KNOWING DOING AND BECOMING

KNOWING, DOING & BECOMING Col 1:9-11

For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father

 WE GENERALLY PRAY FOR PHYSICAL WELL BEING! AND, THATS GOOD! BUT NOTICE HOW PAUL PRAYED: 1. Be filled with knowledge & understanding (1:9). 2. Walk worthily before the Lord (1:10). 3. Bear fruit in every good work (1:10). 4. Be strengthened with all power (1:11). 5. Be patient and longsuffering with joy (1:11).

Paul prayed for their Spiritual Well Being

He made 3 requests that relate to 3 aspects of Christian Living KNOWING, DOING, AND BECOMING [all verbs action words]

Diagnosis

KNOWING
PAUL PRAYED THAT THEY MIGHT KNOW MORE (V. 9) The Greek [GNOSIS] translated "knowledge" carries the idea of "fuller knowledge". There is always something more for us to learn about God and His Will for our lives. No Christian would ever dare to say that he has "arrived"!
That would be like the university student wrote 10 pages on "The History of the Universe". A Christian who claims he knows it all would only be showing his ignorance!

 He wants us to understand it... be filled with the knowledge of his will.>>> To be "filled" means to be "controlled by". When we are filled with anger, we are controlled by anger. To be "filled with the Spirit" means to be "controlled by the Spirit" = Controlled by Gods Will! Gods Word!!

God wants us to know His Will

But how does this take place?

We come to understand the Will of God through the Word of God = 2Tim 2:15
The specific will of God for any given situation must always agree with what he has already revealed in his Word. Add to you Faith. So the better we know Gods general will, the easier it is to determine his specific guidance in our daily lives.

Paul does not encourage us to seek visions or listen for voices in the night Galatians 1:8-9
He prayed that we might grow in knowledge Paul said, That I might KNOW Him.. God wants us to have "all wisdom" -- not that we could know everything but that we could have all the wisdom necessary for making decisions and living pleasing to God. (People of the Book)

 This cannot be accomplished just listening to sermons. YOU need daily Bible study.
Hebrews 1:1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets Acts 17:11 These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. (Hebrews 5:12) WE NEED TO FEED OURSELVES ON THE WORD!

ATTENTION PLEASE!!

DOING

True spiritual wisdom must affect the way we live!!

PAUL PRAYED THAT THEY MIGHT DO MORE...PUT KNOWLEDGE INTO ACTION! (V. 10) There were false teachers (later called GNOSTICS) at Colossae They liked to talk about "spiritual knowledge", but they didnt relate that knowledge to daily living. In the Christian life, knowledge and obedience go hand in hand... no separation between learning and living. The knowledge Paul prayed for wasnt just a head knowledge... knowing = doing!!!

 Two words summarize this point: LEARN & LIVE! WE CANT JUST TALK THE TALK, WE MUST ALSO WALK THE WALK!
The Christian who spends time daily in the Word and prayer will know God, and will thus be able to walk with him and work for him. Our PURPOSE is not to please ourselves, but to please the Lord. Eph 4:1 walk worthy of calling [Some brethren were talking about which translation of the Bible they preferred...one spoke up, "I prefer my mother's version. She lived it!]

James 1:22-25
James is talking about reading the Bible but failing to put it into practice!!
Christianity is something you do. In practice it s a series of verbs, action words: visit, feed, clothe, go, teach, encourage, give, love. ITS NOT WHAT YOU DONT DO... ITS WHAT YOU DO THAT REALLY COUNTS!

The Sin of Omission (James 4:17)

You hear people say, Well, Im a good person, I dont swear, steal, gossip or lie According to some people's idea of Christianity, the mannequin would make a great Christian. He doesn't do anything wrong! But he doesn't do anything at all!

BECOMING
FINALLY, PAUL PRAYED THAT THEY MIGHT BECOME MORE LIKE CHRIST, ITS BECOMING THAT COUNTS (VS. 11-12) There must be a connection between: A MORE Knowing Spiritual Knowledge MATURE Doing Christian Service CHRISTIAN Becoming Personal Character

CONCLUSION
WE MUST TRULY TRY TO BE WHAT WE PROFESS TO BE!!! ITS POSSIBLE TO HAVE THE KNOWLEDGE WHILE LACKING OTHER IMPORTANT THINGS...LOVE, KINDNESS, ETC. KNOWLEDGE, CONDUCT, AND CHARACTER MUST ALWAYS GO TOGETHER. WE LEARN GODS WILL SO THAT WE MIGHT OBEY IT; AND IN OBEYING IT, WE SERVE HIM AND THUS GROW IN CHRISTIAN CHARACTER.

PERHAPS WE CAN SERVE YOU IN SOME WAY THIS MORNING