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A Christian's Positive Goals
[We continue our thoughts on Colossians chapter 1]
How to live positively in a negative world is the theme I've chosen to share some concepts from Paul's letter to the Colossians. In this session the emphasis is on a Christian's positive goals, and we continue in chapter one and verse 9. The first word in verse 9 is the word "and" (or "for" in some translations), so we know that what we’re going to discover is based on the description of a Christian that came from the early part of this chapter.
Let me first point out that there is a difference between being complete and being mature. The difference is well illustrated by an acorn and an oak tree. An acorn is complete. It has within it a program, if we put it in computer terms, that ensures that every acorn placed in the right situation will produce an oak tree. It never produces a fir tree. It never produces an orange tree. An acorn always produces an oak tree. Wrapped up within that hard little shell is an oak tree wanting to reach for the sky, and when the acorn is placed in the ground, the tree grows to maturity. I think you can see what I’m sharing. I believe a Christian, from the moment he or she is born again, is complete. That is what the Bible teaches. We’re going to come across this clearly later in Colossians. A Christian is complete in reality in spirit and potentially in every other part of their being. What God wants us to be is complete in maturity.
Let’s see how it shows itself in the life of a Christian as he or she develops. First, he discovers "Christ for him" and this is the point of salvation. He realizes and accepts Christ died for him. Then as he understands the Word more, he recognizes that he has "Christ in him", and so the original concept of salvation grows to something larger and he realizes that he is a walking container of Christ. That is what a Christian is: Christ in a person. And yet there is one more stage to go, and that is when he sees "Christ as him". Christ is in every part of his being and his only life is to live out the life of Christ in the world. That is where we’re heading in the book of Colossians.
So let’s go to verse 9 and read what God has to say to us in that verse, as I look at a Christian’s positive goals. "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 in all spiritual wisdom and understanding." What a powerful verse! That little word "all" is an incredible word. It appears some thirty times in the book of Colossians. In fact, it would be a good exercise to just mark or underline every time the word "all" or "every" is present and see its impact in what God is saying to us. The first goal that a positive Christian has is to be filled with, or better to be filled full of, the knowledge of God’s will. That is my goal--to so know God’s will for my life that I can fulfill it and accomplish it. The concept of being filled appears some seven times in Colossians, because God sees us not just as people who have a ticket to heaven but God as people filled with Christ, filled with the knowledge of his will, and filled with His power and many other things.
We are loaded and expecting. I often tell people about my good friend Ky Eshelman from Covington, Ohio. She was a rather large lady, the kind of person in the old days in Australia, my dad used to say, "Once round her and twice around the local lighthouse!" It is just a figure of speech to show some impact of mass. Ky was a wonderful bubbling Christian. She would go up to people she’s meeting for the first time and say "I’m loaded and expecting", and they look at this large figure and they get all kinds of thoughts from that statement. Then she would say, "The Bible says in Psalms that he daily loadeth me with benefits, and I'm expecting his return at any time."
So we need to see ourselves as loaded, and this prayer, this goal for the Christians is that they might be filled full with the knowledge of his will. This is a deep knowledge. This is a realization of his will in their lives. This is possible, and that’s the key that we must get into our minds. It is possible to know what God wants you to do in life. Isn’t that incredible? The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the God Almighty who made heaven and earth, wants you to know what He specifically has planned for your life. We can be filled full with the knowledge of his will. Of course, once we are filled full of it then we can fulfill it, we can bring it to pass in our lives. That is a very positive goal.
There is another goal in verse ten, and that is to live a life worthy of the Christ within. It says, "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." The word "walk" in the New Testament usually means the manner of life, the way you conduct your life. So we could read, "That you might live your life worthy, of like value, as the Lord." God’s goal for you and for me is that our lives should be worth as much as the life of Christ was to this world. Can you take that in? It’s hard, isn’t it? It’s an incredible concept. God wants your life to have a similar impact upon the world as the life of Jesus Christ did. The only way that can happen is if you live out the Christ life within you.
I Peter chapter 2 and verse 21 has something to say that might help us to understand this Colossian verse better. "For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps." He left us an example that we should follow his steps. If we follow the example then we can live the Christ life in this world and the world will sit up and take notice that here is a person who knows Christ, who has Christ's qualities and characteristics in them.
If you want to know what Christ is like, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John is a good place to start. A summary of his earthly ministry is given in Acts chapter 10 verse 38, "God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him." And the same God that was with Christ is with you and with me. That means we can go out and do good. What was the good that Jesus did? He healed those who were oppressed. He found a need and filled it. He found a hurt and healed it. Where there was a need for supply, he supplied it. Where there was a need for health, he made it possible. Where there was a need to bring two people together, he brought them together. Christ was there among humanity, helping people maximize their potential. And we can do the same. -- Peter Wade.
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