Sunday, 14 October 2018

15/10/18 TREASURE BLOG 6 - LIVING A LIFE OF WORTH (COLOSSIANS 1:9-10)

17:19 Posted by Matthew Beaney No comments



THIS BLOG CONTAINS:
COMMUNITY GROUP STUDY 6
COLOSSIANS 1:9-10 LIVING A LIFE OF WORTH
What is a life worth living? There are still false teachers who will summarise a life worth livings as something like, “doing what makes you happy whilst making the world a better place”.  World famous ‘life coach’ Tony Robbins summarises success, “Success is doing what you want to do, when you want, where you want, with whom you want, as much as you want.” Maybe you have a vision for the good life but is it a biblical vision? This week, let’s allow the Spirit to search us and turn us toward sincere devotion to God and His will in which we find true life. 
Colossians 1:9-10For 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… 
This passage can be summarised, ‘A life of worth involves knowing and doing’ – knowing God, Knowing His will and then doing His will. 
  • If you were to be honest, what do think, you or are you tempted to believe, will give you the best life possible? 
  • In Colossians 1:9-10, what does Paul point to as a ‘life worthy’?
  • Look again at what Paul says about Prayer here – How is prayer both the way to, and the essence of, a life of worth? 

In order to know God, know His will and live a life of worth, Paul says we need ‘wisdom’ (Sophia – This is theoretical knowledge of truth); and we also also says we need Understanding (Sunesis– this is doing or application of wisdom). Both of these things are ‘that the Spirit gives’ (NIV). This means that a life of worth is knowingand doingtruth as defined by the Spirit in scripture. What could happen if one has an imbalance of knowing and doing, and what facet do you feel is your strongest/weakest?  
RESPONSE
If we want a life that is ‘worthy of the Lord’ we must know and do as the Spirit teaches. During our response I’d like you to reflect on your vison of a life of worth. Let’s consider three questions:
  • What aspects of your vision of life are in line with God’s word (His wisdom)? 
  • What aspects are not, or you suspect are not, in keeping with God’s wisdom and understanding? 
  • What desires do you have that need to be tweaked/refined? 



DAILY DEVOTIONAL WEEK 6

COLOSSIANS 1:9-10 LIVING A LIFE OF WORTH
MONDAY – A LIFE WORTH LIVING IS A PRAYERFUL LIFE
Colossians 1:9-10For 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. 
i) PRAYER IS THE LIFE WORTH LIVING
A life worth living begins with coming to know God for whom we were created. Without connection to Him we are missing the very foundation and deepest reason for our existence. Prayer is about relationship with God. Without prayer we may be going to heaven but we are certainly not living a worthy life! Prayer is not just a means to an end, it is a means to the end, the end of knowing God in a living relationship. 
ii) PRAY FOR A LIFE OF WORTH
Paul sets us a great example in faithful prayer when he says that ‘we have not stopped praying for you’. He also shows us how we are to pray the very best things for people. He prays that they would live a life ‘worthy of the Lord’. His greatest ambition for them is that they know and give their lives to God and, in so doing, find a life of true worth. In chapter 2 Paul expresses His greatest desire – that they know Jesus and it’s this ambition that overflows into his prayers,
Colossians 2:1-3 My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 

RESPONSE
Do you see prayer as being a life of worth and not just as the means to a life worth living? Prayer is spending time with God – do believe that knowing God is true life?  Are you praying regularly for yourself, family, church, that they would live a life of worth – with God at the centre? 


TUESDAY – A LIFE OF WORTH REQUIRES WISDOM 
Colossians 1:9-10For 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. 
‘Wisdom’ (Sophia) is theoretical knowledge of truth. In this context Paul is praying that the Spirit would teach them wisdom that comes from God. The Colossian church was being taught false wisdom which detracted from Jesus. Teaching must be tested whilst endeavouring to notice and keep ourselves from having a critical attitude. We must never dismiss teachers because of their style, dress, accent, gender… It’s also worth noting that listening to one message does not constitute all that they have taught! It’s wrong to reject a teacher because they didn’t cover everything that’s important in each message. However, here are some warnings:
  • It’s unbiblical not to have a church home and elders that are the primary voice that you are learning from. (1 Tim. 5:17) 
  • All teachers (including your church’s) should cover the full range of biblical doctrines over time, including the difficult things. (2 Tim. 3:16) 
  • A church/teacher should give weight, over time, to the things that the bible emphasises. The gospel is the pre-eminent theme and should be woven into all teaching. You should be disturbed by teachers who very rarely state the gospel whilst emphasising miracles, money and power. 


RESPONSE
Personal growth in wisdom (knowledge of truth) is vital - too often one can be advancing at work and our interests whilst remaining ignorant of basic truth and skills to read the bible – don’t be like that! You’re an accident waiting to happen. If you are weak in truth, you will probably fall over!  
1 Timothy 4:7-8Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly.  For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. 
How is your discipline of bible study? Ask the Spirit to motivate and teach you His truth. 


WEDNESDAY – A LIFE OF WORTH REQUIRES UNDERSTANDING
Colossians 1:9-10For 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. 
Understanding (Sunesis)– this is obedience or application of the wisdom that we have looked at previously. 
Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote,  
“Only he who believes is obedient, and only he who is obedient believes.” 
This simple aphorism has great insight. Many, even the devil, know the truth, what the gospel is, how to pray, what a life of worth is… but we all know there’s a massive difference between knowing in order to obey and knowing in order to refute and counterfeit. Social media is full of people telling each other the ‘truth’, often with needling, hair-splitting, inauthenticity. To see what one believes, according to Bonhoeffer, one must look at a one’s life.  The oracle of Delphi famously said “know thyself”. As we look at our lives we see what we believe; are we really living for true treasure after all? 

RESPONSE
Thankfully, by the Spirit’s grace, as we see our failures, we can repent, ask for forgiveness and ask Him to help us to obey His truth. 
James 1:22-25Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it – not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it – they will be blessed in what they do.
Let’s pray as Paul says, for ‘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.’ 

THURSDAY – A LIFE OF GOOD WORKS IS PLEASING TO GOD
Colossians 1:9-10For 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. 
The message we often hear is that to fully enjoy life one must fulfil our ambitions and passions. Whilst not wanting to completely dismiss this, it’s important that our approach to a fulfilling life begins by asking – what will please God? This is the path the true joy. Paul prays that the Colossians ‘please Him (God) in every way’. That is an amazing prayer and aspiration. I think that many of us have lost the idea that, even as Christians, we can please or displease God. As we see in this passage ‘bearing fruit in good works’ is part of a life of worth that pleases God. 
A FRUITFUL LIFE IS A LIFE OF WORTH
One of the ways we please God is by ‘bearing fruit in every good work’. Paul has given thanks (1:6) that, through the gospel, they are bearing fruit by virtue of the new life that one receives. Paul now makes it a prayer that they bear more fruit. Fruitfulness honours God. Fruitfulness is a life that’s more like Jesus, and is a vital aspect of a life worth living – a life worthy of Jesus’ name and worthy or us. 
A LIFE OF WORTH IS A LIFE OF SERVICE
Paul prays that they bear fruit ‘in every good work’.Here Paul calls our ‘good works/deeds’ (ergō) ‘fruit’. A life of worth is a life full of good works. Works of loving service done by faith to the glory of God.


RESPONSE
Serving God and people is vital to a life of worth and joy. God has good works for you to walk in. Some are common to everyone and some are specifically for you. Read, meditate and pray out of Ephesians 2:10. 
A very practical application is to join a team and serve the church. Talk to a leader about where there are particular needs. 


FRIDAY – A LIFE OF WORTH IS KNOWING GOD
Colossians 1:9-10For 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. 
Yesterday we saw that a life of worth – a life pleasing to God and satisfying to you – involves doing good works as we live lives of service for God and people. Today we will see that a worthy life also involves ‘growing in the knowledge of God’. 
KNOWING GOD
It’s God’s will that we grow in knowledge (Epignósis- exact or full knowledge)of Him. Knowing God leads to deeper love and joy. God wants Himself to be the centre of our affections. This letter is packed with teaching about Jesus that the Spirit wants to teach us.  Growing in knowledge is vital for our health. Paul doesn’t stop praying for them in this regard – he knows that true knowledge is dependent upon the Spirit’s teaching. Jesus said, 
John 16:12-14 “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear.  But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.  He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you.” (See 14:25-26)
Jesus, by the Spirit, is continuing to teach us about Himself, and Paul, led by the Spirit, is devoted to the same goal as we read, 
Colossians 2:3-4In (Christ) whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments.


RESPONSE
It’s God’s desire that we know and love Him. So let’s also pray for the teaching ministry of the Spirit, as we read in Luke 24, 
Luke 24:45“Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.”

Sunday, 7 October 2018

8/10/18 TREASURE BLOG 5 - THE GOSPEL ENRICHES SO WE CAN ENRICH OTHERS (COLOSSIANS 1:8)

16:51 Posted by Matthew Beaney No comments



THIS BLOG CONTAINS:



COMMUNITY GROUP STUDY 5
COLOSSIANS 1:8 THE GOSPEL ENRICHES SO WE CAN ENRICH OTHERS
Colossians 1:7-8 You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.
Much is spoken and sung about love. One cannot help but notice the great deal of interest in a program called Love Island. I’ve never watched this program because of my prejudice that it is about ‘soft’ porn that encourages shallow, uncommitted sexual relationships - but I could be wrong! Young people (and all people) are desperately seeking love as God defines it, but, instead, we to often allow unwise clowns to teach us and our young people. 
1. True love is defined by Christ
  • From where do most people get their definition of love and what do you think is the popular understanding?
  • True love needs to be defined by Christ. What does John 15:12-13 tell us it is? 

Love is defined by the gospel, and so we could summarise it: Love is to give your life for the good of another even if they deserve nothing. Or, another way of putting it is that God enriches us so we can enrich others. 
  • What practical things might we do to show God’s love to one another? 

2. Love Is a Fruit 
Paul speaks of the Colossians’ ‘love in the Spirit’ - he understands their love to be the fruit the Spirit among them.The fruit of love always accompanies the new life that the Spirit gives. Read Galatians 5:22-23 and Matthew 7:16-20
3. Love Is a Choice
  • It’s important to notice that the fruits in Galatians 5 are also a choice. What according to Galatians 5:13, 15, 19-21, 26 can Christian relationships be like?  
  • In order to have ‘love in the Spirit’ what are we to choose? (5:16, 18, 25)

4. Love is a response
  • A life of love is a response to being loved by Christ. Read 1 John 4:19. 
  • How will regularly meditating on the gospel enrich us to love others? 

RESPONSE
How is your love for the church? Pray through Galatians 5:22-25, asking that you and the church would grow in such fruitfulness. 

DAILY DEVOTIONAL WEEK 5
COLOSSIANS 1:8 THE GOSPEL ENRICHES SO WE CAN ENRICH OTHERS
MONDAY – WE HAVE BEEN LOVED
Colossians 1:7-8 You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.
Many struggle to enjoy God’s love and acceptance. Paul speaks of the Colossian’s ‘love in the Spirit’. The Holy Spirit wants to teach us that we have been loved, and He very often communicates the love of God through His people. What would you say to someone in order to communicate God’s perfect affection? Maybe you could use a text like this, 
Romans 5:6-7You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die.  But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
  • We were powerless – We were powerless to save ourselves
  • We were ungodly – This was seen in our ungodly behaviour, as Paul says we were ‘Alienated from God and were enemies in our minds because as seen by our evil behaviour.’
  • We were sinners – We were under God’s righteous wrath and judgement.
  • God demonstrates his own love– To those us who were powerless, ungodly sinners, God’s love has been demonstrated. In fact, it’s this dark backdrop that emphasises the greatness of His grace; to such as you and me, God gave His Son to die in our place, for our sin. 

RESPONSE
Let the Spirit, through His word, remind you that you are loved. Let’s be ready to tell our brothers and sisters that, no matter how one feels, they have been and continue to be loved.


TUESDAY – GOD IS LOVE
Colossians 1:7-8 You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.
Many misunderstand the phrase ‘God is love’ to mean things like, “God is love so He must let everyone into heaven…God is love so He would never be judgemental and angry toward this or that sin…” Let’s take a moment to consider this ‘sound bite’ – ‘God is love’ –  in it’s context,  
1 John 4:7-12Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
  • ‘God showed His love’–  in order to understand the phrase ‘God is love’ we must study the passage in which it appears; the way God has ‘shown His love’ helps us to understand what it means to say ‘God is love’.  
  • ‘By sending His Son’– ‘God is love’ is centred on Him giving of His Son. God’s love is completely distorted if it is not centred on Christ. 
  • ‘That we might live’– God’s love is not diminished by our being dead in sin and under God’s wrath. In fact, it’s into this dark reality that His love breaks in. 
  • ‘Through atoning sacrifice’– God’s love is centred on Him judging His Son for us, for our sin. 

In summary: when one says ‘God is love’, it principally means that we have sinned, are under God’s judgment, but that He gave His Son to die in our place to save us. 
RESPONSE
When you think ‘God is love’ does your mind jump to the cross? The words to the hymn ‘Here is love’ says it so well. 
‘Here is love, vast as the ocean, loving-kindness as the flood, when the Prince of Life, our Ransom, shed for us His precious blood. Who His love will not remember? Who can cease to sing His praise? He can never be forgotten throughout heav'n's eternal days.’
Take some time to worship our God that He is love. 

WEDNESDAY – LIVING THE GOSPEL EVERY DAY
Colossians 1:7-8 You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.
To build a community of love, we must keep the love of God in the gospel fresh in our hearts and minds. We need to be careful that ‘no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forcesof this world rather than on Christ.’Often our missing the gospel comes from within ourselves, as C. J. Mahaney writes, 
‘On a daily basis, the luggage of condemnation will show up on our doorstep, begging us to load it onto our backs. In opposition to God, our pride will tell us that Jesus’ sacrifice couldn’t possibly be enough to secure the Father’s favour completely, unreservedly, and forever.’
C. J. Goes on to encourage us to preach the gospel to ourselves every day,
‘Reminding ourselves of the gospel is the most important daily habit we can establish. If the gospel is the most vital news in the world, and if salvation by grace is the defining truth of our existence, we should create ways to immerse ourselves in these truths everyday. No days off allowed.’ 
Such people will build a community that is rich in ‘love in the Spirit; they know that they have been forgiven by a holy God and so are able to forgive those who sin against them. Paul says, 
Ephesians 4:32Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
2 Corinthians 5:15And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
RESPONSE
I encourage you to make it a habit to begin your morning devotions by praising God for the gospel. Bring to mind that it’s only through Christ that you can worship, pray, enter the very presence of God. Don’t enter the ‘throne room’ mindlessly and without due regard for what you are doing. As we read,
Hebrews 10:19-22Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus,  by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God,  let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings

THURSDAY – THE SPIRIT AND LOVE
Colossians 1:7-8 You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.
God’s love is a reality that has been expressed in history. It is expressed in His common grace to all mankind – good and bad – as He gives rain and seasons etc. God’s love is most clearly displayed in the historical event of the crucifixion of Christ for sinners. However, the love of God is not just seen in God’s actions in the world, His love is also to be experienced. Paul writes,
Romans 8:14-16The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba,Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 
When Paul writes of the Colossian’s ‘love in the Spirit’, he is speaking about love that is inspired by the Spirit. What this text doesn’t specify is if this ‘love in the Spirit’ is toward one-another, toward God, toward the lost, or an experience of God’s love by the Spirit. God has left this deliberately ambiguous because the Spirit wants to inspire ‘up’, ‘in’ and ‘out’ love. 
God wants His love to fill us and then to pour out from us,
Romans 5:5And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
Ephesians 3:14-19  For this reason I kneel before the Father,  from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name.  I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
RESPONSE 
The Spirit wants to fill us with the love of God toward Him, ourselves and others. Maybe you would like to pray that the Spirit would do this in your church, those whom you know to be struggling, and for yourself

FRIDAY – ENRICHED TO ENRICH OTHERS
Colossians 1:7-8 You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.
What is poured into us will be poured out. As God’s love saturates our lives, we will saturate others. We are conduits through whom God shows His love. 
Matthew 5:14-16“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”
Through our acts of loving kindness, we shine a light on God; as we know the riches of God’s grace we become a people that enrich the world. As Paul says, 
Colossians 3:12-14Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.  And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
Do you see how rich God has made you? You are ‘Chosen’, you are ‘dearly loved’, you are  ‘forgiven’ etc. We are enriched so as to enrich others. 
REPONSE
As God has loved us, we desire to love others – to enrich them in any way that we can. Paul says that the riches that we have in Christ were purchased by the bankruptcy of Christ on the cross. Jesus is our great example of love. Are you enjoying the riches of grace you have in Christ and are you seeking to bring others into those riches? Take a moment to commit yourself to putting all your resources and gifts at His disposal as you meditate and pray out of the following text;
2 Corinthians 8:8-9 I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others.  For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.

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