DEFINING LIFE: The Passion of Joyful Struggles

INTRO

Colossians 1:24–2:5 ESV

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. 1 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.

1) Devoted to a Labor of Love (vs. 24-25a)

Most people do not stumble into faith in Jesus.

Think about how you came to know Jesus as Lord and Savior.

Those involved with my Testimony:

My Parents and Grandparents faithful to pray and get me to church.

Nursery Workers faithful to serve and create a Christ-friendly environment.

Sunday School Teachers faithful to teach week after week.

Children’s workers faithful to serve, teach songs and stories, and feed us cookies and Kool-aid.

Pastor who was faithful to the Word

People who were faithful to pray

God surrounded you with people you will never meet this side of eternity who labored in love for you to come to know Jesus.

Who is involved in your testimony?

Whose testimony will you be involved in?

No one matures in their faith without effort, intentionality, and discipline.

It’s not just the labor of love for those who helped you to come to know Christ, there are also those whom God uses to help you grow in your faith.

You also must be intentional to grow and mature in your faith.

Are you intentionally serving and laboring for others to know Jesus and grow in Jesus? Are you intentionally seeking to know Jesus and grow in Jesus?

2) Dedicated to a Maturity of Mercy (vs. 25b-29)

The reason behind our labor of love is not to get people in the church, it’s to get Jesus in people!

We don’t labor for our accolades, but rather we proclaim Jesus so that people experience His mercy.

Proclaim: Warning

Proclaim: Teaching with all wisdom

We experience maturity when we labor with all His energy that He powerfully works within us.

3) Determined to Affirm Assurance (vs. 1-5)

All of our labor of love is so that we may encourage one another.

Our encouragement is not open ended, but it is directed towards a full assurance of knowledge and understanding of Jesus.

We need to understand Jesus so we are not led astray by “good sounding” arguments.

There many who say that Jesus would do this or Jesus would do that and they sound good, but many times are taken out of context.

Jesus will always accept sinful people for the purpose of forgiving, renewing, and transforming them away from sin.

Jesus will also call people to repent away from sin and to repent to God.

If anyone thinks otherwise, then they have been led astray by a “good sounding” argument and don’t truly understand Jesus.

When we have a proper understanding of Jesus we will affirm the assurances of His Word.

This world will often make us question our convictions, but as long as we properly understand Jesus, we can be assured of His truth and firm in our convictions.

This assurance comes from a determined focus on Jesus, a devotion to a labor of love, and dedication to maturing in Mercy.

CLOSING