12 minute read
Pulpit Message Notes - Grow in the knowledge of God
from TT 143
by TIMES TODAY
Grow in the Knowledge of God
My Pulpit Message Notes are extracted from the sermon preached at the Nairobi Baptist Church (NBC) Ngong Road on Sunday 6th March 2022. Preacher: Reverend Majid Ochieng’, Deputy Senior Pastor, Nairobi Baptist Church (NBC). Topic: Grow in the Knowledge of God. Scripture: Colossians 1:1-14
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This month’s theme is growing in our capacity. When we grow in capacity, we are able to withstand and to hold the pressures / challenges we experience because we are in this world.
Growing in the Knowledge of God
- The book of Colossians is a pauline letter, meaning it was written by Paul.
- Paul introduces the letter by saying, Paul, an apostle (meaning someone who has been sent, primarily by God) of Christ Jesus by the will of God (meaning that perhaps he would not be where he is at the point of writing the letter, because he was a persecutor of the church until on his way to Damascus he received Jesus Christ and that made a turnaround in his life), and Timothy our brother (Timothy is like one of those Paul brought up and it is said that perhaps he is the one who wrote this letter as Paul was dictating.)”
- Verse 2
- Several hundred years before Paul’s day, Colossae had been a leading city in Asia minor, the modern day Turkey and first century AD Colossae had been diminished to a second rate market town which had been surpassed long ago in power and importance by neighbouring towns Laodicea and Police (Col 4:13)
- During Paul’s three year ministry in Ephesus, someone called Epaphras had been converted and had carried the gospel to Colossae (Acts 19:10) and it is Epaphras who most likely started this church (Col 7:1)
So it is Epaphras that took this letter. - A young church then had become a target of false teaching (heretical attacks) which led to Epaphras visit to Paul in Rome and ultimately to the writing of the Colossian letter.
- This explains why the letter was written - to counter false teachings that were very common in Colossae at that particular time. So it was almost like an antidote to the heresy that was going on in Colossae.
- Some of the heresies that were going on were:
-ceremonialism (holding to strict rules about the permissible foods and the drinks and religious festivals). So access to the kingdom of God was through the ceremonies and what you do or do not do.
-Asceticism (do not touch, do not handle, do not taste). This came as a result of severe self disciple and avoiding all forms of indulgence typically for religious reasons. Some of these things are still practiced today.
- Angel worship (Col 2:18)
Paul is saying that for us to grow in capacity, to be able to overcome some of these false teachings that are coming we must therefore grow in our knowledge of Jesus Christ
Purpose of Letter
- To refute the Colossian heresy. To accomplish this role, he exalted Jesus Christ as the very image of God. Col 1:15
- Above all the false teachings that you are confronted with, Jesus Christ is exalted above everything else.
- To accomplish this Paul exalts Jesus Christ as the Creator. (Col 1:16)
- Paul talks about Jesus Christ as the pre-existing Sustainer of all things Col 1:17-18 He is before all things and in Him all things hold together. The first to be resurrected, the fullness of deity in bodily form and He is the Reconciler,” so that we are able to access God, so that we can be called the children of God. The emphasis is not in the ceremonies, in the dos and don’ts. Jesus Christ by His grace is the Reconciler of man to God.
- Knowing who Jesus Christ is one of the ways of countering false teachings and to know what Jesus Christ is teaching. Once we know that it doesn’t matter what false teachings come our way but by the grace of God we will have the knowledge and our capacity will have been enlarge so that we are able to withstand the pressures that we face in this world.
- Tim Charlie says that the history of Christ’s church is separable from the history of Satan’s attempt to destroy the church. While difficult challenges have risen from outside the church, the most dangerous have always been from within the church. For from within, arise the false teachers, the peddlers of errors who massacred as teachers of truth. False teachers take on many forms cast or crafted to times, cultures and different contexts.
- We can be able to overcome that by enlarging our capacities and having the knowledge of Jesus Christ.
- Today we are not immune to false teachings. They not only come from the pulpit, they are the things that we have heard, and get into our hearts and our lives follow the things that we have heard.
2 Timothy 3:1
- When you look at the society today it looks like these are the last days that Paul was talking about, and to be able to counter that, we must be at the place where our capacity is enlarged and we are also growing in our knowledge.
1. The reputation of the Colossians (Colossians 1:3-8)
2. The request to God for the Colossians (Colossians 1:9)
3. The resultant request for the Colossians
The reputation of the Colossians (Colossians 1:3-8)
“We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, 4 since we heard of your faith in Christ”
- It is all over known about the Colossians. They cannot hide about it. It is almost written all over. This is the reputation that I am talking about - what they are known for, what they were popular for, what has been heard about them. It is not always kind as you hear it from these Scriptures. In the book of Revelations there were churches with different reputations. There were some that were know as are dead on the vine. The Laodicean church was lukewarm.
- But here is a church whose faith in Jesus Christ was so strong that the word had gone round and reached Paul even in prison. “since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints;”
- They were known about faith, about their full commitment to Jesus Christ, about putting their trust in Jesus Christ, their love for everyone else and other believers.
- By the grace of God, when we have this, it enlarges our capacity to be able to overcome the pressures that we face in this world.
- Verse 5, “ because of the hope laid up for you in heaven,” that faith and love is as a result of where they have their eyes fixed on, as a result of knowing Jesus Christ and knowing where they are going.
- Verse 7 “just as you learned it from Epaphras, our beloved fellow bond-servant, who is a faithful servant of Christ on our behalf, 8 and he also informed us of your love in the Spirit.” All these things Epaphras is the one who told them.
- What am I known for as an individual? With the people at work, interact with, do business with? What is your reputation?
- My prayer is that part of countering false teachings is that our life will be consistent with our faith so that there is not difference whatsoever in church and out there. I prayer that our reputation will be like that of the people in Colossae church.
The request to God for the Colossians (Colossians 1:9)
“ For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,”
- The reason that Paul is talking about in their reputation, what they are known for, they want to continue to request God.
- Since Paul and company heard about them they have not stopped praying for them and they are asking God to fill them with the knowledge of God through all wisdom and understanding what the Spirit of God gives.
- The Biblical of God’s knowledge is not merely the possession of facts and information. Rather they are practical, having to do with godly living. So that what we have as knowledge moves from head to our hearts and then influences every single thing we do, every move we make, every decision we make, influenced by the fact that we know the LORD and He had moved into our hearts and helps us to formulate convictions that are godly.
- This is whey Paul is saying that if there is one thing that he wants to request God for on their behalf is that by God’s grace you will have knowledge of His will.
- Verse 10-12 “so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord,” It is from this knowledge that Jesus is talking about, that out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. And out of that speaking our footsteps will follow.
- Proverbs 23:7 “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” We need to pay close attention to know the truth, what God is expecting, to know God. Once we know Jesus Christ, He takes care of everything.
- We are normally told, the best way to counter counterfeits, is to know the truth, because the counterfeits will always be changing. They can change from person to person. They are always mutating. But once we know the truth, it does not matter where you will be. You will always see it from far. That is why the chief request that Paul makes to the Colossians is that they be filled with the knowledge of God.
- We should not compromise anything, but pursue to know who God is and to pursue all other available opportunities that we have in church to grow in our knowledge of God.
The resultant request for the Colossians
- Our knowledge of God will allow us live a life that is worthy of the LORD and to be able to have the patience and endurance, no matter what comes our way.
- The result of the knowledge of Jesus Christ is that we will be able to live a life that is worthy of the knowledge of God and pleases the Lord in every way and in everything we do. A life that is bearing fruit in every good work that we do. A life that is ensuring that we are growing in the knowledge of Him, that we are being strengthened in all the power according to His glorious might so that we may have great endurance and giving joyful thanks to the Father.
- 2 Peter 3:18, “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.”
- May the Lord help us in growing in the knowledge of Him even as we look at the bigger picture in growing in our capacity. May the LORD help us in growing in our capacities to be able to withstand all the pressures that are in this world. For that to happen our reputation must be consistent with the word that we profess. For that to happen, we see Paul making a request to the Colossians, if there is one thing that he wishes is that they will grow in their knowledge of God and the result is they will be able to live a life that is worthy of the calling that they have received.
