There’s a Spanish story of a father and son who had become estranged. The son ran away, and the father set off to find him. He searched for months to no avail. Finally, in a last desperate effort to find him, the father put an ad in the Madrid newspaper. The ad read: “Dear Paco, meet me in front of this newspaper office at noon on Saturday. All is forgiven. I love you. Your Father.”
On Saturday 800 young men named Paco showed up, looking for forgiveness and love from their fathers.
Colossians? ?1:9-14?????
9 “For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and long suffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.”
1st Point “The Reason”
“The greatest tragedy is not death, but life without purpose.”
Why do we go through the things we go through? Why do we cry or laugh? Why do we work? Why do we rest, why do we fix things or let them go? Everything has a reason. And you beloved have been created to fulfill a wonderful plan of God and for that reason you were born, in other words beloved you have a purpose.
Beloved everything we do for God has a purpose, a reason, nothing is done without a definite purpose and plan to be fulfilled for the glory of Jesus Christ. For instance: there are reasons we do some of the things we do, there are reasons we act the way we act, there are reasons we think the way we think, it isn’t something we just thought of ourselves, there were events and situations that have shaped our lives and helped us form this into our everyday endeavors, beloved you were saved for a reason, it wasn’t by accident, it wasn’t for no other purpose then for the tremendous purpose of Gods plan for your life and everyone around you.
Jeremiah? ?29:11? ?NKJV?? ????????
11 “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
I desire by the grace of God to help you understand and grasp the purpose of God in your life.
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First, Paul prayed that they would have a knowledge of God’s will, informed by a true spiritual understanding. To know God and what He requires of us is our first responsibility.
“If you read this epistle through, you will observe that Paul frequently alludes to knowledge and wisdom. To the point in which he judged the church to be deficient he turned his prayerful attention. He would not have them ignorant. He knew that spiritual ignorance is the constant source of error, instability, and sorrow; and therefore he desired that they might be soundly taught in the things of God.”
Beloved the preaching of the gospel is not for entertainment but for the edifying of the soul, edifying of the church, and for enlargement of heart, it is the AHA moments of your life in the understanding of God’s word.
Hosea 4:6
6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
When God's people are destroyed and waste away, it isn't because God has lost either His love or strength. It's because His people lack … knowledge.
It isn't that God says His people are completely ignorant. They have some knowledge, but not enough. They may have just enough to make them think they know it all. What kind of knowledge do they lack? In the context, the first answer must be they lack the knowledge of God(Hosea 4:1). They know God some - perhaps a little - but not enough. Perhaps they felt they knew God well enough already.
The second kind of knowledge they lack is the knowledge of God's Word (you have forgotten the law of your God). They know the Word of God some - perhaps a little - but not enough. Perhaps they felt they knew God's Word well enough already.
It should not surprise us that there is a connection between knowing God and knowing His Word. Some people think that Bible knowledge is boring and brainy and not necessary for a real walk with God. But God and His Word are vitally connected. Psalm 138:2 says, You have magnified Your word above all Your name. When God sought for a term to express His nature, He calls Himself "The Word" (John 1:1).
When we know God for who He really is, it affects our conduct. "Where there is no knowledge of God, no conviction of his omnipresence and omniscience, private offenses, such as stealing, adulteries, and so forth, will prevail."
2nd Point “Walking in thankfulness”
Ephesians 5:15
See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise,
Because this light was given to us, we should walk circumspectly in other words in a careful and prudent way– carefully, wisely, not as fools.
That you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him: Second, Paul prayed that they would live according to the same knowledge they received, living out a walk worthy of the Lord. This is a familiar pattern, repeated over and over again in the New Testament. Our walk is based on our knowledge of God and our understanding of His will. What we know about God will help us to grow in God and in His will for our lives.
Being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. This is how we can be fully pleasing to God and how we can have a worthy walk with God.
This is an echo of Jesus’ thought in John 15:7-8: If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.
Strengthened with all might: As we walk worthy of the Lord, His strength is there to help us meet all of life’s challenges, and to endure and overcome problems with circumstances (patience) and people (long suffering) with joy.
(Col 1:12-14) Paul’s specific thanks to the Father.
Giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.
Giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us: In the divine administration, the Father is mentioned in connection with the broad sweep of His plan of redemption. He is the Person of the Trinity who initiates the plan of the ages. To be qualified is to officially be recognized as being trained to perform a particular job or task; certified. Stamped with approval. Here it is God qualified the least qualified for a greater purpose then ourselves. .
To be partakers, in other words a member of the family and/or citizens of Heaven. We are partakers of the inheritance of the saints: It is the Father who qualifies us, not our own works. We gain this as an inheritance, instead of earning it as a wage.
He has delivered us from the power of darkness: Christians have been delivered from Satan’s domain. The word has the idea of a rescue by a sovereign power. Beloved we are to walk in thankfulness and be of great joy that we have been delivered from hell.
Another place where this same phrase for power of darkness is used is in Luke 22:53, where Jesus spoke of the darkness surrounding His arrest and passion in the same terms. “These words refer to the sinister forces marshaled against him for decisive combat in the spiritual realm.” Darkness is of Satan and desires to surround you and destroy you but walking in this newness and covered by the precious blood of Jesus Christ, Satan and his domain have no dominion over God’s children.
The power of darkness may be seen in its effects, and for those who have been delivered... from the power of darkness these effects should be less and less evident in the life.
· The power of darkness lulls us to sleep.
· The power of darkness is skilled at concealment. We don’t have to hide anymore.
· The power of darkness afflicts and depresses man. Yet we were set free.
· The power of darkness can fascinate us. We no longer see sin as fun but deadly and enjoy holiness.
· The power of darkness emboldens men, in other words it gives the courage or confidence to do something or to behave in a certain way some.
“Beloved, we still are tempted by Satan, but we are not under his power; we have to fight against him, why because we are not his slaves. He is not our king; he has no rights over us; we do not obey him; we will not listen to his temptations.” Because we have been conveyed from darkness to light.
3rd Point “Conveyed from darkness to light and completely forgiven”
And conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love: According to Barclay, the word we translate conveyed had a special significance in the ancient world. When one empire conquered another, the custom was to take the population of the defeated empire and transfer it completely to the conqueror’s land. It is in this sense that Paul says we have been conveyed into God’s kingdom. Everything we have and everything we are now belongs to Him.
So here we have the promise of God, the victory of His redemption and the promise of being made brand new, no longer under the same condemnation or shame of sin but now transformed, transfigured and renewed by His powerful blood. Removed from the blindness and darkness of the state we were in and brought into the light where we can see and see clearly.
2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
All the old things, the old ways, the old you is passed away, gone, don’t bring that old you back to life, but walk in this newness, this freedom, this joy and power of God.
The Bible says in whom we have redemption through His blood: Redemption has the idea of release by a legal ransom. The price for our release was paid for by the blood of Jesus.
Revelation 7:14
And I said to him, “Sir, you know.” So he said to me, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
Those saved in the great tribulation are saved just like everybody else, by the blood of the Lamb. Even if they are martyred, their martyrdom does not save them. Only the work of Jesus can cleanse and save. It is what Jesus has done, what His blood represents and what we are recipients of and that is freedom because of the blood of the Lamb.
“They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Not one of them became white through his tears of repentance, not one through the shedding of the blood of bulls or of goats. They all wanted a second hand sacrifice, and for none of them was any sacrifice effectual, except the death of Jesus Christ our Lord. They washed their robes nowhere but in the blood of the Lamb.”
White by blood is an interesting phrase; we don’t think of things being made white by the application of blood. But the blood of Jesus cleanses us:
Isaiah 1:18
Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
This is one reason why pleading the blood of Jesus – in the right sense, not in a magical or superstitious sense – has such great significance in spiritual warfare. It shows the “receipt” it shows the paid in full, it shows the check being cashed, payment accepted of our lawful purchase as redeemed people. And now we are living and walking in the forgiveness of sins.
The forgiveness of sins: The word translated forgiveness is the ancient Greek word aphesis, most literally rendered “a sending away.” Our sin and guilt is sent away because of what Jesus did on the cross for us. All is made new, new life, new mind, new heart, new everything because of what Christ has done.
“It thus speaks of the removal of our sins from us, so that they are no longer barriers that separate us from God.” We can come to God and walk with God through Jesus Christ and with that privilege, with that opportunity at hand, we are to walk worthy of the Lord fully pleasing Him with and through our lives. And all this and more because we have been conveyed from darkness to His marvelous light.
