Why listen to preaching?

Read Colossians 1:28-29 “Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. To this end I also labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily.”

Introduction

After being in church for almost a decade, there is one thing that I saw quite often.

While sitting listening to preaching, many times I’ve seen people not paying attention, making jokes and having conversations, just wanting to get through the sermon so they can get to lunch.

And almost all of those times that I saw this was with youth.

And so today, I want to explain to you, why you should listen to preaching.

And that’s the title of our sermon today, Why Listen to preaching?

And the first reason is:

1. To know what is true riches (v.27)

Last week, we ended by saying knowledge is power.

And idea that knowledge is power continues here, when Paul says, ‘to them God willed to make known’

‘To them’ refers to the previous verse where Paul says, ‘to His saints’. So Paul is saying to the saints or holy ones, God willed to make known.

And if God had to will to make something known, it means that there was something that was not fully known.

God’s people were missing full knowledge about something.

That something Paul writes, ‘what are the riches of the glory of this mystery’

First, Paul says the word ‘riches’ which can also mean wealth.

If you want to be rich listen to this!

What riches is Paul talking about?

He writes, ‘the riches of the glory of this mystery’.

As we said last week, the mystery Paul is talking about, is Jesus Christ coming into the world, fully making clear what was already said in the OT.

The OT already promised a coming Messiah, however when the Son of God came into this world 2000 years ago, He made everything more clear.

Paul is calling the knowledge of the glorious mystery, which is the promised Messiah in the OT, made clear when Jesus came in the NT, riches.

The coming of Jesus Christ, His perfect life, His death, His ressurection, that is riches, says Paul.

But the question is, do you see that as riches?

You see, people don’t see or know Jesus as riches.

What do people commonly know as riches?

Money, expensive sneakers. mansions, expensive cars, etc.

Paul calls no material thing riches here, but a man.

But how can a man be riches?

Because Jesus is the perfect man, God in the flesh, Jesus Christ.

When you understand that Jesus equals riches, then you will live life differently.

I don’t use Tiktok, but I use Youtube Shorts from time to time.

For some reason, I started getting jewelry videos on Youtube Shorts.

There’s this jeweler in NY that would give people $1000-$2000 for guessing the value of jewels such as rubies, gold, or silver.

And almost everyone would guess wrong when looking at a tiny gemstone, guessing a couple to tens of thousands, when in actuality it is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

There was even one short video, where he would try to give away small ounces of free gold on the street, but everyone would reject him.

A small piece of gold worth thousands of dollars, that no one would take for free, because they did’t know the value of that small piece of gold.

They saw paper as riches, but not gems and precious metals.

But when this jeweler revealed to these people the actual value of what they missed out on, their jaws dropped.

And that’s why God chose to educate and make known to you, the true value of Jesus Christ.

So that you don’t miss out and so that you would be rich.

Spiritually rich, which is greater than being materially rich.

Because these riches last forever, but material riches, money, etc. don’t.

And who does God give these riches to?

To anyone who believes.

That’s why Paul says, ‘among the Gentiles’.

God is not offering these riches only to Jewish believers.

He’s offering it to all believers, regardless of where they’re from.

That’s what Peter realized in Acts 10:34

Acts 10:34 (NKJV)

Then Peter opened his mouth and said: “In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality.

When Peter realized that God was saving not only Jews, but also non-Jews like Cornelius a Roman centurion, he realized, ‘that God shows no partiality’.

God treats everyone equally and thus offers riches, Jesus Christ, to everyone.

And if you were still unsure what riches Paul is talking about here, Paul clears any remaining doubt when he says, ‘which is Christ in you’.

You see, the coming of Jesus, His perfect life, His death on the cross, His resurrection, all culminated, resulted, in you being united with Christ.

That when Jesus died, your old self died.

When Jesus rose, you rose into new life.

When Jesus suffered, you will also suffer in this life for the good of others, and for His glory.

What this means, is that your identity is now in Christ.

Because Christ is in you.

And you are in Christ.

When God the Father sees you, He sees His Son, Jesus.

And when you see Jesus, you see yourself in Him.

Not that you become Jesus Himself, but now you completely identify in Him.

That you have a spiritual license, a spiritual ID, that says nothing but Jesus Christ on it.

That your worth is not based on your name, your age, your skills, or what other people say.

But your worth is infinite because Jesus who is riches is in you.

Jesus who is hope is in you.

That’s what Paul writes, ‘the hope of glory’.

Whenever Paul uses the word ‘hope’, he always means a blessed certainty, rather than wishful thinking.

See, in Jesus you have a blessed certainty of glory.

You have certainty of where you will be after you die.

You will be in glory.

You will enjoy eternal life in the glory of God, His presence, forever.

You see many people are terrified of death.

Because they have no clue of where they will be after death.

Imagine, dying, and then waking up in hell for eternity.

But being identified with Jesus who gives us certainty of our salvation is something only Christians have.

Jesus said in John 6:39,

John 6:39 (NKJV)

This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.

We have certainty because it is the Father’s will, that His Son will not lose anyone who believes in Him, but will be resurrected to eternal life.

And that students, is true riches.

You see money and expensive things cannot give you joy, peace and a blessed certainty of life after death.

Only Jesus can.

Money may make you rich temporarily.

But Jesus makes you rich forever.

Because what is true riches, when one is only temporary, and the other is forever?

Matthew 13:44 (NKJV)

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

Why did this man sell everything he has for the treasure of the kingdom of heaven?

Because he realized which one is true riches and which one worthless.

Through Jesus’ preaching, he realized this.

This is why we listen to preaching, to know what are true riches.

Through preaching, God makes known to us what are true riches.

You want to learn how to get rich?

Listen to preaching, you’ll get true spiritual riches.

And when we know what true riches are, we spend our life in pursuit of true riches rather than fake riches on earth.

Why live a life getting fake gold?

There are people who have died for fake gold, you don’t want your live a worthless life.

When you know what true riches are through preaching, then you stop wasting time on useless things on this earth.

You stop wasting your life on worthless worldly things.

But instead you use your life for what really matters: the kingdom of Jesus.

And without true riches: the knowledge of Jesus, you’re broke.

If you don’t know Jesus your soul is in poverty and will die.

And that is why God the Father sent His Son Jesus so that you may know Him, the true riches.

So that through His death on the cross, and resurrection, if you believe in Him, and that there is no other way to be saved, than by faith alone in Jesus, you will be saved.

2. To become spiritually mature (v.28-29)

Look at v.28, ‘Him we preach’

Many people preach self-help.

Preach philosophy.

They preach about methods and ideas.

But not the apostles.

For they preach a person.

They preach Christ.

Because Christ alone is worth preaching.

If someone is not preaching Christ, then that person is not actually preaching.

He’s lecturing, he’s ranting.

True preaching is all about Christ.

Now the subject of true preaching may be about Christ.

But the components or individual parts of preaching are warning and teaching.

That’s what Paul says, ‘warning every man’.

Today, everything is non-confrontational.

You can only share things.

You can’t tell people what to do.

Let alone warn them!

In our society today, warning someone about something wrong is seen as bigoted or mean.

In fact universities have what is called safe spaces to where you can go hide when you get triggered!

But students, warning is an essential part of preaching.

A lot of people might describe a preacher as, ‘fire and brimstone’ as a negative.

But in reality, a person like that is at least doing one thing right.

And that is warning.

Why do warning signs exist?

They exist in order to protect people from danger.

If there’s a yellow sign on the road with a picture of a deer on it, it’s to prepare you and protect you from a possible deer crossing.

It happened to me actually, no deer sign, driving straight down the highway, and a deer suddenly sprints across the road and I had to swerve in order to avoid an accident that could have killed the deer and even Maybelle and I if the worse was to happen.

And that’s why warnings are necessary.

They save lives.

And warning within preaching saves souls.

If you truly loved someone, how could you not warn them of eternity in hell if they don’t believe in Christ?

True love means doing things that make you and others uncomfortable including warning people if they don’t believe in Jesus.

That’s what Paul did in his preaching, because he genuinely loved people.

The second component of preaching is teaching.

That’s why Paul says, ‘and teaching every man’.

Teaching refers to explaining and helping others understand, and in this case God’s Word.

Without proper understanding of the Bible, you cannot apply it to your life.

And for the first time in American history, Gen Z, your generation, is the first post-Christian generation.

That means, the majority of the people around your age group, will not come from a Christian background and will not know the Bible.

Teaching and understanding the Bible has always been crucial.

But in a sense, even more crucial today, with less and less people, knowing the Bible.

So preaching is combination of both warning and teaching.

If all someone does is warn, then all they are doing is fearmongering.

But if all someone does is teach, then there is no reason to live out what the Bible says.

So true preaching is a combination of both.

Some of you will one day move and have to go to a different church.

You need to go to a church that actually preaches.

When you hear preaching ask yourself, ‘is the preacher warning me?’

‘And is he teaching me, explaining and making the Bible understandable?’

But both warning and teaching most come from a place of wisdom.

That’s what Paul says, ‘in all wisdom’.

Wisdom refers to using knowledge in a practical way.

Knowing how to actually use knowledge, in day to day life.

But Paul also calls Christ, wisdom in 1 Corinthians 1:24

1 Corinthians 1:24 (NKJV)

but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

So in other words, true preaching, which is warning and teaching comes from a place of wisdom.

And it comes from the ultimate source of wisdom, God’s Word, Jesus Christ.

Which circles back to Jesus, when Paul said in the beginning of this verse, Him we preach.

In other words preaching must be biblical.

Preaching must be Christ-centered.

But preaching has a specific goal.

And that goal, Paul says, ‘that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.’

Now this is a good translation, but I prefer this translation,

Colossians 1:28 (ESV)

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

You see preaching has a motive behind it and an effect.

The motive behind every biblical preacher, is so that the people he is preaching to would become mature in Christ.

And the effect preaching has on you is that it makes you more spiritually mature.

And thats why we listen to preaching, because it makes us more spiritually mature.

Now you may or may not feel that you’re becoming mature from hearing preaching.

That’s because it’s a process.

It’s God’s process of making you more mature.

It takes months and years.

Now there will be special sermons that you hear that impact you and you remember it for the rest of your life.

But those are rare, most sermons are enough to get you by for the week.

But if you want to become spiritually mature, listen to preaching.

I’ve met many people lately, at MFUGE and after, whose spiritual maturity was heavily affected because of youth ministry.

They all tell me, I may not see it immediately, but the results came later, as they grew older.

One of those people I spoke to was a person named, Xavier.

Playing a video game online with Xavier, he invited his good friend with him to join us.

And his friend started sharing his fear of not not knowing where he would be after he died, knowing I was a pastor.

So right after, we got on Facetime, and read the Bible for an hour, stopping every few verses to discuss, and ask questions.

And Xavier, would also explain Scripture to his friend, and he would do so in such a helpful way, weaving in his personal testimony, that only a more mature Christian could do.

And his friend at the end became excited to learn more about the Bible, and prayed for the first time with us.

And Xavier shared how his time in youth ministry helped him, and I saw it, as he is now going to be reading the Bible with his friend who doesn’t know Jesus every week, in a mature way.

That’s the power of preaching.

It makes you mature.

And that’s what Paul worked tirelessly for in the final verse, ‘to this end I also labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily’.

Here, labor refers to working to exhaustion.

Paul worked so hard to help other Christians become mature, because he loved them, and because he knew it was worth it.

He was willing to strive, and even fight for it because Jesus Himself was working in him with power.

Philippians 2:13 (NKJV)

for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.

So students, as people like Pastor Neville and other pastors, worked tirelessly to help you become mature in Christ, you must also work hard to become mature.

1 Timothy 4:7 (ESV)

Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness;

If you want to become mature, you must discipline and train yourself to be godly.

Just as how you work out in the gym, as the Greek word for train is gymnazo, train yourself to become godly, train yourself to listen to preaching.

Work hard at it.

Because listening to preaching makes you mature.

Conclusion

In the 1600s, a preacher named Philip Henry was stunned when one of the people in his church confessed to him, ‘I find it easier to go 6 miles to hear a sermon, than to spend 15 minutes meditating and praying over it as I should when I come home.’

You may come to listen to preaching students, but do you actually listen?

I pray, that you remember that we listen to preaching because it helps us know what is true riches and because it makes us mature.

Let’s pray.