Colossians 1:9-17
CREATOR, SUSTAINER, SAVIOR
Colossians 1:9 (BSB) For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,
SUSAN: Because Paul had heard that the believers at Colossae were a fledgling church, he continually interceded on their behalf. Church planting does not end with setting the congregation and pastor on their own. Contact is maintained as a mentor and prayer is faithfully lifted up on their behalf.
Pray without ceasing.
1 Thessalonians 5:17 (BSB)
SUSIE: Paul was practicing what He often preached that believers should continually lift each other up in prayer.
Pray in the Spirit at all times, with every kind of prayer and petition. To this end, stay alert with all perseverance in your prayers for all the saints.
Ephesians 6:18 (BSB)
SUSAN: We should always be in an attitude of prayer and ready to intercede at all times for our brothers and sisters in Christ.
SUSIE: Paul and his co-laborers prayed that the Lord would enlighten the Colossian believers not only with knowledge but with the wisdom and spiritual discernment to apply knowledge.
QUESTION: What does it mean to “pray without ceasing,” and how can we maintain an attitude of prayer—of being ready to converse with God—at all times?
Colossians 1:10 . . . so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord and may please Him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,
SUSAN: Since the Colossians have received Jesus by the wooing of the Holy Spirit, and that Spirit now indwells them, Paul prays that the differences between the old man and the new man in Christ would be evident to all.
SUSIE: They would not be earning salvation through worthiness because that is impossible. The fact that they had trusted Jesus already would enable them to live in a worthy manner. Their faith would be pleasing to God.
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who approaches Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.
Hebrews 11:6 (BSB)
SUSIE: We cannot please God in our own strength or power.
SUSAN: We cannot please God outside of the Spirit. We can only please God by Jesus’ strength flowing through us by the Holy Spirit.
Those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh; but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. The mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind of the flesh is hostile to God: It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the flesh cannot please God.
Romans 8:5-8 (BSB)
SUSIE: Spiritual fruit includes leading others to Christ, worshipping and praising God, giving of one’s resources to God’s work, living a life that shows evidence of being changed by God, and exhibiting the “fruit of the Spirit” found in Galatians.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Galatians 5:22-23 (BSB)
SUSIE: The change brought on by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit should be evident in our lives. Stephen Curtis Chapman has an excellent song about this called “The Change.” You can listen to it here:
SUSIE: John MacArthur has a great explanation of “increasing in the knowledge of God.”
increasing in the knowledge of God. Spiritual growth cannot occur apart from this knowledge (1 Pet. 2:2; 2 Pet. 3:18). The evidences of spiritual growth include a deeper love for God’s Word (Ps. 119:97), a more perfect obedience (1 John 2:3–5), a strong doctrinal foundation (1 John 2:12–14), an expanding faith (2 Thess. 1:3; cf. 2 Cor. 10:5), and a greater love for others (Phil. 1:9).
MacArthur Study Bible
Oh, how I love all you’ve revealed; I reverently ponder it all the day long.
Psalm 119:97 (MSG)
SUSIE: Growing in the knowledge of God comes through the study of His word, hearing the word preached and taught, discussing the Lord with brothers and sisters in Christ, and meditating (pondering) the things learned.
SUSAN: Our thoughts about God should be continual, never-ending. The result will be perfect peace.
You will keep the mind that is dependent on you in perfect peace, for it is trusting in you.
Isaiah 26:3 (CSB)
ACTIVITY: Take a moment to list your strengths and weakness when it comes to growing your relationship with Jesus. What areas need improvement? Write out a plan to “beef up” the weak areas of your spiritual growth efforts. Ask the Holy Spirit to strengthen and encourage you toward these goals.
Colossians 1:11 . . . being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that you may have full endurance and patience,
SUSIE: We have no strength to obey or please God on our own, but Jesus infuses us with His own strength.
I am the vine and you are the branches. The one who remains in Me, and I in him, will bear much fruit. For apart from Me you can do nothing.
John 15:5 (BSB)
I can do all things [which He has called me to do] through Him who strengthens and empowers me [to fulfill His purpose—I am self-sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency; I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him who infuses me with inner strength and confident peace.]
Philippians 4:13 (AMP)
SUSAN: In our study of Ephesians, we discovered a new synonym for longsuffering or patient—longanimous.
longanimous – adj showing patient and unruffled self-control and restraint under adversity; slow to retaliate or express resentment.
https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/longanimous
SUSIE: This reminds me of something my mom’s CNA (Certified Nurse Assistant) used to say, “Whatever my sovereign Lord God has called me to bear, He will enable me to endure.”
SUSAN: This patient, longsuffering, longanimous attitude WITH joyfulness can only be accomplished by the power of the Holy Spirit. The reason the Christian can remain unmoved by whatever is going on in our lives is that our Advocate, our Captain, the Lord Jesus is fighting on our behalf.
He only is my rock and my salvation: he is my defense; I shall not be moved.
Psalm 62:6 (KJV)
WORSHIP ACTIVITY: You can listen to John Michael Talbot sing Psalm 62 by clicking the link below:
Colossians 1:11b-12 . . . and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light.
SUSIE: We like verse twelve in the Complete Jewish Bible:
Colossians 1:12 (CJB) giving thanks to the Father for having made you fit to share in the inheritance of his people in the light.
SUSAN: Jesus’ work on the cross made us worthy to be adopted into His family, living in His light.
SUSIE: We were merely dust, but by His grace, we are His precious jewels.
For he understands how we are made, he remembers that we are dust.
Psalm 103:14 (CJB)
And they shall be Mine, says the Lord of hosts, in that day when I publicly recognize and openly declare them to be My jewels (My special possession, My peculiar treasure).
Malachi 3:17a (AMPC)
WORSHIP ACTIVITY: A song that brings home this point is “Diamonds” by Hawk Nelson:
ACTIVITY: The Lord strengthens and transforms us, making us more and more like Jesus. Think back on a time when the Lord infused you with His strength to endure a trial, complete a task, or persevere in serving Him. Write a sentence or two of testimony about that time. How is the Lord transforming you from a rough rock into His precious jewel? Is this an easy process?
Colossians 1:13-14 He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
SUSAN: God, by the finished work of Jesus on the cross, by the blood of the Perfect Lamb, moved us from the kingdom of Satan to being a royal priesthood in the Kingdom of God.
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, to proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.
1 Peter 2:9 (BSB)
SUSIE: Our sins are forgiven when we receive God’s free gift of salvation, purchased for us by Jesus’ shed blood on the cross. He continues to cleanse us each time we confess our sins to him.
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:9 (BSB)
ACTIVITY: Confession has been compared to breathing. We breathe out carbon dioxide to make room to breathe in oxygen. We breathe out our sin and breathe in God’s forgiveness and blessings. Take a moment to do some “spiritual breathing” before continuing the lesson. Confess any known sin and trust that God will forgive you and cleanse you completely!
Colossians 1:15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
Colossians 1:15 (AMP) He is the exact living image [the essential manifestation] of the unseen God [the visible representation of the invisible], the firstborn [the preeminent one, the sovereign, and the originator] of all creation.
SUSAN: Jesus is the God-man, fully man yet fully divine. When He walked the earth as man, Jesus did not divest Himself of His power as God: He chose to limit Himself as to when and how much He would display His might.
SUSIE: He is firstborn, not in the sense of being a created being, but as the preeminent, pre-existent One. Jesus Himself told the disciples that since they had seen Him, they had seen God.
Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you for so long a time, and you do not know Me yet, Philip, nor recognize clearly who I am? Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father?’
John 14:9 (AMP)
SUSAN: The only way to see God with the naked eye and not be incinerated is by seeing Him incarnate in the person of Jesus.
SUSIE: This truth is also proclaimed in Hebrews:
The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.
Hebrews 1:3 (NIV)
As a citizen of the kingdom of God, Paul defended the truth of the gospel and, through his words, encourages all Christians to do the same. True understanding of who Christ is will always be worth defending with everything we have.
American Women’s Bible, Introduction to Colossians
ACTIVITY: Make a list of the attributes of Jesus that come to mind easily. Example: love, forgiveness, etc. Now list the attributes of God. You can probably even Google them. Note that they are the same. To know Jesus is to know God the Father.
Colossians 1:16 For in Him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things were created through Him and for Him.
SUSIE: God, Jesus, The Word, spoke and the worlds were created. Everything we see and all the invisible realities were created by Jesus.
WORSHIP ACTIVITY: A great song to worship this Creator is “Because of Who You Are.” You can listen to it here:
SUSAN: This shows us how important words are—the words of God and our words to one another. Speech is the vehicle God chose to create everything, so our ability to speak should be used for His glory. Our ability to speak and communicate with Him and each other, sets us above all other creatures and is an essential part of being made in the image of God.
SUSIE: God created everything for Himself and for His glory.
SUSAN: We are blessed to enjoy His bounty because He decided to share it with humankind.
SUSIE: As His creation, and especially as His adopted children, we who believe should live our lives in a way that is honoring to God our Father.
SUSAN: We should exalt the Lord, not only in words, but through our actions.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made, and without Him nothing was made that has been made.
John 1:1-3 (BSB)
QUESTION: According to John 1:1-3 above, who was the Creator? God, the Father, the Holy Spirit, or Jesus? Read Genesis 1:26. Who was the Creator talking to?
Colossians 1:17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
SUSIE: I love this verse in the Amplified Version:
And He Himself existed and is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. [His is the controlling, cohesive force of the universe.]
Colossians 1:17 (AMP)
Paul referred to our Lord as the “image of the invisible God.” The Greek word we translate into image is the same word from which we derive our English word icon. Jesus is the very portrait of God. If you want to know what God is like and looks like, just open your New Testament and look at Jesus. He is the icon, the picture, the express image of God. John echoed this truth in his own gospel when he said, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). And so there would be zero chance of misunderstanding the identity of the One of whom he spoke, John continued, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory” (John 1:14). The writer of Hebrews also added that in these last days God has spoken to us by His Son who is “the express image of His person” (Hebrews 1:3).
The Bible Code: Finding Jesus in Every Book in the Bible, O.S. Hawkins, p.181
SUSIE: Jesus existed before all of creation. Since He IS God, He was not a created being but has always been. He did not create the world and then step away.
SUSAN: He is the glue that holds the galaxies together! His is the hand that holds the planets in their orbits!
SUSIE: As an old song says, “He can turn the tides or calm the angry sea.”
SUSAN: Or as we sang as children, “He’s got the whole world in His hands.”
PONDER THIS: Paul prayed the Colossian believers would grow in the knowledge and wisdom of God. Part of that process is pondering, meditating on, ruminating on Scripture, God’s word. Jesus created us, saved us, and sustains all of creation. We need to fill our minds with thoughts of the awesomeness of the Savior we serve.