Partnering With God To Present A Church Mature In Christ (Col 1:24-2:5)

Introduction

Last Sunday we discussed the illustration about how insane it would be for a person to show up 10 minutes late, apologize and give the excuse that they had been hit by a semi truck.

Nobody would believe that. An encounter with a semi would radically change you. So it is with an encounter with God.

Paul is a perfect example of this. He was radically changed from a hater of Jesus and Christians to someone willing to suffer and die for the sake of Jesus name and the church. That’s the Paul who wrote the letter of Colossians.

Paul had been redeemed. A twisted image bearer of God to someone who imaged Jesus in profound ways, especially in how he suffered in love and ministry to the church.

And we are like him. We are not all Apostles, but all of us are redeemed for a glorious purpose. In particular, our text is going to highlight how through relationship with Jesus that we have become partners with God in presenting the church mature in Christ.

Now, a little bit of context.

Context

So far in Colossians, we’ve learned that their is a Good News message being proclaimed in all the earth. Last week we focused on the supremacy of Jesus and saw that the Gospel hangs completely on him, who’s life, death, and resurrection reconciled us to God and sealed our hope for eternal life.

But we also saw that God’s purpose for reconciliation was bigger than getting us into heaven. What was that purpose? Verse 22.

English Standard Version Chapter 1

22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him…

…In order to present us to God holy, blameless, above reproach. The Gospel of Jesus justifies us, but it also sanctifies us.

Our faith is meant to bear fruit. In his prayer for them in verse 9-10, Paul prays: that [the Colossians] may be filled with the knowledge of his will…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.

Jesus wants to present a holy people to his Father. His sacrifice sealed our forgiveness and opened the way for relationship with God in order that we may increasingly know him and what pleases him, to walk in a manner worthy of him.

So the Gospel of Jesus is powerful to save us, not just for the future, but for our daily transformation into the image of Jesus. This is why Jesus came and were going to see today that this is the purpose and goal of all Christian ministry.

This is how Paul describes his ministry. Paul calls himself a minister of this Gospel in verse 23.

Minister is a common word, but what is a minister? Anyone want to take a stab at defining it?

A minister is someone who works on behalf of another’s authority to convey or achieve something. Jesus’s ministry on behalf of the Father was to reconciled the world to God. Paul’s ministry, and I believe all Christian ministry, works on behalf of God to help others grow in their understanding of the Gospel of Jesus.

I find it remarkable that God gives such an incredible job to a sinner like Paul and to people like you and me. But he does. We get to partner with God on mission.

Paul is going to unpack the purpose of his ministry for us and as we look I believe we will learn the substance and goal of our ministry as well.

Paul highlights eight aspects of his ministry to the church that partner with Christ and model Christ’s ministry to us. Look at verse 24:

English Standard Version Chapter 1

Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church,

Paul suffers bodily for the church, as an extension of Christ’s sacrificial service to the church, and thus rejoices in it.

Paul rejoices in his ministry to the church even though causes suffering. How can anyone rejoice over suffering? Only someone who believes the Gospel that our lives our united to Christ so intimately that he can identify his own suffering for the church with Christ’s suffering for the church.

But does Paul believe that Christ’s afflictions and work were insufficient for the church? What could have possibly lacked in the work of Christ on earth? In terms of sealing our reconciliation with God and eternal salvation, nothing. Rather, Paul seems to be identifying the ongoing maturing and sanctification of the church for which Christ is no longer physically present. Instead, he is actively engaged by his Spirit in and through the body of Christ. So much so that but Paul sees himself as actively participating in the ongoing work of Christ on behalf of the church. I appreciate how the NLT puts it:

New Living Translation Chapter 1

24 I am glad when I suffer for you in my body, for I am participating in the sufferings of Christ that continue for his body, the church.

Jesus continues to sacrificially serve the church until she is presented mature before God and he has welcomed his people into that process in an incredibly intimate way.

We are described as the body of Christ and he is our head. We have been united to Christ in such a way that we become his hands and feet on earth. So much so, that when Jesus rebukes Paul on the road to Damascus, he challenged him by saying: “Saul, Saul, why are persecuting me?” Ultimately, God has ordained that through the church, his body, that every member would build one another up unto full maturity by the Spirit’s power within us.

So, Paul’s first ministry of the Gospel is to suffer on behalf of Christ for the church. And that great purpose causes him to rejoice.

Did you know that you too can participate in the sufferings of Christ? Can you say that you suffer for the church? And that you rejoice in it?

What constitutes suffering for Christ? Is it only bodily persecution? Paul’s suffering we know was physical, in his flesh. But we know from other texts that it was also mental. He carried a burden for the church. It was sacrificial in time, money, energy. Everything he did was bent towards serving the church. I believe Paul would say that anything that is sacrificial with time, money, energy: prayer, writing, teaching, service, discipling, counseling, helping. Basically, the use of your gifts for the church in love is a form of suffering for the church on behalf of Christ. But even if it were to cost us physically, I pray that we would be able to rejoice because of our incredible union and partnership with our Jesus. Many of you are so faithful to pour your lives out on behalf of Jesus to one another.

Let’s look at the another aspect of Paul’s ministry from verse 25:

English Standard Version Chapter 1

25 of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, 26 the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. 27 To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

2) Paul has a unique stewardship from God to make the Word of God fully known.

Paul’s ministry is unique to him and given from God. He has been given something to steward. This is certainly the case in terms of his Apostleship. He’s been called and sent to the Gentiles, which the Colossians were. Non-Jews whom God was welcoming into his kingdom through the Gospel of Jesus. Paul says, this stewardship was given to me for you. For this particular group of people making up the church, God cared for and worked through Paul on their behalf.

But the substance of that stewardship was to make the Word of God fully known. The Word of God had been given through the prophets of old, but Paul has been called to make it “fully” known, that is to unpack for us by the Holy Spirit the Gospel of Jesus which is for both the Jew and the Gentile.

We see this in verse 26:

There was a mystery hidden in the story of God. It whispered of a Messiah, a serpent crusher, a coming king to whom the nations would come, but it was hidden for ages. Paul says, now it is revealed to the saints, that is the church.

Verse 27 shows us that Paul’s stewardship is to reveal to the church “how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” I love this sentence! Simply put, Paul is saying that the Gospel is shown to be especially glorious among the Gentiles, people like the Colossians, people like us, because of the fact that the Gentiles were at one time cut off from God’s presence and his presence. This is symbolized in the temple structure, where no Gentile could pass a certain point without losing their life. They were peoples who worshiped false gods, who practiced sin. In his letter to the Ephesians, another Gentile church, Paul says it like this:

English Standard Version Chapter 2

remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

No hope without God. But now their is hope. There is hope of glory! And that hope is rooted in “Christ in you”. Through faith in Jesus, God’s presence is not only accessed, the curtain torn and the way opened, you have become the temple in Christ!

Don’t you agree with Paul? This is a gloriously rich truth!

This is the hope of the Gospel, not just that heaven is accessible, but that heaven’s substance, Christ Jesus, has come into you through faith and by the Holy Spirit.

Before I move on, I just want to apply this to you. Paul has a unique stewardship here. None of us can say that we are uniquely called by God to make the Word of God fully known. In fact, since Christ has come, there is nothing else that can be added to Scripture! He is the purpose and substance of it all.

But I believe each of you are called by God uniquely for something else. The substance of your ministry will be the same. The Gospel of Jesus revealed through his Word. But as unique members of the body, uniquely designed and called by God, you are called to different parts of this ministry, to different places and peoples. If God’s purpose is to fill the earth with his glory, that his people would increase in their knowledge of this Gospel, and his plan is to do that through his Spirit-filled body, know that if you are in him, you have a unique role and purpose and ministry. With your community and in prayer, I want to challenge you to get to work in his strength and watch how he uniquely uses you!

Let’s see another aspect of Paul’s ministry in verse 28:

English Standard Version Chapter 1

28 Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.

3) Paul proclaims Christ, warning and teaching, in order to present everyone mature in Christ.

Jesus is the substance of all Christian ministry. Whether we administrate or serve, evangelize or teach, it should all be done in his name and for his glory.

But what does warning and teaching have to do with proclaiming Christ? I think teaching is relatively clear, but sometimes we forget the importance of warnings.

Paul’s letter is partially stirred up as a warning. Do not be led astray by false teachers. Do not let people lead you away from the center of all, which is Christ. The pages of Scripture are filled not just with feel good hopeful material, but also with warnings of judgment, of a real enemy of our souls, of a sinful nature that indwells all of us that we must war against, of a world that is alluring and wicked.

This is why, I think, our work requires wisdom, which Paul highlights. Teaching God’s Word, applying it to our culture and context requires care. False teaching is often not straight forward. The road is narrow in this world, which means that we need wisdom to help others mature in Christ.

Paul says in 2:3 that Christ is wisdom, so unless we know him and center all on him, there is no wisdom. Likewise, Proverbs says, the beginning of wisdom is fear of God. But in Christ, in the fear of the Lord, with Gospel glasses on, God equips his people to mature in their thinking in life and the world through experience with him. And as we mature in him, being granted life wisdom, we are called to teach and warn one another according to that wisdom in order that others might grow mature.

So, please note that our faith requires both the wise warnings and teaching of those a little bit ahead of us on this journey if we are going to grow mature in Christ, which is the goal of all we do.

Focus in on the last part of verse 28. “that we may present everyone mature in Christ.”

This phrase struck me this week. This word “present” in particular. Where else did we see the word present in this book so far? 1:22.

Paul has it right here. If Jesus’s goal is to present us holy, blameless, and above reproach before God, our goal in everything we do as followers of Jesus should be to join in that purpose. Isn’t it incredible that we get to participate in the mission of God? You and I are indispensable parts of God’s rescue plan for the world.

This is precisely in line with Jesus’s commission to the church before he ascended. Not just to the Apostles, but to all of us. Make disciples of all peoples, baptizing them, teaching them to obey everything I commanded. This could be summed up in two verbs: make and mature disciples.

Whatever you do in life, I want to challenge you to centralize your weekly rhythms around this commission. Make and mature disciples. Wake up in the morning and ask God to show you if you are being faithful to him and how he wants you to make and mature disciples. With your spouse, with your kids, in your workplace, and int he world, in the church, is this the goal of my life?

Our greatest desire and goal in life should be to be formed into the image of Christ and to help others be matured into the same. This is the essence of our mission statement. Follow Jesus in everyday life and help all kinds of people do the same.

Now, let’s land the plane with a few more verses and the last highlighted aspects of Paul’s ministry, starting in verse 29:

English Standard Version Chapter 1

29 For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me. 2 For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face,

5) Paul toils. Paul struggles a great struggle for the church. But it is in God’s strength.

This is hard work. Yet it is empowered by God. Paul is showing us that Jesus is faithful. Jesus calls us to make and mature disciples and that he would always be with us in that process to the very end (Mt. 28:20). Paul reminds us, this is hard work, but we are not alone in it. He is working with “all his energy”, “powerfully working” within us. Praise God!

Look at 2:2:

English Standard Version Chapter 2

2 that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Here we see a synonymous ministry goal in line with the work of maturing disciples of Christ.

6) Paul struggles to help them reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding of the Gospel of Jesus.

In verse 3, Paul proclaims that in Jesus are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Like we talked about last week. Christ is supreme. The center of all. So he is the focus.

Paul’s ministry is to encourage their hearts, that they would feel the comfort, the stirring, the passion awaken in their hearts for Christ.

And he struggles for them to do this together, hearts knit together like a garment. United in love, we are meant to be built up into knowing Christ and being fully assured in him.

Maturity in Christ is a happy place. Paul says riches again here in 2:1. You are rich if you know you are saved in Christ. You are rich if you know him. If you can say amen to that, oh that we would want to join in Paul’s struggle.

Finally, look at verse 4.

English Standard Version Chapter 2

4 I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. 5 For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ.

7) Paul struggles to protect the church from false teachers who lead them away from Christ and the Gospel.

Church, many fellow Christians are being deluded with persuasive arguments. That’s what this word plausible means. Which is why is it so important that we join the struggle with Paul in order to help one another remain steadfast and stable until we are presented mature to God in Christ.

Oh that we would rejoice to be part of this ministry struggle, which we work on behalf of Christ and in his strength.

Paul rejoices when he sees their good order and firmness of faith in Jesus. All his work is towards that end leading to his joy. I pray that our joy would be wrapped up in Jesus like this. That knowing him and making him known would be the greatest delight of our hearts and lives.

Paul was absent but present in Spirit, deeply affected by the actions of the church. In the same way, Christ who is absent in body but present in the Holy Spirit, is jealous for us. He rejoices over us as we walk with him and bear fruit in him and is grieved when we are deceived.

Friends, Jesus is united to us in the most intimate way. He is laboring now in us and through us until we are made fully mature in him and presented before God.

As Paul was welcomed into this work of Christ, we too have been welcomed to participate in this work. Will you join him. Here the call of Christ your captain.

We have a stewardship from God for such a time as this, to make the Gospel of Jesus known and to present everyone mature in Christ.

So what is God speaking to you this morning through this text and sermon?