Today is Valentine’s Day! It’s the day centered on love and NOT just romantic love. This is a day to share with the precious people in your life that you love them. And the greatest love is the one God has toward YOU. He actually died out of his love for you! Isn’t that amazing? What a Valentine! We’ve been listening to God tell us this through the book of Colossians. He created the world and everything in it including you and me. And then he died so that we could live our lives for Him, so that life had a purpose.
We’ve seen that this kind of life is different: it’s empowered by God’s Spirit, it’s changed so that we are able to truly be a blessing to others, it’s a life that is in relationship with God, and it’s a life that is filled with thanks no matter what happens.
The apostle Paul knows that this life is what we are made for. It changes everything. It turns the dark into light. It gives meaning to our life! And so as he marvels at what he has through Jesus, he looks around and he sees people all around who do not have that life.
Do you see that situation? There are people we meet every day NOT empowered by God. They are focused on themselves and their own good instead of being a blessing to others. They grumble and complain. They have NO connection with God. Their life is centered on themselves and they are missing out! They need to know Jesus. They don’t have the real LIFE.
Paul’s passion and hopefully ours is that we share this life with those who don’t have it. If you really love someone, you are going to want them to discover the life in Jesus that they are missing. What does it mean to love those who are separated from Christ?
I hate to say it, but loving those who are separated from Christ means PAIN. Obviously it hurts when someone we love doesn’t know Christ. But beyond that, showing Christ’s love is painful.
Listen to Paul’s words in verse 24: “I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake…” Jesus warned that as his followers, we will suffer. We must “take up our cross and follow him.” This means that the moment we become a believer, we will be attacked by the enemy of our souls who wants us to live in the darkness far from God. He wants us to give up Christ. He wants us to give up prayer, worship, faith, hope. And he especially wants us to give up any notion of passing this life on to others. The last thing the enemy wants is you sharing Christ with anyone because that would be disaster. But this is our commission from Jesus: Go and make disciples!
This is a battle for eternal souls! For your cousins, your neighbors, your parents, your siblings, your kids, your coworkers. And it is NOT EASY. It will not be comfortable to share Christ. It will take tears, sweat, and rejection. Lives are at stake. In verse 29 Paul says this “For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.” He uses a word for struggle “agonizomai” from which we have the word “agonize.” We agonize over those who don’t know the Lord, who are lost. It’s not just about us but about bringing our dear ones to the Lord!
Being a follower of Christ isn’t like getting your graduation papers and waiting for heaven when you die. YOU HAVE A MISSION! A mission of love to touch lives and change lives that will be difficult. As they say: No pain – no gain. It is a pain to bear a child, but the blessing is well worth it!
However, despite the pain, loving those who are separated from Christ also means POWER. Yes, there will be suffering, toil, pain and struggle. It’s not easy. But you will be empowered to do it! Listen again to what Paul shares in verse 29: “For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.” Did you hear what he said? He toils with energy. Whose energy? HIS – God’s! God’s energy is working powerfully within him.
It is frightening to share Christ with anyone – the risk of losing that relationship is so great. But as we step forward in faith, God empowers us with words, with thoughts, with ability. Eph 3:20 reminds us that God “is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us.” And Jesus said in Matthew 10:19 “When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.”
My car has been in the Ford dealer for repair for over two weeks now. When cold, it starts and then stalls in the first 2 minutes and then won’t start again. You can give it gas all you want but it just won’t start. It’s a useless car without any power.
But thankfully, they loaned me a 2019 SUV and let me tell you, that thing has power that my car never had. I press the accelerator and it takes off, no worries.
In reality we are all like that broken down car. We have no power. In our own strength and cleverness and ability we fall flat on our face. We can’t change lives in our own strength. We just don’t have it in us.
But thanks to Christ, we don’t have that old vehicle. We have Christ and His Word and the power of the Holy Spirit. We just have to “hit the accelerator” in faith and his power is there for us. He will empower us with his supernatural ability to communicate with words that touch the heart. We can actually change lives with that power! Just trust in HIM and go ahead!
Loving those who are separated from Christ means that we are empowered to make a PROCLAMATION.
Yes, we should show the love of Christ through our actions of love. We care for the needs of others. We feed the hungry, help the sick, be the loving presence in times of grief. Jesus spent his 3 years healing and feeding and spending time in fellowship with those who were lost. But every healing and mercy and time spent was ultimately shown so that he could bring the message of forgiveness.
Listen to what Paul says here beginning in verse 25: he is “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.” What is the goal: to get the message across! What is that message? CHRIST IN YOU, THE HOPE OF GLORY.
The message he is suffering for and empowered for is this: he wants people to know that the living God will live in them. He will wipe out their guilt and shame. He will live in their lives and give them real hope. He will give them real life. He wants them to know that Christ will live IN them.
Do you realize that fact yourself? Do you realize that God’s Spirit lives within you? I think we often see God as far away in heaven, not really present unless we are in church or pray to him. But he is truly present right now in you as much as he was physically present with the 12 disciples. Receiving and believing that fact should give us goosebumps.
But that message of Jesus who lived and died and rose. That message of Jesus who offers his life to us and to every person. That message of having God within you – of a personal relationship with Him needs to be shared! We need to talk about it.
God doesn’t expect us all to preach a sermon. You don’t have to have fancy words. You don’t need a special theological degree. All you need to do is rely on the power of God’s Spirit within you and share your heart. Share about your life with Christ. Share your story in your own way. Your faith story is a gift from God to you and it’s meant to be shared so that the hearts of others know Christ, the hope of glory. Be open and be who you are with those around you. This is what it means to show love to them.
Loving those who are separated from Christ means that we are empowered to make a proclamation. And then loving them means PRAYING for them.
Paul was suffering, imprisoned in Rome. And yet he was able to send this letter to the church in Colossae. And in it he says this in 2:5 “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.” Absent in body yet with them in spirit.
This is the amazing thing about prayer – we can be thousands of miles away and yet prayer brings us right next to the person we are praying for. God’s Spirit is at work through our prayer. And yes, we most often pray for physical healing and other such earthly concerns. But the greatest need is spiritual healing.
The greatest barrier to overcome in life is an unbelieving heart. It’s like trying to cut through a diamond – absolutely impossible. But God has power to break that diamond heart, to soften it, to open it to receive the truth. And often that is done in two ways: through crisis and through the word of God. “Is not my word like fire, declares the LORD, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?” (Jer. 23:29) Pray that God’s word penetrates the heart.
And finally, what does it mean to love those who are separated from Christ? PERSEVERE – don’t give up!
Again listen to these words of Paul in Colossians 2:1 and following – “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.”
He's not going to give up. He’s going to struggle and pray and proclaim and keep going no matter what. He sees the incredible blessing that this person and that person can experience in their lives. He wants to see their lives changed and transformed. He pictures them being encouraged, and knit together in love, and discovering the riches of God they never knew. Love for them is so strong that he refuses to give up.
At some point, it’s easy to give up hope. We may think – “that person is hopeless, he will never turn to God.” However, only God knows that. We must assume that there is still a chance. All the way to the last breath of life, we assume that there is a chance to repent and believe in Christ. Some of you have dear family members who are not believers. Keep praying! Keep proclaiming as the Lord gives you opportunity. Be yourself as a follower of Christ and follow his lead.
When I was ministering at a nursing home in Mankato Minnesota I came across Albert who was 99 years old. I began visiting with him and began talking about God and soon I discovered he knew nothing about Christ. He had never even heard John 3:16 that “God so loved the world that whoever believes in him may not perish but have everlasting life.” He never heard of the 23rd Psalm. A couple weeks later, I shared with him that Jesus stands at the door of his heart and knocks and he wants to come in. Would like to pray to receive Christ as his Lord and Savior? He said “yes” and prayed to accept Christ! That was 7 years ago this week! Soon after that he began to decline and just a few months after receiving Christ, he passed away into the glorious presence of God.
I think about Albert and ask myself: What if I never visited him? What if I never brought up the Gospel? What if we just had a nice chat about fishing and hunting and weather? He would have missed out on everything! But God had mercy upon Albert just long enough so that he would discover real life before this life ended.
Don’t give up – persevere because it is never too late.
What does it mean to truly love?
• Yes it will mean PAIN to go on this mission – it costs us a lot but the blessings are astronomical!
• God will give you POWER to do it.
• He will put in your mouth the PROCLAMATION of Christ.
• He will work through your PRAYERS.
• And he will enable you to PERSEVERE for those who need to know this life with Christ.
May your love for others result in lives that are touched by Christ!
AMEN
