Sandy Y. of Bowmansville, Pennsylvania, talks about a time when her family was doing a devotional that included the story of the Ten Commandments. Her husband asked, “How many commandments did God give to Moses?”
Seth, their 5-year-old son, quickly replied, “Too many!” (Sandy Y., Bowmansville, Pennsylvania, “Life in Our House,” Christian Parenting Today, March/April 2000; www.PreachingToday.com)
Some people have that attitude when it comes to the church. They feel burdened with too many rules and regulations, wondering what does God really want from me?
There are a lot of preachers out there who have all kinds of answers, ready to burden people with their brand of spirituality, but who end up making people feel overwhelmed and trapped in a religious system which places too many demands on them. As a result, people feel like they could never please God, and many give up even trying anymore.
It’s a problem as old as the Bible, which addresses the issue in many places. One of those places is the book of Colossians, so If you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to Colossians 1, Colossians 1, where the Apostle Paul prays for a little church feeling overwhelmed by the big demands being placed on them.
Colossians 1:9 For this reason” – i.e., because of your faith, love and hope – “since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.” (NIV)
You see, some false teachers had come into this little church, claiming to have a deeper, fuller knowledge of the things of God. They came with an elaborate religious system, a mixture of Jewish tradition and Greek philosophy, which fascinated some of the people even as it confused all the rest.
Well, Paul prays that these believers would have a full knowledge of God’s will, which would work itself out in true spiritual insight and skillful living. This was not the kind of knowledge that the false teachers were peddling. They were peddling a lot of head knowledge and insight into the so-called “mysteries of the universe.”
The knowledge of God’s will, on the other hand, is very practical. The word “wisdom” means skill, and the word “understanding” implies having the insight to apply what you know to solving a variety of life’s problems. And that’s what Paul prays for. He prays that they would have the kind of knowledge which would help them live their lives with skill and insight.
Colossians 1:10 And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way… (NIV)
When we know God’s will, then and only then can we live worthy lives that please Him.
In Bible days, gold and silver was weighed on a simple scale. One side of the scale carried a weight of known value. The gold or silver was poured out on the other side until it balanced. The amount necessary to achieve this balance was called axios – the word translated “worthy” here in verse 10. It means weighing as much as or of like value. (Van Morris, Mt Washington, Kentucky; www.PreachingToday.com)
Well, here we find that God wants us to live lives worthy of Him. In other words, He wants us to live lives that are worth His weight or His importance to the world.
So what kind of a life is that? What kind of life does God truly value? What kind of life would God say is really worth living? Well, the answer is in the four participles which follow: bearing fruit and growing (vs.10); being strengthened (vs.11); and giving thanks (vs.12).
To begin with, we must bear fruit and grow if we want to live a life that God truly values. In other words, we must…
BE PRODUCTIVE.
We must do things which lead to real, worthy results. Our work must accomplish important outcomes.
Look at verse 10 again: And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way. How? By BEARING FRUIT in every good work [and] GROWING IN THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD.
Those two go together. If we want to bear fruit, we have to know God. We must be growing in our understanding of who God is. Peter put it this way in 2 Peter 1:3 – His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness… How? THROUGH OUR KNOWLEDGE OF HIM who called us by his own glory and goodness. We live godly and worthwhile lives through our knowledge of God.
Think of your life as a balloon. There are two ways to keep a balloon afloat. If you fill a balloon with your breath, the only way to keep it in the air is to continually smack it around. That’s how religion keeps you motivated: it repeatedly “hits” you. “Stop doing this!” “Get busy with that!”
I think that’s the way some people view my job as a pastor. People come to worship so I can “smack” them about something. “Be more generous!” And they do that for a week. “Go do missions!” And they sign up for a trip. Every week they look to their pastor to smack them back into spiritual orbit. No wonder most people stay away from preachers and the church.
Let me tell you: there’s a better way to keep a balloon afloat. Fill it with helium. Then it floats on its own, no smacking required.
Now, that’s what getting to know God does for us. When we grow in our understanding of who He is, when we begin to fathom His grandeur and glory, it’s like helium to our souls. It keeps us soaring to ever greater heights of glory and usefulness for our Lord. (J. D. Greer, Gospel: Recovering the Power That Made Christianity Revolutionary, B&H Publishing, 2011, pp. 97-98; www.PreachingToday.com)
Robert C. Roberts, a Reformed theologian, once said, “The fruits of the Holy Spirit are… largely fruits of sustained interaction with God. Just as a child picks up traits more or less simply by dwelling in the presence of her parent, so the Christian develops tenderheartedness, compassion, humility, forgiveness, joy, and hope… by dwelling in the presence of God the Father and Jesus Christ his Son. And this means, to a very large extent, living in a community of serious believers.” (Robert C. Roberts, The Reformed Journal, Feb. 1987; www.PreachingToday.com)
Do you want your life to bear fruit that really matters? Then get close to God. Spend time in His Word. Spend time in prayer. Spend time with His people. Grow in your understanding of God if you really want your life to count for something.
Get to know God. Then you will bear fruit for God. Get close to Him, then your works will accomplish something of real value. Did you see that in verse 10? “Bearing fruit in EVERY good work.”
Let me tell you: there are a lot of people who are busy for God, doing what they think are good works, but those works accomplish nothing of lasting value. We don’t just want to be busy for God, no! We want our works to bear fruit!
Andrew Murray once said, “Do not confound work and fruit. There may be a good deal of work for Christ that is not the fruit of the heavenly Vine” (Andrew Murray, Leadership, Vol. 8, no. 4; www.PreachingToday.com). He is absolutely right!
John Perkins has come to understand this in his own life and ministry. Dr. Perkins is an African American Christian leader from Mississippi who was nearly beaten to death in the ‘70’s for his work in social justice before it was popular, especially in the south. Today, a lot of people treat him like a “celebrity,” but not then.
Just a few years ago (in 2007), author and theologian, Paul Metzger was driving the now-elderly Dr. Perkins to a benefit dinner. Perkins was the keynote speaker at the dinner, which was raising money for an inner-city ministry that provided jobs and housing to ex-offenders and youth.
As they drove along, Metzger asked Dr. Perkins what it was like for him now in Mississippi. Dr. Perkins replied matter-of-factly, “I’m kind of a hero now in Mississippi. It seems that every time the state newspapers write something about reconciliation, they quote me. It’s as if I created the word,” he said with a laugh.
There was a pause in the conversation. Then as Dr. Perkins looked out the window, he said, “But when I think about how many homes my fame has built for the poor in Mississippi, I realize that my fame hasn’t built any homes for the poor. So I don’t put no stock in my fame.”
Metzger said he nearly lost control of the car. “I rarely come across such a value system,” he said, “in others or in my own heart.” Then Metzger makes this distinction between the Christian celebrity and a true saint. He says, “The Christian celebrity leverages the gospel for his or her own benefit. The saint asks God to leverage his or her own life and “fame” for the gospel and for people. The celebrity wants to be famous. The saint wants to be influential so that others might meet Jesus. (Paul Metzger, The Gospel of John, Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2010, pp. 50-51; www.PreachingToday.com)
What do we really want from life? To be famous? Or to be influential so that others might meet Jesus? I know what GOD wants for us. He wants us to be influential so that others might meet Jesus, because that’s the only thing of lasting value.
Do we want to live lives that are truly worth living? Then let’s seek to help people find eternal life in Christ. Let’s seek to bear real fruit that lasts, not the fleeting flash of fame. That’s the kind of life God wants for us. He just wants us to be productive through our knowledge of Him. Then 2ndly, He wants us to…
BE STRONG.
God wants to empower us with His power to persevere with patience. He wants to strengthen us with His might so we don’t get mad and quit before we see the fruit of our labor.
Colossians 1:11 Being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience… (NIV)
Notice, we are “strengthened with all power according to HIS glorious might,” AND we are strengthened so that we may have “great endurance and patience.” If pleasing God were up to our own inherent abilities and exhibited power, then we’d get frustrated and quit long before we saw the fruit of our labor. But it’s not.
God wants us to be productive, so HE strengthens us for the stask. Then, as we depend on HIS strength (not our own), we have “great endurance and patience.” Literally, we have the ability to “remain under” the load without getting frustrated and angry.
The Greek word for “patience” means forbearance or the restraint of wrath. One of my Greek dictionaries describes it as “a state of emotional calm in the face of provocation or misfortune and without complaint or irritation (Louw & Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament).
We don’t have to be big and powerful to be productive for God. We just have to persevere with patience. We just have to remain under the task without losing our cool, and that’s exactly what God gives us the strength to do.
So stop living your life as if it all depended on you, and start depending on God’s strength today. Stop trying to do big things for God. Stop trying to be perfect, or forcing your children or others around you to be perfect. Instead, just let the Lord give you His patience to persevere. Depend on His strength to remain under and remain calm until you see real results in the end.
In 1983, Australia hosted its ultra-marathon, a 573.7 mile foot race from Sydney to Melbourne. This is a race that takes days to run, and professionals from all over the world came to participate. Shortly before the race began, a 61-year-old farmer named Cliff Young, wearing overalls and goulashes over his boots, walked up to the registration table and requested a number to enter the race. The people at the registration table thought it was a joke – that somebody was setting them up – so they laughed. But Cliff Young said, “No, I’d really like to run.” So they gave him a number and pinned it on his old overalls.
Cliff Young walked over to the start of the race. All the other professional runners, with sculpted bodies decked out in fancy running gear, looked at him like he was crazy. The crowd snickered. They laughed even more when the gun went off and the race began, because Cliff Young didn’t run like a runner. He ran with an awkward, goofy-looking shuffle. People were laughing all through the crowd; and finally, someone called out, “Get that old fool off the track!”
Yet five days, 14 hours, and four minutes later, at 1:25 in the morning, Cliff Young shuffled across the finish line of the 573.7 mile ultra-marathon ahead of everybody else. He had won the race. And he didn’t win it by a matter of minutes or even an hour or two. The second place runner was nine hours and 56 minutes behind him. Cliff Young had set a new world record for the ultra-marathon. The press mobbed him trying to figure out the secret of his success. Was it some kind of special running shoe – goulashes over boots? I don’t think so. Was it something he ate, which turned out to be primarily pumpkin seeds and water? No, it was none of that. Cliff Young had shuffled his way to victory, because he never slept. The other runners would run for 18 hours straight, and then stop and sleep for three or four hours. Cliff never stopped. At the age of 61, he just kept running for five days, 14 hours, and four minutes. (David Allen, Running with Endurance, www.Preaching Today.com)
Cliff didn’t win because he had all the right stuff. Cliff didn’t win because he was the strongest and best. Cliff won simply because he didn’t quit when everybody else did.
And that’s how we win at life too. If our little church wants to be influential so that others meet Jesus, we don’t need a bunch of professional preachers; we don’t need flashy, expensive programs; we just need to persevere with patience in the power that God provides.
What does God want from us? It’s really very simple. He just wants us to be productive by getting to know Him. Then He wants us to be strong through His strength to persevere. And finally, He simply wants us to…
BE GRATEFUL for all He’s done for us.
He just wants us to thank Him for qualifying us for heaven, rescuing us from hell, and redeeming us from sin.
Colossians 1:12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. (NIV)
Let’s give thanks, because God qualified us for heaven. Literally, God made us sufficient. God made us competent or adequate to handle heaven’s wealth.
When I think about living a life worthy of the Lord, a life that literally weighs as much as Him in value, I know it is absolutely impossible in and of myself. It would be like putting a Styrofoam cup on the scale next to a pile of gold. My life is worth nothing compared to Him. But when I put my trust in Christ, God filled me with Himself. He filled this “Styrofoam cup” with His holy presence. Then my life gained value and weight. All of a sudden, I was qualified not only to be productive in this life, but to share the glories of the next life with all the saints.
The same can happen for you. Just trust Christ with your life and let God fill you with Himself. Then you too will be adequate to handle heaven’s wealth.
And for those of us who have already trusted Christ with our lives, let’s be grateful! Let’s give thanks, because God has qualified us for heaven.
More than that, let’s give thanks, because God has rescued us from hell.
Colossians 1:13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves. (NIV)
It’s like God moved us from the slums into to the mansions. He took us out of the realm of darkness and made us citizens in the realm of the Son of His love. We are loved, my dear friends. Even as God loves His only Son, He loves us, and all He wants is our gratitude. So let’s give thanks, because God has qualified us for heaven. Let’s give thanks, because God has rescued us from hell.
And finally, let’s give thanks, because Jesus has redeemed us from sin.
Colossians 1:14 In whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (NIV)
The blood Jesus shed on the cross was the price paid to release us from captivity to sin. We no longer face sin’s penalty. We are no longer under sin’s power. And Hallelujah! Someday we will no longer be in sin’s presence, all because Jesus died for our sins and rose again.
A March, 2011, issue of The New York Times featured a story about a 51-year-old ex-convict named Robert Salzman. After a horrific childhood, Salzman spent most of his adult life in prison. So when he was released from prison in 2001, Salzman found it difficult to enjoy freedom outside prison walls, struggling to pay rent or winding up in homeless shelters.
Finally, in June of 2010, Salzman’s life was transformed. While he was riding a New York City subway car, Rashaad Ernesto Green “found” him. Green is a writer and director, who at the time was looking for a man to play a tough-looking, former convict in a film he was directing. After an audition, Green surprised nearly everyone when he gave Salzman a key role in the film.
In the following months, Salzman found it hard to believe that he had gone from prison to stardom in a major motion picture. In fact, on one occasion, they were filming on location in a Long Island penitentiary where an exhausted Salzman fell asleep on a cot in the prison cell. When he woke up, he became confused and thought he was still a prisoner. Salzman started weeping… Then it dawned on him that he was now a free man. Salzman knew that at any moment he could walk out of that cramped cell and through those prison doors, and he was overwhelmed with joy. (Corey Kilgannon, “Sidewalk Is His Prison Yard,” The New York Times, 3-11-11; www.PreachingToday.com)
My dear friends, that’s only a small picture of what happened when God “found” us. He took us from prison and made us stars in His kingdom. Now, we are free! We are free to be all that God wants us to be. We are free to be productive. We are free to be strong. We are free to be grateful; and so, live lives worthy of Him.
