Four Signs of a Spiritual Life | Colossians 1:3-14

Timothy Ateek: Good morning, Watermark. How are we doing today? It's good to see you. Welcome. I'm so glad you made it. If this is your first time ever with us on a Sunday, thanks for trusting us with your Sunday morning. I hope this place feels like home very quickly. I am very excited about this morning because you're going to get to hear from my good friend Ben Stuart. If you're not familiar with Ben, Ben is the lead pastor of Passion City Church in Washington, DC. He and his wife Donna are good friends of the Ateeks, so we're so glad they're in Dallas today.

Ben was the executive director of Breakaway Ministries at Texas A&M University for 11 years, which is great. Ben is the one who recruited me to be director of Breakaway. I'll show you a picture. We were in College Station this past Tuesday to celebrate the thirty-fifth anniversary of Breakaway. I tell you that just to say the future of the church is bright, as thousands of college students gathered together simply to lift up the name of Jesus.

Ben is going to be continuing our series in Colossians today. I truly believe Ben is one of the most gifted Bible teachers in our nation today, but more importantly, I would say the thing I love most about Ben is that he truly lives what he preaches. He's a godly man, and he and his wife Donna are amazing examples of what it looks like to leverage your lives for the sake of the gospel. So, I just want to ask you to do an incredible job of welcoming the Stuarts to Watermark Community Church today.

Ben Stuart: Howdy! That's great. I can't do that in DC. It confuses and scares the locals. So I have to do it whenever I come back here. Man! It is such an honor to be here with you. I love Watermark. I have so many people I care for deeply who have been so impacted by this church over the years, so anytime I think of Watermark, my heart fills with gratitude, because people I love have fallen more in love with God because of the service of this church.

Donna and I love Kat and TA, and I'm not just saying that because he said nice things about me. We love them and love their friendship. I love that TA is not just a great communicator of God's Word and a good friend; he's such a phenomenal leader. It's amazing. So, you're welcome that you have such an incredible leader. We just celebrate them, and I'm honored to be jumping into this series with you. If you have a copy of the Scriptures, I'm going to read to you our passage from today. It's in Colossians, chapter 1. I'm going to read, we'll pray, and then jump into it. We're starting in verse 9. This is the apostle Paul.

"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, 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; being 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, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."

Father, I thank you for a few minutes around your Word, and I just ask you now to help us accomplish what Paul was praying for us, that we would get knowledge and understanding. God, would you quicken our minds to help us think well your thoughts as they're presented in your Word, and then, God, I pray we wouldn't just think them, but I pray we would feel it, that our hearts would beat in rhythm with yours and it would change how we live. Lord, I pray that we would be different people as a result of these few minutes. I feel very much today that I can't create that, so we're asking you to help us.

Friend, I want to ask you, if you're willing… I don't know if this is your normal rhythm or not. I'd like to invite you to pray and you ask him that. Say, "Lord, please teach us today. Please teach me today." Ask him that. Then please pray for me that the Lord would use me and I'd be helpful to you.

Father, we love you and we trust you. Use this time. We pray that in Jesus' name, amen.

When I was in fifth grade, we had two patrols at my school. We had the safety patrol, and they were in charge of controlling traffic at the crosswalks. I don't know whose idea that was to let 10-year-olds direct traffic, but that's how we did it in the 80s. We also had the fire patrol. The job of the fire patrol was whenever the fire alarm went off, fifth-grade students on the patrol would take up strategic positions around the school.

Then the fire chief would run to the front of the school, get the stopwatch out of the assistant principal's desk, and run to the front of the school. When he got a signal from all the rest of the fire patrol that everyone was out of the building safely, he would click the stopwatch, and then, as everyone filed back into class, he would get on the intercom and have the opportunity to tell everybody how they did, whether or not they survived, et cetera.

Now, at the end of fourth grade year, by the grace of God, I was elected to be fire chief the following year. I'll hold for applause. But, you know, I'm in fourth grade. The summer is before me, three months. That, statistically, is a significant portion of your life. So, I'm just living as a kid in the summer. We get back into school fifth grade year, and I'm going along with life. Then somewhere in the middle of class one day, the fire alarm goes off.

The teacher says, "Students, that's the fire alarm. This is a fire drill. We're going to stand up, get in a single file line, and walk to the back of the school." I was a student, so I got up, got in line, and started to walk toward the back of the school. It was about midway down the hall that I was like, "Wait a second. I'm the fire chief. I'm not supposed to be going this way. The stopwatch is in the assistant principal's desk at the front of the school."

As soon as I thought that, panic hit my little fifth-grade heart, because everyone else was going this way. I was like, "What am I supposed to do?" I began to struggle with this until, finally, the thought crossed my mind, "The assistant principal of this school named me fire chief, and that identity is more fundamental than any other, including student."

As I said that to myself, I worked up the courage to step out of line. I remember as I did that, the rest of the kids were looking at me. We had our little super tickets on (that's what they called it) so they couldn't yell, but I saw it in their eyes. They were like, "What do you think you're doing?" So I just whispered it at first. "I'm the fire chief." Then I began to move backward, and I saw all of the eyes on me. "I'm the fire chief."

Then I realized I'd waited too long, so I broke out in a sprint, running through the halls, yelling at the rest of them, "I'm the fire chief!" Now, why do I tell you that story? For this reason. Your identity determines your activity. Who you are determines what you do. Whatever identity you buy most fundamentally will determine how you move through this world.

Here we are in this passage. We're in the book of Colossians. We've been learning about the supremacy of Jesus Christ and, in this passage, that you belong to him. Here, that identity is more fundamental than any other. So, who cares where the rest of the culture is going? I will run the opposite way, because the King has given me a new identity, and that changes everything.

That's where we are in the book. "I have come to know the incomparable Christ, and that changes everything about me." Paul is writing to them, and at the beginning, as he learned about this church from Epaphras, he said, "Hey, you have a real faith." Now in this prayer he's praying for them that they would move like it.

So, as he prays that, it's an interesting thought exercise he brings up. "Okay. What does it mean?" That's a great metaphor, but what does it mean to run with the King? What does it look like to be truly spiritual people? There are all kinds of spiritualities. There's more interest in it than ever, but what does it actually look like to be people who run with Jesus, know him, and walk with him? What does that actually play out like in real life?

In the text we're in, Paul is praying. It's called the prayer wish section. "I'm praying something I hope is true of you." And I'm praying this over you as you move through this series, that you'll understand what it looks like to be a truly spiritual person in the culture. As we do that, we're going to see three things.

First, as we talk about it, we're going to see the relationship between event and process. Christianity has an event and a process. Then we'll talk about the relationship between information and action, and then we'll look at the four signs of a spiritual life. How do you know God is really at work in you?

1. Christianity as an event and a process. Here's what I mean by that. In verse 9, he says, "And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you…" Then he prays what he asks for them, which is a change in their lifestyle. But what is it he heard that prompted these prayers? What he's going to tell them is that Christianity is an event and then a process. Something changed in you in a moment, and it kickstarted a different way of living.

I'm saying that because you see it in two places, the passage right before and at the end of our passage here. You see practically what happened to them and then positionally what has changed about them. In the thanksgiving section you all covered last week, where he thanks God for them, Paul says, "Hey, I have heard evidence of your sonship. I heard evidence that your identity has changed." Before you do anything, something must be done to you. That's Christianity.

And what is it that happened? Well, he said it in the prayer. I won't reteach it, but I want you to see what's happening here. In verse 3, he says, "We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus…" "You trusted Jesus, who he is and what he came to do."

"…and of the love that you have for all the saints…" That faith in Jesus became love for the people he has made holy. What is the greatest commandment? To love the Lord your God and love your neighbor as yourself. He says, "…because of the hope laid up for you in heaven." "You have the confident expectation that good is coming for you in the future and that joy doesn't stay locked up in the future; it cascades back into current trust in Jesus and current love for the brothers and sisters in Christ."

He says, "Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel…" So what happened? They heard the truth spoken, the good news of what God had done in Jesus, and when they heard the truth, they believed it, and when they believed it, it shed abroad the love of God in their hearts for one another.

Then he says in verse 6, "…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…" What was the message they heard? They didn't hear a list of rules they had to do to try to climb a ladder to reach God. They heard about the grace, the kindness of God that had come to them.

"…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." Paul says, "I know you've had a change in identity." How? "You didn't earn it. You heard the good news of the kindness of God that has come through Jesus, and when you put your faith in him, that changed you from the inside out. The very Spirit of God landed in you and became love for your brothers and sisters as well as God."

So, Christianity begins with an event and then a process. Why am I harping on this? Because in the text we're in, he's going to tell them a bunch of stuff to do, but I need to make clear to you that in Christianity, all of our effort and work is an effect, not a cause. We don't do things to earn the smile of God. It is not for sale. We have been changed in our identity, and then there's a natural change in activity.

I say it with my children. When my daughter Sparrow was born, she was instantly my child at birth. Right? Now I want her to conform to my image in certain ways. Because I know what's best for her, I want to conform her activity, but she's not trying to earn the name Stuart. "Earn this, baby." No. But her life changes because she's mine. Do you see it?

Birth is a gift from the benevolence of her parents, but it kickstarts a process of being conformed more and more to our image. That's Christianity. So, if you've never put your faith in Jesus, it starts there. This isn't a list of rules. That would be like me telling you how to do a job you haven't signed up for. You have to come to know the King and have allegiance with him. When that starts, there's a change of identity and then a change of activity.

So, he talks about it practically. Then we'll jump to the end of our section, because then he talks about positionally what really happened to you when you put your faith in Jesus. In verse 12, he says, "…giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light." You didn't make yourself qualified to be part of his family. What happened? He did it. He made you suited to be adopted into his family, to share in the inheritance of the saints.

I have a friend I saw this week. He adopted a daughter from India. I remember we were talking about that one time, that as she grew up she would become aware that biologically she's not the fruit of her mother and father. He said, "They talk to you about, 'Are you going to share that information with her or not?'" He said, "We decided yes. As soon as she starts asking those questions, we're going to say that."

He said, "For some, that can be a difficult thing, especially for a young child, because they'll ask questions about where they came from. When we adopted her, she was in a very fragile place, a very unsafe place, so when she hears about what she came from, she'll hear, 'I was abandoned. I was in danger. I was unsafe,' and she'll be tempted to own that as her identity." Some of you grew up in homes like that, and you own that about yourself.

He said, "We're going to tell her." I said, "How do you think that's going to go?" He said, "Well, she'll be tempted to take that into her core, but what we're going to share is 'All of that is true, but we came to get you. Your mom and I crossed oceans for you. We paid an enormous amount, all of these different fees and paperwork.

We did everything we had to do to cross oceans to step into the crazy you were in, to draw you out, to give you my name, and to bring you into my home and say, "Now and forever you belong to us, and we love you, and you love us." So, you were lost, but now you're found. You were abandoned, but now you're adopted. You were cast off, but now you're dearly loved, and not because you earned it but because we came to get you.'"

That's what happened to you. When you heard this message and believed it, God said, "Positionally, you're something else. You're my kid." Do you see it? Not only that. How did he do it? Verse 13: "He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."

God took you out from under the dominion of darkness. Some of you know what it is to be involved in very dark things. He pulled you out and redeemed you, purchased you, and moved you into the kingdom of the beloved Son. It's the plot of the movie Taken. This young girl disobeys her parents and travels Europe unchaperoned. Huge mistake! She ends up captive and trafficked.

What happens when her dad finds out? Does he go, "Oh well. I've got some other kids around here"? No. Liam Neeson starts making calls and explains to her captors that he has a certain set of skills and he's about to deploy them to go get his daughter. I always think about this after that movie. Imagine, after he saves his daughter, if she was lying in bed one night, safe, and the thought crossed her mind that crosses a lot of young women's minds. "I wonder if anybody cares about me. I wonder if I matter to anybody."

What would you say to her? You'd say, "Watch the movie! Your dad flew over and did some crazy things. Like, he blew up some buildings. I mean, he was ripping through people. He moved mountains. He destroyed kingdoms to get his child home." Here, it says Jesus Christ came not at the risk of his life but at the cost of it. "I will step out of heaven. I will be homeless. I'll have one pair of clothes, and even those will be sold. I will bleed out every drop of blood to purchase you and redeem you, to transfer you out of that darkness into the kingdom of the beloved Son." That's who you are.

The danger the Colossians were in was to think, "Oh, I put my faith in Jesus. I signed the card and walked the aisle, but now as I grow up, I'm supposed to pursue other interests and maybe find spirituality in some other places and maybe try to upgrade my life through some different tactics." He's going to say, "No. You got the best. You don't outgrow him; you grow in him. You don't run past him; you run with him."

The King has come to get us, and we are like Israel under David. When King David stepped out to fight Goliath, he took out what they were terrified of. Then what happened to the Israelites? They shouted the war cry and drove the Philistines from their land. When they saw their rescuer fight for them, they joyfully ran to fight along with him.

That's what we do. Christianity is an event that leads to a process. I've been rescued by the King, and I don't spend the rest of my life reveling in what he came to destroy. I say, "No, he purchased me. I'm running with him." That's what the children of God do. That's what the people of Jesus do who were purchased by his blood.

So, he says, "We heard that it happened to you. We've not stopped praising God that he did this to you, that he transferred you, adopted you, and qualified you to have the inheritance. Okay, but you're still here. What do you do now? What does true spirituality look like for the redeemed ones?"

Verse 9: "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…" Which, if we're honest…I don't know about you, but for me when I was young…just sounds like a pileup of biblical words. You go, "I don't know what any of that means." He's talking about our second point.

2. Christianity has a relationship of information to action. However you conceive of spirituality, it's primarily a battle of the mind. What you think about determines what you care about, and what you care about you will chase. One of the most important things you could do before you go to bed tonight is to think about what you entertain in your mind. It will shape what you love and what you become.

Here, as he hears they belong to Jesus, he says, "We have not stopped praying that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding." Let's grab some of these words. Filled there doesn't mean you just have a bunch of it in your mind. He'll say to the Ephesians, "Don't be drunk with wine, but be filled by the Spirit." He contrasts wine with the Spirit of God.

What he's saying is when you're filled with wine, it's not just that you have a lot of it. You have a lot of it, and it influences your behavior. You are under its influence. And not just morally. I woke up early this morning at the hotel to study down in the lobby, and there were people coming in, ending their night. I watched people filled with wine under its influence. Not just morally. It influences how you talk. It influences how you walk. It influences how you drive. Everything is now informed by this thing that fills you.

Paul told believers, "Don't be filled with wine, but be filled with the Spirit of God." Be directed and controlled and under the influence of the Spirit Christ put in you when you put your faith in him. So, he says, "I pray you may be filled…" Then he gives them this pileup of words. "…with knowledge." That's data, facts, truths about who God is. "I want your mind filled with things about him and knowledge of his will."

Not just trivia about him, but I know what he wants. I know what he cares about. I know what he's doing, so I can be a part of it. I don't just check a box, walk an aisle, say I belong to Jesus, and then live however. No. Once I come to know him, I have a great interest. And where is the King moving, because I'm moving with him? That's the Christian life. Now that I know him, I want to know everything about what he's up to, because I want to run with him as he accomplishes his purposes to save.

But I don't just want the knowledge; I want understanding. Not just that I'm in the room where truth is spoken, but I know what it means. That's what understanding means. Right? Some of you maybe grew up in a church where you were around the Bible and heard it talked about, but you never really understood it. For me, that was economics class in college. Truth was being spoken about numbers. I watched others nod in agreement. I did not understand. I still don't understand. It's why I read books and explain them for a living.

Knowledge and understanding. I'm not just sitting in here around his Word, but I'm understanding what it means. And wisdom. What is wisdom? Wisdom is knowledge and understanding applied to the complexities of life. It's the word skill. It's not just that I know trivia or facts about God; it's information with an action orientation. That's Christianity. I'm getting information about how God moves because I plan to use it.

It's lab not classroom. It's not watching football on TV; it's hearing the coach because I'm about to get in the game. Christianity is meant to fill your life, to influence every part of you…how you use your money, how you drive your car, how you treat your spouse, how you raise your children. Christianity is meant to move into and fill every part of your heart and life.

I know where the King is moving, I understand what it is he cares about, and I have a skillful way of moving the way he moves. That's Christianity. An event starts a process, and that process is getting information with an action orientation. I'm going to learn not to earn his smile (I'm already his) but to move with him as he accomplishes his purposes to save.

Notice it's filled with a spiritual knowledge, understanding, and wisdom. We don't have time to get into all this, but in Exodus 31 and Isaiah 11, it's the Spirit of God who brings knowledge and understanding. It's a spiritual gift. That's why the verb filled is passive. "I'm praying that God would fill you with spiritual knowledge and understanding. I'm asking the Spirit of God to move."

The cool thing about Isaiah, chapter 11, is it's talking about one day when the Messiah will come, and when the Messiah comes, he will bring the Spirit of God, and it has wisdom and understanding. So, when you put your faith in Jesus, he puts his Spirit in you, and you begin to know him, you begin to understand him, and then you begin to move with him. That's the result that you see in the next verse.

Verse 10: "…so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him…" The reason you're here, if you're already in Christ, is so you can know him so you can make him known and move with him. That word walk is the word peripateo. Peri means around. And walk. When I walk around. It's a great metaphor for life. Little steps lead to a destination. I know God so well that I'm walking with him in every step. This information has an action orientation.

I'm meant to know him so I walk in a manner worthy of him. That word worthy in Greek is the word axios where we get axis. It's the idea of a balance on either side. This great gospel is meant to be met with a life that's commensurate to the message. For some of you, the reason your neighbor never comes with you to church is they've not seen a life that fits the message. For some of you, your coworkers are resistant to Christianity because they watch someone profess Jesus and not live like they've been touched with his grace.

I remember, when I first got into ministry, a guy asked to be one of my youth workers, so I went to meet him at his office. I showed up, and he had the Christian ichthus, you know, the fish on his desk and all kinds of Christian paraphernalia on the walls. That's fine, but then he ran next door to talk to his employee while I waited for him, and I heard him cuss out and berate his employee. Then he came back in and said, "So let's talk about me being a youth leader." I was like, "I think I just heard all I need to know."

Who cares what little Christian symbol is on your desk or what bumper sticker is on the back of your car? You need a life that fits the gospel, not to earn it but because you've been touched by it. That's what Paul is praying. "He has changed your life? Good. Now I'm praying it'll change the way you move, because the world needs to see that."

Some of you came to Christ… You are here because you finally saw a life where that happened, where their life matched the message. One of my best friends who grew up in his faith here at this church… He was not interested in spiritual things until he saw someone at Fish Camp at Texas A&M and watched how gentle and kind he was. He said, "I'd never seen a man like that who was so loving to people." Then he heard he was a Christian, and it made him interested in what that means. "I've seen how you live. Now tell me what you believe."

Do they see it in you? You don't want a coworker to show up here at Watermark, and you're serving as a greeter, and them go, "Her? Huh." You don't want them to be surprised that you're a Christian. You want your coworker to walk into this building, see you, and go, "Well, now it makes sense. You are always so kind. You are always so patient. You are always so nice. It makes sense you're one of these people." You want to live a life that's worthy of the Lord, not to earn his approval but because you have it.

"Filled with the knowledge of what's fully pleasing to him." Again, what's the goal of spirituality? It's not to learn a bunch of random spiritual facts; it's ultimately learning how to walk with him. The centerpiece of spirituality is Jesus Christ, that I know him. The next text we're in will talk about that. "In him all the fullness of deity dwells." That's who we're dealing with here.

It's interesting. Paul intentionally uses words filled and wisdom that were used by some false teachers who were trying to get them into some deceptive ways of thinking about spirituality. He says, "They want to tell you, 'Okay. You became a Christian as a kid? Congratulations. But varsity spirituality… You've got to get into this. You've got to read these books and watch these stars and do these practices. You've got to move on from Christianity to be fully who you're meant to be as a man or as a woman. You've got to move on from Jesus.'"

Paul says, "No. We learn what it is to be fully pleasing to him." He'll say in chapter 2 about Jesus, "In him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." I don't outgrow him; I grow in him. Like in The Chronicles of Narnia when Lucy sees Aslan again. She says, "You're bigger." He says, "No. You're bigger, and the older you get, the bigger you'll find me to be."

My son came to me the other day when he was 5. He just walked into the room and said, "Dad, I need to learn how to punch." I was like, "What?" He said, "I have to know how to punch." He said, "We need to get somebody in here to teach me how to punch." I was like, "What do you mean get someone in here to teach you how to punch? That's my job. I'm your dad. That's my punching bag." He was like, "You know how to do that?"

"Yeah, I know how to do that. Yes. Son, the reason I haven't taught you yet is not because of my ignorance; it's because of your immaturity. As the prophet spoke in the movie Zorro, when the student is ready, the master will appear. I will show you how to punch." Can we be honest? Some of you are looking into all manner of horoscopes and chakras and stones and all manner of different ways, "If I could just get this right mix of creatine or whatever, just whatever I need to get to be the guy I'm supposed to be. How do I get to the fullness?"

Hey, man. Get in shape. That's fine. Whatever. But the fullness of life is in him. You don't outgrow him; you grow with him. I move with the King. When I was a freshman in college, I had so many questions about Christianity, and I bought the lie so many people do that maybe Christianity is kind of basic and my questions were getting too philosophical for this simple faith.

But when I began to really learn this book and study with other people, I realized all of my questions actually had answers. I had just never encountered them. And over the centuries, harder questions than mine had been asked and better answers given. So at 22, I was like, "Huh! Maybe I don't know everything." Shocking. And maybe the older I get, the bigger I find him to be. You don't outgrow him; you grow with him.

In DC, for a third of our church, it's their first church. I had a lady come up to me after a gathering, and she said, "I don't know what's going on here, but I can't stop crying." She said, "It's so powerful, but I just want to mention to you… You keep pointing people at Jesus, and that's great, but I think this would be better if you could open them up to some other ways of knowing. You keep focusing on Jesus, but would you be willing to teach some other ways of tapping into spirituality, not just Jesus?"

I said, "No. He's all we're selling here." I said, "And let me tell you something. What you're experiencing and struggling emotionally to understand why it's so captivating… It is him. It's from him. It's what it is to know him. You don't need to move past him; you move with him. You don't outgrow him; you grow with him." That event kickstarted a process where I get information for transformation and an action orientation. So, how do I know he's at work?

3. Four signs that the Spirit is at work. Interestingly, for the nerds in the room, he says, "To walk in a manner worthy of him," and then these four signs are four participles, which are verbs that participate in the main verb to walk. So, how do I walk with him? These participating verbs fill out that full verb of what it means to walk with him. For those of you who don't care, I'm sorry, but here are your four signs. They come from the grammar.

A. Fruitful work. "…bearing fruit in every good work…" How do I know he's working in me? I do good work and it bears fruit. This is great imagery. He's using farming imagery. It's great because farming takes time and spiritual growth takes time. It's great imagery because Colossae was agrarian. They were probably really vibing with that. They got this. "Yeah, I get it." And they understood a farmer has to work. You don't just sit there.

Farmers have a lot of work to do, yet when a crop grows, the farmer doesn't go, "I did this. Behold my tree." They understand, "So much of that was outside of my control. The soil had to do its thing, the rain had to do its thing, the sun had to do its thing, and I don't control any of that. So, yes, I work, but unless these bigger forces than me work around me, then all my labor is in vain."

Paul says, "There is good work for you to do, but I'm praying that you would be filled with all that God is doing and say, 'As I work, God, would you make it fruitful work? As I step into doing good things, would you do more with it than I could possibly imagine?'" That's spirituality. That's what gives you that perfect mix of confidence and humility.

I'm meant to step out today and do good, but if any fruit comes from it, it's all of grace. That's how the Christian can be confident and humble. So, I do good work, like Epaphras did. He shared his knowledge after he came to faith. He didn't know he was going to launch the church of the Colossians. He just knew, "I have a word, and I'm going to share it with my hometown."

That's what Tychicus did. He crossed all of Asia to deliver this letter, having no idea we'd be studying it centuries later. He didn't know that as he walked with it across Asia. He just knew, "I have a word that will encourage some Colossians. I'm going to go." He had no idea that fruit would be born even here centuries later. Isn't that amazing? I'm going to do the good work. God bears the fruit.

We were at that Breakaway celebration TA mentioned. This girl testified in this video about how Jesus Christ changed her life from the inside out, and now she's in this beautiful Christian marriage and doing all of these amazing things, and it was because TA shared the gospel with her. He had no idea all of the fruit that would come from that. He just knew, "I have a word, and it's worthy of sharing." He had no clue the wake of blessing behind him as he was faithful. You do good work, and you trust God to let it bear fruit. That's what the Christian does.

So how about you? Think about the last week. Did you do anything good that wasn't directly tied to something that benefits you or your comfort? Are you doing good work? "Well, Ben, what does that look like?" He'll say in chapter 4, "Continue steadfastly in prayer." Maybe pray for somebody. He says in chapter 3, "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly." Not just you but teaching and admonishing each other. Have you encouraged somebody?

One of the great gifts of coming back here to Texas is how many people have encouraged us. He says later, "Children, obey your parents." That one is hard, but you know God is at work when they do. If you plant seeds, there's no guarantee of a harvest, but if you never plant seeds, there's a guarantee there will be no harvest. So do good, family, and trust that God will let it bear fruit.

B. Increasing knowledge. That's the next part. "…increasing in the knowledge of God…" He's biting off of Psalm 1 here. "Blessed is the man who meditates on this word. He's like a tree planted by streams that bears its fruit in season." That's the Christian life. I am learning and I'm moving. I don't stop learning Jesus; I keep moving with him.

It's like marriage. I didn't get married to Donna and was like, "Well, that about sums it up," and then went off and lived a different life. I'm constantly getting to know her and what it is to be married together and move together. That's the Christian life. I keep learning about him as I move with him.

Paul, at the end of his life… Second Timothy is the last letter he wrote. In prison, he asked Timothy, "Please bring the parchments. I want to keep learning." William Tyndale, when he was imprisoned in Vilvoorde Castle in Brussels for translating this book into English, which was illegal… As he was shivering in this castle in Brussels, he wrote a letter to the prince asking for a wool shirt and his Hebrew grammar, Bible, and dictionary.

I think about it all the time. If I was shivering in a prison where I might die, would I go, "I just wish I had my Hebrew grammar"? Tyndale did. And you know what? You have the Bible in English because he did, because even in the midst of pain he said, "I'm gripping onto this Word; I want to keep learning," and he passed it on to you and me. This book is in English because of men like him. I want to be increasing in my knowledge of him.

The book of Colossians is 95 verses. If you physically wrote out three verses a day, you'd write the whole book in a month. We had a young man when I was a youth pastor come to Christ, and he said, "What do I do?" I said, "You've come to know him. Now you need to get to know him." We were teaching Colossians at the time. I said, "Just write out the book of Colossians. You'll go slowly, but that's fine. Where are you in a hurry to get? Just write it out."

He would write a couple of verses a day. It was the funniest thing. He would come up to me… For the next year, he would walk up in our little discipleship time and was like, "Man! It's the craziest thing. I was in the middle of class, and I was tempted to do whatever, and then I just remembered, 'Yeah, Colossians says, "Put to death sexual immorality."' I was like, 'I'm not going to watch that film. I'm not going to look at that girl that way.'"

He was like, "Then I was mad at somebody, and I was tempted to say something mean, and then I realized, 'Oh, Colossians says, "Let no obscene talk come out of your mouth."'" He just kept quoting Colossians for a year. I was like, "That's amazing. You've loaded it into you, and you're moving with it." I was like, "This is awesome." There are 65 other books, so after a year I was like, "Let's keep rolling."

Some of you have never done that, and it's okay. Let me get more and more of him into me and more and more of me submitted to him. Some of you have great knowledge about him in some categories, but if we switch the subject, you're an infant. I want to keep increasing in my knowledge of him, opening up all of the doors of my life, so that I know him and he knows me in this area.

C. Empowered endurance. That's verse 11. "…being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy…" That word endurance is hupomone. Mone means abide and hupo means under. One of the greatest ways you know you're his is when pressure lands on you, you don't leave. When you start taking hits for belonging to him, you stay.

The next word patience is makrothumia. Thumia like a fire. It's where you get thermometer. When the heat gets macro, intense, I don't bail. One of the greatest signals that you really belong to him all through Scripture is that if you begin to suffer for Christ, you don't leave him. I will stay under the weight. I can stand the heat. I am his, and he is mine. One of the ways you know you're his is you suffer well.

The Christian is not often seen for what they do well. You are seen by what you do when you're not doing well. Christianity has often been advanced in the culture when they watch us suffer with grace. Christianity was a strange little cult in Rome, and Nero blamed them for a fire that was probably started at one of his weird parties, but he blamed it on the Christians. No one believed it, but then Nero began to unleash a sadistic punishment on Christians and would burn them as torches for his garden parties.

People thought, "This is unjust. This is wrong. They didn't do it." But then what happened was they watched the Christians suffer well. They didn't blubber. They didn't cry. They didn't cuss. They didn't spit. They watched them pray for their enemies and pray for those who persecuted them. When they came to arrest Polycarp, he served refreshments to his captors, and by the end of it, they were sorry they were taking him to his martyrdom. They watched us suffer well, and they were willing to join us and suffer with us.

For some of you, your friends think your belief in Jesus is stupid until they watch you handle the diagnosis with grace. They probably still won't ask you about it until they get a phone call that takes them to their knees. Then when they walk into their office and see everybody pursuing shallow frivolities, they'll come to you and say, "Hey, do you have a book you could recommend or…?" Because they will see, "They really believe what they preach. Their King suffered for them, and they suffer with grace and trust their King. I want to know him."

"I want to know what you have. You have something the world doesn't." Most people, when things don't go their way, lose their minds, but when the Christian endures, they see "They are being strengthened with a glorious power I know nothing about." They will come to want to know your King when they see his grace working in you when you suffer well.

D. Joyful gratitude. "…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, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins." Christians are meant to be known by their joyful gratitude. All I need is in him.

There was a song back in the 70s written by Rupert Holmes called "Escape." Most people don't know it by that name. They know it by the line "If you like piña coladas…" See? Most people don't know any of the other lines, but if you read the lyrics, he wants to have an affair because he's tired of his wife. So he takes out an ad in the paper asking if there's anyone interested in having a tryst with him. This was in the 70s. They didn't have apps for that. You would put an ad in the paper.

So, in the ad, he's asking some woman, "Do you like piña coladas?" Then, as the song goes on, a woman responds. "I like piña coladas." So they decide to sneak off and meet somewhere. Then, spoiler alert, at the end he goes to meet this other woman, and as he goes to meet her, his wife is waiting there, not to catch him but because she was the other woman who answered the ad. Then they're like, "Oh, look at us," and they celebrate with piña coladas.

You're like, "Oh, great, but y'all probably need counseling. Everything around this is really bad." The point of the song is he said, "Hey, I'm in a relationship with you, but I think I could find more life somewhere else." The reality is no, all you need is with the one you're with all along. It's the same with you, friend. If your Christianity is shallow and boring, God did not make it that way.

So, I want to challenge you. You don't outgrow him. You don't move past him. You grow with him. You move with him. The God who transferred you out of darkness doesn't want you reveling in what he came to destroy. He wants you to run with him for his glory and for the good of Dallas until the day we see him face-to-face.

Father, thank you that you came to get sinners. I pray for those in this room who have never put their faith in you. God, I pray they'd see they're not here to turn over a new leaf or make you promises. They are in the domain of darkness, and they need the Son of God, who shed his blood on that cross for us, to transfer them into the kingdom of light.

Friend, if that's you, I want to challenge you to put your faith in Jesus Christ today, trusting that he will put the very Spirit of God in you and move you to obey his decrees. Friend, if you know him, I think for a lot of us there's danger to accept Jesus, and then we just look like everyone else in Dallas. Nothing of the supernatural.

I just want to ask you, as we respond in worship, to search your heart and say, "God, what area of my life is not filled with the knowledge of you? Where in my life do I live like a pagan, not like someone who has been touched by grace? God, what needs to change? What needs to get out of my life? Is my mind focused on my phone and not on the eternal Word of God? Maybe I start there. May I increase in knowledge of you. God, are there areas you've been tapping on me that says it's time for this to change?"

Be directed and empowered by the way you speak to your spouse and the way you raise your kids and the way you talk to your roommates and coworkers. Ask him to give you an image of what it would look like to be someone who runs with the King until the day we see him.

Thak you, Lord, that these are the days of grace. We're honored to be yours. In Jesus' name, amen.