Oct. 14, 2001
Scripture Text:
Colossians
1:9-14
Speaker:
Jeff Williams
Series Overview
How to Pray with Power
Good morning! Several weekends ago I experienced a tremendously traumatic event. I was stung by a bee. Maxine had gone to the church to lead worship practice. I had stayed at home with the kids because Austin was not feeling well. Josh and I had just finished breakfast and we let the dog ( our killer poodle) back in the house. In doing so, we also let in a bee. I explained to Joshua that I am allergic to bee stings and that if I ever got stung I may have to go the hospital. I could not find the fly swatter so I did what any manly man would do - I knock him right out of the air! About half an hour later I was cleaning the kitchen and walked into the dining room to get the paper towels and stepped on something. I immediately recognized that I had stepped on the bee - the dead bee. It had stung me and I began to do what any manly man would do. I yelled and screamed and ran all around the house. I woke Austin up and Joshua turned white as a sheet. I called Maxine at the church and told her what happened. Joshua got on the phone and said "Mommy, get off the phone right now! I have to call 911 and get daddy an ambulance! Now do what I say! "Needless to say, I did survive thanks to Dr. Wong. There is a point to this story.
We have an enemy and he is a defeated bee. Just a chapter farther in Colossians we read -- "When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made us alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross." Col 2:13-15. But he still has a stinger. Peter calls him a "roaring lion looking for someone to devour." (1 Peter 5:8). One of the ways that Satan uses his stinger is by distorting the Word of God. John 8:44 says "he is a liar and the father of lies." In the church at Colosse, Satan had used individuals to confuse the people about doctrine. This is one of the primary reasons for Paul’s concern.
As Pastor Brian pointed out last week, people were claiming to have special knowledge (later known as Gnostics). They were the "in crowd." Also, some were advocating adhering to strict Jewish rules, worship of angels, and mistreatment of the body. It is with these serious distortions in mind that Paul powerfully prays for this church.
Review
The first eight verses comprise the introduction. As we learned last week, Paul thanks God for the Colossians themselves - for their faith hope and love. He is thankful for the Gospel that is bearing fruit. And he is especially thankful for Epaphras, "our dear fellow servant and a faithful minister," the pastor of the church who has brought a report to Paul concerning their "love in the Spirit." Now this leads Paul, as it does in so many of his other letters, to prayer.
Verses nine through fourteen record Paul’s prayer. It is divided into two parts. Verses 9-12a begins the body of the letter and, as Dr. Grant Richison has stated, it "is a prayer that touches all the bases of their needs." In verses 12b-14 Paul gives thanks for the finished work of Christ on their behalf.
Pray that they may know God’s PURPOSES for their lives
Verse nine begins: “For this reason, since the day we hear 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.”
"For this reason" - what reason? What he had been writing about in the first eight verses! The Colossians faith, hope, and love and the powerful effect the Gospel was having on the churches.
"Ever since we heard about you" - who is we? Remember from verse one that Timothy was with him even though he was in prison in Rome. And also remember that Paul had never personally met these believers.
“We have not stopped praying for you and asking God" - Paul knew that the power to change situations lay in prayer. In his letter to the church at Thesolonica Paul encourages the believers to "pray continually." (I Thes 5:17) To the church at Ephesus, Paul tells them to "pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kind of prayers and requests.” With this in mind, be alert and always keep praying for all the saints." (Ephesians 6:18) (which Pastor Brian pointed out would include all who have a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ.) And James, the brother of Jesus, writes "the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective." (James 5:16). Pastor Jim Moody states: "The most powerful thing anyone can do for someone else is to pray for them, because through prayer you and I can touch the heart of God who in turn can touch anyone, anywhere regardless of circumstances. The power is not in the prayer itself, but in the power that God releases in response to the prayer." Perhaps it is time for "Operation Enduring Prayer" - we must be committed to pray consistently for God to do His work here at PBC.
What did they ask God for? "To fill you with the knowledge of His will." Paul was praying that the Colossian believers would understanding the meaning of life or PURPOSE! The asking denotes earnestness or to implore. The request "to be filled" means "to the top" or "controlled to the smallest detail." Have you ever been stuffed? I mean really stuffed? Several years ago, Maxine and I visited her grandmother in Louisiana for Thanksgiving. It appeared that her grandmother and aunts had cooked enough food to feed a small army. I ate until I thought I would explode. About a half an hour after we finished eating, I waddled over to the couch to watch football. Maxine’s grandmother brought a tray in and made us sandwiches to eat while we watched the game. Was she secretly trying to kill me off? I was full! We can not fill ourselves or expect our pastor, conferences or tapes to do it. It must be a work of God in our lives. I wonder how often we pray that people would be so full of God’s Word that they would spiritually waddle?
The word "knowledge" is an important word in the book of Colossians. Remember they are battling the heresy of the Gnostics. They had special knowledge. You had to learn the secret handshake……the code word……and jump through their hoops……then you might join the ranks of the "special ones." The word actually means "specific information gained from the experience of concentrating on one subject."
The knowledge of what? "Of God’’s will." What is God’s will for your life? What were your created for? What is your purpose? You do know you were made on purpose, don’t you? Paul prays that they would be so in tune with God and seeking Him through His Word that they would have a good understanding of what their Purpose is. This is no secret sect knowledge but knowledge available to every believer. This is a must in any prayer for believers today, particularly youth. Everything in their culture echoes Solomon’s lament in Ecclesiastes: "Meaningless! Meaningless! Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless!" (Ecc1:2) The rock group "Papa Roach" has unwittingly done a modern day update: "Cut my life into pieces/this is my last resort/suffocation/no breathing/don’t give an ……. Then the cry of a lost generation: "Losing my sight/losing my mind/wish somebody would tell me I’m fine." Young people, as well as us adults, need to know there is meaning to life. That we were created on purpose……for a purpose……with a purpose. That each of us is totally unique and that He loves us with a everlasting love. We are not the result of cosmic freak accident or the results of a primordial soup mix. Psalm 14:1 says that the fool says in his heart there is no God. The fools are having a field day with our kids’ minds and it is time we take back ground. Pray that others maybe filled with the knowledge that God has a purpose and plan for their lives as Jeremiah says "to give them a hope and a future."
How do we get that knowledge? " through all spiritual wisdom and understanding" The word wisdom is "the application of truth to experience." Or, as Dr. Frank Pollard was fond of saying, "sanctified common sense." "Understanding" means discernment, the ability to solve problems. Not only does Paul encourage us to pray that other may know God’s purposes for their lives but that the knowledge would be from God’s PERSPECTIVE! (seeing situations and people through God’s eyes by way of the Word and the leading of the Holy Spirit.) The writer of Hebrews warns against being satisfied with the rudimentary understanding of the "elemental truths of God’s Word and seeking to grow to maturity. I recently saw a t-shirt that said "I believe in the big bang……God said it……bang there it was! Cute shirt - lousy practical theology. Pray that we might not check our brains at the door of our faith and that our youth can be taught to think critically about what they, and we, believe.
This wisdom and understanding would be complete "all" (which is used 32 times in the book of Colossians) and it is spiritual. It is an understanding of life given to the believer by God himself. This is contrasted with human wisdom of the Gnostic which Paul writes when commenting on the rules and regulations these heretics were preaching: "Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgences." (Col 2:23)
Pray that the believers live PRAISEWORTHY lives.
After praying that the Colossian believers would know their purpose in God’s Kingdom and practically apply that knowledge to their everyday lives, he then asked they would seek to walk the walk:
A. "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…… in some translations the word “live” is translated "walk." This is our philosophy of life. The word worthy means "weighty or equal value." We are called to actually live out what we say we believe. Paul says elsewhere: " Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Steven Curtis Chapman says: "You can run with the big dogs/you can fly with the eagles/you can jump through all the hoops and climb the ladder to the top/but when it all comes down……are you walking the walk?" Our creed and our conduct is inseparable.
B. We do this, not to please man, but "to please God in every way." Paul writes to the church at Corinth: "So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it." (II Cor 5:9) The Greek is bears a negative connotation " ready to do or say anything to please a patron." In modern terms, Paul prays for the believers to be "yes men and women."
Pray that they live PRODUCTIVE Lives
A. "Bearing fruit in every good work" Ephesians 2:10 says: "For we are God’’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." Paul prays that they would have a productive Ministry. It is important to remember that we are not saved by these works, they are the fruit of salvation not the root. Paul tells the Ephesians: "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith -- and this not from yourselves, it is a gift from God - not by works, so that no one can boast." Jesus said that a tree is known for its fruit (Matt 12:33.) We need to pray that others’ ministry is productive.
We can not produce this fruit on our own. An apple tree does not "try" to grow fruit or go to a seminar to learn the four principals of better fruit growing. As long as the roots are deep, the tree will naturally produce what it was created to do. Jesus said it this way: "I am the vine and you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in Him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." (John 15:4) When we are seeking to know our purpose and applying what we learn from God to our everyday experiences, our ministry will be filled with the fruit of the Spirit that we studied last month found in Gal 5……it will be productive.
B. "Growing in the knowledge of God" - I was a senior in college when I became a Christ follower. I remember attending a prayer meeting as a baby Christian. I was scared to death that someone would ask my to pray. I just listened and learned. First, as usual, Stan rose to pray. It went something like this: "Oh great and magnificent God, omnipotent , omnipresent, the Alpha and Omega, Thou hast ordained praise from my lips, and I am in dread of thou. Mayest thou not slay me for He has risen from the sepulcher! Bestow upon thy inheritance……" You get the picture. My jaw was on the floor. I thought "This guy knows how to pray." When he finished there was a short pause and then I witnessed something that changed my life. Craig, pony-tail and earring, fell to the ground and prayed a prayer similar to this: " God, dude, You are so awesome! Man I am not together and You know how many times I have failed this week. But Jesus took care of my sin. You are so awesome! I am yours……totally Yours……" then he softly rocked saying thank you. I sat trying not to stare and it suddenly occurred to me that Stan knew how to pray but Craig knew God!
This is what this knowledge is all about. Not some esoteric secret knowledge. Not intellectual theology. Not knowing about God. But having a PERSONAL, growing relationship with Him. Modern worship band SonicFlood sings "I want to know You/I want to seek Your face/I want to know you more.” I have been married to Maxine for nine years now and I know her much better than the day we meet. But I have sought out relationship with her, talked to her, learned about her……why because love her!
It is important to teach the Bible and doctrine, as Jay Leno points out to us the amount of Biblical illiteracy, it must be done in order to facilitate growth in our personal knowledge of the Lord. When I graduated seminary, I remember sitting in the swimming pool at apartments and saying "I have spent nearly three years study ABOUT You……I want to know you.” It must not just be head knowledge but also a heart knowledge……not just for information but for Divine inspiration.
If you seek to walk worthy and "number our days and make our days count" as Chris Rise sings, God will make you productive in ways you could never imagine. Todd Beamer was supposed to be at his ten year college reunion this past weekend at Wheaton College. Instead his wife is trying to explain why bad men would highjack airplanes. Todd Beamer was on flight 93. He was one of the passengers who tried to take the plane back. He has been hailed as a hero. Dennis Hastard, speaker of the house, read a letter from President Bush at the memorial service. The news interviewed several of his friends and one of them said the following: "It does not surprise me that Todd died a sacrificial death……because Todd Beamer lived a sacrificial life." Todd’s life was productive because he and God were on more than casual terms. And now Todd’s knowledge of God is on a whole different level.
Pray that the POWER of God is evident in their lives
A. Paul prays that "being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that your may have great endurance and patience." I believe that our message come through the clearest when we exhibit endurance and patience through this world’s storms. The idea of "being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might" implies that this "Dunamas" is strength given to us by an outside source. In Ephesians Paul prays that they may know God’s "incomparably great power for those who believe." He goes on to say that this power is the very power that God "exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead." Paul also commands the Ephesians to "be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power."
On a mission trip with the youth group a couple of years ago a junior high school gal named Ashley became very frustrated while trying to iron her shirt. She ironed and ironed it again and it was still wrinkled. Finally one of her roommates picked up the cord and announced to the whole world that it had not been plugged in the whole time. In order to be filled with that power you must be plugged into the power source. Paul exclaims: "I do all things through Christ who strengthens me." (Phil 4:13) And he boasts in his weakness to the Corinthians: "Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, delight in weakness, in insults, in hardness, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." (I Cor 12:8-11).
This power helps us to have "great endurance and patience." The endurance Paul is talking about is primarily the ability to continue in the face of impossible circumstances.
"Patience" is not passive waiting but "the unrelenting effort even in the face of difficulty - tenacity." This related to not impossible situations but impossible people. Solomon praises this quality in Proverbs 16:32 - "Better a patient man than a warrior." Later in Colossians he encourages us to "bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you." It has been said that a "man is only as big as the people who annoy him."
B. An Attitude of Gratitude - " and joyfully giving thanks to the Father." Paul, in his "joy letter" Philippians, says to "rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again, rejoice." (Phil 4:4). He picks up the same theme in I Thessalonians 5: 16-18: " Be joyful always; pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus." Joseph Stalin said that gratitude was the breakfast of the dogs.
A couple of years ago, I had the privilege of hearing Joni Ericson Tada speak. Her endurance and patience are perfect examples of what Paul is praying that the world may see in us. Paralyzed in a diving accident at age nineteen, Joni is a quadrapeligic, which means she has no movement below the neck. Joni is an internationally known speaker, writer, philanthropist, and painter (she paints with her teeth). She tells the story of being in the car (yes she can drive) and having a flat tire. She became very upset and started asking the why me questions. For anyone else a flat tire is a minor event but for Joni it was a major obstacle. She said the Lord started reminding her of how many times she had driven and not had a flat tire, how many times her car had started versus not started, how many days were filled with good as opposed to bad and she reports she began to laugh. She said a prayer and thanked God for the flat tire because it reminded her how much we take for granted.
Patience, endurance, joyful gratitude stands out in this world of hustle, bustle, and worry. In Philippians Paul prays that we would "Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life……" (Phil 2:14-16a) Paul prays we would stand out and people would take notice of us and then we would point them to the real power source behind our lives - Jesus Christ.
Thank God for His PROVISION for us through the Cross
Now we come to the second part of the prayer. Paul prays that the Colossians would joyfully give thanks to the Father for three events:
A. Meeting the requirements to get into heaven "qualified to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light". God qualified us……there was nothing we did to earn it……grace is unmerited favor. What is the "inheritance?" As a Jew, Paul would be especially aware of God’s covenant promises of an inheritance of the Promise land. As believers we share or become partakers in the Promised Land of Heaven. "In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade - kept in heaven for you……" He then contrasts the kingdom of light with our previous address in "dead-end alleys and dark dungeons" as Eugene Peterson puts in The Message.
B. Being rescued from darkness - "For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves… "Peter states: "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light." Have you ever been in total darkness? In the caves in Kentucky they turned out the lights and everyone freaked out, not me, of course, that was the darkest darkness I had ever experienced physically. Spiritually we all were held in Satan’s concentration camps of darkness. But God rescued us. Imagine the looks on the faces of the prisoners at Auschwitz when the liberation troops opened the gates and said you are free to go. C. S. Lewis portrays this darkness in the Chronicles of Narnia. In Narnia, it is always winter but never Christmas. When Aslan the lion comes, the thaw and subsequent bloom of flowers tells that the kingdom of light has won. He not only rescues us but he conveys us to the Kingdom of His Son. It is the same principle as when Nebuchadnezzar transferred the Jewish people from Judah to Babylon. Paul says to the Ephesians: "For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light……and find out what pleases him." (Eph 5:8)
C. For our redemption - "in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins" - In the book of Hosea, he is told to marry a woman named Gomer who is a prostitute. She ends up selling herself into slavery and Hosea is told by the Lord to buy her back. So he stands at the slave auction bidding on his own wife. Only love can make a man do that. In the same way we were slaves to sin and Jesus redeemed us, not with money, but with blood - his life for ours. Paul says "in Jesus we have redemption through his blood, forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace He has lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding." "You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly……God demonstrated his love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:6-8) If you have never put your faith in Christ, then you still are living in the domain of darkness spiritually. Listen to God again: "There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified ( just as if you never sinned) freely by his grace (unmerited favor) through the redemption, that by Christ Jesus and if the Son has set you free you are free indeed.” D. This part of the prayer again focuses on the theme of Jesus being supreme. It is because of Him that we qualify for heaven. It is because of Him we are rescued from darkness. It is because of Him we have been redeemed and forgiven.
Action steps
Pray - don’t say you are going to pray "since we have this moment here at heaven’s door we should start knocking, what are we waiting for." - Just Do it! Pray continuously, specifically not just "God bless Johnnie" but pray that others would know God’s purpose, that they would live praiseworthy lives, be productive, and manifest God’s power. Thank God for the provision he has made for us through the cross.
Make prayer a priority. Try out the pray group that meets during the services. Become involved in our prayer partner ministry. Put your name on the prayer chain. Join the men at Burger King at 6:00 every Tuesday morning for prayer. Pray for the leaders of PBC and that our church would not only grow in numbers but in love and in knowledge of God’s love for the world.
Pray for our youth and the youth group. They are not the future of the church……we are the church! What does a cow say when you duct tape his mouth……MMMM. Pray that the youth would know the MEANING for their lives (God’s will), know their gifting and be productive in their MINISTRY……that the MESSAGE of the gospel would not be just head knowledge but make to their heart……and that they would be on MISSION for God. We call this living out loud! At the THING we gave students the opportunity to write on the walls, on paper, and this is what one of the youth wrote:
Pray for people you have never met but that God allows you to hear about. Churches all over the world are still praying that the three New Tribes Missions men, (names) would be found alive. Pray for their wives and children. Todd Beamer’s wife and two small children. You can not pray for everyone in the world but you can pray for those you know about.
Conclusion
Prayer changes people. I know because I am a product of much prayer. You probably are too.
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