Colossians 1:9-14
This passage contains Paul's prayer requests for the church at Colossae. The idea of continually praying, without stopping is key to this passage. I see it in the verb tense that Paul uses as well. He is informing the Colossians that he has been, still is and will not stop praying for them.
This passage is immediately connected to the previous paragraphs. Paul indicates that there is a reason that he is praying for them: because of the reports he has heard about their faith, the spread of the gospel in their community and their love.
The structure of Paul's prayer is a bit confusing:
Main Request: God would fill them with the knowledge of his will
Sub requests: live a life worthy of the Lord, bear fruit, grow in knowledge of God, be strengthened by his glorious might (with the result of having great endurance and patience) and give thanks to the Father.
The main request is clear - that they would know what God wants them to do and they would be obedient to that knowledge. Everything else, including being strengthened, flows from being obedient to what they know of God's will.
So, for me going down to LA, I need to pray this same prayer: God, make it clear to me what you want me to do and then let me be obedient to do that. In other places in Scripture this is referred to as faithfulness and it is the greatest and highest compliment Christ will bestow on his servants: "Well done, good and faithful servant." May I be found faithful to the will of God.
Showing posts with label God's will. Show all posts
Showing posts with label God's will. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
What more do I have to do?
Matthew 7:21-23
There is a key phrase in this passage that is repeated twice: "Lord, Lord". I don't know why Jesus uses the double "Lord". Was it a cultural way of showing extreme humility - not only are you my Lord but my Lord twice over? Whatever the case, this is one of the very difficult teachings of Jesus. Just as Jesus compared false teachers to teachers of truth in the previous section, he compares false disciples to true disciples. The true disciple, according to Jesus, is the one who does the will of the Father. Jesus gives an example of someone who calls him "Lord, Lord" but does receive entry into the kingdom. This person has done lots of work in the name of Jesus and has proclaimed him to be Lord (twice!): prophesied, drove out demons, performed miracles.
This passage scares me because, to some extent, I can see myself in this passage. I've proclaimed that Jesus is Lord. I haven't cast out m any demons or performed many miracles but I've definetly done a lot of things in the name of Jesus: spoken, ministered, counseled, led mission trips, etc. The argument could be made that I, and the false disciples in the passage, have done the will of the Father. Going down the checklist of what we would expect the Father expects of us, we can feel pretty good. Certainly using Jesus' measure of judgement (fruit) from the previous paragraph, it would seem like these guys are in the "good tree" category: people are freed from spiritual oppression and the oppression of disease and the word of God is being proclaimed. Obviously, however, the people in the story missed something and I am afraid that I also completely misunderstand what God expects of me. Or, even worse, that I understand what God expects but have so completely built my life on something else beside his expectations that I can't believe or accept what he really expects and so I continue to build my life on a false foundation.
As Jesus sends the false disciples away he tells them that he never knew them. I infer from this passage that the will of the Father is that Jesus would know me. Obviously more than just "know about" me, my life must be so open to Jesus that he is intimately familiar with me. For Jesus to know me, he must be an invited part of every moment of my life and I must spend intentional time with him to know him and be known by him. My fear is that I have been so busy doing things for him that I have not had any time to spend with him.
There is a key phrase in this passage that is repeated twice: "Lord, Lord". I don't know why Jesus uses the double "Lord". Was it a cultural way of showing extreme humility - not only are you my Lord but my Lord twice over? Whatever the case, this is one of the very difficult teachings of Jesus. Just as Jesus compared false teachers to teachers of truth in the previous section, he compares false disciples to true disciples. The true disciple, according to Jesus, is the one who does the will of the Father. Jesus gives an example of someone who calls him "Lord, Lord" but does receive entry into the kingdom. This person has done lots of work in the name of Jesus and has proclaimed him to be Lord (twice!): prophesied, drove out demons, performed miracles.
This passage scares me because, to some extent, I can see myself in this passage. I've proclaimed that Jesus is Lord. I haven't cast out m any demons or performed many miracles but I've definetly done a lot of things in the name of Jesus: spoken, ministered, counseled, led mission trips, etc. The argument could be made that I, and the false disciples in the passage, have done the will of the Father. Going down the checklist of what we would expect the Father expects of us, we can feel pretty good. Certainly using Jesus' measure of judgement (fruit) from the previous paragraph, it would seem like these guys are in the "good tree" category: people are freed from spiritual oppression and the oppression of disease and the word of God is being proclaimed. Obviously, however, the people in the story missed something and I am afraid that I also completely misunderstand what God expects of me. Or, even worse, that I understand what God expects but have so completely built my life on something else beside his expectations that I can't believe or accept what he really expects and so I continue to build my life on a false foundation.
As Jesus sends the false disciples away he tells them that he never knew them. I infer from this passage that the will of the Father is that Jesus would know me. Obviously more than just "know about" me, my life must be so open to Jesus that he is intimately familiar with me. For Jesus to know me, he must be an invited part of every moment of my life and I must spend intentional time with him to know him and be known by him. My fear is that I have been so busy doing things for him that I have not had any time to spend with him.
Monday, March 19, 2007
I know a secret...
Ephesians 3:1-6
Paul is famous for interupting himself (ok, I can only think of one other place off the top of my head but just go with it!). This is a two paragraph interruption - if I was doing my devotions at my normal consistency, I wouldn't have a clue what Paul was talking about in v. 14 because I would have forgotten that he started the thought in verse one.
Anyway... here's what I see (besides the interruption): Paul is in jail because he was obedient to Christ in taking the gospel to the Gentiles. If he hadn't responded to Christ on the road to Damascus, he'd probably still be free and if he hadn't agreed to take the gospel to the Gentiles, he'd probably be free in Israel. Sometimes we use adversity as an excuse to stop heading in a certain direction but we need greater discernment to know when it is opposition from Satan and when it is God attempting to direct our paths. Can you imagine if Paul had decided that he was outside of God's will in being an apostle to the Gentiles because he was in jail?
The main point of this section of Scripture is the great mystery or secret that has been revealed to Paul and that Paul now reveals to us: that the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members of one body and sharers (is that even a word?!) together in the promise in Christ. I can't get over this! It probably doesn't seem like that big a deal to most believers today because we are so ethnocentric - we (generally) think that we've always been included but the truth is that we haven't. We (generally) have adopted the same arrogant attitude of the Jews in Paul's time: to be truly chosen by God you must be one of us (Jew then, North American today). We, as the church of North America, should get down on our knees every day and thank God that, in his mercy and grace and through the work of Jesus Christ, he saw fit to bring near those of us who were once far away, to make us heirs who were once enemies and to allow us to share in the covenant promises who were once strangers to the promise. The extent of God's work - not just to cleanse me from sin but to make it possible for me, a Gentile, to share in the inheritance of Israel - causes my heart to skip a beat (to borrow a phrase from Graham!).
Paul is famous for interupting himself (ok, I can only think of one other place off the top of my head but just go with it!). This is a two paragraph interruption - if I was doing my devotions at my normal consistency, I wouldn't have a clue what Paul was talking about in v. 14 because I would have forgotten that he started the thought in verse one.
Anyway... here's what I see (besides the interruption): Paul is in jail because he was obedient to Christ in taking the gospel to the Gentiles. If he hadn't responded to Christ on the road to Damascus, he'd probably still be free and if he hadn't agreed to take the gospel to the Gentiles, he'd probably be free in Israel. Sometimes we use adversity as an excuse to stop heading in a certain direction but we need greater discernment to know when it is opposition from Satan and when it is God attempting to direct our paths. Can you imagine if Paul had decided that he was outside of God's will in being an apostle to the Gentiles because he was in jail?
The main point of this section of Scripture is the great mystery or secret that has been revealed to Paul and that Paul now reveals to us: that the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members of one body and sharers (is that even a word?!) together in the promise in Christ. I can't get over this! It probably doesn't seem like that big a deal to most believers today because we are so ethnocentric - we (generally) think that we've always been included but the truth is that we haven't. We (generally) have adopted the same arrogant attitude of the Jews in Paul's time: to be truly chosen by God you must be one of us (Jew then, North American today). We, as the church of North America, should get down on our knees every day and thank God that, in his mercy and grace and through the work of Jesus Christ, he saw fit to bring near those of us who were once far away, to make us heirs who were once enemies and to allow us to share in the covenant promises who were once strangers to the promise. The extent of God's work - not just to cleanse me from sin but to make it possible for me, a Gentile, to share in the inheritance of Israel - causes my heart to skip a beat (to borrow a phrase from Graham!).
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