How's Your Walk?

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Colossians 1:1-14

How’s Your Walk?

Desired outcome: To walk in a manner pleasing to the Lord.

My family walked over to the 4th of July parade in Whitewater last Saturday. With kids, bicycles, wagons, strollers, running in the morning. How other people got to the parade. Props- Gini’s walking stick. A walker. Running shoes.
There were many ways to get there, some fast, some slow, some cumbersome, some easy, but we all made it to our destination.

How to please your wife: Show affection, caress her, bring her flowers, talk with her, do the dishes, take care of the kids, take her out to dinner, make her a valentine.
How to please your husband: Take him to a ball game.
What about pleasing the Lord? Do we know what that takes? In our scripture reading for the morning, Paul was praying in vv.9-10 for the Colossians to walk in a manner that is pleasing to the Lord. Here’s some more scripture that will probably sound familiar to you about walking in the way of the Lord.
Psalm 1:6 For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.
Proverbs 16:25 There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.
Matthew 7:13-14 Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.
John 14:6 Jesus said to [Thomas], “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”
Some of what Jesus said can be hard for us to swallow at times, but what I’m attempting to do here is to show the necessity of why we would even want to walk in a manner that is pleasing to the Lord.

So what does it take to walk in a manner worthy of or pleasing to the Lord? Because right now, I’m beginning to feel like this is a pretty hard thing. Well, let’s not give up yet! As we read through Colossians 1, we come across 4 action steps we can take to walk well for the Lord.

The first is Prayer. (Put hands together.)
1. To be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding (v.9). This isn’t what we normally think of when we think of prayer. This is not petition prayer asking God for things, but this is prayer from our inner spirit to the Holy Spirit gaining knowledge, wisdom, and understanding that is beyond our mental, physical, or emotional capacity. It is spiritual in nature and therefore can only come about by “communing” or praying with God’s Spirit.
The second action step for a good walk is Service. (Hold hands outward.)
2. Bearing fruit in every good work (v.10). My first impressions of this group as a church is that you do very well in serving the Lord through missions both from afar (like Romania) and locally, so I won’t belabor this point. Instead, let me just share the words of Jesus from Revelation 2:19. “I know your deeds, and your love and faith and service and perseverance, and that your deeds of late are greater than at first.” May Jesus also be able to say these words to the Church of La Grange.
The third action step for a pleasing walk with the Lord is the study of God’s Word. (Hold hands open & together like a book.)
3. Increasing in knowledge of God (v.10). We can increase in the knowledge of God from the words He left for us in the Bible, but also from the Word, Jesus.
Finally to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, we are told to Praise. (Hold hands upward.)
There is a little old lady, who every morning stepped onto her front porch, raised her arms to the sky and shouted, "PRAISE THE LORD!"

One day an atheist moved into the house next door. He became irritated at the little old lady, so every morning he stepped onto his front porch after her and yelled, "THERE IS NO LORD!"

Time passed with the two of them carrying on this way every day. Then one morning, in the middle of winter, the little old lady stepped onto her front porch and shouted, "Please Lord, I have no food and I am starving, provide for me, oh Lord!"

The next morning she stepped onto her porch and there were two bags of groceries sitting there. "PRAISE THE LORD!" she cried out.

The atheist neighbour jumped out of the hedges and shouted, "THERE IS NO LORD! I BOUGHT YOU THOSE GROCERIES!"

The little old lady threw her arms into the air and shouted, "PRAISE THE LORD! HE HAS PROVIDED ME WITH GROCERIES AND MADE THE DEVIL PAY FOR THEM!!"

4. Joyously giving thanks to the Father (vv.11-12).
a. For what do we have to be joyously thankful? Listen to what God has done for us. He has:
i. Qualified us (v.12)
ii. Rescued us (v.13)
iii. Transferred us (v.13)
iv. Redeemed us (v.14)
v. Forgiven us. (v.14)
How does this happen? We are strengthened with power through God’s might (v.11). Notice none of these things are things we do. Rather, they are things God does for us- on our behalf. Then, God’s might produces steadfastness & patience (v.11) within us which will allow us to do our part. It’s important for us to allow God to do His part in our lives, and for us to do our part. God has so designed it that we cannot qualify ourselves, rescue ourselves, or transfer ourselves into a new and better Kingdom. We cannot redeem ourselves or forgive ourselves apart from Christ’s work on the cross.
But what can we do to walk with the Lord? We can Pray (hands together), Serve (hands outward), Study God’s Word (hands open and together), and Praise (hands upward).

When is the best time to start? (Today)

Take a second and write down one thing you’re going to do this week to grow in prayer, service, the study of God’s Word, or praise.

Desired outcome: To walk in a manner pleasing to the Lord.