Lessons on Prayer (3)
Notes
Transcript
Over the last couple of weeks we’ve been thinking on the topic of prayer, and looking at some of the prayers in Scripture to see what we can learn together. And the reason we’re doing this is because as one writer said, ‘prayer is to the church, what breathing is to the body’! Without it we die!! Prayer is the greatest measure as to how much a person or church realises they need God!
This morning we turn to ...
What you believe, will govern what way you live! Half-hearted beliefs can influence us, but they’ll never govern us, they’ll never be the decisive factor in how we live!
Think about it, I’m sure most of you here believe that exercise is vital to a healthy life, and fast food is damaging to that life! And yet, it’ll only be those who that truth has really filled, governed, that will exercise more often than they eat rubbish!
Or what about as you come to worship, most of us hear believe that as we lift our voices we sing to the Almighty God, and yet so many of those same people will think little of the words we sing, fail to engage in what is actually happening.
How many of us this morning believe that without Christ, people who die will go to a place of eternal punishment. And yet we’ve crossed paths with maybe hundreds of people in the last week and maybe not shared the gospel with any!
It’s one thing to believe something, to know it, it’s another thing altogether for that truth to fill you, to govern you, to complete you in such a way that it impacts your every action, thought, word! But that is exactly what God wants for us! And so, Paul prays! He asks God to do what only He can do!
Paul is thought to have written this letter at the same time as the letter to the Ephesians from his prison in Rome. It’s roughly 30 years after Jesus has ascended to heaven. And Paul although he’s bound and unable to travel, he is still able to minister through the writing of these letters, and the prayers He offers to the Lord!
Colossae was a a city that Paul had not personally visited, and this church was not one he had planted. But yet, as Epaphras reports back to Paul about the health of the church, he is earnest to pray for them! It seems some false teaching has crept into the church, a teaching that took the focus from Christ and His complete fullness and sufficiency, and sought to introduce other practices that were necessary to be truly wise in God’s sight.
And so as Paul considered the threat and the distracting voices and opinions, he writes to make clear that in Christ we have everything! But as we heard last week, his work is not finished after he teaches, his works continues into the place of prayer! So what does he pray...
Paul Prays they’d be Filled (v.9-10)
Paul Prays they’d be Filled (v.9-10)
As I read this during the week I was a little surprised at v.9 And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you...
Now if you started reading there without having v.3-8, an obvious question would be, what has he heard, what’s happened, what’s the issue that has led Paul to pray? But when we see what comes before, there is no issue that’s apparent. These believers are doing well, faith in Christ…love for all the saints…bearing fruit…love in the Spirit...
Shouldn’t Paul be focusing on ‘needy people’! But yet he doesn’t, he realises that even though these believers are making progress, there’s more growth to press into! I think there’s a challenge for us in that. Our prayer times can be dominated with issues (and we should pray about issues). But very rarely do we ever hear pray for one another just for our growth in grace, even when struggles aren’t shared!
So what does he ask for these believers who are making good progress, v.9b...
Paul prays that they would not only know God’s will for them, but that that knowledge of His will would fill them! That it would complete them, that knowing what God wants for them would dominate them so much that there would be no room for anything else! In 2:8 we read, see to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit...
There are always competing views, ideas, claims! There are always voices that question the truth of what God has revealed in Christ! If His will can be diluted in just a small way, then it can be left ineffective! But Paul asks God to fill them! Fill them with the knowledge of that will! And look again like last week how this filling is ministered to us, in all spiritual wisdom and understanding...
This is the work of God’s Holy Spirit! He is the One who fills us in such a way with this knowledge, that we can understand, and then apply in our lives! He is the One who takes the truth we know, and causes it to complete us, so that when we’re faced with the competing voices all around, when we’re given the option of A or B, we can make every decision based on a knowledge of His will!
Now that doesn’t mean that we’ll clearly know whether to take that job or this one, it doesn’t mean that we’ll always have the answer in every decision! But what it does mean, is that the truth of who God is for us in Christ, and what He’s revealed in His Word, will be the solid ground on which everything is thought about!
And look at the purpose of Paul praying for this, v.10...
What we believe, what we’re filled by impacts how we live! If you’re filled with the belief that exam results are the defining factor for your life, you’ll neglect the things of God and spend all your free time studying. If you believe money is the treasure that will satisfy, you will make whatever sacrifices to other areas of life to acquire as much as possible! If you hold to pleasing people as the dominate factor in your life, then you’ll compromise your integrity in various areas just so not to offend!
Paul wants these believers to be dominated with God’s will so that they’ll live in a manner worthy of the Lord, God wants us to live in a manner worthy of the Lord! And what does he mean when he says that, well he tells us, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God.
We live in a fallen and broken world, our desires are often so muddled and mixed, and yet in Christ God is remaking us in His image! And that remaking is a work of God’s Spirit, through the revealing of God’s will! What an amazing thing it is to think that we can actually please God! We can live in such a way that bring Him joy, and pleasure! And not just that that can happen, God wills it for us! He wants to work it in us!
What is it that dominates you? What beliefs do you hold to that have the greatest impact on how you live? Today will you pray that God might fill you with a knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that we might walk in a manner worthy of Him, in school, in our homes, in our communities, in our church! And as we pray that, remember that God has already revealed His will for us in Christ! It’s not that we need to sit in a room and wait in silence for some revelation from heaven! We have His will revealed in this book! Read it, memorise it, meditate on it, and ask God by His Spirit to dominate you by it! ...
Paul Prays they’d be Strengthened (v.11)
Paul Prays they’d be Strengthened (v.11)
Jesus said to the inner 3 whilst in the garden of Gethsemane, the spirit is indeed willing, but the flesh is weak. Those words hit me again and again! At times we can know the right thing to do, we can want to do it, and yet there is this battle within us! It feels like we’re tied up and although we know where we need to get to, and we long to get there, we’re being held down by these cords that seems so strong!!
…so I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!… ()
Paul knows the reality of this battle, so he doesn’t just pray they’d be filled with this knowledge, he also asks that they’d be strengthened to live it out! And like we heard last week as Paul prays for the church in Ephesus, the power Paul is asking that the believers know, is the very power of Almighty God!
For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power…()
The more we grow in the knowledge of His Will, the more we see in God’s Word that He calls us to in Christ, the more we realise that we need Him! We are not strong enough to love our enemies, we’re not strong enough to bless those who curse us, to forgive those who wrong us. If we don’t feel our need of God’s power to live this life, then we’ve not really understood the life God has called us to!
We’ve a kids book at home called ‘The Big Red Tractor’, and in it there’s a small village that own a tractor. And each year they have to use this tractor to plough the fields to have food to survive. But they don’t realise the tractor can be switched on, they don’t realise there’s power available to make it go. And so every year they push and pull it and each year it just gets harder and harder!
We’re so often like that in this Christian! We know how we should feel, think, act. And at times we try so hard but it seems like we’re pushing a tractor up a hill! But here Paul prays that these believers would know power! Power like nothing else in the whole universe! The power of Almighty God in their lives!
And look at what this power will enable them for, it’s not so they can perform miracles, it’s not so they can lift cars or zap villains! This great power is so they might know all endurance and patience! Many commentators see these 2 words focusing on difficult circumstances, and difficult people! The reality is, is we’re to follow Christ, if we’re to walk in a manner worthy of Him, then we are going to have to do it when things are tough around us, sickness, debt, abuse, isolation, loneliness! God wants to strengthen us to keep going, to keep honoring Him when like Job’s wife the world says ‘curse God and die’! And what a witness it is when that happens! What a testimony to God’s power when believers endure! I think of believers in this church that have endured trouble and hardship for years upon years, and they’ve walked in a manner worthy of the Lord! His power has enabled them! And it blows my mind!!
We’ll also be faced with difficult people (now there wouldn’t be any here in MBC, more in other places)! People can be at times our greatest struggle! People that abuse us, belittle us, lie about us, bad mouth us, hurt us, just rub us up the wrong way! And our flesh wants to fight back, or cut loose. Have nothing to do with them! That person in school who is just nasty! But God’s will for us is so much more! And He wants to give us the power to walk it out, to show patience and long suffering that makes these people wonder what it is we’re about!
Paul prays these believers would be strengthened! Will you pray the same for yourself, for your brothers and sisters in MBC! Not just the people who are sick, or struggling, but for each person! (Members’ directory)!!
Paul Prays they’d be Thankful (v.11-14)
Paul Prays they’d be Thankful (v.11-14)
If you notice Paul is not just asking that they’d endure and be patient, but that God’s power would enable them to do that with joy, giving thanks! And this is a theme throughout the letter, Paul calls the believers to always remember thanksgiving!
Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.( )
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. ()
Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. ()
One of the most common questions I think believers ask is ‘how can I know God’s Will in this situation?’ And I can remember speaking to Pastor Judd one Sunday maybe 15 years ago, and asking him that same question. And his answer at the time surprised me, he said, God has revealed enough of His will in His Word, make sure first and foremost you’re striving to obey that before wondering about things He hasn’t revealed. What wise words! Do you want to know God’s Will today...
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. ()
God wants us to be a thankful people, no matter what the circumstances! And the reason that’s possible for us, is because of the gospel of Jesus Christ! v.12-14...
Here is the truth that underpins everything else! The Father has qualified us (made us sufficient) to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. We’re not sufficient or ‘in’, because of our knowledge, our faithfulness, our fruit, our endurance, our patience! That is all an outcome of our being ‘qualified’! We are qualified by the Father! He has taken us from a rule and reign of darkness, emptiness, and transferred us to a new Kingdom! A Kingdom ruled by His Son!
Our sin has been dealt with, the price has been paid! We have been freed from our slavery and now have the King! And if we have the King, we have everything!! Because in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. ()
The believers in Colossae were doing well, they were growing, they were bearing fruit! But Paul still struggles on their behalf, he still fights for them in prayer, that they would grow further! That the knowledge of God’s Will would fill them, that they’d be strengthened to work it out in their lives, and that they’d do it with thankgiving, knowing they are safe and secure in the Kingdom of His beloved Son!
I’m 36 years old now, I feel like life is just flying by at a million miles an hour! And I wonder, what beliefs really govern my heart, does my life reflect the things I say I believe? And in so many areas, it doesn’t! But here God assures me, and if you’re in a similar position, He assure us, that He wants to fill us, strengthen us, and make us thankful! In Christ all is there for us! But He calls us to pray, to ask, to realise that we need Him! That the work isn’t ours but His! So will you pray, pray for yourself, pray for this fellowship, pray individually, pray corporately! It’s in the place of prayer that He will give the gifts He’s promised!