Col No.2 The Apostles Prayer

And let's read from the ninth verse to the twelfth verses, from the ninth to the twelfth verses of Colossians chapter one. And we'll all read it together. For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all might according to his glorious power unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness, giving thanks unto the Father which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.

Now you will find it very helpful this morning to have your Bibles open at Colossians chapter one and the verses which we read together in community just a moment or so ago. You will recall that last week it was my privilege to bring to you some introductory comments concerning this magnificent letter which Paul the Apostle penned to Christian people at Colossae. And I argued that this letter has timeless value, as have all the epistles of Paul which are incorporated into this book we call the New Testament.

Let me just recapitulate, for in endeavouring to be simple last week and presenting you with headings which would easily be recalled, I said that in the first and second verses of the first chapter, held in contradistinction, held by comparison, are those two terms, in Christ and at Colossae. And we drew this particular observation, that it is not easy to be in Christ at Colossae. It is not easy to be in Christ in Worthing.

It is not easy to be in Christ anywhere in this world, because the environment in which we live is a godless one. But such is our calling. We are the saints, those who have been hallowed by the Holy Spirit, those who have responded to the Lord Jesus Christ, a select, a redeemed community who are called to belong to Jesus in whatever locality we find ourselves living.

In Christ at Colossae. And then you remember in the third and fourth verses, we noticed praise and cause. The apostle is thanking God the Father.

For what reason? Well, the fourth verse supplies the answer, because we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus. And there are those who are praising God for the community of saints here in the sanctuary at the tabernacle. For what cause? Because they have faith in the Lord Jesus.

And then from the fifth or the sixth verse through to the eighth, we looked upon those two words, seed and sower, as being a summary of the contents. The seed, the seed of the gospel, which was broadcasted in Colossae, and because it was blessed by the Holy Spirit, brought forth fruit. And the sower, it was not Paul.

It was the pastor of the church, verse 7, Epaphras, who had brought report to the apostle as to what was happening in Colossae. So Paul thanks God for his brother, who is a faithful pastor, a faithful minister of Jesus, who, verse 8, declared unto us your love in the Spirit. Now all that by way of resume, recollection of thoughts from last week, but let's move on.

And I have great delight in bringing this address to you this morning, because here the apostle, from the ninth verse onwards, starts to pray. And there's nothing that warms my heart more than being able to bring to you addresses, studies, meditations from the Word of God on that blessed ministry that is entrusted to the redeemed community, the ministry of intercession. Isn't it wonderful to realise that the apostle Paul, that great man from Tarsus, filled with the Spirit of God, was nothing if he was not a prayer warrior.

He hears of the Colossaean Christians. And what's his reaction? Well, there's a very avalanche of prayer which results from the knowledge that he receives. There is an upsurge of prayer.

For this cause we also, since the day we heard of you, do not cease to pray for you. You get this time and time again, I say, in the epistles which left the hand of Paul. In Romans, for instance, chapter 1 and verse 9, he tells us, For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit.

In the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing, I make mention of you always in my prayers. You get the same in the first chapter of the Ephesian letter. I cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers.

You get exactly the same in the first letter to the Thessalonians. We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers. Just four examples from the several letters of the Apostle Paul.

And you find in each one this reference to his prayer, his prayer for the Christians at the places to where the letter is to be delivered. The Apostle Paul, a man of prayer. Somebody came into my office the other day, and I was quite amused, and then very impressed by something that this good lady had to say.

She was telling me about one Christian organisation, of which I knew very little, and endeavouring to win my allegiance to their objectives. She said, you know, Pastor, that particular group is, and I quote, pickled with prayer. Pickled with prayer.

And I thought, well, what a novel expression. And yet how true it is to describe the letters which flowed from the mind of Paul, from the hand of Paul, as being letters which were saturated in prayer. In Ephesians, in Romans, in this letter itself, Colossians.

Not only do you get Paul saying that he's praying for the Christians, but sometimes his very prayers are set out. And we praise God for that. But you know, and this needs to be said, not only was the Apostle a man who was convinced of the need of prayer for the Christian churches that he or his colleagues had established, but he needed prayer himself.

He needed prayer himself. So, having written to the Romans, the Roman Christians, and having told them how much he prays for them, on the other hand, towards the end of his letter, he's very careful to say this. I read from the 30th verse of the 15th chapter.

Now I beseech you, brothers, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake. Look at the appeal there. I beseech you, brothers, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit.

For what, Paul? What are you asking with such strong language on our behalf? That ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me. He's the Apostle. He's prayed for the Romans.

But he puts equal value upon the fact that the Romans might be praying for him. And once again, you find this in the second example I gave you, from the letter of Paul to the Ephesians. Later on in the sixth chapter, by implication, he asks for prayer for himself, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints, and for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel.

Here in Colossians, he has confessed that he has been involved in an upsurge of prayer on hearing the report of Epaphras. But towards the end of the letter, what does he do? He asks for the prayers of Christians for his ministry, continuing prayer, chapter 4, verse 2, continuing prayer, and watching the same with thanksgiving, with all praying also for us, that God would open us a door of utterance to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds. I've given you four examples.

I could have given you many, many more which indicate this, that the illustrious Apostle Paul was a man rich in the ministry of intercession, a man who, if he appreciated that his ministry was successful, put it down to the fact that around the Roman Empire, stuttered into the Roman Empire, there were little groups of Christians who were praying for the advance of the gospel through the ministry of Paul. And I plead with you again, and will continue to make the plea ad infinitum and ad nauseam until the Lord calls me to glory, that we here in this church recognize increasingly the need for the ministry of intercession, corporately and individually. For what reason? That the work of God might increase.

Now, the Apostle here in Colossians, not only says that he is praying for these people, but he itemizes, doubtless in summary fashion, the very things that he was interceding for to improve and help the Christian community at Colossae. Look at the ninth verse, and you will find that he is praying specifically that these Christians might be filled with the knowledge of the divine will. And then the tenth verse, that they might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing.

And the eleventh verse, that they might be strengthened with all might according to God's glorious power. And in the twelfth verse, surprisingly, he prays that they may be a thankful people, giving thanks unto the Father who has done so much for them. Four items in particular, and many sub-items that are here included in this beautiful piece of prayer.

Now, it would be impossible today to look through those four things in detail, so I content myself by looking just into the ninth and the tenth verses. And for those of you who take notes and like little summary headings, let me pray see these ninth and tenth verses by saying this, that in the former, the Apostle prays for a godly knowledge on the part of the Colossians. And in the latter, the tenth verse, he prays for a worthy walk.

First of all then, a godly knowledge. For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you and to desire that he might be filled with the knowledge of his will. That, in one sense, is a demarcation between the believer and the unbeliever.

You say, what do you mean? Well, I mean precisely this. The unbeliever is devoid of the knowledge of the will of God. He goes to sea like a sea captain, and as he sets out, as he's left harbor, he realizes he's got to plot the voyage.

But he's got no compass, he's got no chart. He is literally, as the metaphor puts it, all at sea. He doesn't know where to go.

Come a storm, come a tempest, and he's really in trouble. And you can predict without being a prophet that ere long his boat, his ship will capsize. He set out on the sea, but he has no knowledge as to where he is going.

And that is a graphic illustration and a graphic description of what you and I used to be in our former days. It tells us what men and women are like today if they are outside of the Lord Jesus Christ. Every man has turned to his own way.

They know nothing of the knowledge of his will. And so the apostle here is praising God. This was not the situation with the Colossians.

They knew the knowledge of his will. How did they know? Well, Epaphus had come along. He preached about this man from Nazareth, this son of God who'd given his life on yonder Roman gibbet for the sins of the world, and particularly for the Colossian people.

And there were those in Colossae who responded. They were illuminated, I say, by the knowledge of the divine will. So Paul is praying.

But does it not seem illogical that he prays that they may be filled with the knowledge of his will if that was their condition? No, not a bit. You see, if you go back to the original here, and it's very helpful so to do, you'll find that that verb that is used in this particular part gives the idea of coming up to a full-blown knowledge. Let me give you an illustration.

Christmas has just passed, and some of you with little children may have had the delightful and sometimes the very difficult business of blowing up a balloon. Whenever I try, the thing will never go until I feel that my cheeks are really aching as a result of trying to get the volume of air that I want into this thing. Now, you can blow a balloon up to certain degrees, can't you? If you get beyond capacity then, well, our cat jumps and nearly hits the ceiling as a result of the noise.

But the point is this. There is a capacity. A balloon can be filled and more filled and filled to the extreme.

So it is with the will of God on becoming a Christian. You have a knowledge, a partial knowledge of salvation. A partial knowledge, a partial understanding of God's dealings with you.

But there's more knowledge to be obtained. We are to grow in grace and in the knowledge of God. So the apostle here is praying for Christians at Colossae and by extension for ourselves, that we may grow in knowledge, in understanding of the will of our great God and Heavenly Father.

That we may grow in all knowledge. That we might be filled with the knowledge of His will. And he goes on and says, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.

And some may say, well, that's tautology. He's already said this. Why does he waste his words? He's prayed that they may be filled with all knowledge.

Now he's praying that they may have all wisdom and spiritual understanding. Is not this just a play of words? Is it not the same thing being expressed again and again? No, my friend. You see, there is a great deal of difference between wisdom and knowledge.

I know a lot of people who are knowledgeable, but they're not wise. I would go so far as to say that we have many learned fools in this world. Many people who know a lot about several disciplines, but overall they act as fools.

You can have a knowledgeable man, I repeat, who is a fool. But you cannot have a wise man who is a fool. That is an absurdity in English language.

You can't talk about the wise fool, but you can talk about the knowledgeable fool. I will give you an example from scripture at this point to make clear what I'm getting at. Here is David.

He's a very knowledgeable man. He has an understanding of the purposes of God, perhaps unique. Yes, definitely unique in his generation.

A knowledgeable man. But alas, he's a fool. At one particular time in his life, he evidenced that he was a great fool.

He had the knowledge of God's will. He knew the law. He knew the Ten Commandments.

But foolishly, he willfully went against the law of God. He had knowledge, but not wisdom. At that particular juncture, now is the apostle.

I say these things are to be applied to ourselves and the application is obvious. He is praying not only for knowledge, but for wisdom, for spiritual understanding. I can have all the knowledge that there possibly could come from this book.

It could be placed within my heart, within my mind. I could become an astute theologian, assuming I have the mental capabilities of so doing. And that would not make me in any way a fulfillment of the prayer of the apostle Paul, because knowledge in and of itself is not so.

Not just a knowledge of scripture, but wisdom and spiritual understanding to put into practice those things which we have learned. So the apostle prays that this group of people in Colossae might be filled with the knowledge of his will and coupled to this in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, they might conduct their lives. Now, hinged to this first prayer for this godly knowledge is his intercession for a worthy walk.

Look at verse 9 and notice that I said that that is hinged, or rather look at verse 10 and notice that I said that it is hinged to verse 9. You see, you cannot have a worthy walk unless you first of all have a godly knowledge. The one precedes the other. Now, the apostle Paul is here concerned that these people in Colossae might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.

Note his prayer, that they might walk worthy of the Lord. They have some knowledge. They've got spiritual understanding to some degree.

Now, he says following that as a consequence, he wants to see a worthy walk. He says walking, not sitting, not lying down, walking, making steady progress, controlled progress. Do you find that in your own life, in your spiritual maturity? Are you walking worthily? Are you knowing the outworking of the psalmist's injunction when he tells us that the steps of the good man are ordered by the Lord? I think that there is nothing more important than we as Christian people should not only cultivate a godly knowledge, but we should ensure by the blessings of God upon our life that we are walking worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing.

Walking worthy. But someone might say that that word worthy seems to suggest that our own disciplined walk has merit behind it. I mean by that, as though if you keep certain disciplines, then God will so bless you that one day he will say, well, you are worthy to have salvation.

We know full well that that is wrong. That will be justification by works. And we believe in justification by faith.

Revelation 5.12 tells us that I heard a great voice saying, worthy is the lamb. There is only one person in this world who was sufficiently in and of himself worthy. That is the Lord Jesus Christ.

It does not matter how disciplined we may be as Christians. It does not matter how consistent our walk may seem. We know that at best we are unworthy, unprofitable servants.

Then why does the apostle Paul here say that he might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing? Well, perhaps we need help from the apostle Peter. For here he speaks in one of his letters about the Lord Jesus Christ, who is obedient to the will of the Father. And he has left us steps, pointers, that we are to walk in.

I walk in the footsteps of the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus lived a worthy life. He walked worthily.

I belong to the Lord Jesus. I'm following him. He is the way, the truth, and the life.

And all my life is to be lived around him. So this worthiness is a sort of imputed worthiness. It's passed on to me by the Lord Jesus.

And this is what the apostle, I argue, is praying for. Godly knowledge and a worthy walk. And notice how he says that he wants us to walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing.

Again, this man doesn't waste words. He's the agent of the Spirit, and the Spirit is never wasteful in time. He's never wasteful in verbiage.

Therefore, why does the apostle say, walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing? Well, you see, that very term, all pleasing, is comprehensive. I argue that it is quite easy to walk worthy of the Lord here in this tabernacle at the moment. What could be more conducive to a worthy walk than being here with a few hundred other people, singing hymns, singing our praises to the Lord, coming around his word, enjoying perhaps the children's talk, and so on.

Very, very easy at this juncture. But the apostle is praying for the Colossians to be worthy of the Lord in every situation. They're in the marketplace on a Monday.

They're in a pagan society on a Tuesday and a Wednesday. In every situation, walking worthy of the Lord. As a husband, walking worthy of the Lord in my relationship to my wife.

As a father, walking worthy of the Lord in my relationship to my children. As a businessman, walking worthily in the Lord in relationship to my employers. My employees, and so it goes on.

You can work out yourself just what the application of this particular principle is. Unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. I said from the ninth verse and from the prayer there that there is a line of demarcation.

There are those in this world who have a godly wisdom and those who are ignorant of the things of God. Here is another line of demarcation in the 10th verse. There are those who live in a fashion that pleases God and there are those who live in a fashion that displeases God.

Or if you want another demarcation, there are those who are spiritually fruitful and there are those who are as barren as a desert in Turkana. And the apostle is concerned that you, that I, might walk worthy of the Lord in every situation, being fruitful in all we do. And as a result of that, increasing in the knowledge of God.

And the reference there to the knowledge of God is not the same reference as to knowledge in the ninth verse. It's not just knowledge of doctrine, not just knowledge of scripture. But my dear friends, it's more excellent than that.

It's knowledge of God Himself. You see, when you have a godly knowledge and you walk worthily, then your relationship with the Lord is made that much more intimate. And you enjoy Him.

As Enoch walked with God and enjoyed companionship with his divine friend all the years of his life. So it's possible for you. It's possible for me.

I come back to the thought. Here is none other than the mighty apostle Paul. He's heard from Epaphras about the situation at Colossae.

He realizes that here is evidence of the working of the Spirit of God on this man's ministry. So he prays for the converts. What do you want of them, Paul? I want them to increase in knowledge.

I want them to be in attendance at the means of grace. When Epaphras preaches, I want them to listen to what he has to say. Because Epaphras is God's ordained pastor for that community of people.

I want them to have a godly knowledge. But what's more, says the apostle, I want them to walk worthy. I want them to behave as I asked the people at Rome to behave when I committed Phoebe to them.

In a manner that becometh the gospel, so that they may adorn the doctrines of God their Savior in all things. I don't want any incompatibility between what they're doing in a weekday over against what they're instructed to do on the Lord's day. What a tremendous prayer.

A godly knowledge and a worthy walk. And my dear friends, that should be the basis of our praying for one another. That should be the twin objective that we cultivate this year.

To know more about this God, more of this book, and not just more about God in the form of theology, but more of God in a one-to-one relationship. And knowing that will produce the following. That godly walk, that life of consistency, which brings honor and praise to the Lord who loved us so much.

He died on the cross to save us. Thank God, I say, for this opening part of the apostle's prayer may be fulfilled in our experience, godly knowledge, and a worthy walk for the honor of Jesus. Amen.

Heard the prayer of Paul for the Colossians. We believe that it's your concern for us right now. So in Wesley's words, we have responded and we have said, I want a godly fear, a quick discerning eye.

I rest upon thy word. Thy promise is for me. Father, we pray for more of this knowledge and for more of this consistent lifestyle.

Now bless those who must leave at this stage. For the rest of us as we come to the summit of worship, help us to gaze upon the cross and once more to marvel at the love of our Redeemer for his sake. Amen.