Colossians 1:24-29
Well, we return to Colossians this morning, and I invite you to turn in your Bibles to Colossians 1:24. Colossians 1:24 starts this amazing section on Christ’s gift of Paul as the apostle to the Gentiles. And that makes Paul our apostle. And as our apostle, he has a lot to teach us about having joy in Christ even amidst trials and suffering. A lot to teach us about how to live a faithful life for God’s glory in service to him, and how to have a powerful Christ centered ministry.
Now for every Christian, what I’ve just said is attractive. It’s attractive to us as Christians to learn how to rejoice in suffering, how to serve God faithfully, how to have a powerful Christ centered ministry, because those are distinctively Christian ambitions and, as such, they are every Christian’s ambition. We make it our aim after all to please him, knowing that we will all appear at the judgement seat of Christ to give an account of our stewardship, so that we can be recompensed for what we have done with these lives that he has given to us.
If you want to have confidence before him, if you want to not shrink away from him in shame at his coming due to a self-centered life, then have a listen to what Paul says here in Colossians 1:24 to 29, “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and I fill up what is lacking of Christ’s afflictions in my flesh, on behalf of His body, which is the Church, of which I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God given to me for you, so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the Word of God,
“that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His Saints, to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you the hope of glory. Him we proclaim, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. For this purpose I also labor, striving according to His working, which He works in me in power.”
Now, as we learned last week, Paul is writing here about Paul. He’s writing about his own stewardship of his apostleship. He’s writing with words and with self-reference that applies directly to his Apostolic calling, gifting, office, role. And so these words directly and immediately, these words are about Paul and not about us.
Having said that, though this is directly and immediately about Paul; about his life and ministry, about a unique life and ministry that was like the unique life and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, but his as an apostle, a calling unique to him. And yet it is instructive to us, and yet it is exemplary for us. Just like there are aspects to what Christ did in his ministry, what he suffered, especially his atoning work on the cross that are not replicated by any.
It’s his and his alone and yet there are aspects even in his suffering on the cross that are exemplary to us that we are to follow. And so, what we learn about Paul’s ministry is a model for all of us, as we are to imitate him as he himself imitates Christ. Give you several marks of Paul’s ministry that provide a model for us to show us how he endures suffering and how he gives his life in service to God, and his purposes, and how he uses his mouth to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ.
So three points for this morning starting verse 24, number one: suffer joyfully. Number one: Suffer joyfully. Again, verse 24, “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and I fill up what is lacking of Christ’s afflictions in my flesh, on behalf of His body, which is the Church.” Considering the litany of Paul’s sufferings, which are legendary, they’re outlined in 2 Corinthians 4, 2 Corinthians 11, other places as well.
We might ask the question, how can any of us have the same joy as he had in suffering, let alone even survive that kind of suffering and affliction, like as unto his? I mean, how did Paul do it? First of all, it’s not because Paul learned to love pain. It’s not because he learned to take some sort of pleasure in suffering in and of itself. It’s, it’s not that Paul discovered the secret of getting himself onto some kind of a higher plane into some mental space.
This isn’t some kind of monkish mode of asceticism, where he delights in the severe treatment of the body. In fact, he condemns that attitude in Colossians 2:23. He doesn’t like the prison shackles, doesn’t like the feeling of iron on his skin. He doesn’t enjoy the beatings, all those things hurt. He’d avoid them if he could.
But the secret of joy and suffering is not in learning to love pain, it’s in learning to understand the reason for the suffering, it’s in learning to discern the purpose of God in having us go through it, which is always a good purpose.
So it’s kind of like an athlete who suffers hours and hours and days and weeks of grueling practices. He endures the pain of hard workouts. He experiences muscle soreness and body aches, after punishing training session, after punishing training session. Yeah, we can all lie to ourselves and others and tell us we all want, that so-called endorphin high, but all that stuff really, at the end of the day, never really feels that good. It hurts. And the older you get, the more it hurts and it doesn’t go away, right. So why does he do it? Why does he do it?
The athlete does that because of what that hard training produces, results on the field of play, winning. Paul looked to the Lord and he looked at how the Lord had set joy before him and in setting joy before him, he endured the cross and he despised the shame. He looked through the cross ahead to the glory. He looked beyond his state of humiliation, when he would take his seat at the right hand of God the father on high.
Jesus endured much affliction in his ministry; three years of affliction. As we said last week, Jesus initiated that which Paul calls, in verse 24, the afflictions of Christ, which is kind of like a body of afflictions, category of afflictions, the afflictions of the messianic suffering servant. It’s a category, messianic affliction. And among the afflictions that Jesus endured in all his life in ministry, one of those was the most sublime and important, supreme, it was his atoning death on the cross.
But the rest of his afflictions that Jesus endured associated with his Messiahship, though they were not atoning in and of themselves, they still were necessary in God’s redemptive plan. Suffering prepared Jesus for his role, and it set proper expectations for all who follow Jesus in faith.
We read in Hebrews, Hebrews 2:10, “that it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings,” to perfect him, he who is the author of our salvation. Jesus in his humanity needed to be trained, needed to be perfected, completed to be the author of our salvation, “for he who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of One.”
That is setting a proper expectation for the rest of us, that if the author of our salvation had to be perfected through sufferings, what about those who follow the author? What about those who are followers and disciples of Jesus Christ, should we expect any less? Jesus poured himself out for his church. He endured the ultimate suffering.
He died an atoning death on the cross, but the entirety of that body of the afflictions of Christ, Jesus had to endure throughout his messianic ministry. And Paul did too, as an apostle and he shared uniquely in a way that none of us do, but he did. He shared uniquely in Christ’s afflictions to bring them to completion.
We learned last time that Paul completed what Jesus began. He filled up in his own flesh the rest of Christ’s afflictions. And so he’s completed this ministry of reconciliation. He’s fulfilled it. He, as an ambassador in a unique role, and we Gentiles are partakers of it. Now, how did Paul suffer his own afflictions? Joyfully, by keeping his eye on the goal. It was by keeping his eye on the purpose of suffering.
Paul understood he had a privileged calling, different than ours. He had a significant role, unique, an Apostolic role, and he stayed mindful of what an incredible honor was his to be designated by the Lord to be an apostle and to be an apostle, in particular, to bring the light of the gospel to us Gentiles. What a privilege.
So with his mind fixed on what he had gained, not on what he was suffering; with his heart content, with his privilege, not complaining about his pain, and with his soul rejoicing in gratitude, not whining about all his trouble, it’s no wonder he could suffer joyfully enduring the afflictions of Christ, because his mind was set on the goal and the purpose. It’s a secret for us, isn’t it?
It’s a model for us. We’re to follow his example, suffering joyfully too, in whatever we suffer through the name of Christ. We have the same Christ as he. We have the same Spirit of God indwelling us as he. And so, we too can follow the same model. Now make no mistake, participating in gospel work will draw fire, if we’re doing it right. It’ll lead to suffering and to some degree of persecution. So you do need to prepare yourself for as Paul told Timothy, indeed “all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 2 Timothy 3:12.
So no persecution in your life, better check your colors, see what banner you’re flying. Check and see whether your life looks like every other self-centered comfort seeker in the world. But the godly in Christ Jesus, promise they will be persecuted and listen, that is a true badge of honor. It was really the substance of Paul’s boast that he suffered for Christ. It’s what he pointed to, his wounds, his scars, his bruises.
There’s a real cause for an abiding joy, not only did Paul keep his eye on the goal, not only did it fix his mind on the purpose of his suffering, he being the last of the Lord’s chosen apostles, the one who would bring, as an ambassador, this message of reconciliation to all of us Gentiles, Paul didn’t just keep his eye on the goal, he also kept his eye on the ball. And by this, I mean not only did he look ahead to the goal, he pursued what the Lord assigned him to do every single day.
Many say that they’ll die for Christ. The real challenge is to live every day for Christ and to live for Christ moment by moment, thought by thought, word after word. And so a second point, first, suffer joyfully, and then, second, serve faithfully. Serve faithfully. This point spans the three verses, verses 25 to 27. And really, this whole thing is a single sentence in the original, but it really does unpack in an unfolding way, a cascading way, glory after glory.
I really like how Doug Moo describes this typical Pauline sentence and by typical Pauline sentence, he means it’s long, okay. But he describes this sentence as resembling a series of Russian dolls. You know those little dolls that you open up and the outer doll opens up to another one inside of it, followed by another and then another, each one yielding kind of a new revelation of interest and beauty and patterns and color. That’s what Paul does too. So don’t be afraid of his long sentences. Just keep opening the dolls.
So we’re going to cover this point on faithful service using three keywords. You can write them down now if you’d like, stewardship, privilege, and treasure. Stewardship, privilege, and treasure. First stewardship, to serve faithfully recognize the significance of your stewardship. Paul says, “I’m minister on behalf of his body, which is the church.” And then verse 25, he says, “of which I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God given to me for you, so I might fully carry out the preaching of the Word of God.”
He’s again using this word minister to describe himself. It’s the word diakonos, Deacon. It’s how he described himself in verse 23, as well, that kind of launched him into this section. In verse 23, the diakonos of the gospel. In verse 25, it’s the diakonos of the church. He’s using diakonos in a broader sense then we do as the Deacons of this church.
We talk about Deacons of the church, who are kind of assistance to the elders and executing the stewardship of the ministry. But here it’s a broad sense, as one who gets something done at the behest of a superior. So he’s a servant, there’s a superior, he’s the agent of that superior. He’s a special servant, a special agent, if you will. He’s a minister for that superior.
Paul’s service, his agency, his ministry starts with the public proclamation of the gospel. And then as verse 28 says, his gospel service, his church ministry is not just public, but it’s also personal. It goes out to each and every man. So he’s got a public and corporate concern to preach the gospel, publicly proclaim, but he’s also got a private and a house by house, person by person interest to administer the gospel to each and every life.
Now this service is an agent or a minister of the gospel and of the church is according to, as he says there, verse 25, “according to the stewardship from God given to me for you.” So God gave him this stewardship and it’s not self-referential. It’s not Paul doing Paul’s thing. It’s Paul being a gift to you.
Paul is an instrument of God’s love to his church. This concept of stewardship is how we all need to think about our lives, because we’ve all received a stewardship from the Lord. Each one of us has resources and gifts and energies and talents. Even, time itself is a resource, isn’t it? And we’re to use resources not as owners of them, but as stewards of them.
We’re not even borrowers of the resources; we’re to be using them; we’re to see them spent, not consumed on ourselves, but spent on others. His resources used for his purposes, that should be our entire life. That should be how we think about everything. That’s what Paul was for the church. That’s what we are too.
What we have from the Lord is not about serving our own interests. It’s not about furthering our own ends. It’s not about comforting and pleasing ourselves, enjoying ourselves. What we have from the Lord is for the furthering of his ends and serving his interests. And what are his interests? To love the church, to love Christ’s flock, care for, to provide for.
You say, what about me and my needs? And you can say that not in a selfish way, but you can really ask the question, well, how then am I served? Well, if you’re pouring yourself out for others and others are pouring themselves out for you, you see how everybody’s served. The point is that each one of us are conduits of the love of God to each and every one of us. It’s like what Ephesians 4 says, each body part is doing its part. It’s each member is fulfilling his role and her role. It builds the body up in love. That’s the idea.
So what we have from the Lord is for the furthering of his ends. It’s for serving his interests and by aligning our interests with his interests, we find all pleasure and enjoyment and satisfaction and contentment. Who is the most blessed being in the entire universe? Is it not God, the blessed one, the blessed creator? He is most content, most satisfied in himself. And what does he do? What are his interests? What pleases him most to pour out love for others. That’s the secret.
It’s not about health, wealth, and prosperity. It’s not about making this your best life now and trying to squeeze all the gusto you can get out of this fallen earth. It’s about having God’s joy in us as we do God’s will through us. And then we’ll be fully satisfied, at peace, content, in joy and gratitude.
That’s Paul’s life. He found great satisfaction and joy. Also, he found that because of the stewardship he received from God was for the purpose of the Colossians, the Ephesians, all those who received his ministry, Jew and Gentile alike. He says “the stewardship is from God given to me for you.” It’s for your sake, for your benefit.
And it’s not just this general universal church that he puts sermons and resources online and he has no idea who downloads it. He has physical people in front of him. He has people that are reported to him from Epaphras, who’ve not seen his face and yet benefit from his ministry. My life, Paul says, it’s for you, it’s for you.
Paul’s stewardship, serves the highest purpose of all. From the holy intra-trinitarian council of God’s eternal decree, he’s extended that, add intra-love outward toward his creatures, and he does it through the agency of Paul’s service and ministry. So Paul’s made a Deacon for this stewardship. He’s turned into an agent of the gospel. He’s turned into a minister of the Church Universal so that he can serve local churches in particular; all according to the stewardship that God gave him for the saints.
Give yourself every day to thinking about your privilege, what God has called you to, what God has given you to do, what you get to do with your life. ” Travis Allen
And then he says this, “so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the Word of God.” That expression there, the preaching of, is in my translation, it’s kind of put into italics, and that’s correct because it’s added for the sake of clarity. It’s not wrong, but it’s not in the original. The expression is actually, so I might fully carry out the Word of God, or even more simply, so I might fulfill the word of God. And that really kind of gets more to the idea of what he’s talking about here.
Paul has a stewardship from God for the sake of us Gentiles. He became an agent of this gospel, a minister of Christchurch for our good, to convey God’s love in the gospel to us. So he might fulfill the word of God for his life. He might fulfill the charge that God gave him to fill up in his own flesh the afflictions of Christ, to be an ambassador for Christ, of Christ’s reconciliation.
That’s the word that he seeks to fulfill. He does it by preaching, sure enough, he does it by proclamation, public. He also does it by teaching and admonishing, private. But in every way he is there to fulfill the word of God, to bring it to completion. So no wonder that Paul endured what he suffered in his flesh, and boy did he suffer, but he did it with rejoicing.
He was always overwhelmed at what God had chosen him for and how God involved him, what he got to do with his life. He never lost sight of that. And I think, beloved, the only reason you and I would lose sight of that is because of distraction, because we’re not intentional about meditating on such things. Paul was intentional.
I think the affliction forced him to be intentional. Sitting in a prison cell, there’s not much else to think about. And you think, boy, how lucky that he got to do that. I have to go to work. I have a family, I’m busy. Can I just encourage you, don’t complain about your situation, circumstances, and certainly don’t turn them into excuses for negligence in your intentionality.
Give yourself every day to thinking about your privilege, what God has called you to, what God has given you to do, what you get to do with your life. But you too have a stewardship, the joy of being caught up in something as significant as this, as meaningful as this, God’s eternal love communicated through your life, conveyed through your work, spoken through your words. It’s worth a bit of suffering for the privilege of being involved in that isn’t it.
Brings us to a second keyword, the word privilege, “To serve faithfully recognize the honor of your privilege.” Paul in verse 26, he’s “the minister of the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to his saints.” Man, his service was a privilege. Paul here is a revelatory agent. He’s an eschatological minister of this last day’s revelation.
He comes to herald a new era. He, this is a prelude to, “the summing up of all things in Christ,” as he says and as he writes about in Ephesians 1:10. Such an exciting mission for exciting times, exhilarating times of a new age. He’s living at the pivot point of history as he enters into the last days, last days in which you and I are living right now.
So what’s concealed and now revealed? Well, the Colossians knew exactly what he meant. They were the recipients of the ministry of Epaphras, and Epaphras brought to the Lycus Valley and to the Colossian church, brought the Apostolic teaching of Paul, as it says in Colossians 1:7.
So they knew what was concealed, what’s now revealed, what this mystery is. He’s just using shorthand. Shorthand for what he taught more fully in Ephesians chapter 3 verses 1 through 13. You can turn to if you’d like there. I’m going to turn to it in a moment, but Paul has written in Ephesians chapter 2 about Gentile inclusion in the citizenship of the saints, Gentile inclusion in the membership in God’s household.
In Ephesians chapter 2, he’s talked about how they’re precious stones in the new temple of God and together they’re all growing into a holy sanctuary in the Lord, into a dwelling place of God by the Spirit. And now having unpacked and spoken of the mystery, now he says this in Ephesians 3, “For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles- if indeed you heard of the stewardship of God’s grace which was given to me for you; that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in brief. About which, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it was now revealed to His Holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit:”
And what’s the mystery, verse 6? “ihat the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel, of which,” this gospel, “I was made a minister, according to the gift of God’s grace which is given to me according to the working of His power. To me, the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to proclaim to the Gentiles the good news of the unfathomable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for all what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things; so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the Church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places. This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him. Therefore I ask you not to lose heart of my afflictions on your behalf, which are for your glory.”
He’s making the same case to the Ephesians, as he’s making to the Colossians, isn’t he? He’s talking about the purpose of his suffering for their sake. He’s talking about the stewardship that he has, that is bringing him trouble. It reminds them right at the beginning of that of his imprisonment. Nothing that should alarm them, but everything that should encourage them, since everything is going perfectly according to God’s plan, landed him in prison.
And so they see the significance of his ministry, that the enemy would try to lock up this herald, this apostle, keep him from the world. The mystery that Paul mentions in Colossians 1:26, that which was once concealed from the past ages and generations, but which has now been manifested to his saints. The same mystery he writes of in Ephesians 3:6. That is the Gentiles, are fellow heirs, fellow members of the body, fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus of the gospel, So Jew and Gentile alike.
This isn’t as revolutionary today, 2000 years later, as it was then, when Gentiles were prohibited from coming near to God in the temple. And if they crossed too far and crossed a certain wall, they had a Gentile area in the temple, but then beyond that, a Jewish area, that if they crossed that wall they did at the pain of their own life, they’d be taken out and stoned.
There was hostility between Jew and Gentile. There was antipathy, acrimony and yet, in Christ, Jew and Gentile are one. They alike, receive the same inheritance. They have these same family status and privilege. They’re no longer left outside, but brought near. They’re both members of God’s family. They’re all seated at the father’s table. They’re both partakers of the feast, Jew and Gentile alike, beneficiaries of all the promises in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
And that’s why the Jews and these early Judaizers, they persecuted Paul. They hated his ministry. They stirred up trouble everywhere. He preached this gospel of grace and this gospel of Gentile inclusion. They hated it. So they tried to bring the Gentiles under the burden of the law that they felt the Jews had to live under too. They had the gospel all wrong.
And now, because of Christ, Jew and Gentile alike, all three offices of Christ, prophet, priest, and king are for all alike. There’s no exclusion on the basis of faith. So by the exercise of his prophetic office, Jew and Gentile alike, they’re no longer left in the dark. But by his prophetic office, those who are ignorant and foolish are now allowed to learn.
They’re now brought into the mysteries and unfolding of the truth by the ministry of the Spirit and his illumination of the Word, his teaching through gifted pastors and teachers given to the Church for the benefit of the Church. By the exercise of his priestly office, Jew and Gentile alike are allowed to draw near, at any time, for any reason, because of the once for all perfect sacrifice that’s been offered by Jesus; on their behalf, it’s been accepted by God.
And so, “now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Jew and Gentile alike can draw near in full confidence, without any fear. They’re accepted in the beloved. He exercises a high priestly ministry, caring for each one no matter the ethnicity, caring for each one individually. By the exercise of his kingly office, Jew and Gentile alike are under his royal protection, and so they fear no enemies because all has been conquered.
Sin, the devil, death, they’re fully satisfied by the king’s provision. They eat daily at the king’s table, drinking freely from the fruit of his vineyards. Jew and Gentile, like that’s the mystery unfolded, that’s the message of the gospel. Again, looking at verse 26, Paul counted it such a high honor that he would have the privilege of carrying this good news to the Gentiles, that he could preach this to them.
Worth a bit of suffering, isn’t it, the privilege of having a role in this? Don’t let the familiarity of the gospel dull you to its radical nature to announce good news to these Gentiles, who were once ignorant and forlorn, now made fellow partakers of the full privilege of all blessing in Christ.
Do you not, while you enjoy these privileges, while you eat and drink of the goodness of God, while you worship Yahweh, the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, do you not feel at least a little weight of responsibility that you should bring this good news to your fellow Gentiles, to Jews as well, about God’s goodness, about his grace in Christ?
This mystery is fully revealed. It’s wide open. It’s printed in black and white. So go out, spread the news, boast in the God who gave it. May remember in the days of Elijah, when I believe it was the Samarians who came and surrounded the city, and there’s a great starvation in the city as they were under siege. And some lepers who were living outside didn’t really know about the events going on inside the city.
As Elijah said, that within this day, and in spite of your unbelief, God is going to just open up the floodgates so that you can eat and drink and have your fill. Even though they were eating their own excrement, starving, they didn’t believe him. But those lepers just thinking, well, we got nothing to lose.
We’re dying, starving, let’s wander over to the Samarians and see, see if we can beg, borrow food. They found that God had driven them all away and there’s the plunder. They’re there going tent by tent, eating, drinking, having their fill, packing some treasure away. And then their consciences strike them.
They say, you know what, it’s going to look really bad, bad optic. If we’re sitting here stuffing our faces and everybody back there is starving, we probably ought to go tell somebody. If even they, for carnal purposes, carnal reasons could recognize that they can’t just sit there and partake and not tell. How much more should we?
With all the motivation in the world, having tasted and seen that the Lord is good, shall we not feel at least some weight, a burden of responsibility to go and preach and tell the good news? It’s a high honor, a great privilege; it’s ours. Come to the third keyword at verse 27, which is the word treasure. Treasure to serve faithfully.
Recognize the infinite value of your treasure. Paul preached what had been hidden, but was now revealed to the saints, verse 27, “Those to whom God willed to make known. What is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Opening up with a Russian doll after Russian doll after Russian doll after Russian doll.
Contrary to the false teachers who were troubling the Colossian believers, true religion does not consist of secret esoteric knowledge, with the greatest truths being hidden from the masses and the hoi polloi and revealed only to a select few; exclusive access to those who are in the privileged class.
When God reveals true religion, he grants full access to all. He just opens up the gates, come in, and he gives the gift of his greatest treasure, which is priceless and for which there is infinite supply, but which by definition means it will not run out. Total satisfaction in truth, in the beauty of glory, in the perfection of all goodness, is that how you see the gospel that you hold.
It’s infinitely valuable, as precious to you as a treasure for which, like the pearl of great price, you’ll trade for anything, even your own life. The string of pearls here starts with the riches, referring to God’s greatest gift to fallen men, which is reconciliation to him through his son, total forgiveness of sins, total perfection in his son’s perfect righteousness.
And so by this reconciliation, there’s full complete access, unhindered, unfettered access to the divine treasury, accessed through Christ, “in whom Colossians 2:3 says, “are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” God says come on in, come in, explore, take a look, rummage through it all.
Go, discover, go, enjoy. The next pearl on the string, you’ve got the riches of the glory. And the glory signifies the beauty of this treasure, the beauty of holiness, but also its weight, the gravity, the significance of what follows, that the glory has to do with this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
The glory of God revealed in the Old Testament in this bright, brilliant, shining light called Shekinah glory, skenein meaning to dwell with, Tabernacle with, sit down and dwell with and live with. And that kind of glory, that dwelling with glory was in God, in shining brightness that hovered over the Tabernacle in the Old Testament.
But then was God tabernacled in the incarnation. In Christ, came to dwell with man by taking on human flesh. This glory has to do with the mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ not near you, not by you, not living next door, but Christ in you, the hope of glory. All those offices I mentioned of the risen and glorified Christ, he’s prophet, priest, and king, they’re no longer experienced externally.
Here, according to this mystery that’s been unpacked in the apostolic preaching, these offices of the risen Christ are experienced now internally, and they’re not the purview of the few, but of the many, any who will repent of sins and trust in Christ. So there’s no need to go out to deserts and wildernesses where the prophets were driven by the ungodly to find the Word of God and learn and understand, no, Christ is in you, even you Gentiles.
In you, by his Spirit, who is your internal truth teacher, he ministers his word to you from within you. John says in 1 John 2:27, “The anointing you’ve received from Him abides in you and you have no need for anyone to teach you. His anointing teaches you about all things.” So the things you learn from more mature Christians or from pastors, teachers, all of that is joined to the Spirit who dwells within you to bring that truth to clarity, understanding, illumination, to make it effective and productive in your life.
Again, not external to you, internal. No need to go to the Tabernacle or to the temple, for the external ministries of the priest to find absolution for your guilt, to erase shame, to receive cleansing of sin, comfort of a clean conscience. No, Christ is in you, and by his Spirit, he ministers the benefits of that cleansing all sufficient sacrifice to you, to lift up your spirits, to remove your shame, gladden your heart, restore you back into full fellowship with the father.
No need for you to go access some royal throne room, passing through layer upon layer of security to get an audience with a king seeking his protection, pleading for his justice, supplicating him for his provision. You have access. You have full access. Perpetual access. Continual audience with the eternal King. Why? Because Christ is in you and by his spirit he ministers to you personally. He’s your King, he’s your protector, he’s your provider. He’s the just judge, cares for you.
He cares for you now and he assures you of his full recompense and reward that will be granted in due time. Because the more you look like him, the more you suffer persecution unjustly for his name’s sake. And he says, “vengeance is mine, I will repay.” Don’t trouble yourself. I’ve got that.
His prophetic, priestly, kingly ministry is for you and it’s in you, because Christ is in you and by the Spirit you have the hope of glory. Now we’ve all been beneficiaries of Paul’s ministry, the agency of his stewardship. That’s from God. And we’ve heard the message of the gospel.
We’ve been pleased with our new found status and privilege. We rejoice in our treasure. And remember, we’re asking this morning some practical questions about how is it that Paul could rejoice in his suffering? Well, he did so by serving faithfully. He recognized the great significance of his stewardship.
He recognized the great honor of his privilege, the value of the treasure that he carried with him. That’s what he ministered. That’s why he ministered. That’s what ministered to him. He’s a satisfied customer and he gives it away.
So, beloved, if we’re to learn the secret of rejoicing and suffering for the sake of Christ, it’s not only about us receiving the benefits of Paul’s ministry, it’s about our participation in it. It’s about fellowshipping with him, serving alongside of him or after him. It’s about us doing our part.
So the real joy, beloved, and the true biblical meaning of this word, fellowship, koinonia; get off the sidelines and get in the game. Get busy, get muddy, get bloody, suffer for the cause, don’t serve your own comfort, because there’s real fellowship and suffering, and it is a high honor to suffer for Christ.
Since he and his apostles suffered so much to bring us the truth, let’s honor their service and sacrifice by giving ourselves to it, too. When you serve faithfully, you’re able to suffer joyfully and then in humble boldness. You will then, number three: preach powerfully. You will preach powerfully and you think, but wait, pastor, you’re the preacher, not me. You’re the preacher, I’m not a preacher. I’m just a fill in the blank.
Look, proclamation is not just the purview of preachers. Every single one of us, by virtue of the great commission are to be disciple makers, are we not? Means we’re to evangelize and to disciple. We’re to teach the truth, proclaim the truth, in some cases preach the truth to those who do not have the truth. That’s called evangelism.
We’re to instruct them in the rudimentary principles of true religion. And then for those who are baptized in that Trinitarian formula, in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, we’re to teach them to observe everything that Christ has commanded. That’s not just for preachers. In fact, Ephesians 4:12 says, it’s our job as preachers in the church to equip the saints for the work of the ministry. That’s all you.
So all of you are to be proclaimers of the truth. I have my role, you have yours, but we are all proclaimers of the truth. And so when you get your head around that, you could follow the rest of what I say in this point.
According to verses 28 and 29, we see the proclamation is powerful when it’s got the right subject and when it’s done in the right spirit with the right energy, you might say. Look at verse 28, “We proclaim him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom that we may present every man complete in Christ.”
Proclamation is not just the purview of preachers. Every single one of us, by virtue of the great commission are to be disciple makers.” Travis Allen
There’s that verb proclaim, katangello. Angello is to announce, and kata is like a preposition on the front of it that intensifies it, to not just announcing, but proclaiming and trying to preach or persuade through what’s proclaimed. It’s about the public and broad dissemination of the truth. So it’s announcing Christ, it’s getting the word out there, and it’s about using every fitting means at one’s disposal to proclaim him.
Notice I didn’t say using every means at one’s disposal, but every fitting means at one’s disposal, every appropriate means, every means that properly adorns the gospel, every means that doesn’t detract from the gospel. When Paul entered Corinth and preached Christ, as he reports about that in 1 Corinthians chapter 2, he was intentional about not peddling Christ, as the influencers of his own day peddled their wares and sold their doctrines and sold their services.
He said, in fact, I was very intentional not to be like the people that you respect and regard and look up to highly and esteem. So I say to you today, brothers and sisters, we’re not social media influencers, podcasters, bloggers, vloggers, content creators, brand ambassadors. We’re not instagramers, Facebookers, Whatsappers, Tik Tokers, Youtubers, Snapchatters, or whatever’s nexters. We’re none of that. We don’t preach Christ for clicks and for fans and for followers and for likes. We preach Christ and him crucified. And if preach clearly and powerfully, he is a stumbling block to the people we preach to, who are unbelievers.
He’s a stumbling block to Jews. He’s foolishness to the Gentiles. He’s offensive to this modern world in his exclusivity. He’s offensive to the modern world in his authority. He’s offensive to the modern world in his invasive call, that we must live our lives in full accountability before him. They don’t like that. But you don’t back off.
It’s not you, you preach. It’s not your friendliness that wins them. It’s Christ by his word and by his Spirit, to those who are the called, both of the Jews and the Gentiles. You know what happens when you preach a clear message about Christ? You know what they relish his exclusivity. That there is salvation in no other name except Jesus and his alone. They love his authority. They look forward to the only perfect one to tell them what to do, because they know when they’ve been in charge of their lives, it’s an absolute train wreck.
They got a litany of bad relationships and all kinds of sins and errors behind them and they’re not so proud as to think, look, I got my life under control, just add Jesus and I’ll do the rest, he’s my copilot. It’s not how they think. They’re eager for him to invade their lives and peer into their souls so they can live accountably before God, because it’s a lack of accountability that’s got them into all kinds of trouble.
You know what, it’s only those who have their eyes open by the Spirit, who are going to see things that way the rest are going to run. Why did they think like that? Because to them, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1, to them Christ is the power and the wisdom of God. The power of God to change their broken, filthy, degraded lives. The wisdom of God to give them knowledge and understanding, to apply the truth and to live in a righteous and beneficial way.
So we proclaim him and notice in verse 28, the switch to the first person plural in this verse. Paul is expanding the group here, isn’t he? He’s no longer just talking about himself exclusively as an apostle. He’s expanding beyond his own strict apostolic stewardship to include his associates who are aiding him in his ministry, to join him in preaching, who like Epaphras, carry out his word and carry forward his ministry from Ephesus into the Lycus Valley.
So this expansion, this kind of opens the door for us, doesn’t it? Includes the likes of us, doesn’t it? We too proclaim Christ, the power and the wisdom of God. So let it fly. Get the message out there, proclaim, announce. Do it publicly, yes, do it privately, as well, from house to house, individual to individual, heart to heart.
Faithful ministry, following the example of Paul, who’s our apostle. It means we’re not content simply to proclaim and announce the good news about Jesus and hand someone a tract and walk away. Look at verse 28, it says, we admonish every man. We teach every man with all wisdom. The word admonish, noutheteo, means to press the truth to the conscience. That’s what exhortation does too, to urge, insist, or persuade.
But this verb noutheteo can go even further, adding a sense of warning to it, to confront and to correct. Look, sinners are wrong in their sinning, and God is not benign about that, or indifferent or apathetic to sin. He’s indignant over their sins. Psalm 7:11 says, God is angry with the wicked every single day.
And so it’s in love, yes, and gentleness, but straightforward proclamation of the truth, in an attitude of humble boldness that we need to tell them that, we don’t leave it there, because that would be nothing, but scolding sinners and that’s no help. Paul proclaimed Christ, as the help of every sinner. He admonished sinners.
Without confrontation and correction, apart from warning sinners, we’ll resist seeking help in Christ, but if they’re going to listen to the admonishment and the warning, well, we have to serve faithfully by teaching them as well. We have to instruct them, have to help them, we don’t want to leave the sinner in his ignorance, we want him to know the truth so he knows how to apply the truth. And you know what that means?
You know what that means for yourself. You got to be a, an obedient student of the truth for yourself, don’t you? You can’t say things like, well, I’m not a reader. Well, I’m not a preacher. I don’t have an official teaching role in the church. I therefore am absolved of all those different commands in Scripture that tell me to go do that. There’s an asterisk next to those and if you go down the bottom in the fine print, my name’s there. I, I don’t have to do that stuff. No, we’re all Christians. We all have treasure. We all have a ministry and a stewardship to conduct.
Paul adds here as he describes the forceful manner of his own preaching, that he preached Christ. He admonished every man. He taught every man. He did so with all wisdom. In other words, he wasn’t like a bull rampaging through a China shop. He was thoughtful. He used his words tactically, tactful if he could. He used his words as vehicles for edification.
He thought about the person, the moment, and he conveyed truth to persuade. He was like the, the man of Proverbs, who studies how to answer. The tongue of the wise studies how to answer. It brings, doesn’t speak with sword thrusts. It makes knowledge acceptable, pleasing, puts it on display.
This is no license for brashness, for rudeness. We’re just talking about a humble boldness here, and with all wisdom, admonishing and teaching, he’s back to his stewardship at the end of the verse according to his unique apostolic role. Paul preached this way, forcibly and boldly, that we may present every man complete in Christ, mature in him, perfect in him.
Murray Harris says, that there’s no special gospel or teaching for a spiritual intellectual elite. The gospel, he’s saying, is preached universally, and it’s applicable to all who repent and trust in him. And that counteracts any intellectual elitism or exclusiveness. Every man, every man, every man repeated three times there is to be presented complete in Christ.
And since all can grow into maturity in Christ, all must grow to maturity in Christ. It’s obligatory. We’re no longer to be children in Ephesians 4:14, “Tossed here and there by the waves, carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men.” We’re to “speak the truth in love.” We’re to grow up. “Grow up in all aspects into Him who’s the head even Christ.
Maturity, perfection, and Paul wants to present us Gentiles, there at the throne before God. Verse 22, backing up says, that’s the work of Christ is to present his people. He “reconciled you in the body of His flesh through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach.”
So Jesus, he’s going to be standing there before the father, presenting us, you and me, his people, holy, blameless and beyond reproach. Standing right there by his side, perhaps bowing at his feet, will be our Apostle Paul, apostle to the Gentiles, also “presenting every man completing Christ.”
You know who else is going to be there? All those who share in the great gospel work, all those who proclaim Christ, “admonishing every man, teaching every man with all wisdom.” We’re the objects of the ministries of Jesus and Paul, and we can become participants in their ministries too.
So powerful proclamation starts when we preach the right subject, Christ, but also when we do so in the right spirit or with the right energy; not in a spirit of loving comfort and ease, but engaging in hard work, hard work that’s energized by the Spirit of the living God.
Look at verse 29, “For this purpose, I also labor,” he says. It’s a verb that means to exert oneself to the point of exhaustion. So he says, I’m constantly doing that. I’m tired all the time. He switches back to the first person singular once again, says, I’m striving, I’m straining in every nerve is kind of the idea. Agonizing, it’s the verb, agonizomai. “So for this purpose I also labor.” I’m striving, I’m agonizing, not merely though. We need to understand by his own strength.
His own strength, it’s inadequate for the task. We know Paul often felt his weakness. In fact, he gloried in his weakness. He was no stranger to his need. But his constant laboring was about striving according to his power, his power which mightily works within me. God’s energy was at work in him.
The energy that turned on the sun and all the stars, the energy that created the heavens and the earth, the energy that raises the dead. That energy worked in Paul supplied him his need. It’s not some, let go, let God mentality, sitting back waiting for the wind of the Spirit to fill ourselves and blow us toward a horizon of spiritual success and blissful glory, while we sip drinks on the deck.
It’s not the idea; Paul was a worker. He’s a hard worker. He felt the strain, but he didn’t rely on fleshly effort. He didn’t rely on human strength. He relied on God. He depended on his strength. He saw its strength from God in the secret place of prayer, private prayer. Then he got up from his knees. He readied himself to be a recipient in his body of what he asked for. He prepared himself to be a holy vessel fit for the Lord’s purpose.
Listen, beloved, the longing to suffer for Christ joyfully, to serve God in his cause faithfully, the longing to preach the good news of Jesus Christ and him crucified powerfully in a life that doesn’t contradict the message that you preach, these are all Christian ambitions. They’re shared by every single Christian.
We make it our aim to please him, don’t we? For we’ll all appear before the judgement seat of Christ to give an account of the deeds done in the body, whether good or bad, whether productive or total waste of time, we’ll give an account. So, beloved, let us not grow weary in well doing, because in due time we’ll reap a harvest by God’s grace. We may not see it in our own time, in our lifetime, but there will be a harvest reaped, and only God can tell the tale. It’ll happen if we faint not. Let’s pray.
Father, we thank you for this life of the Apostle Paul and we thank you that he modeled himself imitating Jesus Christ. We do look to him and we plead for you to do in us what you did in him, fully form Christ in us, that we can give you a good account on that day. Give us great joy in the gospel. Help us to see that this gospel that we relish in, that we enjoy, that we eat and drink of, it’s to be shared, it’s to be proclaimed. We’re to charge others to repent and believe in Christ. It’s in his name we pray. Amen.