PRAYING FOR OPEN EYES
Colossians 1:9-12
Textual Introduction: The text summarizes Paul's prayer for the Colossian church. He was not the founder of the church, nor had he ever visited it. He might have been excused if he had left it to others to be concerned about its spiritual welfare. He didn't.
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Introduction: An estimated 95% of Americans say they prayed following the terrorist attacks on 9/11 2001. When you consider that only 90% of us confess to believe in God, we can only guess about who that other five percent believed they were talking to.
It’s good to pray in a crisis but Paul has something to say about praying
He did not write, "The moment I heard you were threatened by heresy, I began praying for you. The Colossians had been on Paul's prayer list for a long time. He did not begin praying for them because of some crisis.
Paul had heard good things about the Colossian church—a church he had never visited. He heard of how the gospel was making a change in the lives of those in the congregation and in the community. Hearing such a glowing report might cause some of us to think, 'Well, there's a church which certainly doesn't need my prayers. Not Paul.
What Paul had heard about the Colossian church had prompted him to pray for them, not because he saw a deficit in its life but because he saw the potential of the congregation. He prayed because he wanted to see that potential fulfilled. He prayed because he knew any church with such potential would be a prime target for spiritual assault.
So, when word came regarding a possible doctrinal threat to the church, when Paul learned that some in the congregation were facing a crisis of confidence, he didn't even have to change the focus of his prayers. He was already praying for what they would most need if they were to regain their spiritual equilibrium.
Do you always know how to pray? I don’t. Paul's prayer for the Colossians is a great model for our prayers.
Through prayer we can discern what God is doing in the world and in us so we might better cooperate with Him in a spirit of confidence.
I
WE NEED TO PRAY FOR OPEN EYES
SO WE MAY SEE THE PURPOSES OF GOD.
V. 9
Paul had been praying for the Colossians to know God's will. He began his letter by reminding his readers that he was an apostle by the will of God." Since he had discovered his place in what God was doing, he wanted the Christians at Colossae to discover their place in what God was doing.
We need to understand some things about this request. To begin with, this knowledge doesn't come through the teachings of others, it comes from God. Others, like
Paul and Epaphras, can try to articulate it, but we only really grasp it when God's opens our spiritual eyes.
With this knowledge of God's will comes what Paul calls wisdom and understanding". This is more than knowledge about God, it is knowledge of a spiritual nature, knowledge which leads to what the Amplified Version renders as a 'comprehensive insight into the ways and purposes of God."
Often when we pray to know God's will we are praying to discover what God wants us to do in our narrow world—should I go to this college, marry that person, buy this car— and this kind of praying is proper in the life of the disciple. But we also need to pray for insight to see the bigger picture.
What will that bigger picture show us? Paul doesn't answer at this point but as the letter continues it becomes clear that Christ is at the center of what God is doing in the world. Consider what Paul says in verse 20: God purposed through [Christ] to reconcile the universe to Himself, making peace through his blood, which was shed upon the Cross— to reconcile to Himself through [Christ] ... things on earth and things in Heaven." (Beck)
Once the Colossians grasped the strategic role of Christ in what God was doing in the world, they could never fall prey to any teaching which would diminish Christ, which would reduce him to some type of angelic flunky. In the same way, some twenty centuries later, once we grasp the strategic role of Christ in what God is doing in the world we won't fall prey to any teaching which would reduce him to a mere human teacher, a clever magician, or a charismatic schizophrenic.
Instead, we will understand his place at the heart of our faith. We will understand that Christianity is Christ. We will stand amazed at God's strategy which brought us salvation, a strategy which involved a manger, a cross, and an empty tomb. We will realize that through Christ God dealt with the problem we could not solve, the problem of sin. We will realize that because of Christ's victory over death we have a hope which transcends the threat of death.
What was Paul's aim in praying for the Colossians to have this understanding of what God was doing in the world? Certainly, he wanted to rebuild their confidence. And, he wanted to give them ammunition with which they could answer the false teachers. But, he had a greater goal.
He wanted the Colossians to order their lives according to this new insight. Paul's prayer would be answered if, in light of their understanding of what God had done in Christ, the Colossians set out to adopt a lifestyle which was pleasing to God.
I believe in the old concept of orthodoxy. I believe there are ways of speaking about God, Christ, the Holy Sprit, salvation, sin, etc. which are correct, which reflect the Biblical material. And I believe there are ways of speaking about these same topics which are simply wrong.
Yet, I know that orthodoxy alone does not make an effective church.
In commenting on Paul's prayer, Arthur Patzia writes:
"One of the unfortunate distortions in some forms of Christianity is the misunderstanding of the relationship between theology and ethics, that is, between faith and action. Paul has been presenting a concept of wisdom and knowledge that has moral and practical dimensions. The readers need to be preserved from a barren orthodoxy. The faith that they heard and that transformed their lives is to manifest itself in good works .....
To do this, to live their faith out in the world around them, would require "wisdom and understanding? Paul could have written down every detail of his vision for the Christian life. He could have, to use our terminology, tried to micromanage the lives of his readers. He doesn't. Instead, he prays that each person in the church might have the God-given insight to see how they could order their lives to please God.
The God-pleasing life: that is the goal of this knowledge Paul desires the Colossians to have. He prays so they might "...may lead lives worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him?
The word Paul used was not a popular one in the Greek and Roman world. The whole notion of living to please another was distasteful because it suggested a life of servility. Only a servant would live to please another.
In Paul's mind, what God did through Jesus Christ makes the desire to live a life pleasing to God the only logical response for the believer.
It would be centuries before Isaac Watts wrote his great hymn When I Survey the Wondrous Cross, but Paul would have appreciated its message: "Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.'
Each day, each Christian, young or old, faces the choice to please God or to please himself or to please herself. While we will never, at least in this life, be totally rid of selfishness, it seems as if when we are most aware of God's purposes, most aware of what God had done for us through Jesus, the gap between what pleases God and what pleases us decreases more and more.
Now that he has underscored the need to pray for open eyes to see God's purpose, Paul then turns to another element of his prayer for the Colossians. As he does so he paints a picture of the God-pleasing life in broad strokes. At this point we are reminded that...
II
WE NEED TO PRAY FOR OPEN EYES
SO WE MAY SEE WHAT PLEASES GOD.
1. If we would order our lives to please God, we should seek to be spiritually fruitful. Paul wants the Colossians to 'bear fruit in every good work."
But what does it mean to bear fruit? In the Bible, fruit-bearing is manifested in two spheres.
a) God is pleased when we bear fruit in our lives.
The Christian life is a life of ongoing transformation. We are being changed by Christ. This change is described as bearing fruit.
Writing to the Galatians, Paul pictures the transforming work of the Holy Spirit as creating a spiritual orchard in the life of the believer: "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." (Gal. 5:22-23)
Writing to the Ephesians, Paul contrasts the effects of living in spiritual darkness and living in spiritual light, reminding his readers: 'the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth." (Eph 5:9)
And, of course, in one of his final messages before the crucifixion, Jesus reminded his disciples of the necessity of a vital relationship to him if their lives were to be fruitful.
John 15:1-4 I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. [2] He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. [3] You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. [4] Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
JN 15:5 "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains, in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.*
The great evidence of fruitfulness in our lives is our becoming more and more like Christ.
b) God is pleased when we bear fruit through our lives.
Fruitfulness involves more than what is happening in us. The New English Bible captures this by rendering Paul's words as "active goodness of every kind.(NEB)
We Christians are not intended to live our lives in isolation. We are intended to touch others, to make a difference in our world. Paul has already praised the Colossian church for this when he spoke of the gospel continuing to produce fruit in their community.
This would involve positive change in the community because of the Christian presence. And producing fruit in the world outside the church involves making converts to Christ. That's why the task of evangelism and witness is sometimes spoken of as sowing seed.
When we fail in this task of sowing seed and bearing fruit, we miss an opportunity to bring honor to God. In his discourse on the Vine and Branches, Jesus reminded his listeners, "This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.' (Jn 15:5)
When we fail in this task of sowing seed and bearing fruit, the church and our society suffers.
When we allow our lives to be the channels of God's grace and love to our world, we please him, and we become world-changers.
2. If we would order our lives to please God, we will seek a greater understanding of God.
Paul wanted the Colossians to 'grow in the knowledge of God.”
Earlier in this prayer Paul had prayed for the Colossians to know more about God's purposes and how they might align their lives to that purpose. He hasn't lost sight of that but I believe this element of the prayer also involves knowing more about God, his nature and character.
Such knowledge is important because, as Christians, they have been invited into a relationship with this God.
Such knowledge is important because the gospel they preached has its origin in the promises of this God.
Such knowledge is important because they will order their lives according to the will of this God.
Such knowledge is important because it forms the plumb line against which to measure every other religious system or philosophy.
Such knowledge is important because they will bet their spiritual future on the integrity of this God.
Where does such knowledge come from? Certainly from the Word of God, the Bible. The Bible contains God's self-revelation, presenting him as the Creator and Redeemer, the God who is involved in the lives of his people. This would be in stark contrast to any notion which depicted God as remote, indifferent to humanity. This idea would be promoted by heretics like the Gnostics of the second century and later by the Deists in the seventeenth century. Even today some cling to the notion of a God who far from us. A few years ago a popular song told us that God was "watching from a distance."
While the songwriter may have meant well, the song misses the beauty of the Biblical view of God. It portrays God as willing to become human to invade the planet on a rescue mission.
Such a vision of God is essential if we would face the challenges of living for him in a sometimes hostile and dangerous world.
3 If we would order our lives to please God, we will pursue spiritual strength.
In his regular habit of praying for the Colossians, Paul lifted up this prayer for the church: 'May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully giving thanks to the Father..."
Paul knew that every church would eventually face trial and trouble. He wanted the Colossian church, when its time came, to be strong. Paul didn't pray for the church to have the strength of great numbers, a large bank account, or well-placed friends; he wanted the church to know the very strength of God. Against the might of its opponents, the infant church could not have survived had God, Himself, not given it supernatural strength.
Even when the church grew to be a dominant force in the world, it relied on its own strength to its peril.
But how did Paul expect this strength to manifest itself in the church?
a) God-given spiritual strength is manifested through endurance. Curtis Vaughn says the word translated as endurance" comes from a work which means the courage to see something through to the end. The days ahead would be troubled, tedious, and trying. The Colossian church would need the strength to keep its commitment no matter what came its way.
b) God-given spiritual strength is manifested through patience. Paul could imagine the church being tempted to strike back at those who tried to harm it. Instead, he prays for the church to have the greater strength, the strength which rejects the opportunity to retaliate.
c) God-given spiritual strength is manifested through joy. The Biblical notion of joy" is very different than our concept of happiness. Happiness is rooted in our circumstances, joy transcends circumstances. Paul Sailhamer's definition of joy reveals its capacity to produce strength in a congregation or an individual. He says, Joy is that deep settled confidence that God is in control in every area of my life."
Paul now turn to a final characteristic of a Christian who yearns to please God.
4. If we would order our lives to please God, we will practice gratitude.
Paul wanted to know the Colossians were giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light."
Once again, our gratitude is rooted in our understanding of what God had done for us. We are thankful to God for his having made us fit to participate in the Kingdom, joining God's greatest saints in the Light of his revelation. Don't miss the point Paul is making here: All those who trust Christ are in the light, not just those who participate in some esoteric cult or sect. None of us are worthy of such a great blessing. God has "qualified" us for the Kingdom, not our own efforts.
By God's grace we are not what we were. We were once spiritually impoverished, now we share an inheritance. We were once in spiritual darkness, now we are in the light. God's actions call for us to give thanks.
Ingratitude is rude in children, in Christians it reveals either a failure to comprehend all God has done for us or spiritual presumption of gigantic proportions.
CONCLUSION
The Colossian church faced a crisis of confidence. Fortunately Paul was praying for it. He was praying for the very things necessary to restore its confidence—an understanding of what God was doing in the world and a vision of how they might order their lives in light of that vision.
I hope someone is just as faithfully praying for our church. And, for the church around the world.
