Colossians 1:9-14 - Paul's Prayer For The Colossians
Welcome to Tabernacle Talk, a Bible Study Podcast hosted by Pastor Bryon Self, Tabernacle Baptist Church in Essex, Maryland. We hope that this podcast will help you to know Christ, grow in his word, and show his love to others.
This is a legacy episode of Tabernacle Talk.
These are episodes that are taken from the past five years of my life and different times that I've hosted different podcasts like Bible Babbles with my friend, Carlos Farias, or Strength for the Day that I hosted with my friend Pastor Dennis
Fountain of Moses Lake Baptist Church in Moses Lake, Washington. Fountain of Moses Lake Baptist Church in Moses Lake, Washington.
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https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/strength-for-the-day-a-devotional-bible-podcast/id1547987576
And hope that these episodes will be an encouragement to you. Right now, I'm on a Tabernacle Talk specific sabbatical, but we've uploaded some of these audio episodes to hopefully help you as you are seeking to walk with the Lord.
We'll be resuming some regular Tabernacle Talk episodes in February or March, so please be on the lookout for those. Let's dive right in. Well, welcome back to Strength for the Day.
I'm glad to be back.
Thank you.
Yep. And I am Bryon Self, and I am here with Pastor Dennis Fountain, who has been described as tall, handsome, and faithful. And so he asked that we put those three words on his tombstone.
And so we'd ask that all of our listeners would respect that. If you are in charge...
Wait, wait, wait. Are you planning on me dying soon?
But I'm not. I can't speak for our Strength for the Day listeners.
Okay.
But just...
I'm a little alarmed right now by this. Well, you know, has Hannah been talking to you?
I can neither confirm nor deny. Great.
Honey, whatever I did, I'm sorry. Don't kill me.
Well, there you go. So I wanted to start off today. We are jumping back into the Book of Colossians, and we're going to be in verses 9 through 14.
But before we start off, I had a question for you, and that question is what song is currently either stuck in your head or ministering to you right now?
That is a hard question because I don't remember song titles. You know that.
I don't know why you ask me that. Oh, I know, but...
I don't know. Honestly, whenever I'm asked about songs, what song stands out to you? I don't know.
Well, I love Christ Be Magnified. I love that song.
What CDs currently in your vehicle?
Shane and Shane Live CD.
OK.
I don't know which one.
Very cool.
That's in. Well, because I'm currently driving Hannah's car. Oh, she has my truck.
Yeah.
For different art shows a lot or lately, I've been kind of in her car a lot.
Very cool.
So which I think is probably one of the ones that I gave you, right?
Yeah, probably because nobody buys CDs anymore except for you, for me.
That's true.
That's what I listen to.
That's my type. Yeah. Is that the one that has, I think, maybe no longer slaves on it?
Maybe.
I don't know. I literally just started it earlier today. OK.
Well, very cool.
I just was like, oh, because there was one in there that I didn't want to listen to, and so I put that one in.
I love Shane and Shane. Anything Shane and Shane, any Phil Wickham, like genuinely, I could listen to it all day.
Yeah. I'm very excited. Phil, I think has an album that's supposed to be coming out in the next couple of months.
So depending on when you're listening to this podcast, it would be whatever album of his came out after Hymn of Heaven, which was just a phenomenal album.
Great album.
And so that one, I know for you and your family has been amazing. And it's been...
I would love to book Phil Wickham and Shane and Shane for something. Like I genuinely, I don't know how I would ever do that. We checked into Shane and Shane and that was very expensive.
Yep, yep.
Well, you got not one, but two Shanes that got to make their livelihood, and they've all got kids and mortgages and all of that stuff. So, well, I'm looking forward to...
I don't remember offhand all of the things that I've been listening to recently. A lot of music gets released every Friday morning at midnight. So, it comes out on Eastern time at midnight.
So, every Thursday night at 9 o'clock, I'll normally go on to my Apple Music, and I'll start looking through and saying, okay, you know, is anything cool come out recently?
And Keith and Kristen Getty and Matt Boswell and Matt Papa just came out with a new song that I haven't listened to yet, but I'm going to do that. There's something like If Our God Is For Us or something like that.
So, looking forward to listening to some songs and going through and looking at that.
It's good to let music minister to us.
Yes.
Actually, I had a great conversation the day with Dennis, with our son.
Yeah.
We're talking about music, you know, because he's very musical and loves it. And he was like, dad, it's so crazy to me how music literally changes your mood. And I was like, man, that's a great outlook because the Bible addresses that, right?
Talks to music, ministry to our heart and bringing joy into our life.
So, yeah, it's good to surround ourselves with. We'll be addressing that topic when we get into Chapter 3 a little bit.
Songs of hymns and spiritual songs.
Yeah, really looking forward to that. So let's dive into Colossians 1 and verses 9 through 14. And Pastor, I'll have you read through the passage, and then we'll look at a couple of thoughts, and we'll get some strength for the day from God's Word.
All right, let's jump in.
Colossians 1, verse number 9.
For this cause, we also, since the day we heard of it, do not cease to pray for you, desire that you might be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, that you might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing,
being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all might according to His glorious power, unto all patience and long suffering with joyfulness, giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be
partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son, in whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins. It's a great
portion of scripture. I think it's healthy to remember for our listeners. Let's remember that Paul, he's writing to the believers at Colossi.
He is himself in a jail cell desiring to encourage these believers, many of them whom he's never met, but he's heard about their testimony from Epaphras, who's now there visiting him in this jail cell.
Acts 28 would probably be a good reference point for it. Epaphras comes, tells Paul, hey, here's our church, here's the good that is taking place. We have a church filled with people of faith, of hope.
They love each other. But Paul, here's our challenge. We're facing Gnosticism, which Gnosticism was the more you know, the closer to God you are.
We have people with asceticism believing that, which is the more you give up, the closer you are to God. And then we have a lot of people still stuck in Judaism, and just the Greek mythologies and all of that.
So we have all of these captivating thoughts. And so Paul writes to encourage them. And here's what I think is great.
In verse number nine, Paul says, I'm writing to you to help you be captivated, to help you be filled with God's knowledge, God's will. So it's almost opposite of what culture is forcing, right? So that just jumps out of me right away.
But as we look at this, Bryon, what is something that jumps off the page of you? Or what do you feel like maybe our listeners need to understand a little bit more from these verses?
Yeah, I'd say one thought that jumps out to me that I see consistently through verses nine through 11 is Paul kind of alternates between telling them that there are two sides to your Christian life and you are never done with either portion.
So he tells them, hey, we're praying for you that you would be filled with the knowledge of his will. He's praying for them that they would walk worthy of the vocation or with their calm.
He tells them that he is praying that they would be fruitful in every good work, and he prays that they would be increasing in the knowledge of God.
So he gives kind of two intellectual things that you would be filled with knowledge and that you would increase in the knowledge of God.
And he gives two kind of practical or lived out elements that they would walk worthy and that they would be fruitful in every good work. And I think it's so important for us as Christians to realize you are never done growing in your Christian walk.
That's so good.
You can't ever go, okay, I've learned everything there is to know. I no longer need to read my Bible. I no longer need to interact with other believers and talk about spiritual things.
I no longer need to go to church. Like I know everything there is to know about the Bible. There's always more that we can learn and study and interaction with other people.
And so have a desire. If Paul is praying, this is what I want the Colossian believers to do, to be filled with the knowledge of God and increase in the knowledge of God.
That should be our prayer and our goal and our aspiration, that we would seek to grow in knowledge.
What would maybe be some ways that either the Colossian believers or believers today can grow in their knowledge of God or in the knowledge of God's work?
Yeah, well, let me say this first. I think that's a very convicting thought because every one of us, and these believers were included.
Like sometimes, and I mentioned this a few weeks ago preaching, sometimes I think we look at Scripture and I was talking to somebody just recently about Hebrews 11, so all of faith.
Sometimes we look at Scripture and we're like, oh, well, that worked for them. The people of the Bible, I mean, they were these almost little god-like figures. You know what I mean?
There's something about them that's magical. But the fact is, they were flesh and blood, just like we are. And so we have to know that they were tempted, like we are, to think that they had arrived.
Right? Man, I've got this. Like, this whole Jesus life thing.
I mean, we're doing well, you know? Like the Church of Colossi could be like that. Like, man, we've got great faith.
We've got great hope. Like, we are loving each other. We have it made.
And I think often in a Christian's life, and I know this from me, and I'll speak for me, and I think I could even speak for you, that there are times that we too can be consumed with some pride, thinking like, this is pretty good. I've got this down.
And, you know, we need the reminder that pride comes before a fall, right? Before destruction. And there is so much in Scripture warning us against that.
And so I think that's a little bit of Paul's heart, maybe. And again, we don't know his heart here, but we can read into it and say, like, his desire is, hey, you need to remember that the Christian faith is about growing in Christ.
So you ask, like, what what are some ways we can grow? I think it goes back to what you mentioned last last episode, the word of God.
Like, faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God, preaching through the Book of Luke, you know, this year. And we were just there in Chapter 5 recently about that, about faith has to come through his word.
So if I'm going to grow, it's got to happen through his word. I think it happens through his word. I think it happens through music.
We were just talking about that. It's kind of just came to my mind right now.
Yeah.
Maybe not. Maybe that's that's not number two. But man, I think that if we can have godly music in our life, it'll help us grow godly influences, godly friends.
Of course, I think one of the key aspects of growth is church.
You're a Christian. Absolutely.
We live in a day and age which is like, oh, well, we don't need church. But we do. I love that book we went through for our growth groups this last year, Rediscover Church.
What a great book. Helping us see like church is vitally important. That book was convicting to me and I've grown up in church.
And so I think those are just a few ways. But I want to say this, and I was just reading right before we were getting ready to record. I was curious about something.
So if you look in these verses, verse number 9, Paul says to be filled with the knowledge of his will. Verse 10, that you be walk worthy of the Lord and increase in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all might according to his glorious power.
Verse number 12, which hath made us meet to be bark of dakers of the inheritance of the saints. So the inheritance would be God's inheritance. So there's a lot of references.
Verse 13, his dear son. Verse 14, in whom we have redemption through his blood. There's just a ton of references to Jesus in this.
So my mindset was, what is Paul even connecting with? And I can't validate this and say, here's Paul right here saying this.
But if you skipped all the way to verse number 27, Paul says, to whom God would make known, what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles? Which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
We'll talk more about this in a couple of episodes, but I wanted to bring it out now. Just to say this, the key to growth as a Christian is remembering it's not performance. It's literally Christ in me, like letting Jesus work in me.
That's so different from Gnosticism and asceticism and pantheism and all the isms that they were facing, because that's what sets Bible Christianity apart from any other religion in the world is the fact that we serve a risen Savior who's alive and
well in us today. He wants to work today. He is in us. It is his knowledge that's working.
It's his will that's activated. It's his glorious kingdom. It's it.
There's all these references to his. So sometimes we as a Christian, we just need to step back and let his word, and his spirit within us help us become more like him and grow in him. Yeah, and I don't know if that's even on topic.
I just kind of jumped out. Just kind of jumped out at me. No, I need that, you know.
Yeah, I think that's a great thought because I feel like these specific statements run very counter to the spiritualism and the religious things that you just mentioned.
Because instead of it being about your sacrifice of like, okay, how many things can I get rid of in my life and still exist? Yeah. That asceticism.
Yeah. Instead of it focusing on my sacrifice, it's about Christ's sacrifice. Instead of focusing on the super secret knowledge that I get and I hoard and my knowledge, it's about the knowledge of God and the knowledge of Christ.
That's not hidden. It's like the verse you mentioned, I think it was verse 27, that Christ in you, the hope of glory. That's the mysterious knowledge that God wants everybody to know.
And it's not even in maybe a licentious style of, I'm just going to do whatever I want. But we see in verse number 10, Paul's prayer was that they would walk worthy of the vocation, that they would be fruitful in every good work. Yeah.
And isn't that God's desire for us?
Like God's desire for us is to have fruit and to be blessed. I mean, that's Psalm 1, right? I want fruit in your life.
I want you to have this. And the key for us experiencing that fruit, I think, is realizing that growth needs to be a part of my life.
Yeah.
Like it needs to be a part of my Christian faith. Don't get stagnant in growth. So that's kind of the application to walk the takeaway that I would have today.
I love what you said at the beginning of this study. These verses is just recognizing growth should be an intricate part of every day of my life. How am I growing?
What am I investing into my life today? So I think that would be maybe a challenge for us and for every one of our listeners. Like how are you growing closer to God today?
Yeah.
What?
And it has to be intentional. I just did a podcast with a friend of mine recently, and we talked about intentionally developing yourself in the Lord. And like intentionality is key in our growth.
It's not just going to happen. We've got to take steps to put things in and build people around us. So that kind of stands out to me, but I don't know.
What's a thought that stands out to you as we wrap up?
Yeah, I'd say I'm going to interject one thing from verses 12 through 14 only because we haven't missed that particular portion yet.
I think having a, like you mentioned, the mindset that's set on Christ as we have intentionality in our life is realizing whose we are.
Right.
As a result, who we are. Right. Keeping in that order, I see in verse 12 that we're supposed to give thanks to the Father.
That was one of Paul's prayer requests that the Colossians would give thanks to the Father because he has made us meet, he has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness.
He has translated or conveyed us into the kingdom of his dear son. He has redeemed us through his blood. He has forgiven us of our sins.
As we realize who he is and what he's done, then it gives us courage and strength to be able to increase in his knowledge and to walk worthy of that vocation.
Yeah, that's great.
If we don't keep in mind what our vocation is, it could make our Christian walk a lot harder because we don't know what we're supposed to be doing.
Right.
But when I know I'm supposed to love God, I'm supposed to love people, and I'm supposed to show Jesus, well, then that funnels all of my actions for the day, that funnels my intentionality into, okay, what am I doing today to love God and love
Right.
And if I'm not doing those things, well, I'm not partaking in the vocation that God has called me to.
So it gives me a specific directed purpose when I remember basically the gospel. Yeah.
No, I love that. And I think it's, I really think that can bring us down to just a closing thought for the day and really the week, right?
Until we, until the next podcast, which will be out next week, I would say this, maybe the prayer of every Christian could be like, God, help me today to remember who you are, what you've done for me, how much you love me.
And then God helped me to grow closer to you today, this week, to build things around me, to help me because when we remember what he's done and who he is, and I want to be close to that. I want to be close to him.
Why?
Because of all that he's done for me.
And so maybe that's the challenge this week, like remembering what Christ did for us, because that in turn helps us want to know all of his will, want to be fruitful, want to walk worthy unto him and all pleasing.
You know, I mean, all the instructions that Paul is giving by way of prayer.
Yeah.
Maybe when we think about what Jesus has done for us, maybe that would help us then this week make the decision to get in his word, to pray, to be a church, to build good, healthy influences into our life so that we can grow in him.
So, that's a great thought. I love that. And I'm challenged by that even right now.
So, why don't you tell us what's up for next week and maybe tell us anything else that's on your mind with this.
Yeah. Next week, we're going to be going through verses 15 through 20. And this is kind of, it's written in kind of poetic fashion.
In Greek, and it's basically this giant poem dedicated to how central and perfect Jesus is to all of creation, to the church, to our individual lives. And so, I'm really looking forward to next week. And so, be with us.
And we're going to be going through verses 15 through 20 next week. So, be sure to listen in. On Strength for the Day.
Yeah, and I would say this too, to our listeners.
Last thing is, if you like what we've been doing so far, share it with someone, invite someone to be with us. And of course, they can go back and listen to the previous episodes.
But Strength for the Day, really Strength for the Week, that we can have each and every day to help us grow closer to the Lord. So, we'll listen. Well, wait, no.
You'll listen next week, and we'll be here recording next week. So, have a good week.
