Christ Preeminent (Part Nine): Complete in Christ

Transcript

JRNT 31
08/27/2023
Christ Preeminent (Part Nine): Complete in Christ
Colossians 1:28-29
Jesse Randolph

I wasn’t quite prepared to have my age called out publicly this morning. Oh, Aaron’s not even here to hear me say that. But, proving that God really does “cause[s] all things to work for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose”, my intro has to do with age today. So, well done, Aaron. The point that I was just going to start with here is that I have reached the point in my life where I am at that age where I can actually credibly use the phrase: “when I was your age.” More often than not, I can go up to a young person, and whether it be the gray in the beard, or the wrinkles around the eyes, or the peninsula-shaped hairline, they will take semi-seriously whatever it is I share with them. Whether that be something like: “When I was your age, we played baseball outside from sunup to sundown – no matter how hot it was outside.” Or: “When I was your age, I actually had to get up and turn the TV on a dial. I didn’t even have a remote control or cable.” Or: “When I was your age, there was no Internet, and there were no cell phones.” And I’ve noticed, when I do share such things with younger people these days that will, of course, raise their eyebrows -- any one of those things.

But what will also raise their eyebrows is when I share something to the effect of: “When I was your age, we actually looked forward to getting out of our parent’s house. We actually looked forward to having some degree of independence, to become adults. We actually looked forward to starting our lives and growing up and getting out.” Now, I recognize that there are exceptions to this rule. But what the statistics show us today is that nowadays, for both parents and children, there is this cultivation now of this new way of living which has rightly been called “perpetual adolescence.” There is this new modern-day phenomenon in which adult children, who are no longer actually children, are still living at home well into their twenties -- well into their twenties, sometimes later. Still raiding the pantry. Still complaining about taking out the trash. Still living in the same bedroom that they lived in since they were 5 or 6. Still not leaving the nest. Still not showing any interest in experiencing independence, or pursuing a career, or finding a spouse, or developing real (meaning, non-virtual) friendships. But that’s the lay of the land. These perpetual adolescents instead ride the wave of what’s become more culturally-normative today as they live as perpetual Peter Pans, full-grown adults who never grow up. And seemingly have no desire to ever do so.

Well, our culture’s acceptance of this phenomenon of perpetual adolescence is totally backwards. It’s enabling. And it’s foolish. It hinders, it stunts the ability of boys to become men and of girls to become women. And as experience has shown it allows parents who otherwise would have been forced to grapple with the “empty nest” phase as husband and wife once the kids have flown the coop and once they are over that whole phase of “making it about the kids” for their entire childhood -- well, now they can extend that and not interact with each other, and not deal with each other, and not resolve conflict, and not interact with the way that they were designed to act at that phase of life.

So, that’s perpetual adolescence. It’s out there in the world. It’s part of the world in which we live in anymore. And it’s, I’ve already said, foolish. Well, when you bring it into a Christian home, perpetual adolescence is not just foolish, it’s dangerous. Because the stagnancy that such a way of living highlights is completely antithetical to what the bible portrays about going from one stage of maturity and development to another. As we grow and progress and develop and mature, that’s the biblical picture, to go from childhood to adulthood, not just physically but also spiritually.
We think of what the Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 13:11, when he says, “When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child,” but then he says, “I became a man, I did away with childish things.” Perpetual adolescence does not line up with Paul’s words there. The story of Peter Pan, the fictional tale of the boy who never wanted to grow up, cannot be squared with a Christian worldview. “Peter Pan Christianity” is not Christianity at all. No. True Christians, genuine Christians, grow up. Having been saved, having been justified, the genuine Christian matures. As he or she becomes more steady and sure-footed in their walk. As he or she progresses -- albeit not perfectly, and certainly with some bumps and some trips and some stumbles along the way -- from immaturity to maturity.

Which brings us to our text for this morning, now that I’ve ruffled a few feathers, to Colossians 1:28-29, and the final two verses of Colossians 1, this incredibly rich chapter that we’ve been through the past many months now. Colossians 1:28-29, God’s word reads, “We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.”

As we’re going to see this morning in our text, what Paul is describing here is the process of Christian sanctification. A process which progresses from spiritual childhood to spiritual adulthood, from immaturity to maturity. And, as we see in our time together this morning, this is a process that involves at least these three elements from Paul’s words here, and I’m back to alliterating, 1. “Proclamation of a Person,” 2. “Presentation of a People,” 3. “Perspiration Through Power.”

We’ll get right into it with “Proclamation of a Person,” looking at verse 28 here. It says, “We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom.” Now, by way of review, here’s the context for those words that we see on the page here. The Apostle Paul is the human author of this letter. And as he wrote this letter to the early Colossian church he was incarcerated, a prisoner of the Roman Empire. And why? Well, simply for preaching the gospel. And as he sat there under lock and key, he had a visitor named Epaphras, a man who was from this overrun and otherwise-forgotten little town known as Colossae, and who was likely the pastor of the Colossian church. And Epaphras, you’ll recall, had made his way all the way to Rome, something like 1,300 miles, to see Paul. And to tell Paul about this looming threat of heretical teaching that was back on the home front. And that teaching was now starting to infiltrate this beloved little church.

And from what we’ve seen so far in the first 27 verses here of the letter to the Colossians, Paul is expressing to these believers how he had been praying for them. And expressing to them how thankful he was for them. And not only that. In the earliest sections of this letter we see him preemptively laying the foundation of all that he’s about to level against those Colossian false teachers later in chapter 2. And those false teachings had started to make some headway into the church. So, Paul here, in these two verses, and in the preceding verses, laying down a bunch of things -- about who they are, about who Christ is, and about who he is. But let’s work through those.

Number one, in the verses that we’ve already seen, just to give us some runway to where we’re going today, he has reminded the Colossians (Paul has) about who Christ is. We’ve seen that in places like Colossians 1:15, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.” He said things like, “He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.” He said that, “He is also head of the body, the church,” verse 18 of Colossians 1.

Number two, Paul has also reminded them of who they were. Colossians 1:21-22, “you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death.”

And number three, Paul has reminded them of who he, meaning, Paul was, namely, an apostle, a man who had been suffering for their sake as we saw last time in verse 24, “I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake.” And a man who otherwise had been faithfully ministering on their behalf, as we see in verse 25, “Of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit.”

In other words, in the face of this false teaching where the faith of these early Colossian believers is being tested and potentially is under duress, Paul here is giving these Colossians believers his apostolic assurance that all was well. And that all would continue to be well if they only committed to persevering in their faith in Jesus Christ. We see that in verse 23, “if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel.”

Now, I’m sure that we could all, if we tried really hard, paint a picture in our mind of what a reassuring father looks like, in our lives or in the life of somebody we know. Whether that be the dad who promises to catch his son on his bicycle after the training wheels fall off and he’s just giving him a push on the sidewalk. Or whether that be the dad who checks for monsters under the bed a third and a fourth time for his little daughter. Whether that be the dad who assures his child that there’s no need to be worried about intruders, because number one, God is sovereign, and number two, Smith and Wesson is nearby.
That’s sort of how I picture what Paul is doing here so far in Colossians 1. In addressing this church that has come under spiritual attack, up to this point Paul has been acting as this steady-handed and protective spiritual father. As he brings them back to reality and reminds them of who Christ is, who they were and who they are now, and who he is as this apostle who very much loves them, and seeks to serve them and to protect them.

But now as we move into our text today, bring it into these two verses, we see Paul bringing on or taking on a different demeanor. In our text for today we see him moving on from describing who the Colossians were and who Christ is and who he was, to describing now what he wants them to do and who he wants them to become as they grow in their relationship with Christ. And that’s just good parenting, isn’t it? I mean, there is a place in parenting to clear out imaginary monsters under the bed, for sure. But then you move on in that relationship. And you build into, and invest in, and you spur your children on to grow and develop and strive. To become whatever they’re supposed to be in that next life stage. And prepare for whatever life may throw at them next. So that they’re not perpetual adolescents, and not perpetual Peter Pans.

That’s exactly what we see Paul doing here with his spiritual children, the Colossians, as he seeks to strive and labor so that they grow and develop in Christ. And it starts with those words there in verse 28, “We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom.” So, “We proclaim Him”, he says, or “Him we proclaim,” it can be translated, or “Him we preach.” Now, the “we” here refers to Paul and his fellow co-workers. Timothy would be one of those. We saw that back in Colossians 1:1, “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother.” The “we” also includes Epaphras, who we see mentioned in Colossians 1:7-8, he’s called “our [beloved] fellow bond-servant, who is a faithful servant of Christ on our behalf.” So, as we saw earlier in this series as we started working through the very first verses of this book, we know that Paul was not on his own as he wrote this letter. Instead, he had ministry companions who were surrounding him. Who shared his burden for these Colossian believers. And shared this concern for the threats that were coming upon this church.

And “we,” meaning, Paul and Timothy, and Epaphras, it says, “proclaim Him.” Now, that’s a highly significant statement in its own right. Because what Paul is signaling here, with that language, “we proclaim Him”, is that he and his ministry partners, they weren’t about proclaiming politics, and they weren’t about proclaiming pragmatism. And they weren’t like the Colossian false teachers about proclaiming philosophy. No, they proclaimed a Person. “We proclaim Him.”

And who was the “Him,” the One that they were proclaiming? Well, the “Him”, of course, was Jesus Christ. If you look back at verse 27, you’ll see there, as Paul ended that section we were in last week, by referring to our Lord, he refers to Him as, “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” And then he continues to build on that thought here in verse 28, by saying it’s Him, meaning Christ that we proclaim.

And considering the weight of those three very simple words, “We proclaim Him,” now would be as good a time as any to say that whether you’re newer here, or whether you’ve been here for 45 years, those three words, “We proclaim Him,” have been, are, and will continue to be at the core of all that happens here at Indian Hills. We will never stop proclaiming Him, meaning the Lord Jesus Christ. We will never stop proclaiming Him, no matter how unpopular that makes us out there in the culture in the world. We will never stop proclaiming Him, no matter how closed-minded it may make us seem to this relativistic and pluralistic culture in which we live. We are committed to proclaiming His Person, the person of Christ. The second Person of the Trinity, who took on flesh, who took on humanity, and who walked this earth in a body like ours, albeit without sin. We are committed to proclaiming His Purpose. In that He made it His mission to come to this earth to die. To bear the wrath of Almighty God on behalf of sinners like us, and to die in our place. So that those sins might be forgiven. We make it our aim, and we are committed to proclaim His Program. Which includes recognizing that Jesus ascended to the Father over 2,000 years ago, or around 2,000 years ago now. But He’s not going to stay in that position forever. Rather, He’s coming again to take His church out of this world, in an event known as the Rapture. An event that will not be preceded by signs or warnings. And after the Rapture, there will be seven years of judgment and wrath that are poured out on the wicked of this world. And then He’ll return with His people and usher in His millennial reign. And at the end of that millennial reign, Satan will finally and forever be defeated. And then, the eternal state -- the New Heavens and the New Earth -- are ushered in. We proclaim all of that. Christianity is Christ. It is all about Christ and His Person. Christ and His Purposes. Christ and His Program. And “we,” like Paul here, “proclaim Him.”

Now, Paul is going to continue to build upon those three words, “We proclaim Him.” Now, as he fleshes out what his own role was in proclaiming Christ to these early Colossian believers. And then, by extension, the role that we are to play in proclaiming Christ to those in our midst, He’s going to do so by laying out these two subsidiary thoughts, there in verse 28. It says, “We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom.” The way that reads there, it’s we proclaim Him by “admonishing every man,” and we proclaim Him by “teaching every man.” And in just a minute I’ll put those words under the microscope.

But before we do so, I don’t want us to lose sight of the fact that not only here but later in this verse Paul uses these words, “every man”. In fact, he repeats that combination three different times, in just these two verses. It’s “admonishing every man,” “teaching every man,” “present[ing] every man complete in Christ.” What’s the significance of that language, “every man?” Is it significant? It sure is! As always, we have to remember the context. Real estate agents talk about location, location, location. Preachers talk about context, context, context. And the context here, again, is that there’s this class of false teachers who were descending on Colossae. And they’re pretending to be this class of spiritually elite ones. They’re self-appointed “enlightened” ones. And they claimed to possess this specialized knowledge that was only available, they said, to a select few. Well, with these words here in verse 28, “every man,” Paul is again pushing back on it preemptively. He’s calling out their spiritual snobbery. He’s openly rejecting their intellectual exclusivism. He wholly refuted the notion that the message of Jesus Christ, not only the message of the gospel, but how believers later are then built up in their faith, was only limited in availability to a select few people. That’s the opposite of what Paul proclaimed.

In fact, as we saw last week, remember the title of that sermon was “The Ministry of the Mystery,” we saw Paul looking into the fact that, and explaining the fact that, the mystery is that the message of Christ and the gospel is no longer available only to a select few. It’s not only for a select few. But rather, it’s been expanded, it’s fanned out to both Jew and to Gentile. That was a mark of his ministry, to explain that the gospel is now going out. Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” Galatians 3:28, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3:26 says, “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.” The gospel, in other words, denies entry to no one. And grants entry to anyone who bows the knee to Jesus Christ as Lord.

And here in Colossians 1:28, Paul is bringing this same idea over, this idea of the message of Christ being broad and far-reaching, to the realm of spiritual growth and spiritual sanctification as he seeks to build up believers and spur them on to spiritual maturity. When we do so, Paul is saying here, we do so for “every man.” Not withstanding their socioeconomic status. Or their past history. Or their spiritual pedigree. Or the type of church they were raised in. Not withstanding what type of favors they can or cannot call in for us. We proclaim Christ to every man. We take those new believers under our wing. We bring them up in the faith, even if they come from the wrong side of town. And even if they’re not college-educated. Or maybe they’re over-educated. Or maybe they have a nose ring. Or maybe they have a hyphenated last name. Or maybe they’re from Iowa, or California, or Mexico, or Tanzania. We don’t proclaim Him only to a charmed circle of our favorite few people. We proclaim Him to every man. We don’t get to be picky about that. This is not like picking a dodgeball team in third grade. Or a fantasy football draft. This is proclaiming Him to every man. Of course, we proclaim the gospel to every man. We are called to proclaim the gospel to every tongue, tribe and nation. Well, life in the body of Christ, it looks similar. We’re called to “proclaim Him” following the example of Paul here, to “every man.” To remind every man of who Christ is. And who they once were. And who they now are. And who they are now in Him. As we seek to spur them on to greater fidelity and faithfulness to the One who has saved them. And we do so, as he says here in verse 28, by admonishing them, and by teaching them.

We’ll take these one at a time. First, that word “admonish” means to warn. Paul was accustomed to giving words of admonishment, or warning. To the Ephesian elders, in Acts 20:31 there’s that farewell scene where he says, “Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears.” And to the church at Corinth, in 1 Corinthians 4:14 he says, “I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children.”
And built into that word, “admonishment,” is the assumption that there is some form of error that needs to be corrected, or some sort of danger that needs to be warned against. And for these early believers at Colossae, Paul was aware of this danger that this flock of believers faced from these wolves that were seeking to infiltrate their assembly. These wolves that were now teaching and promoting this false doctrine. And Paul understood that these Colossian believers could be taken off-track and taken off- course in their faith. And led astray and devoured by these false teachers. So, the admonishment they needed, the warning they needed, was to be able to be ready. To sniff out and flee from any form of false teaching. To not fall prey to the error that was in their midst now.

Now, you’ve been putting up with me for about 15 months now. And patiently. And you’ve probably picked up on at this point that there will be times where I will take a few minutes in a given message, or a series of messages, to say something of some cultural relevance or import. And to bring the bible to bear on that thing. Last summer, I had some comments about abortion and the overruling of Roe vs. Wade, praise the Lord. This summer I had some words to say about the biblical response to the LGBTQ movement. Last winter, I think I devoted most of a Sunday evening service to speaking about the Asbury Revival and how to think through that. A few weeks ago, on a Sunday night, I spoke out against this whole introduction in modern day seminaries of the Roman Catholic Thomas Aquinas, and various aspects of Platonic philosophy. And seminaries students now being taught you need those two sources of information to really understand the bible. Why do I do all that? Why do I take time from our ordinary programming here, to speak out against those things? I actually do so to admonish you, to warn you, to protect you. It’s the job of a shepherd. That’s the job of a pastor. To protect and feed and lead. And that comes from what Paul is modeling here, in verse 28, as he models so faithfully for all shepherds of any flock, to admonish every man.

But note, and I want to make sure we get this, that it’s not just the apostles of the first century that were charged with admonishing. And it’s not just pastors of the 21st century that are charged with admonishing. It’s something that we’re all called to do. In fact, turn over with me to Romans 15, just a few books to the left, where we’re going to see that this task of admonishment is not exclusively apostolic. And it’s not exclusively pastoral. It’s for every believer. Romans 15:14, Paul here says, “And concerning you, my brethren,” there’s no limitation in there on who he’s addressing, “I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able also to admonish,” same verb, “one another.” All Christians are to be proclaiming Christ to other Christians. And as we do so, we’re to be admonishing one another. And warning one another against error. And highlighting for our dear brothers and sisters in the faith their possible drift into error. We do so, of course, in love. And we do so, of course, by demonstrating the fruit of the Spirit. We don’t do so by being some sort of kneecap-cracking theological gestapo. But truly to genuinely love and care for our brothers and sisters . . . and to seek after their spiritual well-being . . . we need to be willing to lovingly admonish them, by sharing truth with them. We need to be willing to say things like: “Brother, I don’t think your relationship with alcohol is either faithful or God-honoring.” Or “Sister, I really don’t’ think you should be reading, and doing your devotions through ‘Jesus Calling.’ ” Or “Friend, I think it’s time to tell your adult daughter, that her shacking up with her boyfriend is actually sin.” We have to be able to say those things. And willing to be saying those things. “Nebraska nice” is not the same thing as biblical fidelity.

Back to our text. It’s not just “admonishing” that Paul speaks of here in verse 28, when he says, “We proclaim Him.” He also mentions teaching, “teaching every man.” So, “admonishing” is more the negative connotation. Not negative in the sense that it’s bad, but instead in the sense, as we’ve just seen, it’s about correcting wrong patterns of thinking or behavior. “Teaching”, on the other hand, has this positive connotation. It has to do with giving positive instructions to fellow Christian believers. And Paul, of course, Apostle, was a teacher. 2 Timothy 1:11 he says, “I was appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher.” And this group of early Colossian believers needed the truth of which Paul was speaking. As spiritual infants, they needed spiritual guidance, spiritual direction, and spiritual sustenance, which was brought about through the teaching they received through the word of God.

See, when a person comes to faith in Christ as this early church in Colossae had, they know at the very least already a few basic gospel truths. They know that God exists. They know that God is holy. They know that they are a sinner. They know that they deserve punishment for their sin. They know that Christ died for their sins. They know that Christ was resurrected. And they know that it is through faith alone in His death alone, to which their sins might be forgiven. And that they might be granted eternal life. That’s the basics of the gospel message.

But that’s only the beginning. There is still so much to learn after that. And because this world and its systems and its philosophies are sinful -- and because we though saved are still sinful -- and because our minds have been cursed through what’s called the Noahtic effect of sin -- and because we still have this innate depravity that clouds our way of thinking and functioning in this world – we have to have our minds continually and regularly informed by the scripture. Instructed in truth. Cleansed by God’s word. We really do need to have our ‘brains washed’ by the bible. We don’t need ‘Jesus jingles’ which makes it sound like the Lord of glory is our boyfriend. Rather, we need rich, scripture-infused hymns that take us to the precipice of His throne. We don’t need sermonettes, or half-baked pep talks, where the pastor goes on and on about how rough his week was. You know how hard it was to get out of bed this week. And how Scooters kept messing up his order. And how he got into a fight with his wife. And how he’s just sort of tripping and fumbling his way through life just like the rest of us.

How does that feed you? You don’t need that. No. We’re all a bunch of sheep. All of us. Self-included. And sheep are dumb. And sheep need shepherding. Because sheep go astray sheep need to be led in the right direction. And sheep need prodding. And not only prodding, sheep need nourishment. And that nourishment, friends, comes from God Himself, and from His precious word. And God Himself gifts His churches with pastors (poimen). The literal definition of that is a shepherd. To feed and lead. To teach and proclaim His people.

And what does that teaching entail? What does it involve? Well, for Paul, the Apostle, he said it involved preaching the whole counsel of God, Acts 20:27, referring to everything that had happened up to that point through apostolic history. For modern-day pastors and elders it means “preach[ing] the word,”
2 Timothy 4:2, or Titus 1:9 speaks of “exhort[ing] in sound doctrine and . . . refute[ing] those who contradict.”

For all of us though, whether we have a title, whether we’re overseers or leaders or elders or deacons, or we have none of those titles or positions, we are all called to “teach others.” It’s right here in the text, “We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man.” There’s no restriction here. We’re all called to “teach.” We’re all called to admonish one another as we proclaim Him. So, what does that look like? Well, we teach one another in the way we conduct ourselves, as we choose which thoughts and words roll off our tongues and leave our mouths. We teach one another in the halls of this church as we encourage one another and help each other understand what the scriptures are saying when we get to that confusing passage we just can’t figure out yet. We teach one another in our homes when we train up our children in the fear and admonition of the Lord and bring them up in the scriptures. We teach one another about what we need to believe to be faithful Christians and how we are to act as faithful Christians.

And I want us to note this that the only way that we can do what Paul is saying here -- proclaiming, admonishing, teaching -- is by being committed to having a true, person-to-person ministry in the context of the local church. That’s the type of ministry Paul had. That’s what he says in 1 Thessalonians 2:10-12. As I read this, listen to how personal his ministry was to this church. “You are witnesses, and so is God, how devoutly and uprightly and blamelessly we behaved toward you believers; just as you know how we were exhorting and encouraging and imploring each one of you as a father would his own children, so that you would walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.” So, Paul’s was a truth-telling ministry, to be sure. But it was also a people-oriented ministry. A truth-teller, after all, needs an audience. He needs people to tell truth to!

Now, you might be thinking, “That’s great for Paul, but I’m just not much of a people person. I’m more reserved, and I’m more shy, and I’m more introverted.” That might be so. And you might have a more naturally timid spirit. But here’s my warning to you. Be careful that you don’t rely on that idea, that I’m just more introverted, and unwittingly adopt today’s psychological lingo. The same psychological lingo that allows adulterers to call themselves ‘sex addicts.’ The same psychological lingo that allows somebody to spin their gluttony into saying I’m just ‘body positive.’ Be careful not to use that sort of psychological lingo to be the crutch on which you lean to avoid doing the thing God is clearly calling you to do, which is to “proclaim Him.”

Now, I get it. It seems like an intimidating task. You want me to open my mouth? To step out of my comfort zone? To proclaim Christ? To admonish other people? To teach other people? “You’re the guy with the big mouth, Jesse, you’ve got the microphone, you do it.” “We pay you to do that kind of thing.” I have responses to that, I’ll share those some other time. But I do get it, the task is daunting.

Which is why these next few words of verse 28 are so appropriate and timely. Look at what he says, after “We proclaim Him”, after “admonishing every man”, after “teaching every man”, look at the next few words, “with all wisdom.” The task of proclaiming Christ, and admonishing, warning, others about drifting from Christ, and then teaching others, instructing them, in what Christ commands is a task that requires wisdom. Wisdom that’s able to detect the fears or the gaps in knowledge that the person you’re interacting with has. Wisdom to recall the right scripture, for the right situation to minister to somebody effectively. Wisdom to know simple personal skills, like when to transition in the conversation from the time in which you listen and download what they’re saying to you, and when you speak up and now respond accordingly. We need wisdom. We’re not these irrational fanatics that have no bearing or grounding in reality. No, we proclaim Christ to our brothers and sisters in the Lord. Prayerfully. Humbly. And with the recognition, as it says right here, that we need wisdom. We rely upon wisdom. The wisdom that comes from above. And the wisdom that we get to do so actually comes from Christ Himself. Who if you drop down the page to Colossians 2:3, you see, is actually called the one “in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” So, as we seek to proclaim Him, we go to Him for wisdom.

Alright, so far, we’ve looked through the first part of verse 28 here, where Paul says, “We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom.” Now we turn to the second half of this verse, where Paul gives us his purpose statement, “so that,”” Our ears ought always to perk up when we hear those words, when we see those words ‘so that,’ because they reflect the author’s main idea and purpose here. “So that,” he says, “we may present every man complete in Christ.” So, we’ve seen already that Paul’s ministry to this church involved proclamation, “We proclaim Him.” Now, we’re going to see that it involves an aspect of presentation, “that we may present every man complete in Christ.” So, point two, if you’re a note taker, is “Presentation of a People.

I’ve given this sermon this morning the title of “Complete in Christ,” because when it gets right down to it that really is the whole point of this passage. This idea of Paul’s desire to see the Colossians presented “complete in Christ.” The Colossian false teachers were starting to make headway there in the church. They were diluting the truth of the message of Christ. And they were subtracting from the message of Christ by artificially adding to the message of Christ. But Paul here recognizes that if these false teachers are going to be successful in persuading in this church that they need more than just Christ, what’s going to happen is this beloved gathering of Christians, they’ll trip up. They will trip up in their devotion to Christ. And in their service to Christ. And in their walk with Christ. And that’s going to have the effect of stunting their spiritual development in Christ.

And Paul would have none of it. He had no interest in allowing these newer believers to forever remain spiritual babes. He had no interest in allowing these newer believers to never graduate out of this phase of “perpetual adolescence.” He had no interest in these newer believers being the “Peter Pan” types who never wanted to grow up. And we know this from what he says elsewhere. In fact, go with me over to 1 Corinthians 3 where we’re going to see Paul speaking out against this very form of stunted development. 1 Corinthians 3. Of course, this is a church, the church at Corinth, that had all kinds of issues, all kinds of problems and conflicts and immature behavior. But one of its problems was that they hadn’t grown. Look at 1 Corinthians 3:1, it says, “And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not able, for you are still fleshly.” So, Paul, in other words here is scolding the church at Corinth for having never grown up. And Paul wanted the exact opposite for them. He wanted to see these believers in Corinth growing and maturing and thriving and becoming spiritually mature.

Or go over with me to Hebrews, Hebrews 5, where we’re gong to see something similar here, where the author of Hebrews conveys a similar thought about stunted growth and stunted development.
Hebrews 5, we’ll pick it up in verse 12, he says, “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not spiritual food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.” In other words, the Holy Spirit speaking through these human authors of scripture is saying that just as a physical child should ultimately graduate from milk to meat -- it would be odd to see an 8-year-old walk around with a bottle here today -- so, Christians have to graduate. God’s spiritual children need to mature. We grow through our intake of scripture, where we have the will of God and the Person of God revealed to us. 2 Peter 3:18, we are to be “grow[ing] in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” We’re to be growing in godliness. Gradually putting off those old ungodly practices from our past. And progressively putting on new ones, righteous, godly habits. That’s the path, that’s the pathway of the believer.

See, Paul here sees this real sense of responsibility, back to Colossians, towards those to whom he had pointed the Savior to. Paul was not satisfied, here’s the point, with simply seeing souls saved and then passing them off. He wanted to see them well-grounded in the truth. He wanted to see them become full-grown, mature believers. To grow from acorns to oaks. He wanted to see them become sanctified.
It’s what we see in Colossians 2:2, if you drop down the page a little bit. He wanted to see them, “attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ Himself.” He wanted to see them as Romans 8:29 says, “. . . conformed to the image of His Son.” He wanted to see them as John the apostle would say in 1 John 2:6, “walk in the same manner as He,” meaning Christ, “walked.”

Now, it’s important to note here, that Paul here, when he speaks of presenting “every man complete in Christ”, is not talking about perfection. There are some translations out there that render this: “present every man perfect in Christ.” And we know that Jesus did say to His followers, Matthew 5:48, “you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” That’s not what’s going on here. We do know that we have already positionally been made right with God. And justified by God. And presented complete to God, in the act of salvation; that’s Colossians 2:10, “in Him you have been made complete.”
That is a statement of justification, a statement of salvation. But here in our passage, Colossians 1:28, we’re not talking about salvation, we’re not talking about justification. We’re talking about sanctification. Maturity. Growth. Growing in spiritual understanding and discernment. And Christ-likeness. And that is a goal that’s attainable in this life. Ephesians 4:13 speaks of “attain[ing] to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.” Not sinless perfection. But rather as Hebrews 6:1 says, “press[ing] on to maturity.”

And what does that look like practically? To grow in maturity, to press on in maturity? I’m going to give you sort of a catalogue of a few different scriptures that highlight different aspects of what this growth and maturity looks like. First, is 1 Corinthians 14:20 which says we’re to not be children in our thinking but in our thinking to be mature. In other words, there’s an intellectual component of growing and maturing. Philippians 2:15 speaks of proving “yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation.” So, there’s a behavioral component. Ephesians 4:17 says, we are to “walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk.” Meaning there’s a contrastive component to growing in grace and maturity. And as we’ve already seen, actually in this study, in Colossians 1:10, we’re called to “walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.” Meaning there’s a God-honoring and a God-glorifying aspect of sanctification.

And are we ever going to reach this standard in this life? No. Are we supposed to strive to make that our aim anyway? Yes. And what a powerful reminder that is for all of us here. That, as in everything, we are totally dependent upon Christ. We’re dependent upon Him for our life. As we’ve already seen in Colossians, we are dependent upon Him for our sustenance. We’re dependent upon Him for our salvation. And bringing it back to our text this morning, we are dependent upon Him for our sanctification. Jesus Christ is the source of our very life. And He is the source of our growth and our maturity. Apart from Him, we truly can do nothing.

One other item to highlight here in verse 28, before we move on to verse 29, is this verbal statement where he speaks of presenting every man. He says, we admonish, we teach “every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ.” And those words, “so that we may present”, those clearly point forward. They clearly have a future orientation. It’s not “we do present,” or it’s not “we have presented,” it’s “we may present.” That’s a future-oriented conditional statement. It would be like if I said, “I may go to Kansas city next week,” or “the Huskers may go 12-0 this year.” A future oriented conditional statement. Paul and Timothy and Epaphras here were proclaiming Christ to the Colossians, they’re admonishing them, they’re teaching them, so that they may (forward pointing) present them every man complete in Christ. And that just highlights the fact that a future day is coming for all believers where we will stand, Romans 14:10, “before the judgment seat of God.” And a future day is coming for all believers, where the present limitations and frustrations of living in a sin-cursed world and in these bodies of sin where the sin currently clings, that will one day all go away. This points to the fact that a future day is coming for all believers though we are certainly not perfect in these bodies at this time. We will one day be presented as perfect before God. Not because of how good or great or deserving or perfect we were in this life, but rather because of the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

So, when Paul here says in Colossians 1:28, that it’s his aim to “present every man complete in Christ,” what he’s really doing is he’s aiming to build these believers up. To see them grow up. To see them grow into maturity in such a way, that the gap between their current spiritual state and their one-day date with glorification and perfection, that that gap will progressively shrink down. And we see Paul’s heart for this very type of ministry elsewhere in his writings. I’ll just give you one reference. In 1 Thessalonians 5:23 listen to how he phrases this. Note the current sanctification focus, and then also the eternal focus.
1 Thessalonians 5:23, “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely,” in the present, “and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ,” that’s a future oriented statement as here.

Paul, in other words, had a true shepherd’s heart. He wanted to see Christ formed in those people to whom he was privileged to minister. And he was very much willing to celebrate the progress that they had made in their faith as they moved on toward maturity. But as the one who was caring for their souls He knew that there was still so much more room for them to grow. And he wasn’t satisfied with aiming for completion, completion in Christian maturity for every believer there in Colossae. And why? Why was that his ambition for them? Because he loved them. And he wanted to see them stay the course and stay on track and be presented “complete in Christ.” And what Paul is modeling here, again, we’ve seen it already, is how any true shepherd of God’s people ought to function. To earnestly desire to see Christ formed, and Christian maturity formed, in the people under his care. And to work tirelessly toward that end.

Ok, so we’ve seen “Proclamation of a Person.” We’ve seen the “Presentation of a People.” That’s all in verse 28. Now, as we turn to verse 29, we’re going to see “Perspiration Through Power.” And not perspiration, like sweating through your shirt in triple-digit heat. I’ve not sweat more in my life in the past week, by the way. We can share stories after the service. But this is more perspiration in terms of hard work. Colossians 1:29, “For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.” See, Paul was willing to labor, to work, to toil, and to do so, he says in verse 29, “for this purpose.” That purpose linking back to verse 28, to see them made “complete in Christ.” To that end, Paul was willing to exert himself, and to totally be spent, if there was any opportunity that was within range for him, to see these believers under his care brought to a place of greater spiritual maturity. He was willing to put in whatever labor or wearisome toil he needed to put in.

And we know from his other writings, that he would constantly, Paul would, exhort other believers to work heartily. Colossians 3:23, “Work heartily, as for the Lord.” 1 Corinthians 15:58, “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.” He would say things like this frequently. But the thing is he could say those, make those, kinds of statements credibly because of his own godly witness, because of what he himself was willing to do. Like in 1 Thessalonians 2:9, speaking of his own labor, he says, “For you recall, brethren, our labor and hardship, how working night and day so as not to be a burden to any of you, we proclaimed to you the gospel of God.” “Working night and day”, that was Paul’s M.O.

I read a news article not too long ago about a church, and I think it was in Arizona, who hired under their staff (Jeff, close your ears) a Pastor of Fun. A pastor of fun - I’m not making that up - that’s a real title, a Pastor of Fun. The church took the hard-earned offerings of its people, and thought it would be a good idea to pay a guy a full-time salary and call him a Pastor of Fun. Maybe it’s just me, maybe I’m no fun. But I’d be willing to guess that if Paul had a guy come up to him, and say, you know what Paul? I really feel like I’m called to be a Pastor of Fun. That Paul would not hesitate to lay the apostolic smackdown on him. Because Paul didn’t do ministry to have fun. You know, he wasn’t making balloon animals and being, you know, the goofy cruise ship director.

He labored, he was striving, he worked, because of what was at stake. Not only did he labor though for this dear church as we see next in verse 29. It says, he was “striving according to His power.” That word “striving” is the word from which we get our English word “agonize.” The picture here is that of the athlete striving with every muscle in his body, every joint in his body, to cross that finish line first. Brings to mind 1 Corinthians 9:24, we “run in such a way that you may win.” It brings to mind the boxer who gets to the gym early and stays at the gym late, fine tuning every joint and muscle in his body, so that he can make it to the final bell and win that belt as he fights the good fight. As we think of that picture, that athlete, seeking the trophy, seeking the prize, we think here of Paul striving in his proclamation of Christ among the Colossians.

Now again, there’s no more apostles in our day, like there was in Paul’s day. The baton of the proclamation of God’s word in these public settings has been passed off to pastors in our day. But what Paul here modeled for the benefit of the Colossian church certainly does carry over in our day to pastoral ministry. The true shepherd doesn’t punch a clock. (All jokes aside, and you can tell me your jokes in the south lobby, if you’d like.) The true pastor, the true shepherd, does not work only on Sundays. No, he works tirelessly, like Paul here, to see the people that he’s been charged to shepherd to come to this place progressively of being complete, of growing and maturity. And for the pastor that means he works long hours in the study. And he wrestles earnestly with the Lord in prayer for the people under his care. And he spends time actually getting to know them, and you’ve heard me say it before, he smells like the sheep. And he does all of this -- in some cases by holding them by the hand gently, some cases by rapping them on the nose a little more firmly, some cases by kicking them in the rear end swiftly. But he does so because he loves them, and wants them to get back on that track of trudging toward maturity.

But what Paul says here in verse 29, I want to make sure we get this on the table. Is not just for apostles in the first century. And it’s not just for pastors in the twenty-first century. What he says here carries over to everybody here, to all of us in this room, as we seek to proclaim Christ to others, to admonish others, to teach others, to see others presented “complete in Christ.” I mean, seriously. What better way to be spent in however many short years you have on this earth? To be spent for the sake of others, so that they might be presented “complete in Christ.” To build your brothers and sisters up in the faith. To point them to the scripture for encouragement, counsel and direction and sometimes for rebuke. To send them those encouraging texts when they are going through a season or a week where they just don’t want to go on. To pray for them, and to pray with them in their trials. To point them to Christ, continually. To get godly counsel to them. To spend time with them and fellowship with them. To serve them. To meet practical needs of theirs. To show hospitality to them. To spur them along. What could be better? The point is we have a great example here to look to in Paul as we labor as he did, as we strive as he did, for the sake of others in this body, as we are willing now to take whatever steps are necessary to see our brothers and sisters presented “complete in Christ.”

And the beautiful final truth here, as we do so, we see that we’re not alone. Look at the last part of verse 29. Note where the power comes from. It wasn’t from Paul. And it’s not from us. He was “striving according to His power,” capitol H, “which mightily works within me.” As Paul was laboring, as Paul was striving, he wasn’t chalking up how hard he was working to his own superior work ethic or his strong constitution. No. He recognized that whatever ability he had to be doing what he was doing came from the very One that he was proclaiming. He realized that just as he had been praying for the Colossians
back in Colossians 1:10-11, that they would be “bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all power; according to His glorious might,” that he, too, needed the very strength that he was praying the Colossians would have. Strength which could only come from Jesus Christ Himself. In other words, Paul realized that it was only as he himself was empowered by the Lord that he had any ability to serve the Lord in the first place. Philippians 4:13, every athlete’s favorite verse, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” Or as Paul would say elsewhere in 1 Corinthians 15:10, “But by the grace of God I am what I am.” Paul labored in the ministry, he truly labored in the ministry. And he paid for it. He paid for it with his body. He paid for it with his freedom. He paid for it with his life.

And so now, for all of us, looking with humility at this example of Paul, we recognize that anyone who has dedicated any aspect of their life to this type of labor -- and I’m not saying with a title or a paycheck, just how we function in the body of Christ -- we understand that there is certainly a unique form of joy that comes along with this labor. Knowing that you are building up other believers in the faith. Knowing that you are caring for precious souls. Knowing that you are preparing people for whom Christ died for the eternity that they will soon spend with Him. Knowing that you are feeding and leading image bearers whom He loves.

But there’s also a unique weight that goes along with it, when teaching goes unheeded, or counsel goes unfollowed, or service goes unappreciated, or prayer it seems goes unanswered. Paul here, in our text, as a whole, is telling us, all of us, to keep after it. To keep pushing through the weariness. To keep pushing through the frustration. To keep pushing through the resistance. To not lose heart. To be willing to walk through our own valley of weakness, knowing that when we are weak, He is what? Strong. And knowing that He is then magnified and glorified.

So, as I close, just a reminder from this text. What we’re seeing is the importance that each one of us take account of: are we earnestly striving to grow in maturity as followers of Christ? Do we seek ourselves to be “complete in Christ”? And also, who in our life would testify to the fact that we are that person to them? That we are the person who is spurring them along, and encouraging them, and coming alongside them, and helping them to grow and to be strengthened in their faith as they seek to close that gap between who they are right now and what they will one day be in His presence.

Let’s pray. Lord, thank You so much for the chance to be in Your word this morning. Thank You for this section of this majestic letter, that You inspired Paul to write to the church of Colossae. Thank You for every follower of Christ in this room, who I know knows You, and seeks to honor You with their lives. I do pray that this message and this text would encourage them to keep striving. To keep laboring, not only in their own walk in their own faith to grow in Christ’s likeness, but to spur others in this body along to do so. And God, I know there will be some here in a room of this size who don’t know You. Who may take this message and they might hear it the wrong way. And they might think, I need to strive, and I need to labor to earn favor with You, God, when we know that it’s not the truth. The truth is we can’t earn our way to salvation. We can’t curry favor with You, based on our deeds or our inherent goodness. No, we need a substitute, and that substitute is Christ. So, God, if there is anyone here who does not know You, who has not given their life to the Lord Jesus, I pray that today would be that day. And that they could take step one in the direction of maturity and growth in Christ, having become a child of Yours through Christ. Thank You for this time, thank You for this day, and this fellowship of believers. We love You and thank You. In Jesus’ name, amen