Living healthy – what does it mean? Keeping the weight off, not smoking, not drinking, eating lots of fruit and vegetables, exercising every day, plenty of rest, plenty of fluids. All these are good ways to keep our God-given body in good condition. But how do you keep your spiritual health in good condition? Isn’t that something we take with us day and night no matter the condition of our body?
The Apostle Paul, who helped to start the congregation in Colossae was deeply burdened for them. They had some issues and problems but also there was a great love for the Lord Jesus. In this young congregation, Paul wanted to make sure that they grew and grew strong and healthy. And so he first and foremost PRAYS for them. He is praying for those who are saved, who know the Lord Jesus and trust in him as their Savior. He’s not talking to the unsaved. But how he prays reveals what is crucial for this church and also for us as a congregation.
In his prayer he reveals two main keys to healthy living.
Key 1 is being filled with the knowledge of God’s will.
Colossians 1:9 “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.”
When I first read “filled with the knowledge of his will” I immediately began to think of hard studies. You like me might think of reading lots of books and researching in the library. You might think of going to seminary and getting a degree. You might even think of earning a doctorate in theology as the ultimate fulfillment of this verse. While all of these can be good for your spiritual life, it is not necessarily what Paul is talking about.
Knowing God’s will is absolutely vital to our spiritual life and it is amazing that it is very often completely ignored. We need to know what God wants from us, from our families, from our congregation, from our city. But often we simply assume we know what God would want. But we don’t seek it. We don’t ask him. We don’t listen to his answer. We come up with all our own answers to problems and how life is supposed to work and how we are supposed to behave. But when we don’t look for answers from God, we are fools. How can we live as his children if we don’t know what he wants?
1. Knowledge of God’s will (moral) comes first and foremost from the Scripture.
Psalm 119:105 “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”
Read the Scripture! Study the Scripture. No one knows instinctively the teachings of God’s Word. It takes cracking the Bible, asking God to teach you, and then openly reading the Scripture. Although I’ve gone to seminary, it doesn’t mean that I’m the most knowledgeable – I’ve known men and women on the mission field who never even went to college and were much more knowledgeable of the Scriptures than I am.
If we all sought to apply God’s teachings in the Bible to our own lives, almost every single decision of our lives would be crystal clear. Most of our dilemmas are solved although they would not be easy to carry out.
Recently, at home we’ve been reading the Christian classic “In His Steps” by Charles Sheldon. In it the pastor challenges his members to make a commitment to only do that which Jesus would do for one whole year no matter what the consequences. What a challenge! But it is extremely difficult because many sacrifices have to be made. But before you answer that question, you have to know Jesus. You have to know what kind of man he was and is and what he said and did. That takes the study of Scripture and cannot be based on how a movie depicts him, or a book or a picture.
What does the Bible say? From the Scriptures we know that Jesus would not murder, lie, curse another person, that he would honor authority, that he would love his enemy and do good to them. We know that he would reach out to the helpless and honor and worship the Father above all things. Those are just a few basic principles – moral principles that guide us to follow God’s perfect will. Know the Word and you know God’s heart and his direction.
2. Knowledge of God’s will comes secondly from SPIRITUAL WISDOM.
But not every decision is moral, in other words not every decision is clearly a matter of knowing right and wrong. Some situations are a win/win situation. Deciding between one college and another is not necessarily a moral decision. Whether I should I work at Target or Wal-mart is not necessarily a moral decision. Whether I should buy a house in Mankato or North Mankato is not necessarily a moral decision. Whether we should send money to this missionary or that missionary – one is not right and the other wrong. How do you decide? The Bible doesn’t tell you answers to these specific questions. How can you KNOW what to do?
This is a crucial question and how we answer it is also crucial. Some believe that having a peace in your heart is the key to knowing God’s will. “I just have a ‘feeling’ that this is what I should do.” Unfortunately, my feelings and yours don’t necessarily guide us the right way.
You might think that if it feels so good, how can it be wrong? Tell that to all the young men and women who excuse their premarital relations. “Something so beautiful can’t be wrong, can it?” If we rely on feelings, we will be jerked around in our lives from one end to the other. There is no stability. That is why we base our relationship with God not on how we feel but on what the Scripture says. God loves me despite how I feel about myself.
There is a much better way to make decisions than feelings. Acquire wisdom! Ephesians 5:15 “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise.” Colossians 4:5 “Conduct yourselves wisely toward outsiders, making the best use of the time.” Proverbs 4:11 “I have taught you the way of wisdom; I have led you in the paths of uprightness.”
How does God lead us through this life? By taking us on the road of wisdom. Guiding us in the paths of wisdom. What is wisdom? J.I. Packer: “Wisdom is the power to see, and the inclination to choose, the best and highest goal, together with the surest means of attaining it.” It’s the ability to figure out what is the most God-honoring way to go in any situation.
Wisdom is pure gold when it comes to living in this world according to the will of God. Therefore, ASK FOR IT! This is a prayer request on my tongue practically every day. According to James 1:5 if we ask for wisdom, God will give it to us.
Of course we gain wisdom by spending time in the WORD OF GOD. Spending time in the Scriptures helps your mind to think like Jesus thinks. You can see from a different perspective than the situation around you. The Holy Spirit leads you as you meditate on the Word.
We gain wisdom by SEEKING COUNSEL – we seek it from those who are wise. Prov. 13:20a “He who walks with wise men will be wise.” Don’t be like Rehoboam, son of Solomon who, when his father died sought the counsel of his young friends. They gave him advice that was unwise – load taxes on the people, show them who is boss. And because he didn’t seek the advice of the elders, the nation was split from that day forward. Don’t seek counsel only from those who you know will always agree with you, but from those who seek the Lord and will follow the Lord above all.
3. Direct communication
In only very rare situations will God guide us directly through the use of dreams, visions, or special communications. Through his mercy he directed Joseph through a dream to flee from Bethlehem when their lives were in danger. He directed Paul through a vision of a man calling out: “Come to Macedonia and help us.” (Acts 16:9) Paul was not planning to go that direction but God interceded. But according to Scriptures we normally make decisions based on wisdom – on what is expedient for the situation. God will make it very clear one way or the other if we are to go a different way.
The second key to healthy living is walking according to what you know!
Notice what Paul wrote in verse 10: be filled with knowledge….“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.”
I’ve had plenty of students in Bible school in Poland and here in Plymouth that fill themselves with Godly knowledge for months. Then they take a test and they might get a B+ and some get an A. Wonderful! But what is the most important is not the grade – but what do you do with the information you learn?
What do you do with the knowledge you’ve gained from the Lord? HOW do you do those things?
First, REPENT/CONFESS. God has revealed the right way and confess that you are going a different way.
Second, PRAY! Believe me, it is impossible to complete what God has revealed in his word, through wisdom, through his communication with you without the ability and strength given only through God’s Spirit. And this is why Paul prays! Paul in this prayer for the Colossians asks that they not only are filled with knowledge but they put it into practice.
I would encourage you to join Paul in praying for yourself and for one another to have the courage and strength to walk according to God’s direction. I want you to know that I pray for each of you individually every week – I pray for the equipping power of God in your life!
Habakkuk 3:19 “GOD, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer's; he makes me tread on my high places.”
I remember back when I was studying in Israel, I took a hiking trip down along the Dead Sea. It was spectacular – the Sea to my left and the high rocky cliffs hundreds of feet into the air on my right. And I remember at the end of the day looking up at those cliffs and seeing little deer called ibex nimbly jumping along what looked like the sheer rock face – so delicate and so fearless. It looked treacherous as if it fall to its death at any moment.
That is what Habakkuk was writing about. He was reflecting on the fact that thanks to the Lord’s strength, his guidance, he makes us go to places we would ordinarily never go – it’s too hard, too risky, too dangerous. But with the Lord we have absolutely NOTHING to be afraid of. We can do anything.
Psalm 18:28-36 “You, O LORD, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light. 29 With your help I can advance against a troop; with my God I can scale a wall. 30 As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is flawless. He is a shield for all who take refuge in him. 31 For who is God besides the LORD? And who is the Rock except our God? 32 It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect. 33 He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he enables me to stand on the heights. 34 He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze. 35 You give me your shield of victory, and your right hand sustains me; you stoop down to make me great. 36 You broaden the path beneath me, so that my ankles do not turn.”
Do you really think I would willingly be a pastor? Do you really think that I would get in front of people and preach week after week and lead and minister in the congregation – or that I would willingly go to the mission field and teach in a Bible School for 11 years? My natural flesh says “Absolutely NOT!”
I have never been an outgoing, public figure. I have never been a public speaker. I have never been one to stand in front of groups and lead them. Believe it or not, I am a naturally shy and quiet person. I went crying to school the first time out of shyness. As a child I had to be forced to go out and make new friends because I was too shy. I would be terrified to do any public report through High School, through Seminary. I’m naturally content to sit alone and read books and write.
But thanks be to the work of God’s Spirit I don’t need to obey the flesh. God called me to trust him and be a pastor. He called me to trust him and to teach, to preach, to lead this flock. The only reason it may look natural is because it is by the power of God’s Spirit that equips me for this ministry. As God calls you, so he equips you. He enables you. He motivates you.
For some of you, he has done the same. For some of you he is calling you now. You KNOW what God wants you to do. God has revealed his direction to you. Now pray that he will give you the courage, the ability, the strength to “tread on high places.”
Let me conclude with this very prayer that Paul prays in verse 11-12: “May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.”
Friends, I would like to pray this very prayer right now for our congregation – so that we can be a healthy body. The keys are God’s knowledge and God’s strength enabling us to walk in that knowledge. And the starting point of all of this is prayer. Let’s pray this passage for ourselves as a congregation…
