Sacrificial Service For Jesus

“Sacrificial Service for Jesus”

Colossians 1:21-2:5

Colossians 1:21-2:5

21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 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, 23 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.

24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, 25 of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, 26 the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. 27 To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28 Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. 29 For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.

2 For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, 2 that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 4 I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. 5 For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ.

Overall Summary

· Wraps up 1st section of letter

· So far we’ve learned:

In VS 1:1-8

· Paul’s thanksgiving to God and prayer for church for their faith in Jesus and love for all the saints or believers

· All because the hope of eternal salvation when they heard the truth of the Gospel and came to faith in Jesus

In VS 1:9-14

Paul goes into more detail regarding his prayers for the church

· That they be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding

· The results of which is walking in a manner worthy of the Lord which is pleasing to Him

· To bear the fruit of every good work

· He prays that they increase in the knowledge of God

· And to be strengthened by God’s power through the Holy Spirit for all endurance and patience with joy in all circumstances

· Then he prays that they would thank God and His mercy and grace for their eternal salvation through the cross of Jesus Christ

In VS 1:21-23

· Paul reminds the church of who they were and who they are now

· They were spiritually dead in their sins, alienated from God because of their hostile minds because of their evil deeds

· But now they have been reconciled into a right relationship with God through the death of Jesus

· Through Jesus, they are now seen as holy and blameless, above reproach before God

· He finishes by encouraging them to continue stable and steadfast in the faith

· So they will not shift from the truth of the Gospel and the hope of eternal life they have received

VS 1:15-20

· I mentioned several times that part of the reason for Paul writing this letter was to warn them of false teachers

· Who were teaching that more needed to be added to faith in Jesus to be true Christians

· He is reminding them that this is not the truth of the Gospel

· The truth is that Jesus and the Gospel message (Life, death, resurrection for the forgiveness of sin and eternal salvation) is all sufficient – Nothing needs to be added

· This is why he included VS 1:15-20 in the letter – Who Jesus is.

These VS ALL CENTER AROUND THE SUFFICIENTCY AND SUPREMACY OF JESUS IN

· In fact the entirety of the New Testament centers around this

Exegesis

VS 1:23 introduces VS 1:24-2:5

· “Of which, I, Paul am a minister-This is the 2nd time he says this, the 1st came in the very 1st VS of the letter

· It’s also not the last time he will say this

· Paul is letting the church know he was divinely appointed by God to be a minister of Jesus and the Gospel

· Why is this?

· Paul is establishing his authority as an Apostle by will of God

· The authority to teach and proclaim Jesus and Gospel truth

· He is also establishing his authority to expose and combat the false teaching in the church

So let’s take a deeper look at VS 1:24-2:5 so we can learn from Paul and then apply it to our lives

VS 1:24-25

· Paul begins by saying that he is rejoicing in his suffering for Jesus and Gospel for the sake of the Church – of which he is a minister

So how has Paul suffered persecution and affictions as God’s minister?

· One, remember he is writing from prison

2 Corinthians 11:23-28 really says all we need to know about Paul’s suffering

· Paul speaking about the nation of Israel

· 23 Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. 24 Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; 26 on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; 27 in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. 28 And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.

VS 1:24: “Suffering for what was lacking in Jesus”

· Seems like he is part of the false teachings

· But contradicts all of N.T. Scripture - Christ is all sufficient

· Christ experienced the ultimate suffering, persecution, and affliction by death on the cross

· What Paul means is the future sufferings of all believers

· That he along with all believers continues Christ’s afflictions for our faith

· This affliction comes as we proclaim Jesus and the Gospel, serve Him, and serve the church

So what are Paul’s responsibilities as a minister which are the reasons for his suffering

· No different for pastor’s today

We learn in VS 25 that his main responsibility is to:

· To make the Word of God fully known (he also refers to this as “The mystery”)

· “To make known the Word of God” really encompasses all Paul has been saying up till now – All the results knowing and believing the Word of God, Scripture results in everything mentioned up till now

· A continuation of VS 1:4-6: Heard and believed in Gospel truth and are producing good fruit pleasing to God

· VS 1:12-13: They have been qualified to share with saints the inheritance of eternal life and been transferred from darkness to the Kingdom of Jesus

· VS 1:14: Received redemption, the forgiveness of sin through the blood of Christ

· VS 1:21-22: 21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 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

· VS 2:2: To reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ

· We could also say “To make Jesus and His work on the cross for forgiveness of sin and eternal salvation which is the Gospel message fully known”

VS 1:24-2:5 give us the details of his ministry

· He is a minister for the sake of the church

· To proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ which is the mystery hidden for generations

· To warn and teach believers

· To present everyone mature in Christ

· Hearts encouraged

They are being knit together – written as a given

Not to be deluded by plausible arguments – false teaching

· Paul’s addressing false teachings began in VS 1:21-22

· Deluded: means to be deceived

· Think of deluding a drink – adding to it

· False teaching is more needs to be added to our faith to be true, genuine Christians

· INCLUSIO: Context of writing in-between bookends

· 1st Bookend – Warning in VS 1:21-23, If indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel because of false teachings

· 2nd Bookend – So as not to be deluded by plausible arguments

· In-between: The 2 reasons for Paul’s suffering earlier

Back to our text: Paul also says that he is filling up

· Gospel of Christ is the “Mistery” hidden before Jesus. Expecting a Messiah. Not a mystery in that false teachers were say was secret to becoming an authentic Christiona, etc

“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.” – To make known the Mystery of God

As I said earlier: All of Paul’s instructions and warnings in these versus as well as the versus leading up is knowing the Gospel truth, our redemption and salvation through work of Jesus

· Who we were and who we are now because of Gospel

· ALL CENTERS AROUNG THE SUFFICIENTCY AND SUPREMACY OF JESUS IN 1:15-20

So why is there so much repetition in VS 1:3-2:5? He knew they needed continual reminding to:

· Not be persuaded by plausible arguments from false teachers

· Remain steadfast and firm in the faith of the Gospel of Jesus Christ (VS 1:23)

· To continue to live in the Gospel as a new creation in Jesus and not drift back to being the old person dead in sin before faith

So how can Paul, better yet, how can we endure suffering, persecution, and affliction?

Not only that, how can we rejoice in it?

Answer

· Only through radical life-transformation when we come to faith in Jesus and Gospel message

· This is how we can die to self and live for God

· To focus on what God has done through Jesus rather than focusing on ourselves

· Sacrificial service for Jesus is now our priority, the redemption and salvation we have received far outweighs anything this world offers to us and outweighs any suffering we may face

· And ultimately it is by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit

· The Spirit first reveals the truth of the Gospel

· The Spirit is the power and source of this life-transformation

· He also gives us the power to endure any and all things this life can throw at us

VS 2:3: 3 In whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

· Since all spiritual wisdom and understanding is from God alone (Paul’s prayer in VS 1:9), and as Jesus is fully God (John 1:1), Jesus is source of all spiritual wisdom and knowledge.

VS 2:5

· Paul rejoices to see their good order and their firmness of faith in Jesus

· Written in a way that Paul knows this is happening in the church; not just hoping

· How does he know? Heard from Epaphras VS 1:4-5

Illustrations

· Parents constantly reminded us of our responsibilities: “If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you 1000 times”

· Yarn: Single strands and hat knitted together

Application

Before we get to them:

The self-examination questions I am going to ask are going to challenge you and quite possibly upset you

My job as your pastor is not:

· To make you feel good

· Not to make sure your feelings aren’t hurt

· Not to make sure your not angry or upset with me

· These are things I would care about if butts in the seats and making sure we are getting financial contributions were most important to me

· But they aren’t

· They don’t show my love and care for you

· My job is to challenge you

· My job is to teach the Bible, proclaim Jesus Christ, and give you Biblical truth

· This is what loving and caring for you looks like

2 of the most scary versus in the Bible in my opinion are:

Revelation 3:15-16

Jesus speaking

15 “ ‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! 16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.

Matthew 7:21-23 Jesus says:

21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

· I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure this doesn’t happen to you

Questions for self-examinations

1. Are we fully committed to sacrificial service for Jesus?

· Or are we committed to serve ourselves

2. Are we fully committed to the Body of Christ, which is the church? Are we making it a priority in our life?

· Or are our hobbies and pastimes a priority?

· Is work the priority?

· Are making our kids activities a priority? Or putting them in charge of whether they want to go to church or not?

What if God:

· What if God did not prioritize His overarching plan of redemption and salvation for us?

· What if God only poured out His love, mercy, and protection for us, only sustained our lives and empowered us when He felt like it?

· Now I am not saying that these things aren’t important

· There are times when we miss church because of them and that’s okay

· I speaking about our overall priorities

· The church should be our priority because we represent the Kingdom of God here on earth

· And just as we learned that Jesus is the exact representation of the invisible God, the church is the representation of Jesus here on earth

3. Is evangelism, proclaiming the Gospel to unbelievers a regular part of our life?

· If not, are we willing to do so?

4. Are we willing to suffer affliction for the sake of Jesus and the Gospel?

· Or do we fold like a deck of cards?

5. Do we know our Bibles, do we spend regular time studying them that we would have full assurance of our salvation and to reach full maturity in Christ?

· Knowing Scripture keeps us from being deluded by plausible arguments and false teachings

· The Bible is life-transformational, it’s the power of salvation, and helps us grow in our faith and relationship with Jesus that we can answer “YES” to all these questions