But note, again, this connection; and this is a vital one. Between thankfulness and prayerfulness. As we see right here . . . Paul’s prayer for the Colossian church. Were fueled by his thankfulness for them. He was constantly praying for them, because of what God had already done in them and through them.

I suspect that, for many of us here this morning, as we take stock of our prayer lives, the opposite tends to be the case. Though we know and understand intellectually, having sat in church for however many years, that there is this connection between thankfulness and prayer. Though we know passages like Philippians 4:6 where it says, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.” We know that text. But in practice, we tend to divorce thankfulness from prayer. We tend to think of thanking God and asking God, as being these competing alternatives. We’re feeling full of thanks when all is well. We have those feelings when there’s peace in the home. Or prosperity in the career. Or progress that’s being made spiritually. But the more thankful we feel, we also might have this reduced interest level in actually asking God to answer our prayers. We would never say it this way, but we act sometimes as though because our cup is full, He can go ahead now and fill somebody else’s. We don’t need to pray.

Then there’s the other side of the coin. When in these times of desperation and worry and hopelessness and grief. We naturally start begging God to act. To do something for us. To rescue us. To relieve us. To comfort us. But if we’re being honest, we’re often much slower to give thanks in those seasons, aren’t we? We’re not as motivated to be thankful in those seasons, are we? Rather, we’re motivated more in those seasons by desperation and want and desire. Those are the seasons where we just throw out those life-preserver prayers. You know: “Lord, bring my spouse back under my roof.” “Open the eyes of my spiritually-blind son.” “Lord, heal dad.” “Lord, convict mom of her sin.” “I’ll get back to offering thanks again God, one day, but right not I need You to help me.”

Well, in his prayer here, Paul is correcting every distorted view of thanksgiving and prayer that might be held in the room here today. Because Paul was so overwhelmingly thankful to God for the work, He had already done in the Colossian believers, he didn’t stop asking God to do more and more in them and through them. He was unceasing in his prayers for them. He took his own advice, I Thessalonians 5:17, “pray without ceasing.” His thankfulness fueled his prayers. He thanked God as he asked God. He was modeling for the Colossian believers, what he would say to them later in Colossians 4:2, where he tells them “Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving.”

What an important reminder that is. Again, of that inseparable connection between thanksgiving and prayer. What an encouragement that is to all of us. Not only to never tire of thanking God. But to be unceasing in our prayers to God. To not drive an artificial wedge between thanksgiving and prayer. They go together, like chili and cinnamon rolls. Or, if you’re not native, like I’m not native, like two wings of a bird, right? Alexander Maclaren once said, “the freedom and heartiness of our prayers for others are a very sharp test of both our piety to God and our love to men.” That was Paul. A man, an apostle, who was profoundly devoted to God. But who also had this love for fellow believers which flowed out of his devotion to God. How about you? Are you praying for your own spiritual walk? Are you praying for the spiritual walk of others? Do you have others praying for you in that regard? Is your walk with Christ “worthy” in the sense that it is buoyed and driven and fanned into flame by faithful prayer?

Well, as we’re about to see, Paul’s prayer for the Colossians had this specific aim and target and purpose in view. As he gives thanks to them. As he prayed for them. As he asked God on their behalf. He asked for something very specific. Look at the rest of verse 9, it says, “. . . 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.”
That brings us to our next point. Our next spoke in the hub. The follower of Christ not only walks worthy in reliance upon prayer, he or she is committed to walking worthy in seeking the Lord’s will.

2. Walking Worthy In Seeking The Lord’s Will
Look at the language of that text again, verse 9. “. . . we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filed with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.”

Now, we have a number of ideas we need to work through here. But I want you to note right away, that Paul here says he is asking that these Colossian believers would be filled with “knowledge.” Now, it’s not just any form of knowledge that Paul is praying for here and he’s certainly not praying here that they would be filled with knowledge for the sake of becoming more knowledgeable. “Knowledge,” we know from I Corinthians 8:1 can “make [one] arrogant.” Or as other translations have it, it can puff up. No, the text here makes it clear that Paul was asking that these Colossian believers would be “filled with the knowledge of His will”, it says.
Now, we could go down a very very deep rabbit hole here. We could spend the rest of our time this morning and not just this morning, but several consecutive Sunday mornings. Discussing the will of God. How to define the will of God. How to know the will of God. How to distinguish between the decretive and the perceptive wills of God. But we’re not going to do that today. We’re not going to go in that total rabbit hole, and deep dive. That’s because as we’re about to see, in context, Paul’s focus here, when he speaks of “His will”, meaning, God’s will, is actually quite narrow. More on that in just a second.

For now, I want to remind us that our passage today, the whole section, is Paul’s summary of what he has been praying for the Colossians. As we see here in verse 9, he’s praying that they “may be filled with the knowledge of His will.” Paul wastes no words here. Every single one of Paul’s words in this passage has rich meaning and significance. Including those three words: “may be filled.” I want to camp out there for just a minute. See, those words, “may be filled”, represent what’s known as a divine passive. All that means is that though God is not mentioned by name here. You don’t see the name, the word God there, right? He’s the implied subject of this entire statement. Though God is not mentioned by name here. He is clearly the One that’s being spoken of here and it is His will, meaning God’s will, that Paul was praying the Colossian believers would come to know. See, the idea that’s being presented here through this use of this divine passive, is that the Colossians, they would not be able to determine God’s will through their own efforts, or their own labors. No Ouija board or reading the tea leaves was going to help them discover God’s will. No, what they needed, was to have God’s will revealed to them. They needed God Himself to reveal His will to them. Then, there’s just the meaning of that word “filled” itself. And this is highly significant, in the context of Paul’s letter here. And the situation he’s writing into. And the theological heresy he’s writing against. See, the false teachers that Epaphras had come to Rome to tell Paul about, the false teachers in Colossae. They were the ones who claimed to be full of knowledge, and to have a fullness of knowledge and to be experienced in the fullness of truth. Those false teachers back in Colossae were suggesting that the gospel that Epaphras had been proclaiming there in that church, was not the full message. It didn’t represent the full range of religious truth that the people in that city needed to know. These false teachers claimed that they had the full range of truth and knowledge at their disposal, which is what they were trying to spread there in Colossae.

Well, what we see throughout the letter of Colossians, and it’s brilliant! Is Paul attempting, over and over, to cut off those false teachers at the pass. He does so by appropriating their own language, and redirecting it, to point these believers to the glories and the sufficiency and the preeminence of Jesus Christ. For instance, we see Paul here, in verse 9, using terms like “filled”. Elsewhere, he uses words like “full” or “fullness”, or a synonym “complete”. What he’s doing is, he’s referring to the fact, through that language, that the false teachers don’t have complete knowledge. They don’t have full knowledge. Because “fullness” is found exclusively in Christ and His gospel. In fact, look with me at Colossians 1:19, just down the page, we see him do it here, he says, Colossians 1:19, “For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him . . .” Colossians 2:9, speaking of Jesus Christ, he says, “For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form.” Or look at the next verse, verse 10, “and in Him [meaning Christ] you have been made complete.” That’s the same term. Paul is just toying with the false teachers here. He’s saying, the Colossian church didn’t need to be filled with philosophy or speculation or other forms of worldly wisdom. What they needed to be filled with, more and more, and filled to completeness, was the knowledge of God’s will. As we’re going to see, as mediated through Christ.

Paul does this not only with the word “fullness”, though, he does it with the word “knowledge”, which is also mentioned here in verse 9. See, the false teachers there in Colossae had claimed to have this special form of knowledge. This more insightful, illuminated form of knowledge. They claimed to have gnosis. That’s the Greek word for “knowledge.” They were proto-gnostic. Well Paul, being no fool, saw their gnosis and raised what they knew, with his word, epignosis. Meaning, “full knowledge”. “Total knowledge.” “Complete knowledge.” “Intensive knowledge.” “Thorough knowledge.” That’s the word he uses here in Colossians 1:9. It’s also the word that he’ll use later in Colossians 1:12. What he’s doing, is he’s paving the way for what he’ll say later, about full knowledge being found in Christ alone. In fact, take a look, we can go over to Colossians 2, we’ll be here a couple of times this morning. Colossians 2, we’ll pick it up mid-sentence in verse 2, he says, “. . . that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting [look at this] in a true knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ Himself.” Or down in Colossians 3:9, he says, “Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge [epignosis] according to the image of the one who created him . . .”
In other words, Paul is being very intentional here in Colossians 1:9, and elsewhere in this letter, with this very clear choice of words. He knew the nature of the false teaching that was infiltrating the Colossian church. He knew what these early Colossian believers were up against. He knew the claims of these false teachers, that they claimed to be the possessors of true full knowledge. So, now here, he says, I’m “ask[ing] that you [Colossians] may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.”

Now, let’s take a moment to get even deeper here, at the heart of Paul’s request, in prayer, for the “knowledge of His will.” Is Paul here praying that the Colossian believers, through his prayers, would have every answer supplied to them, about every single decisional crossroad they would ever make in their lives? You know, which city to live in? What name to give their thirdborn son? How many miles to walk on a given day? I actually don’t think that’s what he’s getting at here. In fact, we only need to go back to Colossians 2 again, to get a sense of what Paul appears to be describing here in Colossians 1, when he talks about “knowledge” and “wisdom” and “understanding.” Again, let’s look at Colossians 2, we’ll look at verse 1, and verse 2 again. He says, “ For I want you to know how great a struggle I have on your behalf and for those who are at Laodicea, and for all those who have not personally seen my face, that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ Himself. In whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” Paul prayed a similar prayer for the Ephesian church. Go with me over to Ephesians 1, where we’ll see him praying something very similar. Look at Ephesians 1, a couple of pages over to your left. We’ll pick it up in Ephesians 1:15. Paul here says, “For this reason, I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you and your love for all the saints, do not cease giving thanks for you, while making mention of you in my prayers; [footnote, there’s that connection again] that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him.” Look up the page, look at Ephesians 1:9, it says, “He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ . . .” Piecing that all together, what are each of those passages referring to? When they’re talking about knowledge and wisdom and understanding? They’re referring to the plan of God the Father. They’re referring to the person and the fullness and the work of Jesus Christ. They’re highlighting the mystery of the gospel.

So, coming back to our text, Colossians 1:9, this “knowledge of His will” language is not so much concerned with God’s private plans and purposes for each and every individual believer, as it is concerned with God’s will in terms of His eternally decreed plans related to everything that was and will and will be, in the world. Including the Fall in the world. The corruption of the world. God’s plan of salvation for this same fallen and corrupt world. Which He purposed in Jesus Christ. God’s plans included His initial dealings with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and the people of Israel. But His plan also included, as we saw last time in Colossians 1:5-6, and this is the “mystery”, “the word of truth, the gospel . . .” going forth “into all the world”, and “bearing fruit and increasing.” What Paul had in mind here, when he’s praying this prayer in verse 9. That the Colossians would “be filled with the knowledge of His will.” Was that they would come to know God’s will for the world, and for them, through Christ. As that great mystery of the gospel, going out to the Gentiles, which if fact, had happened to them, coming to Colossae. This was the knowledge which Paul wanted every believer there in Colossae to be filled with. To know who God is. To know who they were, as undeserving sinners. And to know what Christ came to do, that is, to reconcile underserving sinners to Himself. Looking at the end of verse 9, and bringing this back into our context, this is that form of, look at his words here, “spiritual wisdom and understanding” that all followers of Jesus Christ are called to have. We, too, need to be continually growing in our knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding. How do we do so? Well, there’s no better way to know God’s will. There’s no better way to grow in spiritual wisdom and understanding. Than to be faithful and diligent students of His word. We go to God’s word, so that we can know the God of the word. So that we can receive, James 3:17, “wisdom from above.” Then glorify Him by applying that wisdom we’ve received to our lives. In other words, the knowledge we receive. This wisdom that we attain. This understanding that we develop. Is never to be merely intellectual. It’s to be effective. It’s to bring about change and transformation and growth in the life of each and every believer.

Speaking of which, in verse 10, we get to our third point, our third spoke in the hub. This would be, that the follower of Christ commits to:

3. Walking Worthy In Pleasing the Lord
Again, look at verse 10, there’s our purpose statement, “. . . so that . . .” And then this: “. . . you will walk in a manner worth of the Lord.”

As we’ve already seen, “walking worthy” is the central theme of this passage. It’s a relatable metaphor for the broader idea of how a person is to live his or her life in Christ. Followers of Jesus Christ used to walk on a path of sin. Ephesians 2:2 says, we “formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.” But no longer. Ephesians 4:7 says, we “walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk. “Or John said in 1 John 1:6 – “If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.” Rather, followers of Christ, those who have trusted in the perfect work He accomplished on the cross, we walk in holiness.
Romans 6:4 says, we “walk in newness of life.
Galatians 5:16 says, we “walk by the Spirit.”
Ephesians 5:8 says, we “walk as children of Light.”
Ephesians 5:15 says, “be careful how [we] walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of [our] time, because the days are evil.”

Our walk is not to just be any walk. No, our walk, bringing it back to our text, Colossians 1:10, is to be a “worthy walk.” We “walk in a manner worthy of the Lord.” Now, that word “worthy”, it’s literal or wooden meaning, it means “of equal weight.” It brings to mind a picture of a scale. Put in your mind the image of an old grocer’s scale or a banker’s scale or the scales of justice, right? The idea here is that the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, is the standard weight on one side of that scale. He’s the weight against which our lives are to be measured. To be “worthy”, in the sense that Paul is talking about here in Colossians 1:10, is to somehow measure up to that standard. Can you think of a more daunting task than that?

It sounds difficult. It sounds hard. But Paul couldn’t be any more clear about what he’s saying here. He’s saying that in order for you and for me, as followers of Jesus Christ, to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord. We are commanded to live transformed lives. Genuinely Christlike lives. To strive to live up to that weight He has set before us on the other side of the scale. To borrow from I John 2:6, “. . . to walk in the same manner as He walked.” To borrow from I Peter 1:15, to walk “like the Holy One who [has]called [us], [to]be holy [as He is holy]. That’s the charge. That’s the main idea here. That Paul is imparting to these Colossian believers, as he prayed for them. By extension, that’s the charge that God’s extending to every single one of us this morning, who have trusted in Christ. To walk in a manner worthy of the Lord. In “equal measure” to the Lord.

Now, you might be thinking. “Wow.” “Thanks, Paul.” “That’s all I need to do?” “Just walk the way the Lord walked?” “Follow in the perfect footsteps of the eternal Son of God?” “That’s it?” “Do you want to give me some additional guidance Paul, please?” Well, for starts. Yes, that is the command. That is exactly what he says. As we seek to walk worthy. But note here that Paul gives the Colossian believers, and Christians of all future generations, greater clarity on what this is supposed to look like. In the remaining words of his prayer here. It starts with this one, in verse 10, as we “walk in a manner worthy of the Lord.” It says, “to please Him in all respects.” That’s very typical language for Paul, by the way, this pleasing language. You could jot down I Thessalonians 4:1, it says, “Finally then, brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and please God, that you excel still more.” Or II Corinthians 5:9 says, “Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.” See, the aim of believers in their worthy conduct should be to please the Lord in every way. To do what He commands. To do what He asks for us, in each aspect of our lives. That’s not legalism, that’s obedience. That’s the right and reasonable response to one whose soul has been purchased and redeemed.

That’s not how the world thinks about “pleasing” or “pleasure,” is it? No, the wisdom of the world would have us believe that our chief end, in these bodies, on this planet, in the time that we have, is to maximize our pleasure. Whether that be filling our already full bellies at a buffet. Or doom scrolling Twitter for hours on end. Or binge-watching Netflix. Or fulfilling our basest sexual and carnal desires. The wisdom of the world would also have us believe that we’re to really focus on pleasing others, to be charitable. To be altruistic. Especially when we can leverage that to gain something for ourselves. So as to be socially accepted. So as to be relationally connected. So as to be politically favored. So as to be financially comfortable. We can appear all we want to be altruistically motivated doing things for the good of others. But in reality, we’re just being commended to be highly ambitious ladder-climbers. Well, the scriptures teach us that our aim should not ultimately be to please ourselves, certainly. Nor should it even be to please others. It should be to please God. I Thessalonians 2:4 is another passage on this topic, it says, “but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who examines our hearts.”

Does that describe you this morning? Would you describe your life as one that is dedicated to pleasing the Lord in every respect? Does your time spent in the word and prayer reflect your desire to please the Lord?
Does your thought life reflect your desire to please the Lord? Does your attitude reflect a person whose desire is to please the Lord? Does the chip on your shoulder reflect one who seeks to please the Lord?
Does your muttering and grumbling and complaining and gossiping tongue reflect the heart of one who seeks to please the Lord? Paul was charging these Colossian Christians to walk in a manner worthy of the One they had confessed as Lord and as they did so, they were to seek “to please Him, [it says] in every respect.” We are called to do the same. To live a life which is commensurate with what the Lord has already done for us. To live a life that is in conformity with the union with Christ that we have now and has purpose for our lives. To walk a walk that matches up with our Christian profession. How do we do that? We do it by faith.

Hebrews 11:6 says, “And without faith it is impossible to [what?] please Him . . .”
That brings us to our fourth point this morning. The follower of Christ is committed to:

4. Walking Worthy In Bearing Fruit In Every Good Work
This next aspect of “walking worthy” comes later in verse 10, “. . . bearing fruit in every good work.” The one who “walks worthy” is fruitful. He or she bears fruit. They do so, it says, in every good work. During their pagan days, the Colossian Christians here had expressed their hostility to God by doing evil deeds. Look at Colossians 1:21, this speaks of their old life, “Although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds.” But those days were now past. The old had passed away. Behold the new had come. As evidence of having been born again and regenerated and redeemed and made new in Christ. Fruit naturally should have started to appear. This is Jesus, in John 15:5, speaking to His disciples, where He says, “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit.” Then that fruit would have been blossomed in the form of their conduct, or to use the words here, their “good works.” We have a bunch of cross-references for that. Galatians 6:10 says, “. . . let us do good to all people, [good] and especially to those who are of the household of faith.” Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works.” II Timothy 2:21 says, we’re to be “vessel[s] for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.” Now, an interesting note here, is that those words in verse 10, “bearing fruit”, they are in the present tense. Which, in the Greek language, signals to us that what Paul is communicating to us here, is that the Christian life is to exhibit continual fruitfulness. We are to be, if we’re using the tree metaphor, “perennially bearing fruit.” We don’t sprout a single piece of fruit and then wilt and then die. No. We’re to be like that fruit tree which yields its fruit and then keeps on growing. Allowing it to yield even more fruit. I love what the old puritan, Samuel Rutherford said, it’s so simple, so pithy. He says of fruit-bearing, that we are to “grow and be green.”

One last point here on bearing fruit. According to verse 10 here, it says, the worthy walk manifests fruit “in every good work.” Bearing fruit in every good work. So, the life that pleases the Lord. The life that represents the worthy walk. This fruitful life, is one that abounds “in every good work.” So, no limitation is indicated here. Meaning, every sort of good work is a legitimate opportunity for the Christian to put his new life, her new life, on display. Whether that be through acts of public worship. Songs of praise. Praying. Whether that be though acts of service done for the good of other people. So, common deeds of kindness or acts of charity. Or whether that be simply cultivating in your own life, Christian virtues. Like meekness, longsuffering ness, or self-control. So long as we recognize, and this is key, especially if you’re new to the church or new to church in general, is that good works always have to be in the category of being the fruit, of an already existing right relationship with God, not the root, of having a right relationship with God. Mere works never produce salvation. But works will always be the fruit, the product of having been granted salvation.

Next, we get to our fifth point this morning. The follower of Christ is committed to:

5. Walking Worthy In Increasing in the Knowledge of God
That’s what we see at the end of verse 10 here. The next way a person “walks worthy”, as we see here in the prayer from Paul, for the Colossians, is that they be “increasing in the knowledge of god.” Now, we know to become a Christian in the first place. To be saved. A convicted sinner needs to know something. They need to know that they are a sinner. They need to know that salvation is found in Christ alone. They need to, Romans 10:9 – “confess with [their] mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in [their] heart that God raised Him from the dead.” But once they’ve been saved. It’s not as though growing in knowledge then comes to an end. In many ways, that’s when the knowledge really starts to kick in and the ability to have knowledge truly starts. Because now, as a believer, with eyes of faith, this believer is now capable of spiritually understanding and discerning that which they were unable to understand before.
I Corinthians 2:14 says of the believer, that they are able to “combine spiritual thoughts with spiritual words” and verse 15, to “appraise all things. “It’s only the believer that can live out, II Peter 3:18, “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. “We know from other writings of Paul that a major motivation of his entire life in his ministry, was to know Christ. To “know Him”, to use Philippians 3:10, “and the power of His resurrection [he says] and the fellowship of His sufferings.” So should it be with us. To know Him. To know Him more deeply. To know Him more intimately. That can only happen, that can only arise through a humble study of God’s revelation of Himself, through the scriptures, so that we can then take the biblical truth that we learn and apply it to our lives.

See, so many professed believers today, are concerned more with action than they are with thought. Practices have become much more popularized than holding to precepts. People will say things like, “I just want to be the hands and feet of Jesus.” “I’m going to go build houses in Mexico.” “I’m going to build wells in Africa.” “I’m going to adopt the Christianized mantra of “Jesus + Nothing = Everything.” But they haven’t studied Him deeply. They haven’t drunk deeply from the wells of scripture, to understand what that even means. Then there’s another whole camp of believers and professed believers who are so busy pursuing their various hobbies or washing their car for the fourth time this week, or planning that guy’s trip, or planning for Christmas of 2025 . . . that they have no time to tell you why the incarnation matters. Or what the atoning death of Christ accomplished. Or the Holy Spirit’s ministry today. Or anything beyond a kindergarten-level comprehension of any of the attributes of God. They’ll say things like: “Don’t bother me with all that theological stuff, pastor Jesse, I’m just trying to love people.” Ok. You should love people. As Christians, we should especially love fellow believers, John 13:34-35. But what does that love even rooted in, if it’s not rooted in a thorough, comprehensive, and accurate view, of the God you say you’re representing to those people you’re saying you’re trying to love?

Bringing it back to our text today. The Colossian Christians were in danger here, of falling under the sway of the false teaching that was infiltrating their church. They didn’t have the luxury of saying “I’m just trying to love people.” They needed answers. They needed to be able to be equipped to stare down false teaching and to be able to articulate why it was false and of course, so do we. We live in a post-Christian world. We live in a season in which the word, to use Paul’s language in II Timothy 4:2, is “out of season.” We need to “increase in the knowledge of God”, to use this language here in Colossians 1, not only as a means of rightly worshiping Him. But as a way to equip ourselves and the next generation, to stand firm against the various forms of false reaching that are not only swirling around in society. But are picking off churches and pulpits and pastors at an alarming rate. Theology, in other words, is not just for the eggheads in the academy. It’s for everybody. It’s for all of us. Each of us who knows Jesus Christ as personal Savior and Lord, needs to increase in our knowledge of God. That can look a number of different ways. You could pick up a book on the Attributes of God, in Sound Words. You can commit to a long-term plan, five years, four years, ten years, doesn’t matter, to read a volume on Systematic Theology. Come to our Sunday evening Summer in the Systematics series. Meditate on Psalm 145. Whatever you do, make it a priority to imbibe deeply in the things of God. To grow in your comprehension and awareness of the greatness of the Almighty. To pursue a fuller and deeper and clearer insight, into who God truly is.

Well, as we turn to verse 11, we come upon our sixth point this morning. The follower of Christ is committed to:

6. Walking Worthy In Relying Upon the Strength of the Lord
That’s yet another way the Christian walks worthy. By relying on the strength of the Lord. Look at verse 11, where Paul tells the church at Colossae that he was praying that they would be “strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might.” Now, there are three different words that are being woven into what’s said here. “Strength.” “Power.” “Might.” We must recognize, as believers, that we are not inherently strong. Not in our flesh, certainly. We cannot strengthen ourselves by our own self will. Rather, to be strong in what matters, we need to be yielded to God, who provides us with the strength that we need to follow Him, and love Him, and serve Him, and obey Him. Ephesians 3:14-16, another prayer here, “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man . . .”Ephesians 6:10 – “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. “Philippians 4:13, it’s written on every Christian baseball bat or Christian basketball shoes, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” Just as there is a need for wisdom and knowledge as we seek to “walk worthy”, there is a need, equally, for God’s power and strength . . . to carry us through those situations that we simply don’t have the human capacity or strength to get through. Right? There are a number of you here this morning who know this truth from past experience, needing the Lord’s strength. I know for a fact, there are a number in our body this morning, or elsewhere, who are needing the Lord’s strength as the Lord allows them to walk through the season, they’re in right now. Then there are those of us this morning who are just a phone call away. Or an ultrasound away. Or a biopsy away. From being brought to our knees and realizing how reliant on the Lord’s power and strength we are about to become.

The reality is, even as Christians, though our hope has been forever secured by the victory over sin and death, that Christ accomplished on His bloody cross. We still fight and wrestle with the cosmic powers of this present darkness, Ephesians 6:12. As we fight those battles, in our bodies of flesh, ruled by the Spirit still, our batteries do run low from time to time, our spiritual batteries. The person who “walks worthy” understands this. The person who “walks worthy” recognizes this. They recognize that they need continuous power and strength from the Lord. They recognize that the high standards for the Christian life, think of that equal scale idea again; that are set out for us, by God, in His word, cannot be lived out through our own efforts. They recognize that what they need, what we need, is God’s divine power. II Peter 1:3 – “His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.”

Bringing it back to Colossians 1:11, the one who walks worthy recognizes that the strength they need. Comes from the One who is described here as having “all power.” Who supplies that power, in abundant supply, “. . . according to His glorious might.” That is, according to His inherent power and strength. The inherent power and strength of the eternally glorious and majestic God. A parallel passage, that brings out this might and power of God, would be Ephesians 1:18-20, it says, “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what the hope of His calling is, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward those who believe. These are in accordance [it says] with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places.” So, no matter how grave the situation. No matter how pressing the demand. No matter how difficult the trial. For the abiding follower of Jesus Christ who seeks to “walk worthy.” There are always powerful and sufficient divine resources ever at the hand. As one commentator puts it: “Our resources are not at the mercy of the exigencies of the moment but are to be measured by the might of God.”

Alright. Continuing on in verse 11, our seventh point this morning. The follower of Christ is committed to:

7. Walking Worthy In Demonstrating Steadfastness and Patience
That’s the rest of verse 11. After he says, “strengthened with all power according to His glorious might”, “. . . for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience . . .” As Paul here prayed for these Colossian believers and their ability to “walk worthy”, he prayed that God would give them “steadfastness” and “patience.”
The word “steadfastness” there, is hupomene. It’s a compound term, that literally means “to remain under.” But smoothed out a bit, it means “to endure.” To bear up under trial. To have “fortitude.” “To have the ability, the capacity to see things through.” The term really points to circumstances sent to us by God, and now remaining patient under those circumstances. No matter how difficult or pressure-packed those circumstances may be. Then there’s the word here, “patience,” makrothymia. That word literally means to put “wrath far away.” Which doesn’t really roll off the tongue so easily, “to put wrath far away.” But it describes essentially, having a long-suffering spirit or temperament. It is the ability to put some distance between your emotions and your actions. It’s the opposite of wrath or revenge. Instead, it speaks of an even-temperedness. To tolerate those who test your patience. To forgive and to be forbearing toward others in love. As believers, isn’t that the walk we’re called to walk? We are to demonstrate patience and steadfastness as our testimony for what Christ has done in us. We are to refuse to be provoked. We are to refuse to exact revenge. We are to refuse to retaliate. Instead, what we’re called to do is contentedly persevere and persist in the path of righteousness and truth. Hebrews 12:2 gives us the model, we “fix[ing] our eyes on Jesus . . .” “. . . the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross . . .”

This last component of the worthy walk that Paul here commends to the Colossian believers. Which we see here in this prayer. Is that of joyful thanksgiving. That’s our eight and final point this morning:

8. Walking Worthy in Joyously Giving Thanks
Now, we have to remember, again, this is a prison epistle. Paul is imprisoned as he writes this letter. He has every reason, humanly speaking, to grumble and complain. But that’s not what we see him doing, is it? No, he’s no complainer in chains. Or stoic-in-stocks. No, look what we see. It says, he was “joyously [that’s actually at the end of verse 11, but it belongs with verse 12] giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light.” Here's the key takeaway principle for this one, point #8. The person who is committed to “walking worthy”, will be someone who joyously gives thanks to the Father, no matter the circumstances. They will recognize that God the Father is the one who bestows on us every good and perfect gift – James 1:17. They know that thankfulness is a keynote and hallmark of the entire Christian life. I Thessalonians 5:18 says, “Give thanks in all circumstances.”They’ll heed the words of Paul, not only here in Colossians, but in Philippians 4:6 – “. . . in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” A worthy walk, then, is a thankful walk . . . a continuously thankful walk. But not only that, it’s a joyful walk. As believers, far beyond anyone else who has ever lived on this planet, for all of history, we ought to be, we have to be joyful people. Our joy, though, is true joy . . . lasting joy . . . biblical joy. It’s not rooted in fickle feelings or changing circumstances. It’s not rooted in our experiences. Or our wealth. Or our title. Or our prosperity, or popularity. Instead, our joy is rooted in, and made possible by, the gospel. We are to be regularly giving thanks to God the Father. Why? Well, ultimately, Ephesians 1, “. . . it’s to the praise of His glory.” Everything is to the praise of His glory. But also, it’s because He is, it says here in verse 12, “. . . has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light.” He's “qualified us.” That means, He’s “made us competent.” He’s “made us fit.” He’s “qualified us” to share, it says, in this inheritance with His saints. Though we, as believers, are completely unfit in ourselves. We have nothing on our resume to merit this. God has fitted us to share in the inheritance of His holy people. His inheritance, it says, “in . . . light.” I can’t help but think of II Corinthians 4:6 – “God . . . has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

So, like these early Colossian believers, we are called to be giving thanks personally and directly to our heavenly Father. We’re to be praising God because He has qualified us to be spiritual heirs. He has granted us a right standing before Him, because of Christ. He has justified us. He has redeemed us. He has saved us. And why? Again, it’s to the praise of His glory. But also, to “share in the inheritance of the saints in Light. “We’ve been promised, in the word, that Christ is preparing a place for us. John 14:2. We’ve been promised that our eternal inheritance is already there, incorruptible, undefiled and kept in heaven for us.
I Peter 1:4. We’ve been promised, Romans 8, that we are children of God, and heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ. We’ve been promised that this “inheritance” that we now share, that we have today, but will possess fully later, with these saints, the other saints, “saints in Light.” It’s an inheritance with the saints in Light. Such a rich concept. Let’s just remember, if we worship the God who is Light. The God that declared, let there be light. We have been saved by the blood of the One, John 8:12, who is the light of the world. I Peter 2:9 says, we have been “called out of darkness into His marvelous light.” If you look ahead in the book to Revelation 21-22, we know that where we are going, eternally, is to a place that is flooded with light, whose light is the lamb.

Remembering all of this. Our position. Our standing. Our citizenship. Our inheritance. Our future home. Our inheritance, as saints in Light. Ought to be regular cause and reason for thanksgiving. Though we were not and are not worthy of our salvation. God deemed us worthy and granted us salvation anyway. Though we were once fist-shaking rebels against Him. He saw fit to grant us membership into His family. Though we absolutely deserve the anguish of the flames of hell for eternity. He secured us access to heaven. How could those truths not provoke genuine hearts of thanks, and lips which declare thanks to Him?

So, we’re called to “walk worthy.” Not by groveling. Not by grumbling. Not by being joyless ingrates. Not with an attitude of complaining or complacency. But rather, with joyful thanksgiving. That’s the call, church. Are we willing to live up to it?

Let’s pray.
God, thank You so much, for Your timeless and precious word. Thank You for using a man like Paul, who once walked fiercely in opposition to You. But because of Your great grace, became such a great spokesman, apostle, writer of scripture, that we can now read and understand and apply to our lives. God, I pray that this morning, we would be challenged and provoked to make sure that we are walking worthy in each and every aspect of our life. Certainly, as believers, that’s the call. To make sure that we walk worthy of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. If there’s anyone here who does not know You. Who has not given their life to Christ, I pray that they would hear what I’m about to say and hear it clearly. That you cannot walk your way to heaven. You cannot walk in a worthy manner, and hope that that is going to make you good enough. Or fit enough. Or Clean enough. Or pure enough. To stand before a holy God. Rather, what you need to do, is to be washed and cleansed through the blood of Christ. To trust in His finished work on the cross, as being the only means by which you might be saved. God, I pray for someone here this morning, that they would hear that. They would bow the knee to Jesus Christ. And then, from that day forward, walk in a manner worthy of Him. God, thank You for what You’re doing in this church. Thank You for being a glorious, wise, all-powerful, good God. It’s in Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.