St Theodore's Sermon 22/11/98

	St Theodore's Wattle Park

Sermon of the Week

22/11/98

Passionate Truth
Col 1:24-2:5

I wonder have you ever had the experience of knowing someone quite well, of having a great respect for that person and then discovering that someone else you know doesn't think much of them. You know them as a person of great integrity and they're saying they're a hypocrite. Or you look up to them as a source of knowledge and wisdom in your growth as a Christian and someone suggests they're theologically up the creek. Does that sort of thing throw you into a turmoil? Do you start to doubt whether you've been wrong all along? Or do you hold to what you know and have experienced first hand?

Well, that was what was happening to the Colossian Christians. They were being told that Paul had got it wrong. That he hadn't told them all there was to know. He'd just opened the first door, but there were many more doors to go through before they'd become truly mature, spiritual Christians. In fact as they listened, it would have become clear that these people looked down on Paul as something of a try hard. Perhaps a bit backward or misled. Not aware of the greater possibilities of spirituality that they were promoting.

And there was good reason for this I guess. As we read this passage before us today, along with the preceding verse, what do we find? What does Paul call himself? He calls himself a servant. In v23 he says he's a servant of the gospel, and in v25 he says he's a servant of the church. Now servants weren't any higher on the social ladder in those days than they are today, so it's no wonder his opponents looked down on him. But it wasn't just that. As we'll see in a moment, it was also that there was no sense of mystery in what Paul taught. There was no sense of something still to be discovered. According to Paul, all was revealed. Everything we need to know, God has revealed to us. So not only was Paul a mere servant, but what he taught had no religious teeth, as it were.

But Paul's response to these sorts of attacks is to affirm his servanthood. Being a servant isn't a thing to be ashamed of it. Rather he's proud of it. He's passionate about it. He says he rejoices in his sufferings for the church. He's glad to be a servant of the gospel. He's glad to be a servant of the church. In fact, as we'll see in a moment, this is the very strength of his ministry.

But first notice that the two types of servanthood go together. You can't be a servant of the church, unless you're also a servant of the gospel. The service of the gospel is primary. All other ministries, all other service, flow from this. If it isn't the gospel, or the word of God, that informs our service, then it ends up being meaningless, even lifeless. On the other hand if our service of the church arises from our service of the gospel, then it'll breathe new life into our ministry, because the gospel brings life. This is important for us to remember as we think about the past year and the year to come, at our AGM today. Is the ministry of the gospel central to everything we plan? If not, then maybe we need to rethink it.

As I just said Paul is passionate about his service. His gospel is passionate truth. He says "in my flesh I am completing what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church." He's so passionate about this ministry he's been given that he's willing to suffer for it. In fact he doesn't just suffer for it. The word that we have translated as 'complete' actually means 'fill up'. That is he fills his body with suffering on their behalf. He so wants to identify with Christ that he's happy to continue the sort of suffering that Christ experienced if that'll benefit the church. Now he isn't talking about Christ's death on the cross here, but rather the sort of suffering Christ experienced as a result of opposition and persecution; as a result of speaking the truth. Paul is happy to be opposed and misunderstood if the end result is the gospel being preached and the church being built up.

Now I guess there was quite a contrast here between Paul and his opponents. He was happy to be a servant, to suffer, but it seems they were on about preserving their position of authority. That at least is the implication of the 'mystery' idea. He says "I became [the church's] servant according to God's commission that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, ²⁶the mystery that has been hidden throughout the ages and generations but has now been revealed to his saints." The idea of a mystery in religion has been around for a long time. It's the idea that there are some things that you only find out as you progress through the various stages of the religion. At first the deeper truths are kept from you in case you can't handle them or misuse them, or so you're told. Only when you've been initiated into the upper levels can you learn the deeper truths. This is true in religions that practice magic, it's true of Buddhism, which speaks of different levels of consciousness. I read something this week that indicated it's true of Masonry, where it's not until a person passes through the Holy Royal Arch ceremony that they discover the real truths of the Craft, and it was equally true of many religions in Paul's day. You see, it's a way of maintaining the power and authority of those at the top of the organisation. And it's a way of maintaining people's interest in the religion. You sometimes see it even in some Christian circles. For example it can be one of the things behind the teaching of a second blessing or the baptism of the Holy Spirit. You even get glimpses of it, I think, in some people's desire for mystery and transcendence in the way they approach God in worship, as though there's something more spiritual about not knowing what God's like. But that's not what we learn in the gospel. The gospel tells us that God has revealed himself to us in the person of Jesus Christ. As we read last week, Jesus is the image of the invisible God. The transcendent God has come near. He's made himself known to us. Now we can come to know him in all his glory through the preaching of the gospel.

True, this was a mystery, hidden to previous ages and generations, but now it's been revealed to the saints. That is, to those who are followers of Christ. And it's been revealed through the preaching of the gospel.

Well, let's think for a while about the model Paul gives us of passionate ministry, passionate truth. What we find here, is the content of his ministry, Christ in you the hope of glory; the method of his ministry, warning and teaching; the scope of his ministry, admonishing and teaching everyone; the purpose of his ministry, to present everyone mature in Christ; and the motivating power of his ministry, all the energy that he powerfully inspires within me.

The content of his ministry

The content of his ministry is this: Christ in you, the hope of glory. Now this is an interesting phrase. If you remember back to our study of Ephesians, you may remember that the key phrase there was "in Christ". That is, it was our being "in Christ" that mattered. There it was a question of our standing before God, but here it's the other way round. The content of the gospel here is Christ in you. What makes this interesting is the fact that elsewhere Paul and others speak of the Holy Spirit being in us. John's gospel makes it quite clear that the Holy Spirit dwelling in us will mean that Christ is in us or with us. But here there's no mention of the Holy Spirit, just Christ.

Now it may be that the reason for this is that the Colossians were so taken up with spirits and angels that Paul didn't want to confuse the issue by talking about the Holy Spirit. But it may also be that Paul wants to remind those who are being swayed by talk of higher spiritual experiences, that the reality of the Christian walk is that Christ himself has come to dwell within us right here and now. By faith we're united with the Lord Jesus himself. That is, we can experience the presence of the invisible God with us every moment of the day. Far from being transcendent, God himself comes to dwell in us in the person of his own Son, Jesus Christ. If the Colossian Christians were being taught that Christ was far off seated at the right hand of God, and what they needed was some further spiritual experience to raise them to God's presence, Paul was saying, no, Christ isn't far off, he's actually present within you, every moment of every day, bringing the power of God to bear on your life, changing you, transforming you into his own image. That is, into the image of the invisible God.

And not only that, but because he's in you, he's your hope for the future, the hope of glory. You see, if Christ is in you, then your future is assured, because Christ is already at God's right hand, and he's promised that where he is, there we will be also.

The method of his ministry

So the content of his ministry is Christ in you, the hope of glory. But the method of his ministry is twofold: warning and teaching. Again, these two go together. He warns people of the dangers of going astray, and he teaches them what it means to be mature in Christ. As we find at the start of ch 2, there's a real danger of people being led astray by fine sounding arguments. Those people who want to convince us that there's more to being spiritual than we find in the apostolic gospel, will come up with all sorts of very convincing arguments. The reason they're convincing of course is that they appeal to the desire within all of us for a religious or spiritual dimension to our lives. To that inbuilt desire we all seem to have to feel we can draw near to God. But what they offer so often is a romanticised or mythological view of God, rather than the God who has revealed himself to us in the Bible.

So how do we avoid falling into their traps? By knowing the God of the Bible for who he is. By being taught the revelation of God rather than human inventions. And so, Paul says, he teaches everyone with all wisdom.

The scope of his ministry

And the scope of his ministry? Everyone. He repeats the term 3 times just to make sure we get it: "warning everyone and teaching everyone in all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ." Every person here today is part of the scope of this teaching. If you ever find yourself thinking you don't need to listen to this, stop and take notice of these words. He warns and teaches everyone. We all need this. We all need to be warned and taught. We all need to grow to maturity.

The corollary of that of course is that we all need to be doing what Paul does. That is we all have a role in warning and teaching each other. You don't need to be ordained to do it. You don't need to be a churchwarden or a member of vestry. You don't need to be a bible study leader. As we'll discover when we get to ch 3, all of us have a role in letting the word of God dwell in us richly as we teach and admonish one another in all wisdom. Let me ask you, who around you has done this for you lately? Who is there who's taught you or admonished you in the past year? When was the last time you warned or taught someone else? Some of us are better at this than others. But we all have a role to play. Of course to do it, we do have to be interacting with one another. I guess one of the places this can happen more than others is in a small group, where we've come to know each other better and feel there's a level of trust built up that helps us confront one another without being confronting.

The purpose of his ministry

Notice, mind you, the purpose behind Paul's ministry of warning and teaching. This must be our motivation as well, if we're to do it with sensitivity and care. It's that he may present everyone mature in Christ. This is the goal towards which we should be moving as a church. But what does maturity mean? Have a look at 2:2-3: "I want their hearts to be encouraged and united in love, so that they may have all the riches of assured understanding and have the knowledge of God's mystery, that is, Christ himself, ³in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." This, I think, is what he's thinking of. Hearts encouraged and united in love. In other words an emotional warmth and a sense of mutual care and love. And at the same time minds that are assured of the truth of the gospel, and that have experienced that truth in their discovery of Jesus Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Passionate truth!

The motivating power of his ministry

Finally, notice the motivating power of Paul's ministry, the source of the energy he needs. He says: "For this I toil and struggle with all the energy that he [Christ] powerfully inspires within me." How are you going to do the work that Christ asks of you? How are you going to be a person who shares the gospel with your unbelieving friends and neighbours? How are you going to warn and teach others in the Christian community? How are you going to avoid being worn out by the effort all that entails? Only by doing it in the strength that Christ provides. Paradoxically though, how are you going to get that strength? Only by beginning to work. It's as we toil and struggle that we discover the energy that Christ powerfully supplies. You'll hear some people today teaching ways of experiencing the power of God in your life. If you go to Koorong or some other Christian bookshop you'll find countless books on their shelves teaching the secrets of spiritual power. But what do we find here? Does Paul talk about experiencing the Power of God in his life? Well, he does, but it's in the context of toil and struggle. What Paul experienced you see, was hard work, suffering, persecution. It was only as he looked back that he saw the power of God at work. We may feel like we're not experiencing God's power at the moment. I often feel like that. But as I look back I see the clear hand of God moving in my life and in my ministry, providing the power and energy that I so often lack, providing results, that I'm sometimes totally unaware of. So don't be led astray by those who say life was meant to be easy. Or at least that experiencing God's power in your life was meant to be easy. The reality we find in the pages of the bible is that God's power is found in the midst of struggle and toil. But at the same time that power is unlimited and it's given freely. It's "the energy that Christ powerfully inspires within me." It's superlative upon superlative. Incomprehensible power. The power of the Son of God, of the Spirit of God. The power of the gospel, the word of God.

We can learn from Paul's example. We too can be servants of the gospel and servants of the Church. But that entails doing the things Paul did, warning and teaching everyone, for the same reason that Paul did it, to present everyone Mature in Christ. If you think that's too hard a job, remember that Paul didn't do it in his own strength. He wasn't any different from you or me in that respect . He did it in the power that Christ supplies, confident that the power of the gospel is sufficient, that the glorious riches of the mystery now revealed in Christ would speak for themselves. Let's be encouraged to be servants of the gospel and of the Church for the sake of Christ who enables everything we do.


	Contact us	Preaching Program	Home		Last Week's Sermon

	I wonder have you ever had the experience of knowing someone quite well, of having a great respect for that person and then discovering that someone else you know doesn't think much of them. You know them as a person of great integrity and they're saying they're a hypocrite. Or you look up to them as a source of knowledge and wisdom in your growth as a Christian and someone suggests they're theologically up the creek. Does that sort of thing throw you into a turmoil? Do you start to doubt whether you've been wrong all along? Or do you hold to what you know and have experienced first hand?
	Well, that was what was happening to the Colossian Christians. They were being told that Paul had got it wrong. That he hadn't told them all there was to know. He'd just opened the first door, but there were many more doors to go through before they'd become truly mature, spiritual Christians. In fact as they listened, it would have become clear that these people looked down on Paul as something of a try hard. Perhaps a bit backward or misled. Not aware of the greater possibilities of spirituality that they were promoting.
	And there was good reason for this I guess. As we read this passage before us today, along with the preceding verse, what do we find? What does Paul call himself? He calls himself a servant. In v23 he says he's a servant of the gospel, and in v25 he says he's a servant of the church. Now servants weren't any higher on the social ladder in those days than they are today, so it's no wonder his opponents looked down on him. But it wasn't just that. As we'll see in a moment, it was also that there was no sense of mystery in what Paul taught. There was no sense of something still to be discovered. According to Paul, all was revealed. Everything we need to know, God has revealed to us. So not only was Paul a mere servant, but what he taught had no religious teeth, as it were.
	But Paul's response to these sorts of attacks is to affirm his servanthood. Being a servant isn't a thing to be ashamed of it. Rather he's proud of it. He's passionate about it. He says he rejoices in his sufferings for the church. He's glad to be a servant of the gospel. He's glad to be a servant of the church. In fact, as we'll see in a moment, this is the very strength of his ministry.
	But first notice that the two types of servanthood go together. You can't be a servant of the church, unless you're also a servant of the gospel. The service of the gospel is primary. All other ministries, all other service, flow from this. If it isn't the gospel, or the word of God, that informs our service, then it ends up being meaningless, even lifeless. On the other hand if our service of the church arises from our service of the gospel, then it'll breathe new life into our ministry, because the gospel brings life. This is important for us to remember as we think about the past year and the year to come, at our AGM today. Is the ministry of the gospel central to everything we plan? If not, then maybe we need to rethink it.
	As I just said Paul is passionate about his service. His gospel is passionate truth. He says "in my flesh I am completing what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church." He's so passionate about this ministry he's been given that he's willing to suffer for it. In fact he doesn't just suffer for it. The word that we have translated as 'complete' actually means 'fill up'. That is he fills his body with suffering on their behalf. He so wants to identify with Christ that he's happy to continue the sort of suffering that Christ experienced if that'll benefit the church. Now he isn't talking about Christ's death on the cross here, but rather the sort of suffering Christ experienced as a result of opposition and persecution; as a result of speaking the truth. Paul is happy to be opposed and misunderstood if the end result is the gospel being preached and the church being built up.
	Now I guess there was quite a contrast here between Paul and his opponents. He was happy to be a servant, to suffer, but it seems they were on about preserving their position of authority. That at least is the implication of the 'mystery' idea. He says "I became [the church's] servant according to God's commission that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, ²⁶the mystery that has been hidden throughout the ages and generations but has now been revealed to his saints." The idea of a mystery in religion has been around for a long time. It's the idea that there are some things that you only find out as you progress through the various stages of the religion. At first the deeper truths are kept from you in case you can't handle them or misuse them, or so you're told. Only when you've been initiated into the upper levels can you learn the deeper truths. This is true in religions that practice magic, it's true of Buddhism, which speaks of different levels of consciousness. I read something this week that indicated it's true of Masonry, where it's not until a person passes through the Holy Royal Arch ceremony that they discover the real truths of the Craft, and it was equally true of many religions in Paul's day. You see, it's a way of maintaining the power and authority of those at the top of the organisation. And it's a way of maintaining people's interest in the religion. You sometimes see it even in some Christian circles. For example it can be one of the things behind the teaching of a second blessing or the baptism of the Holy Spirit. You even get glimpses of it, I think, in some people's desire for mystery and transcendence in the way they approach God in worship, as though there's something more spiritual about not knowing what God's like. But that's not what we learn in the gospel. The gospel tells us that God has revealed himself to us in the person of Jesus Christ. As we read last week, Jesus is the image of the invisible God. The transcendent God has come near. He's made himself known to us. Now we can come to know him in all his glory through the preaching of the gospel.
	True, this was a mystery, hidden to previous ages and generations, but now it's been revealed to the saints. That is, to those who are followers of Christ. And it's been revealed through the preaching of the gospel.
	Well, let's think for a while about the model Paul gives us of passionate ministry, passionate truth. What we find here, is the content of his ministry, Christ in you the hope of glory; the method of his ministry, warning and teaching; the scope of his ministry, admonishing and teaching everyone; the purpose of his ministry, to present everyone mature in Christ; and the motivating power of his ministry, all the energy that he powerfully inspires within me.
	The content of his ministry
	The content of his ministry is this: Christ in you, the hope of glory. Now this is an interesting phrase. If you remember back to our study of Ephesians, you may remember that the key phrase there was "in Christ". That is, it was our being "in Christ" that mattered. There it was a question of our standing before God, but here it's the other way round. The content of the gospel here is Christ in you. What makes this interesting is the fact that elsewhere Paul and others speak of the Holy Spirit being in us. John's gospel makes it quite clear that the Holy Spirit dwelling in us will mean that Christ is in us or with us. But here there's no mention of the Holy Spirit, just Christ.
	Now it may be that the reason for this is that the Colossians were so taken up with spirits and angels that Paul didn't want to confuse the issue by talking about the Holy Spirit. But it may also be that Paul wants to remind those who are being swayed by talk of higher spiritual experiences, that the reality of the Christian walk is that Christ himself has come to dwell within us right here and now. By faith we're united with the Lord Jesus himself. That is, we can experience the presence of the invisible God with us every moment of the day. Far from being transcendent, God himself comes to dwell in us in the person of his own Son, Jesus Christ. If the Colossian Christians were being taught that Christ was far off seated at the right hand of God, and what they needed was some further spiritual experience to raise them to God's presence, Paul was saying, no, Christ isn't far off, he's actually present within you, every moment of every day, bringing the power of God to bear on your life, changing you, transforming you into his own image. That is, into the image of the invisible God.
	And not only that, but because he's in you, he's your hope for the future, the hope of glory. You see, if Christ is in you, then your future is assured, because Christ is already at God's right hand, and he's promised that where he is, there we will be also.
	The method of his ministry
	So the content of his ministry is Christ in you, the hope of glory. But the method of his ministry is twofold: warning and teaching. Again, these two go together. He warns people of the dangers of going astray, and he teaches them what it means to be mature in Christ. As we find at the start of ch 2, there's a real danger of people being led astray by fine sounding arguments. Those people who want to convince us that there's more to being spiritual than we find in the apostolic gospel, will come up with all sorts of very convincing arguments. The reason they're convincing of course is that they appeal to the desire within all of us for a religious or spiritual dimension to our lives. To that inbuilt desire we all seem to have to feel we can draw near to God. But what they offer so often is a romanticised or mythological view of God, rather than the God who has revealed himself to us in the Bible.
	So how do we avoid falling into their traps? By knowing the God of the Bible for who he is. By being taught the revelation of God rather than human inventions. And so, Paul says, he teaches everyone with all wisdom.
	The scope of his ministry
	And the scope of his ministry? Everyone. He repeats the term 3 times just to make sure we get it: "warning everyone and teaching everyone in all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ." Every person here today is part of the scope of this teaching. If you ever find yourself thinking you don't need to listen to this, stop and take notice of these words. He warns and teaches everyone. We all need this. We all need to be warned and taught. We all need to grow to maturity.
	The corollary of that of course is that we all need to be doing what Paul does. That is we all have a role in warning and teaching each other. You don't need to be ordained to do it. You don't need to be a churchwarden or a member of vestry. You don't need to be a bible study leader. As we'll discover when we get to ch 3, all of us have a role in letting the word of God dwell in us richly as we teach and admonish one another in all wisdom. Let me ask you, who around you has done this for you lately? Who is there who's taught you or admonished you in the past year? When was the last time you warned or taught someone else? Some of us are better at this than others. But we all have a role to play. Of course to do it, we do have to be interacting with one another. I guess one of the places this can happen more than others is in a small group, where we've come to know each other better and feel there's a level of trust built up that helps us confront one another without being confronting.
	The purpose of his ministry
	Notice, mind you, the purpose behind Paul's ministry of warning and teaching. This must be our motivation as well, if we're to do it with sensitivity and care. It's that he may present everyone mature in Christ. This is the goal towards which we should be moving as a church. But what does maturity mean? Have a look at 2:2-3: "I want their hearts to be encouraged and united in love, so that they may have all the riches of assured understanding and have the knowledge of God's mystery, that is, Christ himself, ³in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." This, I think, is what he's thinking of. Hearts encouraged and united in love. In other words an emotional warmth and a sense of mutual care and love. And at the same time minds that are assured of the truth of the gospel, and that have experienced that truth in their discovery of Jesus Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Passionate truth!
	The motivating power of his ministry
	Finally, notice the motivating power of Paul's ministry, the source of the energy he needs. He says: "For this I toil and struggle with all the energy that he [Christ] powerfully inspires within me." How are you going to do the work that Christ asks of you? How are you going to be a person who shares the gospel with your unbelieving friends and neighbours? How are you going to warn and teach others in the Christian community? How are you going to avoid being worn out by the effort all that entails? Only by doing it in the strength that Christ provides. Paradoxically though, how are you going to get that strength? Only by beginning to work. It's as we toil and struggle that we discover the energy that Christ powerfully supplies. You'll hear some people today teaching ways of experiencing the power of God in your life. If you go to Koorong or some other Christian bookshop you'll find countless books on their shelves teaching the secrets of spiritual power. But what do we find here? Does Paul talk about experiencing the Power of God in his life? Well, he does, but it's in the context of toil and struggle. What Paul experienced you see, was hard work, suffering, persecution. It was only as he looked back that he saw the power of God at work. We may feel like we're not experiencing God's power at the moment. I often feel like that. But as I look back I see the clear hand of God moving in my life and in my ministry, providing the power and energy that I so often lack, providing results, that I'm sometimes totally unaware of. So don't be led astray by those who say life was meant to be easy. Or at least that experiencing God's power in your life was meant to be easy. The reality we find in the pages of the bible is that God's power is found in the midst of struggle and toil. But at the same time that power is unlimited and it's given freely. It's "the energy that Christ powerfully inspires within me." It's superlative upon superlative. Incomprehensible power. The power of the Son of God, of the Spirit of God. The power of the gospel, the word of God.
	We can learn from Paul's example. We too can be servants of the gospel and servants of the Church. But that entails doing the things Paul did, warning and teaching everyone, for the same reason that Paul did it, to present everyone Mature in Christ. If you think that's too hard a job, remember that Paul didn't do it in his own strength. He wasn't any different from you or me in that respect . He did it in the power that Christ supplies, confident that the power of the gospel is sufficient, that the glorious riches of the mystery now revealed in Christ would speak for themselves. Let's be encouraged to be servants of the gospel and of the Church for the sake of Christ who enables everything we do.

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