Living as the Hope of Glory
Colossians 1:25-29
INTRODUCTION
One of the most frequently used words among Christians is the word “church”. Just think about how many times TODAY you have used this word. And yet, even though we use this word a great deal, I wonder sometimes whether what we mean when we say the word “church” is the same thing our Lord was thinking about when He established His church.
What is the church? All of us know the church is more than a building, even though that is the most common mental picture that comes to mind when we hear the word church. We would also all agree that the church is more about the people that identify themselves as part of the church than the physical place itself. But for the true significance of the church, we must go beyond that distinction as well because the church, as established by the Lord Jesus Christ, is to be much more than a human organization. The church was established by our Lord to be a growing human organism focused on a particular task. But what is that task? What is it that the church is to do and to be?
Church members and leaders have been wrestling with that question for centuries. Even in the first century there was disagreement about what it meant to be a church. That is part of the reason Paul was led to write this letter to the Colossian Christians, to help them refocus their efforts and understanding about what the church was established to be.
Even though the Colossian church was founded through the preaching of the gospel, there were some within the church that were trying to lead it a different way. Some were trying to redefine the church to be more of an exclusive club made up of individuals who possessed certain knowledge or agreed to carry out certain religious rituals or uphold certain religious traditions. But Paul saw this as heresy. Paul believed this was false teaching that was leading the Colossian church to become something different than our Lord intended the church to be.
That is why at the end of chapter one Paul goes into a detailed explanation of what the church is supposed to be.
** Read Colossians 1:25-29 **
In this passage, Paul uses his own calling to define what the church’s calling is to be a well. In v25 Paul identifies the preaching of the word of God as a primary task of the church, not the accumulation of special knowledge. In vv26-27 Paul takes on the false teachers by using their own teachings against them. Paul agreed that the church is involved in revealing a great mystery to as many people as possible. But the mystery Paul was committed to revealing was much different than the one the false teachers were committed to. Paul was committed to revealing the mystery of the gospel that he describes in the last part of v27 as “Christ in you, the hope of glory”. Then, in the two verses that follow, Paul fleshes out what it means to live in the world as “the hope of glory.” Paul told the Colossian Christians that their church was to focus on proclaiming this hope of glory that is the gospel message.
If we are to live as “the hope of glory” to the glory and honor of God, we must do the same. Our primary task as a church and as individual believers must be the proclamation of the gospel. As we focus on vv 28 & 29 of our text, I trust we will all gain a better understanding of what it means to live as the hope of glory.
TRANS: As we begin looking at v28, we immediately discover a truth that will make some of you a little nervous as Paul answers the question:
I. Who Proclaims?
EXP: Look at the first phrase in v28. Paul makes it very clear that the proclamation of the gospel is not a task that is exclusively his. It is a task that is shared by every member of the church. Who proclaims? We all do, at least we are all supposed to. “We” is a first person plural pronoun that encompasses everyone. Paul uses this word to define who is to proclaim the gospel right up front so every person who read this letter would understand that proclaiming the gospel is a task that is supposed to involve every believer, not just a few specially called out individuals like Paul.
EXP: Sometimes I believe we misrepresent the Apostle Paul as “Superevangelist” single-handedly evangelizing the entire known world for the Lord. But Paul’s success was not limited to how many people he could lead to the Lord. The explosive growth of the gospel can be largely credited to what Paul was able to inspire and encourage others to do in faithfully proclaiming the gospel message. The church in Colossae is a good example. Paul did not establish this church. In Col 1:7 we learn the church was founded by Epaphras, an early disciple of Paul. While Paul was busy establishing the church in Ephesus, Epaphras was led by Paul to start the Colossian church as well as another in nearby Laodecia. Paul understood the superior power of multiplication over addition when it comes to proclaiming the gospel.
ILL: If I as your pastor witness to and win ten people a year to the gospel for ten years, 100 people will have been led to Christ, not an insignificant number of new believers. But if I just win one person to Christ and disciple that person to win one person to Christ and that process goes on for ten years, do you know how many people have been won to Christ? By the end of that ten-year period it would be 1,024. That is the power of multiplication. When just a few proclaim the gospel, just a few can be added to God’s kingdom. But when we all proclaim the gospel, many more can be reached and won because our efforts will be multiplied.
APP: Many see the pastor as the specialist hired by the church to witness to others. But this is not a biblical model. Yes, the pastor should be involved in personal evangelism. But he should also be involved in discipling others to become witnesses as well. We all are to share in this ministry of proclaiming the gospel. Every member needs to be a faithful proclaimer of the gospel.
APP: As Southern Baptists we are going to be focusing on this task more by cooperating together in what the North American Mission Board is calling “GPS, God’s Plan for Sharing”. Over the next decade NAMB plans to lead Southern Baptist churches and church members on a coordinated plan of evangelism with two goals in mind; every person in our communities hearing the gospel and every member of our churches involved in sharing the gospel.
TRANS: But as important is it is that we all get involved in proclaiming the gospel, another key part of fulfilling our role as “the Hope of Glory” is found in a single word that defines:
II. What we Proclaim
EXP: The very next word in v28 makes it very clear what we are to proclaim. We are to proclaim Him. That “Him” is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. You many be thinking, “What else would we proclaim?” But, unfortunately, here are many other things believers can proclaim other that the Lord Jesus Christ and His gospel of salvation by grace through faith.
§ We can proclaim our church instead of the gospel. – Witnessing is more than simply inviting people to church. In fact, most non-Christians are going to be reluctant to ever come to church because they do not think there is anything here that would interest them. If I invited you to come with me to watch a water polo game you would be less likely to respond favorably than if I invited you to come with me to a Cardinals baseball game. Why? Baseball we understand. Water polo we don’t. But if you helped me understand the sport of water polo and then invited me to watch a game, I would be more likely to agree to go. We need to let people know why they need to come to church by sharing the gospel with them.
§ We can proclaim our politics instead of the gospel. – The church is identified with many issues that have become political hot potatoes. If we are more committed to telling others why we are pro-life than why we are followers of Christ the chances are we will not change many minds. But if we share the gospel with our pro-choice friends and get them saved, we can trust the Lord to speak to their hearts about political issues we are strongly opposed to such as abortion and gay marriage.
§ We can proclaim our denomination instead of the gospel. – When we witness by trying to make Southern Baptists out of everyone we will not be as successful as when we simply share the gospel message with those who do not know Christ.
When we proclaim anything to an unbeliever other than the gospel we need to realize we are making it more difficult, not easier, for them to respond to the true gospel message. That is why we must make certain in our witnessing that we proclaim Jesus Christ alone.
APP: We must remember what Paul tells us in Corinthians about the difference between the natural man and the spiritual man. The natural man is the one who does not know Christ. Spiritual things are foolishness to the natural man. The natural man will be totally unconcerned about our denomination or our political views. They will not care who our pastor is or how friendly we believe our church to be because they have little interest in spiritual things. But if we tell them about how they can have their sins forgiven and know they are heaven bound and find a new and fulfilling way of life, that is a message they may find very appealing because it resonates with the needs of their life.
APP: Our proclamation needs to point people to Christ. After all, did not Jesus Himself say in John 12, “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto myself?” We need to life Jesus up; to obediently proclaim Jesus to those who are outside of the gospel whether by ignorance or carnality so that Jesus Christ can draw them to Himself through the power of the Holy Spirit who is working in the world to draw all people to Christ.
TRANS: Along with telling us who should be involved in proclaiming the gospel and what we should proclaim, Paul goes on to share with us:
III. How we Proclaim
EXP: When it came to the proclamation of the gospel, Paul had a plan. He had a goal in mind and a plan to accomplish that goal. Paul shares his goal in the last part of v28, “to present every man complete in Christ”. Paul saw every person outside of Christ as a person in need of the gospel. Do we? It is easy for us to believe someone who has lots of problems in their life is in need of Christ. But what about the well-to-do person who seems happy as a heathen? Do we see that person as needing Christ to be complete? Paul saw every person regardless of their religious background, social standing or race as being in the same desperate need of a Savior. Paul was so determined the Colossian church understand this that he uses the word “every” three times. We do not want to be guilty of saying “no” to the gospel for anyone. We need to demonstrate the confidence we have in the Holy Spirit’s ability to convict others of their spiritual needs by being willing to witness to anyone the Lord puts in our path.
ILL: In our Men’s Bible Study on Wednesday morning we have been studying the book of Acts. Last week we studied about Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch he witnessed to on the desert road to Gaza. This eunuch was a very powerful and wealthy man from a culture foreign to Phillip. But Phillip did not let that keep him from witnessing to the man. And because of Philip’s faithfulness, that man was saved. Church tradition tells us that eunuch because a tremendous witness to his own people later becoming the first bishop to Northern Africa. Imagine the blessing Phillip would have missed had he thought, “This person will not respond to hearing the gospel from a poor and common Jew like me.” But because Philip trusted the Holy Spirit and shared the gospel anyway, the gospel penetrated a people group that would have been otherwise closed to the gospel message.
EXP: In the first part of v28 Paul shares two different ways he used to accomplish this task of presenting every man complete in Christ:
§ Admonishing every man. Part of Paul’s witnessing was warning the lost. He let people know what the consequences of a life without Christ would be. Paul spoke to people frankly about the consequences of a life of sin separated from God. He was not afraid to warn others about the possibility of spending eternity in hell if they refused to place their faith in Christ. Political correctness tells us today that we need to be tolerant of others who believe things differently than we do. But tolerance does not mean acceptance. Even though we must co-exist with people who share a variety of religious beliefs different from our own, we are not obligated to affirm what they believe as the truth. In fact, Paul would say that we have an obligation to help others see the risks they run when they turn their backs on Jesus and refuse to recognize their need for a Savior.
§ Teaching every man. Teaching is different from admonishing. It may not be as personal in its application, but it is just as powerful as a tool to proclaim the truth about the gospel to others. We need to teach every man the truths of God’s Word in a straightforward way so they can hear the gospel and respond to its truth.
Through admonishing and teaching we are to share the gospel message with every person we can. But v29 gives us another truth about how we are to proclaim the gospel.
EXP: We are to share the gospel powerfully. In v29 Paul reminds us about two things concerning sharing the gospel. We are not to depend on our own powers of persuasion to share Christ with others. We are to share the gospel “according to His power”, meaning the power of the Holy Spirit. We need to rely on the power of the Holy Spirit for both the boldness and sensitivity to know when and with who we are to specifically share the gospel. Talking to each and every person we encounter every day will not make us more effective witnesses. We need to depend on the Holy Spirit to give us the discernment to know when a verbal witness is appropriate.
EXP: But even though we are depending on the Holy Spirit to empower our witness, it will still take an significant effort on our part to be an effective and faithful gospel witness. Even though Paul says in v29 that he is depending on the power of God in witnessing, he still refers to witnessing as a labor causing him to strive. Even though God’s power was with him, Paul still needed to make a faithful effort to proclaim the gospel to everyone the Lord led Him to.
ILL: Power may make a task easier. But it still takes an effort to accomplish. A power riding lawn mower or a power push mower makes mowing much easier than using a push mower with no motor. But it still requires an effort on our part. An automatic dishwasher makes the core of washing dishes much easier. But it still requires effort on our part to load and unload the dishwasher.
APP: In the same way, it is easier to proclaim the gospel when we depend on the power and guidance of the Holy Spirit. But it will still take effort and even sacrifice on our part for our witness to go forth.
CONCLUSION
Our mission, as a church and as individual Christians is quite simple. As the hope of glory, we are to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ powerfully and purposefully. God is depending on you and me as “The hope of glory” to proclaim the gospel to those around us who do not know our Savior. If Christ is in you then this responsibility is one yours too! We are all to faithfully proclaim Him. How brightly is Christ in you, the hope of glory shining through you?
PRAYER
INVITATION
How faithful are you as the hope of glory? Are you allowing God to work through you as a powerful witness for the Lord or do you feel powerless as a witness? Is Jesus Christ truly in you giving you a gospel light to shine out as a witness to others? Whatever spiritual need you may have, you come as we begin to sing our invitation hymn.
