The Letter to the Colossians part 3
Colossians 1:24-2:5 : “The Work of a Disciple-maker”
Have you heard the name Edward Kimball?
Most people haven’t. He was a Sunday school teacher who had a rowdy bunch of boys in his class. One particular young man was struggling in class, so Edward decided to visit the boy at his job at a shoe store. He talked with the boy for awhile, and it took some time later, but the boy finally repented and turned to Jesus for salvation. That boy was Dwight L. Moody.
You may have heard of Dwight Moody, because he was an evangelist around the time of the Civil War. But the story continues. Moody started the Moody Institute which sent missionaries around the world. One particular missionary landed in England where a man named Meyer came to Christ. Meyer in turn, led a man named Wilbur Chapman. Chapman also became an evangelist whose ministry led to a man named Billy Sunday to Jesus. Each of these gentleman are known for their crusades who led literally thousands, if not millions, to Christ.
But the story continues. Billy Sunday’s crusade led a man named Mordecai Ham to Christ, who in turn began his own evangelist ministry. Ham came to Charlotte, NC and made a major impact on a teenager who just wanted to see his classmates disrupt the service. The young man returned a second night to the service, and on that night gave his life to Christ as well. This chain of events demonstrate the power of the Gospel and the influence that each of us have. Because of one faithful Sunday school teacher, millions learned about the saving work of Jesus Christ. But, I should tell you the name of that last teenager, Billy Frank. Although, you probably know him as Billy Graham.
There’s an old adage that says, “You can count the apples on the tree, but who can count the apples in the seed?”
Faithfulness is not measured by what we see, but what will be.
As we continue in Colossians, we come to a passage that speaks to the work of the disciple-maker. It is a work that begins with Christ and continues in faithful followers.
Recap of the Introduction
The introduction of Paul’s letter to the Colossians can be broken into three parts. The first (1:1-14) is thanksgiving for the work God has done in Colossae. The second (1:15-23) is thanksgiving and a praise hymn to Christ for who He is and His wider work. The third (1:24-2:5) is thanksgiving for Paul’s ministry which has been multiplied through Epaphras into Colossae. This introduction is meant to bolster Paul’s letter so that the people of Colossae know that he is not trying to gain dominance over them, but rather he wants them to know that his work and their work is really the work of God in the wider Church.
Now, for us, it allows us to take a look at what God did those many centuries ago and see how it relates to what He is doing today.
1:24-28 : “To make the Word fully known”
4 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, 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. 28 Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.
Paul rejoices in his suffering. It’s a concept that we’ve discussed before, because it resurfaces time and again in Scripture. How can we rejoice during times of suffering?
It is because we know the outcome of our suffering—faithful endurance that builds our relationship with Christ. It is a perfection of our faith. And notice Paul equates his suffering with that of Christ’s Body, the Church. As each Christian suffers and is strengthened, so the Body of Christ is built as a whole. His strength becomes our strength which is then given to weaker members who are thus strengthened.
The process of ever-strengthening is just like the gospel spreading. Christ came to bring the Kingdom of Heaven to earth. Now, each person who hears and believes becomes a member of that Kingdom. Christ told the disciples, the disciples told their disciples, and so on until even today, every time someone repents and believes they become a member of Heaven and a chain in the Gospel story. As the story spreads, so too does the strength of Christ.
When we believe the Gospel, we are also receiving the life and strength of Jesus to continue the Gospel work—Christ’s mission becomes our mission.
In that process Paul knows he has a Ministry given to him by God. He is a steward of the mission God has for him. It is not really Paul’s Ministry, it is God’s. Paul is managing a ministry that does not belong to him.
We tend to think of stewardship as a financial principle, but the truth is, all that we have is God’s, including our personal ministries. When God lays on our heart to evangelize a person or people group, when God points us to a service in the community, or guides us to utilize our business for the Kingdom of Heaven, that is God telling us, “I have a work I want to do, and you are going to help Me do it.” It is not given to us to own, it is given to us to manage.
I am not a sports fanatic myself, so I texted a friend of mine who is, and this is the analogy we came up with:
In a football team, there is an owner, a head coach, a defensive coordinator, offensive coordinator and players, and then a wide variety of support staff. Now we may try to place ourselves somewhere in that franchise and say, “That’s my job, and that’s where I’ll stay.” Let the preacher be the coach, or let so and so help us with offense or defense. But, we acknowledge that Jesus is the owner.
However, if we study Scripture enough, we see a very different picture. It is Christ who is the Head, who leads us, who coordinates our defense, who gives us the plan for offense, and who supports every operation of the Church! Our job is to do whichever job Jesus points us to at the time. That is what stewardship is—realizing that our function is service to the true owner, knowing that we don’t work for ourselves.
That is what “ministering according to the stewardship of God” is:
We are called to serve where God places us, knowing that it is for Him we work and not ourselves.
This is the word of God made fully known. God is calling all to believe and receive His Son Jesus, because it is through Jesus that all can be reconciled and cleansed of their sin. So, like Paul, we continue proclaiming the mystery of Christ and the hope of glory. We proclaim Christ Jesus who brings salvation to those who believe, and we teach everyone with wisdom, in order to present our own pupils as mature in Christ. The goal in making disciples is to make mature disciples, not converted babies. And that is where it can be a struggle. But, thanks to God, we do not struggle with our own strength.
Let’s continue.
1:29-2:3 : “Struggling with all His energy”
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, 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.
Notice that Paul does not struggle with Paul’s energy, he relies on Christ who works within Paul. As we fulfill the task God has given us, we can rest assured that we never work alone. In the Great Commission, Jesus tells us to go into all the world making disciples, but at the end, He also says, “And, lo, I will be with you until the very end of the age.” It is Christ’s mission that we join, and it is Christ’s strength that we can use to fulfill that mission. It is when we wander from where Christ has sent us that we fail. It is when we try to do it our way that we fail. But, if we remain close to Christ, and follow where He leads, we can also rely on His strength.
When we work for the Lord, we work with the Lord.
Paul’s work stretches beyond those whom he has seen into areas that he has not even visited yet. But his struggle is so that all these various groups will be “knit together in love.”
True unity in the Gospel mission is held together by love—love for God and love for the lost.
And that struggle goes back to his goal in verse 28—to present everyone mature in Christ. What does maturity in Christ look like? Paul describes it in verses 2&3. Mature Christians are knit together in love, bask in the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of Christ, in whom we find wisdom and knowledge.
Mature Christians:
are held together by love for one another and the lost
Have full assurance in the knowledge of Christ
Seek their wisdom in Christ
2:4-5 : “That no one may delude you”
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.
These last verses call us to pay attention! We must pay attention to what we are being taught and who we listen to for wisdom. Notice Paul says arguments can be plausible, but that does not make them true. There are many things in this world that sound true. The devil is very good at lying. Sometimes the lie isn’t even all that bad. We see things in this world that we believe to be good, but if we allow them to take precedent over Christ, then they become idols and drive us from true wisdom.
So how can we know what is true and right? Look again at verse 5. Paul is absent from the Colossians but with them in spirit, and he rejoices to see what?—their good order and the firmness of their faith in Christ. The test for whether our wisdom comes from Christ is whether our faith is in Christ or some other thing. And our faith will drive our actions.
This entire introduction sets up what Paul will continue in the remaining chapters—true actions are driven by true faith.
Firm faith in Christ is demonstrated in both belief and in action.
If our beliefs or our actions carry us from Christ, then we have been deluded. It does not matter how plausible our beliefs, or how practical our actions. Christ is our Creator. Christ is our Savior. Christ is our wisdom. Without Christ we are deluded and lost.
Without Christ we are deluded and lost.
So, today, as we close the introduction to Colossians, let us pray for wisdom found in Christ. Let’s take stock of our own actions and our own beliefs and ask, “Is this really of Christ, or have I been listening to something else?”
And I will add, it is paramount we get that question right. God’s work will continue. The Lord is hard at work in Chilhowee and in the rest of the world. He is calling every Christian to take hold of a piece of that mission. Some Christians have let go of the work God has made them a steward of. They may have had some plausible reasons to do so, but we must remember: the work of God continues until Christ returns. If we have breath, we have a task to do. And that task does not go away until it is accomplished.
In the first few centuries of Christianity, the Church faced a series of persecutions, a series of widely popular false teachers, and a series of pandemics. In the 21st century, as we face our own persecutions, our own false teachers, and now our own pandemic, we must remain as resilient as our forefathers were. We must continue the task God has given us using His strength, and work fully assured in the knowledge that God has come to us and God remains with us.
Without Christ, we are deluded and lost, but with Christ, we are centered in the truth that all things are possible for those who believe.