Col. 1:9-18, Our Objective: Edification, Significant Pursuits (1)

Christ is building His Church; and He has planned that we join Him in this endeavor.  Using our study of the “hina” clauses in the NT we want to present what we call “significant pursuits” related to the “building up of believers.”  When a person comes to Christ, believing on Him, and declaring his intention to follow Christ through the waters of baptism, Christ then said that person needs to be taught the things He commanded.  This requires becoming more and more acquainted with the word of God; it requires growing in that word day by day, growing in obedience to that word so that he grows into the likeness of Christ.  These six pursuits, as we have said, come out of various purpose statements in the NT. 

Just before we begin, here are some cautions.

·       The “pursuit” of Christ involves works performed by the grace of God and the power of the Spirit, not by us “doing our best” in our own strength.

·       “Learning Christ,” as Paul put it (Eph. 4:20), is learning and growing in the word of God.  There is no other way.

·       The work of edification is not about programs or seminars but people and the word of God.  Again, there is no other way.

·       Christ gave us His Spirit for this work; we must be hearing what the Spirit says to the  churches (Rev. 2:7,11,17,29; 3:6,13,22).

·       The six pursuits are not a replacement for “10 commandments.”  This is a framework to help us think about these subjects.  There is no substitute for verse-by-verse study of God’s word.

v Growing in the knowledge of God.  Jesus said to His Father, This is eternal life, that (hina) they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent (John 17:3).  Paul prayed for the Ephesians (a prayer we should be praying for fellow-believers) that (hina) the glorious Father may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him (Eph. 1:17).  The great prayer of Eph. 3:14-21 was that God would strengthen them by His Spirit in the inner man so that (hina) they might know the love of Christ in all it’s dimensions so that (hina) you may be filled with all the fullness of God.  Another great prayer of Paul (Col. 1:9-10) is a prayer that we might know the knowledge of His will so that (hina) you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.  John said that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that (hina) we may know Him who is true (1 John 5:20).  Note the teaching.  We learn about God in the Scripture, so that our lives are changed, so that we know God better.  Knowing God is not a mere academic exercise.  We know God by knowing Christ.  We grow in knowing Him as we walk with Him.