Sharing The Life Series

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.”