"A life that is pleasing to God"
Colossians 1:9-14
Preached by Bart Erlebach on 26th January 2025
Scripture
9 And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. 13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
(ESV)
Generated Transcript
So this morning's reading is from cautions chapter 1 verses 9 to 14, which is page 1 1 8 2 in the church bibles. For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask god to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the spirit gives. So that you may live a life worthy of the lord and please him in every way bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of god, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience and giving joyful thanks to the father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the son he loves in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.Good. Please keep the passage open in front of you. Page 1 1 8 2. And let me pray for us as we come to god's word. Let's pray.
Father, we thank you for the great privilege it is to open your words. Father, we know there are people around the world. Some who, for whom it would be very dangerous to do what we are doing to gather and to open your word and to read it and have it preached. And so we give you thanks that we can't today do this, and we pray, please, that you would help us to be attentive to your word, ready to listen, ready to learn, and to be changed by you and by your word. Armen.
So is it possible is it possible? Is it possible for you, by your actions, to please god. Is it possible for you, by your actions today, this week, to please god? Is it possible for you today to bring god delight in what you do? I think Many Christians will answer that by saying no or at least assume that the answer is no.
And I say that because before this week, I think that was my subconscious feeling. Let me explain a little bit why, not just for me, but for others as well. Some live with a feeling not just Christians, but non Christians as well. Some live with a feeling that they can never do anything that is really good enough. And there can be all kinds of reasons for that.
Maybe because, when you were growing up, your parents were never happy with what you did. Maybe they had unner unrealistically high expectations. And therefore, you just never think what you do is good enough. So why should god? For others, you've grown up with a view of god, and and it's just continued where god has just presented to you as being, a severe judge.
Now god is judge and he is holy. Often with these things, there there's truth, but it can be twisted. And and we only ever think of god as severe and a judge and never really take on board his love. So that can be another reason. And on top of that, we are taught, of course, that we are sinners through and through, and that imp impacts our actions, our thoughts, our feelings.
And therefore, we can think we never do anything that is pleasing to god. But actually, for the Christian, even our understanding of god's grace to us can make us think this. After all, We say things like. Since you're standing before god is all dependent on god's grace, nothing you can do will make you more acceptable to god. And nothing you can do will make you less acceptable to god, which sounds like it doesn't really matter what you do.
Now there's truth in all these things, But is it really right that what you do doesn't make any difference in your relationship with god? As Kevin De Young said, American pastor, he said this. Some of us have taken justification to mean, we no longer have a dynamic relationship with our heavenly father as if god is indifferent to our sin and our obedient. See where this leads us, if we think like this? Yes.
We're saved by god's grace, but really truthfully this week, I'm not in a dynamic relationship with god. Because it doesn't really matter what I do. It doesn't really matter whether I sin or whether I'm obedient. My relationship with God stays exactly the same. So therefore, it makes no difference this week in some ways, what I do.
Our thinking can be this week, what I do, there's no relationship with to what happened with my relationship with god, or at worse. Because I'm a sinner. Everything I do this week is gonna disappoint god. I wonder whether there are people here who thought that. I'd be surprised if there aren't.
Paul, writing to the colossians, has come to a point now in the letter. We've only had 1 sermon so far, but we've come to a point now where Paul is describing his prayer for the colossians. We saw last week, Paul has said of the colossians that they are genuine Christians. We saw last time about the fruit of the gospel in their lives. They have put their faith in Jesus.
They have love for all god's people. And they have a hope stored up in heaven, and he then tells them what he's praying for them. He doesn't want them merely to stay as they are as Christians, but to grow They may have, as we will see, fullness in Christ, and they do and you do if you're a Christian. But that doesn't mean that we're to sit passively and do nothing. Paul expects the Christian life to be 1 of growth.
And in this prayer, it takes a little bit of unpacking to work out what's the kind of center point of the prayer because just the way it's written, the way Paul wrote it, you kinda go, I I've just gotta pull down a part a little bit. But what you find is when you do that the center of the prayer, the key thing he's praying for them, I think is in verse 10. Have a look. Where it says? So that you may live a life worthy of the lord and please him in every way.
Now I think that's the center of the prayer because everything else around it relates to that bit. So if you wanna see it sort of how it fits together, verse 9, he says, I pray for you, and I pray that you'll be continuing that I pray that you'll be filled with the knowledge of god's will. So he wants them to be filled with the knowledge of god's will. Why verse 10 so that they can live a life worthy of the lord and pleasing to the lord. And then what follows after verse 10 is 4 ways that 4 things that will look like What does it look like to live a life pleasing to the lord?
There are 4 things afterwards. So beforehand, it's I pray that you'll be filled with the knowledge of God's will so that you'll live a life worthy of the lord and pleasing to him, and here's what it looks like. So I think the center bit is verse 10. That's the heart of the prayer, I think. Now maybe you think when you hear that, that that is Paul being sort of idealistic.
He's praying that they'll live a life worthy of the lord and pleasing to the lord, but that's the ideal. They'll never make it. It's actually impossible. I want you to see our first point. Okay.
It is possible to please the lord. It is possible to please the lord. So it's possible for the Christian to please the lord. Now you need the whole sermon on this. Alright?
So don't just phase out halfway through. You do need the whole sermon, alright, in order to understand this. But this was revolutionary for me. It's been really helpful for me over the last week. It's changed the way I've thought about even about today, and I wanna share that with you.
Okay. First, it is possible to please the lord. Paul is not praying for something that is impossible. Now he's not suggesting that they can be sinless, but he is saying it's possible for them to please the lord. And I want to take you to 1 other verse to back up this idea.
There are several places actually that you could go to in the new testament that talk about things which please the lord, but I'm just gonna take you to 1, and it's interesting. The the women yesterday, mourning at the women's, morning, we're in 1 thessalonians. This is from 1 thessalonians, but it's chapter 4. So it's a little bit later on. Is this working?
Or are you moving me on? Am am I is you doing it? Is it? Is me doing it? Oh, great.
Okay. Good. There you go. There you go. 1 thessalonians 4 verse 1.
Is there. And I'll read it from here. As for other matters, brothers and sisters, we instructed you how to live in order to please god as in fact you are living. So do you see that in in that verse Paul is saying to the thessalonian church? I've told you how you can live to please the lord.
There you go. How to live in order to please god? I've told you how to do that. And do you notice that he says, as in fact, you are living. He says, you you are living in a way, which pleases the lord.
The the thessalonians were doing it. Now, Christian, does that change the way you view the lord and your relationship with him? Maybe a big change for some. That you can live in a way that pleases god. That god looks on things that you do, maybe things that you have done over this last week.
And it says I'm pleased with you. Back to colossians 1. Paul praised for the colossian Christians, they would live in a way that is worthy of the lord and pleases him, and it's possible to do so. But in order for them to do that, second point no. To please god, We need god to fill us with the knowledge of his will.
So first 9, for this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask god to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all wisdom and understanding that the spirit gives. So clearly for you and me, if we're gonna live in a way that pleases god, we need to know what he wants. And what he doesn't want. We need to know what pleases him and what displeases him.
But notice, this is something god needs to do for us. He needs to fill us. With the knowledge of his will. That's why Paul prays it. He says, I pray to god that he would fill you with the knowledge of his will, and notice it requires all wisdom and understanding that the spirit gives.
You see, god's will isn't given to us, simply in the form of a list of, of jobs to do. It's not like another to do list quite. It's not that god just gives us that and says, right, tick all the boxes today, and I'm pleased with you. It doesn't really work like that. Nor is it a sort of timed plan?
Like, you might have for your day, where you say, well, that, you know, midday, I'm gonna do this. 10 pastor, I'll do this. It's not that god gives you that kind of calendar diary for today. And so, you know, for do those things. And I'll be pleased with you.
God's will does include some things we are explicitly told to do and not do. So there are some things where you go, yes. You should forgive people or not commit ****** immorality. There are some things where you go. Yeah.
That gotta do that and not do that. But it also includes knowing god's will includes things like knowing god's overarching plan for history, where we're heading They were heading to a time where Jesus will return, where he will obviously rule and reign. It includes knowing god's purposes in salvation. That all who put their trust in Christ will be saved. You see, this requires all wisdom and understanding that the spirit gives.
It's interesting that having learnt proverbs 1 verse 7 The fear of the lord is at the beginning of knowledge. So the start of wisdom and understanding and knowing god's will, first part is to fear the lord. And to look for him for wisdom and instruction. So we need to get to know god's will and for god to fill us with the knowledge of that will in order to be able to please him. So that we know the kind of things he wants.
After all, there are lots of things you could do this afternoon that would please the lord. It's not just 1 thing. There are lots of things you could do. It's a bit like a child with young child with with her parents. You could imagine that there could be a point where a young child wants to please their parents.
Maybe this morning, if you've got children, you're bringing them, maybe you felt it's not happening today. They're not trying to do that today. Maybe there is a point where they just go, I just want to please my mum and dad. How could they do that? Well, if the parent has said something like you need to clear the table after a meal, then that's what they've gotta do.
Clearly, those are the instructions. That's what they've gotta do. But there could come a point in the afternoon where they just go, I just wanna please my mom and dad. I wanna do something that they like. What could they do?
They could do a whole load of things. Wouldn't they? Actually, it's not just 1 thing. They might draw a picture, or they might, clear up their room. That'd be a miracle.
They might do that, or they might bring the parent a drink or something. Or, you know, there's a whole load of things that they could do where the parent would go, I'm pleased with that. So too, with god, as we get to know god's will, you go actually, there are quite a lot of things that you could do this afternoon that would please the lord. We need to know god's will And as we get to know god's will, we see some some things we need to do and not do, and also lots of things that we can learn that are the kind of things that please the lord. So what will it look like we need to be filled with the knowledge of god's will through spiritual wisdom and understanding so that we can live a life that is worthy of the lord and pleasing to him.
What does it look like to live that life that is worthy of the lord pleasing to him. We're gonna see 4 things that follow after verse 10. 4 things from verse 11 to 14. Thank you. What does that life look like?
First of all, bearing fruit in every good work. As we get to know god's will through wisdom and understanding, the spirit gives we see, actually, there are good things for us to do. So verse 11. So it's verse 10. Sorry.
So that we may live a life worthy of the lord and please him in every way bearing fruit in every good work. So we see there there are good works for us to do. What counts as a good work? It doesn't specify. There are lots of things that we can do that are good works.
And since our whole lives are to be lived as living sacrifices to god, those good works can include the way you do your paid employment, doing it conscientiously and honestly, the way you relate to your work colleagues. If you're married to the way you love your spouse. If you have children, how you bring them up. For children, it includes a baying parent. Interesting.
Second half of colossians, in colossians chapter 3, it's specifically says, that pleases the lord. I wonder parents, do you ever say to your children? I mean, we would I'd never done this. But say to your children when they obey you, actually, the lord is pleased with you with that. Well, there could be dangers in that.
But, actually, that's a good thing. The lord's pleased that you did that. It includes good works, include caring for your family, 1 Timothy 5. That's another thing that pleases the lord. She sharing with others is something that pleases the lord, looking to help those in need, looking for ways to speak the gospel to others, loving 1 another in the church in practical ways, seeking to help 1 another grow in faith, building 1 another up.
Good works can encompass a whole load of things. Some of which are quite mundane and some of which are bigger, And often it's a case of seeing what are the needs around me and seeking to meet those needs? In Ephesians, Paul talks about good deeds god has prepared in advance for us to do. So can I encourage you 1 thing that you could do at the beginning of each day is to pray, lord, please help me to be alert to the good deeds you've prepared for me to do today and help me do them? That could change the way that we relate to 1 another after the service as well.
Can we and before the service, that we can be on the lookout for ways to serve 1 another. What are the needs? How can we do good good deeds? The life that pleases the lord will be 1 in which there are good deeds that bear fruit. We can't make the fruit happen, but we can do the good deeds.
Second thing is, that it's 1 in which we will grow in the knowledge of the lord, increasing in the knowledge of god. So verse 10, bearing fruit halfway down the verse, bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of god. This is the second sort of way thing that looks like to live a life that is pleasing to the lord. It will be 1 in which we get to know god better. A knowledge of god is not just knowing about god, but it's relational.
It's growing in that relationship with the lord to know him better relationally. God doesn't merely send us off to do good works or to do tasks in a kind of here are your here are your here are your jobs to do off you go. Now he wants us to know him better. It pleases him. That all Christians can know him better.
And that would be a contrast with what could have been going on in the church in Colosi. The false teaching that was around that we started to think about last week, part of that false teaching was that Jesus is okay, but for fullness, for the real thing, for the kind of extra level Christianity, you need these extra things, whether it's festivals and rituals, or whether it's some kind of spiritual experience. And 1 of the things that the false teachers were probably doing was saying that you can have an extra knowledge of god. It's reserved for a few. But you could have it if you join our little group maybe, or if you do this extra thing, you can have this extra knowledge of god, extra experience of him.
And this is, Paul is saying, I pray you all would know god better. It's not just for a few. It's for all Christians to grow in their knowledge of god. And you don't need to go somewhere special to know god better. You don't need to go on a pilgrimage somewhere.
You don't need to climb a mountain to know god better. You don't need to stare at a candle to know bet god better. Do you need to do? You need to come to Christ and know him better. Our verse that we said these are sort of key verses, core verses within the whole letter chapter 2 verses 6 and 7.
So then just as you receive Christ Jesus as lord, continue to live your lives in him rooted and built up in him strengthened in the faith as you were taught and overflowing with thankfulness. The way to know god better is not to come away from Christ, but to know Christ better. That's how you do it. Paul's saying here it is pleasing to god for all his people to know him better. And so we need to devote time to the lord.
I wonder how you're doing, with your time with the lord. It's a good thing, isn't it? To have a daily time with the lord. Take some time, regularly day by day, reading god's word and praying, spending time with the lord. If we don't spend time with the lord, we won't grow in our relationship with them.
It's a bit like with any relationship, isn't it? If we don't spend time with a person, we won't grow in that relationship, so with the lord. How are you doing with that? It can be hard, Connor. We can slip out of the habit of having daily quiet times.
Daily times with the lord in those times, what do you do? Well, it normally, it's a time of spend a bit of time in god's word, read a bit of the Bible, and pray to the lord. If you're not used to doing it, if you've never done it before, day by day, how about taking 5 minutes and just spending a bit of time with the laws? If you've slipped out of the habit, let's get back into the habits. Because we wanna know the lord better.
So it pleases god for us to know him better. Third thing, this life that pleases the lord looks like, Strenthened to what? Verse 11 is full of power. It is a power verse. Notice how it's repeated.
Being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might. Now just pause there for a moment. I wonder what you expect is gonna come next. If someone is strengthened with all god's power, is that I mean, imagine there was a rest who came out with this introduction. And now here comes the rest of the he is strengthened with all god's power, according to god's glorious might.
What are you expecting to come out? It's gonna be pretty big. I mean, there are some in, in the bible in the old testament who seem to, who are strengthened with god's power. I think of Samsung at that point. Great hero.
Well, no. He's not a great hero. Anyway, he was certainly filled with god's power. He was certainly filled with god's power. Such that, 1 time a lion attacked him, and he took that lion and ripped it apart in with his bare hands.
Is that what we're gonna be able to do? As we go out of here, look out for lion. I mean, there aren't lions. Look out for foxes or something. You gotta rip them apart with your pet.
Is that what it's gonna look like for us to be filled with god's power? Strengthened. What does it say? Being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience. Incredible, isn't it?
Paul's saying he's praying for them. They'll be filled with god's power just to endure just to keep going. That means We need god's power just to keep going as Christians. There are plenty of things in this life that can feel like they're against us that are against us keeping going in the faith. We can be bashed by sicknesses, temptations, tiredness.
The world, the flesh, and the devil are against us keeping on going. We can feel worn down, and at times, it it they can feel like dark times. And if it's just down to our strength, we won't keep going. We will give up. I wonder if any of you saw, the Brownley brothers, the Brownley brothers, they they do triathlons or they used to.
And there was 1 race. I think it was in 20 16. I looked it up this morning again. 1 race in 20 16 where, Johnny Brownley, he was in the lead. He was gonna win this race.
And as you you can look up their clip on on YouTube, as he comes around the final bend to get to the end, his legs go, and you can just he loses direction, and he he you can see he's not gonna make it to the end. He he's collapsing, and he's he's just not gonna make it even though he's winning. And his brother Alice comes around the corner and sees this and could have gone past and won the race, but he, gets his brother Johnny, gets his arm around his shoulder and pulls him, pretty much pulls him to the to the finish line. And at the end, pushes him across where he just collapses on the floor. He was okay.
He was fine afterwards. But it's an incredible thing that that his brother did that, and they were saying on contract, we've never seen anything like this before. God in his strength and power strengthens you and me to keep going, where we're struggling, where we're feeling at times, I don't know the direction. I don't know how to keep going. I'm just not sure I'm gonna make it.
God is there to strengthen us to keep going, but he doesn't just do that when we're feeling weak. He does that when we're feeling strong as well. The reason, if you're feeling strong today in the faith and you're going down, no, I'm keeping going. Even that is purely because god has strengthened you to do so. And that also means that today, if you're keeping going in the faith, that is because god has preserved you and kept you going.
We can trust him to keep us going to the end. And you enduring and doing so with patience is something that pleases the lord. If you're struggling to keep going, you can think, oh, god must be looking on me disapprovingly because I'm struggling. He doesn't. He's pleased with you that you're keeping going.
The life that pleases the lord is 1 that looks like perseverance and endurance. Lastly, the life pleasing to god is 1 in which you're thankful for the rescue. It is 1 of giving thanks. So Paul says, verse 12, and giving joyful thanks to the father, and he explains it. What are you thankful for?
Who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light? Paul is saying that the life pleasing to god is filled with Thanksgiving because god has qualified you to be in that inheritance, to be in his people. You're saying all Christians know this, that they're Christians not because of anything about them, but because god has qualified you to be in his people. Notice how he puts it in verse 13 for he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the son he loves. There is a transfer that's happened for the Christian.
It is god's action. It is god who does the rest viewing, and notice what the Christian has been rescued from. It is from the dominion of darkness. That is where mankind is. In darkness.
That's what the world is like. It is a dark place on the radio this morning. I heard couple of, couple of items on, on the radio, 1 of which was about holocaust memorial day coming up this year as a significant, anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. And in that, item, 1 of the people was saying, what do we learn from Auschwitz? And they said, whole load of things.
And then a little later on in the same program, there was someone being interviewed about, like, the southport killings. And how terrible that was? Or And as a Christian, you look at that and you go, and you read god's word, and god's word says, we live in a dark world. You go, yes, that's true. That's what we see around us.
It is a dark world, but it's dark because mankind has rejected God. That's the darkness. That's the real root cause of the darkness. That is where we are as mankind under the dominion of darkness. But praise god, there aren't there isn't just 1 place you can live.
You there are 2 places you can live. You can live in the dominion of darkness, or you can come into the kingdom of god's son. Christians are not better than others, But we're people who've been rescued, taken out of that darkness, by god, rescued by god, and brought into the kingdom of his son. Jesus' kingdom. How did god do that for us?
What do we need to happen? Verse 14? In whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. And redemption means the paying of a price to set someone free. It is the paying of a price so that someone can be set free.
What's the price that was paid? It was Jesus' death. His payment of himself on the cross, and we're gonna remember that as we take communion together. He paid with his life so that we could be brought out of the dominion of darkness and brought into his kingdom. So we could rescue be rescued from being traitors.
If you've watched that this last week and previous weeks. Traders, if you don't know it, there's a household of people, a few of whom are secretly traitors. In the world we live in, the reality is we are all traitors. We're all under the dominion of dark but Jesus paid the price by his death so that we could be brought out. He bore the death of a traitor so that we could be forgiven.
And the good news is any who want it can have their price paid for them can be redeemed can have their sins forgiven, and you can come into Jesus's kingdom. You can go from the dominion of darkness into Jesus's kingdom through his death for you, and the Christian lives their life in thanksgiving for what Jesus has done for us. In thanksgiving to god for his qualifying us to be in his people for that redemption, and that that is permanent It is not dependent on us, and he pleases god that we thank him for it. So we need all of that to be put together to understand the answer to our first question. Is it possible for you, by your actions, to please god today.
We need to understand god's grace and that we can please god and how both go to See, the Christian is someone who is qualified to be in Jesus' kingdom, not by what we do, but by what Jesus has done. And therefore, however well or however badly this week goes, I'm still, praise god, a child of god through Jesus because of what he did. And I can rejoice that that is permanent and stable And I can therefore desire to live this week to please god. And I can do so genuinely knowing that I can please god. The way I live this week will be part of a dynamic relationship with god.
You can, as his child, as 1 in his kingdom, live to please him. As you know god's will, as you seek to bear fruit in good works, and seek to know god better, persevere, strengthened by god, and giving thanks to him. So let's go into the rest of today, and this week, with the deep desire to please our father Eager to please him, knowing it's possible by his grace, and knowing that being in Jesus's kingdom does not depend on it, but depends on the death of his son. Let me lead us in prayer. Heavenly father, we praise you that it is possible to please you.
And we pray that you would fill us with the knowledge of your will through all wisdom and understanding that your spirit gives. And we pray this so that we might live a life worthy of you, and please use in every way, that we might bear fruit in good works, that we might grow in our knowledge of you, and that you would strengthen us with all power according to your glorious might so that we might have. Great endurance and patience. And father, would you help us to give thanks to you? That you have qualified us to share in the inheritance of your holy people in the kingdom of light, to rejoice that you have rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of your son, who you love, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins, amen.