1Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, and Timothy our brother, 2to the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3We give thanks to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, 4having heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love which you have toward all the saints, 5because of the hope which is laid up for you in the heavens, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the Good News 6which has come to you, even as it is in all the world and is bearing fruit and growing, as it does in you also, since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth, 7even as you learned from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant, who is a faithful servant of Christ on your behalf, 8who also declared to us your love in the Spirit.
9For this cause, we also, since the day we heard this, don’t cease praying and making requests for you, that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10that you may walk worthily of the Lord, to please him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God, 11strengthened with all power, according to the might of his glory, for all endurance and perseverance with joy, 12giving thanks to the Father, who made us fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, 13who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the Kingdom of the Son of his love, 14in whom we have our redemption, the forgiveness of our sins.
15He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16For by him all things were created in the heavens and on the earth, visible things and invisible things, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things have been created through him and for him. 17He is before all things, and in him all things are held together. 18He is the head of the body, the assembly, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence. 19For all the fullness was pleased to dwell in him, 20and through him to reconcile all things to himself by him, whether things on the earth or things in the heavens, having made peace through the blood of his cross.
21You, being in past times alienated and enemies in your mind in your evil deeds, 22yet now he has reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and without defect and blameless before him, 23if it is so that you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the Good News which you heard, which is being proclaimed in all creation under heaven, of which I, Paul, was made a servant.
24Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and fill up on my part that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the assembly, 25of which I was made a servant according to the stewardship of God which was given me toward you to fulfill the word of God, 26the mystery which has been hidden for ages and generations. But now it has been revealed to his saints, 27to whom God was pleased to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28We proclaim him, admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus; 29for which I also labor, striving according to his working, which works in me mightily.
Walking Worthily to Please the Master
Walking Worthily to Please the Master
Colossians 1 Part 1
10 that you may walk worthily of the Lord, to please him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God, 11 strengthened with all power, according to the might of his glory, for all endurance and perseverance with joy, 12 giving thanks to the Father, who made us fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, 13 who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the Kingdom of the Son of his love, 14 in whom we have our redemption, the forgiveness of our sins.
These words are Paul’s prayer for the church in Colossae, and they are directly applicable to the leaders and members of any congregation. Walking worthily involves a choice. I’ve encountered believers who claim that the grace-filled Christian life requires no effort or work from the believer. Nothing could be further from the truth. It doesn’t require you to make up things to do, but it does involve choosing to do what God puts in front of you and wills for you to do. We walk worthily because we desire to obey and please the Lord in all respects. That requires effort. That requires work. The prayer is clear here. Walking worthily includes dying to self and our own agendas and seeking God’s will today for our lives and doing it. Often, His agenda is sitting right there in front of us.
The so-called “grace movement” is correct in one sense, in that we don’t need to be attracted or distracted by thinking we must “do more” of something that we’ve cooked up in our own minds to be pleasing. That’s the catch. First and foremost, be diligent in doing well whatever God puts right there in front of you. Last evening, several leaders of the church met at my house, and one of the group asked, “What more can we do to help our people stretch and do more to reach the community?” As I thought about it, I answered, “We can certainly engage in outreach to the community, and encourage others to do so, but first and foremost, we as leaders must minister to those whom God has brought to us. We need to do a better job at that.” Each person in the church must do a better job of ministering to those whom God has brought in front of each of us. That’s how the church is to function.
My wise wife commented, “Many in our congregation are old and infirm. They don’t need a new program. Regarding our ministry to them, we need to show up, hold their hands, and pray for them through their next health challenge. We need to love them with the love of Jesus.” We don’t need to go and create something new for them to do. We need to take care of what we’ve got; what God has put in front of us. Paul goes on to say that we should bear fruit. I think of my wife’s fruit trees. The ones that have been in the orchard the longest bear much fruit if they are pruned, fertilized, watered, and sprayed with bug-killer, etc. A congregation is sort of like an orchard. It’s okay to be out bringing new trees into pots and getting them ready for the orchard, but they can’t be the primary focus. You must be focused on the orchard. You can’t ignore the trees in the orchard or they will go to ruin. Reader, today, focus on what and whom God has put right there in front of you. Do that task or minister to that person. Don’t get too distracted about thinking about what you “ought to be doing.” If we all are doing what is right there in front of us, we will be ministering to one another, and we will be walking in a way that is worthy of our high calling, and it will be pleasing to the Lord. We can do this with His help!