Sermon Details:
Sermon Series: A Study in Colossians
Sermon Title: A Challenge to New Deacons
Sermon Text:: Col 2:6-7
Introduction:
Now I want you all to know that as I began preparing to write this sermon, I was thinking and praying about what to do and I was thinking to myself, "...well God I am going to have to interrupt our study in the book of Colossians to do this special service..." but the Holy Spirit came to me and that still small voice told me… to stay with the text in Colossians!
I began to read and it was abundantly clear that God was right… Can you believe that…God was right and I was wrong! Can you imagine how many times that has happened? Has that ever happened to anyone else here?
But tonight we are here to celebrate a new beginning the lives of these men. Tonight they enter into a new and more challenging role in service to God and this church.
So often though when we get into a NEW area in life, we can get confused and we can get turned around… this reminds me at a comedian who I really loved back in my youth…
Illustration from Sermoncentral.com contributed by David Yarbrough
His name was Yakov Smirnoff and he said when he first came to the United States from Russia; he wasn’t prepared for the incredible variety of instant products available in American grocery stores. He says, "On my first shopping trip, I saw powdered milk--you just add water, and you get milk. Then I saw powdered orange juice--you just add water, and you get orange juice. And then I saw baby powder, and I thought to my self, what a country!"
James Emery White, Rethinking the Church, Baker, 1997, p. 55-57
We are often like Yakov when we move into another area of service to God. We see SO MANY things that we may not have seen before and it is easy to get confused and ‘tricked’ by words or by another person who deceives us with a slick presentation that uses just enough truth that we fall for it…
Tonight I want to share with these men a few short words… about staying true to Christ! Because even though you are beginning a new era in your Christian walk… you must remain solid and grounded in the faith in which you first believed!
Please stand with me out of respect for the reading of God’s Holy, Infallible, Inerrant, Immutable, All sufficient Word! Turn with me to Colossians 2:6-7 and follow along or you can follow along on the screen… I will be reading from the Holman Christian Standard Bible:
6 Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in Him, 7 rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness
Col 2:6-7 (HCSB)
Here we find Paul urging the new believers of this church in Colosse to remain true to their foundation in Christ… Like Paul was speaking to New Believers… tonight I am speaking to believers with a NEW JOB in the kingdom… they are NEW DEACONS!
So tonight, I will be using the “Holy Spirit” inspired words of the Apostle Paul to illustrate the same charge and challenge he gave to these new believers… as I give it to these fine Christian gentlemen sitting before me…
But I want you to understand that this charge and challenge that I give to these new deacons is NOT limited to them! As a body of believers we are called to support their leadership and NOT undermine their role in the fellowship! We are to support them and encourage them and pray for them just as we are called to live as Christ has called us to live!
Tonight I want to reveal to these new deacons and to this body 3 “new” things they will encounter in this journey to being the deacon God has called them to be…
The first is that tonight these men are embarking out on…
1. A New Start (v.6a):
6 Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, Col 2:6a (HCSB)
So often in Scripture we see the word, ‘therefore’ and when we see it we have to ask the question what is it ‘there for?” Well Paul had been speaking to them about His struggle in knowing they were under persecution and there were many trying to lead them down the wrong path… but he ends v. 5 by saying, “…yet I am with you in spirit, REJOICING to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ…”
So Paul is continuing this discussion on staying TRUE to their faith in Christ by saying… THEREFORE… in other words since your faith has been SO grounded… continue in your walk as you have rec’d Christ as Lord…
Just like Paul encouraged the new believer in Colosse I am encouraging you here tonight… And so just as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord…
Now these were NEW believers in Colosse but they were believers in whom Paul had great assurance that their faith was grounded in Christ!
Likewise, although these men here tonight are NEW deacons, I rest assured as does our entire fellowship of believers that these men are grounded in their faith in Christ as well!
So what we can discern from this one phrase is that Paul is placing a very high emphasis on these new believers to put Christ as LORD of their life that they cannot serve as Christ desires them to serve unless they DO put Christ as LORD of their life!
Well preacher… what is the big deal… after all Jesus saved me and He is my Savior… isn’t that the same thing as being my Lord?
Well it SHOULD be, but actions speak so much louder than our words do… For many… even ALL believers at times our fall back position is… “well I am saved and I cannot lose my salvation!”
Now I want to emphasize here something that is true in that statement… If you have accepted Christ as your Savior and your heart was truly broken and repentant before God when you asked Him for forgiveness… He has forgiven you and you ARE saved and Scripture DOES tell us that NO ONE can pluck us out of His hand!
However, as believers we tend to use this statement of ‘once saved always saved’ when we have done something contrary our salvation and the life we have been called to live! It is when we have sinned knowingly or willingly and we fall back on the ‘promise of Christ’ that we cannot lose our salvation…
But what Paul says here and all throughout his writings and what Scripture holds up as TRUTH is that when we accept Christ as Savior… we are to also accept Christ as LORD and our lives are to be radically changed… so much so that the world around us takes notice of the difference in our lives!
Our change is to be so radical and noticeable because we cling to Christ in all things… we have a new perspective on life! Our focus is no longer this world, the things of this world or our own desires but the things of Christ!
So I say to you deacon candidates, tonight as you begin this new start in your service to God, I challenge you to make sure that Jesus is LORD of your life… not just here in church… not just around the house… but in all things you do… let the world see the radical difference that Christ has made in your life! Let Christ shine so brightly in your life that there is NO way the world could put you to shame or mistake what has changed in your life!
• I challenge you to NOT ALLOW THE TRADITIONS OF HUMAN FRAILTY interfere with your service to God.
• I challenge you NOT TO BE AFRAID TO STAND IN THE GAP when trouble comes… AND IT WILL COME!
• I challenge you to live your life in such a way THAT YOU REVEAL JESUS AS LORD OF YOUR LIFE in everything you do!
Make a new start tonight by proclaiming Christ as LORD and supreme ruler in your heart and mind and soul! Will you do that tonight?
• To our church tonight I challenge you be the accountability partner for each of these deacons…
• I challenge YOU to continue lifting them up in prayer…
• I challenge YOU to come along side each one of them in times of difficulty!
• I challenge you to do this… with Christ as LORD and focus of your lives… are you up the challenge tonight?
But not only do I see these men making a new start, but I can also see that the will be taking…
2. A New Step (v.6b-7a):
“6b… walk in Him, 7a rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, just as you were taught…” Col 2:6b-7a (HCSB)
When we continue reading, we see that Paul encourages these believers to continue walking in Christ… Continue growing in Christ and continue becoming the believer Christ desires them to be…
Likewise, these men seated before you here this evening are men who have started out on this Christian journey and have been obedient to this point… but TONIGHT we encourage them as the Apostle Paul encouraged the believers in Colosse to continue to grow…
Paul who was arguably the most dedicated missionary and believer of his or any day, once wrote about himself…
12 Not that I have already reached [the goal] or am already fully mature, but I make every effort to take hold of it because I also have been taken hold of by Christ Jesus. Phil 3:12 (NASB)
Paul knew he had matured in the faith, but realized that until his last breath here on this world… he must continue to press on and make every effort to become more mature in the faith… WHY? Because Christ was LORD of his life!
Men, you are taking a NEW step in your walk of faith. You have come to this point BECAUSE OF your maturity of faith, but what you must realize is that you must continue to mature… as Paul says,
WALK IN HIM! Allow Christ to be your sole guiding force! Allow Christ to be the light that illumines your path! Stay true to the faith that has brought you this far and know that Christ will mature your faith beyond what you could ever imagine!
But not only does Paul instruct these new believers to walk in Him! But he says, that they were to be ROOTED in Him! Now think about that for just a second…
To be rooted in anything is to be secured to it and held by it! It not only holds you firm but it brings you life as well. I can only imagine that Paul was referring to Ps 1:3 when he said this…
3 He is like a tree planted beside streams of water that bears its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.
Psalms 1:3 (HCSB)
So men for YOU to be able to serve Christ successfully in this evil and broken world YOU have to be rooted in Him. He must be your anchor and life giving source!
But Paul goes on to say that you are to walk in Him, rooted in Him…and then Paul says… that we must be built up in Him!
Now when I think about construction and the building of a house, the first thing I think about is the foundation… In Louisiana you must have a FIRM and SOLID foundation for your home or you are gonna have troubles and you are going to eventually LOSE your home!
Men it is the same thing in your service to God, if you are going to build a life of service to God, it must be founded and built upon the SOLID ROCK. Jesus taught us in Matt 7:24-27 (HCSB)
24 “Therefore, everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them will be like a sensible man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain fell, the rivers rose, and the winds blew and pounded that house. Yet it didn’t collapse, because its foundation was on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of Mine and doesn’t act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 The rain fell, the rivers rose, the winds blew and pounded that house, and it collapsed. And its collapse was great!”
Men if you are gonna serve God as He has called you to serve, you must build your ministry and service on the foundation of Christ Jesus. Focusing on Him as Lord of your life and the center of all you do for this fellowship!
But Paul goes on to say, “…established in the faith, just as you were taught…” This speaks to the witness of those who have come before you and to how you came to Christ!
You were raised in homes where Christ was exalted and at an early age you accepted Christ as Savior and you ‘entered’ the faith… so to speak. But you did not stop there, as you grew in your Christian walk you were influenced by those believers around you who WERE founded and grounded in their faith in Christ!
This could have been your parents… this could have been your S.S. teachers… this could have been your Youth Director… it could have been a former pastor…
Today you sit before this congregation established firmly in your faith in Christ as you were taught by those who came before you.. and as you are being taught by those teaching you now! From your Sunday School rooms to this pulpit God’s Word is proclaimed and you have taken it into your heart to mature in your faith in Christ…
As Paul told them to REMAIN in that faith… I challenge you to not only remain in that faith but continue to strive to mature in that faith as well…
• Not only have you begun a NEW START in your Christian service…
• Not only have you taken a NEW STEP in the direction of obedience to Christ in your service…
I can see one other NEW thing and it is the fact that in this new start and in this new step., you will have to have…
3. A New Sight (v.7b):
“7b …and overflowing with thankfulness…”
Col 2:7b (HCSB)
So often when we take a new job or a new direction in life, we have a tendency to look back, especially when things begin to go wrong on the new job or when things don’t go just as we planned in this new direction!
My brothers, Paul is telling the believers in Colosse that through all the service they give… through all their striving for a more mature faith in Christ… they are to be overflowing with thankfulness!
When we look at the Greek word that Paul uses here for thankfulness or gratitude, it is the Greek Word eucharistia which literally means being thankful, grateful… to have thanks for… to have gratitude for something or someone’s actions toward you!
But this is thankfulness is a submissive thankfulness that understands that what has been done could only have been done by that party…
In other words, these believers were to be overflowing with thankfulness to Christ for His provision! He had saved them, he has sealed them and he is guiding them… and it is only because of Christ that they are saved!
Men, as you sit here before us, I want you to understand that you are NOT sitting here because I approved you… you are NOT sitting here because you were accepted by the deacon council… you are NOT sitting here because the church voted for you to become a deacon…
You are sitting here because you were called by GOD to serve! The church voted to have you serve because of God’s evidence in your life. The deacon council approved you because of God’s evidence in your life and I gave my consent because when I interviewed each one of you… your walk in Christ shone brightly and I could see that God had called you to serve!
And I stand before you today to tell you that YOU must be thankful that God has chosen you to serve Him and His church! But I want to you also realize that this Greek word eucharistia is where we get our English word Eucharist…
The Eucharist is the time we give thanks for what Christ did for us on the Cross of Calvary… we don’t often hear this word because we call it the Lord’s Supper! But it is the one and the same!
In other words what Paul is saying here to these believers and what I am saying to YOU tonight is that your thankfulness must be focused ON CHRIST just as in the living of your life is focused ON CHRIST!
It is like Paul says in Rom 12:2 to the believers in the churches in Rome. “…2 Do not be conformed to this age, BUT BE TRANSFORMED BY THE RENEWING OF YOUR MIND, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God…”
Paul wanted believers to understand that when we come to Christ in faith, our entire VISION or SIGHT of things must change! We are to be transformed by God into something totally different than what we were before…
Tonight you are making a new start and taking a new step in your Christian walk, but I want you to understand that when you leave this building tonight that you should have a ‘new sight’ about the things of God and what God has in store for this fellowship!
I challenge you to stay focused on Him and to allow Him to guide you and lead you in your service!
Conclusion:
In his book, The Purpose Driven Life, author Rick Warren relays a story that in some churches in China, they welcome new believers by saying,
“Jesus now has a new pair of eyes to see with, new ears to listen with, new hands to help with, and a new heart to love others with.”
Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002), 229-230.
You have entered into a new area of service… and now in our fellowship Jesus has new eyes to see, to ears to hear, to hands to serve and new hearts to love…
I challenge you to embrace this new start… embrace this new step… embrace this new sight or vision of Christ in your life!
At this time I would like to as Mrs Barbara to come and begin to play softly and I want all our deacon candidates to come forward and sit in the 3 chairs to MY right…
I also want the wives of each of these deacon candidates to come and be seated in the 3 chairs to MY left…
At this time we are going to pray for our candidates and we are going to lay hands on them… I want to ask all ordained men of the church to come first and pray with and lay hands on these deacon candidates and after them any others who would like to come and pray with them… you may!
I also ask the wives of these ordained men to come forward and pray the wives of these deacon candidates, pray with them, lay hands on them and encourage them in their service to God…
Come as Mrs Barbara begins to play…
