20.09.09 - The Life That Pleases God and You

What is the good life? Google revealed the old TV comedy, where the good life is being self-sufficient, growing your own vegetables; living close to the land and spurning wealth. For other people, the good life is the carefree life – the life with no worries; the life of perpetual relaxation.. In this image, sunshine, relaxation, and no worries are perhaps also associated with wealth and relationships – maybe, according to some images, illicit, immoral relationships.

I look at that image and it is pretty appealing! But for how long? Wouldn’t you want to do more with your life than sit on a ship?

We have been jumping around in Colossians a bit. Today I’d like us to look at Paul’s prayer in 1:9-14 for the Colossian Christians. In this passage Paul describes a better life – a life pleasing to God and you.

The Colossians had heard the gospel and believed in Jesus. Because of that, Paul prays constantly for them. “Since the day we heard... we have not stopped praying... we continually ask God...”

Paul was a great pray-er. He regularly tells the churches that he writes to that he prays constantly for them. Despite all his other busyness – and probably few people have achieved so much as Paul – he still prioritised prayer. He achieved because he prioritised prayer. He was committed to prayer.

But what did he pray? This, I think, is the key part of these verses. Paul says he prays for one thing – just one thing. What might that have been? If you were praying for a group of Christians and could ask only one thing, what would it be? When you pray for other Christians or when you pray for another church, or even when you pray for this church – which I hope you do – what one thing might you focus on? In fact, I think this would be a great prayer to pray for non-Christians as well. What is this one thing?

READ Col 1:9-14 (TNIV)

The request is at the beginning of the sentence: We ask God to fill you with the knowledge of His will. Paul’s pray is that they will know God’s will.

How can God’s will be known? That is the next phrase: through all the wisdom and understanding that the Holy Spirit gives.

What is the result of knowing God’s will? So that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and pleasing to Him in every way. Clearly, Paul is not talking about simply knowing God’s will. Doing God’s will is implied. It is when we know it and do it that we live a life worthy of God and pleasing to God. But to do it, we have to know it. So Paul’s central prayer is that this church will know God’s will.

We could take our cue from Paul and make that the prayer we pray for other Christians and other churches. We prayed today for the Anglican church. We could have prayed, “Lord, may they know your will through all the wisdom and understanding the Holy Spirit gives, so that they might operate in ways that are worthy of You and pleasing to You.” In fact, wouldn’t that be a great prayer for all churches: that we might all know God’s will so that we might operate in this community in ways that are worthy of God and pleasing to Him? What might happen if we all operated in ways worthy of God and pleasing to Him?

Then there is a colon introducing a list of four things that describe this life. As we look at those, ask yourself if this is the life you want to life and the life you want other Christians to live.

1. Bearing fruit in every good work.
Have you ever got to the end of a day and said, “Well, I’m not sure what I have done.” Sometimes there’s precious little to show for it – not much fruit – no real results. It is possible to get to the end of a week or the end of a month and not really have anything to show for it. Many people will get to the end of their lives and have nothing to show for it.

And yet, everyone wants to think that they have made a difference somehow – that their life has counted for something. The life that is worthy of God and pleasing to Him is a life of productivity – fruitfulness. It is a life that does count – that has made a difference.

This is not the life of inactivity. This is the life of activity and productivity.

The key is knowing God’s will. If we do, we can do those things that are really important and that will bear fruit – the things that God is blessing. If we don’t know His will, we might be frantically busy but doing the wrong things and achieving nothing. The key to being productive is knowing God’s will.

2. Growing in the knowledge of God
The life God wants us to live isn’t only about what we do. It is not just about being productive – although we do need to know that the Christian life ought to be productive. But it is not just that. It is also about being loved – being in a relationship with God – in an increasingly close relationship with God.

Growing in the knowledge of God doesn’t just mean knowing more and more facts about God. Anyone studying theology or even philosophy could know more facts about God. Growing in knowledge means the knowledge that comes from experiencing God – knowing Him better and better because we are experiencing Him in closer and closer ways.

This also is the life that is worthy of God and pleases Him. He wants us to know Him better whether that is through stopping to take time with Him or through acting and serving and seeing God move and discovering Jesus in those we serve or through crying out to Him in desperation.

3. Being strengthened with God’s strength so that you can endure and be patient
It is all very well being productive and having a relationship with God but what happens when life gets tough or you are severely tested? From the parable of the seeds we know that many seeds make a start but some of the plants stop growing when trouble and persecution occur or the worries of this life or the deceitfulness of riches and the desire for things crop up. Some Christians give up when there is pressure.

But that is never the will of God. Knowing the will of God means knowing we are called to persevere – to overcome. But Paul says God will provide the strength. The God-honouring life is one in which we are strengthened with all power according to His glorious might. In other words, it is not dependent on our very limited power. It is by God’s glorious might at work in us that we are able to keep on keeping on.

This is not the carefree life but it is the life of overcoming and of victory when things are tough.

This quality is known as resilience. There is a lot being written and taught these days about resilience. The American Psychological Association lists 10 Ways To Build Resilience. Strangely, they don’t say anything about being strengthened by God’s power! That is the Christian’s privilege.

4. Giving joyful thanks to the Father
The God-honour life remembers to thank God. That is true but notice here that Paul is not talking about some obligation. This life includes joyful thanks to the Father. Look what Paul says immediately: the Father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of His people in the kingdom of light. For He rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. That is enough reason to give joyful thanks.

But as we said last week, if we know the will of God and are living at the centre of His will, we will see God doing all sorts of things. Remember, we are bearing fruit in every good work. Remember we are growing in our knowledge of God. Remember we are strengthened to cope with adversity. This life is a life with multiple reasons for joyful thanks.

Does that life sound attractive? Does the idea of bearing fruit and being productive sound attractive? Do you like the idea of knowing God better? There’s millions of people looking in all the wrong places for spiritual experiences. Well, here is what people are looking for.

Do you want to be someone who finishes the race; who doesn’t quit but who overcomes? By God’s power this life is victorious. Clearly it is a good life if we are constantly giving thanks.

Productivity, intimacy, victory and thankfulness. That life pleases God but is also fantastic for us. Sometimes we think that to please God we have to be miserable. No, knowing and doing God’s will leads to a life that pleases God and us.

Think how Jesus modelled this. He was absolutely committed to doing the will of God. He once said that he could do nothing on His own. He did only what he saw the Father doing (Jn 5:19) and He said He always did what pleased God (Jn 8:30). Remaining in the centre of God’s will, Jesus’ life was amazingly productive. He remained in a very intimate relationship with His Father. I am not sure if we want to say that that was a growing relationship although the Bible does say that Jesus grew in favour with God and pretty clearly, certainly as a boy, He was growing and learning of God – for example, asking questions in the temple.

Strengthened with God’s power, He didn’t quit. It wasn’t always easy and it won’t always be easy for us. Perhaps the hardest time for Jesus was in the garden of Gethsemane when He pleaded with God not to have to die on the cross. But even there He chose to do the will of God. God enabled Him to do that and in the end Jesus was victorious. And Jesus’ life was full of thanksgiving. As God used Him, clearly He had much to give thanks for.

Knowing and doing God’s will leads to a life that pleases God but is also fantastic for us.

How can we know God’s will? In Colossians 1 Paul says that it is through all the wisdom and understanding the Holy Spirit gives. We need God to reveal it to us. We cannot work out God’s will on our own. We need to receive from the Holy Spirit God’s wisdom and understanding. The Bible talks about being led by the Spirit. Jesus was led by the Spirit. Paul was led by the Spirit. Romans 8:14 says that those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.

The number one way the Holy Spirit speaks is through the Bible. This is God’s word to us. So we need to read it listening for the voice of the Spirit and expecting God to reveal His will. There are some things that are always God’s will. They never change. It is always God’s will that we love one another. It is always God’s will that we store up treasure in heaven. This is part of God’s will: praying that others wil know His will. But we need the Holy Spirit to help us know those things and to know what they mean and how we can do them. We need to be led by the Spirit as we study the scriptures.

There are other things that are God’s will for today but not tomorrow. It might be God’s will that I talk to a particular person today or that I read a particular Bible passage today but tomorrow it will be different. Our listening to the voice of the Spirit needs to be a moment by moment thing. That might be a skill that God is still developing in us.

There is another clue in the passage. Paul says he prays for this for the Colossians. We can pray that we, and others, know God’s will through the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives. We can ask.

James 1:5: If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.

If we pray to know God’s will and then we are listening for the voice of the Holy Spirit, we will find that he speaks through the scriptures, by that still small voice in our heads, through other people, through a comment on TV, through a flower. The Holy Spirit will speak in all sorts of ways. Of course, we need also to pray for discernment so as to know that it is the Holy Spirit. But God is willing to speak. He isn’t trying to be difficult. He actually wants us to know His will. He will speak.

Knowing His will (and doing it) means we live a life worthy of God and pleasing to Him – and incredibly satisfying for us as well. I want to make two suggestions for your prayer times: that you pray every day for the Holy Spirit’s wisdom and understanding so that you know God’s will; and that you select some people and you pray every day that through the Holy Spirit’s wisdom and understanding they know God’s will. Imagine the result if more and more of us live lives pleasing to God – and hugely rewarding for us.