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When we face hardships, struggles and sufferings in the strength and joy that God gives, we show the world that God is good, that he is powerful, and that he loves us. Part of this strength flows to us as we trust what God has already done for us in the spiritual realm. The Bible calls this “walking by the spirit.”

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Download Colossians Part 5

Colossians #5. Colossians 1:9-14

⁹ And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, ¹⁰ so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; ¹¹ being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; ¹² giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. ¹³ He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, ¹⁴ in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (ESV) Colossians 1:9-14

Last time we focused on verses 9-10, and the fact that true salvation through faith in Jesus results in a changed life. I want to point out, that the idea of changed life is encased, before and after, with the truth that it is  God who does the work to create that changed life. We can say “no” to him, and stop the process. But it is important for us to understand that we don’t achieve a changed life from within ourselves. We don’t get it by trying harder. We get from God himself, when we trust him fully. We obey the commands of scripture because we trust. Another way of saying it is that obedience is the result of genuine faith. If we have an obedience problem, it is most likely because, deep down, we have a problem trusting that God is good, and all powerful, and he loves us.

We talked about what it means to be filled with spiritual wisdom and understanding, and that such a thing is a gift of God, from the Holy Spirit. We talked about the importance of walking in a manner worthy of the Lord. Next, Paul prays that the believers would be strengthened with all power, according to God’s glorious might for all endurance and patience with joy. I want us to pay attention to that little word, for. In Greek, it is the word eis, occurring here as an accusative preposition. What that means is that it indicates the purpose of something. You see, we might be tempted to go a certain direction when we hear: “strengthened with all power, according to God’s glorious might.” We might think that this means we Christians are to move from victory to victory. It might sound like we have God’s glorious might so that we ourselves should become mighty and glorious. I have heard Christians who talk as if following Jesus means that everything in life just gets better and better, and you suffer less and less. You go from victory to victory, and the picture of “victory” is more or less, “everything goes well for you.” But it is very clear here that the purpose of our strengthening, the purpose of God giving us his glorious power is so that we might endure with patience and joy.

Enduring with patience and joy implies first of all that there is something to endure. Generally, that means something difficult, since we don’t talk about “enduring” the best day of our lives. Also, what we must endure requires patience, which again, does not sound like one great victory after another. Finally, it seems like what we are called to patiently endure might not normally be thought about as joyful. In simple terms, Paul is praying that the faith of these believers would strengthen them to face trials, sorrows, suffering and difficulties in a way that shows Jesus to the world.

Some of you know that I experience a great deal of physical pain almost every single day of my life.  It is true, that if I were to be healed miraculously, many people would praise God. But I am convinced that more people have been blessed by watching how Jesus strengthens me with endurance, patience and joy in suffering than would have been blessed by my miraculous healing. Through the endurance, patience and joy God has given me, the world sees that Jesus is sufficient and good, even in the middle of hard times. That is a powerful testimony; I think more powerful than many more obvious miracles. Don’t get me wrong. I believe in the obvious kind of miracles, also. But we sell God short when we forget that he can heal and strengthen us from the inside in ways that are truly miraculous.

All of us face difficulties of one sort or another. We battle the sin in our own flesh. We are tempted, and lied to, by the devil. We live in a sinful world. Sometimes, one, or all three of those things makes life extremely difficult and trying. The promise of scripture is not that we never face trials, but that, when we do, we can press in to the goodness, power, strength and love of God.

“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are mine.
² When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you.
³ For I am the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. (ESV, Isaiah 43:1-3)

Sometimes we do pass through the waters, or the fire. I am in the fire right now. I am in pain as I write this, the same pain that has plagued me every day for four years now. God meets us in the fire and in the flood. His mighty power will strengthen you, and you can endure. Not only that, but you can endure with patience. Wait, there’s more: you can endure with patience, AND joy. The promise is here in scripture, and that should be enough, but I add my testimony. Those of you who know me personally know that it has been true in my life.

Those who know me also know that I am not walking around, pretending everything is great. Of course I struggle. I’m not talking about a fake happiness, or pretending nothing is wrong. But on the whole, the mighty, glorious power of God gives me strength to endure with patience and joy. I believe with all my heart and soul that God is good, he is powerful, and he loves me, and the pain cannot shake that. In fact, through my pain, I know it better today than I did before the struggle began. Many people ask me how I do it. I don’t. God does. And what he has done for me, he will do for you, if you let him.

The next phrase from the text is: giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.

Certainly everything we have talked about so far is worth giving thanks for. But there is more. He has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. If you think that you are not qualified to be a saint, you are both right, and wrong. No one is qualified to be a saint. No one deserves the inheritance that is given to us in Jesus Christ. But God has qualified those who trust him. So it is not our qualification that makes us worthy to be saints, or share in the inheritance of Light. It is God himself who makes us qualified. Paul explains briefly how:

¹³ He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, ¹⁴ in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

In the Greek (as in English) both of the verbs “delivered” and “transferred” give the sense that this is a done deal. It is an action that is completed. I know that we look around us, and say, “it doesn’t look complete to me. It looks like I’m still in between. I’m still being delivered, and being transferred. But that would not be the correct interpretation here.

This is a very important concept. The Bible teaches us that we live in two worlds at the same time. This is possible, because there are three distinct aspects of being a human being. We have bodies. We have souls. And we have spirits. Our bodies are fully in the world we see. Our bodies have not been delivered – they suffer the effects of sin, and will eventually die because of it. Our spirits, however, have already been delivered from darkness and transferred into God’s kingdom of light. If you are a believer, your spirit-person is already perfect, already holy and blameless; it’s a done deal. Your soul connects your body to your spirit. This is where the main battle is fought. Your soul is connected to your spirit, which is “already there.” It is also connected to your body, which will never be perfect, and never be in heaven. Your soul is where the tension is.

So when we hear these things, we have to understand it really is true. You (your spirit-person) has already been delivered from the domain of darkness and transferred into the kingdom of Jesus. It is already done. Yes, this mortal body will have to die. Yes, there is still  struggle going on in your soul. But in your spirit, it is a done deal. A lot of what we call Christian living is all about believing that this is true, and allowing what has been done to your spirit to flow down into your soul and body, so that you are influenced by the spirit, rather than the flesh. This is what the Bible calls “walking according to the Spirit.”

Another way the Bible describes it is like this:

¹¹ So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. (ESV, Romans 6:11)

I think we have several important things to meditate on throughout this next week.

• What are the struggles that you face? Have you availed yourself of the strength of God to allow you to endure with patience and joy? What are some ways that you might do that more?
• It is God himself, through Jesus Christ, who has qualified you to be a saint, to share in the inheritance of the kingdom of light. Do you believe this? If not, what are the thoughts that you need to battle in order to trust that this is true?
• Do you know, that if you are a disciple of Jesus, your spirit-person has already been fully transferred from darkness to light? What are the things that will help you believe this truth, and walk according to this spiritual reality?