Serving for Christ

Lego Masters

I suspect I’m not alone in suggesting that there is a lot of rubbish on our television these days. For the last decade or two, TV networks seem to have fallen in love with what we call reality TV.

If I can generalize almost every single realty TV show, you throw a bunch of strangers together into a certain scenario, the producers of the show then twist and change their conditions so we, the viewers, can gawk at their range of emotions. The producers seem to prize tears, whether they be happy tears, sad tears or even angry tears. They love to make people either angry, jealous, confused, or for that matter, any emotion that’s obvious to see.

For that reason, I generally skip most reality TV shows. The ads I watch are enough to scare me off.

But there is one reality TV show that I really like and that is Lego Masters. (Actually, I also really like Ninja Warrior as well). What I really like about Lego Masters (and also Ninja Warrior), is that they don’t seem to encourage any nastiness between competitors, rather, the competitors seem to genuinely want the best for the other. And so what we then watch, is the amazing Lego builds (or in the case of Ninja Warrior, the amazing feats of strength and agility).

Now last year when Lego Masters had its first season I was actually quite excited. I don’t usually recommend too many TV shows, but I remember telling a few people about it because it was so refreshing amongst all the other rubbish.

For the most part, as I spoke about it, if they hadn’t seen it, then they probably just nodded along to what I was saying and that was it.

But at youth group, it was a bit of a different matter.

You see, teenagers have this way of somehow deciding what’s cool and what’s not. There’s no formal process about it, to be honest, I don’t really know how it happens, but there is some kind of group think, and for the teenagers I spoke to, Lego was deemed too childish and not cool.

Well, I was left deflated. My enthusiasm squashed. I had all these ideas as well. I was going to build a brick pit in the youth group area and we could have our own Lego master, but when I learnt it was lame, I retreated.

How we spur others on

Now of course as much as I enjoy Lego Masters, it is just a show, and while being laughed at about my TV viewing preferences, I quickly got over it.

But this serves as a good example of something more important. You see, the reason I told people about the show, was because I was encouraged by something that inspired people rather than tear people down. You see, when we see something good, we want to tell others. But… when we get a bit of push back, it’s very easy to retreat.

Now this is what I want to explore this morning, because as Christians, we of course have something to tell others about. What we’ll find in the passage we have this morning, is not a how-to guide, but rather it will explore some of the struggles and difficulties when we try to encourage others in the faith. And so I want to use this passage to help us think about how we can spur one another on to be in Christ.

Context

This is now the third in our new series on Paul’s letter to the church of Colossae.

In this letter, Paul has been quick from the get-go to put their attention on Christ. It is in Christ that they are going to find assurance. It is in Christ that they will understand what is going on.

The background to this letter as we’ve explored in previous weeks, is that this church in young and easily influenced, and while Paul was not involved in establishing this church, he was keen to give some words that would encourage them in their faith.

And so, that is what he does. After some opening words to encourage them, he then adds these powerful words we explored last week.

Last week we dove a little deeper into these poetic words found in verses 15 to 20 and I highlighted this progression of seeing Christ over creation, through to Christ over New Creation.

Now, once we begin to grasp the magnitude of this, this is what leads us to that feeling I was talking about before - that is, the feeling where you just want to tell others.

This is particularly the case when we recognise the implication for our own lives which was spelt out for us from verse 21 - that is, we were once alienated from God. We had no connection with the one who governed the whole world, but because of the work of Christ, we were reconciled. We were enabled to stand before God, completely free of any accusation and this changes everything.

Unfortunately we don’t always recognise the significance of this, because we get so caught up in the ways of the world, but when we stop and allow ourselves to understand this, then our response should be that we would just want to tell others. This is real liberation. This is what our souls are yearning for.

The task

Now, as I move in to the passage I want to consider for today, that is, starting from verse 24, we’ll see that Paul starts talking about his specific task that he has been given.

You see, we need to recognise that Christ had something very specific in mind for Paul. Paul brings this out in verse 25.

He says that he has become a servant for the church by the commission that God had given to him. You’ll probably recall Paul’s great conversion on the road to Damascus and then how Paul took the gospel to the Gentiles.

But verse 25 spells out the specific task for now - and that is, to present to the Colossians the word of God in its fullness.

Now let’s not be too narrow and assume that the word of God is just one aspect of the message, even though as I’ll explore in a moment, Paul does highlight a particular aspect in verses 26 and 27. Rather when Paul uses the phrase “word of God” here, he’s talking about the complete package of what God is doing.

That is, as we saw back in verse 20 last week, to reconcile all things, whether things on earth or things in haven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

The mystery

But there was one aspect of this that Paul does feel the need to highlight - it’s an aspect which we’re very familiar with, but at the time would have been mind blowing.

It’s what Paul often refers to as the ‘mystery’. It’s not mysterious in the sense of not being able to understand it - you know, we might use the phrase: ‘that’s a mystery to me’. That’s not what is meant.

Rather it is a mystery in the sense that what he is about to explain was hidden, but has now been revealed.

And that revealed secret is: that God is including the Gentiles (that is, non-Jewish people), in his plan for redemption.

Now just try to imagine the thinking immediately prior to the time of Jesus.

All they had of God’s revealed word was what we now call the Old Testament, although for them, it was just: the scriptures.

Now I know we can look back and see plenty of clues that fact that God’s blessing was going to include all people, but it is certainly also true that the focus was on God’s chosen people, the nation of Israel.

This is why it took the early Jewish believers quite a bit of time to realise that being redeemed by God did not mean you had to become Jewish.

But this is the wonderful mystery that would have been so relevant for the people in Colossae, and is still relevant to us today - God wants to accept us no matter who we are or where we’ve come from. This is the good news!

Our task

So in this passage we can see Paul’s special task of presenting to word of God in all its fullness.

While there is a specific context for this in Paul, there is however a more general task for us. You see, the message has continued to be passed on countless times, and ultimately, we are a result of this ongoing process.

And so in a broad sense, we now need to pick this up and continue presenting the word of God in its fullness.

The questions

Now whenever we realise there is a task set before us, there’s always a number of questions we have before us.

Questions of: why bother? How? What if its hard? How do we keep going?

Well, when we look into this passage, we find that each of these questions are answered, and so for the remainder of this message, I’m going to look at those questions in turn.

Why Bother?

The first of the questions I asked was the question that every young child loves to ask… Why?

Why should we even bother? It’s a question that is particularly relevant in an age where the focus has shifted to the individual. That is to say, as a society, we’re very happy for you to believe whatever you want - but just keep it to yourself.

So why bother in trying to present the word of God to others.

Well in the passage, there are two ideas I want to draw out which can give us good reason to bother.

Hope of Glory

The first idea comes from the end of verse 27 when Paul uses the phrase: ‘hope of glory’.

Now more than ever, we are a society that is crying out for hope. But even before coronavirus, society around us were wanting more. Surely this is not everything.

You see, despite all the advancements of our society, there is just this dissatisfaction. Connections are shallow. Other people just seem fake. They put on a front of caring, but it doesn’t take much before the selfishness comes out.

We need more. And there is more.

Christ has given us more and even though our community often don’t recognise it, there is this hunger for it.

With Christian we have hope. Hope for a glory in Christ right now, but also a hope for something even better in the future. A time when there will be no more pain or tears, because a new order will have come.

So why bother to present the word of God to others? Because they need the hope that comes with it.

Unity

But in chapter 2 verse 2, there is another little phrase that stands out to me: “united in love”.

Unfortunately, it seems that as a society, we are becoming more and more divided. The left and right side of politics seem to become more pronounced. The gap between rich and poor is growing. We get offended quicker than ever.

But as Gods word takes hold in a community, something beautiful happens. And it is something I just love in the church today. Whether you are rich or poor, intelligent or simple, indigenous or non-indigenous, married or single, a lefty or right-wing… we can all sit down together and be united as brothers and sisters in Christ. We need this unity more than ever, and the more I observe society, the more I’m convinced that we will only see this unity as the word of God takes hold.

How?

So, in this passage we can see good reasons for why we should share God’s word with others. The next big question is: how?

Well, again, let me suggest two ideas from this passage, both from verse 28.

Admonishing and teaching

Verse 28 starts with: “He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom”.

Admonish

Now let’s start with the word ‘admonish’. Now, I don’t know about you, but this word sounds a bit scary to me. When I first read it, my initial thought is of telling people off every time they do something wrong.

Unfortunately, this is the way that Christians can be perceived.

Just when you want a bit of fun, there is some Christian there ready to tell you off.

Well, to be honest, I don’t think this is exactly what Paul had in mind. The word does express the idea of correction, but it is to be done with wisdom.

Now we can ask, if the gospel is about forgiveness, should this really be a significant part of presenting the word of God? Well, I think the answer is yes. That’s because as God’s word is fulfilled, their is a change in our character, and while Christ is the one making that change, we need to be active in the process, and this can only be done if we’re shown how we should be living - and essentially, this is what is being portrayed in this word that has been translated at admonish.

Teaching

But he also talks about teaching which is a more positive word.

Now as we present the word of God, we need to recognise that people will not respond if they don’t hear the good message.

We have a message of hope… we have a message that can unite people… but it’s going to do none of this if we don’t actually teach people.

Now some people are going to be particularly gifted in this area, but you don’t need a theological degree to tell someone that Jesus loves them. And sometimes it’s as simple as this. To say to someone, you are loved, and their is hope to be found in Christ.

What if it’s hard?

So I’ve looked at now, the question of: why bother? and how?

But the next question is: what if its hard?

You see, one of the reasons we might hesitate is that it’s not always easy.

Well you know what - it’s not always easy. There are a lot of struggles involved. But in part, we perhaps need to change our perspective.

Suffering

Let me take you back to the start of the passage that was read.

You see, the idea Paul starts with is suffering.

Now, you might recall when I gave some of the background to this letter when I started the series, Paul is actually writing this letter from prison. Paul is no stranger to suffering. In fact, you could say it was very much a feature of his entire ministry.

But did you notice that he’s actually not complaining. In fact, he’s not even just saying it in some sort of neutral way. Rather, he is saying that he rejoices in it.

He then uses a slightly confusing phrase: “I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions”.

Part of the confusion is in trying to understand what is lacking in “Christ’s affliction”. Now, times not going to allow a full analysis of this, however, basically we can see that Paul sees a connection between his suffering, and the suffering Christ went through.

So why would we rejoice in this? Because we’re reminded that it is through suffering that we find redemption.

Now in the context of presenting the word of God in its fullness, we can know that when we step out, things are not going to be easy - and I’m not even thinking about any ridicule you might receive. It’s not easy because there is a spiritual battle going on, and the evil one doesn’t want to see God’s word being fulfilled.

But we don’t wilt in the face of this, because we know that we are suffering with Christ.

Those that deceive

Now there is another aspect to why it is hard which I want to briefly touch on.

And this comes at the end of the passage that was read - that is, chapter 2 verse 4.

You see while we are trying to present God’s word, there are those that want to distort it.

Unfortunately, these voices are everywhere. Sometimes they are obvious, but more often, they are actually subtle.

It’s the voice that tells us: it doesn’t really matter if you love money… it doesn’t really matter if you look lustfully at that woman… or whatever it might be you struggle with.

But this is how the enemy works. Speaking in fine-sounding arguments. Sometimes it might be other people speaking to us, sometimes it might be our own internal voice - but either way, it is designed to pull us off track.

This is in part why it’s hard. When we try to present God’s word in all its fullness, we are facing battles on many fronts.

How do we keep going?

And so this brings me to the fourth question I asked earlier: how do we keep going?

Well, verse 29 tells us Paul’s answer: “to this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me”.

Now what I love about this statement is that it encapsulates well the two aspects of how we keep going, that is, our effort, and Christ’s effort.

You see, there is an element to which we just need to put our head down and push through.

That word translated “strenuously contend” in the Greek is often used in an athletic setting. An athlete pushes through even when it gets hard.

But, it’s not just our effort. And that’s because we are energised through Christ. Paul knew that he couldn’t do it by himself, he needed Christ who powerfully worked through him.

And this is the great news, Christ will also work through us.

No matter how hard it gets, Christ will help us through.

Conclusion

In this passage before us today we see Paul talking about his ministry to this church in Colossae. His main aim is that he wants o present the word of God in its fullness.

He wants this, because this is what is best for these people, as it is for all people around the world.

But Paul is not unaware of the struggles. He knows very well these struggles because he has lived it. But he knows that Christ is there strengthening him.

We too have a similar calling. We too have people around us that are living without hope. And we can give them hope by proclaiming this message through correction and teaching and loving them.

This won’t be easy, because there is a spiritual battle going on, but just like Paul, we can know that Christ will strengthen us.

So let me pray...