Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the famous English preacher of the late 1800’s, said, and I quote; “It is the duty of Christian preachers to expose error even when it was held by saintly believers.” I agree with that statement. Error comes in many forms, and the most deceitful means is when it comes from the lips of people who you think you can trust. Spurgeon went on to say that he wouldn't preach error if the whole world should be converted by it.
That may be a shocking statement, but what he was trying to say was that he would never preach error, no matter what appeared to be the consequences of doctrine that individuals might apparently be pleased with. One of the signs of the end times, the age of apostasy, is that as Paul told Timothy in 2Tim. 4:3-4 “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but [wanting] to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.”
Unfortunately, that’s one of the problems with the church at large today. We have swallowed a little error here, and a little half truth there, and we haven’t realized that we have drifted far away from the truth of the gospel. I believe it is a problem in society in America as well. We are like the proverbial frog in a pot of warm water, which at the beginning he is able to jump out of the pot, but he finds the temperature is actually to his liking. The stove though gradually heats up the pot, the frog goes from complacency to comatose until the water begins to boil, and before the poor frog realizes what is happening he is cooked.
That kind of complacency is what Paul is writing to the Colossians about. They have found the waters of false doctrine to be quite comfortable. They like the false teachers that have found their way into the church. Someone has said they were proposing a new doctrine which we might call Gnostic Judaism. I’m not going to take the time to try to explain it. But suffice it to say that it sounded very spiritual. It sounded like it was based on the scriptures, at least the Old Testament scriptures. They didn’t really have a New Testament yet and so they studied the Old and whatever few epistles from the apostles that might have found their way to them. But more importantly the false teaching appealed to their tastes. It tickled their ears, so to speak.
And we have a lot of churches today in America that are offering something similar. They are offering a gospel that appeals to secularism. They are offering a social gospel. They are offering a prosperity gospel. They are offering a gospel that promises you don’t need to be sick, or suffer, or do without anything you want. It sounds so good. The temperature of the water is quite comfortable, and they don’t care that they are becoming comatose.
Paul’s gospel is not like that. He wouldn’t have passed muster by the pastor search committee. He didn’t look very much like the polished and preening prosperity and word of faith type of preacher that we see at the local mega church or on television.
Let me tell you something just so you get an inside picture of what’s going on in the church at large today. You know when my son was in college studying to be a graphic designer, he took an internship with a local mega church in San Diego. They had a corporate office in some office park that he worked in, but they had several satellite churches throughout the city. And one day I showed up there to see him at work, and they ended up giving me a tour of the corporate office.
We saw the graphic design studio, the film studio with green screen which could be outfitted with the background of the appropriate church, and all kinds of things that went into producing the services for all these campus’s. But then they showed me a room which they called the sermon writing room. I was naturally interested in that, so I asked how it worked. And I was told that the sermon writing team met there and came up with the sermons that the pastors then practiced speaking and then performed in front of the green screen and then presented in their church on Sunday. I was stunned, to say the least, to discover that the pastor did not write his own sermon, nor was he even a part of the sermon writing team. And then when I left the building, I happened to meet one of the pastors who was coming in to perform his sermon. He was tanned, trim, bleached white teeth, and a great smile. It felt like I had just met a movie star or something.
All across this country today, in pulpits in so called evangelical churches, pastors are preaching a canned, packaged, committee written message complete with graphics and Bible verses and touching illustrations that they purchased from one of those type of sermon mills. And like all false doctrines, there is just enough good stuff in there to make what’s not true seem like it’s not all that important. Someone told me the other day that God can use canned sermons too. Well, that may be true, but my response to that is that God used an ass to rebuke the prophet Balaam, but that shouldn’t mean we want one in our pulpit.
This is not a 21st century phenomenum. In the first few years of the church, this false gospel was already making dangerous inroads. Paul warned the Galatian church, Gal 1:6-8 “I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is [really] not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed!”
This false, feel good gospel was not what Paul was preaching, however. The gospel that Paul was preaching is not something designed to make you feel special, or to make all your problems go away, or to help you become your best self now. Notice what Paul says concerning the gospel so far. He says we were enemies of God, and the only way to be reconciled to God is through the death of Jesus Christ. It takes the death of Christ to reconcile you to God, to make things right between you and God, Jesus had to die on the cross, a terrible, torturous, violent death, to atone for your sin.
We were naturally enemies of God, engaged in evil deeds, but He rescued us from the dominion of Satan, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son. And regarding His Son he has much to say, not the least of which is that “He Himself will come to have first place in everything.” Christ is to have first place in our lives. That’s what it means in Romans 10:9 which said, “If you confess Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved.” To confess Jesus is Lord means that He has first place in our lives. He is on the throne of our hearts. We no longer live for ourselves, but we live for God.
2Cor. 5:15 says, “and [Christ] died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.” I wonder if we were examined on that point as proof that we were indeed born again, would there be enough evidence to convict us? Do we no longer live for ourselves, but live for Christ?
Paul goes on to say concerning the gospel of salvation that it produces a new life. 2Cor. 5:17 “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, [he is] a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” We are a new creature, a new creation, no longer consumed with the ways of this world, or with the things of this world, but fixing our eyes on Jesus as we walk in newness of life in Christ.
Back in Colossians, Paul speaks further of this transformation in us, in vs 21: “And although you were formerly alienated and 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-- if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made a minister.”
The goal of our reconciliation is that we walk in holiness, that we live in a way that is blameless, beyond reproach. Now what does he mean, if we continue in the faith? Notice it says continuing in THE faith, not continuing in faith. There was a popular preacher of an earlier generation who was a prosperity and word of faith preacher before it became quite as mainstream as it is today. His name was Norman Vincent Peale. You may have heard of his book which was a best seller; “The Power of Positive Thinking.” Mr. Peale made the common mistake of confusing positive thinking with faith. I suppose you can have faith in carnal things. I practice faith every time I get in an airplane.
But that is not Biblical faith. I might convince myself to have faith that God will protect me if I put my face mask over my eyes instead of my mouth and walk across Route 1 out front of this building. But no matter how much I believe it, or want to believe it, that does not mean that I won’t get run over by a truck.
Biblical faith is believing in the promises of God which are written down in the word of God, so that as Peter said, we have a faith more sure. 2Peter 1:19-21 “[So] we have the prophetic word [made] more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts. But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is [a matter] of one's own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”
Ok, then, so the gospel is the word of God, and faith is trust in the promises of God which are given to us by the Holy Spirit in the scriptures. This is the faith that Paul is preaching in Colossians, which he delineates in vs 5 saying, “the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel.” And since the day which they believed by faith this gospel, Paul in the beginning of this epistle said he prayed that they would bear fruit, being filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that they will 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; strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might,]for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience.” That’s the evidence of their faith, the fruit of their faith, their walk in the faith.
Now why would they need all this strength, and power, and steadfastness and patience to walk in the faith? Well, the answer is revealed in vs 24, because of the sufferings which they would experience because of their faith. Vs.24, “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions.” What is he talking about here? Is Paul saying that part of the Christian experience is suffering, and afflictions? Yes, that’s exactly what he is saying. I thought everything was supposed to be better when you become a Christian. I thought we get to live our best life now, and also get heaven when we die. I thought God promised to make all things work out for good.
What Paul is talking about is, his identification with the sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ.
"Filling up that which is lacking of the sufferings of Christ," he means that his sufferings, on behalf of the church of Jesus Christ, represents an identification with the risen Lord who has suffered for the church. Paul’s suffering though is not for their atonement but as a minister for their spiritual edification.
Contrary to the teachings of Norman Vincent Peale and others of his ilk, suffering is a necessary part of the Christian experience. If the church is the body of Christ, then we should expect suffering as we are a part of that body. In fact, Romans tells us that suffering leads to the glory which is the inheritance of our salvation. Rom 8:17 “and if [we are] children, [then] heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with [Him] so that we may also be glorified with [Him.]”
There are a lot of ways which we can suffer for our faith as the church. Because of our faith we can suffer rejection from family, we can suffer the loss of friendships, we can suffer by losing a job, or by losing some sort of favor at work which results in less pay or the loss of a promotion. The list of ways we can suffer could go on and on. But I will tell you something I believe very strongly. We have not yet suffered like we are soon going to suffer, and I believe it will be at the hands of our government. I believe that the ways in which government restricted churches during the pandemic was just a trial run of things to come. If things continue as they appear to be headed, the day will soon come when we will no longer be able to proclaim the truth of God’s word without fear of reprisal. The truth will be branded as hate speech. We will be forced to either condone what the Bible tells us is sin, or we will find ourselves being censored and even shut down.
But it’s also true that many churches are trying to prove to the world that they are actually inclusive, loving people and so they avoid talking about sin, they avoid talking about damnation, they avoid saying anything that might not be perceived as politically correct. But the Bible says you cannot love the world and be Christ’s disciple. 1John 2:15 says, “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” And so if you call out the world and tell them the truth of the gospel, that they are sinners, and without God, and as such will be eternally separated from God in hell unless they repent, then you can expect to suffer affliction. So perhaps another evidence of our salvation is to examine the degree to which you are suffering. Now don’t misunderstand me, you can suffer because you’re a jerk too. I’m not advocating that. But I am saying that it is likely that you will suffer for the sake of the gospel if in fact you are actually living in service to the Lord. In 2Ti 2:3 Paul says, “Suffer hardship with [me,] as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.”
Now Paul goes on to explain how this service works. Col 1:25-27 “Of [this church] I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, so that I might fully carry out the [preaching of] the word of God, [that is,] the mystery which has been hidden from the [past] ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints, to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
Now in verse 23, it says that Paul is a minister of the gospel. In verse 25, he says that he is a minister of the church. Both of these are true. A minister is a servant. That's what the term diakonos, the term used here means- the same word from which we get the term deacon.
Paul is a servant of the word, and he's a servant of the church because you can never really be a good servant of the church of Jesus Christ if you're not a servant of the word. The blessing of the Holy Spirit can only come through the word of God. The things that God blesses are the things that are in obedience to the word of God. If a person is unable to verify his Christian experience by the teaching of the word of God, you can say it is a dubious Christian experience. Christian experience must be founded in the word of God. The word of God is our standard, and Paul is a servant of the word, and by that he is able to minister to the church.
Notice what Paul says the preaching of the word does - it it reveals the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but now has been manifested to His saints (that is the true believers, the church). What is this mystery? A mystery is something that can not be known unless it is revealed. So the Holy Spirit has revealed through the word of God something that is now clear.
And though I have read a lot of explanations of possible meanings of the mystery, I think that I will stick with what Paul is saying the mystery is. He says, “what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, WHICH is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” The mystery is simply this; Christ in you, the hope of glory. He is referring to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit who is given to us at the moment of salvation. Jesus said in the upper room that it was expedient that He should leave His disciples, so that He could send them a Helper, the Spirit of Truth.
In Romans 8:9 notice how Paul uses Spirit of God and Spirit of Christ interchangeably. He says, “However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.” So the Spirit of Christ is in us as the result of our salvation. But at the same time He is also a foretaste, or a deposit of the good things to come. Paul says “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
The hope of glory speaks to the future. Christ in us now as the Spirit will be made complete and glorious when we see Him face to face at the consummation. Our future inheritance is the hope of glory. And so as we said earlier, we suffer with Him now but we are promised glory later. Remember Romans 8:17 which we quoted earlier? “and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with [Him] so that we may also be glorified with [Him.]” We are now saved, we now have the Spirit as a pledge, as a deposit of what will be fully realized when we are raised to glory at the resurrection.
The hope of glory is speaking of something in the future. Now is not glory. Now we suffer with Him. We live as aliens in a foreign land. We sometimes suffer hardships. We don’t have everything that we might want to have. In this world we serve the Lord, not ourselves. We no longer live for ourselves, but for Him. And we look forward to that day when all things will be made new, and we shall be glorified.
You know, I have to say that I am very disappointed with the election if it goes as it is being reported in the news. I am afraid of the world that my kids and their kids will have to live in. I am afraid that America is on the brink of destruction. Some Christians have offered consolation by saying that God is still on the throne. And yes He is. God is on the throne of heaven and earth is His footstool. But America has rejected God’s rule. America said a long time ago that God will not rule over us. God was on the throne in heaven when He allowed Hitler to take control of Germany. God was on the throne when Russia and China became communist and killed and imprisoned millions of Christians.
Listen, Romans 1 tells us that there comes a day in the course of human events when God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do the things which were not proper. God gives a people over to their desires, even if that desire is the means of their destruction. God gave Israel a king because they asked for a king. And their kings led them to destruction, to the destruction of the temple, to become exiled in Babylon. And yet, God is still on His throne and He will still accomplish His purpose on earth. But God’s purpose is to destroy the heavens and the earth and remake all things new. God’s purpose is not to make this world a better place, but to ransom a people from this world and take them out of this world. And then His judgement will rightly fall upon this world and it will be destroyed. 2Peter 3:13 “But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.” Peter said this world will be destroyed by fire.
Now that’s God’s purpose and that is the hope of glory. That we that are saved, though we may suffer in this life, we will at the end of the age be raised to glory with Christ. All things will become new. Where righteousness dwells eternally. A day with no night, no death, no sin, no sorrow. That is the hope that Paul is preaching. That’s the hope of the gospel. Yet on the other hand I am sad because I want to have the liberty and freedom that was once America preserved for my kids and grandkids. But even if God should chose to grant that request, the end is still coming, and things will go from bad to worse, and it will culminate in destruction of this earth. I would like to delay it for the sake of the few years my children will live on this earth. But, at the same time, I must say, even so, come quickly Lord Jesus.
Well, Paul concludes this section concerning his ministry to the church by saying in vs28 “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.”
The purpose of Paul’s preaching is not just to lead someone to Christ, but to make them complete in Christ. He is talking about the spiritual maturity of the believer. And, guess what? spiritual maturity is tied to suffering. James 1:2-4 says, “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have [its] perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”
Listen, God teaches us more by walking through the fire than He does by walking on the mountaintop. The testing of our faith produces strength and steadfastness through the word of God. As we endure suffering, as we endure afflictions, as we live as aliens and sojourners in this world, we do so by faith in the word of God, trusting in His promises, trusting in His presence in us. And we come out of those trials as if tested by fire, refined as gold, complete in Christ.
Paul knows that the secret of his success is not in the power of positive thinking, but it’s in the inner presence of the Holy Spirit who works mightily in him. And that same power is available to us. We walk by the Spirit and not by the flesh. We walk in the wisdom of the word and not according to the wisdom of this world. And through His word, and growing in the knowledge of Christ, we are being conformed to His image, and being made complete in Christ. That is the goal of the gospel. To make us like Christ, so that we might have Christ in us, that we might live like Christ in the world, and that we might one day be glorified with Christ. I pray that is your goal as well.
No comments:
Post a Comment