Colossians: A Wise Church

Note: the following is the manuscript for the message and will not match exactly the recorded message above.

In this passage, Paul is praying that the Colossian church will know God’s will and have wisdom and understanding so that they will be able to show God’s worth by the way they live. 

Paul pray’s this way because he has heard that they responded to the gospel message by loving one another.

The Colossian church heard the gospel, which gave them a new hope for eternal life and fellowship with God. They responded to that message of hope by putting their trust in God through faith, and by loving one another. 

Note “you” is plural, addressed to the entire church. This is worth keeping in mind because our tendency is to try and apply the Bible to our lives personally, individually. 

But, that is not how much of the Bible is written, particularly Paul’s letters. When you read this on your own, imagine how these words transform your life within the context of the church. 

I’m going to read this passage again, but this time it won’t be a translation that you’ll find in your Bible. I’ve taken the liberty of interpreting it, connecting ideas that are found elsewhere in the letter, and emphasizing that it is written to a community of people, not just individuals.

We know that your church has received and understood the gospel message which brings eternal hope. Because you have responded to that hope by trusting in God through faith, and are loving each other well, we are praying for you as a church family constantly. We are asking God to fill you individually and collectively as a church with knowledge of his will for your life together as followers of Jesus. We are praying that God will provide your church with wisdom and understanding of the spiritual forces at work among you so that you will be able to discern what is true and untrue. We pray that your life together, how you love and care for one another, will demonstrate the character of God, showing that everything you do depends on his power and wisdom. As you depend on God together, your church will be able to joyfully endure the challenges of trying to be a family made up of all sorts of different people who would not normally find themselves in each other’s company. We pray that you will support one another through all of life’s ups and downs, knowing that in doing so you will be an example of how God empowers his people to remain faithful. We pray that, as you remind each other of all the blessings of God available to you as his adopted children, that your gratitude will overflow and be contagious, causing your light to shine brightly in your community.

I hope this helps you imagine this as instructions for a group of people, and that it was never intended to be received by individuals outside of the fellowship of the church. The point is, wisdom is communal. It becomes increasingly complete when individuals are curious about how God is revealing his truth through others. This requires a humble posture and a sincere desire to have my understanding of God and his will be made complete through the community. 

With that in mind, let’s do a quick review of last week’s passage and then get into the three questions in our outline.

Review – A Fruit-Bearing Church

In the previous section, Paul writes that he and his pastoral apprentice, Timothy, are pleased to hear from their pastor, Epaphras, that the gospel, which is expanding all over the world, is bearing fruit in the lives of the Colossian church as well. 

It is bearing fruit because they are expressing their eternal hope through active faith and love.

Last week, I shared how faith, hope, and love are inseparable characteristics of a fruitful church that has experienced the grace of God. Each characteristic is both a source and the evidence of a church that is alive. They are, however, not instant and not easy characteristics to adopt. They do not come automatically and they do not come quickly. But, if we want to be a fruitful church, and if we claim to have the hope that Paul talks about in this letter, then we are called to live with faith and love.

The church in Colossae was doing this. Their understanding of the hope of the gospel was bearing fruit in the form of faith and love. For this reason, Paul says, he is praying that their knowledge of God’s will, and their wisdom and understanding of spiritual things will increase. There seems to be a progression toward  that happens when someone receives and understands the gospel. 

First comes hearing the gospel, then understanding the implications of the gospel message, then the hope of eternal life with God, then obedience to Jesus’ teaching in the form of trusting God and loving others, then as we will see in our passage today, increased knowledge of God’s will, wisdom and understanding, resulting in showing the character of God through how we live, which is ultimately pleasing to God and will result in reproducing this same process in the lives of others.

What I want to focus on in the remainder of this message is the topic of wisdom. I will do this by exploring these three questions: 

1. What is wisdom? 
2. How do we become a wise church? 
3. How do we know we are a wise church?

What is wisdom? (and what is it for?)

All throughout history, humanity has sought wisdom by asking questions about the meaning of life and how to experience happiness and contentment. If you want to learn about wisdom from the Bible, a common first place you might turn to is the book of Proverbs in the Old Testament. Proverbs begins this way:

The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel: for gaining wisdom and instruction; for understanding words of insight; for receiving instruction in prudent behaviour, doing what is right and just and fair. (Prov. 1:1-3, NIV)

There is actually a category of books in the Bible called Wisdom Literature. This also includes the books of Job and Ecclesiastes. The book of Job is basically a long story about a good and godly man who suffers the loss of everything in his life and along the way he is facing the temptation of turning away from God. 

He holds on to the truth that God is good regardless of what bad things happen in his life, and so God can continue to be praised. In the end, Job is blessed by God with more than he ever had before.

A central lesson from Job is that bad things happen to good people. The wisdom in this story is that God is still present in the darkest times of our life, even when we don’t feel his presence or can make sense of what he might be doing.

In Ecclesiastes, we find what appears to be an extremely negative perspective of life. But, when taken as a whole, you can see that it affirms the goodness and joys of life, but that joy is a result of passing through the struggles of life, not giving up in order to find an easier path.

And so, what can we say about wisdom from the Old Testament? One author has stated it this way:

Wisdom is about the paths that lead to life, shalom (peace) and flourishing… Wisdom refers to a very wide range of desires, behaviours, skills and beliefs—all of which, like the spokes of a wheel, find their hub in the order God has created into our world.

There is so much more to say about wisdom, both in the Old Testament and the New Testament. All throughout the Bible we see wisdom written about and demonstrated in the lives of God’s people. 

In the early church, wisdom was sought out by not only God’s people, but also the Greek philosophers. Jesus, the Apostles, and other church leaders had to teach the church what true wisdom from God looks like. That is part of the purpose of Colossians. To remind the church of the truth.

For the church today, wisdom requires discipline and discernment. We have virtually all the knowledge contained in the world available at our fingertips. This is both wonderful and dangerous. If you have a question about something, you can quickly get the answer. This however, does not translate into wisdom.

Take for example, if you want to find a recipe for fruit salad. Perhaps you first do a search for a list of fruits.

• Apple
• Orange
• Banana
• Grape
• Pumpkin
• Squash
• Tomato

Obviously, these won’t all work in a fruit salad. You see, knowledge is knowing that tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing not to put tomato in a fruit salad.

Again, wisdom is about the paths that lead to life, peace, and flourishing. In Colossians, Paul is praying that the church will be filled with wisdom and understanding so that…

• they can walk in the Lord
• they can bear fruit
• they can grow 
• they can be strengthened

These are paths that lead to life, peace, and flourishing. They are also evidence of wisdom, which we will get to in a bit. 

First, let’s consider how we become a wise church…

How do we become a wise church?

I’ll highlight 2 main ways we can become a wise church:

The first way we become wise: Prayer

Paul is modelling this for the church. He is praying that they will increase in knowledge, wisdom, and understanding. Prayer is foundational for gaining the wisdom of God. Jesus prays for his disciples on the night before his crucifixion:

My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. (John 17:15-17 NIV)

It’s an interesting prayer: sanctify them by the truth. To be sanctified means to be set apart for God’s purposes. Jesus is asking God the Father to prepare us to be useful in his kingdom by showering us with the truth.

This is the first and primary way we get wisdom: prayer. Daily prayer, individual prayer, prayer in our heads and hearts, prayers out loud with our children, our spouses, our grandchildren. 

Prayer together, for each other, with each other, for the world, our community. We pray daily, throughout the day, in everything. Prayer for knowledge, wisdom, and understanding about the truth.

The second way we become wise: humility

Humility is essentially putting others before yourself. This is in both the way you treat them and how you are willing to learn from them. To humble yourself is to declare yourself powerless to defend your status and then act accordingly, just as Jesus did when he subjected himself to crucifixion even though he was innocent. 

You do this either by becoming literally powerless or by demonstrating that your use of power has been set aside for the benefit of others. We will see the connection between humility and wisdom again later in chapter 2. 

The reason I included humility as a primary way to become wise is because of the natural connection between wisdom being a gift from God and the concept in Scripture that God blesses the humble. This is a principle that can be applied to anything you are asking for from God. Are you asking from a posture of humility?

Your posture, whether it is proud or humble, is also a sign of your motives behind asking for wisdom and what you intend to do with the wisdom. Humility also has implications for us as a whole church. Because wisdom is communal, if we are to grow in our collective wisdom, we will need to have a humble posture toward one another. 

This means deferring to another’s preferences, not exerting positional, relational, social, or economic power over them. It also means asking yourself in the midst of conflict, what is this person seeing that I am not? How is my thinking about something incomplete?

We will grow in wisdom together when we think and act humbly toward one another. There is obviously far more to talk about when it comes to gaining wisdom, but if we practice these two things: prayer and humility, we individually, and us collectively, will see tremendous growth in wisdom.

How do we know we are a wise church?

As I said earlier, Paul is praying that the church will be filled with wisdom and understanding so that…

• they can walk in the Lord
• they can bear fruit
• they can grow 
• they can be strengthened

These are evidence of wisdom. But, I want to focus on one statement that Paul makes that sums it up in verse 10: so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way. 

Let’s focus on this idea of worthiness because it is easily confused with the idea that we have to earn the favour of God. Phil 1:27 contains a similar statement from Paul: “let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ.”

In Matthew 10:37-39, Jesus says, 

Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it. 

Are Jesus and Paul saying that we need to prove our love for Jesus in order to be accepted by him? Not at all. Jesus and Paul are saying that when we demonstrate that Jesus is our greatest treasure and the object of our greatest affections, we are proving his worth in our lives.

To live a life worthy of the Lord, we need to live in a way that proves how valuable the gospel is! 

This manner of thinking has nothing to do with our own merit, or about earning anything—it has all to do with our recognition and acknowledgement of the value of Jesus. It is about cherishing what we were given.

And so, in Colossians, Paul is saying that when you are filled with the knowledge of God’s will through all wisdom and understanding, you will live a life that proves the infinite value of God!

It’s like the old saying, you will know where a person’s priorities lie by looking at their pocketbook (or bank account). Live a life that proves the worthiness of Jesus to be your Lord and Saviour. How?

This comes full circle:

• First comes hearing the gospel, 
• then understanding the implications of the gospel message, 
• then the hope of eternal life with God, 
• then obedience to Jesus’ teaching in the form of trusting God and loving others, 
• then as we have seen in our passage today, increased knowledge of God’s will, wisdom and understanding, 
• resulting in showing the character of God through how we live, 
• which is ultimately pleasing to God and will result in reproducing this same process in the lives of others.