The Ministry of the Truth Is Unchanged

Transcript

GRM 1171
12/04/2016
The Ministry of the Truth is Changed
Colossians 1:28 – 2:3
Gil Rugh

I want to direct your attention to the book of the Colossians for our study tonight. I thought it fitting to take one of the churches of Asia Minor since we are studying Revelation chapters 2 and 3 but this is one of the churches not mentioned in the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3 but in this letter Paul does mention one of the churches that is mentioned in Revelation 3, the church of Laodicea so we are in that setting, that part of the world of this time.

You will remember Colossians is one of those letters we call one of the “Prison Epistles” because it was written during Paul’s first Roman imprisonment recorded at the end of the book of Acts and his confinement has stretched out to be some time. By the time we conclude the book of Acts he is still in prison but it has stretched out for about five years, not all in Rome. He had a couple of years in Caesarea in prison then the extensive trip to Rome and then two years confined in Rome.

During that time he wrote Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and Philemon so you see even though he is confined the Lord is using him to accomplish a work that continues down over 2,000 years later. Paul never had the occasion, the opportunity when he writes this letter, to have visited them on a prior occasion.

He has heard about their faith. Chapter 1 of Colossians talks about his thanks to God for them. He has been praying for them. Verse 4: “Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love you have for all the saint0”s and so on in one of Paul’s extensive sentences and verse 9: “Since the day we heard of it we have continued to pray for you.”

I couldn’t help but think as we talked about the subject of “love” this morning that Paul is a great example. Here he is having experienced this long confinement extending over these years and yet he is not turned inward and self-focused. He is talking about the joy he has, the thanks he gives to God. He is praying for these believers. He is not talking about how difficult it has been and some of the things that pressed on me since I have had to endure the confinement and the unjust treatment that has been meted out to me. None of that is here.

He goes on to talk about the greatness of the work of Christ, the great sections of Christology as we would refer to it in the study of Christ unfolded here in chapter 1. Verse 21 of chapter 1: “Although you were formerly alienated, hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach.” What Christ came to accomplish is brought to a reality in the salvation of the Colossians among others with a view to the future that “someday we” in verse 21 “Who were formerly alienated, hostile in mind, engage in evil deeds because of the work of reconciliation accomplished by Christ will enable us” in verse 22 “To be presented before God as holy and blameless and beyond reproach.”

So he talks in verse 24, “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake and in my flesh I do share on behalf of His body which is the Church.” The body of Christ being the church as he has talked about, “Filling up what is lacking in Christ’s affliction” and in a way at first strikes us as strange to talk about, something lacking in Christ’s affliction and I am filling it up. You say, “Well that sounds almost arrogant.” But the reality, that is God’s plan that Paul here is writing to these Colossians. He is familiar with the one. It is one of his fellow workers who brought the Gospel to them. So the work of Christ in one sense was not done with the work He finished on the cross because 2,000 years later for example, we had to hear it, the message had to be brought to us so that we could believe it. Then we had to be instructed and taught so we could grow and be prepared as the people of God to be presented in His place.

So that is what he is talking about and he puts his present situation in that context in verse 24: “I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake.” He’s everything in the sovereign plan of God for Him. There are no mistakes. He has unjustly and unfairly been arrested. His freedom was removed. He can no longer travel to various places bringing the Gospel but he didn’t see that. Not here bemoaning the fact what? “I rejoice in my sufferings. This is what God has brought into my life so that I might be a more effective instrument of His.” Maybe he wouldn’t have written this letter if he hadn’t been in prison. Part of God’s purpose and plan. So he sees it all in that context. So he could rejoice in his sufferings because he saw it for their benefit and he was made a minister of the church, a servant, verse 25. “So he might fully carry out the preaching of the Word of God.” “The mystery that has been hidden in past ages” and that mystery is Christ. It was not fully revealed and made known what He would accomplish and how in the sovereign purpose of God in His work of salvation that would be expanded beyond the nation of Israel to encompass the Gentiles. He writes to this Gentile church in the Gentile part of the world and how great the grace of God, “To whom God willed to make known (verse 27) what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” He is going now to roll in at the end of chapter 2 and into the end of chapter 1, the beginning of chapter 2 something of the ministry that he has and the church has and it is a reminder.

A number of years ago I clipped an article (close to 20 years ago now) written by a man in a Christian magazine and he served among other things, as the chaplain if you will at a church connected with the university campus but the campus and the university are not Christian, otherwise in the loosest sense of the word, but he starts out “When I recently asked a group of pastors what areas they wanted help with in their preaching most replied, ‘to preach sermons that really hit my people where they live.’ At the one I would have agreed that this was 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 may have fallen in. Most of the preaching in my own denomination struggles to relate the Gospel to the modern world. 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 am sorry this is really impractical.’ It was always the modern world telling the Bible what is what. This way of preaching fails to do justice to the rather imperialistic claims of Scripture. The Bible doesn’t want to speak to the modern world. The Bible wants to convert the modern world.”

I am not going to read consecutively in this article for time, but continuing, “Unfortunately too often christians have treated the modern world as if it were in fact a reality to which we were obligated to adjust rather than a point of view with which we might argue. 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.” After further discussion it says, “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 which any American can walk in off the street and know what it is all about within 15 minutes. One can’t do that even with baseball.”

He says, “the other day someone emerged from the chapel where he had preached,” it would have been a university student and said, “I 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?’ He knew something about the level of universities in many ways. “No, to hear this you’ve got to get dressed and come down here on Sunday morning.”

The point is not to speak to the culture. The point is to change it. God’s appointed means of producing change is called church. God’s typical way of producing church is called preaching. I think often the church says, “Well, we live in a different day.”

That is why I wanted to focus again, just as a reminder to us, that the methods, the message and so on that are established in the Scripture never change. We make a big deal out of ,you know, these are the millennials, these are this, and these are this. We have names for everything as though everything has changed. Well the world is always in a state of flux because they don’t know where they have come from. They don’t know why they are here. They don’t know where they are going but we have the truth that speaks the message of God that is unchanging.

So Paul will pick up in verse 28 with “We proclaim Him” and he is talking about a truth that God revealed. It was a mystery not known before, unknowable. In the point that he made, “Where would you hear about this?” This is something that is given by revelation. That doesn’t mean you have to be in this church building to hear it but it is a message entrusted to the church, the people of God to give forth. We don’t expect to hear this in the world. We are not trying to adjust to fit in the world. It will never fit with the world. This is truth that has come from outside the world to speak to its condition so we proclaim Him, Christ, God’s mystery, verse 26. The end of verse 25, “That I might fully carry out the preaching of the Word of God, the mystery which has been hidden from past ages and generations but now has been manifested to His saints to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this ministry among the Gentiles which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” We proclaim Him.

Now Paul, are you sure this is relevant to where these people are? Well it is not where they are in their thinking but it couldn’t be any more relevant to them and where they are in their hopeless lost condition. So “We proclaim Him.” This is the content. This is the message that Paul has and has passed on as Paul told Timothy, “You know you pass this on to others who will pass it on. I taught it to you. You teach it to others. They will teach it to others and it has come down to us in that way.”

This is central. “We proclaim Him.” What does that involve, “Admonishing every man?” That word, to admonish. Jay Adams years ago popularized nouthetic counselling and that is the word here, a Greek word translated admonishing. It means to warn, instruct, correct, set things in proper order. It is a ministry of admonishing people; it involves criticism. It involves correction. That is what is going on. You reprove, you correct, you instruct as Paul told Timothy. That is the package. You are telling people there is no way to get it across. We are telling them about Christ. We are admonishing and this includes the unbeliever for correcting their thinking. We are telling them about their condition. We don’t try to massage it in so it fits with their thinking. It comes in in a crushing, shattering way.

You know he used in his article here, “You know I don’t walk into a beginning Physics Class and expect to understand everything but somehow we think we ought to be changing. You don’t want to be using theological terminology. We don’t want them to talk about salvation. We don’t want to talk about sinfulness.” Wait a minute! We are bringing something from the outside. This is a message that comes from God from outside the culture, the world in which we are living. We come to proclaim something to you that you won’t find anywhere else. I love the way he put it. The man said, “I never heard this before.” “Where would you hear it, your Philosophy Class in the university?” No. You have to hear it from one of God’s people. It has to be passed on to you, “Admonishing every man.”

You are going to note that expression three times, “Admonishing every man, teaching every man.” This is the all-inclusive plan. Admonishing would have more of a negative flavor. Teaching would have more the positive flavor. Paul did that with Timothy. He started, “Reprove, rebuke, instruct.” There is that correcting aspect of it. I mean we ought to tell people, everything you have thought is wrong. Everything you’ve thought about yourself, everything you’ve thought about the way to God that is wrong. It will get you nowhere. Well, are you telling me that I am wrong? No. God is telling you that you are wrong. And then we teach people, we instruct them with the revelation God has given.

You know this is how Paul carried the message. He is writing to Colossians. This message was carried to them. It didn’t bring an adjustment to them in the life they had. It brought a radical change called the new birth, conversion, salvation. We proclaim Him admonishing every man, teaching every man. There is only one plan that God has set forth for all people everywhere. We don’t adjust it according to their thinking. That doesn’t mean we don’t pick them up where they are.

I was talking with a man a month or so ago. We were visiting. I know him in a more casual way. We were talking about living spaces and parking places for cars and I said, “Have you ever thought about, ‘Do you have a place in heaven, where you are going to be?’” You know here is a man in his mid-eighties. He is a delightful person. I have opportunity to have contact with him from time to time. After I worked and talked to him about the Gospel he said, “You know, my grandmother raised me that way.” How about that? Well maybe He brought me here to bring you back to what your grandmother told you in those early years. His thinking had wandered. “As soon as I got old enough I got away from that church and that teaching.” “Here you are, 85. Do you know where you are going to be when you die?” This is the message that we bring. It is for every man. It hasn’t changed in 2,000 years. We proclaim Him. We admonish, we teach every man, every man. We teach every man with all wisdom the whole range of truth.

Remember Paul said, “My hands are clean from the blood of all men. I have taught you the whole counsel of God.” In Acts chapter 20 speaking to the church at Ephesus, the leaders of the church at Ephesus. We do it with all wisdom. It is God’s truth.

Alexander Maclaren was one of the great Bible teachers at the end of the 1800’s, beginning of the 1900’s. He said, “The Christian ministry then in the apostles’ view is distinctly educational in its design. Preachers and hearers equally need to be reminded of this. Sermons should not be quiet resting places. Nor is it quite ideal of Christian teaching that busy men should come to church or chapel on a Sunday and not be fatigued by not being made to think but perhaps be able to sleep for a minute or two and pick up the thread when they wake, quite sure they have missed nothing of consequence.”

No, we have something of great importance and you are going to have to pay attention. This is serious business. Paul is imprisoned because of his commitment to proclaim this truth. We don’t want to try to create a comfortable Christianity. We are going to always be going across the world’s thinking. It is jarring. It is not what they want to hear but it is what they must hear.

The goal – that we may present every man. Again, third time in this verse “Every man,” every man, everyone. No one is excluded. “That we may present every man complete in Christ.” That is the goal of ministry to take that lost, hopeless sinner, dead in trespasses and sins, without hope in the world, always doing the will of his father, the devil and bring to him the message of life that can penetrate into the inner most recesses of his very being like a sharp two-edged sword, spiritually as Hebrews talks about. “By the grace of God shine the light of the Gospel into that darkened heart” that by the grace of God they might turn and place their faith in Christ and be transformed and then developed and grow in the Word of God. God’s intention is not that we remain in the nursery. It is to grow, mature so that “Every man can be presented complete, perfected in Christ.” This is what God’s intention in sending Christ was.

Look at verse 21: “Although you were formerly alienated, hostile in mind” (I am in chapter 1, verse 21) “engaged in evil deeds. Now He has reconciled you in His fleshly body through death in order to present you before Him, holy, blameless, beyond reproach.” What we are involved in? We are involved in the work God is doing which was His very purpose in sending His Son. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son in order that whosoever believes in Him might not perish.” That is the work we are involved in and then so that those who are born again might be matured, perfected and prepared to be everything God wants them to be. That is what I am laboring, what I am working for so we can present every man perfect in Christ.

He says in verse 29: “For this purpose I also labor.” That is what I am doing, “to toil.” It is a word we talked about in our study of Revelation 2 and the Ephesians were commended that their toil, that labor to the point of exhaustion. It is wearisome. It wears you out.

Traveling with Paul in ministry, being with Paul anywhere wouldn’t have been easy. He is going at it full bore. Here he is in prison but he is not thinking, “Oh, what I could do if I wasn’t here.” He is rejoicing that God has put him here to use him here. That is what he is focused on. How does God want to use me here? How is He using me? What am I here for? Wherever I am, here is His purpose for me and that is what we are. Not looking. “Oh boy, what do we do? This person gets elected, this person gets elected. These decisions are made.” What does that got to do with anything? We are bringing a message from outside this mess of the world from the living God to transform people and nurture and build them up in Christ. It is something they won’t find anywhere else. That’s why the devil is so opposed to the ministry, the church, the ministry of God’s people because where else will they hear the truth? “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the message of Christ.” He is happy to establish religions everywhere. He is happy to have churches as long as they don’t focus on the serious study and involvement in the Word of God.

He is laboring, “I labor.” For Paul the work of serving Christ was hard work and there was no other way to serve such a Master than with all your energy, striving. “I labor, striving.” You are familiar with this word. The Greek word is agonize. We just transliterate it and bring it over into English. “I agonize.” That denotes something that is a fight; that is a struggle. It is used in athletic contests, the conflict that is going on.

You say, “Well Paul did this all on his own energy.” “For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power.” And that is the balance. Remember Paul wrote to the Philippians and he said, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling for it is God who is at work in you.” If God is at work in me, why do I have to work? If it is His power and you note what he says here, “which works mightily within me” and I am pouring myself into the toil and labor of the conflict and struggle and God is working mightily in me and it is that supernatural plan of God that it takes all my energy and the greatness of His power. And all my energy apart from His power accomplishes nothing. And to think I can sit back, propped up in bed and do nothing and God’s power will work. No! So I realize I will pour myself and all my energy into what God has called me to do and draw on His power to get done what only He can do. So the balance that is there. “His power works mightily within me.”

So you flow right into chapter 2 because you note you have the other preposition here. We will start with verse 28: “We proclaim Him and for this purpose, presenting every man complete in Christ.” I am striving. I am agonizing “For I want you to know.” And he is building this same theme. He continues on down into this chapter so that this church understands and Paul is something of an example set forth by God for this church.

Paul is in prison and from what we can tell he was released from this imprisonment but he tells the Philippians in another letter that he wrote during this same imprisonment there is good hope that he has to be released but even if this imprisonment results in his death he is ready for that. In fact he says, “You know, it is hard for me to choose – to part and be with Christ is far better but if I am enabled to go on in ministry that would be better for you.” Put everything in that kind of perspective but when it comes to the end and his final Roman imprisonment it is clear that he is ready. If we have time we will draw our attention to that as well.

You saw in verses 28 and 29 the message that Paul preached was Christ. The method is just proclaiming it, teaching it, admonishing. His motive was “to present every man complete in Christ;” and how he went about it, the manner, toil and labor, constantly drawing upon the power that God made available.

“For I want you to know,” we start chapter 2, verse 1, “How great a struggle I have on your behalf,” how great a struggle I have. Now what he has picked up on is that word ‘striving’ in verse 29 of chapter 1: “For this purpose I labor, striving.” Note, we get the word agony or agonizing from this. This is the same basic word, a form of it but the same basic word, agony. “I want you to know how great an agony, a struggle.” So he has picked up that theme. “I am striving according to His power and I want you to know how great a striving.” To connect, this gives you an idea. It wouldn’t be the best translation, the greatest struggle I have on your behalf.

So everything he is doing. You know that kept him from settling down in despair and hopelessness. What is happening to me? What is this costing me? What about my life? Remember that love, that self-sacrificing love? Paul is driven by this, “the One who loved me and died for me.” Now I want to express that same love and I am willing to die for you. I want you to know how great a struggle I have on your behalf.

Come over to Timothy, I Timothy chapter 6, this word ‘agony,’ struggle. I Timothy chapter 6. We are coming down to verse 12. “Fight the good fight of faith.” Agonize the good agony of faith. That is the same word, to agonize. You see we translate it different ways; striving, struggling, fighting; depicts a contest, a fight, a struggle. “Fight the good fight of faith;” agonize the good agony of faith. That idea – it is a fight. You stay with it Timothy.

Come over to 2 Timothy chapter 4. He is not telling Timothy to do something he didn’t do like we would say, “You know, don’t follow my example.” Paul tells Timothy, “Fight the good fight.” Paul is now at his second Roman imprisonment when he writes 2 Timothy and he realizes this will culminate in his execution. He said in verse 6: “I am already being poured out, the time of my departure has come.” It is clear. This imprisonment will not result in his being set free. It will result in being executed. “I have fought the good fight.” That is what he has told Timothy. I have agonized the good agony. I have struggled the good struggle, that contest right up to the end. “I have finished the course, I have kept the faith.” That is what he told Timothy to do in the first letter we just read, “You fight the good fight of the faith.” Now here at the end of his life he said, “I have done that. Now for me that fight is over. I am at the end and I am ready. There is laid up for me the crown of righteousness.”

Come back to Colossians. You know the work of the Lord is hard work. We have the relentless opposition of the devil, the world, our own flesh. It takes all of our strength and energy. We like to find that compromise. We call it a balance and I realize there are other things we have to do. You have to go maybe to a secular job and work and all of that and you have to clean house and cook meals and take care of kids but everything in perspective. One of the songs, “This world is not my home I am just passing through.” Paul told the Philippians “Our citizenship is not here it is in heaven.” We are looking for the coming of the Lord.

So all of this we are doing with proper perspective because everything is done in light of the fact that we are serving Him. When you are serving somebody in a miserable job because you need to make a living, you do it because your service is offered to the Lord. I want to serve in a way, even in this job, that would be a testimony to One who is faithful, to the God that I serve. Why do you work so hard? Why do you serve so diligent and careful in your job? Because ultimately I am not doing it for you, the company. I am doing it for the Lord that I serve. That is our life. That is the way that we live.

“I want you to know (back in Colossians 1) how great a struggle I have on your behalf.” And note this: “And for those who are at Laodicea.” We will be talking about the church at Laodicea as you are aware when we get to the end of Revelation chapter 3. But Laodicea is about ten miles from Colossae so this region here that had a number of churches that had been established. And you will note what Paul says, “And for all those who have not personally seen my face.” So Paul had not personally been at Colossae. He had not personally been at Laodicea but evidently during his three year ministry in Ephesus and probably connected with that there were workers with Paul who had travelled out into other parts of the area.

When you come over to chapter 4 you read about Epaphras, verse 12: “Epaphras who was one of your number, a bond slave of Jesus Christ sends you his greeting always laboring for you in his prayers.” And that translated, “Laboring earnestly” is a translation of our word, “agony.” Again, “Laboring for you in his prayers that you may stand perfect, fully assured in all the will of God.” You know there had been others involved as well. We referred to Tychicus earlier. “I testify he has a deep concern for you (verse 13) and for all those in Laodicea and Hierapolis” (another city in this region where a church has been established.)

He will tell them in verse 15: “Greet the brethren who are in Laodicea and also Nympha and the church that is in her house.” All this going on and people involved and being used in other people’s lives but Paul, the ministry goes on. He sees his ministry tied there. “I can encourage you with a letter. I can tell you I am praying for you. I know about you.” He is an encourager.

Come back to chapter 2, verse 2. What Paul wants to see accomplished by his struggles for them. He is going to denote several things here. The first, he wants them to have encouraged hearts. He is an encourager. “I have a struggle on your behalf for those in Laodicea and others who haven’t seen me that their hearts may be encouraged.” Paul realized the ministry can be discouraging. It can wear you down. He wants to encourage them.

This is the same word we think of in connection with the Holy Spirit, the paraclete, the One who comes along side of, to encourage, to help, to strengthen. Paul says “I want all your hearts to be encouraged, comforted, and strengthened,” because he is going to move on in chapter 2 to talk to them about the false teachers that infiltrate among them, that plague them. We will see those when we look at the churches. We have already seen some of them, the false Apostles that Christ referred to in the letter to the Ephesians and then the Nicolaitans in their doctrine which will come upon the church at Pergamos as well in a later letter. These people need to be encouraged, stay with it and keep going.

Isn’t it interesting? The one who is in prison is writing to those who are not suffering that kind of difficulty to encourage them. “I want your hearts to be encouraged and strengthened.”

Secondly, “Having been knit together in love.” And we talked about love today. “Your hearts knit together in love.” A people bound together in a relationship of love, down in verse 19 of chapter 2. He talks about false teaching and what it does as it divides and splits the body. “They are not holding fast to the head from whom the entire body being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments grows with the growth which is from God.” And those ligaments is what is used. Talk about being held together in verse 19, “Held together, knit together, bound together by all the part of the body;” the joints and ligaments, the analogy of the body used like in Ephesians 4. Every part is making a contribution but we have to stay connected to the head because He is the One who gives the instructions. You know what happens in your body when part of it no longer obeys the instruction of the head. Then there is a disorder that impacts the body. That is spiritually what happens. Something is wrong and these false teachings, this error that is coming into the church at Colossae, all of a sudden they lose their grip on Christ if you will. Verse 19: “They are not holding fast to the Head.” That picture and any breakdown in the connection will lead to confusion, division and a weakening of the church. So you are knit together, you are held together, you are bound together in that love relationship. We saw how that is the strength that holds up together, that love that God produces in us.

He wants them to be settled, back in the beginning of chapter 2, verse 2: “Attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding.” That complete assurance you know that gives stability is referred to as a wealth and you know just like a person who may have adequate financial resources and financial difficulties come along and it affects other people. It doesn’t affect them and he has that confidence and assurance because I have that wealth. Well our assurance here is pictured here as that wealth. It brings that stability and that assurance and that confidence so that we are not blown about by every wind of doctrine as Paul said in the letter to the Ephesians, deceived by the trickery of men. I want you to have the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding. One person put it, “spiritual prosperity consists of understanding God’s truth and being confident in it.” That is what gives us stability and confidence in the difficulties and trials. That is God’s provision. He intends for us not to be cocky, not to be arrogant but to have the wealth, the riches of the full assurance of understanding.

Another writes this, “Too many of God’s people live lives of spiritual poverty, uncertain of what God has provided for them. They become easy prey for every cult and religious charlatan that comes along.” That is why we spend time in the Word, sort it out, study it and consider it. Why? We have to know it. It is understanding this truth that will give us that confident assurance, that full assurance of understanding. He wants them to have a thorough knowledge that connects to this. “Resulting in a true knowledge of God’s mystery, that is Christ Himself,” the full assurance of understanding. The full knowledge of the truth God has given in Christ, about Christ, God’s mystery. This is stuff you can’t know apart from God’s revelation. You don’t find it anywhere else. This is the knowledge of God’s mystery. It is hidden from the world. Like Jesus told His disciples when they ask “Why do You speak to them in parables?” “Because to you it is given to know but to them it is not.” You say, “Well, that sounds terrible. God is hiding His truth.” He hides His truth from the unbeliever. The only way to come to understanding is you come through the door. Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.” If you don’t come that way you remain in darkness. What is the devil’s goal? To “blind the minds of the unbeliever lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ should shine in.” That is a relentless conflict. You think the demons do not come to affect the ministry of the church and prevent the truth from taking hold of hearts and minds? You think he would love unbelievers to flock in and hear? Does he want us to be stable and true, remain true to the Gospel, to God’s Word? We have to have a true knowledge of Christ Himself, what God has revealed for us.

And we ought to have that confidence. “In Christ (verse 3) in Whom (referring to Christ from the end of verse 2) are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” So when we have a thorough knowledge of Christ in the revelation God has given to us concerning Him we know everything we need to know. It doesn’t mean you know, you don’t learn other subjects but everything necessary for life and godliness, everything necessary to live in a manner pleasing to God you don’t have to have a university education. Maybe you only went to the third grade. Well, you are going to have to learn to read and to understand and think but you don’t have to have a breadth to understand. I am not against education but the foundational education is the Word of God. That is why we want our children to be taught. That is why we have great workers and teachers working with children from the youngest age to build into them the knowledge of God’s truth, about God’s grace that they might come to believe it. How else are they going to know about God? They are not going to find out in the secular school. They are not going to find out in the university. That will be opposing God’s truth. We have in Christ “whom are hidden,” note that, “are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” Everything you need for salvation, everything you need for sanctification is found here. That wouldn’t enable me to be an electrician. You wouldn’t want me working on your car. But those things aren’t necessary for godliness. They have a place but that which is of eternal importance is what is here. “In Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” That is why “the beginning of knowledge is the fear of the Lord.”

Sin makes you stupid. Be careful how you say that. I don’t want to walk up to the unbeliever and say, “You know you are stupid.” But they are. They live in a world of darkness. That which is of eternal importance they know nothing and worse they don’t care. But we as believers, what does the church do? It tries to follow and fit the world. We are going to be relevant. We have in Christ,“In Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”

How sad it is that the church finds other things to do than seriously and in in-depth ways study the Word of God. How sad it is we think we get enough. It is amazing how quickly the church has decided not having too many services is good. We replace it with family time which means everybody watches their own tv in their own room I guess. What is more important? All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are here. You think you have exhausted it?

What if I said “I think we are going to have a test today? We are going to give you a piece of paper and I am going to give you an exam on the book of Hosea and I want you to tell me what you think of what Hosea says in chapter 2 and summarize it.” Well that’s not fair. I haven’t had a chance to look at it. I am amazed at what I don’t know.

I have been listening to the Bible when I walk on the treadmill. Since I am going nowhere I might as well listen to something that is of value. Bodily exercise profits little so I can combine that with something that profits much. You know I am surprised how I go through the Bible and how much I have forgotten. You know I am listening to this and say, “Wow, this is great. This is wonderful.” We have to take it in, take it in, again and again. “In Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I say this so no one will delude you with persuasive arguments.”

And here is his concern. You know what happens when we don’t have what Paul has talked about in verse 2, “being encouraged, bound together in love, attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, having that true knowledge of God’s mystery in Christ, the One in Whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge?” If that is not true of us we will be deluded. Is it any wonder that the church is always adrift?

As a man has noted, “We are going to be user friendly churches. That often leads to the church getting used because we are trying to adjust the Gospel to make it fit the world’s thinking. You say “Well Paul went to Mars Hill.” Yes, what did Paul tell these great thinkers at Mars Hill about the resurrection? If there was something they didn’t believe in, it was the resurrection. Is he trying to make a point of contact? His only point of contact was, “I saw a statue to an unknown god. I am here to tell you about the God that you can know.” I am not making adjustments. Well we are all searching for something and we hope to find something and we are all looking in different ways and trying to massage it in and work it in. Let’s just get to the point. There is only one God. There is only way He can be known and He is the God who sent His Son to die and He was raised from the dead. Oh, resurrection, we don’t believe in resurrection. I have something to tell you. You can’t be saved without believing it.

Yet today we have churches. Well you know I read something and I am not going to tell you how long they said sermons ought to be because I don’t want to put the thought in your mind. I would like to tell you they said “two hours” and I only do half of that but he was less than I do. But where do we get this? Where in the Bible does it say a sermon should be 15 minutes or 20 or 60 or 2 hours? It doesn’t. I am not saying well we are better because we have longer services. That is not the point. The point is I want to take it in. I want to grow. That is why we have home Bible studies. That is why we have Bible classes, Sunday School classes. That is why your children are here tonight, to be taught. What’s more precious for them than to have the Word built into their lives. That is important. That is key. That is what Paul is talking about the ministry. Do this.

We come to the end of another year. It is the same thing we are about, the ministry of the truth, presenting God’s Word. Things have changed. You know our family left the Methodist Church because it no longer taught the truth and they got saved. Not in that church but because of contact with believers and eventually it took a couple of years, they left the Methodist Church. You know where we went? We went to an independent church on Sunday nights because our Methodist Church didn’t have church on Sunday nights so we could start going there. You know what happened? When my parents who were new believers started to sit under the teaching of the Word? You know the amazing thing in those days? There were more people in that Bible believing church on Sunday night than there were on Sunday morning. Pretty soon after sitting there for some time taking in the Word they began to think, “Why are we going to a church on Sunday morning where we are not taught the Word?” And so we left. I have to tell you. I still remember, I voted ‘no.’ I mean all my friends are there. I don’t want to go to another church. I don’t know people. Then I got to that church and a woman latched onto me and dragged me to the altar and we got married. You know, what would have happened if my parents had stayed in that miserable place? God is at work. How privileged we are to have the riches of His Word. We are just reminded we will begin a new year. We want to stay the same thing, stay with the truth of God and have Him use it in our lives and the lives of others.

Let’s pray together. Thank You Lord for how precious Your Word is to us who are Your people. How else will we know You but taking in the riches of Your Word, plumbing its depths. And Lord we never exhaust the wonder of Your Word. Every passage is rich and deep and full, brought to us again and again. Lord we want to grow in this knowledge. Lord the storms that come, the deceit that comes, the work of the enemy of our souls he is a deceitful one. Lord we can be confused. We can be led astray but Lord there is stability. You intend for us to have stability, to have maturity, to have knowledge, to have assurance so that we are not deluded by the lies, the deceptions that might come. Lord we desire to be a church that is faithful to You, to stand with other churches around the world that are faithful to the Word, that proclaim the Word. Lord and our desire is that the light that shines in our lives personally and the life of this ministry might impact those still in darkness so that they might come to the knowledge of the Savior, the knowledge of the truth we pray in Christ’s name amen.