Praying Like an ApostleCol. 1:9-14

“How’s your prayer life?”

What does that question even mean? “How often do you pray?” “How long do you pray?” “Do you use the right words when you pray?” “What posture do you use to pray?” “Where do you pray?” “What kinds of things do you pray for?” “Why do you pray?” “Whom are you addressing when you pray?”

In every one of Paul’s letters, the apostle gives us a glimpse into his own prayer life. Several times, he requests specific prayer for himself, but in every letter he refers to or expressessomething specific he is praying for his readers. This morning, we’re going to take a look at one of those prayers, recorded in Col. 1:9-14. Please turn there now.

In your sermon notes, you’ll see a sheet with an outline; go ahead and take a look at it, so that we can see where we’re headed. This passage will help us address 3 questions: 1) What does Paul request in this prayer? 2) Whom does Paul address in prayer? and 3) How can Paul pray? What you see in your outline isa breakdown of this passage that I will be following this morning, beyond answering those 3 primary questions.

We read the passage earlier, so we’ll dive right in, but, before we do, let me make one more introductory observation about this passage. Verses 9-14, in Greek, are part of the longest Greek sentence in the New Testament. Col. 1:9-20 is, in fact, one single sentence in Greek, comprised of 216 Greek words.1 As it

1 Some commentators count 218 words, but I don’t think Paul wrote the prepositional phrase διʼ αὐτοῦ (“through him” or “by him”) twice in v. 20 (compare ESV, which only has “through him” at the beginning of v. 20, with NKJV or KJV, which has “by Him” repeated in the middle of the verse). Cf. (forthe 218-word count) Richard R. Melick, Jr., Philippians, Colossians, Philemon (New American Commentary 32; Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1991), pg. 199. The earliest Greek manuscripts have no punctuation to separate sentence from sentence, so Greek readers have to recognize grammatical clues to determine where sentences begin and end.

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turns out, chapter 1, after the greeting, is made up of only 4 sentences: verses 3-8, 9-20, 21-23, and 24-29.2

So, let’s begin unpacking this wondrously huge sentence; look at verse 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 ofhis will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding. Most Bible translations begin this verse with the words “for this reason,”3 which shows the connection to verses 7-8 more clearly. Paul mentions how Epaphras, who had planted the church in Colossae, had recently delivered a report to Paul indicating that the Christians in Colossae were expressing love for each other, as the fruit of the Spirit. Because of this good report, Paul says, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you. He andTimothy, who are in some sense co-writing this letter, repeatedly, consistently, and regularly pray for these Christians. As Pastor Barry mentioned last week, it’s important to remember that Paul has never met these Christians in Colossae.He doesn’t know these folks, yet he prays for them unceasingly! We will come back to this point to reflect on its implications for us. Notice also that it’s not a crisis that provokes him to pray; it’s their good progress. John MacArthur comments, “Paul...knew that the knowledge that others are progressing in the faith should never lead us to stop praying for them. Rather, it should encourage prayer for their greater progress.”4

2 There are other proposals for how best to divide the sentences of chapter 1.Aside from the view I hold, considering verses 9-20 as a single sentence, a very compelling case can be made for seeing verses 9-14 as a sentence and verses 15-20 being a separate sentence, quoting a hymn that can stand alone asa distinct sentence. The best argument for this I have seen is David W. Pao, Colossians and Philemon (Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament; Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2012), pg. 64. Ordinarily, the Greek relative pronoun, translated “who,” like the English relative pronoun, cannot begin a sentence, but it is acceptable as the beginning of a poem. See Daniel B. Wallace, Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics: An Exegetical Syntax of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1996), pgs. 340-341.

3 So NIV, NET, HCSB, NASB, NKJV, GWT, NRSV. KJV & ASV have “for this cause.”

4 John F. MacArthur, Jr., Colossians (Chicago: Moody, 1992), pg. 26.2

So, what does Paul pray for these Colossian Christians he’s nevermet? He prays that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding. The language of “fullness” and “being filled” is going to appear several times inColossians,5 and many through the years have thought that Paul uses this word because the false teachers he is opposing use thisword as a buzzword of sorts.6 The word conveys the basic idea of completion, most often used with reference to filling a containerwith a substance.7 It is this notion of “capacity” that drives Paul’s metaphorical usage of the term here. He is depicting each of the Colossian Christians as like this cup, and he’s praying that God would pour something into this cup, filling it up to thevery top.

What fills the cup? Well, it seems that Paul envisions a sort of “mixed drink” that consists of 3 ingredients: the knowledge of his will, all spiritual wisdom, and all spiritual understanding. Ingredient #1 is “knowing8 God’s will.” What a concept! When we speak of “knowing God’s will” or wanting to know God’s will, we’re usually referring to finding out what decision God wants usto make when faced with a variety of options. “Who should I marry?” “Where should I work?” “Should I eat Chinese or Mexican for dinner?” “Should we move to Africa or Kilgore?” I’m so glad to see our high school guys studying the book Just Do Something by Kevin DeYoung; that book will help you recognize more clearly

5 Cf. Col. 1:9, 19, 25; 2:2, 9, 10; 4:12, 17.6 See, for example, R. Kent Hughes, Colossians and Philemon: The Supremacy of

Christ (Preaching the Word series; Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 1989), pg. 36. Cf., more cautiously, Douglas J. Moo, The Letters to the Colossians and to Philemon (The Pillar New Testament Commentary; Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2008), pg. 93.

7 See Johannes P. Louw and Eugene Albert Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains (2nd ed.; New York: United Bible Societies, 1996), vol. 1, pgs. 596-597. Cf. Gerhard Delling, “πληρόω” in Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (edited by Gerhard Kittel, Geoffrey W. Bromiley, andGerhard Friedrich; Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1964), vol. 6, pgs. 286-287.

8 Many commentators suggest a special meaning for this particular Greek word (ἐπίγνωσις), since Paul often uses the simpler form (γνῶσις). I think theterms are basically interchangeable; context must indicate a special nuance. Moo, Colossians, pg. 93 n. 52, writes, “But no consistent difference in meaning between γνῶσις and ἐπίγνωσις (or between γινώσκω and ἐπιγινώσκω) can be discovered in Paul; and so we should probably not attach any special nuance tothe word here.”

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that, when the Bible speaks of God’s will, it’s not usually (if ever) talking about those kinds of day-to-day decisions. DeYoung writes, concerning this passage, “Being filled with the knowledgeof God’s will doesn’t mean getting divine messages about our summer plans and financial investments. It means we bear fruit, grow in our understanding of God, are strengthened with power unto patience, and joyfully give thanks to the Father.”9

Reflecting on this passage in connection with the rest of Colossians, David Pao writes, “‘The knowledge of his will’ is theknowledge of what God has done through Jesus Christ. This ‘will’ is not concerned primarily with God’s private plan for individualbelievers; it is rather his salvific will as he accomplishes his plan of salvation.”10 The concept of God’s will in Paul’s lettersis at once more general and more comprehensive than the way we tend to use that phrase. Knowing God’s will, according to Paul, “involves recognizing how Christ is the fulfillment of God’s redemptive purposes..., how God’s salvation is open to all people, and how God intends for Christians to live in whatever situation they find themselves.”11 At the end of the letter, in Col. 4:12, Paul will let the Colossians know how Epaphras has also been praying that they would “stand mature and fully assuredin all the will of God.”

Two more ingredients make up this “cocktail” Paul is praying would fill the Colossian Christians: wisdom and understanding. The adjectives “all” and “spiritual” probably go with both of these terms. The 2011 edition of the NIV helps us see more clearly that the word usually translated “spiritual” is actually referring to the Holy Spirit in Paul’s Letters. You can see theirtranslation of this phrase on the screen or in your sermon notes:all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives. The idea

9 Kevin DeYoung, Just Do Something: A Liberating Approach to Finding God’s Will—OR How to Make a Decision without Dreams, Visions, Fleeces, Impressions, Open Doors, Random Bible Verses, Casting Lots, Liver Shivers, Writing in the Sky, Etc. (Chicago: Moody, 2009), pgs 59-60.10 Pao, Colossians, pg. 69.

11 David E. Garland, Colossians and Philemon (NIV Application Commentary; Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1998), pg. 65. Cf. N.T. Wright, Colossians and Philemon (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries 12; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1986), pg. 61.

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of God filling someone with wisdom and understanding occurs in the Old Testament. See Exod. 31:3 on the screen or in your sermonnotes, where Yahweh told Moses, I have filled him with the Spiritof God, with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship. This is referring to God’s equipping Bezalel to construct the tabernacle. In the Greek Old Testament, the phrase translated “ability and intelligence” is identical to the phrase translated “wisdom and understanding” in Col. 1:9. Moreover, thisphrase pops up again in a very important passage referring to theMessiah in Isa. 11:2—And the Spirit of Yahweh shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding....So, what was once given to an isolated individual for a special task, would be given to the Messiah. Sure enough, Col. 2:3 says that it is in the Messiah, Jesus, where “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” “are hidden.” Now, Paul is praying that God would fillall of the Colossian Christians—and ultimately all Christians everywhere—with the wisdom and understanding provided by the Spirit.12

So, what is Paul requesting in this prayer? Like a cup filled with a mixed drink, Paul asks God to enable the Colossian Christians to know God’s will completely, accompanied by the wisdom and understanding that only the Spirit can provide. “Understanding” probably refers to “the ability to discern the truth,” while “wisdom” probably refers to making “good decisions based on that truth.”13 The metaphor of being filled probably “implies elements of completeness (that a knowledge of God’s willis to shape the whole of life) and of exclusiveness (that only God’s will be allowed to shape life).”14 After all, once the cup is full, you can’t put anything else in!15

12 Cf. G.K. Beale, “Colossians” in Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament (edited by G.K. Beale and D.A. Carson; Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2007), pg. 848, who writes, “Colossians, like Eph. 1:17, however, goes one step further than Isaiah: the ‘wisdom and spiritual understanding’ is now applied not to one person, as in Exodus or Isaiah, but rather to all of God’s people who participate in the new creation.”

13 Cf. Moo, Colossians, pg. 94.14 Ernest D. Martin, Colossians, Philemon (Believers Church Bible Commentary;

Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1993), pg. 45.15 Paul uses this same metaphor of “filling” in some of his prayers in

other letters: Rom. 15:13, filled “with all joy and peace in believing”; Eph. 5

Paul goes on in verse 10 to highlight the result he expects from this filling. He prays that God would fill the Colossian Christians, verse 10, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him. “Walking” is frequently used in the Bible as a metaphor for the way a person lives their life on a daily basis; it refers to our day-to-day conduct. The imagery of “walking” is important, as it implies forward motion, rather thansimply standing still.16 Paul refers to “walking worthily” in 2 other places in his letters.17 They’ll appear on the screen one at a time, and they’re down in your sermon notes. Eph. 4:1 says, I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called. 1 Thess. 2:12 says, we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory. Notice that what Paul commands inEphesians and 1 Thessalonians, he expects as a result of God’s work in answer to prayer in Colossians.

In verse 10 of our passage, he further characterizes what it means to “walk in a manner worthy of the Lord” as being “fully pleasing” to the Lord Jesus. Paul often speaks of pleasing God asa goal of the ordinary Christian life,18 as well as a goal of hisown life and ministry.19 Whereas “those who are in the flesh cannot please God,” according to Paul in Rom. 8:8, “we make it our ambition to please him,” as he says in 2 Cor. 5:9 (NET). D.A.

3:19, “filled with all the fullness of God”; Phil. 1:11, “filled with the fruit of righteousness”;

16 Cf. Leland Ryken et al, Dictionary of Biblical Imagery (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2000), pgs. 922-923.

17 Phil. 1:27 is also similar, although not using the metaphor of walking: “Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in the one Spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the gospel” (NIV 2011). The NLT brings out the metaphor Paul uses in this verse: “Above all, you must live as citizens ofheaven, conducting yourselves in a manner worthy of the Good News about Christ.”

18 1 Cor. 7:32; 2 Cor. 5:9; Col. 3:20; 1 Thess. 4:1; 2 Tim. 2:4. He alsorefers to “not pleasing” God: Rom. 8:8; 1 Thess. 2:15.

19 1 Thess. 2:4.6

Carson writes, “In thought, word, and deed, in action and in reaction, I must be asking myself, ‘What would Jesus have me do? What is speech or conduct worthy of him? What sort of speech or conduct in this context should I avoid, simply because it would shame him? What would please him the most?’”20 Is that the goal you pursue in your relationships and in your endeavors? Let the concern to please Jesus affect every decision you make. Carson adds, “Transparently, we cannot begin to be utterly pleasing to Jesus unless God fills us with the knowledge of his will. Conversely, the knowledge of his will is not an end in itself buthas as its goal such Christian maturity that our deepest desire is to please the Lord Christ.”21

What does the life “worthy of the Lord” and “fully pleasing to him” look like? In the rest of verse 10 and on through the beginning of verse 12, Paul uses 4 Greek participles to flesh outwhat this life looks like. The first 2 finish out verse 10; he continues, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in theknowledge of God. These 2 participles, “bearing fruit” and “increasing,” we’ve already seen in Col. 1:6, where Paul said that the gospel was “bearing fruit and increasing” “in the whole world,” as well as among the Colossian Christians. In contrast tothe way the Colossian Christians lived before the gospel “bore fruit” among them, “doing evil deeds” according to verse 21, now they are expected to “bear fruit” “in every good work.” Paul often refers to good works as a vital part of the Christian life.Let’s look at just 3 other examples, though there are several others.22

First, see 2 Cor. 9:8 on the screen or in your sermon notes—And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. Paul here highlights God’s grace as always available, in every circumstance, so that the believer can do good deeds. Secondly, look at 2 Tim. 3:16-17—All Scripture is breathed out by

20 D.A. Carson, A Call to Spiritual Reformation: Priorities from Paul and His Prayers (GrandRapids, MI: Baker, 1992), pg. 106.

21 Ibid.22 2 Thess. 2:17; 1 Tim. 2:10; 5:10; 2 Tim. 2:21; 3:17; Tit. 3:1.

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God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, andfor training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. This statement is so important for our understanding of the nature of Scripture as God’s very words that we often miss the main point Paul is making. In 2 Cor. 9:8, God’s grace is the source of the believer’s ability to do “every good work”; here, in 2 Tim. 3:16-17, it is “all Scripture” which he insists provides all that is necessary for the believer to do “every good work.”23 Finally, look at Eph. 2:10—For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. God has saved us, created us anew, for the purpose of doing good works, and notice the metaphor of “walking”in good works, indicating that our daily lifestyle is to be characterized by doing good works. This is probably what Jesus had in mind in John 15, particularly verse 8: By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.

So, living life “worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him” involves “bearing fruit in every good work.” And, secondly, it involves “increasing in the knowledge of God.” Paul is praying that God would enable them to know God’s will, so that they will live fully pleasing to him, by knowing God himself better. The phrase “knowledge of God” surely refers to intimacy with God, rather than simply knowing facts about God. Nevertheless, this seems a bit circular, as knowing God’s will implies knowing God, his ways, his plan, and how he expects his children to live. Rather than circular, perhaps Paul’s thinking more in terms of a spiral; as one writer has put it, “Understanding will fuel holiness; holiness will deepen understanding.”24 You cannot have one without the other. “Head knowledge” should grow hand-in-hand with personal or relational knowledge.

23 Cf. Ceslas Spicq, “ἐξαρτίζω, καταρτίζω” in Theological Lexicon of the New Testament (translated by James D. Ernest; Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1994), vol.2, pgs. 18-20.

24 Wright, Colossians, pg. 62.8

In verse 11, Paul gives us one more characteristic of the life pleasing to God. The ESV begins a new sentence here, but this is another participle parallel to the previous 2 in verse 10. So, the life fully pleasing to Jesus not only bears fruit in every good work and increases in intimacy with God, but also is being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, forall endurance and patience. We’ll stop there for a minute, and we’ll pick up the phrase “with joy” in just a minute, as it more likely should go with the following word in verse 12. Do you see the three different “power” words in this verse? Paul does this kind of thing on occasion, and here “piling up related words...and adding an all, has the net effect of making the strongest kind of statement about God being adequate to enable believers to walk the new life.”25

Translating a bit more literally, we have “by being empowered with all power according to the might of his glory leading to complete endurance and patience.” So, in the midst of these 4 participles that depict the life that is fully pleasing to Jesus,with the 3 others focused on things we do, Paul is compelled to put this overly emphatic statement about God’s empowering. I wantyou to get the significance of this statement. He uses the present tense here, indicating that this empowering or strengthening is something ongoing. It’s not something that happens occasionally or happened once upon a time. Also, he uses the passive voice, implying that God is the one doing the empowering to the believer. Let me personalize it: God is empowering you to live the life that is fully pleasing to Jesus. When you “bear fruit” in any good work, when you increase in yourintimacy with God, it is because God is empowering you.26

Now, Paul adds that God’s empowering has a specific twofold goal:his empowering leads to “all” or “complete endurance and patience.” Endurance has to do with our response to suffering; patience has to do with our response to sinful people, including

25 Martin, Colossians, pg. 47. Cf. Eph. 1:19; 6:10.26 Cf. Pao, Colossians, pg. 65, who writes, “That Paul frames his wishes for the Colossians in the form of a prayer report reflects his conviction that even their obedience is part of God’s powerful work.”

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ourselves.27 Said differently, endurance is how God expects us torespond “to an apparently impossible situation,” and patience is how God expects us to respond “to an apparently impossible person.”28 Paul is telling us that God’s empowering leads toward or results in these attitudes, these kinds of responses.

Endurance toward circumstances? I must confess my own failure in this area; three days from now, my beloved wife will be having major surgery, a surgery that holds out some measure of hope for physical health that she’s never known. But, it’s also a surgery that will require her to be out of work for a month, and it will cost a lot of money. Why did we only just discover this birth defect—something she’s had all her life, that has probably causeda variety of health issues throughout her life? Why only now? Whyhas she had to suffer so much? Why is the recovery expected to beso difficult and so long? What if there are complications? What if we can’t afford it? What if it doesn’t actually fix the problems? Oh, how can I have this endurance that is surely fully pleasing to Jesus? Some of you, I suspect, know what this feels like. Ultimately, endurance “is the product of the settled conviction that the Father of Jesus Christ is the sovereign Lord of the world, and that he is able to bring about his purposes in his own time and manner.”29

What about patience toward sinful people? The Greek word translated patience here refers to “the prolonged restraint...of anger or agitation.”30 Several times in the Greek Old Testament the adjectival form of this word is used to describe God as “slow

27 Cf. J.B. Lightfoot, Saint Paul’s Epistles to the Colossians and to Philemon (8th ed.;Classic Commentaries on the Greek New Testament; New York: Macmillan and Co., 1886), pg. 138, who writes, “While ὑπομονὴ is the temper which does not easilysuccumb under suffering, μακροθυμία is the self-restraint which does not hastily retaliate a wrong. The one is opposed to cowardice or despondency, the other to wrath or revenge....While ὑπομονὴ is closely allied to hope (1 Thess. 1:3), μακροθυμία is commonly connected with mercy (e.g., Exod. 34:6).”

28 Wright, Colossians, pg. 64.29 Ibid., pg. 63. Cf. Garland, Colossians, pg. 75, who writes, “In this

context, ‘endurance’ is exercised toward circumstances. It is the power to cope and be content in all circumstances (Phil. 4:11-13), even when we are deluged by suffering. It is, therefore, the opposite of complaining, grumbling, or becoming despondent.”

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to anger.”31 Turn with me to Matt. 18. I want to take a brief look at the well-known parable Jesus tells about the unforgiving servant. Like no other passage, perhaps, this one highlights the relationship between God’s patience with us and the patience he expects us to show others. Follow with me as I read verses 21-35.Matt. 18:21-35:

Then Peter came up and said to [Jesus], “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.“Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents.(If you’re keeping score, let’s say that this is about 10 billiondollars.)32 And since he could not pay, his master ordered him tobe sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, (For those keeping score, that’s about 16 thousand dollars, about1/3 of a year’s salary) and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’ So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ Herefused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the

30 U. Falkenroth and Colin Brown, “μακροθυμία” in New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology (edited by Colin Brown; Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1986), vol. 2, pg. 769.

31 See Exod. 34:6; Num. 14:18; Neh. 9:17; Ps. 86:15 (LXX 85:15); 103:8 (LXX 102:8); 145:8 (LXX 144:8); Joel 2:13; Jon. 4:2; Nah. 1:3.

32 Scholars differ in the ways they carry these amounts over into modern-day equivalents. Assuming an approximate annual salary for a middle-class American worker is $50,000, and, according to the footnote in the ESV, “A talent was a monetary unit worth about twenty years’ wages for a laborer.” Jesus’ point is even more drastic than this when we realize that the Greek word translated “ten thousand...is the largest numeral for which a Greek term exists, and the talent is the largest known amount of money.” See R.T. France,The Gospel of Matthew (The New International Commentary on the New Testament; Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2007), pg. 706.

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debt. When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. Then his master summoned him andsaid to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy onyour fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”

Jesus is clearly highlighting a debt that is unimaginable, truly unpayable. In this parable, the man who owes the king requests patience, and he promises to pay. In his promise to pay, he surely knows that he cannot pay the debt, but he is indicating his (apparent) desire to pay, his desire to give the king what heowes him.

Rather than do what the servant requests, however, the king doesn’t just have patience with him, waiting for him to pay the debt; the king actually forgives the debt completely. The servantis free; he no longer has this debt hanging over his head. He no longer owes the money. And this fact is what makes his treatment of his fellow servant so heinous. He no longer needs the money, yet he demands a paltry sum (in comparison) from his fellow servant. When his fellow servant requests patience from him and promises to pay him the full amount (which this servant will actually be able to do, probably in the course of a few years), he seizes him and begins to choke him, an apparent expression of rage, certainly the opposite of the patience that was requested. When the king hears of this, his patience comes to an end; whereas initially the king was patient, slow to anger, now he acts in anger, imprisoning this wicked servant and rescinding hisoffer of forgiveness. The servant revealed by his actions that hedidn’t value the king’s offer, that he didn’t gratefully receive the forgiveness of the king. So, the wicked servant now must remain imprisoned until he can pay the debt, but the debt is unpayable, so that he will remain imprisoned forever.

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Unforgiveness, lack of patience, being quick to anger instead of slow to anger, is dangerous for anyone who professes to be a Christian. Jesus adds a concluding application to this parable, indicating that his Father will act as the king did toward those who don’t forgive “from the heart.” Remember that Jesus is addressing his disciples; Peter had asked the question, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Peter is referring to fellow disciples, other people who claim to be Christians, and he thinks 7 times would be a generous number of times to forgive someone. On another occasion, Jesus had taught, “If your brother sins, rebukehim, and if he repents, forgive him, and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him” (Luke 17:3-4). It’s quite possiblethat Jesus even envisions the situation where a person sins against you seven times in the same way in a single day. In response to Peter’s question in Matt. 18, he qualifies this teaching showing that whether 7 times or 77 times, “forgiveness must be habitual. From the world’s point of view a sevenfold repetition of an offense in one day must cast doubt on the genuineness of the sinner’s repentance. But that is not the believer’s business. His business is forgiveness.”33

The way the king treated the servant obligated the servant to treat others in like manner.34 Because of God’s patience toward us and his forgiveness of our sins, Paul expects God to empower complete patience in his people. After all, it is mentioned amongthe fruit of the Spirit in Gal. 5:22. However, too often we fail to show patience, we fail to extend forgiveness, and we fail to endure the suffering of our lives. If Paul is so confident that God empowers these things in his people, why don’t we experience

33 Leon Morris, Luke (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1988), pg. 273. Cf. Darrell L. Bock, Luke 9:51-24:53 (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament; Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1996), pg. 1388-1389, who writes, “The point about frequency of forgiveness is made in the telling illustration of seven requests in one day. Surely, one would question the genuineness of the repentance of every couple of hours forgiveness was requested. But Jesus notes that each time the request is made it should be granted.”

34 Cf. U. Falkenroth and Colin Brown, “μακροθυμία,” vol. 2, pg. 770.13

these things consistently? We’ve already noted how Paul has said God’s grace is always available to enable us to do good works (2 Cor. 9:8) and God has given us the Scriptures to equip us for every good work (2 Tim. 3:16-17). Some would say that our failureis because we’re not letting God’s grace enable us; we’re not letting the Spirit produce his fruit in us; we’re not letting God’s Word penetrate our hearts. While I do think our failure in these areas is sinful and we are responsible for it, I cannot accept the idea that we can prevent God’s Spirit from doing whatever he pleases; I cannot accept the idea that we can hinder the Word of God from changing our hearts.

In recent weeks, I’ve been studying the book of Jeremiah as one of my “side-studies,” separate from any teaching or preaching work I’m currently doing, and Jeremiah has helped me immensely tothink better about how to talk about what’s going on when God’s Word seems to fail. Jeremiah portrays God’s Word as incredibly powerful, transformative, life-giving, yet as Jeremiah preached God’s Word to the people of Judah of his day, the people largely opposed it, refused to believe it, disobeyed it. How can this tension hold? Here’s the conclusion I’ve come to accept: God useshis Word to overcome the resistance and opposition I put up to it; God uses his Word to give hearing when I am deaf, to give sight when I am blind, to give life when I am dead. When my resistance seems successful and ongoing, this is NOT “a sign of the thwarting of the divine word, but of God’s self-restraint.”35

God chooses when and how to empower his people “for all enduranceand patience,” even in response to our prayers. His timing and his ways are always perfect.

Back to Paul’s prayer in Colossians. The fourth characteristic helists of a life fully pleasing to Jesus, is, taking the last phrase of verse 11 with the first phrase of verse 12, with joy giving thanks to the Father. Joyful gratitude. Is that a mark of your life? Paul expects this of believers not just once a year inNovember but everyday all day. As he says in 1 Thess. 5:18, “givethanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in

35 Andrew G. Shead, A Mouth Full of Fire: The Word of God in the Words of Jeremiah (New Studies in Biblical Theology; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2012), pg. 187.

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Christ Jesus for you,” and this again shows an example of how in one place Paul commands believers to do this, while here in Colossians he expects this as a result of God’s empowering in response to his prayers. Paul will spend the rest of chapter 1 focusing on 4 specific reasons the Colossian Christians should joyfully give thanks.36 The first reason is highlighted in verses12-14: what God has done for them in his Son. The second reason is highlighted in verses 15-20: who the Son of God really is. Thethird reason is highlighted in verses 21-23: how Jesus has reconciled them to God. And, the fourth reason is highlighted in verses 24-29: Paul’s ministry to them and to the Gentiles more broadly. We’ll finish out verses 12-14 today.

Verses 12-13 show us whom Paul addressed in prayer; following Jesus’ instructions from the Sermon on the Mount, his prayer is directed to the Father, both for petition and for thanksgiving. When he mentions the Father, though, he can’t help but elaborate on what God has done for his adopted children, mentioning two specific actions. First, in verse 12, the Father has qualified you37 to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. By using this word “qualified,” Paul here again emphasizes God’s empowering, equipping, fitting, making adequate or sufficient of all Christians. It refers to a decisive action of God whereby he has transformed us from unworthy to worthy, from unfit to fit, from inappropriate to appropriate, from unacceptable to acceptable, from inadequate to adequate, from illegitimate to legitimate.38 The word “saints” in the New Testament always refers to God’s holy people.39

For what purpose has our Father done this? The ESV has “to share in the inheritance,” but the Greek has a noun here; we could moreclearly translate the phrase “for our portion of the saints’

36 Cf. Wright, Colossians, pg. 64, who suggests three reasons, not mentioning verses 24-29.

37 Many Greek manuscripts have “us,” and most translations and commentaries suggest that “us” is what Paul actually wrote. The evidence is divided, as most commentators acknowledge, but, at the end of the day, either way Paul is referring to all Christians.

38 Cf. Moo, Colossians, pg. 101.39 Cf. NIV 2011.

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inheritance.” This action of God, then, is probably a reference to our adoption as sons, whereby God has placed us in his family as legitimate heirs.40 The Greek words translated “share” or “portion” and “inheritance” are used together in the Old Testament quite often, especially in the book of Joshua, referring to the apportioning of land to the tribes of Israel.41 Different folks understand the connection to Joshua differently,42 but what is clear is that the inheritance Paul hasin mind is way more significant than a tiny plot of land in the Middle East.43 Rather, Paul says that this inheritance is “in light” or, again more literally, “in the light,” what one writer calls “the believers’ new arena.”44 Thus, this inheritance is in “the realm of the light of the age to come,”45 probably meaning roughly the same thing as Col. 1:5, referring to “the hope laid up for you in heaven.” But, someday, this inheritance will come

40 Cf. Marianne Meye Thompson, Colossians and Philemon (The Two Horizons New Testament Commentary; Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2005), pg. 25-26.

41 These two Greek words appear closely together in the following passages in the Greek translation of Joshua: Josh. 14:3-4; 18:6-8, 9-10; 19:9,48-49. Cf. Gordon D. Fee, Pauline Christology: An Exegetical-Theological Study (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2007), pg. 296.

42 For example, Norman L. Geisler, “Colossians” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), vol. 2, pg. 672, says that the inheritance in Colossians “is reminiscent of the way the inheritance of the land of promise was given to the Israelites under Joshua.” However, many commentators, looking through the lens of the OT prophets, believe Paul is here suggesting that the inheritance for Christians is the escalated fulfillment of the land promises in the Old Testament. Wright, Colossians, pg. 65, notes that Paul is indicating that “the heritage of God’s people is no longer the prerogative of one race, but has been opened up so that people of every conceivable background can share it. The promise of the land is widened into the promise of a whole new creation (Rom. 4:13; 8:17-25).” According to Beale, “Colossians,” pg. 850, even within the Judaism of Jesus’ day, many rabbis “applied the promise about Israel’s ‘share of an inheritance’ in Canaan to an eternal, end-time reward.”

43 Cf. F.F. Bruce, The Epistles to the Colossians, to Philemon, and to the Ephesians (The New International Commentary on the New Testament; Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans,1984), pg. 50, who writes, “For his holy people, the people of his choice, Godin earlier days provided an earthly inheritance, a land which they might enterand possess. But the inheritance in view here belongs to a higher plane and a more enduring order than any terrestrial Canaan.”

44 Martin, Colossians, pg. 49.45 Peter T. O’Brien, Colossians, Philemon (Word Biblical Commentary 44;

Dallas: Word, 1982), pg. 27.16

down out of heaven and join with a renewed earth to form the New Creation, where we will live in resurrected bodies forever and ever in the presence of God. John MacArthur spells out an important implication of this hope, “The knowledge that we will inherit the restored earth should free us from the present pursuit of material possessions. Someday we will receive far morethan we could ever gain in this life.”46

Let me make one additional comment about this inheritance, related to the land promises in the Old Testament. Those, like myself, who believe that this passage and most of the New Testament passages about “inheritance” are talking about the fulfillment of the land promises of the Old Testament given to God’s people, Jew and Gentile together, are not engaging in “allegorizing or wild spiritualizing.” We are engaging in grammatical, historical interpretation just as much as are those who say that the land promises can only be fulfilled in the Millennium to ethnic Jews. To put the conclusion a certain way, we believe that the land promises of the Old Testament are to be fulfilled “in an ultimate straightforward manner in the literal land of the new cosmos” for all of God’s people together, Jew andGentile alike.47 There is usually, if not always, escalation in

46 MacArthur, Colossians, pgs. 37-38.47 G.K. Beale, A New Testament Biblical Theology: The Unfolding of the Old Testament in the

New (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2011), pgs. 765-766. Personally, I see the allotment of the land in Joshua as pointing forward to the allotment of the inheritance that Paul is referring to in this verse. However, I see a connecting point in Ezek. 47:21-23, particularly in the Greek translation, which reads, “And you shall divide (διαμερίσετε) this land for them, for the tribes of Israel. You shall cast it by lot (ἐν κλήρῳ) for you and for the guests who sojourn in your midst, whoever produce sons in your midst, and theyshall be to you as natives among the sons of Israel, with you they shall eat by inheritance (ἐν κληρονομίᾳ) in the midst of the tribes of Israel. And they shall be in a tribe of guests among the guests with them; there you shall givean inheritance (κληρονομίαν) to them, says the Lord.” Thus, Paul may have beenreading Joshua through the lens of Ezekiel, as Ezekiel was likely intentionally using the language of Joshua for his prophetic announcement of acoming allotment of land for Israel and all her “guests.” Cf. J.G. Millar, “Land” in New Dictionary of Biblical Theology (edited by T. Desmond Alexander and Brian S. Rosner; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2000).

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the fulfillment of prophecy, whereby the fulfillment is greater in some way than the specific wording of the prophecy implies.48

What else does Paul mention that the Father has done for us? Verse 13 says, He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son. So many of the words and phrases from verses 12-14 are used in the Greek OldTestament referring to the Exodus or the return from exile,49 so that Paul seems to be indicating that the Father has provided yetanother exodus to deliver his people.50 The “domain of darkness” refers to human existence under the tyrannical jurisdiction of Satan, a much worse kind of slavery than Israel experienced in Egypt.51 The word translated “transferred” was often used to describe “the massive dislocation of a group of one people from one region to another” as the result of a victorious military invasion.52 God himself, in human skin, invaded the “domain of darkness” and won the decisive battle over Satan, sin, and death;he was crucified as “the King of the Jews,” but he was actually the rightful King of the Universe, which he demonstrated powerfully by rising from the dead. And, he’s the rightful King of my heart and yours.

Compared with Jesus in the Gospels, Paul rarely mentions “the kingdom” in his letters,53 but it still seems to be an important theme for him. One writer has suggested that the kingdom “is a

48 For this escalation principle seen in Col. 1:12-14, see Beale, “Colossians,” pg. 849, who notes, “Just as Israel had been ‘delivered from’ Egyptian slavery and had become ‘saints,’ and then had received ‘a share of the inheritance’ in the promised land, so too the church had been ‘delivered from’ (rhyomai + ek; apolytrōsis) a greater bondage than that of Egypt (satanic “darkness” [skotia]) and had been “qualified … for a share” in a greater “inheritance of the saints in light” (meris + klēros + hagioi + phōs).”

49 See Exod. 6:6-8; Ps. 107:2, 6, 14, 20; Isa. 42:7.50 Cf. Beale, “Colossians,” pgs. 848-849. See also Clinton E. Arnold,

“Colossians” in Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary Volume 3: Romans to Philemon (edited by Clinton E. Arnold; Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002), pg. 379. Cf. 1 Pet. 2:9.

51 Cf. Martin, Colossians, pg. 50. Cf. Eph. 2:1-3.52 Arnold, “Colossians,” pg. 378.53 Rom. 14:17; 1 Cor. 4:20; 6:9, 10; 15:24, 50; Gal. 5:21; Eph. 5:5;

Col. 1:13; 4:11; 1 Thess. 2:12; 2 Thess. 1:5; 2 Tim. 4:1, 18.18

foundational concept, like an invisible software program running at all times in the background as Paul ministers and from time totime composes his letters.”54 In fact, he thinks that the letter to the Colossians could be understood as a commentary on the meaning of life under the reign of Jesus for the Colossian Christians.55 What is absolutely clear is that the Colossian Christians are in a new location. Pastor Barry mentioned last week how the letter opens with a reference to both their physicallocation—“in Colossae”—and their new spiritual location—“in Christ.” Christians are no longer part of the domain of darkness;we no longer have to live according to the fallen patterns of this world. We are citizens of the Son’s Kingdom; he is our King,and we are his subjects.56 If the false teachers in Colossae weretrying to lead the Colossian Christian to some other way of life,Paul has here provided ample reasons for them to reject the falseteachers.57 To borrow the words of 2 Pet. 1:3-4, His divine powerhas granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.

As Paul mentions the Son of God, he describes our connection to him in verse 14 in a way that reveals how Paul can pray to God ashis Father. In God’s Son, we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Verses 13-14 together make up our first memory verse in Colossians, and if you’ll take a look at the bookmark in your bulletin for just a moment, I can show you something important. Notice that the KJV and the NKJV have an extra phrase in verse 14: “through his blood.” A few Greek manuscripts have this

54 Robert W. Yarbrough, “The Kingdom of God in the New Testament: Mark through the Epistles” in The Kingdom of God (Theology in Community; edited by Christopher W. Morgan and Robert A. Peterson; Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012), pg. 148.

55 Ibid., pg. 147. Partially, his conclusion is based on the appearance of the term “kingdom” at the beginning and end of the letter (1:13; 4:11).

56 Cf. MacArthur, Colossians, pg. 40. Potentially, this verse could allude to Dan. 7:27.

57 Cf. Martin, Colossians, pg. 51.19

phrase, translated “through his blood” in verse 14, but what likely happened is some scribes who were copying Colossians started thinking about the wording of a similar verse in Ephesians, namely Eph. 1:7, which you can see on the screen or inyour sermon notes. Eph. 1:7 says, In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace. You can imagine how a scribe might have known the passage from Ephesians better, and, as he was copying Colossians and got to the wording “in whom we have redemption,” he thoughtlessly wrote the phrase “through his blood.” As it turns out, the Greek manuscripts the KJV translators used to translate their Bible have this phrase in Col. 1:14. But no modern Bible translation (except the NKJV) has this phrase in Col. 1:14, and Paul surely did not write that phrase in Col. 1:14.

What does the phrase mean? Redemption is a term used in connection with the Exodus in the Greek Old Testament,58 and it brings to mind a “transaction by which a slave paid a price to secure his or her release from slavery.”59 Often, someone else would make the payment to free a slave, and in the Old Testament Yahweh, of course, is the one who redeems his people from slavery. Thus, between verses 13-14, “the metaphor...has changed from the victor who rescues the captive by force of arms...to thephilanthropist who releases him by the payment of a ransom.”60

The idea of “having” redemption is a little odd, at least if we understand the phrase to mean “possessing” redemption. Redemptionis not an object or a substance that can be owned or possessed. The word refers to an event or an action that produces a new status for a person. Thus, I suggest we understand the phrase to mean “we are experiencing redemption,”61 which would mean that

58 See Exod. 6:6-8; Ps. 107:2, 6, 14, 20; Isa. 42:759 Moo, Colossians, pg. 106.60 Lightfoot, Colossians, pg. 140.61 The Greek word translated “have” is even more flexible than our

English word “have,” but “experience” is a regular meaning of this verb when its object is a condition, emotion, obligation, or benefit. See Walter Bauer et al, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (3rd edition; Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), pgs. 421-422.

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Paul is highlighting that it is in God’s Son alone that human beings can experience freedom from slavery. And, in fact, the Colossian Christians—indeed, all Christians—are presently experiencing that freedom. In verses 12-13, the verbs “qualified,” “delivered,” and “transferred” referred to actions God had taken in the past, decisively changing the status of the Colossian Christians; now, here in verse 14, he uses the present tense to emphasize “the continued results of the redemption wrought in the past.”62

The final phrase “the forgiveness of sins” is set right next to the word “redemption,” indicating that Paul is basically equatingthe 2 ideas. We talked about forgiveness earlier, in connection with patience and Matt. 18, but it’s interesting that Paul doesn’t mention God’s forgiveness very often: only 6 times in his13 letters, but 3 of those are in Colossians.63 If we are experiencing redemption, we are also experiencing forgiveness.64 We are living out our freedom in Christ, free from slavery to sin, and free from the guilt of our sin. This is still the greatest need of every person on the face of the planet who has not yet been delivered from the domain of darkness and transferred into the kingdom of his beloved Son.65 As D.A. Carsonhas written, “If God had perceived that our greatest need was economic, he would have sent an economist. If he had perceived that our greatest need was entertainment, he would have sent us acomedian or an artist. If God had perceived that our greatest need was political stability, he would have sent us a politician.If he had perceived that our greatest need was health, he would

62 O’Brien, Colossians, pg. 26.63 Rom. 4:7; Eph. 1:7; 4:32; Col. 1:14; 2:13; 3:13.64 The phrase “has forgiveness” occurs in Mark 3:29, and probably has

the same meaning, so that we could translate that famous verse, “whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never experiences forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin.”

65 Paul is truly referring here to “the Church corporately having entered the kingdom in the cross, resurrection and enthronement of Christ,” asemphasized by Gary S. Shogren, “Presently Entering the Kingdom of Christ: The Background and Purpose of Col. 1:12-14,” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 31:2 (June 1988): pg. 180. However, each individual does, in fact, make his orher particular entrance into the kingdom at a point in time, namely, the moment they begin trusting the risen King.

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have sent us a doctor. But he perceived that our greatest need involved our sin, our alienation from him, our profound rebellion, our death; and he sent us a Savior.”66 Paul can pray to the Father because his sins have been forgiven, because he is experiencing the redemption Jesus the Savior has accomplished.

Well, what do we learn about prayer from this passage? How can wepray like an apostle? First, remember that Paul is here praying for Christians he has never met. Let me exercise a little Jewish reasoning: If Paul prays like this for Christians he’s never met,how much more should we pray like this for Christians that we do know? There was only one specific request in this passage, with lots of expected results listed after; Paul was praying that God would fill the Colossian Christians with the threefold “cocktail”of knowing God’s will, wisdom from the Spirit, and understanding from the Spirit. Nevertheless, I think it would be good to pray for all those things that Paul mentioned as being characteristic of a life that fully pleases Jesus. In fact, if you look in your bulletin there is a chart for you, where I’ve listed and categorized all of Paul’s prayer requests, both for himself and for his readers. If you want to pray like an apostle, pray for those things for yourself and for others.

Second, remember that God loves to provide our needs in response to our prayers. Carson puts it this way, “Prayer is God’s appointed means for appropriating the blessings that are ours in Christ Jesus.”67 Third, remember how we noticed that Paul prays for things that, in other places, he commands. The godly life, the life fully pleasing to Jesus, is “the good life,” the beautiful life. If you ever can’t think of something to pray, askGod to enable you to obey him. Find commands in the New Testamentthat you aren’t following well or that you don’t know how to follow, and ask God to help you do them.

Finally, look one more time at verse 11: May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience. Whether you’re facing impossible

66 Carson, Spiritual Reformation, pg. 109.67 Carson, Spiritual Reformation, pg. 99.

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circumstances, impossible people, or both, become fully convincedthat God will provide you with the power to endure. Remember the point of 2 Tim. 3:16-17 and open the Scriptures—the whole Bible—as your divinely given resource, and beg God and expect God to provide your needs. Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! (Matt. 7:7-11)

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