Colossians Lesson 2

The Colossian Letter—1:9-11
The Apostle’s Prayer, 1

Ø Background: an age like ours
Ø Questions and issues addressed in this letter
a. Creation—Pagan philosophy and religion—Believers’ mental focus—Who is Jesus?
b. Family and work problems
c. The Colossian heresy—combining Jewish legalism and philosophy. Early Gnosticism?

1. The Apostle’s Constant Prayer—1:9a

a. For this reason—3-8, that is, since you are already spiritually strong and a church of renown, because of all that, Paul is praying for even more spiritual strength.

b. Ceaseless Prayer—1 Th 5:17—not a monk-like droning, but an attitude of constant readiness to pray.
(1) MacArthur—two aspects: God consciousness and people consciousness
(2) God consciousness—Neh 2:1-4
(3) People consciousness—Eph 6:18, Col 4:2

c. Purposeful Prayer—
(1) Spiritual ends, not a list of earthly needs
(2) Notice the “disciple’s prayer in Mat 6—what are most of the petitions about?


(3) Other Examples of Apostolic Prayer—Rom 1:9-11, Rom 15:30-32, 2Cor 13:7, 9, Eph 1:16-22, Phil 1:9-11, 1 Th 1:2-3, 2 Th 1:11-12, 2 Tim 1:3-5, Phile 1:4-6, Heb 13:18-21, 1 Pet 1:3-5, Jude 1:24-25

d. So, what is the problem we have? Why don’t our prayers fall more in these lines? Col 3:1ff

2. Petition: A Working Spiritual Knowledge: 1-9b

a. Filled—
(1) Aorist—a point in time
(2) to be totally controlled by the thing filling you
(3) Examples
(a) John 16:6—sorrow, Luke 5:26—fear
(b) Luke 6:11—rage, Acts 6:5—faith

b. Knowledge of God’s Will

(1) The word for knowledge is an intense word
(2) The word speaks of experiential knowledge—1 Cor 5, Eph 1:17, Phil 1:9
(3) All knowledge is found in Christ—Col 2:3
(4) MacArthur—“true Biblical knowledge results in obedience…”
(5) Depth of knowledge—progressive—1 Cor 2:1-16!

c. The results of a lack of knowledge
(1) Spiritual immaturity—1 Cor 14:20, Eph 4:13-14
(2) Destruction—Hosea 4:6 "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children."

d. Spiritual Wisdom and understanding, the results of good doctrinal instruction

(1) Wisdom—the ability to put doctrinal knowledge to use
(2) Understanding—the actual application of that knowledge.

3. A Worthy Walk, Fully Pleasing

a. The Christian life—a way of life, not an empty profession

(1) Basic Salvation—Lordship: Rom 10:9
(2) Basic Christianity—discipleship: Mt 28:19-20
(3) Acts 11:19-26
(4) Walk—Jesus’ definition of the Christian life

John 8:12 "Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.""

John 10:27 ""My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me."

(5) “Walk” verses
Rom 6:4 "… just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life."

Gal 5:16 "I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh."

Gal 5:25 "If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit."

Eph 2:10 "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."
Eph 5:8, 15; Col 2:6, Col 4:5, 1 John 1:6-7, 2 John 1:6, 3 John 1:3-4

b. A worthy walk

Eph 4:1 "I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called,"

Eph 4:17 "This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind,"

1 Th 2:12 "that you would walk worthy of God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory."

c. How can we, fallen creatures that we are, walk worthy of God? The answer is that only by God’s grace and power can we do this.

4. A Fruitful Walk in every good work

a. Again, it is basic Christianity that we should bear fruit in our lives—but what is fruit?
(1) Does “fruit” refer to conversions, people won to the Lord?
(2) The answer is that sometimes the word can mean that, but usually it refers to righteous living, to glorifying God by our conduct!

Mat 7:17-19 ""Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 "A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 "Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."

Rom 6:22 "But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life."

Gal 5:22 "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,"

Eph 5:9 "(for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth),"

Heb 12:11 "… the peaceable fruit of righteousness…”
Heb 13:15 "…the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name."
(3) See also Romans 15:25-28
b. Fruitfulness is a way of life for the believer

(1) The word is a present active participle—“you are the ones being fruitful continually…”
(2) Again, the Christian life is a walk, not an event.
(3) So, as we grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord, we yield God’s kind of fruit—righteousness

5. Increasing in knowledge of God

a. Filled, yet increasing? The Spirit Filling Illustration
b. Again, this word is a present participle—the Christian life is a learning curve

(1) First of all, the subject is without limit—Rom 11:33 "Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!"

(2) Second of all, it is the essence of our eternal life—
(a) John 17:3 ""And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent."
(b) “know” is ãéíþóêùóéí , present tense, to know by experience, and to know continually

(3) Knowing God is a major part of winning the war of the mind—2 Cor 10:5 "casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,"
(4) Paul wanted to know Him better—Phil 3:8-10

6. Spiritual Strength—Col 1:11 strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy;

a. Strengthened with ALL might

(1) The word for “strengthened” is a present participle, passive voice. Its emphasis is that “you are the ones being strengthened continually…”
(2) Passive—it is God doing the strengthening
(3) Present—it is continuous. It is not that God boosts us in a massive blast at the beginning of the Christian life, then leaves us to ourselves; it is that God provides power continually.
(4) All might, all “äõíÜìåé”—there is no limit to the power available.

(a) This word for power is often mistakenly expressed as “God’s dynamite,” because the inventor of dynamite, Alfred Nobel, took this Greek word to name his invention. However, that is backwards reasoning.
(b) God’s power in us is not there to blow things up or to destroy, it is there to empower. If we were going to make such a comparison, we might better use “dynamo,” a generator of continuously supplied power.

b. According to His glorious power: kra(1) A.T. Robertson—“According to the might of his glory (kata to kratos teôs doxeôs autou). Kratos is old word for perfect strength…In N.T. it is applied only to God. Here his might is accompanied by glory (Shekinah).”
(a) Shekinah is a rabbinic term that describes the dwelling Presence of the LORD. It comes from a Bible word, shakan, which means “to dwell.”
(b) Exo 25:8 ""And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them."
(c) Exo 29:45-46 ""I will dwell among the children of Israel and will be their God. 46 "And they shall know that I am the LORD their God, who brought them up out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell among them. I am the LORD their God."
(d) Exo 40:35 "And Moses was not able to enter the tabernacle of meeting, because the cloud rested above it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle."
(2) Rogers and Rogers—“…kra(3) What is the sum of all this?

(a) Paul is praying that God’s mighty presence will dwell with the Colossians.
(b) He is praying a prayer that God is going to answer!
c. As we are strengthened in the Word and in knowledge of Him, how does this power come to us? Through the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

(1) Power to witness—Acts 1:8 "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." The frightened, small group of believers became a mighty force when the Mighty Wind blew through them on Pentecost.

(2) Power to be confident of the future—Rom 15:13 "Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost."

(3) Power to be strong in Christ—Eph 3:16 "That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;"

7. Spiritual Perseverance—Col 1:11 strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy;

a. Patience—persevering
b. Longsuffering—not retaliating against your enemies
c. With Joy—God does not just want us to endure, but to endure with joy.

(1) A reminder—in the Bible, Joy is not a giddy state of physical and mental bliss; joy is a choice, an act of the will, to obey the command to rejoice.
(2) The OT is full of references where God’s people commit to rejoice in Him—Isa 61:10 "I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, My soul shall be joyful in my God; For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels."

Psa 16:11 "Thou wilt show me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore."

Psa 97:12 "Rejoice in the LORD, you righteous, And give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name."

Psa 98:4 "Shout joyfully to the LORD, all the earth; Break forth in song, rejoice, and sing praises."

Phil 4:4 "Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!"

1 Th 3:9 "For what thanks can we render to God for you, for all the joy with which we rejoice for your sake before our God,"

1 Th 5:16 "Rejoice always,"

1 Pet 1:6 "In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials,"

1 Pet 1:8 "whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory,"

1 Pet 4:13 "but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy."