Colossians 1:9-14 - fully pleasing to Him
Posted by Brance on May 11th, 2008 filed in Colossians
This post is part of a teaching series on the book of Colossians. All of the lessons in this series can be found here. In the first lesson we outlined the book. In each subsequent lesson we look at one small section of the outline and seek to answer five questions concerning the text.
Taking up where we left off in our last lesson, Paul continues sharing his prayer for the Colossian believers. In these verses he moves from thanksgiving to petition. In verses 3-8 he was thanking God for what had already been done in their lives. Now he is asking God for continued work.
Paul begins verse nine with an explanation. He says, “And so” referring back to the work that has already be accomplished in their lives. Because of this work, he asks God for what follows.
He also makes it known that he has prayed this for them since he was first told of their faith, and that he continues to do so even now.
His main request is that they would be
filled with the knowledge of his [God’s] will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.
Two important words to notice here are “filled” and “all”. To be filled with something means that there is no emptiness, no lack. This means there is no space not occupied. If we are filled with the knowledge of God’s will, then we won’t be uncertain what God’s will is. That knowledge of his will, will inform all aspects of our lives, our thoughts, actions, affections, purposes, and plans. That knowledge is to be coupled with “all” spiritual wisdom, not the wisdom of this world, but wisdom given by the Holy Spirit. We should heed the Word of God and pray that such wisdom be given us (James 1:5). Knowledge of God’s will along with spiritual wisdom, should also be coupled with understanding. Martin Luther describes this understanding as
a careful retention of what has been received. ¹
What he means is that we must exercise discernment and compare all new teaching to the Word. Anything found in opposition to the Word must be rejected. Failure to do so has led many a Christian into error.
The importance of Paul’s request for knowledge coupled with wisdom and understanding, is seen in verse ten when Paul explains his prayer. He desires that they be filled with the knowledge of God’s will so that they may live their lives in a way that honors God. The ESV uses the word “walk” which is an accurate translation of the greek. This word is used throughout the Bible to refer to the way we live our lives. It is an action word. It means we are doing things, going places, and all the while proving we are Christians by our behavior. We should live our lives, every aspect, in such a way that others, who see the way we live, will see Christ as being great, not us. Read the rest of this entry »
Comment now »
Colossians 1:3-8 - Gospel, Faith, Hope, Love
Posted by Brance on April 24th, 2008 filed in Colossians
This post is part of a teaching series on the book of Colossians. All of the lessons in this series can be found here. In the first lesson we outlined the book. In each subsequent lesson we look at one small section of the outline and seek to answer five questions concerning the text.
What does the Scripture say?
In verse three we see Paul giving thanks to God for the Colossians. It is to God the Father that Paul prays, while affirming Christ’s position as the Son of God. This is important as we remember that one of the theological error the Colossians had wondered into was to reduce Christ to less that supreme. Paul also encourages the Colossians that he is faithfully praying for them.
Verse four begins with the word ’since,’ referring back to verse three. This word is supplied in our english translations, as it is implied by the first greek word in the verse which literally translated means ‘having heard.’ Basically, Paul is sharing the reason(s) he gives thanks to God for the Colossians. One reason for his thanksgiving is the demonstrated faith of the Colossian Christians. He reminds them it is their faith “in Christ Jesus” that causes him to give thanks. Another reason for Paul’s thankfulness is the love they demonstrate for other believers.
It may seem strange that Paul is thankful for their love for Christians, but does not mention their love for the unsaved. The reason for this is simple. Jesus himself said that our love for each other as Christians would be one of our primary witnessing tools.
By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. (John 13:35)
It is no wonder then that Paul is thankful for their love to other Christians, since that love will demonstrate the love of Christ to those who witness it. Read the rest of this entry »
Comment now »
Colossians 1:1-2 - Greetings
Posted by Brance on April 14th, 2008 filed in Colossians
As we study any passage of Scripture we want to be sure we keep the big picture in mind, the context. We need to remind ourselves who wrote what we are reading, who it was written to, and why it was written. Context is key to proper understanding.
As we reflect on the text, and the recipients of the text, we need to keep in mind what we learned last week in our overview. The reason Paul wrote the letter was to correct errors in the theology and practice of the Colossians.
We might be tempted to look at their errors and say that we don’t suffer from them. No one in our church is suggesting we must adhere to Jewish type legalisms to be saved. No one is worshiping angels, at least not that I know of! Vain philosophies are not that obvious, but we might be able to zero in on the philosophies the world is trying to shove down our throats. And certainly no one is engaging in asceticism. Very few people in our culture do. We go to the opposite extreme and overindulge ourselves!
So we might be tempted to think there is nothing here that will speak to us, or that we can read this book and just skim over it because it doesn’t really apply to us. Nothing could be further from the truth!
We need to take a look at the underlying causes for the Colossian errors, and ask ourselves what the real issues are. Worship of angels is really idolatry. Do we engage in idolatry? Well, we don’t bow down and worship little figurines, but we are idolaters. Every day we “exchange the glory of the immortal God for images” (Romans 1.23), reflections, shadows of the real thing. In America today we worship ourselves. We worship entertainment, sports, music stars, actors, music itself, possessions, money, physical beauty, etc. The point is, we share this in common with the Colossians, we’re idolaters.
Finding this point of common, underlying sin with the subjects of the text, is referred to as the “Fallen Condition Focus.” As we’ll see during our study of Colossians, each of the errors Paul is correcting stems from man’s fallen condition, and we share that condition with the Colossians. Once we see how we share it, God’s Word will become suddenly very alive and applicable to us personally.
So we must ask ourselves these questions. How am I like these people? What aspect of our shared sin nature is being addressed here? How does this sin manifest itself in my life?
The next thing we have to do is ask questions of the text, and of ourselves. There are five primary questions I always ask myself when studying a passage of Scripture.
- What does Scripture say?
- What does Scripture mean?
- Why do we resist this truth?
- Why does this matter?
- How is Jesus the hero?
Comment now »
Battle Cry 2008: Photo Gallery
Posted by Brance on April 8th, 2008 filed in Miscellany
Here are some pictures from BattleCry 2008 in Winston-Salem. We had a great time, lots of fun, and we learned a lot about living the Christian life. Some of our lives were changed.
Coming soon we’ll have a video presentation sharing with all the world just what happened in our hearts at this year’s event.
But for now, the photos… Read the rest of this entry »
Comment now »
Colossians: Outline
Posted by Brance on April 6th, 2008 filed in Colossians
This morning was a great time of worship! I thoroughly enjoyed the reading aloud of God’s Word together. To have all of crammed in that little room, taking turns reading the Scripture aloud, really uplifted my spirit. Here are my notes from this morning, on our opening study of the book of Colossians. If you missed this morning, this will catch you up on what we did. If you were there, this will still be good review prior to next week’s study. Here we go…
NOTE: Photo used courtesy of HolyLandPhotos.com
As we begin our study through the book of Colossians, we start by doing a little background check on the recipients of the letter. We learn that Colossae was situated on the banks of the Lycus river, only 10 or so miles from Laodicea. It was located about 100 miles from Ephesus. This area, often referred to as Phrygia or Asia Minor, is located in modern day Turkey.
It had once been an important trade city in the region, but it’s importance had diminished by the time Paul was on the scene.
Looking back on our study in the book of Acts, we see that Paul never visited Colossae. He did spend considerable time there and due to his ministry in Ephesus, the Gospel spread throughout the entire region.
This [Paul’s teaching] continued for two years, so that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks. ~ Acts 19.10
A couple of important questions regarding the text that must be asked at the outset of the study of a book in the Bible are these. Read the rest of this entry »
Comment now »
Scripture Memorization - Part 2
Posted by Brance on April 4th, 2008 filed in Colossians
Here’s part two of our study on Scripture Memorization. In this study we’ll look at some ideas about how to memorize.
Before we begin though, I want to make one important point.
As we set out on the path of memorization, we need to ask God for help. We are told to pray about everything, why not this? Remember to ask for humbleness. Our goal in memorizing Scripture is not to prove what great Christians we are. God HATES pride. Knowledge of the Bible without love for God and fellow man, will just puff up a person, like the Pharisees. Remember that without love, we are nothing (I Cor 13). The person who memorizes the most Scripture is not necessarily the winner. This isn’t a competition. And quality is much more important than quantity.
Here’s the video clip we watched on Sunday. This is Pastor John Piper speaking at The Resurgence Conference. His subject in this clip is the importance of Scripture memorization for ministry. This is not just for pastors. This is for all Christians. We are all called to be ministers of Christ to those around us. Watch this clip and think about the times in your own life when you needed to offer some words of comfort to someone at school, or work, or wherever, and you didn’t have a Bible handy.
Once you have decided to memorize a passage, there are some practical steps that will help. Not everyone memorizes best in the same way, but these things work for me, and I’m sharing them with you as a help.
Persistence: Think about it this way. You are out of shape, you haven’t been exercising. If you try to run 5 miles the first day, you’ll fail, and get discouraged, and want to give up. You have to build up to it. You’ll need to make it a priority, just like working out. If you don’t make time for it, you won’t do it. You may need to give up a TV show, get up earlier, etc. But set a pace you can keep and be faithful to work at it consistently. Read the rest of this entry »
1 Comment »
BattleCry 2008: Operation Clothespin
Posted by Brance on March 29th, 2008 filed in Events
Please join us as we ReCreate our BattleCry 2008 experience. If you were “clothespinned” at the Winston-Salem BattleCry, here are your instructions.
- Choose your group’s three favorite photos
- Write one short paragraph telling us the amazing things that God did in your group
- Email the photos and text to recreate@aleethia.com
Your photos and testimonies will be combined to create a video montage that will be posted here and on YouTube. You will be contacted with a link to the finished video.
ReCreate 2008!
Comment now »
Scripture Memorization - Part 1
Posted by Brance on March 18th, 2008 filed in Colossians
Before we begin our study through the book of Colossians, we’re going to discuss Scripture memorization. I’m challenging each one of you to memorize Chapter 3 of Colossians as we work our way through the letter.
Before we just take off memorizing though, I want to talk about why Scripture memorization is important. Here’s the slideshow from the lesson as we went through it Sunday morning. Just click anywhere on the image to advance to the next slide.
Here’s the text of the lesson as taken from my personal notes.
1 Comment »
Acts 29 - a review
Posted by Brance on March 11th, 2008 filed in Studies
This past Sunday we finished our study of the book of Acts. We learned a lot of great spiritual truths and got to know our hero, the Apostle Paul, quite well. I’m kind of sad to leave him. We’ll be coming back and spending more time with him though. After Easter we’ll begin a study through his letter to the church in Colossae (Colossians).
Here is the presentation we used during our review of Acts this past Sunday. You can click anywhere in the slide window to advance to the next slide. I was unable to leave the video embedded due to software limitations, so I’m including it as a separate file. Just watch it at the appropriate slide.
This video is from a podcast called Don’t Waste Your Life. You can watch the videos on that website, or click here to open iTunes so you can subscribe to the podcast. It’s one I highly recommend.
Comment now »
Acts 27
Posted by Brance on February 22nd, 2008 filed in Announcements
This Sunday we’ll be in chapter 27 of Acts. It feels like we’re reading Luke’s personal journal from the voyage to Rome. We get a lot of details this week that don’t, at first reading, appear to have much to do with missions.
Read it ahead of time, more than once if you can, and we’ll read it again Sunday morning and explore those details for some great life lessons learned from the example of our hero, Paul.
We’re almost finished with the book of Acts. Please be in prayer about our next series and share your ideas with me or Lauren. If you have something you’re interested in, let us know! It can be a book of the Bible, a topic of interest, or a person in the Bible you’d like to know more about.
We’re open to your thoughts and ideas right now, but…we’ll be deciding in the next week what the subject will be. Share now or forever (or at least a couple months anyway) hold your peace!