“Endurance, Patience, Joy, Qualified” – Colossians 1:9-12

The apostle Paul liked to use sporting analogies to make points in his letters. He mentioned racing in 1 Corinthians, in part because Corinth was home to an athletic competition much like the Olympics of his day. He also alludes to running and competing in Philippians. The writer of Hebrews also made a reference to athletics in Hebrews 12.

The typical athlete trains year round to compete at his or her highest level. They put in a lot of practice and training to become instinctual in their sport. We may see them for a few seconds or minutes, but behind those seconds and minutes are weeks and months of intense training and practice.

I think one of the reasons the Holy Spirit inspired Paul and Hebrews’ writer to allude to sports is because the Christian life is one of long time practice and endurance. We are called to live exemplary lives, and in order to do that, we are required to spend much time with God through the Holy Spirit, listening, learning and growing.

It is with this idea in mind that Paul offered his prayer for the Colossians. As we’ve looked at elements of the prayer over the past few weeks, we come now to the results of what Paul prayed for so many years ago.

Background

Paul was inspired to write this letter while in prison in Rome. Epaphras, the man who began the church in Colossae, had come to Paul with a concern that he asked the apostle to respond to.

From Paul’s letter, it seems as though the trouble in Colossae was a false teaching making the rounds, a blend of Jewish and Greek thought that stressed the body and physical world were irredeemably evil, and that the spiritual person had to bring the body into a strict regimen to be able to live a spiritual life. Toward that end, there was a stress on observing various religious laws, primarily Jewish law, but other religious observances as well.

To this, Paul wrote his letter, showing the Colossians that faith in Christ is a faith walk, with God transforming the believer through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. While the Spirit is working in us, though, we are also required to reach out to Christ through that same spirit, giving ourselves to Him.

This prayer is an expression that introduces the theme of Paul’s letter. In these words of the prayer, we see the following truth:

Central Truth: God blesses us in so many ways as we seek to grow in Him.

God blesses us with:

1. Knowledge of His will (9)

For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with knowledge of His will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.

In John 15:4-7, Jesus spoke about our relationship with Him and our dependence on Him. He used an analogy of our relationship with Him as between a branch and a vine. He stressed that the branch is totally dependent on the vine in order to bear fruit. If the branch does not bear fruit, it is cut off and cast away. But in order for the branch to bear fruit, Jesus said, “No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in Me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in Me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing” (vs. 4-5).

Paul understood this truth, and his prayer is for the Colossians to find themselves nurtured and empowered by God. His prayer was for the Colossians to be filled with the knowledge of God’s will. It is so critical in our walk with Christ that we know His will and do it. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said the road to life was narrow. The implication is that that road is not always an easy one to follow. The only sure way to know the path is to follow the Guide who is the Way and who lights the way. This is done in yielding to Christ’s will through His Holy Spirit.

The way we find knowledge of God’s will is through spiritual wisdom and understanding. It is crucial that we have the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. The Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 1:14that the “man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.” To truly know God’s will and to be empowered to do it, we must keep in contact with the Spirit that God has blessed us with the moment we accept Christ as Savior. At that moment of our spiritual birth, we are given the Spirit and, at the same moment, Jesus becomes both Savior and Lord.

Knowing this, Paul knew that this blessing from God is something we should embrace so that we may continue to grow in our knowledge of God’s will.

2. Great endurance, patience and joy (10-12a)

And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please Him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, . . .

We mentioned the references to sporting events as a metaphor for the Christian walk. Paul brought that idea to bear in his statement of the three specific things he was praying for on behalf of the Colossians.

In order to live a life worthy of Christ, we must know and walk in His will. Only then can we live a life that is holy, a life that is devoted to the One who saves us from our sins and from ourselves.

We also need to know God’s will in order to bear fruit in every good work. Going back to Jesus’ analogy of the branch and the vine, we are completely dependent upon the Spirit as we seek to give ourselves to Him each day. It is only when we remain in Him that we are able to bear fruit. This fruit allows others to see Jesus in us and identify us as Christian. The term “Christian” was first used in reference to the believers in Antioch. The term means “little Christs” or “Christ-like.” It was intended as an insult, but it was what the non-believers called Jesus’ followers. Are we living our lives in such a way that others will see Jesus in us and identify us as Christian, or do we have to tell everyone that we are Christian?

God told the prophet Elijah to confront the many prophets of Baal in order to prove once again to the nation of Israel who was the true God. Elijah did as God instructed him and God brought glory and honor upon Himself as a result.

When Jezebel heard about it, she sent word to the prophet that she was going to destroy him. Elijah fled for his life, and when he could run no more, he collapsed and begged God to take him away. The result of the contest and the aftermath had worn Elijah out, physically, emotionally and spiritually.

Doing God’s will can be a taxing thing. The battle we fight is against Satan, and he is a formidable enemy. He will do all within his power to destroy us, and we can find ourselves as Elijah did—worn out from the fight. It’s that time that we need God to restore us with His power. By that power, Paul knew we are strengthened and enabled to continue the fight.

In Isaiah 40:31, we are told that “those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”

All of these elements—ones we have spoken of over the last few weeks—are designed to give us great endurance and patience. The endurance is what is required. The Christian life is a marathon, not a sprint. It is a lifetime of living, not a day, a week or a year. We need endurance, but we also need patience. There are times that we want to see the results of God working in us right now. The reality is that His work is transforming us, sometimes in ways we cannot see immediately, but it is being done.

When we see how God is working in our lives, as we grow in our endurance and patience, we are given the ability to express our joy in Him. We no longer rely on the things of this world to make us happy or serene. We find our joy and our serenity in the confident knowledge that we are secure in God, that we are branches securely attached to the vine, bearing fruit for His glory.

How else can we do anything else but give thanks to the empowering God, who reveals His will in us and to us through His Holy Spirit?

3. Qualifying us to share His inheritance (12b)

. . . who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.

There are times we get things in the mail that tell us we are qualified for a special offering or possibility to win something. Publisher’s Clearinghouse often lets us know that we can be qualified to win thousands of dollars a month if we will fill out the form and mail it in. While it would be nice to win the Publisher’s Clearinghouse Sweepstakes, we never can if we are not qualified.

Paul wrote to the Colossians that God qualified them to share in the inheritance of all the saints. What is this inheritance? It is the fulfillment of all promises in Christ. It is the assurance of eternal life. This eternal life was given to us the moment we accepted Christ, and we know that eternal life is to know the Father and the Son by the presence of the Holy Spirit within us. There is so much more to the inheritance, but these two things should be enough to give thanks and praise to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirt.

Conclusion

There are times when I have felt distant from God. It is in those times when I feel that my prayers are impotent, that my fellowship with God is shredded and uncertain. These are not pleasant times. There are times, though, when I feel close to the Father, sensing I am where He wants me. In these times, I find a power and an awareness that enables me to continue to be about His business. Of the two, the latter is always preferable.

I tell you this because I believe I am not alone in this. The good news is that God is always near, and that He longs for us to reach out to Him, to embrace His will, His love and His power.

Paul’s prayer for the Colossians was so that they could know the closeness of walking with God. That prayer is for us today. We have to ask ourselves today: Will we walk in His ways, will we seek to know His will through spiritual wisdom and understanding? Will we do it today?