The Message is our Mission.

Main Idea: Invest in the gospel message -Christ in us- with all of the strength God gives you.

Hook: Please turn with me to Col. 1:21

The number you see on the screen represents America’s debt in real time. That is the national debt clock. The number is truly unimaginable. It is so big and just continues to climb, almost at the speed of light it seems.

I put that up there to help us have a visual of another debt clock, however, one that we can’t see but would make this one look like nothing.

If we could see the global sin debt to God since the beginning of Creation it would probably cause us to scream in utter terror. From the first two humans NOT doing as God had commanded, to every time a human commits an act of sin the number rises.

Next month the projections say the global population will reach 8 billion. 8 billion people, a majority of which could care less or know what God’s standards are as recorded in the Bible.

Sin is simply missing the mark of God’s standard.

Every time someone gets greedy, every time someone steals, every time someone cheats on their spouse, every time someone slanders, every time someone hits their child, every time someone hits their spouse, every time someone abuses through authority, every time a someone uses a bribe, every time someone is raped, every time someone is kid-napped or trafficked, every time someone is murdered, the Bible says an offense to God’s law has taken place.

In fact King David viewed his sins against his fellow human as sins against God and God alone.

We do sin against each other, however, and God is taking note of every single act of sin.

Just like the number on the screen, the sin debt has climbed since mankind has been here.

The message of the gospel is that Jesus took the sin debt of all the sins of humanity, past present and future and paid the penalty we all deserve.

He could do that because He was God, and He did that because He is love.

This morning’s message is titled The Message is our Mission, and we are finishing up chapter one of Colossians today.

Book:

Read all of Col. 1:21-29.

Please turn with me to Col. 1:21-29

Colossians 1:21–29 ESV

And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 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, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister. 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, 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, the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. 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. Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.

Pray: God please grow us in our understanding of your gospel and our ability to live it out for the sake of ourselves and others. Amen.

Took: This message is broke into three sections - the message, mission, and means.

1. The Message. (V.s 21-22, 27, 28a)

We have talked a bit about it already this morning, the message is synonymous with the gospel.

You’ll here me say the gospel alot.

The message is this- Christ brings those who are separated from God over to God and then comes to live in them.

The gospel seems basic or simple and as a result we often feel we have to move on from it to greater things.

But the gospel keeps us in touch with reality.

It reminds us of how much God loves us.

It reminds us that Christ is in us helping us become more like Him.

The gospel is the good news to those who are perishing that their is a savior who died for them and that they can be right with God.

Col. 1:21-22 Jesus made those who were alienated and enemies and brought them into right relationship with God by His death on the cross

Colossians 1:21–22 ESV

And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 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,

I think we need to take a moment to reflect on the part of the gospel that has to do with the cross of Christ.

Certain Psalms of the OT can give us a window into the mind and heart and experience of Jesus.

Psalm 2, 22, and 110 are considered Messianic Psalms.

Psalms that were written which were pointing to the Messiah or Savior Jesus Christ.

They are prophetic in nature in that clearly predict the coming of Jesus.

Sometimes certain passages (small sections) within the Psalms are safely considered prophetic when they are mentioned by either Jesus or the NT writers.

Somehow the writer’s were sharing in the experiences that Jesus would have.

Jesus quotes from them often as a way to express what He was going through.

In Psalm 22 we get a taste for what Jesus experienced on our behalf.

In that Psalm we see that Jesus felt like God the Father had FORSAKEN Him during His crucifixion.

Can you imagine...

He says that when Israel called out to God they were rescued, but that he knew there was no rescue for Him.

It says He felt lower than a man, he even calls himself a worm because of how much he was helpless and alone.

This is God the Son having these feelings and emotions.

He says he was mocked and scorned by all.

He was surrounded by wicked men who sought to destroy and devour him.

It gets very specific and graphic and says His strength was gone, He was so dehydrated on the cross his tongue was sticking to his jaws and it says he felt as if he was down in the dust of death.

And then in Psalm 69 it says when he asked for something to drink they gave him vinegar instead of water.

The event is actually recorded in John 19:29-30 and it was meant to be a final mockery and added to the torment of His situation.

John 19:29–30 ESV

A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

Not only that but before going to the cross He was whipped so many times that people often died from that process alone.

They pierced his hands and feet with nails when they nailed Him to the cross.

In the prophecy of Isaiah, we read that this came as a consequence that mankind actually deserved.

Isaiah 53:5 (ESV)

Isaiah 53:5 ESV

But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.

He was punished so we could receive peace with God.

He was crushed so we could be healed.

We are right with God because of our our faith in Jesus and what He did on our behalf!

That is a major part of the mystery which was hidden for ages and which has been revealed to His saints- vs. 26! Col. 1:26

Colossians 1:26 ESV

the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints.

As Eugene Peterson puts in The Message, Col. 1:22 “Christ brought those who were God’s enemies over to God’s side”.

Colossians 1:22 M:BCL

But now, by giving himself completely at the Cross, actually dying for you, Christ brought you over to God’s side and put your lives together, whole and holy in his presence.

Not only that but vs Col. 1:27

Colossians 1:27 (ESV)

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.

Not only did He die for us, through His resurrection He comes to live in us!!!

God living in us, how phenomenal is that???

The message that was a mystery is that God has a rescue plan for those who want it no matter what their heritage is.

And that when we are His He brings us to Himself and actually comes to live in us!!!

My favorite verse is found in Galatians and I will never forget when it came home to me reading it...

Galatians 2:20 ESV

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

How incredible!!! And you know its true!!!

Ok, there’s the message, the message of the gospel, next we look at the mission.

2. The Mission. (Vs. 28)

The mission is to proclaim Christ and attain Spiritual maturity.

Paul said Col. 1:28-29

Colossians 1:28–29 (ESV)

Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.

By proclaiming Christ, Paul means we let people know. We don’t keep it to ourselves as it were.

Who in your life is someone God wants you to talk to about Jesus?

We all have our personal mission fields. We all have people in our lives who God wants to know Him.

The issue is not if we do or not, the issue is will we be courageous enough to tell them.

And I don’t mean walking around with a bull horn. I mean real conversations with the people who God has in your sphere of influence.

Maybe your barber, maybe a grandchild, maybe a co-worker, maybe a neighbor.

This text is a reminder of the mission, to share the news that In Jesus we are given a new relationship to God.

“Back in 2006, Warren Buffet said that he would donate 85 percent of his $44 billion fortune to five charitable foundations. When commenting on this extreme level of generosity, Buffet said: “There is more than one way to get to heaven, but this is a great way.”

People think there are other ways to Heaven, they need to know God loves them and did something for them to be right with Him.

85% of 44 Billion is about 37 billion dollars, that isn’t even gonna clear the debt of the country he lives in, let alone the debt sin has in-cured.

And what is so crazy is he doesn‘t have to pay a penny.

All the money in the world couldn’t pay the debt for just one sin.

But all the sins of the world are wiped away with just one drop of the Savior’s blood.

People need to know this.

Look at the second part of this sentence, Col. 1:28

Colossians 1:28 (ESV)

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

We not only aim for spiritual growth in our own lives, but hope to see that our brothers and sisters in Christ are growing in their spirituality as well.

The apostle Paul viewed his all of his own trials and tribulations as his participation in the life of the church.

Colossians 1:24 (ESV)

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 is saying somehow his suffering was for the benefit of the church body.

Btw, he wasn’t saying there was something missing in the salvation of Jesus when he says “what is lacking”.

He was saying that his suffering for the sake of the gospel was mandatory for his part in the church’s growth.

Do you see your suffering and sacrifices for the gospel as necessary for Christ to complete His job of making His name great and saving others through His church?

Your participation in the life of the church is something Christ has called you to so that the mission of the gospel message can go out loudly, and clearly?

That is what Paul saw.

Which leads me to the third and final point...

3. The Means. (24-25, 29)

Our job now is to be faithful as stewards of the gospel message, as Paul mentioned here, Col. 1:25

Colossians 1:25 (ESV)

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,

That word minister is Diakones, which is where we get the word Deacon from. The word is literally translated “servant”.

Commentators note the interesting choice of wording. He is actually saying he is a servant of the message.

He is a servant to the message and so are we.

A servant is under its master.

The message is bigger than us. It was bigger than Paul.

The message brings the salvation of souls. It saved us and will save others.

I looked at some of the military creeds and all of them capture the essence of what Paul is saying in some part of the creed.

Listen to part of the Soldiers Creed of the Army.

I am an American Soldier.

I am a warrior and a member of a team.

I serve the people of the United States, and live the Army Values.

I WILL ALWAYS PLACE THE MISSION FIRST.

I will never accept defeat.

I will never quit.

I will never leave a fallen comrade...

I am an American Soldier.

Soldiers in the army are trained to get it. And praise God they do, they keep us safe.

The mission and the message are bigger than us.

It includes us, but bigger than us, and we should see ourselves servants, and serve the mission of getting the message out with everything we got.

Now look, I am not stupid. I know that non-Christians can be very self-less. I know that their are many worthy causes out there that are not necessarily Christian.

What I am saying is that Christ chose to use the church as His means of carrying the saving message to the world.

He entrusted us as stewards. And, although the context we live in does not readily accept the truth, we don’t stop stewarding. We just don’t.

That is the last thing to note, we do this with all of the strength God gives us. He says, Col. 1:29

Colossians 1:29 (ESV)

For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.

We need to rely on God’s strength, but the essence of what this is saying is that we give it 100%.

We toil, we struggle, we give it all we got, and although we know that all the strength and energy we got is from Him, we put all of that into it our efforts.

So looking ahead...

Look:

Paul was completely motivated by the message of the cross and talked about it extensively. Col. 1:22

Colossians 1:22 (ESV)

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,

Ask to leave this slide up for a while.

So looking forward, this week take an opportunity to Read Psalm 22 Isaiah 53 and any one of the passion narratives Matthew 27:26-66; Mark 15: 15-47; Luke 23:24-56; John 19:16-42

This week let’s spend time meditating on what Christ did for us while He was on earth and let that motivate us to serve the mission of Christ’s message.

Meditate on that and let God direct you this week. I believe good things will come from that if we do it.

Conclusion:

Read Main Idea clearly as a finishing quote:

Invest in the message, which is Christ in us, with all the strength He gives.

Would you pray with me.

God, to know you is to know life. It is eternal life. We live in a society that is completely impervious to the gospel message. The church seems to be losing in America, in fact it is. It is not flourishing at all. But we know that even in what looks like defeat, you are doing a work. Help us to be faithful stewards of the message of the gospel in whatever ways you see fit in each of our lives and here at FBC. We love you God, amen.

Benediction:

Ephesians 3:20–21 (ESV)

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.