How Many Licks Does It Take? (Wisdom)

Colassians 1:9-12

For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his people in the kingdom of light.

How Many Licks Does it Take?

Our scripture today is a wonderful example of a Pauline letter. He starts out with his usual fanfare in verses 1-8 applauding the good Christians of Colosse for their steadfast love of God. Now, what Paul does after this, is brilliant. You see, Paul is what I would call a brilliant tactician. No matter if you were one of the “bad churches” he was writing to scold or one of the “good churches” he was writing to applaud and uphold… he starts out the same way. “I thank God for you all and I am so thankful for all the stories I hear about how much you love God.” He gives them a little rub of their ego… he gets you thinking boy… we really are awesome, and then he when he gets you thinking how awesome you are for the sake of God… he turns it… now this is what God wants you to do.

You just get done hearing how awesome you are for God, you just get done agreeing with him… “boy we really are awesome!” How can you refuse anything he asks of you if he asks it in the name of God? It should be no surprise that he starts out this letter to the Colassians in the same way.

Verse 3, “We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all his people.” I am sure that most of them were thinking… wow, Paul is thanking God for us… we must be awesome. Then again, I am sure that a few of them who knew Paul, who had read some of his other letters… knew what was coming next. “Oh man… he’s thanking God for us? What do you suppose he wants now. He probably wants more money.” Paul didn’t disappoint, he did want something.

Now, Colosse was really one of the “good churches.” But the church was being invaded by some pretty bad ideas… people who insisted that there was more to being a Christian than normal Christian practices. It was the typical Anti-Pauline arguments… like… you need to become a Jew before you can become a Christian… you can and should keep your old Pagan practices even when you become a Christian. And Paul is writing this letter to help get this “good church” back on track.

So after buttering them up in verses 1-8, he launches into his request. Let’s read those verses again, verse 9:

For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his people in the kingdom of light.

You see what Paul doesn’t do here. He doesn’t even mention the heretics that are teaching bad theology. He doesn’t attack them, doesn’t refute them, doesn’t even make them an issue. What he does do… is encourages the church to wise up! Let’s start out by breaking this down just little bit.

1. We ask God to fill you with knowledge of his will (9c)

2. through the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives (9d)

3. That you may live a life worthy of the Lord and praise him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father (10)

- (repeat) [1] Be filled with God’s knowledge, [2] through the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, [3] so that you may live a life worthy in the strength of the Lord