Apostle Paul

A Sheep Contemplates Colossians 1:9-12

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Filled With Knowledge

My fellow travelers,

As we continue journeying through Colossians, let today’s passage warm your heart as surely as your morning tea does. We will see today the heart of the Apostle Paul as he prays for fellow believers.

Beloved, there is a kind of prayer that does not hurry. Paul had never walked the streets of Colossae, yet from the day Epaphras told him of their faith and love, he had not ceased to pray for them. And the prayer he prayed is the one we still need. Listen to Paul’s heart as we read the passage.

For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and 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 giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified youto share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.

Paul asks that they would be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding. Not a thin acquaintance with religious ideas, but a knowledge that fills the whole of a person—the kind that comes when the Spirit opens the mind and heart to what the Father actually desires. The verb “filled” carries the sense of being brought to fullness, not merely informed. The knowledge he seeks is epignōsis—a personal, precise acquaintance with what God wants, not a stock of religious facts. Wisdom here is the skill of living under Christ’s lordship; understanding is the quiet ability to see how the pieces of an ordinary day fit together with his purposes. Paul is not asking for them to become clever. He is asking that the Colossians would know God’s mind so thoroughly that their choices begin to look like his.

That knowledge is given for a walk. “so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way”. The Christian life is not a set of moments when we feel spiritual; it is the long habit of ordinary conduct—work, speech, patience with people, the use of money and time—lived at a pitch that fits the One who has called us. Worthy does not mean we earn his smile. It means our steps start to match the gift we have already received. And the marks of that walk are simple and searching: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. Fruit and knowledge grow on the same branch. Obedience makes the face of God clearer; a clearer sight of God makes obedience more natural and more wide. Fruit and knowledge grow together. Good works are not a substitute for knowing God, nor is knowing God an excuse for barrenness. Each feeds the other. As obedience deepens, the knowledge of God becomes clearer; as the knowledge of God grows, the range of good work expands.

Such a walk needs strength we do not carry in ourselves. So Paul asks that they would be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy. The power is measured by God’s own might, not by our reserves. It is given for the long obedience—endurance when the pressure does not lift, patience when we are wronged and the impulse is to answer in kind—and both are to be carried with joy. Joy is not the absence of weight. It is the atmosphere of people who know the Father has already acted.

And he has. The prayer ends where every true prayer begins: giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has made us fit. He has rendered us sufficient for a share we could never have secured. The inheritance is not a prize at the end of a successful life; it is the gift already sealed in Christ, the reason we can give thanks even while we are still learning endurance.

This is the pastoral heart of the passage. God does not leave his people to piece together a worthy life from their own insight or strength. He fills them with the knowledge of his will, he supplies power equal to his own might, and he does both because he has already qualified them for glory. The prayer Paul prayed for the Colossians is the prayer the Spirit still loves to answer.

Take a few quiet minutes with these questions:

Where do you most need to be filled with the knowledge of his will, and what would it mean to ask for spiritual wisdom rather than simply a change in circumstances?

In the ordinary paths of this week, what would a walk fully pleasing to the Lord look like—and where is fruit or a growing knowledge of God currently thin?

What pressure is asking for endurance and patience, and how does the Father’s qualifying work give you reason for joy inside it?

When you give thanks, can you thank him not only for gifts he has placed in your hands, but for the deeper mercy that he has already made you fit to share the inheritance of the saints in light?

Beloved, rejoice that the Lord who has begun a good work in you will be faithful to complete it. Rejoice in knowing you are deeply loved by the Father.

You fellow sheep

A Sheep Contemplates Colossians 1:6b-8

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Not A Private Possession

My dear friends,

As we sit with our Bibles open in our laps and coffee in our hands, let us be inspired today from Paul’s letter to the church at Colossae. As we read together, recall the people who shared the gospel of Christ with you and give thanks to God for them today.

The gospel that reached Colossae was never a private possession. In the opening thanksgiving of his letter, Paul describes it as a living word already at work far beyond that small city: “as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth, just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf and has made known to us your love in the Spirit” (Colossians 1:6b–8).

Paul has just given thanks for the Colossians’ faith in Christ and their love for all the saints, both of which rest on the hope laid up for them in heaven—a hope they first heard in “the word of the truth, the gospel” (1:5). He then pictures that same word as active. The participles “bearing fruit and increasing” are present and continuous. The gospel is not a finished announcement that sits still once delivered; it keeps producing fruit and keeps spreading. Later he will pray that the Colossians themselves bear fruit in every good work and grow in the knowledge of God (1:10). What the message does in the world, it is meant to do in the people who receive it.

The worldwide scope is no vague slogan. From Paul’s vantage the gospel has already moved through the cities of the eastern Mediterranean and beyond, and the same pattern is visible in Colossae. Local faithfulness is not isolated; it belongs to a larger work of God. At the same time, the local is not swallowed by the global. The fruit-bearing happening “in the whole world” is happening “among you.”

That fruit began on a particular day: the day they heard and understood. Hearing alone is not enough. They “understood the grace of God in truth.” Grace here is not a general religious mood; it is the concrete favor of God that meets people in Christ—forgiveness, reconciliation, a share in the inheritance of the saints in light (1:12–14). To understand it “in truth” is to grasp it as it really is, not as a distorted or partial version. Later Paul will warn against teachings that sound wise but empty the gospel of Christ’s sufficiency (2:4, 8). The Colossians’ beginning was different. From the first day they received the real thing, and from that day the same gospel moving through the world began its quiet increase among them.

They received it through a person. “Just as you learned it from Epaphras.” The verb suggests more than a single sermon; it points to instruction that took root. Epaphras is “our beloved fellow servant”—literally a fellow slave—and “a faithful minister of Christ.” He did not invent the message or improve upon it. He delivered what he had received, and he did so with steady loyalty to both the word and the people. Whether the phrase is read “on your behalf” or “on our behalf,” the sense is mediation: he stood between the apostolic gospel and this congregation, serving Christ by serving them. He later traveled to Paul, shared their story, and continued to labor in prayer for them (4:12–13). Faithfulness here looks ordinary and costly at once—teaching the truth clearly, staying with the people, and carrying their needs to God.

The evidence he brought was specific. He “made known to us your love in the Spirit.” Their love was not mere friendliness. It was love produced by the Holy Spirit, the kind that can be recognized and reported, the kind that moves an apostle to unceasing prayer (1:9). Faith, hope, and this Spirit-given love belonged together from the beginning.

So the short paragraph holds several gifts at once: a word that keeps bearing fruit across the world and inside a local church; a grace that can be truly understood rather than merely admired; a faithful servant who hands that grace on without distortion; and a Spirit-given love that confirms the word has taken root. None of these replace Christ. All of them display his ongoing work.

The same gospel is still bearing fruit and increasing. It does not depend on our brilliance, yet it still ordinarily travels through people who teach it faithfully and shows itself in love the Spirit alone can produce. Wherever that is happening—even in small and ordinary places—it is already part of the larger increase Paul celebrates.

For reflection

  • Can you name the season when the grace of God moved from something you had heard to something you truly understood? What has that understanding cost you, or given you, since?
  • Who has served you as Epaphras did—teaching the gospel faithfully and remaining a fellow servant rather than a distant expert? How might you give thanks for them today?
  • Paul treats “love in the Spirit” as observable evidence that the gospel is bearing fruit. Where do you see that kind of love already at work around you, and where are you asking the Lord to let it increase?
  • The gospel is described as bearing fruit and increasing both “in the whole world” and “among you.” How does holding those two together shape the way you pray for your own congregation and for the church beyond it?

My dear ones, just as others shared the gospel with you, you now need to share the gospel with another, Keep passing on the good news of Jesus Christ to those who still are enslaved to sin and let the truth set them free,

Until next time,

Your fellow sheep along the journey

A Sheep Contemplates Colossians 1:1-2

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A Family Letter

My dear friends,

As we begin our study in Colossians, let us take the time to look at the two first verses of Paul’s letter. Greetings are easy to skim through, but this morning let us take the same time to linger over them as we linger over our coffee.

Paul begins the way a pastor often must begin: by reminding the people who they are, whose they are, and what God is still giving them.

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To God’s holy people in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ: Grace and peace to you from God our Father.— Colossians 1:1–2 (NIV)

The letter opens with a name, then a vocation, then a source. “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God.” He does not introduce himself as a religious expert, a gifted writer, or a man who finally got his life together. He stands in this letter because God willed it. The same man who once tried to destroy the church now speaks as one sent by the risen Christ. That is not a résumé line. It is a confession. Authority in the church does not begin with personality. It begins with the will of God.

There is comfort here for ordinary believers as well. If Paul’s apostleship rests on God’s will, then your place in Christ does too. You are not in the family because you were impressive enough to earn a seat. You are here because the Father wanted you.

And Paul does not stand alone. “Timothy our brother.” The great apostle names a younger coworker as family. The gospel does not produce isolated heroes. It produces brothers and sisters who labor side by side. Paul had not even planted this church himself; Epaphras had carried the gospel to Colossae. Still he writes as a father in the faith, and he writes with a brother at his side. Ministry, at its healthiest, always sounds like this: sent by God, shared with family.

Then Paul turns to the church. “To God’s holy people in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ.” Holy people does not mean a special class of Christians who have risen above the rest. In Scripture, the saints are simply those God has set apart for himself. Holiness here is first a gift of belonging before it is a pattern of living. These believers were not holy because Colossae was a pure place. It was not. It was a small market city in the Lycus Valley, full of mixed religions, local customs, and spiritual pressure. They were holy because they belonged to God.

That matters if you have ever looked at your own life and thought, If Paul knew my actual week, he would have chosen a different adjective. He does not begin with their performance. He begins with their identity. Before he corrects, warns, or exhorts, he blesses them with their true name.

He also calls them “faithful brothers and sisters.” The word can mean believing as well as loyal. Either way, the point is family. They are not a club of the spiritually successful. They are siblings. The church is not first an event you attend. It is a household you have been brought into.

And notice the two addresses Paul holds together: they live in Colossae, and they live in Christ. One is their street and city. The other is their true home. You and I also live in two places at once. We have a town, a job, a family system, a set of limitations, a particular sadness, a particular history. That is our Colossae. But if we belong to Jesus, our deepest location is not the place that appears on an envelope. It is union with Christ. Colossae may explain much of what you face. It does not get to define who you are.

Then comes the prayer disguised as a greeting: “Grace and peace to you from God our Father.” This is more than ancient letter etiquette. Paul takes the common Greek wish for favor and the common Hebrew wish for wholeness and fills both with the gospel. Grace is God’s undeserved kindness toward sinners in Christ. Peace is the reconciling fruit of that kindness: peace with God, and then, slowly, peace within and among his people. The order is theologically deliberate. Peace does not create grace. Grace creates peace.

And the source is family language again: “from God our Father.” Not a distant deity. Not a vague spiritual force. The Father of the Lord Jesus has become our Father. That is why Timothy can be called “our brother,” and why the Colossians can be called brothers and sisters. The whole greeting is already quietly Trinitarian and deeply pastoral. God wills. Christ sends. The Father gives grace and peace. The church becomes a family.

You may think you need a new strategy, a clearer future, or a lighter load. You may. But underneath all of that, you need what Paul asked for this little church: fresh grace for people who cannot save themselves, and the peace that only a reconciled Father can give.

These two verses are easy to hurry past. Do not.

  • If you feel unauthorized and small, hear this: God places his people where he wills.
  • If you feel stained and ordinary, hear this: in Christ you are already named among God’s holy people.
  • If you feel isolated, hear this: you have been given brothers and sisters.
  • If your town, your past, or your present pressure feels louder than the gospel, hear this: you live in Colossae, but you also live in Christ.
  • If your soul is restless, hear this: grace and peace are not souvenirs from the day you first believed. They are the Father’s ongoing gift to his children.

Paul will soon lift our eyes to the Son who is before all things and in whom all things hold together. But he starts here, close to the ground, with names, family, and blessing. That is how God often meets us too—not first with a system to master, but with a word that tells us we belong.

Reflection Questions

  1. Where in your life are you tempted to treat your calling as self-made rather than received “by the will of God”?
  2. When you hear the phrase “God’s holy people,” do you instinctively exclude yourself? What would change if you received that name as a gift rather than a grade?
  3. What is your “Colossae”—the particular place, pressure, or ordinary setting where you live right now? How does being “in Christ” speak to that place?
  4. Who has been a “Timothy” to you—a brother or sister who reminds you that faith is not a solo project? Whom might you stand beside in that same way?
  5. Which do you more urgently need today: grace (God’s undeserved help) or peace (the settled fruit of belonging to the Father)? Why?
  6. How might your greetings, prayers, and conversations with other believers become more like Paul’s—naming people by their identity in Christ before rushing to advice?

Know this, dear ones. Because God deeply loves you, He has adopted you into His family.

Your brother in Christ

A Tool or an Excuse?

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In past years, I used to use spiritual gift assessment inventories with various congregations to help them discover the talents and gifts God had blessed them with. We would follow this up with studies on how to use those gifts in service to God through the church, community outreach, etc.  These last few years, I have hesitated in using such tools. My hesitancy was based on observations that they were being misused by the very people I was hoping to help. It seemed that once a gift was identified, it was hard for people to volunteer to do anything outside their “gift” area. Far from helping them, I felt I had enabled them to become lazy, giving them an excuse to not do anything out of their comfort zone. I do not believe that God only gives people one gift. I believe that many times God calls us to do things we are not gifted or talented in, so that He can show His power through us. A friend of mine argues that instead of creating specialists in the church, we need to focus on making generalists, people who can function in multiple ways. I agree. I believe that a church full of people cross-trained in many different areas will acquire the skills necessary because God will give them what they need to accomplish His purpose. How wonderful to have a church filled with trained pre-school workers, musicians, worship leaders, and grief counselors. How fantastic to have people trained in public speaking, how to develop a sermon or how to teach teen-agers. What a joy it would be to have a church full of people ready and willing to visit the sick, trained in apologetics or capable of leading a prayer meeting.

Maybe it is just me, but the more I see how spiritual gift inventories and tools are being used, the more I think it is just an outgrowth of our narcissistic society, wanting to know how special we are. Usually, we all know what we are strongest at and weakest in, and using the tools only confirms what we have suspected or known. It would be better to promote cross-training in all areas, so that like the Apostle Paul we can become all things to all men so that by all means we may win some of them to Jesus Christ. Lets go for a broad approach to finding out just how much we can learn to do for Christ, rather than using the spiritual cop-out of, “that’s not my gift.”