A Worthy Life
CCCAG, February 12th 2023
Scripture: Colossians 1:9-14
Introduction:
I was looking back through my files last week and since I came here as the pastor in 2014, we have done sermon series focusing on the Gospel of John, and the epistles of Romans, James, Ephesians, and Philippians. The last two, Philippian’s and Ephesians are 2 out of 4 of the prison epistles, or letters that Paul wrote while he was under arrest in Rome. The other letter are Philemon, and the letter we will be looking at for the next few weeks- Colossians.
When I was planning this out, I leaned back in my chair and closed my eyes, trying to picture Paul as he was dictating this to a scribe. He is chained to a Roman soldier, but stubbornly refusing to give up on his calling to build the church.
Paul was writing to a people living in a Roman culture. This is a culture which-
Believed that Rome was your god, and the emperor was to be worshipped. In fact, that is what Paul was imprisoned for- speaking about Jesus.
In addition to emperor worship, Roman culture supported and encouraged other pagan worship
Used male and female prostitutes in the various temples as a part of their pagan worship, and then would use the children born to those women as a ritual sacrifice.
Had widespread drug and alcohol usage.
Brutally suppressed any uprising. You did NOT have freedom of speech, of assembly, of the press, religion, or the right to bear arms.
I bring this background about the world that Paul was writing to because sometimes we think that the words we find in scripture may have had meaning then, but not for our modern world.
This is known as chronological snobbery- that we in the 21st century are so much more advanced morally than they were in the times the bible was written.
I don’t think you can watch the news for more than 1 minute and honestly think that outside of technologically, humanity hasn’t really changed since the time of Paul writing this letter.
We still have pagan worship. If you don’t believe me, then you didn’t see the Grammy’s this last week, which is probably a good thing.
We will worship at the altar of sexual sin as porn is readily available and we have a booming sex trade, even here in west central Wisconsin.
Even in church’s, swinging is becoming the naughty secret.
Many of the freedoms that were ours since our nations founding are being eroded away, most notably the right to keep and bear arms. But, we shouldn’t ignore the thought police trying to strip us of our freedom of speech by telling us what we have to believe and say or they will do everything they can to destroy you.
I say that just to establish that the people that Paul is writing to in the book of Colossians are not that different from you and me.
So- as we go through this letter in the next several weeks, I want you to resist the thought that this is just a historical dive into an ancient culture that has little bearing to us today.
This letter is meant for you and for me today in 2023.
A little more historical background-
Collosae as a city does not exist anymore. It was located in what is today central Turkey, and was about 9 miles SE of Laodicea. It was home to 25-30, 000 people, and had a reputation as being the center of a cult of people who worshipped angels.
The church was founded by a man named Epaphras, an apostle working under Paul’s leadership. It was founded in the late 40’s AD, and Paul writes this letter to the church to clarify doctrine about who Christ is to us, and to avoid having that cult of angels influence the beliefs of the new church.
In verses 1-8, Paul begins his letter to the Colossians by greeting friends and fellow workers like Epaphras in verse 7, before getting to the teaching he wanted to bring.
Col 1:9-14
9 For this reason, 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. 10 And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
NIV
Prayer
Paul jumps right in and in 9 verses gives us a huge amount of truth that is very relevant for us living today.
I. Vs 9- God fill us with Knowledge, His Will, through spiritual understanding and wisdom.
That’s a lot to unpack, so let’s begin-
God places the utmost priority that you and I as believers and followers of Jesus be people of the Spirit.
That’s a lot of what I want to do in the next few months, culminating in a guest speaker in May coming to speak to us about being filled with the Holy Spirit.
Why is being filled with the Holy Spirit so important? Why do we need to have a refocusing of our spiritual lives in the Holy Spirit being first and foremost in our lives?
Because Jesus is our example.
Jesus never did a single miracle, never preached a sermon, never called a disciple, and outside of him teaching in the temple when he was 12, never showed any sign of being used by God.
That is, until Jesus comes to his cousin, John the Baptist, and the scriptures say that when John Baptizes Jesus-
Matt 3:16
“The Spirit of God descending like a dove and resting on Him.”
Note the dove. I always wondered why the Spirit came upon Jesus like a dove and the apostles like fire.
It’s because the fire destroys impurities, cleanses, purifies, and sets our hearts ablaze for God.
Jesus’ heart was already pure, it was already sinless, and already for God to use HIM, so God just a dove to signify that before all who were there that Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit for ministry.
Our fellowship was born in the fires of revival that occurred early in the 20th century. The Holy Spirit fell upon a young woman named Agnes Ozman at a bible school in Topeka Kansas and quickly spread to the rest of her classmates before sweeping the entire nation.
That was the birth of our fellowship- the Assemblies of God.
But, as much as I love the fire of God, what if we had a heart so in love with Jesus, and so passionate for the Holy Spirit’s presence in our lives that the fire isn’t needed, so God sends a dove.
I want to be God’s Dove man.
By the way, Why a dove?
Every single word, jot, and tittle in the bible has meaning for us, so we should ask- What is God saying here in sending the Dove?
Because up until this time, there was a wall of separation between God and humanity. Jesus was coming to destroy that wall.
The dove pointed back into history as the bird that signified to those on Noah’s Ark the wrath of God had ended, the separation was over, and now His promises to them are coming true.
What specific promise did the dove descending upon Jesus signify?
God is restoring to you and me what Adam and Eve lost when they sinned- the spiritual connection to HIM.
Remember, the bible says God is spirit, and we must worship HIM in Spirit and in truth.
The bible also says our created nature is that of a spirit which inhabits this physical body.
So true worship of God is when our spirit connects with God through His Spirit.
When we come to terms with that. When that truth get down deep inside our souls and spirits, that’s when the Holy Spirit imparts into us God’s will, His wisdom, and His understanding promised us here in verse 9.
That connection with the Almighty is repaired, and we can walk as Jesus did- sons and daughters of the King of Kings.
You may ask, “Will that take away all my problems?”
Nope. But you will have all the power of heaven to help you deal with those problems.
Oswald Chambers — 'When obedience is in the ascendant (In other words, when you make God the most important thing in your life), He will tax the remotest star and the last grain of sand to assist you with all His Almighty power.
It reminds me of a small boy who was getting picked on by the biggest bully in his school. It got to the point of the bully saying he was going to meet the boy by the big oak tree after school and beat him up. After school, the bully caught the small boy by the big oak tree and said, “What are you going do now, I got ya”.
The little boy said, “I ain’t going to do anything, he is!”
Out from behind the tree came the boys big brother, starting defensive tackle on the High School football team, who then showed the bully the consequence of messing with his little brother.
That’s what is available to you and me- if we have that strong spiritual connection to God through the Holy Spirit, then our big brother Jesus will wipe the floor with the devil when he tries to pick a fight with you.
II. The next thing Paul is teaching us today is how to maintain that connection with the Holy Spirit-
Vs 10 And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,
Up until recently, we had one ultrasound machine in the emergency department that me and a few other people used to start hard IV’s on people. It’s not a bad machine, it’s just older, big and hard to maneuver in small hospital rooms, and has a very small battery…maybe 8-10 minutes before it shuts off, and usually will shut off at the worst possible time in the process of starting this IV.
But really, that machine was never meant to be used apart from being plugged into a constant source of electric power. The battery is only meant to give up a few extra minutes to finish a procedure already started.
You see, you and I are like that machine. Human beings were never meant to run on battery.
Remember- you are a spiritual creature, designed to run on spiritual power source called the Holy Spirit.
You know, Jesus says something very interesting about this in the Gospel of John-
John 16:7- But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.
Now, me in my limited human brain cannot conceive of a situation that is better with less Jesus. It almost seems to be the exact opposite of what we are talking about this morning.
What Jesus is saying here is two-fold-
1. I have to die to take upon myself the sin of the world, so that whoever believes in me will have their sin wiped off of God’s ledgers so that they will not face his judgment.
2. I’m going to ask for just a little bit of grace here while I attempt to explain something that is very complex-
When Jesus came to earth and took on human form, He being God chose to self-limit His divine nature in having a physical body. In other words, he self-limited his Omnipresence- the ability to exist everywhere at once.
The self-limitation continues to a point today as Jesus still exists in a body, even though it’s a redeemed body with has supernatural abilities.
Essentially what it means that in order to restore what was lost by Adam and Eve, the Holy Spirit, not limited by a corporeal body has to come and fulfill that part of God’s plan as Jesus being self-limited by this body cannot fulfill.
Let me provide an analogy, probably a bad one.
What I mean by self-limited is that Jesus is making a choice to temporarily self-limits His omnipresence- being everywhere at once.
It would be like one of us having five gallons of our favorite ice cream available to us in the fridge, and it is specially formulated to taste the best while not adding a single pound to your weight…
But
You still self limit yourself not to have any of it, even though you are able to do so at any time you want to. You are not limited in your ability to grab a bowl of ice cream, you are just choosing not to at this time.
That’s kind of how Jesus is during this time in history. He still shares in ultimate power, ultimate knowledge, but for now self-limiting a little on the all present front.
However, being part of a triune God, He still has that power available through the Father and the Holy Spirit.
I bring this up because I want and need you to understand the importance of the Holy Spirit in your life. The Holy Spirit brings the presence of Jesus into you being the 3rd person of the trinity.
If anything I’ve said confuses you, please see me after the service as this is a hard thing to grasp.
Now back to the central point- Jesus is saying that by doing what he did, HE has given us a permanent connection to God through the Holy Spirit.
The way we exercise that connection is through our prayer lives. You’ve heard me say it before, and I’ll keep saying it for as long as you have me here as your pastor- prayer is our lifeline to the things of the Spirit
A Christian who doesn’t pray is like a car that never gets gas, or an electric charge if you have an EV. It just sits there, and never moves, never does it’s purpose, and is pretty much a waste of metal.
God has so much more for you than that. He wants you to be plugged into His Spirit so HIS power, knowledge, love, and light will always be available to you as you shine your light to the world He has called you to reach.
Finally, we are going to finish with verse 13-
III. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
As much as I love being an American, and feel blessed by God to be the 3rd generation of my family to live in this great country, a constitutional republic that is set up to allow people to live in freedom….
I understand that this is not my home.
When I accepted Christ and LORD and savior, my permanent address changed for ever to one in heaven.
Heaven is not a democracy, or a constitutional republic.
It is not socialist, communist, or capitalist economy.
Heaven is a Kingdom, ruled by a king named Jesus.
King Jesus isn’t just a ruler in a far away land who doesn’t even know who you are.
I doubt President Biden even knows any of our names here, but Jesus knows every hair on your body. He knows you every thought, every action, and every good or bad thing about you.
Jesus loves you. He is your only source of redemption- the wiping away of your sin before God.
Jesus himself said it best-
John 3:16-19
16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.
Whether you are hear or listening via the podcast, Jesus loves you, and has a plan for your life if you will surrender to Him, ask Him to forgive you of your sin, and trust in HIM for your salvation.
For those of you who have walked with God for a while- I encourage you to seek God in prayer, seek the Holy Spirit’s fire for your life, and to learn to Walk Worthy of the LORD Jesus.
Altar Call/Communion.
