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Colossians 1:11-14
Besides the Lord’s Prayer, I don’t think there is a better model of prayer for God’s people than Paul’s prayer in Colossians 1:9-14. Paul prays for the very things we need in order to live a life pleasing to God. We need to be filled with the knowledge of God’s will so we may walk worthy of Christ and please Him every day. We need to keep on growing in knowing God, His attributes, His works, His sovereign goodness over our lives so we may keep on bearing the fruit of godliness, the fruit of the Spirit.
Today we’re going to unpack verses 11-14. The Christian life isn’t just hard. It’s impossible! So Paul prays that God would empower us so we can hang in there under dire circumstances and be patient with difficult people. Then we are to nurture our hearts by being filled with joyful gratitude because of all the blessings of grace God has brought into our lives. Spurgeon said we can’t possibly dig out all the gold in this wonderful passage, but today we will look at two nuggets from verses 11-14
FIRST, YOU NEED TO REALIZE HOW DEPENDENT YOU ARE ON GOD’S POWER TO LIVE THE CHRISTIAN LIFE.
Colossians 1:11 strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously…
The Bible constantly assures you that you don’t have what it takes, but that God has more than enough power to enable you to live for Him in this world. Did you notice all power and according to His glorious might? Not our natural power; it’s His power. God is omnipotent! You see His power in Genesis 1 when He created everything out of nothing, ex nihilo. The other morning on my way to men’s Bible study the moon was just above the horizon, and it looked amazingly huge. That’s God’s power keeping it out there! Then there’s that incredible sun blazing its light and heat down on us, empowering earth to produce – that’s God’s power! God’s great power rolled back the Red Sea so His people could walk through on dry ground! He smashed down Jericho’s walls for His people to conquer the city! He destroyed death’s dark grip on us through the power of His Son’s resurrection! And Paul says by that same power He is empowering us! “His love has no limit, His grace has no measure, His power has no boundary known unto man!”
Oh, how you and I need His power. We are weak in ourselves. Christ tells us in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in your weakness.” Thank you, God! Do you recognize your weakness? Do you see your need for God’s power in your life? Or do you think you have in your own strength what it takes to please God? If you think that, you are so wrong. Isaiah 40:28-31 says you and I are weak! When we try to live for God in our own strength we stumble, we get weak and weary. But those who wait on the Lord through promises in His Word will gain fresh strength! It’s God’s strength, not ours. In His power we mount up like eagles, run and not grow weary, walk and not faint.
Power to Endure or steadfast, firmly fixed.
Why do you need all this power? So you might endure all the trials, all the nasty circumstance, and everything the world and the devil can throw at you. Again, Paul doesn’t just say endurance, but all endurance! Endurance means the capacity to remain faithful under a burden or pressure or difficulty or whatever you will face. It runs the gamut of daily trials like down feelings, discouragement, even depression, all the way to severe suffering, long term suffering like Joni Eareckson Tada has endured or enduring severe persecution like so many of God’s people have done. Paul himself faced the edge of a Roman sword. We all face pressures of some sort. Remember what James 1:2-4 says? “Consider it all joy when you encounter various trials, knowing the trying of your faith works or produces endurance.”
Power to be Patient or “suffer long” with other people
How do you respond to difficult people in your life? My son has a shirt with this written on the front: “I’ve only got one nerve left, and you’re getting on it.” I can almost guarantee there are people in your life who push your buttons. Annoying, aggravating people. People who don’t like you, people who mock you, people who lie about you. People who are just tough to be with.
You need God to empower your heart to respond to these people with patience. He can enable you to not let hatred or bitterness or anger grow in your heart. This inner power saves marriages and friendships and wins enemies. Ephesians 4:31-32: Don’t react with bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor or yelling, slander, or malice toward people standing on your last nerve. Instead, be patient and respond with kindness, a tender heart, and forgiveness. This requires the power of God in your heart.
These positive attitudes are seen in Joseph in Egypt. If anyone would be tempted to grow weary and hateful, it would be Joseph as he was sold as a slave, lied about, and forgotten in prison. But through it all, the Lord faithfully provided grace to him in every circumstance. Joseph believed in God’s sovereignty and he hung in there with endurance and patience.
Jesus displayed patience, long-suffering, and a forgiving attitude as He headed to the cross. He was grieved, distressed, and in agony. He cried out, “If possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless not my will, but yours be done.” He focused on the joy set before Him and endured the cross.
Hebrews 12:2 says, “Run with endurance, by God’s power, the race set before you.” This is God’s will for you – to endure tough situations without caving or giving up, and to be patient with those difficult people in your life.
But I want you to consider the last word in verse 11: Joyously. The question is, does joyously go with verse 11 or verse 12? Is Paul praying for us to endure and practice patience joyfully, or does it go with the next verse and say we should joyously give thanks? Answer? Yes. My Greek text has it connected with giving thanks. Either way is good, but let’s connect “joyously” to giving thanks.
SECOND, YOU NEED TO DEVELOP A HEART OF JOYFUL GRATITUDE FOR GOD’S AMAZING WORK OF GRACE IN YOUR LIFE. Everything in these verses is what God has done. You couldn’t possibly do any of them.
Colossians 1:12-14 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light. 13 For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
We live in an ungrateful world. Romans 1:21,”For even though people knew God, they didn’t honor Him as God or give thanks.” Most people today don’t even stop to thank God for the food He provides. And when the supply runs out, they yell and scream and curse the God they said they don’t believe in! You too were probably pretty ungrateful as an unbeliever.
Warren Wiersbe tells about an accident on Lake Michigan near Chicago back on September 8, 1860. In the middle of the night about ten miles from shore, another boat collided with the passenger boat Lady Elgin. There were 300 passengers on board who were washed into the water. Only about 30 survived, and of that number a ministerial student named Edward Spencer rescued 17. He suffered injuries and was unable to continue preparing for the ministry and died a few years later. And here is another sad part to the story. Not one of the passengers he saved ever took the time to thank him. This account reminds us of those lepers Jesus healed. One came back overflowing with thanksgiving. But Jesus said, “Where are the other nine?”
Paul says ungratefulness changes to a thankful heart when you come to Christ. Now you “joyously give thanks to your Father.” Your hearts should be marinated in the joyous flavor of thanksgiving because what do you have that God hasn’t given you? Don’t be like those Israelite belly-achers in the wilderness, “We’re tired of this manna! Give us meat!” Recognize that all you have physically is by God’s grace. And everything in your spiritual life is from the gift of God’s grace. Think on these things and you will nurture a joyously grateful spirit toward God.
You have tons of blessings in your life. You have many reasons to live a constantly joyful, grateful life. If you ever want to pull out of a blue funk, take a piece of paper and list fifty things you’re thankful for. If you’re having a hard time with your wife or husband, write a list of fifty reasons why you are thankful for them!
Now Paul gives four blessings of grace for which we should joyfully thank God.
#1 God qualified you to inherit a glorious place in heaven (v. 12). Can you imagine your future with God? He has a place, an inheritance reserved for you, and you aren’t getting it because of your goodness. He qualified you for it by His pure, sovereign grace. You didn’t qualify yourself. Jeff Bezos won’t qualify himself with his 175 billion dollars. Imagine Mr. Bezos showing up at the pearly gates with all this wealth and saying, “God, look what I have. Surely I qualify to inherit eternal life.” Know this. No one qualifies for eternal life. The only thing a person in himself qualifies for is God’s wrath. God’s grace is our only hope. God’s grace alone allows you to be qualified to inherit eternal life when you believe in His Son as your Savior from sin’s punishment. Then you will spend eternity singing songs of praise and thanksgiving to your gracious, merciful Father.
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#2 God rescued you from Satan’s dark domain (v. 13a). I love movies about rescue and extraction operations. Remember Act of Valor? The Great Raid? Airlift? But these are nothing compared to God’s rescue operation. There you were under the darkness of sin and guilt and Satan’s power and lies. That’s the world, all people. Men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. Think of this darkness. It is murky. It is a vile horror of evil. It is the rot of moral and spiritual perversion and corruption. Think of the darkness of communism that murdered millions of human beings around the world. Think of the darkness of abortion as it snuffs out the life of that helpless child…millions of children. Sin’s darkness is seen in many of the dark movies coming out of Hollywood, full of vile, evil darkness. 1 John 5:19 says the whole world lies in the lap of the evil one and Revelation 12:9 says Satan blankets the world with the darkness of deception.
If you are a believer, it is God who rescued you from Satan’s dark domain. You alone could never escape. You could never have planned your own airlift out of this darkness. God in His powerful, magnificent grace reached into this dark, hideous jungle of sin and rebellion and rescued you!
This was greatest extraction mission in all human history. And why? Not because you deserved to be rescued. As glorious as the stories of rescue are, nothing comes close to God’s sending His Son to rescue His chosen people out of Satan’s domain of darkness. For this rescue, His children will spend eternity thanking and praising God.
#3 God transferred you into the kingdom of His beloved Son (v. 13b). Not only did He rescue you, but He immediately transferred you into the rule and reign of His own Son, whom He loves. When you come to Christ, you are immediately transferred from Satan’s domain into Christ’s spiritual kingdom.
#4 God redeemed you from your sin through His Son (v. 14). Redemption is one of those l6 cylinder words of salvation, like propitiation or imputation. Redemption means to gain release through the payment of a price. There you were a slave of sin in the slave market of sin. You couldn’t buy your way out. Nothing you could do would get you out of that bondage and guilt of sin. You couldn’t climb the fence or tunnel under. No, you were sin’s slave under Satan’s power, condemned, a child of wrath. But here comes the Son of God’s love. He came to purchase out of that slave market everyone who God had chosen in eternity past. This is just glorious. Christ is the only One who had the required price – His death on that cross. That’s the price He paid for the Father to release you. He purchased you for Himself and His Father. He redeemed you from the penalty of your sin. Now your sins are all forgiven, past, present, and future and you can sing, “Redeemed, how I love to proclaim it!”
Can you imagine standing before a perfectly Holy God whom you know you have offended in many ways and many times? You qualify for nothing but God’s punishment. But in His mercy and grace He looks at you and says, “You are forgiven in My Son. There is not one offense that I hold against you. All has been paid. In fact, I receive you as my own son, just as if you were He. You are forgiven and perfectly righteous in Him.” Think on these things every day. Nurture a heart of joyful thanksgiving and praise to your heavenly Father.
You will probably never take a space ride to Mars. You may never see Victoria Falls sending its watery spray far up into the air. You may never walk the streets of Hong Kong or Singapore or Vienna. But by simple faith alone in God’s Son Jesus Christ, God qualifies you for His eternal dwelling place along with all the others who have placed their faith in Him. He has rescued you and redeemed you. He is now your Father. He will never desert you and you will live with Him forever.
Have you admitted that you on your own are not qualified? Be sure you have submitted, surrendered your heart to Him – confessing your sin and calling on Him to save you for Jesus’ sake. Then His power will bring change into your life that gives you growing endurance and patience. Then you will have reason to be joyously thankful.