Proclaim Him, Christ, to Every Man

Transcript

GR 975
5/04/1997
Proclaim Him, Christ, to Every Man
Colossians 1:28-29
Gil Rugh

The book of Colossians in your Bibles and the first chapter. Paul's epistle to the Colossians chapter 1. The apostle Paul has unfolded great truths concerning the work of God in Christ in providing reconciliation for the world. Now Paul is focusing attention on His responsibility as a servant of God in handling the message of reconciliation. We have to say that the responsibility for the confusion on the part of many in the church today regarding the role and ministry of the church has to be laid at the feet of the pastors. A pastor is by definition a shepherd of God's sheep. And if the sheep are disordered, in disarray, malnourished, it indeed is a reflection on the shepherd. Part of the problem is many pastors and many churches do not know what their role and responsibility is to be in the service of God.

There was a very good article that appeared in Christianity Today, May 19, 1997. It is really excerpts from an article. It appeared in a sister publication Leadership magazine. And it's written by William H. Willamon who is dean of chapel and professor of Christian ministry at Duke University. The title of the article is "This Culture is Overrated." Let me read you what he says. It ties directly into what we will be studying this morning. I won't be reading consecutively through the article for time.


"When I recently asked a group of pastors what they wanted help with in their preaching, most replied, 'To preach sermons that really hit my people where they are.' At one time I would have agreed this is one of the primary purposes of Christian preaching to relate the Gospel to contemporary culture. Now I believe it is our weakness. In leaning over to speak to the modern world, I fear we have fallen in. We sought to use our sermons to build a bridge from the old world of the Bible to the modern world. The traffic was always one way with the modern world rummaging about in Scripture saying things like, 'this relates to me,' or 'I'm sorry this is really impractical.' It was always the modern world telling the Bible what's what. The Bible doesn't want to speak to the modern world. The Bible wants to convert the modern world. Too often when we try to speak to our culture we merely adopt the culture of the moment rather than present the Gospel to the culture. Our time as preachers is better spent in cultivating modern late 20th century Americans into that culture called church. When I walk into a class on introductory physics I expect not to understand immediately most of the vocabulary, terminology and concepts. Why should it be any different for modern Americans walking into a church? This is why the concept of user friendly churches often leads to churches getting used. There is no way I can crank the Gospel down to the level where any American can walk in off the street and know what it is all about within 15 minutes. One can't even do that with baseball. The other day somebody merged from Duke Chapel after my sermon and said, 'I have never heard anything like that before. Where on earth did you get that?' I replied, 'Where on earth would you have heard this before? After all this is a pagan, uninformed university environment. Where would you hear this? In the Philosophy Department, watching Mr. Roger's neighborhood? No, to hear this you've got to get dressed and come down here on Sunday morning.' It is a strange assumption for American to feel they already have the equipment necessary to comprehend the Gospel without any modification of lifestyle, without any struggle and in short, without being born again. The point is not to speak to culture. The point is to change it. God's appointed means of appointing change is called church and God's typical way of producing church is called preaching."

Always does my heart good when somebody writes something I agree with. The Apostle Paul is setting out very clearly what his ministry and thus what the ministry of the successors of the apostles must be down to our day. What really is the ministry of the church of Jesus Christ in the world? And he's dealing with this beginning in chapter 1 verse 24 that will go on down to chapter 2 verse 5. And it's not a parenthesis in thought because he has unfolded the glorious work of God in Christ in reconciling the world to Himself. Now how is this ministry of reconciliation accomplished in the world? It is accomplished by God using the people that He has called to Himself and joined together in the Church, the Body of Christ.

Paul began this section by expressing the joy that he had in ministry. Verse 24, "Now I rejoice in my sufferings." As we'll see as we get into the passage that's before us today, there was suffering for Paul in ministry. It was a hard life to be a faithful servant. And it still is. But Paul had joy. "Now I rejoice in my suffering." We need to keep in mind as we talk about our responsibility as servants of the living God in the ministries He has called us, God intends for us to have joy. Now it's not always fun. There are times when I can honestly say the ministry is not only a joy to me, it is fun. But often the ministry is just hard, grueling labor. It's no fun. But no matter what area we are ministering in. We ought never to lose our joy. Because the joy is produced by the Holy Spirit from within the heart of the redeemed person. It has nothing to do with the circumstances surrounding us. It is something the Holy Spirit grows from within. So Paul can write from prison in Rome and say I'm rejoicing in my suffering and talk about how God is using Him in the ministry of the Word of God.

He saw himself as a servant. The end of verse 23 he said he was made a minister, a servant, our English word "deacon" of the Gospel. The beginning of verse 25 he said he was made a minister or servant of the church. And the two go together because the church is birthed through the proclamation of the Gospel. The church is nourished and developed through the ongoing ministry of the Gospel. So to be a servant of the church and to be servant of the Gospel, to be a servant of Jesus Christ, all are saying from a little different perspective the same basic same.


Paul saw his ministry as one that would fully carry out the preaching of the Word of God at the end of verse 25. "So that I might fully carry out the preaching of the world of God." Literally, that I might fulfill the Word of God. Then he talks about the Word of God that was entrusted to him, a mystery that hadn't before been revealed but now was unfolded by God. That He was doing a new work, that He was bringing Jew and Gentile together into a relationship of oneness in a new spiritual entity, the Body of Christ. That Body being reflected in local churches, raised up by God's grace in a variety of places. The church at Colossae being one example.

Now Paul focuses on the ministry he had himself and how it was conducted in verses 28 and 29. Paul's ministry centered in the revelation that God has given. And that revelation focuses in Jesus Christ. So in a very real sense the ministry is Christ and we are going to see that portrayed in a moment.

Verses 28 and 29 some very crucial facts are set forth about the ministry that we must have if we are to be servants of the church, servants of the Gospel, servants of the living God. We are going to cover several points here: Paul's message, Paul's method, we are going to talk about methodology, Paul’s motive in the actual doing of it, where the power came from.

Look at verse 28, "We proclaim Him." And literally we are continuing a new thought without starting a new sentence. "Whom we proclaim," connecting to Jesus Christ. "Christ in you the hope of glory whom we proclaim." And so the message of Paul was Jesus Christ. We proclaim Him. "Christ in you the hope of glory." And we have to proclaim is Christ. He is the content of the ministry, the sum and substance of the message. Without Jesus Christ we have nothing and in Him we have everything. So very clearly focused is the ministry that we are committed to. It's a ministry with a message. The message is Jesus Christ. We proclaim Him. That word "proclaim" means to announce or declare. To declare something, to announce it, to make it known, proclaim it. We declare Him. That's our message. That's what we are all about. And if we are not on tract here, there is nothing else. You are not truly a church in the biblical sense carrying out a divinely appointed ministry. The church is to be made up of people redeemed by God's grace brought into a relationship with one another to carry out the ministry that God has raised the Church up to carry out. First Timothy 3:15 the Church is the pillar and support of the truth. Jesus Christ, the One who says I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. We proclaim Him. Is it any wonder that what goes on in "the church" is foreign to the world? We are declaring a message that has been divinely revealed by God, a message that cannot be found anywhere else but in the revelation of God, His Word. It is not the subject of study in the universities or the schools any longer. In fact, everything is done to close it out.

You ought not to be surprised if you invite a friend to come to church with you and they sit there and they don't have the foggiest idea what it's all about. It's a totally different world. We have to be careful that we don't adjust this world so that those who have no concept or connection or understanding of this world of God's revelation will feel comfortable here because what we will have done is brought that world into here and close the world of divine revelation out. We proclaim Him. I don't speak to your needs or your wants. I proclaim Him. That's the subject of this ministry, the content of it. That's what it's all about, a declaration of Jesus Christ.

Now Paul elaborates on this because what do we mean proclaim Him. Well, he's going to elaborate it with two participles, a negative and a positive. Admonishing every man. Teaching every man. The negative is found in the admonishing every man. The word means to warn, to instruct. Admonishing and teaching are words that overlap in their meaning. They carry the idea of instruction. But admonish carries the idea of instruction in the context of correcting something, setting someone's mind straight. Whereas teaching simply has to do with the presentation of the truth. In the ministry of proclaiming Christ admonishing must take place. There must be warnings, corrections. People must be set straight. When we confront the unredeemed person, we must admonish them concerning their spiritual condition that they are dead in their trespasses and sins, that they are lost and without hope in the world, that they are destined to eternal hell. I must warn them. If I do not, I am not really proclaiming Him. Because in the true biblical sense to proclaim involves admonishing, warning, correcting. Admonition also takes place in the biblical context not only with the unbeliever but with believers whose thinking or conduct is not in line with Scripture. They must be admonished. They must be corrected. They must be set straight. To the extent that we are not involved in a ministry of admonishment, we are not carrying out the divine proclamation of Christ.

This idea people want to come they want to hear something positive. Does the Church of Jesus Christ understand we are not here to give people what they think they want or need? We are here to proclaim Him and allow Almighty God to do as He pleases with the message of the proclamation of Jesus Christ. Admonishing every man.

Back up to 1 Corinthians chapter 4. We are going to come back to 1 Corinthians later so you may want to leave a marker here. First Corinthians chapter 4 gives an example of the use of the word. Paul was admonishing the Christians at Corinth. He was rebuking them and correcting them for their unbiblical attitudes and behavior. And he says in 1 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 14, "I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children." A word that would be used with your children. In fact, it's used that way in the book of Ephesians of admonishing children. You correct them. You warn them. That's a process that must take place in their development. So Paul said he did that with the Corinthians. He admonished them.

Turn over to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. I've just selected these two examples. The word for "admonish" is used a number of times in the New Testament. In 1 Thessalonians 5. This shows that this is not just a work of apostles. But it falls to the leadership of the Church as well. In 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 12, "But we request of you, brethren, that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you, and have charge over you in the Lord and give you instruction." That word translated "instruction" is our word "admonish." And give you admonition. None of us like to be corrected. None of like to be admonished. Because when that happens I am being told what I am doing is not right. It's improper. And right away I want to think, “Who are they to tell me”? But here we're told it's a right responsibility for the leadership to carry out a ministry of admonishment in the Body for the health and wellbeing of the Body.

Come back to Colossians and if you look in chapter 3 of Colossians verse 16 you see this is not just a ministry of apostles. It's not just a ministry of apostles and church leaders. It's a ministry of the Body among itself. Colossians 3:16 "Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms, hymns, spiritual songs. Goes on even in the ministry of song. We are encouraged and corrected and instructed. The Body in its ministry carries one . . . The ministry together carries on such a function.

Come back to Colossians 1 verse 28. We proclaim Him. What do you mean proclaim Him? It means you're involved in a ministry of admonishment. Instructing in the context of instructing and warning, changing thinking and teaching every man. This is a positive side. Teaching involves the instruction of people in the revelation God has given. And in proclaiming Christ there is to be teaching. This word is translated "doctrine" often in English translations. Doctrine is simply teaching. What is the doctrine of this church? It is another way of saying what the teaching of this church is. What are your basic beliefs that you hold to and teach? To proclaim Christ, you must be involved in teaching the truth of God.

Let me read you what one commentator said. "Clearly for Paul and his colleagues’ evangelistic and missionary outreach was not affected by some superficial presentation of the saving message about Christ to the world, but was rather prosecuted through warning and intensive teaching in pastoral situations." Now this person was careful in the context of the quote that I gave you to give a disclaimer in that he's not minimizing the presentation of the Gospel in any setting. But what did Paul do when he went into a new area? First, take surveys and find out where people were and what they were like. No. He went in and proclaimed Christ. He warned them of judgment to come. He warned the Jews about their unbiblical, ungodly behavior. He taught and instructed them in the revelation God had given him. By God's grace he reached out and drew some to salvation.

You note this goes on in verse 28 with "every man." Three times in verse 28 you have the expression "every man." We are admonishing every man. We are teaching every man that we may present every man complete in Christ. Some modern versions to smooth out the English have dropped out some of the "every mans." Well, the Greek could have smoothed out the Greek too by dropping out some of the "every mans," but it didn't. The repetition gives emphasis. Makes the English reading a little bit awkward but it does draw our attention. We are admonishing every man. We are instructing every man. We have a goal to presenting every man. And the word "man" here is single. We could have expressed it, "we are admonishing all men," which would view them as a group. But here the emphasis is on every individual as an individual. Every single individual is admonished. Every single individual is instructed because we want every single individual to be presented complete in His presence.

Paul's method of ministry is admonishing and teaching and teaching every man. Now this is of utmost importance because the Church is wondering in a desert on the subject of methods today. And we hear expressions, "we don't change the message, we change the methods." But we must note God has not only ordained the message, He has ordained the methods. The message is Christ. The method is proclamation through admonishing and teaching.

Back up to 1 Corinthians again chapter 1. This is one message is fitting and fit for every individual. First Corinthians chapter 1 Paul is clear on the ministry God has given him in verse 17 of 1 Corinthians 1. "For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ should not be made void." Now we've mentioned this on other occasions, but this is what Paul is talking about. We proclaim Him, admonishing and teaching. I don't try to adjust to where my audience is. I tell my audience where they must be.

Jump down to verse 22. "For indeed Jews ask for signs, and Greeks search for wisdom." Paul didn't have to go door to door to find out what people wanted. He knew before they came to Corinth what they wanted. The Jews wanted signs. Paul was an apostle. He was gifted by God to do signs wonders and miracles he says in 2 Corinthians 12 verse 12. But he didn't come to Corinth and put on sign services because that would draw the Jews and then I could work in Christ. Paul was a brilliant man but he didn't come to Corinth with the idea that first I will demonstrate that I'm just not some traveling bum. I am intelligent and I haven't come to believe in Christ because I don't know how to think. So we are going to have a service and you invite your friends and we'll start off by demonstrating that I do have a grasp of the world that demonstrates me to be a very wise man and I can hold my own with the wise men of Corinth and in that context I'll look for an opportunity to present Christ. No, he says verse 23, "But we preach Christ crucified." I know what the Jews want. I know what the Greeks want. I don't give them what I want. I give them Christ. I know for the unregenerate the preaching of Christ is foolishness. Verse 18 "The word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing." I mean we think we've discovered something new in the 20th century because we've gone door to door and find out people don't want to go to church and hear about hell. They don't want to go to church and hear about sin. Well you know I could have saved you a lot of doors.

Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 1. This kind of preaching, verse 23, is to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Gentiles foolishness. But I'm not catering to Gentiles. I'm not catering to Jews. I'm preaching Christ. And to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. So chapter 2 verse 1, "When I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified."

Is it not clear when he says we proclaim Him, admonishing every man, teaching every man. We have the message and we have the method. Don't be diluted into this foolishness- God ordained the message and we don't change the message but we change the methods. God has ordained the means to the ends as well the ends. The end is salvation, perfection ultimately in Christ. The means God has ordained is the proclamation of Christ through the ministry of admonishing and teaching. And everything else is a corrupting of God's purposes and plans.

The Devil cannot change the reconciling work of Christ on the cross. He must pour his energies now into trying to disrupt the impact of that message on a lost and dying world. And one of the ways he does it is he has people think they are cleverer than God, that God overlooks something. We have found better methods. Paul's methods were good for Paul's day but people aren't interesting in preaching and proclamation today. People don't come to church to be admonished and taught. Well let me tell you they didn't come to hear Paul for that reason at Corinth either and they didn't like it when they did hear him. But the elect responded by the grace of God.

Jump down to verse 4 of 1 Corinthians 2, "My message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God." You note what can happen here when we alter the methods. Paul was afraid to display his wisdom. You know why? People might respond and be confused into putting their faith in him and his intelligence and not really have experienced the power of God in their lives. He has said basically the same thing at the end of verse 17 of chapter 1 when he said he didn't preach the Gospel in cleverness of speech so that the cross of Christ would not be made void (empty). Now he doesn't want their faith to stand in the wisdom of man. You know what we do? We come up with all these methods that are great at drawing crowds because they draw them no matter what you're doing if you are certain methods.
Then in that context we do certain things and we think that we have been building the church. How do you know whether people have really experienced the power of God in their lives? You can know with Paul because he just came in and dumped the truck on them. He proclaimed Christ and he admonished and he taught and he offended the Jews and the Greeks thought he was an idiot, a moron. But the called responded. Only by the grace of God would they believe and be drawn to this message. In danger of nullifying the power of God by thinking we can mix the methodology of God with the ideas of men and in doing so we undermine the power of God and its impact.

Where has the Church gone? Where in what we've read have we seen our responsibility is to get a crowd? Our responsibility is to proclaim Him. What God does with that message in hearts is His responsibility. God forbid that I should become God in my thinking. My responsibility is clear and the responsibility of this church.

Come back to Colossians 1. In the last century in England there was a great preacher. He published a great book on Colossians around the turn of the century. Alexander MacClare. In fact his expositions of the Scripture are still published in multiple volumes. You begin in Genesis and run through the whole Bible. Not verse by verse but it covers much of the Bible. It's a multivolume set. It will thrill your soul to read Alexander MacClare's exposition of the Scriptures. He wrote something about this passage on Colossians in his commentary on Colossians. Let me read you two quotes from him, "The Christian ministry then in the apostle's view is distinctly educational in its design. Preachers and hearers equally need to be reminded of this." And he went on to speak to preachers who don't devote themselves to the study of the Word so are shallow in their teaching. To rebuke preachers who get up and give the Gospel every week but never go beyond the basics to nurture and nourish the people. Then he says, "Sermons should not be quiet, resting places. Nor is it quite ideal if Christian teaching is that busy men should come to church or chapel on Sunday and not be physique by being made to think but perhaps being able to sleep for a minute or two and pick up the thread when they wake quite sure that they have missed nothing of consequence."

You know the Church has always drifted toward shallowness, to preachers that are better at telling stories than explaining Scripture, to people who think that the church ought to be a place that after a busy week of hard work you ought to come and relax rather than come and do the hardest work of the week in applying yourself to the serious study of the revelation that God has given. And as a result, preachers and people cater to one another. Like the prophets of the Old Testament. The prophets lied and God said, "My people love to have it so." The prophets give them what they want and the people like it that way. And it's a vicious cycle. But we proclaim Him, teaching every man and admonishing every man with all wisdom, Colossians 1:28.

"With all wisdom." I take it means with the whole range of God's truth, God's revelation. He'll say in chapter 2 of Colossians verse 3 that in Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And 1 Corinthians chapter 1 he had declared that Christ is the wisdom of God to those who are the called of God.

So we proclaim Him in all wisdom. And I take it that what he means here is that in all that He is. We don't just select out portions of the Word that people like to hear. That's why we start at the beginning of a book and keep on going. Otherwise I would just preach on the things I like to preach about. You would just like me to preach on the things you like to hear. Here we have to deal with what comes. And we both don't like it but it's what God would have us do. We must preach the whole counsel of God. That's what we're talking about, the whole range of God's truth.

The goal or purpose of itthat we may present every man complete in Christ. That's our motive. We have a message; we have the right methodsproclamation by admonishing and teachingand the motive in it, in order to present every man, complete in Christ. That's what it's all about. This word "to present" was used in chapter 1 verse 22. "Yet He [Christ] has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death in order to present you before Him fully blameless, beyond reproach." That's the purpose of the reconciling work of Christ, that at some day we would be presented in the very presence of God holy and blameless and beyond reproach. That's the end in view. In our proclamation of Him the ministry of admonishing and teaching every individual so that every individual would be presented in His presence complete in Christ. Complete, perfect, mature, having all the parts, being everything that God intended for them to be as a result of the work of His power through His Word through His Son in their lives.

That's the ministry we're called to. We lose sight of what the goal is, the motive is, why we are doing what we do. Oh, we want to get as many people in as we can. Well we want to see as many saved as God by His grace draws to Christ but you know I can't do God's work. I can be God's servant in the work. Our role is to proclaim Him, admonishing, teaching so that we may present every man complete.

Back up to Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians chapter 4. Just before Colossians. Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians. Ephesians chapter 4. Paul says the same thing in a fully way. But pick up Ephesians 4:11, "He gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, some as pastors and teachers." Gifts that are involved with the verbal communication of truth. "For the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of faith, the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man," a perfect man, a complete man, "to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ." To be more like Christ. That's the goal. And maturity, completion, perfection is being more like Him. So we proclaim Him so that by the grace of God the lost might be saved and the saved might be matured so that we become more like Christ.

That brings stability to the life. Look at verse 15 of Ephesians 4, "But speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him." You see, there is to be well-rounded development. When a new baby is born into a family, you're not satisfied if the legs grow but the head doesn't or one arm grows and the other doesn't. There's a malfunction. We want a well-rounded development. So as they look at the various parts, they say, "For his age, yes, this is where it ought to be." The maturing is properly taking place, and the work of perfecting takes place.

That's the ministry we're called to. That's why we are here today. You say, why did we get together today? Why did I drag myself out of bed? Why am I doing this instead of something else? For the perfecting of each person. Sometimes we get selfish. People will say, "Well, you know, I don't go anymore to Sunday evening. I don't feel I need it anymore." Well, that's a good selfish, self-centered way of thinking. Do you think God is done with the work of perfecting? I mean, I can't just think what is in it for me. I have to think how God may use me in your life. You see, the goal is to present everyone perfect in Christ. The danger is thinking we outgrow certain things. Oh I needed that when I was a new believer. Well you may need it more than you think now and others definitely need it. So I do it for a contribution in their growth.

And that's where we're going. Come back to Colossians chapter 1 verse 29. The manner that Paul went about his ministry is a little different than the method. The method was admonishing and teaching but the manner was hard work. Blend the two together this really gets in to where the power of the ministry comes from. There is no effective ministry for Christ without exhaustive hard work. But exhaustive hard work alone does not make an effective ministry. So in verse 29 Paul tells you how he carried out his ministry. "For this purpose also I labor." The purpose I just mentionedpresenting every man complete in Christthat's the goal. Presenting every man complete in Christ. "For this purpose I also labor." That word "labor" means toiling to exhaustion, wearisome work. I believe originally it referred to someone who had undergone a severe beating so had no energy or strength left. Then it came to mean someone who had worked so hard they were out of energy so to speak. They're exhausted. That's the kind of work we're talking about here. That's the kind of labor.

"For this purpose of presenting in the presence of Christ every individual mature and complete I am wearing myself out," Paul says. I exhaust myself. I work my fingers to the bone we might say. There is no effective ministry for Christ done that will not drain you of your strength and energy. There is no easy work in the work of the Lord because it is a spiritual warfare.

So I labor. I toil in the ministry. Sometimes tell men who want to go on to seminary and into the ministry. I say you think about how hard you think it's going to be and it's going to be far harder than you think. Don't do it if that's too much. In your ministry as a member of the Body, if you are having an effective ministry you find yourself what? I'm worn out. I mean, I have my job. I have my home responsibilities. And here I am these nights I'm out involved in the ministry directly, the weekends, Sunday. People are . . . I look at my neighbor and there they are sitting on the porch reading the Sunday paper and we've run around and got everybody dressed and fed and out the door and . . . All day long . . . Here we are in the morning. Here we are going in the evening. And its work. And me! That's the ministry. Hard work. Drains it out of you. That's what Paul said. I sometimes sit back in my chair and say, "Should it be this hard?" Then I read Paul and say, yes, it's probably not hard enough. If you really throw yourself into it like Paul did you'd find out how hard it could be. I labor. I'm worn out. I take it if we try to follow Paul around for a month, we'd be ready for R and R. I mean its hard work. I'm not saying you don't take breaks, you don't take vacation, you don't get away for a time, but we ought not to be surprised that the ministry is hard.

"For this purpose I also labor, striving." We get the English word "agony" from this. Agonizo, agony. It could be used of military conflict. It could be used of athletic conflict. Sense of the word is the conflict, the struggle, the battle, labor, and struggle. That's the idea. This is hard, exhausting work. And I give myself to it fully. But note, "I labor, I strive, according to His power which mightily works within me." Literally, according to His work which is working in me in power. According to His work which is working in me in power. The word "work" we get the English word "energy" from the Greek word translated "work." Mightily. That's the idea of it. It's mightily working. His work working mightily. His work working in me is God working mightily. He builds up these wordswork, working, power like he did in chapter 1 verse 11. "So that you walk in a manner worthy of the Lord," verse 11, "strengthened with all power." Strengthen, power, might in that verse. In other words, we realize, you know, you're worn out. You don't think you got another ounce of strength but that's fine. It's not your strength that's doing it. But when all of your strength is given to Him for the ministry and service, His power works mightily. That's why Paul said in 2 Corinthians 12 that when he was weak he was strong because it's God's power doing it.

Now we must avoid two errors. An error that sometimes we identify with some theology like Kesic theologylet go and let God. And you hear people say, "Boy, I'm tired. I'm weary. You see, we need to learn to let go and let God." Well, Paul didn't know about that theology. He couldn't leave go. Some people would psychoanalyze him today but God commends him. You don't let go and let God. It's not just I sit back and let God work. Nor do I develop the thinking that it's my intense work that gets the job done. Rather it is that supernatural, seeming paradox in some senses, where I devote myself with every ounce of my strength, giving all that I have and it's in that context that God's power works mightily in me. In other words, God's power is not working mightily in lazy people. God's power is not working mightily in halfhearted laborers. Understand I must give everything so that His power can be released in its fullness in the accomplishing of His purpose. So in one sense my energies and efforts accomplish nothing but in the other sense they accomplish everything. Because as I apply myself with full diligence to the task God has called me to, His power works mightily. So it can be done without my intense labor and struggle. But it cannot be done with only my intense labor and struggle. It's God power doing it but by God's grace it's God's power working through me.

Back up to 1 Corinthians 15. First Corinthians 15 verse 10. First Corinthians 15:10, "But by the grace of God I am what I am." You ought to underline or highlight it or circle it. Star it. "By the grace of God I am what I am and His grace toward me did not prove vain [empty, worthless]; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me." Why was Paul so effective? You know what he said? I worked harder than everybody. The other apostles. I'm not the least of the apostles, verse 9. This is the context. But I'm the hardest working. You say, that sounds like pride. No, it's God's grace. God's grace has worked in my life in such I am willing to give more of myself than someone else is. Now we've all looked at that. We've seen servants of the Lord who give themselves on a level and to a depth. You say, I don't know if I could do that. I don't think I can give myself the way they do. You know what also we're saying? I'm not being used of God the way they are either. No matter how much you sacrifice, no matter how much you give, don't take the credit. It's God's grace working with you. Praise God He gives you the grace so you are willing to devote yourself with such full energy to His service so that His power might work with such might in and through you.

That's the ministry. It's not so complicated. I sometimes have to sit in my library and I say, Gil, are you really doing what God's called you to do. Gil, are you stuck in a time warp? Maybe you are an anachronism. What is His intention? How are we to function? And here it's laid out clearly. I found myself strengthened as I look at passages like this. The message is Christ. Nothing more, nothing less and He is the sum of it from Genesis to Revelation. We preach Him. We proclaim Him in all wisdom. That means in all His fullness. If you come to Indian Hills long enough by God's grace, you'll cover it allthe interesting parts and the uninteresting parts, the things that seem pertinent and the things that don't seem pertinent because we preach Him in all wisdom. That's the message.

The methodproclaim, admonish, instruct. Proclaim, admonish, instruct, entertain. Oops. Strike the last one. But you understand there's not a lot of interest in proclamation, admonition and instruction. I know. Some people are looking for signs. Some people are looking for wisdom. But we don't know anything but Christ crucified. That's what we proclaim, admonishing and teaching. And that's what we do to everyone. Why? Our motive in all of this is to present everyone mature and complete in Christ. This tells you why it's going to be such hard work. Labor, struggle. It isn't going to be easy for you to get me matured. I'm a project, folks. Someday I will be presented in the presence of Christ and your responsibility is to see that I'm presented there complete and that will take every ounce of your strength. My responsibility to you is the same. Our responsibility to one another is the same. It would not be good for you on that day that be presented there less than God intended for me to be because you were unwilling to expend the effort necessary. It would not be good for me or for anyone else on that day, not to have expended ourselves completely to present as complete everyone in Christ. It changes the way you look at church and how you do church and the ministry. It's not what's in it for me but what's going to be necessary not only for my growth but for me to see that everyone will be everything God wants them to be on that day in His presence. That's what this ministry is all about. That takes all of our energy, all of our strength.

And so that's the manner of the ministry. We have the message. We had the method. We had the motive. We have the manner. Just hard work. Labor and struggle as you are energized in the power of God.

Remarkable in its simplicity. Remarkable in its completeness and sad that the church would be found deficient. May God enable us to devote ourselves with that kind of completeness of devotion as servants that He has called us to be. Let's pray together.

Father, indeed You are a God of grace, love and mercy and kindness and goodness. And You in mercy have worked in our lives, brought us under the sound of the proclamation of Christ, caused us to see and understand and believe this glorious truth and experience a marvelous salvationbe born again. We join together as members of the Body of God. And now Lord, we are part of that ministry of proclamation, admonition, instruction, nurture and nourishment with a goal to presenting every single person complete in Christ. And Lord, may we see that purpose as worthy of exhausting labor and toil, of struggle and conflict and difficulty as we carry on this ministry with every ounce of our strength, but in the energy and power that You alone provide. And may the result be lives in the Church that are a testimony to the might and power of the God who has provided reconciliation in the Person and Work of His Son Jesus Christ. In His name we pray, amen.


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