Together to Make known the Glory of God

Special Prayer

This morning we will be continuing our theme of Together as we have been looking at the statement of

We Grow together, Build together, Serve together, to Glorify God together.

Last week we looked at how Jesus holds us together, we have to keep our eyes on Jesus, weather it is in our life, marriage, our family, in our small groups, or in our church, if we will keep Jesus in first place, then He will hold us together.

But when we take him out of first place, and put ourselves into that first place position then things will start to follow apart.

In this I think of Peter and Jesus on the sea, in Matthew 14:28-31

Matthew 14:28–31 CSB

28 “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter answered him, “command me to come to you on the water.” 29 He said, “Come.” And climbing out of the boat, Peter started walking on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the strength of the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me!” 31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand, caught hold of him, and said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”

As soon as Peter took his eyes off of Jesus he started to sink into the water, we are the same way, when we take our eyes off of Jesus we will stray away, get off the straight and narrow.

This morning we are going to be looking at Together to Make known the Glory of God which I believe is a theme or statement that we need to make for this New Year, that we will work together to make known the Glory of God.

We will continue looking in Colossians 1 this morning.

in these closing verses of chapter 1 Paul shows how something that most considered a weak point he was actually using it to spread the gospel message.

Paul discusses his suffering and false teachers used his suffering as a weapon to fight the truth of the gospel message, but Paul turned it around to build a closer relationship with the Colossian people.

Let’s look at out main text this morning

Colossians 1:24–29 CSB

24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I am completing in my flesh what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for his body, that is, the church. 25 I have become its servant, according to God’s commission 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 God wanted to make known among the Gentiles the glorious wealth of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28 We proclaim him, warning and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ. 29 I labor for this, striving with his strength that works powerfully in me.

I. Make the Word of God fully Known. Vs. 24-25

Colossians 1:24–25 CSB

24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I am completing in my flesh what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for his body, that is, the church. 25 I have become its servant, according to God’s commission that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known,

Paul is in prison or on house arrest at this point in his ministry and he states, I rejoice in my sufferings for you.

Instead of being ashamed of his sufferings, or sitting there being depressed, sad, and unhappy of his imprisonment.

Paul says, I rejoice in my sufferings for you, so why was Paul rejoicing in his sufferings.

Well, verse 24, then continues and this part may be a little confusing or might even sound like Paul is boasting or like he is trying to get one up on Jesus.

But that is not the case, Paul says, I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I am completing in my flesh what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for his body, that is, the church.

Now again, that sounds like Paul is trying to get one up on Jesus, but that is not the case.

First, like the apostles, Paul is saying I rejoice that I was counted worthy to suffer for his name sake.

Acts 5:41 CSB

41 Then they went out from the presence of the Sanhedrin, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to be treated shamefully on behalf of the Name.

As Christians we should never suffer as a thief or as an evildoer; but it should be an honor to suffer as a Christian for the name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.

1 Peter 4:15–16 CSB

15 Let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or a meddler. 16 But if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed but let him glorify God in having that name.

Paul said I am suffering for you, that is the Gentiles, which the Colossian church was made up of mainly Gentiles, so therefore, he was suffering for them.

He also said for the church, that is the body of Christ, that even includes us today, because he was suffering to spread the gospel message.

Paul was suffering to make the Word of God fully known in every way shape and form that he could possible could.

When Paul said what was lacking in Christ’s afflictions, he was not saying that Jesus’ sacrifice was not complete or good enough, but that he was taking his turn in sharing these afflictions.

In other words, the message of the cross, the gospel message had only went so far, it had only reach so many, but Paul was now doing his part to spread it further, to make sure it reached more people.

Just as we are called to make sure it reaches further and further, Jesus said, to take it to the utter most parts of the earth.

John 14:12 CSB

12 “Truly I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do. And he will do even greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.

Some times we may have to suffer, when we take the gospel message to others, but we as the apostles, as Paul did, count it joy, we should rejoice that we were counted worthy to suffer for the sake of Christ.

Paul says in verse 25, that he had become it’s servant because God commissioned him to make the Word of God fully known.

This was his calling and if we will just look at two set of Scriptures in the Bible we will see that God has called us all to make the Word of God fully known.

Matthew 28:18–20 CSB

18 Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

This is what we know as the Great Commission, and is where we are called by Jesus by his authority to go and make disciples of all nations.

That is we are to Make known the Word of God fully to all people, to all of the world.

The thing is, in today’s world we have some great tools to do that with, through the internet we can reach people all over the world.

This past Tuesday and Thursday night I went on live with my father-in-law on his online church Mount Ebal Christian church, and we were talking about reaching the world, just before going on, and he was telling me this that he has people that watch in Africa, Europe, England and other parts of the world.

Acts 1:8 CSB

8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Here again we see Jesus giving us a command to be a witness to the world, here he tells us that we will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon us.

The apostles had to wait ten days for this, we receive this at the moment we accept salvation.

Paul had the power of the Holy Spirit and he allowed that power to be used through him so that the Word of God would be fully known.

God still wants each of us as Christians to make the Word of God fully known in the world, and we must work together to accomplish this and we do this in order to glorify God.

II. God wanted to Make Known. Vs. 26-27

Colossians 1:26–27 CSB

26 the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. 27 God wanted to make known among the Gentiles the glorious wealth of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Here Paul talks about this mystery that has been hidden, in his terminology, a mystery was a truth which lay hidden in the pages of the Old Testament, and its explanation awaited another day.

The day of understanding came with the death and resurrection of Christ, and the mystery was revealed to the saints (believers).

The mystery that Paul is speaking of here he describes in verse 27 as “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

Let’s brake this in half here, first is Christ in you, here the Old Testament had predicted that the Messiah was coming, but that was pointed to the Jewish people.

The mystery that is being revealed here is that Christ in you, is that even the Gentiles would be indwelt with Jesus as their Messiah as Lord and Savior if they would accept him.

Second is the hope of glory, this is that those who accepted Jesus as Messiah, their Lord and Savior would have hope of glory.

This expression means that Christ was their hope of receiving and participating in glory.

Because of what Jesus did on the cross - that is his death and then through his resurrection - the Gentiles could expect to share in glory - which is eternal life, heaven.

When we are indwelt with Christ presence in our life, it functions like a new motor in an old car.

You put a new motor in an old car, it brings new life to that old car, well, when Jesus indwells us, it brings new life to us.

III. Labor to Make Known. Vs. 28-29

Colossians 1:28–29 CSB

28 We proclaim him, warning and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ. 29 I labor for this, striving with his strength that works powerfully in me.

We proclaim him, that is Paul is saying we, the apostles, the disciples, are proclaiming, preaching him, which is Jesus.

Warning and teaching everyone, warning or admonishing what was Paul warning the people about false teachers that were leading people a stray.

The false teachers exalted themselves, they made it about themselves, instead of exalting Jesus Christ and furthering the gospel message.

Paul was warning the people about this and teaching everyone with all wisdom.

It is important that we are grounded in the Word of God, and that we help each other be grounded in our believes, in order that we are not lead a stray.

Paul says with all wisdom, he did not just state that people were false teachers but he could show the people in Scripture where the false teachers were wrong, where they were not teaching correctly.

As we warn people, we also need to teach the truth, yes people need to be warned about all the false teaching in the world, but they also need to be taught the truth, so that they can spot the false teachers themselves.

What was Paul’s purpose in all of this, well, to present everyone mature in Christ.

So what did Paul mean here by presenting everyone mature or as some translations say perfect.

Well, he means to become spiritually mature, to grow spiritually to the point that the people could stand on their own, and be grounded spiritually, they could go out and make disciples and help others grow spiritually.

What is some evidence of this Spiritual maturity? Well Paul describes it in the next chapter.

Colossians 2:2 CSB

2 I want their hearts to be encouraged and joined together in love, so that they may have all the riches of complete understanding and have the knowledge of God’s mystery—Christ.

God wants us as His children to have understanding and wisdom and knowledge. The word here translated understanding literally is meaning to place together.

Wisdom implies the ability to defend what we understand. Knowledge suggest the ability to grasp truth.

To make disciples, to help Christians grow spiritually, to help believers reach maturity, takes great labor, it is not something that happens over night, or even within a week.

Paul said, I labor for this, that is to be able to see believers grow spiritually, and make disciples.

He continues, with his strength that works powerfully in me. That is Jesus strength, that works powerfully in me, that happens through us by the Holy Spirit.

If we are going to make disciples, if we are going to help others grow spiritually, if we ourselves are going to grow spiritually it will only be accomplished through the work and power of the Holy Spirit within us.

We are not all called to be pastors and preachers, or missionaries, or evangelist, or Sunday school teachers, but we all have a God-given ministry.

We all can and should share the gospel and be soul-winners. We can suffer for Christ and fulfill the ministry God has given us, and when we do suffer be like the apostles count it all joy.

So are you fulfilling your God-given ministry?

Are you allowing the Holy Spirit to use you to help others grow spiritually and mature in their faith?

Have you ever accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior in order that you can grow spiritually?

If not I would love to talk with you and share some more Scripture with you about salvation, and pray with you!!