A Prayer for Growth and Fruitfulness Colossians Pastor Douglas Scalise, Brewster Baptist Church If you ve been in worship for the last

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1 A Prayer for Growth and Fruitfulness Colossians Pastor Douglas Scalise, Brewster Baptist Church If you ve been in worship for the last few weeks you may be noticing a pattern in the Letters of Paul they often start with a prayer of thanks to God for his readers, in the case of Colossians, thanks for their faith which is demonstrated in practical ways in their lives. Paul s gratitude for their fruitful and growing faith is also a call to stick with it. In almost all his letters, Paul begins with praise, thanks, and congratulations which is a smart way to establish friendly relations, especially if you re writing to people you ve never met before. Paul didn t know this congregation from personal experience. His knowledge came to him from his team member Epaphras (epʹuh-fras) who was a native Colossian (v. 8). His report about the Colossians was glowing and Paul praises them for their faith, love, and hope (there they are again). We ve heard this important Trinity of Christian virtues mentioned already by Paul in 1 Thessalonians (1:3, 5:8), Ephesians (1:15, 18; also 4:2-5), and they also appear in 1 Corinthians 13 and Romans 5:1-5. These virtues are essential to Christian living. 3 In our prayers for you we always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 4 for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, 5 because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. You have heard of this hope before in the word of the truth, the gospel 6 that has come to you. Just as it is bearing fruit and growing in the whole world, so it has been bearing fruit among yourselves from the day you heard it and truly comprehended the grace of God. 7 This you learned from Epaphras, our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf, 8 and he has made known to us your love in the Spirit. 9 For this reason, since the day we heard it, we have not ceased praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of God s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so that you may lead lives worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in the knowledge of God. 11 May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure

2 2 everything with patience, while joyfully 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. 13 He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Paul doesn t know the people in Colossae personally but he believes them to be genuine Christians because Epaphras has reported their faith, love and hope (vv. 3 4). If Paul sent Epaphras to observe you or me or our church what do you think he d write back to Paul in his report in regard to faith, hope and love? What if Epaphras s whole report was based on what you or I did in the last two weeks? What would he be able to say? Some of us had the pleasure of having dinner with Didi Oprenov last night at Fred and Mary Down s home and listening to Didi share about all the Lord continues to do in and through their ministry at Sofia Baptist Church. She was like Epaphras sharing with those of us who haven t been there (as well as with a few people who have) about how their faith, love, and hope are growing and bearing fruit in the people of their church and their city. As Paul celebrates with the Colossians, we celebrate with Didi and Tedi and their congregation moving into their new building after twelve years of prayerful, diligent work and we will continue to pray for them for the challenges and opportunities that remain. Paul implies that true faith in Christ increases our love for other people, it gives us hope in this life and the next; having faith in Christ truly changes our priorities, our present, our future, and our perspective on what s important. It s important for the Colossians and for us to demonstrate love for all the saints and not just for are family or friends or people who are part of our inner circle of relationship or with whom we have much in common. Paul makes clear in 1 Corinthians 13 that love is the distinguishing characteristic of a follower of Jesus it s not the ability to speak in tongues, or having the gift of prophecy or understanding or faith or even martyrdom, but love that matters most (1 Cor. 13:1-3). Jesus says in John 13:34-35, I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one

3 3 another. Didi shared about their church s efforts with refugees fleeing war and the Roma people who are at the very bottom of their culture. In a similar way, we need to do what we can to share the love of Jesus that gives us hope with everyone we can. The hope we have in Christ is critical to our mental and emotional health; it eases worry, anxiety, and stress. It instills in us perseverance and determination when we re going through tough times. There are few things worse in life than feeling like one s situation is hopeless. There are few things that give us a lift like hope. Paul s prayer is that faith, love, and hope will lead to bearing fruit (mentioned twice in verse 6 and again in verse 10) in us leading lives that are worthy of the Lord. Having true and genuine faith will lead to changes in how we think, speak, and act as followers of Christ. There needs to be fruit or evidence of the faith we claim to have or else, Paul suggests, it isn t genuine. The kind of fruit we and others should see is the Fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5: How would you feel if you had an apple tree and you watered and cared for it for years and it never produced any apples for you? In John 15:1-5 Jesus describes how the Gardener or the Vinedresser walks about Vine and cuts off the branches that are not bearing fruit while the fruitful vines are pruned to encourage further growth. Paul celebrates that the Colossians are bearing fruit and growing as they live out faith, hope, and love. Often in our prayers we ask for physical or material things. Paul s prayer in Colossians 1 is focused on spiritual and heavenly things. If we want to grow spiritually, it s wise to ask God to help us to do so! If we believe things like growth in the knowledge of God, spiritual wisdom, having the power of God for patient and joyful endurance, or for faith, hope, and love to be evident in our lives are important we should certainly be praying and asking God to empower and equip us in these areas. Beyond praying for material things, praying for family members to love each other, praying for family members and friends to come to a faith that is life transforming, praying that God would give someone hope or spiritual wisdom in the face of a difficult decision, praying that God would give someone

4 4 the patience and endurance they need to get through a trial without losing hope these are important ways we can intercede for others that we should take advantage of and not neglect. Remember the power outlet illustration from a previous sermon there is power available, but we need to access it. Many years ago air travel felt special the seats were larger, they served meals, and you didn t even have to pay for having luggage because the airlines assumed if you were going away for a week or two you might actually have to bring a change of clothes. Now air travel has all the appeal of a cross country bus trip. You are crammed in tiny seats so that you re closer to the person next to you than you usually are to your spouse. And that s before the person in front of you reclines his seat and puts his head almost in your lap and the three year old behind you starts kicking your seat. Now imagine, stuck in this middle seat for a nine hour flight, a flight attendant walks down the aisle to your row, looks at you with a wonderful smile and says, I have good news, follow me to your new seat. Like a contortionist at a circus you manage to extricate yourself from your seat and you follow the flight attendant forward by the rest of the people who are packed in tighter than the gallows slaves in the movie Ben Hur. The flight attendant pulls aside a curtain and you see whole new world - seats that recline all the way into a flat bed, real food, non-stop amenities and attention. How nice would that be? As incredible as it would be, Paul says, that s nothing. You want to know what an amazing upgrade looks like the final verses of this passage describe it. Giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. 13 He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. This closing verse marks a wonderful change in our status before God and in the world. We ve been blessed with the greatest upgrade that anyone could ever possibly receive. Hopefully it causes us to feel thankful, grateful, joyful, and humbled. Hopefully we are so overwhelmed at our good fortune that we desire to lead

5 5 lives worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in the knowledge of God. While the imaginary upgrade on a plane really only benefits the one who receives it, the one we receive from the Lord, is not just for our benefit but so we can be a blessing to others including the ones in business class, economy, and even those who can t afford to fly. Prayer Thank you, God, for giving us faith in Christ Jesus, love for all your people, and hope laid up in heaven. We re grateful for the word of truth that has been shared with each of us. We pray that word will be bearing fruit and growing in the whole world, and especially that it would be bearing fruit among all of us. Fill us with the knowledge of Your will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that we may lead lives worthy of the Lord Jesus Christ, fully pleasing to him, as we bear fruit in every good work and as we grow in the knowledge of God. May we be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may we be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled us to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. You have rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of Your beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Blessing: May we all lead lives worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as we bear fruit in every good work and as we grow in the knowledge of God. Questions for Discussion or Reflection 1. Paul does not know the people in Colossae personally but he believes them to be genuine Christians because Epaphras has reported their faith, love and hope (vv. 3 4). If Paul asked you for a report on how you and BBC were doing in regard to faith, hope and love, what would you write him? 2. What does Paul imply that faith in Christ does for us or gives us?

6 6 3. Why do you think it s important for the Colossians and us to demonstrate love for all the saints and not just for people who are part of our inner circle of relationship? 4. How important is the hope we have in Christ for our daily living what difference does it make? 5. According to Colossians 1:3-14, what is the dynamic of faith and bearing fruit in our lives (see Galatians 5:22-23)? 6. Often in our prayers we ask for physical or material things. Paul s prayer in Colossians 1 is focused on spiritual and heavenly things Why is it important to pray for things like growth in the knowledge of God, spiritual wisdom, the power of God for patient and joyful endurance, or for faith, hope, and love to be evident in our lives?