Colossians 1:10―1 Thessalonians 4:1; John 8:28, 29
Walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God―Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more.
Then said Jesus unto them…He that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him.
J. C. RYLE (1816-1900): Let Christians never forget the practical lesson that, in this verse, as in many other places, Christ is their example and their encouragement. Like Him, however short they may come, let them aim at “always doing what pleases God.”
MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): What will the Lord be pleased with?
D. L. MOODY (1837-1899): More depends upon my walk than my talk.
CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): If we entertain any doubt how we ought to walk we need only look to the Lord Jesus Christ: in Him we see precisely how we ought to walk and to please God.
C. H. MACKINTOSH (1820-1896): We should not know how to walk were it not for that one most precious, most deep, most comprehensive sentence which fell from the lips of our blessed Lord, “I am the way.” Here is divine, infallible guidance. We are to follow Him. “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life,” John 8:12. This is living guidance. It is not acting according to the letter of certain rules and regulations. It is following a living Christ—walking as He walked, doing as He did, imitating His example in all things.
JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): “He that abideth in him ought himself also so to walk even as he walked,” 1 John 2:6. This is the same with that Colossians 2:6, to “walk in Christ;” and with that, 1 Peter 2:21, “to follow His steps.”
CHARLES SIMEON: We must walk in Christ, by a living faith…Our Lord Himself tells us, that “without Him,”―that is, without an union with Him by faith, “we can do nothing,” John 15:5; and Paul tells us that “without faith it is impossible to please God,” Hebrews 11:6.
C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): Then the next question is, “Do I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ?” Faith is the main question for conscience to decide, together with the following ones, “Do I also keep His Commandments? Do I obey God? Do I seek to be holy as Jesus is holy? Or am I living in known sin and tolerating that in myself which does not and cannot please God?”
JOHN WESLEY (1703-1791): They who receive the precious gift of faith, thereby become the sons of God; and, being sons, they shall receive the Spirit of holiness to walk as Christ also walked.
A. W. PINK (1886-1952): “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him,” Colossians 2:6. That is an exhortation to Christians, and its force is, “Continue as you began.” But how had they begun? It was by “receiving Christ Jesus the Lord,” by subjecting themselves to His will, by ceasing to please themselves. His authority was now owned. His commands now became their rule of life. His love constrained them to a glad and unreserved obedience. They “gave their own selves to the Lord,” 2 Corinthians 8:5.
CHARLES SIMEON: By this is meant that we should walk in a continual dependence on the Lord Jesus Christ for all those blessings which we stand in need of. He is the fountain of them all: they are treasured up in Him―Do we need a justifying righteousness? To Him we must look for it, and from Him we must receive it: We must call Him, “The Lord our Righteousness, Jeremiah 23:6. Do we need grace to sanctify and renew our souls? From Him we must receive it, according to our necessities, John 1:16…Those who are striving after a more perfect conformity to their Lord and Saviour, it is well that you are endeavouring to “walk even as Christ walked.” But attempt it not in your own strength. You must be “strengthened with all might in your inward man, by the Spirit of the living God.”
JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): “And walk in love as Christ also hath loved us,” Ephesians 5:2. We ought to embrace each other with that love with which Christ has embraced us.
JOHN NEWTON (1725-1807): The will of Jesus Christ is, that those who belong to Him should walk exactly in His footsteps; that they should be, as He was, full of mercy and love; that they should render to no one evil for evil, but endure, for His sake, injuries calumnies, and every outrage. To them all anger and resentment should be unknown.
CHARLES SIMEON: Like Him, we must exercise meekness and patience, and forbearance, and love even to our bitterest enemies, never swerving in the least from the path of duty for fear of them, nor yielding to any thing of a vindictive spirit on account of them, but rendering to them, under all circumstances, good for evil, and committing ourselves entirely to the disposal of an all-wise God, 1 Peter 2:21-23.
C. H. SPURGEON: The large-heartedness of the Lord Jesus Christ is one of the most glorious traits in His Character. He scattered good of all sorts on all sides.―Do good “as much as lies in you,” to the utmost extent of your power and let that be of every sort.
CHARLES SIMEON: In a word, “the same mind must be in us as was in Him,” Philippians 2:5, under every possible situation and circumstance of life; and then, as “he pleased the Father always,” so shall we infallibly be approved by Him. Like Him, we must live altogether for God, making it our “meat and our drink to do His will,” John 6:34. Like him, we must rise superior to all worldly cares, or pleasures, or honours, “not being of the world, even as he was not of the world,” John 17:16.
J. C. RYLE: And like Him, let them be sure that in so doing, they will find the Father “with them,” and will never be left quite “alone.”
CHARLES SIMEON: And as surely as we tread in His steps in this world, we shall be seated with Him on His throne in the world to come―Up then, and be doing. We have shewn you how to walk and to please God, and you have begun the blessed work: but O, we entreat you to abound more and more! And may “the God of peace, who brought again from the dead the Lord Jesus, that Great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ: to whom be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.”
