Strength for Families Who Feel Worn Out - Colossians 1

Pastor Dan Walker, PhD, MDiv

Introduction: When Families Feel Worn Out and God Promises Living Water

Today we begin a new message series entitled “Stronger Families Through Christ.” What is a family? A family is the God-ordained union of husband and wife, extended through children and household, and embraced within the family of God, the church. Single parents and their children are families.

Families are extended through children and grandchildren. A single person without children is part of their family of origin and every one should be part of the family of God. No one is left out as we go through this series. God desires for our families to grow stronger to face the challenges of life.

The way to grow stronger is through relying on Jesus Christ. In this series, we will be studying the book of Colossians. The book of Colossians was written by Paul to the church in Colossae. The letter was written to challenge and completely put down the false teaching that threatened the spiritual future of the church and its families.

False teaching is rampant in our day and age as well. False teaching works to weaken and destroy families in our time. This morning our message is entitled “Strength for Families Who Feel Worn Out.” Every family knows what it feels like to be worn out.

Pressures from work, parenting, finances, and relationships weigh heavy. When we’re exhausted, we begin to forget who we are in Christ. We lose sight of hope, gratitude slips, and we try to push forward in our own strength. Often putting Christ and the church low on our priority list.

Spiritually this weariness weakens our prayers and drains our joy. But Paul reminds us in Colossians, that God has already given us everything we need in Christ. He’s given us grace that secures our identity, wisdom that directs our walk, and power that strengthens and rescues us. Think of a houseplant that hasn’t been watered for a while.

It’s leave droop, its stems sag, life seems to drain away. But when water is poured in, the plant revives. Slowly the leaves rise, the color returns and life flows again. Families often feel like that plant, tired, drooping, withering under the pressures of life.

But God promises living water to restore weary homes.

Psalm 1:2–3 (ESV): but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.

Here is the solution to worn out families. Wouldn’t you like your family to be like a tree planted by a stream, that bears fruit, never withers and prospers in everything. Sounds pretty good doesn’t it. But this is one of many conditional promises in the Bible.

To have a strong family like this, our families must delight in, meditate on and follow the truth of God’s Word every day.

Isaiah 40:29 (ESV): He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength.

Perhaps you feel your family is faint and weak. God doesn’t despise weakness, He delights to strengthen weary hearts if we ask.

John 7:37b–38 (ESV): … Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”

Jesus invites thirsty families and parents to come to him and drink. God desires for rivers of living water to flow out of our hearts and families. In the next verse Jesus explains that this living water refers to the Holy Spirit, who is the one who strengthens us. When families feel worn out, God strengthens us with His grace, His wisdom, and His rescuing power.

So, let’s dig into the book of Colossians.

We Root Our Identity in Grace

Colossians 1:1–2 (ESV): Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father.

Paul roots his identity as an apostle of Christ Jesus in the will and grace of God. Listen to how he addresses the believers in the Colossian church. He calls them saints and brothers in Christ. Contrary to the false teaching that only special people are saints. God’s Word here and in many other places tells us that all believers in Jesus are saints and part of the family of God.

The Greek word for saints is hagios, which means holy ones. As believers we are set aside and consecrated for God’s purposes. Being a saint is both a position (declared holy through faith in Christ) and a calling (to live in holiness). To be a saint in God’s eyes is not earned, it is a result of God’s grace in our lives, which also brings God’s peace.

Colossians 1:3–4 (ESV): 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 and of the love that you have for all the saints,

Faith in Christ Jesus and love for all the saints (other Christians) mark the Colossian believers. These aren’t products of human strength, but a result of God’s work in them. Even weary families can be known for faith and love when they rest in Jesus. Notice that their faith was directed toward Jesus and their love was directed to the other believers, the saints in their church family.

The two, faith in Jesus and love for church family must go together.

Colossians 1:5 (ESV): because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel,

The first two marks of strong families were faith and love. Now comes hope, our hope in eternal life with Jesus and other believers forever. Hope fuels faith and love. Families that lift their eyes to heaven find strength to love their families and their church family in the present.

All this came from the gospel, the word of the truth, God’s Word alone. We root our identity in God’s grace and truth.

Application: Model Faith, Hope, and Love in the Church and Home

As parents, you must model this faith, hope and love for your children. You teach your children by setting the example and teaching them to do the same. You teach your children to have faith in Jesus and to follow how you practice your faith on a daily basis. You teach your children to love the church family, by being in church every Sunday and bringing them with you, whether they want to come or not.

You teach your children that church, youth group and Life Group comes first in your lives and are more important than any extracurricular activities. If your job interferes, find a way to change your job. You must put God first. This must continue through college.

As parents you must ensure that you and your children have a plan to continue to walk with the Lord through their college years. Be very careful with those plans if you are thinking about sending your children away from home to a secular college. This is how we raised our seven children, and they are all serving the Lord and active in biblical churches. Spend time with your children, talking about the importance of faith, hope and love.

Create and post a family identity or vision statement that you repeat regularly. From this passage, you could say, We are a family in Christ, covered by grace, living with heaven’s hope and loving our church family. This is how you spread God’s truth to your own family.

Pray for Wisdom and Walk Worthy

Colossians 1:6 (ESV): 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,

This verse continues from verse 5, speaking of the truth of God’s Word the gospel. The gospel, God’s truth is like seeds that are planted in human hearts. The gospel is being spread in the whole world in obedience to the Great Commission of Jesus. As God’s truth is spread, those seeds sprout and bear fruit, that is a harvest.

The harvest is new believers coming into the family of God through faith. And the gospel continues to bear fruit in the lives of believers as we follow Jesus. The gospel is alive and fruitful today as well. Even weary families can bear fruit when they continue to receive the grace of God.

God’s truth must be heard and understood in order to bear fruit. Either in an unsaved person’s heart or in a believer’s heart.

Colossians 1:7–8 (ESV): 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 points to Epaphras as an example of faithful ministry. Families don’t flourish in isolation. God strengthens us through faithful brothers and sisters who encourage us in the Spirit. Another reason you and your family need to be involved in the church family.

You learn from the faithful pastors and leaders in the church family. We are not designed to live the Christian life alone. We were created to share life together.

Colossians 1:9–10 (ESV): 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;

Paul prays for wisdom for the church family that will lead them to a worthy walk. The first wisdom is knowledge of God’s will so that we do God’s will. We learn God’s will from reading His Word on our own and by learning from teaching in our church family. We also learn God’s will by learning to listen to the Holy Spirit.

Once we know God’s will, then we can orient our lives and families to carry out His will. Families flourish not through more effort but through God’s wisdom shaping their daily choices. Walking worthy is pleasing the Lord, bearing fruit in our good works and continuing to increase in our knowledge of God.

Application: Build Daily Rhythms of Prayer, Bible, and Church Participation

As a parent be sure that you are spending daily time in prayer and God’s Word on your own as an example. Encourage each of your children to do the same. If they’re young, you should have a regular time of teaching them God’s Word. Regularly bring them to church to learn on Sunday mornings, children’s classes or youth group. Talk about what they learned on Sunday afternoon.

Pray daily for each member of your family that they will be filled with the knowledge of God’s will and that they would walk worthy of Him. Celebrate together good fruit in your family and in answered prayer. As a parent, you should be your children’s primary teacher of God’s Word.

We Live from Christ’s Rescue, Not Our Reserves

Colossians 1:11 (ESV): being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy;

As understand God’s wisdom and walk worthy of Him, he will strengthen us with all power. God strengthens families with endurance and patience. Not just survival, but joy-filled perseverance that only His power can supply. Our strength in life, in our families comes not from us but from God’s power.

He is the one who gives us everything we need to raise stronger families. He is the one who is able to help us keep on even when the going gets tough. And He will help us endure until the breakthrough happens and we rejoice.

Colossians 1:12 (ESV): giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.

Thanksgiving to the Father builds our faith and strengthens us, no matter what we’re going through. As believers, we are qualified to share in eternal life. This is the inheritance of every saint in light, that is every believer. Gratitude for this inheritance fuels endurance and joy.

How are we qualified for eternal life that begins here and now?

Colossians 1:13–14 (ESV): 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.

At the heart of our strength is Christ’s rescue. Each one of us once lived in the domain of darkness, lost in our sins. But Jesus came, died for our sins and rose again. When we believe in Him, He sets us free from sin’s darkness and transfers us into the kingdom of Jesus, the kingdom of light.

In the kingdom of God, we have been redeemed, all our sins are forgiven. We are children of God. Families do not have to live from their own reserves, but from His redemption and forgiveness.

Application: Practice Confession, Assurance, and Witness as a Family

Have regular time with your children for Bible reading and prayer. One idea is to read Colossians 1:13-14 aloud. Confess sins quietly to God, then declare to each other: In Christ, you are forgiven and a child of God. Have your family pray together for others who are still in the domain of darkness.

Pray that they will be transferred into the kingdom of God. Ask God to give your family members opportunities to be witnesses for Jesus. We live from Christ’s rescue, not our reserves.

Conclusion: God Has Given Your Family Everything Needed to Endure with Joy

Remember the plant at the beginning of this message. Without water, it droops. But with water, it revives. Families are the same.

Without Christ, we wither. But with Him, our leaves lift, color returns, and life flows again. In Christ, God roots us in grace, fills us with wisdom, strengthens us with power, and rescues us into His kingdom. He has not left your family to wither.

He has given you everything you need to endure with joy.

📘 Continue the Journey

Reflect deeper and apply this week’s message with the Message Study Guide — perfect for personal devotions, family discussion, or your Life Group.

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