All right, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, and Timothy, our brother, to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are in Colossae, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the saints. Because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before the word of the truth of the gospel. which has come to you as it has also in all the world, and is bringing forth fruit as it is also among you since the day you heard it and knew the grace of God in truth. As you also learned from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf, who also declared to us your love in the spirit. For this reason also, we, 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, that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, for all patience and long-suffering with joy, giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. 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. So some of you may know that two of our boys, two of the Rowden boys, have decided that they are interested in participating in an organization called Trail Life. Trail Life, for those that may not know, is kind of like the Boy Scouts. It started back, it's not as old as the Boy Scouts, it started back in 2013 in response to a lot of the foolishness in the direction that the Boy Scouts were going. The Boy Scouts decided, hey, we're going to, We're going to let girls join. We're going to allow alternative sexual orientations join and be leaders and whatnot. And there was a lot of hullabaloo about should it still be called the Boy Scouts or just Scouts of America or whatever, right? Website still says Boy Scouts with all that said. I digress. The reason I bring up the trail life whole idea here is that it has a motto of walk worthy. And they quote Colossians 1.10. That passage, just a portion of that passage that we just said that says that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God. But, What does that mean in practice as it relates to that motto? In the real world, as so often when we hear platitudes and mottos and things that sound good to get us stirred up, we often end up getting really focused on the idea of shaping up and doing better and living up to a standard and pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps, as it were, that kind of language. And while I am confident that was not the intent of the leaders of Trail Life, it invariably can happen easily at the local level when they get so focused on that particular word and what that looks like in the outworking in the everyday life. And so what happens is that it just gets drilled down to a catchy little motto. And it misses the most important aspects of that command and moves the perspective from Christ to us as individuals. And it's rarely, if ever, a good direction to go with scripture. So we're going to cover three things here this evening, in brief, about walking worthy. And I kind of just zeroed in on that phrase. When I was reading the passage, it jumped out at me. And then I started making connections to Trail Life. And so I started going through that. And I have these three things to share, all right? So first of all, walking worthy. we will see here is actually, actually has an aspect of being from the Lord. And what I mean by that is that our ability to walk worthy ultimately is from God. All right. And then walking worthy is for the Lord. We walk worthy to please our God. And then walking worthy is because of the Lord. We walk worthy because of what God has done. That will be our focus this evening. Many other glorious truths that can be pulled from that, but we're going to focus and zero in on kind of on that concept this evening. So walking worthy is from the Lord. The Lord works through means. We have heard Pastor James use that term. We've heard the reformers use that term. It shows up in our catechisms and our confession of faith, the idea of means and the Lord working through means. We see in the Confession of Faith that it says, saints by profession are bound to maintain a holy fellowship and communion in the worship of God and in performing such other spiritual services as tend to their mutual edification. There's a means that is implied there of God building up the saints, edifying the saints through this means of working and helping each other through spiritual service. edifying speech, admonishment. These are means that the Lord works through his spirit to help us grow in Christlikeness. So what does Paul say here elsewhere? I didn't actually quote, I didn't grab the, the actual scripture reference, but he says, I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with long suffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. So we see here, Paul is saying that I'm praying for you, I'm always praying for you. We saw that in the passage that we read at the beginning, that they are not ceasing to pray for you. And what, in the passage that we read at the beginning, what did they pray for? They prayed that you would be filled with the knowledge of his will and all wisdom, and that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing him. They prayed specifically for things, for the growth and godliness of the believer, and these were not mere platitudes. These weren't all, honey, I'm just going to pray for you kind of things. No, Paul knew and knows that God, who upholds all things by the word of his power, also works in and through prayer. It is a means of grace. Absolutely. That is why he is praying. He is praying because he knows that his God and our God is one that answers prayers. Why is prayer necessary for the Christian? We are asked in the Heidelberg Catechism. It says, because it is that chief part of thankfulness, which God requires of us, and also because God will give his grace and Holy Spirit to those only who with sincere desires continually ask them of him and are thankful for them. Do we not see that there, even in that passage we read this evening, where we have Paul demonstrating for us, praying through the prayer that he's prayed, praying for grace and the Holy Spirit in the lives of the Colossians. sincere desire he had on his lips and in his heart. And he even expressed thankfulness there and in other passages in the epistles where he commented on the fact that he was praying for the saints. Why is prayer necessary? Because God uses prayer to build us up in the spirit. What hath God commanded us to ask of him is another question that the Heidelberg Catechism asks. All things necessary for soul and body That's the first part of it. The other part says, which Christ our Lord is comprised in that prayer he himself has taught us. But when we think about that first part, again, this is reiterating that the Lord uses prayer. Why would the catechism say that we should pray for all things necessary for soul and body, and why would Christ our Lord tell us to pray his kingdom come and that he would give us our daily bread and forgive us our debtors? Why would he tell us to pray in that way if, indeed, the Lord did not answer prayer and work by his Holy Spirit through prayer? Charles Hodge says, are those means, and these are just the ordinary means that the Lord works through, he says, are those means which God has ordained for the end of communicating the life-giving and sanctifying influences of the Spirit to the souls of men? So right there already we see even Hodge here is acknowledging what these ordinary means are, these things where the Lord has ordained the communication of life-giving and sanctifying influences of the Spirit. It is not only the relation which any other cause has to the end for which it was appointed, and thus is the condition on which the blessings of God, providential or spiritual, are bestowed. But it brings us near to God, who is the source of all good. Prayer, here, it means. And so Paul here was praying that they would be built up, that they would walk worthy. That walking worthy is an outcome of the prayer, but not because, not from anything Paul did or how special Paul prayed, but because the Lord has promised to work through prayer. So we also hear, as we look at this, that walking worthy, as we have talked about, comes ultimately from the Lord. We see in Ephesians 2 where it says, for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them, right? The Lord, we are the Lord's workmanship, his handiwork. created in Christ Jesus. So, as the Confession of Faith says, their ability to do good works is not at all of themselves, but wholly from the Spirit of Christ. And that they may be enabled thereunto besides the graces they have already received, there is required an actual influence of that same Holy Spirit to work in them to will and to do of his good pleasure. Here is Paul praying for the believers that they would walk worthy, that they would grow in the knowledge and wisdom of the Lord. And what does the Lord say? The Lord says that he works through means, through prayer, that these works, this walking worthy is not of the person themselves. It's not of Paul. It's not of the believer that hears the prayer. It's the spirit of Christ working in us. Now, walking worthy being from the Lord is one aspect, but walking worthy is also to be done unto or for the Lord. We see here in the passage that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing him. What child does not wish to please their mother and their father? Of course, in our own fallen and wickedness, oftentimes that works out in ways that are destructive or sinful in that seeking of affirmation and pleasure from parents. But with our Lord and his goodness and graciousness, he has told us that when we walk worthy, we will see and be fully pleasing to him. That's not as if the Lord grows or decreases in pleasure. Because the Lord doesn't grow or decrease in anything, our perception of that pleasure, his countenance, his face turned toward us, is what we see and feel and experience. John continually speaks to believers as little children. And it's not the, if you look in his first and second and third John letters, he loves that phrase, little children and children and my little children. That's not the, hey, you're an infant type remark that Paul uses. Paul has used that kind of language similar as a way to demonstrate that there was much maturing and growing for that particular church to undertake because they were very immature. They were like babies, right? John did not use that and does not use it in that way. It's in a term of endearment for him, right? And so it should not be surprising that if we are called little children in this term of endearment, that we would seek to please our Heavenly Father, that we would desire to please our Heavenly Father. And that it is good to want to please our Heavenly Father. There is nothing legalistic. There's nothing wrong about a desire to please the one whom we love and the one who has died for us. Children, obey your parents and the Lord, for this is right and well-pleasing to God. If this is true, and this command is true of our earthly parents, how much more of our Heavenly Father? Children, obey your Heavenly Father, for this is right and well-pleasing." It's not legalism. It's not legalism to desire and seek to please the Lord by any stretch of the imagination. Otherwise, God forbid, those wouldn't be in the Scripture. But it is quite plain that there is a command to please the Lord, and there should be a desire that wells up in our hearts to please Him. If you love me, you will keep my commandments. Without faith, it's impossible to please God. We should seek and desire to please the Lord, and our walking worthy, the focus of that walking worthy is not us, but Christ and the pleasing of him. Those good works, oh, did I go backwards? No, I didn't. Those good works done in obedience to God's commandments are the fruits and evidence of a true and lively faith, and by them, believers manifest their thankfulness, strengthen their assurance, edify their brethren, adorn the profession of the gospel, stop the mouth of the adversary, and glorify God whose workmanship they are, created in Christ Jesus thereunto, that having their fruit unto holiness they may have the end, eternal life. Manifest their thankfulness, glorify God, workmanship of Christ. What shall I render to the Lord for all of his benefits toward me? I will take up the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord, and I will pay my vows to the Lord now in the presence of all his people. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, so you will be my disciples. Here again is walking for the Lord, that we would bear much fruit, that he would be glorified and more glorified. Not that he is not already all glorious, but that his glory would be made more manifest in the world and in our hearts. Having your conduct honorable, among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation. And then walking worthy is because of the Lord. So it is from the Lord and our ability to walk worthy is from him. And our focus of walking worthy is for the glory and the pleasure of the Lord. And our walking worthy is because of the Lord. the father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints of light. 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. The qualifier, we're qualified because of our standing with Christ. Christ is the qualifier for us. We walk worthy because he's the qualifier. The deliverer, we are moved from the domain of darkness and moved into the kingdom of the sun. Christ is our deliverer and thus we walk worthy. Christ is our Redeemer. He has redeemed us. He has paid that price. He has suffered greatly as a ransom. So we walk worthy because Christ is our Redeemer. We walk worthy because Christ walked worthy. We walk worthy because Christ came to earth and humbled himself. We walk worthy because Christ is God, the creator of the universe. We walk worthy because He is worthy. So believers are to participate. This is what it means for you. Believers are to participate in the means that the Lord has ordained to stir us up to good works and godliness, walking worthy. So participating and being involved in prayer. For example, these evening week, middle week prayer meetings and daily prayer with the Lord, the sacraments, the word preached, Baptism and observing baptisms, partaking of the Lord's Supper, all of these things, the building up of the saints through edification and through blessed conversation that honors the Lord, admonishment, all of these things. participate in these ordinary things that the Lord has promised will build the saints up. We live in a community which you need to be mindful of, right? And so we, to take this to heart, we ought to be practicing the one and others so often spoken of through the epistles. We should recognize and must recognize the role the Lord has for each of us in the stirring up of each other to walk worthy, the means of grace, attending to them regularly, sharing, praying, consoling, charitable, charitableness, and all the things that we do together to delight in the Lord on his day. You should take heart in your walking worthy. He will complete the good work in you, as it says in Philippians. He has promised to complete it. If you are in Christ, grafted into that vine, you will bear fruit. Christ is the one, Christ is the source. Unless the fruit comes from him who is the source. So let us join together our hearts this evening as we practice, even right now and tonight, the one in others. We join together in prayer, praying together, praying for so many things that we have need of, lifting up the Lord as holy and glorious before us in prayer, pleading our hearts before him and bearing our hearts before him in confession and repentance, extolling our thankfulness to him this evening, in so many ways that Paul himself demonstrated in these prayers in reference to walking worthy. Tonight, we will do some of that in the one and others. So let's move now into our time of prayer, worshiping through prayer, petitioning our Lord, giving thanks to him, glorifying him, seeking his forgiveness.