A Worthy Walk - Colossians 1:10-11

0:46And Paul is excited. He's hearing these good reports. He hears about their faith. He hears about how they have love. He hears all of these good things, but he also hears a concerning report as well. Look with me at Colossians 1.1. Paul's writing this from prison to the Colossians in the very first verse. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colosse. Grace to you and peace from God our Father. So he wishes them grace and peace. He says he knows they're faithful. He knows. Their brothers.

1:33Verse 3: We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you. And we're about to find out that this prayer for them is regular. He's in a habit of praying for them. Ever since he heard about their faith, he's been praying for them. And now he's saying, every time he does, he thanks God. He's excited about this church. We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world, it's bearing fruit and increasing, as it also does among you since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God and truth.

2:31So he says he knows they have faith. This gospel has come to them, and it didn't fall on dead ears, right? They responded to the gospel. They heard it, they understood it, and they responded in faith. And not only that, now they have love for all the saints. There's fruit in their lives. They have love for the saints because of the hope that they have in heaven. So as they look forward to heaven and the sure hope. That they have there. It's causing them to love others.

3:04Verse 7: Just as you learned it from Epaphras, our beloved fellow servant, he is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf and has made known to us your love in the Spirit. And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding. So, Epaphras has brought this good report of their faith, and Paul is excited about it, but he's also praying and he's thanking God for the faith that they have. And now, Epaphras seems to have brought another report to Paul. Paul is in prison, likely in Rome. And Epaphras has brought to him another report with good things that he's excited about, but also with some concerning things. There are some people that shouldn't be there. There's some teaching that shouldn't be there.

4:06Paul's love for the Colossians has caused him to have this genuine excitement for them. And maybe you felt that excitement. Maybe you have someone you've known who you care about has become a believer. And while they're new in the faith, it's thrilling and exciting, right? They're turning away from the darkness, and more and more parts of their life are starting to look like. What we see in Scripture. It's thrilling. It's exciting. And I think that's what Paul is feeling in this text.

4:38But just like we are today, the Colossians are in a war. They're in a war against worldly philosophies that are threatening them. These philosophies were leading to all kinds of unnecessary regulations in their lives. And we're going to read about those in a little. But they're leading to things like special foods and special festivals, special rules and regulations. And it's not a good thing. And so Paul is also praying for them all the time. Verse 9. And so from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him.

5:37So ever since he heard about this, he's been praying. And let me just, as an aside, mention that today our main goal as we look at this text, our goal is to look at the prayer that Paul says and apply those things to our own life and focus on how are we walking worthily? How are we having a worthy walk? But. Another side application could be that if you know a young believer and you're struggling with what to pray for them, how can they grow?

6:10This is a great prayer. It's very clear, and I think it's a blessing that we have a summary of what Paul prays for for these new believers. What does he give thanks for? What does he pray for? If Paul were alive today, what would he pray for you as a Christian? What would he want for you? We have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will and all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him.

6:53It's a lot to ask, right? When we think about our own sin. That the prayer that Paul has for these Christians is that they would walk in a way that's worthy of the Lord, in a way that fully pleases the Lord. He prays that they would have a knowledge of God's will, that they would understand what God wants for them. He prays that they would have wisdom and understanding. We saw this in our Sunday school class this morning. The Messiah who's coming, he's characterized by this wisdom. And understanding that he gets from the Spirit. It says, the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding. And now Paul is praying for Christians that they will have spiritual wisdom and understanding. So he prays that they have a knowledge of God's will, that they have wisdom and understanding.

7:49And he prays that this knowledge and wisdom and understanding will actually lead to something in their life and the way they act. He prays that their thoughts, the way they think, their thoughts would inform their walk. He sounds like the wisdom literature, right? In the Old Testament, the book of Proverbs or the book of Ecclesiastes or Job or Psalms, these writings that tell us that we need to get wisdom. We need to get knowledge. We need those things. And then we need to walk in light of that. We need to live it out. That's what Paul is praying for the Christians. Walk in a manner worthy of the Lord.

8:36Worthy, the word that he uses for worthy lines up almost exactly with our word worthy. You can use it in every single one of the same ways. You can use it for cost. I found a quote that said, This tunic is worth six drachmas. And it's the exact same word, okay? So you can use it. Use it in the same way we use worth, like cost, but you can also use it for meaning worthy for a task or worthy to receive glory.

9:11It's the same word that in Revelation, when we get to hear what all the angels are saying to God in the future, myriads and myriads of angels are crying out, Worthy is the Lamb who is slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing. And here, Paul says that our walk should be worthy of the Lord. How precious is the Lord to us? How glorious is He? And yet our walk is supposed to be worthy of the Lord.

9:55Sounds impossible, right? But Paul doesn't just say it here. He says it over and over and over. I'll read to you a few more passages. In Ephesians 4:1, Paul says, I, therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of your calling to which you have been called. In Philippians 1:27, he says, Only let your manner of life, another way to say the way you're walking, the way you're living, let your manner of life be worthy of the life. The gospel of Christ, worthy of the gospel.

10:351 Thessalonians 2.12, he says, We exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God who calls you into his own kingdom and glory. And here in Colossians, we read, worthy of the Lord. That's how we're supposed to walk, in a way that's worthy of the Lord. And so it begs the question, how in the world do we do this, right? We know our own hearts. We know our sin. How in the world could we possibly walk in a way that's worthy of the Lord, in a way that pleases the Lord?

11:15Well, he's going to give us specifics, really specific, clear things that tell us what does a worthy walk look like. If we want to obey this, if we want to walk worthily, this is how we do it. He's going to list out four things. And they're very clear. And let me just tell you that the four things are like marked as a list in the original language. It's very clear that this is a set of four, and it's outlined very easily. And so we're going to look at it today, this morning, we're going to look at the first three. And then tonight, the last one is give thanks. And he details what we can give thanks for several verses. So that's going to be our sermon for tonight. So you have to come back. It's appropriate because we're about to do Thanksgiving week, right? And so it'll be a whole message about what we can give thanks for, what the Apostle Paul says we can give thanks for. So the last point is give thanks. But the first three are: bear fruit, grow in knowledge, stand strong, and then give thanks. Bear fruit, grow in knowledge, stand strong, and give thanks. It's a simple list, right? Hard to do, but it's a simple list. This is what it looks like to walk worthily. And can I just pause and say that this is such a blessing, right? This list, this clear list, is such a blessing to us. Because it's not a list that we're trying to do in order to earn our way into heaven, right? If we check the things off of this list that he's giving us, that's not us marching our way towards heaven and earning it, right? We couldn't earn heaven if we wanted to. But it's a clear list of things that once we have been saved, these are the things we can do if we want to please the Lord.

13:23You know, it's so frustrating if you have a boss or an employer and you're trying to work hard. For him, and you can't figure out what he wants, right? You feel aimless. You have no knowledge of what to do. Or if you're a student and your professor has assigned this massive project and it's 50% of your grade, and you're reading the instructions and you read them again, and you read them again, and you cannot figure out what the professor wants in this paper or this project, right? It's frustrating. And that's the exact opposite of what we find in this text. Paul says, I'm praying that you would walk worthily in a way that pleases the Lord, and here's what it'll look like: here's exactly the four things you can do. This is what pleasing the Lord looks like. It's a blessing. Nicole and I were just talking the other day about how sweet it is whenever we get such a clear instruction in Scripture of something that pleases the Lord, right? In the young adult group on Thursday, we were talking about money and things like that. And one of the simplest, most memorable commands or thoughts in Scripture is: God loves a cheerful giver. And so that's something simple we get to do, right? God loves it. We find out something that God loves, and it's simple, and we can do it and please our Father. Or one of my favorites to the wives, in Peter, he says to wives, let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart. With the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious. And so he tells us something that's precious to the Lord, something that's pleasing to the Lord. I love it when we find things like that. And here we see four of them: four things that are precious and pleasing to the Lord.

15:21Let's look at them. Verse 10: So as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience, with joy, and giving thanks to the Father. One commentator says that in these verses, we get a miniature picture of Christian life and growth. A miniature picture. And summarize in these verses, this is such a blessing. And my question to you is: don't you want to know what this looks like? If we have a clear description of what pleases the Lord, don't you want to be pleasing to him in all respects, fully pleasing to him?

16:15So let's look. The first one, bear fruit. So as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work. Bearing fruit in every good work. So as a tree, If you're taking care of a tree and it's doing what it's supposed to, it's going to bear the right fruit. And you nurture it and you take care of it, and it should bear fruit. And we hear that example over and over in Scripture. And just like that, a Christian is supposed to bear fruit. That's our proper function, right?

16:52That's what's supposed to happen after we become a Christian, we bear fruit. And so, what is this fruit? What is the fruit that our lives produce? He says, it's every good work, every good deed. All kinds of good works are to be evident in the life of a Christian. Now, Paul had already made it clear in Colossians earlier that we just read that they're already bearing fruit, right? The Colossians have, from the very beginning, when they heard the word, they responded to the word and they started to bear fruit. They trusted in the Lord. They love other saints. They fixed their hope in heaven, right? So this fruit has already started to show up, but Paul is saying they need to keep doing it. They need to keep bearing fruit. He wants these good deeds to continue in their lives. One commentator said, a good start and genuine progress should not lead to complacency.

17:57It's kind of convicting, right? A good start in genuine progress. Genuine progress should not lead to complacency. So, just because they started to bear fruit, just because they've responded, that doesn't mean they should stop there. They should continually bear fruit. This is Paul's prayer for them. And he actually highlights the totality of this. He says, in every good work, in every good deed, Christians should overflow in all kinds of good deeds. As we grow in grace, we'll find more and more ways to bear fruit. We can think of a million examples of how to bear fruit, right? Of how to do things that show our new life, how to be kind. We can think of the fruit of the Spirit, that the Spirit works in our life: love, and joy, and peace, and patience, and the rest, as fruit grows in our life. We could, like we talked about again in a young adult group last Thursday, we can seek to be like the good Samaritan who's going out to be a good neighbor when he doesn't need to. These are the kind of fruits we can bear. He says, every good work, everything.

19:21And remember, again, these fruits, these works, are not to earn our salvation, right? Just being clear. We couldn't work our way to being saved if we wanted to. That's not the purpose of these works. But in our passage, we see that a Christian who has been forgiven should aim to do good works. This is Paul's prayer. He says this also in Ephesians. And you can turn there or just listen in Ephesians chapter 2, verses 8 through 10. Paul is really clear about this idea. And this is a familiar passage for many of you.

20:04Ephesians 2, verses 8 through 10, Paul says, For by grace you have been saved through faith. It's not by works, by grace. By grace you have been saved through faith. And that, not of yourselves. It's the gift of God, not as a result of works. So that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God, excuse me, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. And so you get both sides there, right? You get that these works aren't earning us salvation, but we are God's workmanship. And we've been created for these good works, for this fruit that's supposed to come from our life.

20:56If you've ever made something with your hands, your own hands, you've Built something. I know that I have made so many things in my life that have completely failed or fallen over or not done what they're supposed to. But when you make something with your hands and it actually does what you want it to, it's really pleasing, right? You know, if you make a sturdy set of bookshelves and they don't fall over, it's exciting. They please you. Or if you're trying to cook for guests and maybe you're trying a new recipe and it's awesome and everyone loves it and your guests love it, it pleases you. And Paul has just said that this, our bearing fruit, is fully pleasing to the Lord. And I think it's maybe pleasing in the way that we've done what we're intended to do. We are His workmanship, created to do good works. Okay?

21:56I think it's pleasing to the Lord. God has crafted us and molded us so that we would do good works. God has nurtured us as the owner of an orchard nurtures his fruit trees, and the owner expects to find fruit growing on the trees, just like God did for Israel in the Old Testament. And in the same way, God expects to find deeds growing out of our lives as a Christian. So bear fruit, fulfill your proper function. fruit and work hard at it. The second key to a worthy walk is to grow in knowledge. Grow in knowledge. Look at verse 10 again. Fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.

22:51Increasing in the knowledge of God. This seems like it might not fit at first, right? He's just said, this is how you walk in a way that pleases the Lord. This is what your actions will look like. And the first one sounds like actions, right? It is actions. Every good deed bearing fruit. But then the second one doesn't sound quite the same. He says, part of a worthy walk is also growing in knowledge. Not just the things you do, but the things you think.

23:28And just because some knowledge causes some people to puff up, like we read in Corinthians, that doesn't mean that knowledge itself is wrong, right? It's the duty of a Christian to grow in knowledge. Peter, in one of my favorite passages, says the same thing. He says, after you've believed, you should supplement your faith with a whole list of things, but one of them is knowledge. It's one of the things that we need to add to our faith. One of the things Things we need to grow in. Just like a vitamin supplement supplements our meals. We add it to our meals, right? So we need to add knowledge to our faith after we become a believer. This is for every Christian, not just those of us who love school, not just for pastors, not just for seminary students, right? This is for all of us. Every single Christian in this room is supposed to work hard to add to this knowledge that we have, to increase in the knowledge of God. And we know that because the Colossians, Paul has already said that Colossians do know who God is. They've heard the gospel. They've learned the truth from Epaphras and they've responded. So they know things, but God is saying, keep growing, keep growing in your knowledge. And this is a big deal for Paul. This is a major concern. He says it over and over and over in this letter. And we'll look at some of those cases. Look at the end of Colossians 1, verses 28 and 29.

25:07Colossians 1, verses 28 and 29. Paul is going to say in these verses that this knowledge is why he's laboring among the Gentiles. Verse 28, Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ for inclusion. Christ, for this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me. So Paul is toiling. He's struggling with all the energy that God has given him. Why? Because he's teaching. He's trying to present people mature, trying to help them grow in wisdom. That's what he's struggling for.

25:58Continue on into Colossians 2, verse 1. For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you, and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not seen me face to face, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. For though I am absent in the body, yet I am with you in the spirit, rejoicing to see your good order in the firmness of your faith in Christ. So Paul is saying, I'm not with you. Remember, we talked about how Paul isn't ministering in this church. He didn't plant this church. He's absent from them in body. But what he's saying is he wants them to grow. And he wants them to grow in knowledge. All the riches. He wants them to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. So, knowledge is a treasure. It's something we should strive after. It's riches when we know about Christ. There's assurance there. And the reason why it's so important is he says, I say this in order that no one may delude you with persuasive arguments. He doesn't want them to be deceived. He says the same thing in chapter 2, verse 23. Excuse me, verse 8. Chapter 2, verse 8. See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. So he doesn't want them to be taken captive. And he'll go on to say that the things that they're being taken captive by, or that there's a potential of them being taken captive by, are these human traditions, these festivals, these rules about what you can eat, these rules about ceremonies you have to go through.

28:17But he says at the end of it, in verse 23, these indeed have the appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion, in asceticism, in severity to the body. But they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. No value. Chapter 3, verse 1. If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on the things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ and God. And so he's saying, these things have no value, and they're trying to take you captive in your thoughts. But instead, you need to set your mind on heaven. You need to change your thoughts. You need to stop thinking about these earthly things. But set your mind on Christ. That's where your life is hidden. So how can we get away from false wisdom? How can we get away from this asceticism that seems like wisdom?

29:30Knowledge. Wisdom. True wisdom. You can look back at Colossians 1. We looked at several verses, but the summary of it all is that the Colossians have been infiltrated by those who want to limit their freedom. They're trying to take them captive with these philosophies. And there's one cure for it, and it's to have real knowledge, real wisdom. To be trained in the Word of God. That's why this is such a big deal for Paul. That's why this is one of the prayer requests that Paul has for them to grow in knowledge.

30:13And immediately after the prayer that we're studying today, Paul is going to try and help their knowledge. He's going to talk about who Christ is. And then in chapter two, he's going to talk about what Christ did on the cross. And then in chapter three, he's going to say he's going to have them look forward to the future with Christ when he appears again. And he'll say, let the word of Christ dwell richly in you. And so he's trying to get them to fix the problem by growing in knowledge, knowledge of who God is and what he's done through Christ. And the same is true for us today. It's not just true for the Colossians, right? It's true for us today.

30:56Our culture is riddled with fake and untrue philosophies, with worldly wisdom. And so if we want to not be taken captive, we need to be growing in knowledge. As we read the scriptures and we listen to the word of God being taught, we are given the greatest weapon against fake wisdom. As we read the scriptures and listen to the word of God being taught. Taught, we are given the greatest weapon against fake wisdom. And we need this. We need to grow in knowledge. It's essential for a worthy walk, for a walk that pleases the Lord.

31:46So we've seen that a worthy walk means that we're bearing fruit, we're growing in knowledge, and the third one is that we're standing strong. Stand strong. Verse 11. Being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy. Being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy. He's actually here being really redundant in what he's saying. He's saying, he's even using the same word twice. He's saying, in all power being powered, or in all strength being strengthened. Being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might. So he doesn't just stop there saying, with all power being strengthened, but he goes further and says, according to his glorious might.

32:56And who are we talking about? We're talking about the Lord. We see his might throughout all of Scripture, right? His miracle-working might, how powerful he is, how the nations don't stand a chance. We saw it in the resurrection of Christ. It's this might, it's this power that we can be strengthened in. He makes it abundantly clear that this strength can only come from God. It's God's power, but he's also saying that they should be strengthened. Why do they need to be strengthened? Look at what it says next: for all endurance and patience with joy. Again, he highlights this all aspect.

33:44It's for everything, for every situation, for every trial, all endurance and patience with joy. The joy, I think, goes with the giving thanks. So we'll talk about that tonight. But all endurance and patience, patient through every season. And if anyone can say this, you know, maybe you're thinking, well, you can't tell me to be patient. You can't tell me to endure because you have no idea what I've gone through. Well, if anybody can tell us this, it's Paul, right? Paul is maybe the person we think of when we think of trials and suffering and physical persecution. He has been through so much. As he's writing this letter, He's in prison. He says in verse 28 or 29, for this I toil, struggling with all the energy that he powerfully works in me, for I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you. And so he's struggling for them on their behalf. At the end of the book, he'll tell the Colossians to remember his chains. So he's a sufferer. He's been beaten. And he knew what it meant to be patient, to endure. He knew what it meant to stand strong. Now he's commanding the Colossians to do the same thing.

35:08And again, the same is true for us today, right? We need to have this patience. We need to have this endurance. And it's hard in the moment, right? If we're hit with a trial, it's hard to have endurance and patience. And so I think the responsibility is for us to, right now, be thinking ahead to those types of things, to be bearing fruit right now, to be growing in knowledge right now, so that we're preparing ourselves to weather the storm.

35:41We need to endure. That's part of what it looks like if we're going to have a worthy walk. If we're going to please the Lord, part of that is endurance. It's patience. So we need to work hard on this. And before the time comes, right? When the time comes, when a trial comes. Comes, we'll wish we had worked hard to prepare ourselves to be strong in those trials. So, Paul's hope for the Colossians is that they would never waver when they encounter trials. They need to stand strong, and so do we.

36:18Well, for this whole passage that we've looked at so far, I want you to consider an illustration that I think is so fitting. And we've already mentioned it in each part, and it's mentioned over and over and over through Scripture. And that's the illustration of a tree, a healthy tree, a tree that's growing, a tree that's strong and hardy, with roots that go down deep so that they can weather fierce storms. A tree that's bearing fruit on all of its branches. This is a picture of a godly life, right? Steadfast, bearing fruit, growing in knowledge. In Psalm 1, one of my favorite passages of Scripture, the psalmist writes that the godly man is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season, and its leaf does not wither. In whatever he does, he prospers.

37:22And this picture of health and productivity is what Paul wants for the Colossians. And that can be our. Prayer for any new believers that we meet that they would have that kind of strength, that they would grow. And it can be our prayer for ourselves, right? And those we love who already are mature in the faith, that they would continue to bear fruit and grow in knowledge. But this is what the Christian walk should look like. He's commanded us over and over and over that we need to walk worthily. And now, here he tells us exactly what it looks like. It's such a blessing to us that we need to bear fruit by doing good deeds, every good deed, as many as we can, right? All kinds of good deeds. Not to earn our salvation, but because he's already given it. We need to be growing in knowledge and take it seriously. We need Bible study. We need to hear the word preached. We need knowledge because that's our only defense against worldly wisdom, right?

38:31And we need to stand firm when trials come. We need to prepare ourselves to have those deep roots that let us weather the storms. Like Job, who refuses to curse God, right? All of these are critical keys to a worthy walk. There is the fourth, giving thanks. So come back tonight and we'll talk about thanksgiving. He's going to give us really clear instructions about what we can give thanks. For even this week of Thanksgiving. But this morning we've heard from a battle-tested veteran of the Christian life, right? Paul from prison is writing these things, and we can trust his insight, and we can trust that the Lord inspired this and gave us a clear picture of what it means to walk worthily. So, do you want to please the Lord?

39:27Do you want the Lord to have pleasure in the way you walk? Then walk worthily of Him. Walk in a manner worthy of the Lord. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this passage. We thank you that you didn't leave us in the dark about what we can do to please you. We know that we're not earning your favor, but we do desire to please you. We desire to walk in a way that is worthy of you. And we pray that you'd help us with that.

40:06We pray that we would be doers of this passage. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.