When we truly believe the gospel, it changes us. We enter into a new relationship with God, a relationship that the Bible compares to marriage. Just as with marriage, this new relationship means we live differently than we did before we entered into it. It changes us. If we find we are not changed, then perhaps we need to meditate on the cross, where both the depth of our sin, and the greatness of God’s love are demonstrated.
To listen to the sermon, click the play button:
To download, right click on the link (or do whatever you do on a Mac) and save it to your computer:
Download Colossians Part 4
Colossians #4. Colossians 1:9-10
As we start on this text today, I want to remind you of part of the process I go through in preparing these messages. The word of God is living and active. I think there are many directions a sermon might go, based upon this text, because there is so much here. I don’t mean you could get anything at all out of any given text, but I do think in each one, there are a variety of things to emphasize, and many different possible ways to apply the meaning of the Bible to our lives. I try to prepare these messages while depending on the Holy Spirit to lead me. So, I have gone one direction that the Spirit seemed to lead me this time, for this text. There are other possible things to emphasize here. But I trust that someone needs to hear what I will say this time.
For this reason also, since the day we heard this, we haven’t stopped praying for you. We are asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, 10 so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God
“For this reason also.” We shouldn’t pass over this phrase lately. Paul is about to launch into a long prayer for the Colossians. There is much we can learn from the prayer. But the reason for the prayer is that the Colossians have received the gospel, and responded in faith. None of what comes next is possible without that reason. In many ways, in the world view of our faith, there is only one thing that is important: how to do you respond to Jesus Christ? Everything else in the world depends upon that question. If that question is answered with faith, then everything in the universe is eternally shifted to grace, joy and life. When Paul writes about growing in Jesus, we need to understand that such things are only possible because Jesus has first given us his grace. We can’t endure patiently, or bear fruit, or walk worthy of Lord on our own. It happens only because Jesus has first saved us, and next, given us His Holy Spirit to empower how we live. Paul is not praying these things so that the Colossians can be saved; no, he is praying these things precisely because they have already been saved.
With that understanding, let’s see what the Holy Spirit, through Paul desires for those of us who follow Jesus. That you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.
Understand that this is passive. It is God, through the Holy Spirit who fills you with knowledge of his will, and gives you wisdom, and a spiritual way of looking at the world. We cannot fill ourselves with these things. It comes from the Holy Spirit.
10 But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets. 11 No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit. 12 And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us.
13 When we tell you these things, we do not use words that come from human wisdom. Instead, we speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths. 14 But people who aren’t spiritual can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means. 15 Those who are spiritual can evaluate all things, but they themselves cannot be evaluated by others. 16 For, “Who can know the Lord’s thoughts? Who knows enough to teach him?” But we understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ. (NLT 1 Corinthians 2:10-16).
So, spiritual wisdom and understanding are given as free gifts of God. Now, we can, however, if we choose, interfere with the Spirit’s work in our minds and hearts. For instance, one of the indispensable tools used by the Holy Spirit is the Bible, the Word of God. If we choose to remain ignorant of the Bible, we make it extremely difficult for the Spirit to accomplish his work of filling us with spiritual knowledge and understanding. If we give more influence in our lives to the things of the world than the things of God, it will be harder for this prayer to be fulfilled. I’ve used this analogy before, but it is worthwhile. Imagine you have two dogs inside you, fighting each other for dominance of your soul. Which dog will win? The one that you feed. You feed your flesh-person by indulging its desires, by spending your time and energy and focus on the things of this world. You feed your Spirit-person by reading the Bible, by spending time with other Christians who are following Jesus, by worshipping Jesus, and praying, and doing the good things Jesus asks you to do. I don’t mean it is all up to you. If you give him room, God will supply the power and will to feed the Spirit-dog. But we have to let him, and part of letting him is allowing him to change our behavior.
All this is very much related to the next verse:
so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God,
Where I live, this is one of the most neglected concepts of the Christian faith. I live near Nashville, TN, in an area that is sometimes called “The Bible Belt” because it is known to be a place where people are religious. Sometimes, Nashville is even called “The buckle of the Bible belt” because we have several huge Christian publishing companies here, we are the center of Christian music in the Western world, and the area is filled with big churches.
But in the middle of all this religion, it is surprising to find a huge number of people who are quite ignorant about what Christianity really means. You see, people around here are pretty good at telling others that Jesus died for their sins. They are good at explaining that you need to “get saved.” But what so few churches near me seem to teach is that all this results in a change of life. If you repent and “get saved,” then it makes a difference in how you live. You begin to walk in a way that is worthy of the Lord, pleasing to Him. You begin to bear the fruit of good works. You start growing in the knowledge of God, and are strengthened with His power so that you can endure patiently and joyfully.
I have met Christians who claim they are “saved” but who regularly have sex outside of marriage, who often get drunk or high, who cheat their bosses, or their customers, or the government, out of money when they think they’ll get away with it, and so on. But someone who is truly saved does not continue to do these things. Perhaps, if such a person did them in the past, they might fail once in a while, and fall back into the old ways. But those old ways are no longer the pattern of life for someone who belongs to Jesus. If you continue with such things as a regular, normal part of your life, you are walking away from Jesus. It is like you are standing with one foot on a dock, and the other on a boat that is pulling away from the dock. If you don’t make a choice between living as the world does or following Jesus, a choice will be made for you.
Now, someone may have a question something like this: “I get the general idea, but what does having sex, or getting drunk, or cheating the government have to do with loving God or not? Why can’t I love God, and still do those things? What’s the connection?”
I understand the question. I don’t have a complete answer, but let’s think about loving other human beings for a moment. My wife Kari really likes a clean house. When she sees dirty dishes, or junk laying around, or clothes on the floor, she feels compelled to clean it up. Therefore, when I leave messes around the house, Kari can’t relax. It creates a problem for her. I don’t entirely understand this. On the other hand, if I take time to really listen to Kari, I find it makes more sense. Now, knowing that a messy house is a problem for Kari, I have a choice. If I really love her, and want to show her I love her, I try to clean up after myself. My love for her changes my behavior.
Now, from the outside, someone may ask, “What does cleaning up your lunch-dishes have to do with love and marriage?” It may seem, to someone who doesn’t know Kari, like the two things are unrelated. But in real life, this is how love works. Kari has told me clearly it is important to her. Therefore, the loving thing for me to do is clear. I may not completely understand why, but what I need to do is not confusing at all. Any of you who have been married very long should understand this sort of thing. We all have things that are important to us that seem difficult to explain, but it doesn’t change the fact that they are important. When we love someone, what is important to them becomes important to us.
So it is with God. Why should a clean house be connected with me loving Kari? It is hard to explain, but I can’t deny that it is. Why should our sexual behavior, or honesty, or anything be connected with loving God? I don’t know entirely, but he has made it quite clear that it is. And when I take more time to listen to him, by reading his Word, I find it easier to accept and to understand.
“But wait!” say some of these folks. “God loves me no matter what, right? I am saved by grace, not by my performance, so why does it matter how I live? You’ve been telling me that God does all the work here, so why do I have to change my behavior, even if it is important to him?”
Imagine a woman who is not perfect – she’s never pretended she was. She meets a caring, kind, loving man. This guy knows she has her issues, but he loves her anyway. The woman also falls in love with the man, and they get married. In their marriage vows, the commit to be faithful to one another, to love and honor and serve each other.
Soon after the marriage, the woman starts sleeping with other men, staying away from home for days at a time without calling her husband. She spends all their money without consulting him. When someone asks her why she is treating him so badly, she says this: “Look, my husband says he loves me unconditionally. He said that he knew I wasn’t perfect, but he still loves me. He made a vow when we got married that he would be faithful to me. So, now, because he loves me, and I love him, I can go out and party, and sleep with other men, and ignore his needs and feelings. I can do all this because he loves me. He knows I’m not perfect.”
When we put it in that context, we can all see how ridiculous it is. Why did this woman say her marriage vows, if she doesn’t want to live like she is married? How can she possibly say that it is OK to sleep around, because her husband loves her? The fact that he loves her makes it worse when she betrays him, not better.
The marriage analogy is a good one, because the Bible uses it all the time. We believers are the bride of Christ.
22 Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord, 23 because the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church. He is the Savior of the body. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives are to submit to their husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her with the washing of water by the word. 27 He did this to present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or anything like that, but holy and blameless. 28 In the same way, husbands are to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hates his own flesh but provides and cares for it, just as Christ does for the church, 30 since we are members of his body. (CSB Ephesians 5:22-30)
1 I hope you will put up with me in a little foolishness. Yes, please put up with me! 2 I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him. 3 But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. (NIV) 2 Corinthians 11:1-3
Jesus often referred to himself as “The Bridegroom,” and Revelation 21 describes the church as the “New Jerusalem, prepared like a bride for her husband.” Now, you see how it is. If this woman’s marriage was real to her, she would never behave like this. In other words, if she really did love her husband, and they really were married, it would make a difference to her. She is acting as if she doesn’t believe that they are truly married.
And that is what happens to many who call themselves Christians. Many people call themselves Christians because they grew up that way, or maybe because they believe in some sort of God, but they aren’t Muslim or Jewish, so they think they must be Christian. Maybe when they were young, someone pressured them into “getting saved.” Maybe, for a while they felt some sort religious impulse, but never really connected to Jesus. But if you truly believe the gospel, it has an effect on your behavior.
If someone does not behave like a Christian, I think the problem is that they don’t really believe the gospel. They don’t really believe that they are sinners who need a savior. They don’t really believe that Jesus died a horrible death on their behalf, or maybe they don’t believe that he needed to. Bad behavior is a symptom of bad belief. The way to correct the problem is not to grit your teeth and try harder, but to truly repent of your sins, and to truly surrender your heart, mind and will to Jesus.
Some people understand this, but they still struggle. I have some advice: ask God to help you truly believe the gospel. Ask him to show you your sin, and show you his love. The best place to look at for this is the cross. The cross shows you how terrible your sin is. See, here’s the thing: we haven’t all done what Adolf Hitler did. But the same evil that lived inside of Hitler lives inside of you and I. Your sin merits a savage, bone-bruising beating. It deserves people surrounding you, mocking you, spitting on you, hating you for no apparent reason. It deserves execution without a proper trial, a brutal, vicious, torturous death that was ultimately considered too barbaric to keep, even by a barbaric people.
The cross also shows you the depth of God’s love for you. Instead of giving you what you deserve for your sin, He took all of that on himself. He took the beating, the mocking, the injustice, the savage, intense, barbaric death-by-torture. His love is so great for you that he did it before you even cared, long before you repented, even while you were indifferent to him, or even while you hated him. He didn’t just keep the house clean for you – he gave his life for you in the most difficult way possible.
Meditate on that depth of sin, that depth of love, and it will be life changing.
Clear Bible 