Welcome to week two of our study of St Paul’s letter to the Colossian Church, probably written between 52 and 56 AD – at least that’s when Paul’s letter was written – not my sermon! Last week we considered the ‘gospel [that] is bearing fruit and growing’ (1:6). Those of us who were here took home a seed to help us consider the seeds of the gospel we plant in the lives of other people; and that reminded me that there is a type of bamboo in Asia which grows to amazing heights and at amazing speeds - sometimes as much as 20 metres in six weeks! However, before that growth spurt, the seed lies in the dark beneath the ground for up to 5 years. Those farmers who make a profitable living from the bamboo would have given up long ago and changed crops if they didn’t know that plenty was going on beneath the surface despite the fact that there was no outer, visible sign to encourage their perseverance. Every bit of watering and waiting is worthwhile. No prayer is wasted; e.g. friends, family
This letter was written to the Church at Colosse, or Colossae in Asia Minor, modern day Turkey. Paul writes in his letter that ever since the first day he heard about the new Christian faith of these Colossian men and women, he has ‘not stopped praying for [them]’ (1:9). Verses 9 to 14 that we are looking at this morning are a written record of St. Paul’s regular prayers for a fledgling Church, a group of men and women who had come to a living ‘faith in Christ Jesus’ (1:4)’. Paul has not met them himself, but he has heard reports of their vibrant faith from his friend Epaphras (1:7), and even though he has not met them, he is able to say that ‘we have not stopped praying for you’ (1:9)! Sometimes we find it hard to remember to pray for all the people we do know, but Paul is regular in prayer for this group of believers.
I remember Phil saying his wife Audrey kept lists of people she was praying for. She prayed for different people every day and different people every week.
We’re all different, and I’m not organised anything like dear Audrey, but I am challenged by this question: who am I praying for regularly? Not only that, but I am humbled by the fact that my former Vicar and good friend David Snuggs prays for me. In fact I think he has told me before that he prays for me every day, just as someone used to pray for him every day.
St. Paul is praying that the Colossian Church will grow. He is praying that the men and women of the Church will develop in their quality of character. He is praying that they will be thankful people, and I think Paul’s prayer is an excellent guide as to how we need to be praying for each other, every day, every week.
Paul was praying for the Church to grow:
He was praying for people who were already Christian believers, ‘asking God to fill [them] with the knowledge of his will [God’s will] through all spiritual wisdom and understanding’ (1:9).
Yes, it’s about knowledge, but not just information about God. Paul was not praying that these new believers would simply experience a download of facts, figures and information about God. No, it was much more about praying that they would have a practical knowledge and understanding of the will of God and how to put it into practice. It wasn’t even a prayer that they would know more about God. It was a prayer that they would know God better, rather like our Church mission statement, part of which is to know Jesus and to make Jesus known. The better we know Jesus, the more we will understand the will of God, and the better we will be at making Jesus known; and Paul makes it clear why he wants believers to know the will of God. It’s a wonderfully practical thing because he’s praying this so that they ‘may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way’ (1:10). As our knowledge of God grows – as our relationship with God grows – we become better equipped and more able to please God.
In theory …no, not just in theory, but also in practice, because just as I can choose to do things to please Moira my wife so I can choose to do things to please God. Moira won’t love me any more than she already loves me, and God will not love me any more than he already loves me, but just as you would all want me to live and behave in a pleasing manner towards Moira, my children, to all of you and to this community, so we should be praying that our relationship with God will lead us to live lives that please him. Yes, there will be times when we sin, when we mess up, when we get it wrong, but we are called to grow! We are called to change. We are called to live lives worthy of God, lives that please him in every way: ‘bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God’ (1:10). Each of us is made to do good works! Doing good works does not save us before God, but our deeds overflow out of our growing love for God. As James the brother of Jesus wrote, “I will show you my faith by what I do” (James 2:18).
And as St Paul wrote elsewhere (Ephesians 2:10), “We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” So Paul was praying that the members of the Church would grow in their relationship with God, praying that they would do good things for God and for neighbour, and in doing so that they would further grow in their knowledge of God. So, how about you? Are you growing? I’m praying for each one of you, that you will ‘bear fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God’ (1:10).
Paul was also praying for specific qualities:
How do people know that you are a Christian? What is it about you that causes people think to themselves, “There is something different about John, Margaret, Tim, and Jean.” Paul is praying that believers will be “strengthened with all power …so that [they] may have great endurance and patience and [joy]’ (1:11) – traits made stronger by God’s power at work in you.
I wonder how you rate yourself in terms of endurance, patience and joy. Whatever mark you might be giving yourself out of ten I want to assure you that I am praying right now that God will so fill you with Himself that you will grow and develop, or rediscover these qualities of endurance, patience and joy; and I want you to pray for one another for these things.
Endurance is never giving up, however hard the circumstances. Patience is forgiving and bearing with one another without limit; and joy is the ability to praise and give thanks to God through thick and thin.
Let me tell you about a man who made a disastrous first attempt in the world of business. He switched to politics but within only one year that did not work out either. He tried his hand for a second time at business, but failed again. That meant 3 failures in 3 years, (time to give up?). He proposed to his Fiancée after four years of courtship, but she turned him down.
Another woman he was courting died sometime later. All these pressures led to a nervous breakdown, which required 2 years convalescence, after which he re-launched his aborted political career with a bid to be elected as Speaker of the House of Representatives in the USA. He failed. He was again defeated 2 years later for the position of Elector. 3 years after this, he was defeated as he ran for Congress. 5 years passed before he sought office again, but was defeated. Tragically his 4-year-old son died during this time. That led to 7 years in the wilderness, before running for the Senate - to no avail. However, things looked more positive the following year when he was nominated by his party as their vice presidential candidate, but his running mate and himself were defeated in the general election. He failed 2 years later trying again for a seat in the Senate. However, 2 years later, in 1860, after 24 years of dogged perseverance, Abraham Lincoln was elected as the 16th President of the U.S.A.!
Lincoln loved to read his Bible. He never called himself a Christian, but he believed in God, and Lincoln is a great example of human endurance in the face of discouragement. Paul is praying that filled with the power of God (and that’s the key) we will be people of endurance, patience and joy. What circumstances are you facing right now where you need God’s power to endure? What relationships are you involved in where you need God’s power to be patient? And do you know His joy? God wants you to!
Paul was praying they would be a thankful people:
These last two verses probably clarified a few things for the Colossian church. In his prayer for them, Paul was praying that they would ‘joyfully [give] thanks to the Father, who [had] qualified [them] to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light’ (1:12). Believers in Jesus share a glorious inheritance! If you believe and trust in Jesus you have been rescued from darkness and brought into His kingdom (1:13).
If you trust in the work of Jesus, crucified and arisen from the dead then you have ‘received redemption, the forgiveness of sins’ (1:14). I guess many of us will remember green shield stamps, and some will not have a clue what I’m talking about! I suppose they were the forerunner of Air Miles or Nectar card points. We used to stick Green Shield Stamps into a book as we earned them, just as we get Nectar points added for purchases. We then used to redeem the Stamps, using them as payment for other goods, or we redeem our nectar points in the same way; and it was a bit like that with our forgiveness – with our redemption. God swapped Jesus for us. We were redeemed when God paid for us by giving up the life of Jesus for us – His perfect life in exchange for us; and as I think upon his sacrifice I am so thankful. Shall we pray for one another that we will grow in our faith, that we will develop endurance, patience and joy, and that we will be thankful people, grateful for what we have been saved from, and saved for. Amen.
