Sermon Tone Analysis

Title:

Main Idea:

Introduction

Introduction

Attention (Why should they listen to you?) Scooby Doo!

The Mystery Machine - Every episode Scooby, Shaggy, Fred, Thelma and Daphne set out to sovle the latest mystery...

What is the Hearer’s problem?

Did you know the worlds greatest mystery has been solved?

Maybe you don’t even know what that mysery is?

What is the Biblical Solution?

This passage will not only show you the mystery, but how it was solved in Christ!

What do the hearers need to know?

Main Textual Idea:

Main Idea: The Mystery is No Longer Mysterious - but there is much to be done!

Interrogative:

Transition:

Body (Satisfaction)

1.

We Must Suffer for the Mystery (vs.

24)

Lead in...

Text -

Explanation - Do you remember way back in the book of Acts when Paul, then Saul was confronted by Jesus Himself?

“For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.”

And did this prophecy come to pass?

Absolutely! Paul suffered for Jesus Christ!

Imagine if you were a pathologist in Paul’s day and you had the opportunity to examine his dead body.

What conclusions would you come to regarding the condition of his corpse?

Stoning in Lystra ()

Floggings, the imprisonments, the shipwrecks — including twenty-four hours drifting out at sea — and the starvations ().

Why would Paul subject himself to this kind of torment?

For them!

For the Colossians!

Look again at the first part of verse 24...

Even though Paul has never met the Colossians, he rejoices that he is able to suffer for them and all the Gentiles because God is reaching to the outer most parts of the world to save all that will respond to God’s gracious message - the Gospel!

This was a joy to Paul because he clearly understands who he is apart from the grace of God.

And that it was only by His grace that God chose him to be a messenger to the gentiles!

Why would God have His minister suffer?

John Newton, the composer of “Amazing Grace,” said:

“God appoints his ministers to be sorely exercised, both from without and within; that they may sympathize with their flock, and know in their own hearts the deceitfulness of sin, the infirmities of the flesh, and the way in which the Lord supports and bears all who trust in Him.” - John Newton

Paul suffered for His mission to communicate the Gospel.

But he wasn’t the only one to suffer.

Jesus, more than anyone suffered for the Gospel!

Mark

But there is another more interesting reason for Paul’s suffering.

Look at the last part of verse 24

To be clear, this verse is not saying that a believer’s suffering will add to the atoning sacrifice of Christ on the cross.

Jesus before Jesus died, he cried out “Tetelasti” - “It is finished!”

John

His work on the cross was complete and satisfied the wrath of God.

Paul in no way helped with the atonement by his condinused suffering.

So what does this strange phrase “fill up what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions.”

mean?

There was a common understanding among the Jewish people the the Messianic age would be preceded by a great deal of suffering.

Specifically, the suffering of God’s people.

But we know the suffering of God’s people are ultimately the suffering of Christ Himself.

Remember what Christ said to Saul as He was confronting Him about persecuting the church?

“Saul, Saul, why are your persecuting (not the church) me?”

So our suffering is Christ’s suffering because of Christ’s identity with His people.

So the Jews believed there was a certain amount of suffering that God’s people would endure before the Messiah set up His Kingdom on earth.

And as R.Kent Hughes puts it...

“So Paul in his sufferings helped fulfill Christ’s and thus hastened the Messianic Age....Paul was rejoicing because his sufferings (which are Christ’s sufferings) were bringing the total nearer the ultimate goal and hastening the day of the Kingdom.”

(PW Col/Phm)

So, two things to remember about the suffering of the church.

Paul knew his sufferings were good for the church because it was filling up the finite amount of suffering that will take place before the Lord returns and sets up his Kingdom and second, suffering brings a special closeness between Christ and His people.

This is why Paul prays this from a Roman jail:

Listen, suffering is a stark reality for followers of Jesus!

Illustration - Dr. Helen Roseveare, a British medical doctor, has served more than twenty years in Zaire, Africa.

For twelve and a half years she had a frenetic but generally wonderful time serving as the only doctor to an area containing more than half a million people (today about one and a half million).

But in 1964 revolution overwhelmed the country, and she and her coworkers were thrown into five and a half months of almost unbelievable brutality and torture.

On one occasion when Dr. Roseveare was on the verge of being executed, a seventeen-year-old student came to her defense and was savagely beaten as a result.

He was kicked about like a football and left for dead.

Dr. Roseveare was sick.

For a moment she thought that God had forsaken her, even though she did not doubt his reality.

But God stepped in, overwhelmed her with the sense of his own presence, and said something like this: “Twenty years ago you asked me for the privilege of being a missionary, the privilege of being identified with me.

These are not your sufferings; they are my sufferings.”

As the force of that hit home, the doctor said she was overcome with a great sense of privilege.

Helen Roseveare’s sense of identification with Christ, of union with him, was elevated by her suffering, and she rejoiced.

Paul likewise rejoiced in the sublime oneness he sensed as Christ participated with him in his sufferings.

Argumentation - Suffering is a part of God’s plan!

The more we suffer for Christ the closer we become to Christ!

It is a tremendous privilidge...

Application - How do you view suffering?

If your are like me, I tend to forget that my sufferings are actuually Christ suffering through me.

I want to challenege you today to reevaluate your view of suffering for Christ.

Because it is His suffering through you that will change you in profound ways.

Will you suffer for the Mystery?

Review - The Mystery is No Longer Mysterious- but there is much to be done!

We Must Suffer for the Mystery

Suffering for the Mystery

2. We Must Make Known the Mystery (vs.

25-26)

Lead in…We often look at evangelism as an option.

But is it for the follower of Christ?

It certainly wasn’t for the Apostle Paul!

Text -

Explanation - Paul’s calling was clear from day one.

In fact, almost immediately after his salvation experience on the road to Damascus, Paul was out sharing the gospel!

Paul knew, right out of the box that it was his amazing privilege to share the truth about Jesus Christ.

He took this privilege quite seriously and according to the text he called this privilege a “stewardship from God”!

The word “Stewardship” means...

oikonomia (οἰκονομία, 3622) primarily signifies “the management of a household or of household affairs” (oikos, “a house,” nomos, “a law”);

Paul’s drive was not because of some self-aggrandizement, some ego trip, some over-inflated view of his own importance.