Day 2464 – Jesus Christ, Our Lord – Praying for Knowledge of the Truth –Colossian 1:1-14

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Welcome to Day 2464 of Wisdom-Trek. Thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Day 2464 – Praying for Knowledge of the Truth – Daily Wisdom

Putnam Church Message – 09/15/2024 Jesus Christ, Our Lord – Praying for Knowledge of the Truth Colossians 1:1-14 Last week, we finished the letter of 2 Peter with Four Strong Commands, which were: Be diligent (3:14), Be confident (3:15-16), Be on guard (3:17), Be fruitful (3:18). Today’s passage is Colossians 1:1-14, on page 1831 of your Pew Bibles. ¹ Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, ² To God’s holy people in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters^[a] in Christ: Grace and peace to you from God our Father.^{[b] 3} We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, ⁴ because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people— ⁵ the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel ⁶ that has come to you. In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world—just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace. ⁷ You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant,^[c] who is a faithful minister of Christ on our^[d] behalf, ⁸ and who also told us of your love in the Spirit. 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 the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,^{[e] 10} 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, ¹¹ being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, ¹² and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you^[f] to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. ¹³ For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, ¹⁴ in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. The theme of Colossians is that Jesus Christ is sufficient as our Lord, our Life, and our Leader. In the small, newly established church in Colossae, false teachers were trying to take advantage of the believers’ spiritual youth and ignorance. Whatever the spiritual disease brought by these teachers—worldly philosophy, pagan mysticism, Jewish legalism, or pious asceticism—the cure was the same: knowledge of the truth of Jesus Christ and acceptance of His sufficiency for all things. —1:1–2— Paul begins this letter in his customary fashion: identifying the author and audience. Though the letter is from Paul, he also mentions “Timothy our brother” (1:1). At the time Colossians was written, about a decade had passed since Paul had invited young Timothy—a convert from Lystra in Asia Minor—to participate in his missionary work (Acts 16:1–3). For over a decade, Timothy had accompanied Paul through exciting and dangerous adventures—including establishing churches in Philippi, Thessalonica, Athens, and Corinth (Acts 17–19). Timothy also assisted Paul throughout his third missionary journey, which climaxed with Paul’s arrest and eventual imprisonment in Rome (Acts 21:27–28:31). We can’t be sure whether this mention of Timothy indicates that the epistle was in some sense coauthored by him |or that Timothy served as Paul’s scribe or secretary. Parts of the letter are written in the first-person plural (“we”), suggesting that Paul and Timothy both expressed those sentiments (see Col. 1:3–12). However, the letter abruptly switches in 1:23 when Paul says, “I, Paul.” From that point on, when employing the first person, the letter primarily uses the singular form (see 1:23–29; 2:1–5; 4:7–18). Regardless of Timothy’s involvement in writing and sending this epistle, the primary authority was clearly the apostle Paul. The recipients of the letter were “To God’s holy people in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters^[a] in Christ” (1:2). Though they were almost one thousand miles away as the crow flies, the bond they enjoyed through the Holy Spirit made Paul and the Colossians members of the same spiritual family. They shared the same Father and were brothers and sisters in Christ. As such, Paul felt obligated to aid their spiritual well-being. How easy it would have been for him to think, “Colossae? Never even been there! If they’re having problems, it’s not my responsibility. That’s Epaphras’s and Philemon’s baby! They need to deal with it.” Instead, he went out of his way to intervene for the spiritual health of people he knew only by proxy. The phrase “grace and peace to you” (1:2) was particularly appropriate, though it was Paul’s standard salutation. The grace he was extending to the Colossians through his letter and his desire for their peace made this not merely a meaningless phrase, like a flippant “God bless you” after somebody sneezes. Even though he hadn’t met them face-to-face, Paul genuinely desired grace and peace for his readers. —1:3–8— Paul’s authentic care and concern for the Colossians is clearly seen in the prayer of thanksgiving in 1:3–8. Paul hadn’t even met the people for whom he was praying, but he was thankful for them because of what he had heard.|By the next chapter, Paul would sharpen his tone, pointing out some areas of grave concern and calling the Colossians to get back to the straight and narrow path. But he expresses his gratitude and praise for them at the beginning of his letter and sets a positive tone. For an audience that knows him only as “an apostle,” his prayer of heartfelt thanksgiving for them is intended to disarm them with grace. Though Paul didn’t know the Colossians personally, he knew what all believers need: |growth and strength in what theologians often call the “theological virtues” of faith, love, and hope. These three pillars of the Christian life are fundamental, and Paul expresses his thankfulness to God that the Colossians are not lacking in these essentials. Faith is mentioned first in the trio because the Christian life begins with faith (Eph. 2:8–9), and without it, it is impossible to please God (Heb. 11:6). From the fountainhead of faith flows love. Once the Holy Spirit enters our hearts, love wells up—love for God and others. In Paul’s list of the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22, love comes first. Paul notes that he had heard of the Colossians ‘ “love you have for all God’s people”—(Col. 1:4). These believers demonstrated a God-given capacity for unconditional love. Then Paul mentions hope (1:5). Though this is a future, heavenly hope, it doesn’t distract believers from trusting God and loving others in the here and now. Quite the opposite! Our assurance of heavenly reward inspires us to greater faith and love. Faith looks back to the anchor of salvation->Jesus Christ’s person and work.| Love looks around, building up the body of Christ through selfless service toward one another by the power of the Spirit. |Hope looks ahead to the unalterable promise of God the Father, that He will one day usher us into His presence. These inseparable theological virtues form the bedrock upon which everything else in the Christian life rests. When our lives are anchored by faith in Jesus Christ, a love for God and others comes naturally, resulting in harmony and unity. Faith and love point to and are strengthened by a confident hope that will get us through life’s recurring trials and struggles. Continuing his prayer of thanksgiving for the Colossians, Paul expands on the subject of the gospel, which they had given a notable reception. First, he says the gospel “has come to you“—(1:6). As stated in Colossians 1:7, Epaphras— our dear fellow servant,^[c] who is a faithful minister of Christ was the one who brought the saving message to the Colossians. This underscores an obvious but important point: Nobody is born knowing the good news. People usually don’t discover it on their own. They need somebody to tell them. The gospel comes to us through a messenger. In Romans 10:14, Paul puts it this way: But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? Second, Paul says the gospel is bearing fruit and increasing throughout the world (Col. 1:6). The ministry of Epaphras to the Colossians was just one example of many missionary efforts by which men and women were sharing their faith with a lost world. A closer look at this verse suggests that the Colossians themselves may have been involved in passing on the faith to those around them. The phrase “just as it has been doing” refers to the gospel bearing fruit and increasing in the world. The phrase translated “among you” could mean emphasizing the fruitfulness of the gospel’s work in transforming the Colossians’ lives. But it can also be translated “by you,” highlighting the Colossian believers’ involvement in spreading the gospel throughout the world. If this latter sense is intended, then Paul was commending the Colossians for not bottling up the good news they had received; instead, they were proclaiming it to those around them. Third, Paul indicates that the gospel was transforming their lives (1:6, 8). The gospel was not simply received and passed on. From the moment they “understood” the grace of “God’s truth”—(1:6), the Spirit began working in the lives of the Colossians to produce love (1:8). The word for “love” (agapē) is not simply about warm feelings or kind regard for others. It refers to self-sacrificial, generous love. Paul had learned of the magnitude of the Colossians’ love from Epaphras, who was so impressed by the transforming work of the gospel in their lives that it was a highlight of his report to Paul. —1:9–14— Seeing the threat of deceptive, false teaching and anticipating a more direct refutation of its deficient claims (Col. 2), Paul’s prayer for the Colossian Christians in 1:9–14 pays particular attention to knowledge (1:9–10). In this prayer, he draws their attention from false spiritual knowledge to the intimate and experiential knowledge of Christian faith, love, and hope. Our understanding of how Paul is using the term knowledge in his letter to the Colossians can be illuminated by how he discusses this concept in his other letters. In 1 Corinthians 8:1, Paul makes an important observation about unbridled knowledge: “Knowledge” makes arrogant, |but love edifies.” The Greek word Paul uses there for “knowledge” is gnōsis, a general term for intellectual content. It often refers to spiritual insight (e.g., Rom. 11:33; 1 Cor. 12:8) or an accurate knowledge of God (e.g., 2 Cor. 2:14). As we will see, some false teachers had begun to promote a kind of deeper gnōsis that went beyond the saving knowledge of Christ as proclaimed through the gospel. In another letter, Paul may be referring to this kind of teaching when he alludes to “what” is falsely called ‘knowledge’ ”—(1 Tim. 6:20). In response, Paul prays earnestly and continually for the believers in Colossae, that they would be filled with true knowledge, wisdom, and understanding (Col. 1:9). It’s interesting to note that the word Paul uses here for the “knowledge” of God’s will is not mere intellectual or speculative knowledge. He uses the modified term epignōsis, which some commentators interpret as an intensification of the word gnōsis. We might translate epignōsis as “full” knowledge “-or-” complete “knowledge.” Paul prays that they will be “filled” with knowledge of “His” will—(1:9) and growing in the knowledge of God (1:10). I can’t help but think that Paul’s use of this term so prominently here was meant to rescue the Christian concept of knowledge away from the know-it-all false teachers who were trying to twist the term for their own purposes. The full knowledge of God’s will for which Paul prayed was not just information but “all” spiritual wisdom and understanding—(1:9). This finds its source in God through Jesus Christ, who is sufficient for all things. And it is given to believers not simply to inform but to transform them. In 1:10, Paul outlines three results of receiving this knowledge of God’s will. First, the way we live will honor and please the Lord so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: Everything we think, say, and do will be in pursuit of God’s glory. Second, the result of true knowledge, wisdom, and understanding is that our lives will produce healthy fruit: bearing fruit in every good work again, we should think of the theological virtues of faith, love, and hope (1:4–5) and the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22–23 (see also 2 Pet. 1:5–8). Third, the result is that we will continue to grow deeper in our knowledge of God. Because Christians enjoy a personal relationship with God, our potential knowledge of Him is infinitely deep. We can never cease growing in our knowledge of and relationship with God. Having prayed for their complete knowledge, Paul next prays for the Colossians’ spiritual strength (Col. 1:11–12). He has just mentioned honoring and pleasing the Lord through lives marked by spiritual fruit and deeper spiritual growth (1:10). Now, he reminds his readers that God is the source of the true spiritual power that fosters that growth. We depend on Him alone for everything. Being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience (1:11). The word hypomonē, translated as “endurance and patience,” refers to “the capacity to hold out or bear up in the face of difficulty.” It emphasizes persevering strength exhibited through triumphing in adverse situations. The word rendered “patience,” makrothymia, suggests inner resolve or mental and emotional fortitude, the “state of remaining tranquil while awaiting an outcome.” Anybody who has faced challenges against all odds or encountered people who are impossible to please knows how desperately we need these God-given strengths. Paul knew that the Colossians needed this kind of heavenly strength to be shielded from the flurry of false teachings challenging their faith in the sufficiency of Christ. When God gives this kind of miraculous inner resolve and persevering strength, the result is joyful thanksgiving—not for the pain, suffering, trials, and tribulations we are enduring, but for the firm hope that God has “qualified you^[f] to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.” (1:12). This hope of future glory is firm because it’s already accomplished in Christ! In 1:13–14, Paul connects our future deliverance to the past and present. He doesn’t say that one day, in the sweet by and by, we may find ourselves in God’s kingdom. He says we were “rescued” (past tense) from the dark domain of depravity and death in which we were born and “Brought...