The King and His Kingdom

1. Read: Colossians 1:9-14

2. About the Text:

1) Paul discusses praying for the church in Colossae.

2) His prayer concerns their establishment in God’s kingdom (v.13).

3) Epaphras had informed Paul about the church (v.7).

a. He was concerned about the world’s influence on the church (2:8-10).

b. He wanted them to know that they were complete in Christ.

c. They did not need any other philosophies, traditions, or worldly ideas.

4) What is his prayer for them?

a. That they be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding

b. That they may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God

c. That they may be strengthened with all might according to His glorious power for all patience and longsuffering with joy

d. That they may give thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.

3. Christians are in Christ’s kingdom.

1) “He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:13-14).

2) They have been delivered out of the power of darkness.

3) They have been transferred into the kingdom of the Son of His love.

4) They have been redeemed by His blood.

5) They have been forgiven of sin.

4. Every nation needs…

1) A System of Education

2) A System of Labor

3) A System of Power

4) A Foundation for Society

5. Ref. to S, T, P, O, and A.

1. “For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding” (Colossians 1:9).

2. Knowledge of His Will

1) We learn His will from the word – Romans 10:17 – “Faith comes by hearing…”

2) “All scripture is given by inspiration…” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

3. Wisdom

1) The appropriate application of what we know.

2) “in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3).

3) Any competing wisdom is not wisdom.

4) “But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory” (1 Corinthians 2:7).

5) “These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual” (1 Corinthians 2:13).

4. Spiritual Understanding

1) “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit” (Romans 8:5).

2) To be spiritual is to be led by the spirit (Galatians 5:22-25).

1. “that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God” (Colossians 1:10).

2. Worthy of the Lord – suitably, after a godly sort, reflecting the character of

1) “I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called” (Ephesians 4:1).

2) “that you would walk worthy of God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory” (1 Thessalonians 2:12).

3. Fully Pleasing Him

1) We don’t seek to please ourselves, but God!

2) “Finally then, brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more, just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God” (1 Thessalonians 4:1).

3) “But as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who tests our hearts” (1 Thessalonians 2:4).

4. Being Fruitful

1) We must be committed to Christ!

2) “Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God” (Romans 7:4).

3) “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me” (John 15:4).

5. Increasing in Knowledge of God

1) We must grow in knowledge.

2) “but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18).

3) “And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment” (Philippians 1:9).

1. “Strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy” (Colossians 1:11).

2. Strengthened with all Strength

1) This is not human strength, but strength to do the Father’s will!

2) “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13).

3) “And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

3. Comes from His Glorious Power

1) Christ’s power is not man’s power.

2) “how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him” (Acts 10:38).

3) “and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead” (Romans 1:4).

4) “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek” (Romans 1:16).

4. Patience and Longsuffering

1) Here is where true strength is exercised.

2) “that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises” (Hebrews 6:12).

3) “My brethren, take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord, as an example of suffering and patience” (James 5:10).

5. With Joy – Philippians 4:4

1. “Giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light” (Colossians 1:12).

2. Giving Thanks

1) Our gratitude is to the Father through Jesus Christ (Colossians 3:17).

2) The Father is the source of all spiritual blessings (Ephesians 1:3).

3. To the Father

1) Jesus Father is our Father; we have a Heavenly Father.

2) “Our Father who art in heaven….” (Matthew 6:9).

3) “For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”” (Romans 8:15).

4. He Has Qualified Us

1) He has qualified us by making us His children through Christ.

2) This comes through the new birth – John 3:5 – “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God”

3) “In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses” (Colossians 2:11-13).

5. Partakers of the Inheritance

1) “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:26-29).

2) “And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ” (Galatians 4:6-7).

6. Saints of Light

1. Christ the King has a kingdom. This kingdom has . . .

1) Knowledge – A System of Education

2) Good Works – A System of Labor

3) Strength – A System of Power

4) Family – A Foundation for Society

2. Invitation