Grow With Pastor Joe

What’s the purpose of knowing God’s will? Simply, the purpose of knowing God’s will is to then walk in His will according to His word and work. The priority of learning God’s will through His word by the indwelling work of the Holy Spirit is for our practical daily living in His will. The will of God is discerned by His word and the work of the Spirit who then enables the believer to do the will of God. His work is for us, in us, and then through us. Christianity is inside out compared to the world. God first does a work for us in our salvation. We couldn’t save us, so He saved us. Second, God does a work in us and that work is continually accomplished and accompanied by the scriptures and the Holy Spirit. This is what we call sanctification. He didn’t just begin the work but continually works in the heart and life of every believer for our eternal good and His eternal glory. Third, God does a work through us so that others may hear the gospel and be saved, discipled, and equipped for the work of the ministry. This is what Christian service is all about. It isn’t so much the Christian who is some great servant but, rather, the Christian is to be surrendered to God’s continual purposeful work through us so that we can serve His purpose for His glory in this world.

            People often prioritize the idea of practicality or practical Christian experience or expression. What is practical Christian living and why should it be a priority? To be as plain as I know how, practical Christian living is discerning God’s will, desiring God’s will, and then doing God’s will. However, the only way we will ever discern, desire, or do the will of God is if we are in union with Christ and walking in communion with Him by the Spirit and the word of God. Those who seek to perform their way into God’s will apart from God’s word are self-righteous in their attitude and actions. We must walk according to His will for our life. In Col. 1:9-14 we see Paul praying for the believers to grow in wisdom so that their daily walk in Christ would match who they are in Christ. Life is to be lived with Christ being supreme and sufficient, not our own wisdom or works. The Christian is to live wisely and have good works, but these things come from Christ. Paul in this passage stresses that what we believe will directly impact our behavior. Vance Havner wrote, “What you live is what you really believe; everything else is so much religious talk.” If that is the case, do we really believe that Christ is supreme and sufficient? The Colossians were growing but still had a way to go. Sound familiar? They were tempted by many to lean upon their own wisdom or works apart from Christ. What was happening is that there were many who were trying to have the Colossians separate their belief and behavior. The two are inseparably linked. What we really believe about the Lord Jesus Christ will show up in our attitudes and actions. Paul prays for the believers in this passage for them to practically live according to the word, work, and will of God. Today’s study will take us through Col. 1:10 which says, “That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God.” In Col. 1:10-14 we see the purpose of His prayer for believers to grow in the knowledge of the will of God is for their practical Christian living. His prayer for the church and mine is that God’s people would discern, desire, and do God’s will according to His word and work. That Christ would be supreme and sufficient in His Church. That we would live a life for the glory of the Lord through the grace of the Lord with a grateful heart for His word, work, and will for, in, and through us.

            First, to walk in His will is to have a practical walk. The opening section of the verse says, “That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing.” Truly this is a sermon in and of itself. Everyone wants to know something practical, but practical Christian living comes from Bible principles. If you don’t know what God has said, then you won’t know what to do or how to live accordingly. If you don’t know who you are and what you have in Christ, then you will always struggle with living for Christ in your practical day-to-day life. Principles must be practiced or else they are just going to be knowledge to puff you up. Previously we saw the connection between knowledge, wisdom, and understanding. Knowledge learns truth, wisdom sees the principle of the truth, and understanding practices the principle in the ordinary and even uniqueness of everyday life. Our learning is for our living. Wisdom is for our walk. God wants your head, heart, and hands. He wants all of you. Every single part. God doesn’t just want you know all about Him, but to have a true knowledge of Him that shows up practically. A big head will do nothing for the glory of God. Although practice doesn’t make perfect, we should practice or live out what we profess. There are two things that we must see about the practical walk in Col. 1:10a.

One, we see the manner of a practical walk. What does Paul mean by “walk?” The word “walk” is the word “perpateo” which means to walk a complete circuit. Throughout Paul’s writings, he uses it in a metaphorical and even Jewish sense meaning the manner, character, and conduct of one’s life. The manner of one’s life is inside out. The manner of one’s life deals with one’s entire being, spirit, soul, and body. Another way to put it is that the manner of our life deals with our affirmations (what we believe), our attitudes (how we respond), and our actions (what we do on the outside). Our walk is to be “worthy of the Lord.” The word “worthy” is the word “axios” which was used in the Greek language and culture of scales that showed the comparative worth of something. The balance of the scales was to be even. Think of it this way. Someone’s work should match their wage, and their wage should match their work. I know what you’re thinking. “I’m not worthy of Him. How can I be?” Well of course we aren’t worthy; but the point is that our worth is in Christ. He is of infinite worth and weight and value. It is who He is. Nothing is weightier or filled with such beauty, splendor, or glory. Our worth is in Christ, and our walk is in Christ. However, Christians bear the name of Christ and therefore should walk worthy of that name. What a blessing it is to bear the name of Christ, but oh how often we pollute it with our practical walk being unworthy of His precious name! We have a new nature and should walk worthy of it. We have an incorruptible heavenly inheritance in Christ and should walk worthy of it. Paul says in Eph. 4:1-3, “I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, ² With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; ³ Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” Our walk is to be worthy of our calling in Christ and it influences and impacts the unity and usefulness of the local church that we are united to in Christ. Furthermore, Paul says in Phil. 1:27, “Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;” C.H. Spurgeon illustrates this idea well saying, “When you walk with a king, you should be yourself royal in gait; when you commune with a prince you should not act the clown. Dear friends, may you know so much of Jesus that your lives shall become Christ-like, fit to be put side by side with the character of Jesus, worthy of your perfect Lord.” The manner of our practical walk should reflect Christ, His gospel, grace, and glory. My behavior should directly reflect that I belong to Jesus and believe that He is supreme and sufficient.

Two, we see the motivation of a practical walk. Paul not only says that it is to be worthy of the Lord, but our walk, or manner of life is to be motivated by the pleasure of God. Society says, “Do what makes you happy!” Famous songs in pop-culture promote that same ideology which is truly just a bad theology. Imagine with me what your life and my life would look like if all we cared about was pleasing Christ? Everything that God is pleased by should please us. Here, the idea of “unto all pleasing” isn’t just that we want to please God, but that we anticipate what would delight Him. To live for His pleasure is to die to the desire to please yourself. We are warned not to be men-pleasers, but we should never forget that our life is lived coram deo, before the face of God. God is delighted when we delight to depend upon Him and draw from the riches of grace in Christ by the Spirit through the word of God. He delights when we walk according to His word, work, and will. Believers know that we are to discern and do God’s will. Both of those things come from the work of the Spirit through the word; however, in between those things should be desiring God’s will. We must see that He gives us grace so we can give Him glory. God’s plan for us is to walk in His will for His pleasure.

            Second, to walk in His will is to have a productive walk. Col. 1:10b says, “being fruitful in every good work.” Good works do not achieve our salvation, but they must accompany our salvation. Where there is genuine faith there will be genuine fruit. God’s will is not for us to be spiritually barren without life, vibrancy, or fruit to be seen. Throughout the Bible, those who live by faith are likened to fruitful trees or branches connected to vines (See Ps. 1; John 15). Paul says, “being fruitful” in the present tense because it is assumed that a Christian will not only bud, but bear fruit continually season after season. An abiding Christian will be an abounding Christian. Fruit bearing requires being in union with Christ and a productive walk is one in which the believer walks in communion with Christ by the enabling power of the Spirit through obedience to the word of God. Now, one of our issues today is that we equate fruitfulness with activities, numbers, and programs. You can have a lot of pithy, rotten, or bitter apples fall off of a tree. It is not about the quantity of our works, but the quality. Faithfulness to the word will lead to fruitfulness in the work. The fruit will not always be as much or be as shiny as we think it ought to be, but the fruit that Christ bears in and through us is glorifying to His name. It has eternal value. It is purposeful. It is often slow. It is often unnoticed by many; yet God sees, knows, and delights in it. He says that our productive walk should be that we are fruitful “in every good work.” This implies that there are works that are not good. For something to be good in the Bible it must be of moral and spiritual excellence. Paul writes in Gal. 6:7-10, “⁷ Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. ⁸ For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. ⁹ And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. ¹⁰ As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.” He then follows up in that same chapter in Gal. 6:14 saying, “¹⁴ But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.” We do not glory in what we think is productive, but we glory in the growth that He brings by His grace in and through our lives. To be fruitful in every good work comes from being filled with the fruit of the Spirit as Paul describes in Gal. 5:22-26 saying, “²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, ²³ Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. ²⁴ And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. ²⁵ If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. ²⁶ Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.” To have a productive walk is to see God bear fruit in us and then through us by the power of His Spirit through His word.

            Third, to walk in His will is to have a proximate walk. Col. 1:10c says, “and increasing in the knowledge of God.” When we think of proximity, we think of closeness or nearness. When we see that we are to be growing and increasing in the knowledge of God, we must go back to the use of the word knowledge in Col. 1:9. This word is “epignosis” which deals specifically with an intimate, experiential, and relational knowledge of something or someone. This is a hands-on knowledge if you will. Therefore, we are to grow and increase in our knowledge “of” God, not merely about God. We shouldn’t be pursuing knowledge for knowing’s sake, but for growing’s sake. The purpose of walking closely with and closer to the Lord Jesus Christ is that my walk would be according to His word, work, and will. Walking, living, and abiding in close proximity to Christ is the only real way to live a practical and productive Christian life. We see that Christ enables us by His Spirit to walk close to Him and that He serves as an example of how to walk. Some things are better caught than taught. We catch Christlikeness from walking with Jesus, not from looking at Him from afar. Our mission at VWBC is “to know Christ and make Him known.” All of life is founded and flows from growing in knowing Christ. 1 Pet. 2:1-3 says, “Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, ² As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: ³ If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.” Because we have tasted the grace of Christ by His Spirit through His word we should desire the milk and meat of knowing Christ and walking in His will. Furthermore, 2 Pet. 3:18 says, “But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.” He gives the grace to grow, and we only grow by His grace. As we grow in a knowledge of Him, we walk in His will and He is glorified. The purpose of life and the power of practical Christian living is in staying close to Jesus as we grow to know Him more each day. Nothing could be more practical or productive than being in close proximity to the Lord Jesus Christ.

            As we bring this to a close, we come back to the opening reminder that our life is to match our new, eternal, everlasting life in Christ. Our practical life is to match our profession of faith. Where there is real faith, there will be real faithfulness and fruitfulness. However, the faithfulness and fruitfulness of our life is His work for, in, and through us. We must search our hearts to see if the walk of our life is worthy of His name, His gospel, His grace, and His glory? Are we representing and reflecting Christ in our walk? We must see if there is real genuine faith and fruit. We must as well trust that any true productive work in our life is His work for, in, and through us so that He gets all the glory; but we must remember that He gives the grace we need to live for His glory. Then, we must ask ourselves how close in proximity we are to Him. Have we wandered? He is still there. Turn in repentance and run to Christ. He is supreme and sufficient. His will is supreme and sufficient. Walk in His will today!