The Christ Honoring Ministry

It’d be nice to know what you’re getting into before you there.

The Office was a TV show that aired on NBC for 9 years.

It was a fake documentary about a fake paper company in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

Each week we watched the interactions of coworkers and how their lives developed together.

In the final episode, Andy Bernard looked back on his time there and said, “I wish there was a way to know you're in the good old days before you've actually left them.”

There are times we will look back on our lives, and say, “I wish I knew that earlier.”

You are in seminary, preparing to be a pastor.

Wouldn’t you like to know what it’s like before your there?

There are some things that you should know before it’s too late.

We are continuing through Colossians 1.

This week we will see what Paul wants the Colossians to know about his ministry.

Please open your Bibles to Colossians 1:24–29.

Read Colossians 1:24–29

Colossians 1:24–29 NASB95

Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions. Of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, 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. We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.

Until now, Paul has been describing the supremacy of Christ.

He’s attacked the heretical position of the gnostics.

He has built a foundation for a strong Christology.

Verse 24 marks a change in flow of Paul’s message, “Now I rejoice ...”

Paul is going to describe his ministry.

It’s as if we are going to seminary with Paul, sitting under him.

He is going to teach us everything you ever wanted to know about ministry.

So that we don’t look back on the time before we entered ministry and say, “I wish someone told me then what I know now.”

Knowing the supremacy of Christ, here are 3 principles that you need to know if you are going to have a Christ honoring ministry.

First, a Christ honoring ministry will be filled with Joyful Misery.

Colossians is one of Paul’s prison epistles.

He wrote it while in prison in Rome.

He lost his freedom.

He lost his ability to provide for himself, and was at the mercy of others meeting his needs.

Paul calls this suffering.

Yet, in this suffering there was immense joy.

“Now I rejoice in my sufferings …”

What Paul is going through is a privilege.

The big statement that seems to catch everyone off guard is the end of verse 24, that says he is “filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions.”

Let me tell you what this doesn’t mean.

This doesn’t mean that somehow Christ was deficient or that His death wasn’t enough.

Because the entire point of this first chapter is the sufficiency of Christ.

Over and over again, word fullness is used.

It means that Paul suffered on behalf of Christ for the church.

He went into the world, an apostle to the Gentiles, to preach Christ and aid the church.

The world responded in anger, arresting him, throwing him in prison.

Paul filled up what is lacking, by identifying with Christ and suffering for Christ.

Christ died for our sins, but He is not through with us yet.

Christ used Paul, and He continues to use pastors to equip and mature the church.

Ephesians 4:11-12 “And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ;”

We are not fully complete.

The Lord is still working in Christians and will work in Christians until they are brought to glory.

Until that day, He will use pastors to preach, teach, and counsel believers in order to continue that work of maturity, because something is lacking in us.

As you work to equip the church for Christ, you will suffer.

When you face difficult times in ministry, how will you respond?

You need to know that there will be times:

The budget is low.

A ministry will fail.

People won’t show up.

People will sin.

You will be criticized.

It will be personal.

It will hurt.

How will you respond?

The key is Christ.

The key is to identify with Christ first.

Paul reveals two ways to identify with Christ in suffering, which should bring you joy.

First, is the word suffering that you see in verse 24.

That word for suffering means there is a purpose behind suffering.

There is intentionality behind it.

As Paul suffers in his ministry, it’s not pointless.

He sees it as a piece of Christ’s sovereignty.

Remember verses 16-17, “… all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.”

As Paul sits in a jail, he knows that he has not escaped the will of Christ.

He is right where Jesus wants Him to be, and that brings him joy.

The second key to identifying with Christ in suffering is that he is there for the church.

“Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake ...”

“I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church ...”

His time in prison, his suffering, actually helps the church.

His suffering, his efforts are not an effect, but are a part of his ministry to aid, equip, and mature the body of Christ.

An example of this is found in Philippians 1.

Again, in prison, Paul said that his imprisonment did not cause Christians to be silent, but actually made them bolder to speak the word of God without fear.

If there is to be joy in the worst of conditions, then it is found is in keeping your eyes fixed on Christ.

There will come times when you find yourself waking up at 2 in the morning to visit a family where the husband suddenly died.

You will bring your work home with you.

You will find yourself crying in the car.

You will spend your time in the hallways of a hospital.

But it is worth it when your ministry is to the church, on Christ’s behalf … then all that misery becomes a joyful misery.

Second, a Christ honoring ministry will contain a Glorious Message.

Look at verses 25–27

“Of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, 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.”

In these verses Paul describes the message that he preached.

It didn’t begin with him.

It was a message that came from God.

In fact his entire ministry came from God.

It was a ministry that was bestowed on him by God, it was given to him.

Paul reminded his listeners of this at the beginning of most of his letters.

Ephesians 1:1, “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God ...”

Galatians 1:1, “Paul, an apostle (not sent from men nor through the agency of man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father … ”

He was not on a self-appointed mission.

This was a ministry given to him by God for the church.

The emphasis is clear here, ministry is not for the pastor.

It’s not to make the pastor great.

It’s not for your name.

It’s not so people would recognize you.

It’s not so you can have a voice.

You have been sent by God to support His church.

Verse 25, “according to the stewardship from God for your benefit ...”

“Your” is the church.

This is a mission from God, and look at the content of the mission.

The end of verse 25 into 26, “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,”

It’s to preach the word of God.

It’s an old message.

It says a mystery that was hidden from past ages.

It’s not a new message.

It’s not something clever.

It’s not something novel.

It’s the word of God.

Another example of Paul being given this ministry.

He was given the ministry and the message.

There will be a temptation to be creative.

You’ll have been in the church for 6 years.

Easter is coming and you’ll wonder what you’ll preach.

You’ve already preached through each of the 4 Gospels and their accounts of the crucifixion.

You’ve gone through Isaiah 53.

You get to this point where you wonder, what else are you to preach?

The same thing.

You continue to preach the word of God, Christ crucified.

You preach the Cross for another 4 years till you’ve been there for 10.

Then you preach for another 10.

You aren’t there to be creative.

You’re there to “fully carry out the preaching of the word of God.”

Paul says that the word of God is a “mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints”

The message from God is not a new message.

It is an old story.

But it was a mystery.

That doesn’t mean there wasn’t an answer.

But it means the answer was hidden and now revealed.

God was progressively giving more information about His message through history.

It originally was in types and shadows.

And as the Bible developed, God gave more information.

The Old Testament was largely focused on Israel.

God chose Israel from all the nations.

There was always this divide.

There was Israel and there were the Gentiles.

The Gentiles were the dogs, the outsiders.

But the plan of God was that God would build a kingdom of Jews and Gentiles.

God told Abraham that he would have an offspring that would be a blessing to the world.

David would have a Son who would rule.

Zechariah tells us that this Son would have a kingdom that spread from sea to sea, to the ends of the earth.

The mystery that Paul learned was that God’s plan included the Gentiles.

Those wonderful promises that were for Israel include the Gentiles as well.

Ephesians 2:19 “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household,”

Look again at verse 27, “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.”

Christ in you.

Back in the Old Testament, what made Israel so special was that God dwelt with them.

They were His chosen people.

They were who the promises were made to.

They were where the Temple was located.

They were who God dwelt with.

With the advent of Christ, what has happened?

There are Gentiles who are now chosen people.

There are Gentiles who have promises for them.

The Holy Spirit dwells within Gentiles, meaning that they themselves are a temple to the Living God.

Jesus Christ is in the Gentiles.

This is Paul’s big message.

The hope that Israel had, now includes the Gentiles who have been grafted in!

It used to be Jerusalem has a temple and God dwells in it.

Now it’s, the Gentiles have the Holy Spirit.

God dwells in them.

This is a scandalous message.

And it needs to be preached.

This is a glorious message.

People don’t need to go to Jerusalem.

They need to go to Christ.

This is what you preach.

Over and over again.

Week in - week out.

A Christ honoring ministry has:

Joyful misery

A glorious message.

Now, the third principle to a Christ honoring ministry is to know that you have a Weak Ministry.

Look at verses 28–29, “We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.”

Don’t read this line - Purpose

Before we look at proclaiming, admonishing and teaching, let’s look at our purpose.

Why do we do these things?

Look at the end of verse 28 “… so that we may present every man complete in Christ.”

As a pastor, your job is to prepare people for eternity.

You must have an eschatological view of ministry.

Your labor isn’t only for here an now.

Your job isn’t so that people can live their best lives now.

There is a married couple who came to our church looking for help.

This is public knowledge and part of their testimony.

I’m not sharing something I shouldn’t share.

The husband was having an affair.

The wife was an alcoholic and spending more time in clubs than with her family.

Their marriage was nearly done.

As a last resort, they came to our church for marriage counseling.

They sat down with the pastor and explained their situation.

The pastor bluntly said, “You have a problem bigger than your marriage. Your real problem is that if you were to die now you’d be going to Hell.”

He then began to address their spiritual problems.

The result was that the two were converted.

They found their roles in Christ.

They submitted to Scripture.

And now they are involved in the counseling ministry, helping struggling marriages.

Our pastor knew that his job wasn’t to fix marriages.

His job was to present every man complete in Christ.

You must have an eschatological view of ministry.

Which means that one day, your people, those whom you preach to and serve, they will stand before God.

We have been appointed as under-shepherds, people to care for Christ’s sheep, because that’s Who they ultimately belong to, until they are brought to glory.

Paul said that his ministry was given to him by God.

Our goal is to see them complete.

That means made mature.

For there to be progress in their growth as Christians.

We are bringing them from point A to point B..

How do we do that?

That’s what Paul was talking about at the beginning of verse 28.

By proclaiming, admonishing and teaching.

Proclaiming.

This is preaching.

This is making a public declaration.

What we will do week in and week out, isn’t a continuous Ted Talk or lecture on spiritual things.

Paul says, “We proclaim Him ...”

We preach Jesus.

He is Who we preach.

He must be Who every sermon is about.

Resist the “How to sermons” and proclaim Christ.

When you preach on marriage, don’t preach how to have a good marriage.

Preach Christ.

Marriage is like what Christ has done for the church.

You can’t understand marriage if you don’t understand Christ.

Paul says admonishing and teaching.

Admonishing is to change the will and the mind of a person.

Teaching affects the intellect.

We address the whole person by proclaiming Christ.

Remove Christ and you are nothing more than a therapist.

Remove Christ and you are teaching moralism.

It’s by proclaiming Jesus that we address how a person thinks and acts.

We proclaim this truth to all men.

The context of this is that Paul would not limit the Gospel to the Jews only.

He knew this marvelous mystery was that Christ was saving the Gentiles, and the Holy Spirit was dwelling in them.

He would not limit the Gospel to one class or group of people.

As pragmatism has infected the church, churches have adopted targeted demographics.

I’m sure you’ve seen it.

We are a church focusing on the next generation.

We are a church focusing on young families.

We are a church focusing on older Christians.

We are a church focusing on wealthy Christians.

Paul says we admonish every man and teach every man.

You preach and you train whomever the Lord brings to the church.

It’s His church.

You don’t pick who the church is.

You don’t pick the demographics of the church.

Rich or poor.

White or black.

Young or old.

He builds it.

You preach.

I said that a Christ honoring ministry will be a weak ministry.

Be aware of the weakness of your ministry.

Paul says that he labors and strives in this ministry.

This is hardwork.

The terms that Paul uses here describe an athlete in the arena.

Over the past semester have you been surprised how hard it is to write a sermon?

You pour over the languages.

Tons of reading.

Meditating on the text.

Crafting the message and choosing just the right words.

This is a lot of work.

But here’s the real kicker.

As hard as you will work, that work is useless on its own.

Your ministry is weak.

And the sooner you realize this, the more Christ honoring and God exulting your ministry will be.

Think of what people are in their sins?

They’re dead.

You can go to the nearest cemetery and preach the best sermon ever written.

And what will happen to those graves?

Nothing.

They’re dead.

Dead people can’t respond.

Dead people don’t move.

We are preaching to dead souls.

And like Ezekiel in the valley of dry bones, we depend upon the Spirit of God to bring life to your sermon.

Recognize the weakness of your ministry.

You’ll pour out your heart and soul to people.

You’ll plead with them.

You’ll cry with them.

You’ll face disappointment.

This foolishness to put all that effort into something where you know you can’t make any real change.

Look at verse 29.

If there is going to be any progress, you labor, you strive “according to His power …”

You must recognize that the success of your ministry is a supernatural success.

If you want to see hearts changed, then you need the power of Christ and the Holy Spirit.

Paul recognized this in 1 Corinthians 3:7, “So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything,” -

You are nothing!

- “but God who causes the growth.”

Spurgeon recognized his weakness and need for Christ’s power in preaching.

As he climbed into his pulpit to preach, he would silently pray, “I believe in the Holy Spirit. I believe in the Holy Spirit. I believe in the Holy Spirit.”

Why that prayer?

Because the Prince of Preachers knew that his preaching was weak without the power of God behind it.

When you understand your weakness in ministry, when you see something good happen, you know it happened because of the power of God.

You then become a witness to the power of God.

You experience the power of God.

This then turns into an opportunity to worship God and give Him praise through your life.

Your weakness becomes a Christ honoring ministry,

What are you getting into?

As you prepare to take off into ministry, have you considered the cost?

There is suffering.

There is a borrowed message.

There is weakness.

And yet, in these things you become a vessel to bring glory to God.

Because that suffering becomes a joyful misery.

That message is Christ’s message, a glorious message.

Your weak ministry becomes the avenue for Christ’s glory.

I pray, that your ministry is a Christ honoring ministry.