For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.
For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (New International Version)
When I was younger, I played a lot of ping-pong. And I got good at it. In fact, during a several months stretch, back-in-the-day, I had a record of 156-2. Not bad.
That kind of record was only possible because of the two reasons that make any skill an accomplishment:
- Knowledge. I learned the game of ping-pong and eventually knew it inside and out.
- Experience. I practiced for hundreds, if not thousands, of hours in developing my technique.
The sort of knowledge that Paul was talking about was more than information and intellectual understanding; he used a specific word (in the Greek language – ἐπιγινώσκω, pronounced “EPee-gi-NOS-ko) which refers to knowledge gained by experience.
In English, we need to put two words together in order to communicate Paul’s concept: experiential knowledge – an understanding which is gained by continual repetition and practice until there is proficiency.
There are just some things that can only be learned and integrated into life through constant use and development over time. And this is precisely how a person becomes mature in life:
Growth + Time = Maturity.
And with maturity comes the wisdom to live life as it meant to be lived. This means that wisdom doesn’t come overnight or quickly; to be wise requires a great deal of learning, effort, experience, and time.
The wisdom and understanding Paul refers to is not some sort of secret information which has to be accessed through careful initiation into a group of people who have the inside knowledge. No, this is wisdom which can be gained by anyone who embraces a life of faith and spiritual discipline.
The highest form of knowledge for the Apostle Paul is knowing God in Christ.
This sort of knowledge is an understanding of salvation, and experiencing deliverance from guilt, shame, and the false self. Such knowledge is evidenced by the fruit of the Spirit in living a life of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23)
From the outside of Christianity looking in, it may appear that this is all a grand achievement of the human will. But it isn’t. On the inside, the Christian life is thoroughly a work of God’s glorious power, bringing new life, and effecting spiritual growth and maturity into a wise and good way of life.
We did not deliver ourselves. God did. The Lord transferred our membership from the realm of darkness to the empire of light. Christians are simply people who have been redeemed by God in Christ. Our liberation is because of God’s gracious forgiveness of sins.
Forgiveness, however, is not the end game. Forgiveness frees us to pursue the spiritual life without guilt and shame hindering us and weighing us down all the time. Forgiveness opens us to the possibilities of positive and life-giving relational connections with God and other people.
In our relationship with God, prayer becomes the conduit of divine/human conversation. That connection, in the past, had blockage because of our unhealthy lifestyles. But it is now unobstructed because of God’s gracious intervention by Jesus, in the Spirit.
So, when it comes to our interactions in prayer, there’s no need to invent a new game; we just need to learn the one we’ve got, and put in the hours of work necessary to become accomplished at it.
Today’s New Testament lesson is a prayer from the Apostle Paul to the Colossian Church. His prayer for them was singular: To have wise minds and spirits, that is, to have knowledge of God – an understanding of who God is and how God operates.
To learn divine ways is to acquire the skill of wisdom.
Paul prayed for a reason: so that we might live our lives in a way which pleases God and enables us to sustain a lifetime of spiritual growth.
As people created in God’s image and likeness, we are hard-wired with a spirit which needs strengthening and exercise. That happens as we put in the constant repetitions of connecting with the divine and putting in the time on our knees – praying daily for ourselves and others to mature in faith so that we might all together act wisely and justly in this world, for the life of the world.
A good place to start is to use Paul’s prayer as our own. Never has there been such a need than now for us to know how to apply wisdom in the places and in the circumstances we’ve never been in before.
For wisdom to happen, we must grow in our knowledge by putting in the hours of prayer.
The skill of wisdom doesn’t magically happen. Wisdom is the culmination of acquired understanding; a lot of practice exercising love in the places where love is not; and engaging in a lifetime project of becoming knowledgeable through constant learning, struggling, and growing.
Direct me, O Lord, in all my doings with your most gracious will and wisdom. Further in me your continual help – that in all my work and in all I do and say, I may glorify your holy name; and, by your mercy, obtain the life that is truly life; through Jesus Christ, my Lord. Amen.
Rev. Tim Ehrhardt 