The Discipler's Prayer And God's Will

This has been a great weekend as Stuart has ministered the Word of God to us yesterday and now today. Many of you weren't here. Stuart, I met Stuart in 1977. His first year in seminary. Both of us were frightened little boys at the time. and we actually met in homiletics class and Stuart was actually the first friend I made in seminary and then we went our separate ways and he ministered in the church in South Carolina and some counseling ministry and then ended up at Grace Community Church with on staff there John MacArthur's church and was there for several years and And in that time, we met at a counseling conference, one of our main counseling conferences.

And I can still remember how surprised I was to see him there. And he had the same shock on his face as well. But since then, Stuart has become a fellow in Association of Certified Biblical Counselors. He's part of the board. He's professor of biblical counseling at Southern Seminary and also executive director of 180 Counseling Center and Education Center. so it's just a privilege to have Stuart here the last couple days, well yesterday it's been good just to catch up and kind of see how our paths diverged and came together and all that kind of stuff it's been great so Stuart come minister the word of God we're thankful to God that you've been here thank you Tim Yeah, we were surprised to see each other at a counseling conference, a biblical counseling conference, because the school where we were at and we were attending, they brought in a major leading psychologist to teach all of the pastors, the future pastors, to refer. so the school just took a turn down the sort of away from the scripture so when I was when I saw Tim and Tim saw me it was one of those shocks but praise God what he done in our lives And it's been a joy to continue to serve with Tim at different conferences.

It's just been a joy, and it's been a joy to be here. It's just evident, just a like-mindedness, because you are so well taught from the scriptures and you love Christ, the Lord of scripture. Some churches I'll go to and I'm tiptoeing around a bit. I'm not sure where they're at, where they're coming from, what they hold to. But this one has been a joy.

I'm very relaxed in a good way. I won't fall asleep on you. I'm not that relaxed, but I am very relaxed. Now you have in your bulletin a handout, if you want to follow that, sort of a major outline of today. We've been talking about the will of God, decision making and God's will yesterday, several sessions on that. Today I want to look at the will of God, but in the context of prayer. and so I'd like for you if you will to turn to Colossians chapter 1 and if you follow along with me as I just start reading I'm just going to read the first 14 verses but I want you to just have your ears open there when you hear the the phrase will of God since We've been looking at that yesterday and today.

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy, our brother, to the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae, grace to you and peace from God our Father. We always thank God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ when we pray for you, since we You heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. For this you have heard before in the word of the truth the gospel which has come to you as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing as it also does among you since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth, just as you learned it from Epaphras, our beloved fellow servant.

He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf and has made known to us your love in the spirit and then the text for today and so from the day we heard we have not ceased to pray for you asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will and all spiritual wisdom and understanding so as to walk in a manner worthy of the lord fully pleasing to him bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God may you be strengthened with all power according to his glorious might for all endurance and patience with joy giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light he has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son and whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. And then he goes in from there, the Spirit through Paul, into one of an early hymn, one of the earliest hymns in the early church, the way it's constructed, On Christ. That's all about he is preeminent, everything was created by him and for him, and he is the head of the body, the church.

It's just a hymn set there all about Jesus. so as we think through back here this is a church a lot of you know this it's just a reminder this is a church that Paul apparently had never visited this is a church he had heard about Epaphras was one that apparently took the gospel there and he Epaphras comes with a a report on how things are going at this little church. There were three churches sorted together, Hierapolis, Colossae, and Laodicea. And so Epaphras comes as one of the members here, leaders of the church and gives a report of what going on in that church And he says three things there at the top of that chapter one He says what happened in the past, what's happening now, and what will happen, because he mentions their faith.

Paul says their faith, he hears about their faith, that's something that God had done and saved them. And then presently he's hearing about their love that they have for all the saints. And you know what? Those go hand in hand. If you have faith, you will have love and you will have obedience. Those all go right together.

First John points those out. And then he talks about the future there in verse five, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Remember those three, faith, hope, and love that Paul talks about even in first Corinthians 13. Well, here they are. And he's just filled with thanksgiving. But Epaphras says there's a decision, a problem going on in the church, and decisions have to be made.

And they really want to know what's the will of God dealing with these issues going on in the church. And it was a form of teaching, false teaching. It's not full-blown Gnosticism. That wasn't really full-blown until the second century. So what they think is going on here in this church was some false teaching, maybe an early form of Gnosticism, just sort of getting rooted and started.

Because of certain key words that are used throughout this epistle, they were like buzzwords, Words like light and darkness. False teachers were capitalizing on certain words. Light, darkness, wisdom, mystery, knowledge. They loved that word knowledge. Remember Gnostic is from the word knowledge, to know more in our own being than what God has revealed in his word.

So knowledge and even will of God was a buzzword. They're just a few different buzzwords. And so the Spirit of God through Paul writes to this church to deal with that false teaching. And what I so appreciate, and let me just expand a little bit on this false teaching. made up of two different aspects, this Gnosticism, this early form of it. First, there was some Judaistic legalism that was inbred in this.

So you find things like asceticism. In the book of Colossians, the Spirit addresses dietary laws. words like do not handle, do not taste, do not touch was a phrase that was going on with the false teachers. And it was a Judaistic legalism. And he had to follow all of those laws to be saved. So again, it was a false gospel. Then there was also Greek philosophy all in this false teaching.

So it was a form of Greek philosophy, Judaistic legalism combined. And in this Greek philosophy, they would say that they had a superior knowledge. They were discovering secrets. We hear a lot of these kind of things today, don't we? A lot of these false gospels that come through. They would claim visions, chapter 2, verse 18. and again they just talk about the superior knowledge that they have and it was so superior that the preeminence of Christ was subdued and they denied and de-emphasized Jesus both as humanity and as divinity so as they were lifting themselves up and their own knowledge they were lowering Jesus and the full knowledge of him and the gospel.

See, when man goes up, God in their mind goes down. When God is elevated, then man bows low. The proper posture. Psalm 99 talks about exalting the Lord and then worshiping at his footstool, his ottoman. So you have this combination that's going on that is going to be addressed throughout the whole letter of Colossians. And Paul says, he and Timothy, he talks about him in verse 1, that they don't cease praying.

And that what I want us to focus on this morning when we talk about the will of God and decision they had decisions they had to make and I believe that we ought to be without ceasing praying this kind of prayer. Just in our own thinking through each day, pray for each other, other believers in the same manner, praying for the church. And what I like about, as it starts here, this continual prayer, there's only one petition.

Don't you like that when someone says there's just one thing you need to know? What when they say there are 24 things here on how to be a good parent? Oh, forget it. You know, it just isn't going to work. I'm going to miss 15, 17, and maybe 22. I don't know.

I can't keep up with that many things. I can't even remember a phone number. So just give me a few digits at a time. So when it says, here's the petition, one thing we pray all of the time. I think maybe, with God's help, we can get our mind around this one and remember it. It's there in verse 9.

And so from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking, and here comes the petition, that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will and all spiritual wisdom and understanding. That you may be filled with the knowledge of his will and all spiritual wisdom and understanding. Let's just break that down a little bit. What does it mean to be filled with this knowledge?

The word filled, very common word in the New Testament. It means to be under the dominating influence of something. Permeating, dominating influence of something. In Ephesians 5, 18, the same words used, don't be under the dominating influence of wine, but be controlled and dominated by the Spirit. Remember that? In Ephesians 5.18.

So this needs to be so dominating and influencing our being that even in a theological dictionary of the New Testament, this word defined is it shapes one's whole existence and claims your whole being. It shapes your whole existence and it claims your whole being Instead of driving under the influence this is walking under the influence as it goes on in the next verse about walking in a manner worthy of the Lord So this being filled, there's no room for anything else to control you, except what it says there, The knowledge of the will of God and all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And the Spirit of God takes the word no that they were misusing, this heresy that was going on.

They take that word no and the Spirit brings in and adds a preposition to it. And this is superior knowledge. This is full-blown knowledge. They think they have knowledge? Let me tell you, here's the full-blown knowledge of God and his will. And we learned yesterday that this isn't referring really to the decretive sovereign will of God.

This is talking about God's revealed will, the scriptures. And so they had God's word that they were to be under the influence of, dominating so that it shaped their whole existence, and claimed their whole being. If you just turn over a page to chapter 3, verse 16, you'll see it again when the Lord says, Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. Teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

So just let it permeate your mind, your whole being. You know what? It won't permeate your being if you spend five minutes a day in it. And three hours in front of the TV. It won't do it. Right?

That's a little sip of God's word, God's revealed will. and if you're hours and hours on Facebook and on all those social media hours and hours of that and a few minutes one guy I talked with he said yeah I read a proverb a day like a chapter a day no no no one proverb wow you not overdosing on the Word of God here But you follow that? That is not going to put you under the dominating influence when you only get a little taste of the Word every day. And you know what?

That's our choices. When people say I'm too busy, I get that a lot in counseling. I was too busy to do the homework that you assigned. well tell me about your last week tell me about it well what time do you get home and some of you you've seen some of the videos of randy patton especially you know tell me when you get home from work well i got home around six o'clock you have supper yeah about supper i'm about done around seven what time do you usually go to bed all around 11 all right from 7 11 what do you do oh I was busy what were you busy with well you know CSI was on and or a ball game uh so when was that over well I just watched another rerun of something now you know it's busy with the wrong thing sometimes it's priorities and what we're seeing here is this is has to be a priority.

God's revealed will. If you want to know God's will for your life, it's here. It's recorded. And commands and principles. And it has application to everything that we're doing throughout the day. And so we're to be under the dominating influence of that, of the real knowledge of God, the full knowledge, the superior knowledge of God.

And it's spiritually produced. And all spiritual wisdom and understanding. One commentator, Dr. Jay Adams, says this about that phrase, spiritual, spiritual wisdom and understanding. Remember, wisdom is knowledge applied. It's just not knowing something, it's applying it.

He says this, God's spirit works immediately in and through his word. The Holy Spirit is uniquely related to the Bible. It is his book. He moved men to write it. And now that he has completed the process, he does not abandon the Bible, but uses it as the means by which he works in the lives of believers. We read, I did yesterday, the Westminster Confession about how important the Scripture is, the whole counsel of God concerning All things necessary for his own glory, man's salvation, faith and life, is either expressly set down in Scripture or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture, under which nothing at any time is to be added, whether by new revelations of the Spirit or traditions of men.

And you're going to be reading in the bulletin, it looks like the London, the first London Baptist Confession of Faith, which also says something almost exactly the same thing of how important it is for the scriptures to be what we go to to know God and his will for our life. John Calvin said, It is the knowledge of the divine will by which expression he rejects all interventions or all inventions of men and all speculations foreign to the word of God. For his will is not to be sought anywhere else than in his word.

Some of you know the name Dr. MacArthur. He writes on the will of God and he says, let's begin with a simple assumption. Since God has a will for us, he must want us to know it. If so, then, we could expect him to communicate it to us in the most obvious way. How would that be?

Through the Bible, his revelation. therefore I believe he says that one needs to know that what one needs to know about the will of God is clearly revealed in the pages of the word of God so you remember that one petition that Paul and Timothy were praying all of the time just try to back up your eyes off of the scripture there and just do you remember the one petition that we would be filled under the dominating control of the knowledge of God's will and all spiritual wisdom and understanding. Now what's the purpose of being controlled by God's revealed will? It's the next verse.

There in verse 10. So as, or so that, here's the purpose. And it says, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him. Well, there's the purpose. To walk in a manner pleasing to the Lord worthy of the Lord pleasing to Him The word walk a lot of you may not do a whole lot of walking anymore Like we don want to walk much we just drive or some other means of getting around But that was the common way in the scripture how people moved around was walking.

Sometimes even between the white space and Paul would go from one city to the next. We think in ten minutes He was at the next city, sometimes three months, walking to get there. It is a word that the Spirit of God uses from Genesis all the way to Revelation. It's a major theme running through the Bible, walking with God. When's the first time God walked with man?

Do you remember? In Genesis. With who? Adam and Eve in the garden. The word walk technically means, when you're looking at some commentators here on the translation of the word walk, it is a lifestyle of trusting and obeying. It's an intimate relationship between God and man.

And God showed up. We believe it was the pre-incarnate Christ. He showed up and walked with Adam and Eve. One Old Testament commentator on Genesis says the verb that's used in Genesis chapter 3, that the Almighty and his creatures was customary to walk together. It was a continuous action. They were walking together.

We don't know how long they walked together before Eve was tempted. Some speculate only about two weeks or so. She wasn't pregnant when she yielded with the temptation and Adam sinned. So they weren't around for years and years because they were perfectly obedient to what God told them to do, be fruitful and multiply. So they were intimate. They were married.

They were intimate. Their bodies worked perfectly. And she wasn't pregnant yet. So it wasn't very long. Can you imagine a marriage where neither sinned I mean can you imagine that Where I can I know it a big stretch But they walked around, let's say for two weeks, of complete selflessness, thinking of the other, walking with the Lord, and then they sinned.

And then they lived 900 and some years as sinners. They're the only couple who could say, hey, Adam, remember when you never were selfish? Yeah, that was when you were not selfish either. But just the bliss of that walk together that they enjoyed for those two weeks. Then if you go Enoch, it says Enoch walked with God twice, it says that in that passage.

And then Noah. Noah walked with God. It's a theme that runs all the way through, even Psalm 1. Those who walk in the path of the righteous don't walk in the path of sinners. It's walking. Even with Enoch, Spurgeon said this about Enoch.

What a splendid walk. a walk of 300 years one might desire a change of company if you walk with anyone else but to walk with God as Enoch did for three centuries was so sweet that the patriarch kept on with his walk until he walked beyond time and space and walked right into paradise where he is still marching on in the same divine society he had heaven on earth and it was therefore are not so wonderful that he glided away from earth to heaven so easily. Marcus Dodd says, we walk with God when he is in all of our thoughts. We walk with God when he is in all of our thoughts, not because we consciously think of him all the time, but because he is naturally suggested to us by all we think of.

As when any person or plan or idea has become important to us, no matter what we think of, our thought is always found reoccurring to this favorite object. So with the godly man, everything that has a connection with God must be ruled by that connection. It encouraging to think about walking with God in a manner that pleases him it says That the purpose Why do you want to know God will Well I want to be happy I want to be wealthy I want to No wrong purpose Why do you want to know God's will and do it?

So that we can walk in a manner worthy of God, pleasing Him in all that we do. Alright, there's the purpose. So you have the one prayer request there, you have the purpose in verse 10, And now comes a portrait. And I use the word portrait because the Spirit takes four verbs that are ongoing activity. They're like brush strokes, like a painter. This is going to be ongoing activity in your life, and it's observable. all four of these are observable it's when you find the knowledge of god his will here in scripture and you're walking in a manner worthy obeying what the scripture says your life will look like this and there's four brushstrokes painting this picture or portrait the first that he paints here in verse 10 the second part of verse 10 bearing fruit and every good work.

So you have in your notes there, this is referring to consistent growth and the service of good deeds. Consistent, ongoing growth in your service of good deeds. It's a life full of goodness. Practical care for other people. And you know, that is something that others have even noticed here at this church. just the reaching out and caring for one another.

I mean, just hearing about visitors who show up and go, it's like we've just been here for a long time. Everyone just sort of reaches out and just embraces us and pulls us in. Caring for people, and not just in word, but in deed. And that's the point here, is you are serving each other in the area of good deeds. not good deeds to be saved but because you are saved now working that out so it's practical care for others sacrificial deeds out of love, witnessing the gospel to the lost, and discipling and counseling one another to grow in Christ.

This person will be looking for ways to apply God's word in their life. It's just, how can I serve others today? That will increase the more God's will is permeating our minds and hearts, and we're seeking to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, pleasing Him, we're going to say, how can I keep serving and helping others on a daily basis? And maybe you say, I think I'm doing it.

Look backward. Have you grown? Are you still just all about yourself or are you reaching out more and more and more? That's his first brush stroke. You will be very active and loving and serving others in the area of good deeds. It's not just be warm, be filled.

It's not just love you, yeah, I love you too. It's I'm there to help you. How can I serve you? Chick-fil-A didn't come up with that. How can I serve you? Been around a long time here.

The second sort of brushstroke, ongoing activity is found there in verse 10 as well. You're bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. You're getting to know God more. And you say, well, how do I know God more? In the face of Jesus. And he's revealed in the scriptures.

This will be reflected in your own Bible study and reading time. Yeah, there are days when you may not feel like reading. There may be days when you don't feel like praying. but you do it because it's necessary. It's necessary to be under the dominating control of God's revealed will. Our chief goal is to know and be like Jesus, and he's revealed in the pages of Scripture.

In John 5, verse 39, Jesus said this to the Pharisees, you search the Scriptures because you think in them you have eternal life Eternal life is not in the pages of scripture It in the person of Jesus who revealed in the pages of scripture And so he goes on to say, Jesus, it is these, the scriptures, that bear witness of me. my dad used to I used to come home from seminary and I I was just all excited about the truths I was learning and the finer points of theology and and all of that and my dad and he's now with the Lord he said Stuart I can hear this over and over again Stuart don't forget the written word reveals the living word. Don't miss Jesus as you're reading the pages of Scripture. You're not going to find eternal life in these pages.

It's in the person. And you know, I even like when you use the word gospel. It's the gospel that's good news. It's just not any good news. It's the good news of Jesus. It's the gospel of Jesus Christ.

It's just a good reminder that we need to be getting to know our Savior more and more. And you get to know Jesus, you get to know the Father. Jesus even said that. If you know me, you know the Father. And the Spirit as well. So there's consistent growth, and there's study and understanding of God himself.

How's that going? Are you studying, as you're reading the scriptures, are you just wanting to know facts and dates and times? or I want to know those as it really points me to my Savior, Jesus Christ. Paul said in Philippians 3, Oh, that I may know him. Oh, that I may know him. Don't miss Jesus as you're reading the Scriptures. So there's ongoing growth and knowledge of God and studying his attributes as they're revealed in Scripture, his characteristics.

And then you move on thirdly here. Here's another consistent growth, sort of a brush stroke, this ongoing verb tense. And it's consistent growth in their spiritual strength. Consistent growth in their spiritual strength. It's there in verse 11. May you be strengthened with all power according to his glorious might This is God power For all endurance and patience with joy This whole area of endurance and patience, a good reminder, just a helpful reminder, is when you get the word endurance, that's with difficult circumstances.

You endure through difficult circumstances and you're patient with difficult people. Patience is with people. Endurance is with difficult circumstances. Job was not patient. The word that's used in James is not, Job was not patient. He endured.

The word that's used there. He endured through very difficult circumstances. You know who was patient in the book of Job? God. God was patient with Job and his four friends. And his wife.

So what happens here when you have God's word, and you're in it in a steady diet of God's word, learning about the Lord in here, seeking to do what he says to do with the help of the Spirit, to walk in a manner worthy and pleasing to the Lord, you will be increasing in the area of service of good deeds for other people, you will be increasing in your knowledge of God, and you will be standing stronger when difficult people are in your life. And you will be standing stronger when difficult circumstances come through your life. when we were early on and as Christians sometimes people just look at you wrong and you go forget church I'm not even coming back here anymore I mean just a little breeze of challenges or difficulties come through and people say forget it I'm out of here but as you grow in the word and you grow in your knowledge of God and you're seeking to obey that and love God's people you get stronger the roots go deeper and now strong winds come through of difficulty and you stand with the help and the power of God. That's what that verse is saying.

And when difficult people are in your life you love them back Yeah but they shoot out evil deeds and conversation and talk Yeah but you not overcome by evil With God's help, you overcome evil with good. And that's motivated out of love for them because God first loved you. The gospel motivates us to love others. and it's not just endure and be patient with people and be stoic about it that was right during that time that this letter was written the stoics they were they would just grin and bear it now they weren't believers they said we can handle difficult situations and they would just straight face that's where we get that word you know you're sort of stoic you're straight-faced Oh, no, no, no.

Because God is all over this and because a person here is rightly related to Jesus and the power of God rests in him through the spirit. You do all of that with joy. And, you know, that is so different when the world watches that. I mean, anyone can complain in difficult circumstances. But when Paul and Silas are singing in prison after being beaten, that's unusual.

And even the Philippian jailer, the start of the Philippian church, the Philippian jailer goes, something's up with these two guys. Because they're enduring and patient with joy. We have a lot to be thankful for. We have to keep our eyes fixed on our Savior who, for the joy set before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame. He knows what it is to suffer.

We haven't even resisted to the point of shedding blood. He did. and still with joy. Now fourth, another ongoing activity is there in verses 12 through 14. And this is a consistent growth in the attitude, and you know what it is, of gratitude, of thankfulness. He says there in verse 11, I'm sorry, verse 12, giving thanks to the Father. who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of saints and light.

He has delivered us from the domain of darkness, transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sin. So this, again, is a consistent growth in your attitude of gratitude, of thankfulness. The more you grow as a Christian, four things are going to be happening. That's what the Spirit's sort of laying this portrait out.

Your life, you're going to be more active in serving other people. You're going to be increasing in the knowledge of God. You're going to be stronger, enduring by the strength and power of God in difficult circumstances and putting up with difficult people. and you will also be one of the most thankful people on the face of the earth. You're going to be thankful to God for all of the blessings that we have in Jesus.

You're going to be thankful for anything anybody does for you because anything above hell is a blessing. Is that right? Anything above hell is a blessing. You're just going to be thankful, especially as we look at the context there, which really is the gospel. you have the inheritance in verse 12. Well, we didn't deserve that. God has blessed us with that inheritance.

We've been blessed with every spiritual blessing and the heavenlies through Christ in Ephesians chapter 1 We been delivered from the satanic realm from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of His beloved Son. We've been delivered from the satanic realm and we've been transferred from one kingdom to another and we've been saved and forgiven of all of our sins. And that's why at the end of this, the Spirit through Paul's pen as he's writing this just goes, Oh wow, what a Savior.

What a Savior. Look what God has done for us. And then it goes right into a hymn on Jesus. I want us to just think through this as we think about the will of God. That's right in that passage. I would encourage you to pray that for yourself.

Just make this whole section sort of a daily prayer for you and your life, and also for those for the church. Everyone in here who professes the name of Jesus Christ and has given their life to him and that would be the first step You really can do this unless you rightly related to God through Jesus and have transferred trust from yourself to Jesus alone since he died for your sins and that you're placing your faith and trust in him and him alone and then following him as Savior and Lord. So you first have to be reconciled with God through Jesus. and then ask yourself as you're praying this prayer on all my decisions, what does the scripture say?

What does God say about all the decisions and things going on in my life through the scriptures? And as you're reading, you're extracting out commands, principles, and by the help of the Spirit, following those. I thought as we were reading through that one this morning, as we're in closing now. In my closing prayer, we looked at the one petition, the purpose, and then what our life looks like, like a portrait of someone who's following the Lord, that we all would just read the closing prayer together of this message in your bulletin I thought that was so apropos and appropriate that we go back and read this together So in closing, there in the first page at the bottom where it says Heavenly Father, let's read that together as our prayer. heavenly father we confess as sin that we are eager to learn but not as eager to know you we have a passion to master data but little passion to know and understand the living god we pray much for earthly comfort but we pray little for the knowledge of your will forgive us for Jesus' sake who was crushed for our iniquities and was raised for our justification by the grace of your spirit make us a people filled with the knowledge of your will who bear fruit pleasing to you and who increase in our knowledge of God Amen Thank you.