Proclaiming Christ in the Power of God

0:41Now, since that time, there have been dozens of film adaptations, but I think most of us are probably familiar with the 1951 version that was produced by Disney. And if you've seen that movie, and I think a lot of us have, you'll recall that famous scene where Alice meets the Cheshire Cat. And when she comes upon him, she says, Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here? And the cat responds, well, that depends a great deal on where you want to get to. And Alice says, well, I don't much care where.

1:16And he says, then it doesn't matter which way you go. And then in the book version, and this is not in the movie, Alice continues her sentence that she says, as long as I get somewhere, and And the cat says, oh, you're sure to do that as long as you walk far enough. Well, this dialogue contains some important truths for us. If you don't care where you're going, you can take any route to get there. And if you just walk long enough, you will eventually get somewhere.

1:57Friends, as Christians, we don't want to live our lives aimlessly. We want to not just keep on doing the same things that we've been doing, just keep on walking until eventually we get somewhere, but we as Christians want to know what it is that God Himself has called us to do. And we want to pursue that. And thankfully, in His Word, God has revealed not just where we should be going, but also how to get there.

2:28And the end goal, as we learn from Scripture, is to become mature disciples of Jesus Christ, who are making mature disciples of all nations for his glory. Well, here we are at the outset of a new school year, which in our community feels like the start of a new year. And because we're at the start of a new year, there is no better time for us to refocus on what our mission is here as a church. And so you'll see on the screen behind me our mission statement. As New Life Baptist Church, we exist to preserve and proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ to make mature disciples of all nations for the glory of God.

3:11That is why we exist. And so we're going to focus on that mission statement through this passage in Colossians chapter 1 today, because here in Colossians 1, Paul answers this question: how do we go about the work of making mature disciples of all nations? And what we're going to learn from this passage is that to make mature disciples of all nations, we must proclaim Christ in the power of God. So let's turn our attention now to the text in Colossians 1.

3:43Most English Bibles have section headings in them that have been added over the years. These are not part of the original scripture, but they're helpful to us as summary statements about what follows. And what you will notice is that this section in most of your Bibles is probably either called the Supremacy of Christ or the Preeminence of Christ. This passage is so glorious that I hesitated when I thought of preaching it to you this morning. And I hesitated when I thought of preaching this to you this morning for at least a couple of reasons. The first is that the passage is describing the very nature of Jesus Christ.

4:30And so think about this for a moment. The Apostle Paul was inspired by the Holy Spirit of God to pen these words. And even still, we are just getting a glimpse into the nature of Jesus Christ. It is a true glimpse. It is an accurate glimpse, but it's still just a glimpse into the nature of Jesus Christ. What could I possibly say to you to comment on these words? The second reason that I hesitated in preaching this passage to you this morning is simply because this passage does not affect me to the extent that I know that it should.

5:18I don't merely want to understand these words. I want to feel them in my heart and in my soul. I want to be moved by them to the degree that I am not yet moved by them. And I'm willing to bet, as this passage was read to you this morning, that some of you felt the same way. You want to be moved. You know you should be moved by these words in your heart and your soul, but you're not yet moved to the degree that you want to be by them. And so as we study this passage this morning, let's do so with two basic understandings. First, we could study this passage forever and still not plumb. The depths of the nature of Jesus Christ.

6:05And secondly, with the understanding that we are all desiring to experience God at a level that we don't currently experience Him. So we're all fellow pilgrims on this journey. So when you look at this passage, these first six verses of 15 through 20, what you notice is a vivid picture of Jesus Christ emerges. He is described first in verse 15 as the image of the invisible God. Friends, we cannot see God. God is spirit and he does not have a body like men.

6:42But it is natural for all of us, human beings, to want to know and to see, to experience his glory, and that's what Moses asked for. Moses said, Show me your glory. That's the heart cry of every believer. We want to see his glory, but God is completely holy, and no sinner can stand before him. Remember back last year when we studied the pastoral epistles, let me remind you of 1 Timothy chapter 6 on the screen. Talking about God, he says, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see.

7:28That is true. And that's what makes the person of Jesus Christ all the more amazing. Look at John chapter 1, verse 18. No one has ever seen God, the only God who is at the Father's side, he has made him known. That's amazing. The second thing that we learn in this passage is that Jesus is the firstborn over all creation and also the firstborn from the dead. Now, Paul is not saying that Jesus was created or had a beginning. He was neither created nor had a beginning.

8:10Rather, what he is saying when he uses the term firstborn of all creation, he's meaning in terms of rights and privileges. You see, Jesus as the eternal Son of God is equal to God the Father, and that's what that means. That is what it means to be a firstborn. And as we talk about often here at New Life, that's the wonderful reality that we see all through the New Testament, that both men and women who are believers in Jesus, we all have the rights of the firstborn Son. All of us. And so he's saying that he is equal to God the Father.

8:45And he's also saying that he is firstborn from among the dead in the same way. See, Jesus not only has all the rights and privileges over creation, but he also has all the rights and privileges over the new creation because he is the firstborn from the brethren. From the dead as the first raised to eternal life. The third thing we learn is that Jesus is the creator and sustainer of all the earth. He's the creator and sustainer of all heaven and earth. There is nothing in the universe that Jesus did not create. All things were made through him, Paul says, and all things were made for him. There's nothing that he did not create, and there's nothing that he does not sustain.

9:33Look on the screen again at John chapter 1. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. So all things belong to him as they do the Father. He is the creator. But now look at Hebrews 1:3. He's not just the creator, but the sustainer. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature. And he upholds the universe by the word of his power.

10:06See, every planet remains in orbit at his command. The rain comes at his command. Every time your heart beats, every time your lungs breathe in, it is at his command. He is the creator and sustainer of all the universe. Fourth, we learn that Jesus is the one in whom. The fullness of God was pleased to dwell. So, contrary to what many believe, Jesus was not merely a good teacher. He wasn't merely a moral man. He was and is fully God.

10:48And friends, that truth only enhances the wonder that Jesus himself came and made his dwelling among us. He took on flesh. The fullness of God, not just some portion of it, but the fullness of God was and is in the person of Jesus. And so look afresh on these words that we studied together this summer in 1 John chapter 1. That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands concerning the word of life. The life was made manifest, and we have seen it and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us. That which we have seen and heard, we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us. And indeed, our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. How amazing is that? The fullness of God dwells in the person of Jesus. Christ and the person of Christ came and made his dwelling among us.

12:05And then, fifth and finally, we learn that Jesus is the one through whom all things are reconciled to God. Look on the screen at 1 Timothy chapter 2 for a reminder again from last year. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. You see, apart from Jesus, there is no reconciliation with God. But through Jesus, all things will be reconciled to him.

12:45And when Paul says all things, I believe he means all things in the new creation. Because we know that over this creation, Jesus has complete and total ownership, but not all things in this creation will be reconciled to him. There will be people who refuse to repent and believe in Jesus, the one and only mediator, and therefore they will not be reconciled to him. But in the new creation, when he returns, all things within the new creation will be reconciled to him. Heaven and earth, all human beings who have been regenerated, born again, justified, and forgiven in Christ, we will all be reconciled to him. And that's because Jesus was the firstborn from among the dead, the first fruit. Of that new creation. So, in that new creation, all things are going to be reconciled to God through Him.

13:38So, church, just pause for a moment and consider all that we have learned about the person of Jesus Christ in this section. When we behold Christ in all of His glory, we are moved to worship Him. And that's why our mission statement ends with the words, for the glory of God. That is why we do all things. That is why we gather to worship. That is why we have life groups. That is why we have kids' ministries. That is why we do everything that we do. It is for the glory of God. We want Him to be worshiped.

14:15And so, if you're like me and you read this passage and your heart doesn't burn as hot as it should when you consider the person of Christ, we can acknowledge that, that we're not where we want to be. But, friends, our hearts absolutely should warm in the light of the glory of Christ. And if our hearts are cold, if our affections towards God are cold, it might be because we have not beheld Him in all of His glory in a while, or perhaps ever.

14:50The glory of God is the fuel for our worship and for our mission together as a church. And when we behold God in His glory, We realize that we can't stand before him. We realize that our plight is desperate. No sinner can stand before this holy God, and therefore we need a Savior. We need a mediator to stand before him in our place. And that's what Paul reminds us that we have beginning in verse 21. Let's look there together.

15:26And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him. If indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister. All people, including we ourselves, began life alienated from God because of the sinful nature that was passed down to us from Adam and Eve, our first parents. And that alienation was symbolized right away in the book of Genesis when you see Adam and Eve expelled from the Garden of Eden, the flaming sword put at the entrance. You have this picture of what alienation from God is like, and that's one of the saddest passages. In all of Scripture to read, is that this man and his wife who walked with God in the garden have now been expelled from his presence because of their sin? This is how every one of us begin life alienated from God.

16:47And that would be problematic enough, but it doesn't end there. We're not just alienated from God. If there was just separation between us, that would be a smaller problem. The bigger problem is that we're also hostile in our minds. We are hostile toward God doing evil deeds. It is fashionable today and in many other times in human history as well to hold the idea that human beings are born morally neutral. So, in other words, when we're born, we're neither good nor evil in our hearts. And so, all we really need to believe in God is a compelling argument. So, give me the facts, give me the scientific evidence, and isn't this what we hear all the time from people? If only I had compelling arguments and compelling facts, I would believe in God.

17:39But that's not what the scripture says, is it? It says that we are hostile in our minds toward Him. We are not born morally neutral because of the sinful nature that is passed down to us. That hostility is present in every person unless and until God regenerates us. And that hostility is clear in so many writings, especially of the last 15 to 20 years, from men who are known as the new atheists, like Christopher Hitchens. He wrote a book a number of years ago before his death called God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything.

18:23Does that sound morally neutral to you? Or does that sound hostile? Does that sound objective? That Christianity and Christians worldwide for 2,000 years have poisoned everything? Everything? No acknowledgement of the scientific discoveries that were made by Christian men and women, no acknowledgement of the medical advancements that have been made by Christian men and women, no acknowledgement that slavery has been discontinued throughout much of the world because of the efforts of Christian men and women. Religion poisons everything.

19:06There's no doubt that evil acts have been committed, not just in the name of Christianity, but in the name of many different religions. But, friends, to say that it poisons everything simply reflects a hostility of mind toward God and toward his people. And so we can forget that. This is how we were born too, hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, especially after we've been believers for a long period of time. We can forget that this was how we started off as enemies of God, alienated from Him and hostile toward Him. And when we forget that truth, we can grow cold both to the holiness of God and to our own sinfulness.

19:56When we remember who we were, it will eat away at the idea that we don't need a mediator. We will be apt to remember that apart from God, we were lost hopelessly in sin. Verse 22 reminds us who we now are. The good news: we are those who have been reconciled to God. Look at what it says: in his body of flesh by his death. That is a necessary reminder. The only way for us to be reconciled to God was for Jesus, the eternal Son of God, to take on flesh and to live a sinless life in our place, to die a brutal death for our sin in our place, and then to rise again, that those who believe in Him might be justified, declared righteous through faith.

20:58And why did God go to such greatness? Great lengths in Christ to reconcile us. Look at the second part of verse 22. He says, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him. Through faith in Christ, we are holy or set apart. We are blameless, bearing no blame for our sin because Jesus bore our blame in his body on the cross and above reproach. Since Jesus paid the penalty for our sins, no one can bring a charge against us, and God looks at us as though we were as righteous as Christ Himself. What wonderful reminders.

21:48But all of this is dependent on what he says in verse 23. We must continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you have heard. There are only two ways to build your life. You can build your life on the shifting sands of your own inconsistent religious performance. Or you can build your life on the solid rock of Jesus Christ and his perfect life, death, and resurrection on your behalf.

22:30Those are the only two ways to live. See, we are saved by holding fast to our hope in Christ through faith. And that's why our mission statement says we exist to preserve and proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. Because that message is the good news for us. There is no other good news apart from that. That's what we're all about, because we want other people to know the salvation and the joy and the hope that we have in Christ.

23:02We want them to know that too. And that's why God appointed Paul and all of us as ministers of the gospel, as he says, so that we would proclaim the good news of Jesus to the ends of the earth. And this is exactly why the passage is ordered like it is. We've considered first the glory of God in Christ, and then you move on and you consider the plight of sinful man. And then he takes us to the glorious reality of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And then and only then, at the end of the passage, does he move to the mission of the church? And that's what he talks about in these last verses, starting in verse 24. Let's look at those together.

23:55He says, Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake. And in my flesh, I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known. The mystery hidden for ages and generations, but now revealed to his saints. To them, God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.

24:52Paul says at the outset of this section that he rejoiced in his sufferings. And Paul's sufferings were many. He suffered greatly for proclaiming the good news of the gospel, filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions. He's not saying that there was anything lacking in the sufferings or the afflictions of Christ, but rather he's saying that he is enduring the same type of afflictions that Jesus endured. And as Paul continues to suffer, as he fills up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions in his own body through his own ministry, he is pointing people. To the suffering servant, to Jesus who was beaten and bled and died, suffering for sinners like you and me. In all of his afflictions, he's pointing to Christ, and that's why he was so willing to suffer. He says that his sufferings were for your sake and for the sake of his body, that is, the church. That's why Paul was willing to suffer. His suffering showed his sincerity, his genuineness, and it set him apart from all of those false teachers. There were so many false teachers out there who became rich and famous through their ministries, but not Paul. Paul didn't become rich and famous. He became poor and despised for preaching the truth about Jesus.

26:23In fact, if you look at 1 Corinthians 4 on the screen, you'll see him recounting what his life has been like as an apostle. For I think that God exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men. We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. To the present hour, we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, and we labor. Working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless. When persecuted, we endure. When slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things.

27:20You see, Paul was willing to suffer because he loved people, but even more so because he loved the God who loved him. That's why he was willing to endure so much suffering. He believed that he was given a stewardship from God. And what was that stewardship? Look at verse 25. To make the word of God fully known. That was Paul's stewardship. And that, friends, is our stewardship as well, to make the word of God fully known. That includes unfolding from Scripture the truth about God and the truth about man and our desperate plight before God as sinners who cannot stand before him.

28:09And it includes unfolding the glorious truth about the riches of the glory of this mystery. And look at verse 27. Christ in you, the hope of glory. My goodness. The riches of this mystery, Christ in you, Christ in me. That is the riches of the mystery. So just consider the fullness of God, all of him, dwells in the person of Jesus Christ. He came and lived among us. That in itself is incredible. In Luke chapter 5, there's this story. And it's at the outset of Jesus' ministry. And he goes down to the beach one day, and this huge crowd turns out to hear him. And he can't get enough separation from them to be able to be heard. And so he talks to Peter and to some of his friends who are fishermen. And he asks, hey, can we go out in your boat so I can teach these people as they stand on the shore? And so they set out. And after Jesus gets done teaching, he tells Peter and the guys, hey, let down your nets for a catch.

29:26And they're like, Jesus, we worked all night right here. We had just brought the boats in. There's nothing here. We didn't catch anything. But at your command, I will do it. And they let down those nets and they hauled in so many fish that the nets were breaking and the boats were sinking. And Peter throws himself down at Jesus' feet, and he says to him, Depart from me, O Lord, for I am a sinful man. That's the only thing that you can do in the presence of that kind of holiness, in the presence of that kind of glory, where he realizes this is the Son of God.

30:16And then we read in this passage that Jesus is not just living among us, he's not just in the boat with us, so to speak. But the glory of the mystery is that Christ is in us. All the fullness of God dwells in him, and Jesus dwells in us through faith. That is our hope. Our hope is Christ in us. That's why we hope that we will be received by God the Father. And friends, that glorious truth takes us into verse 28, which is Paul's vision for his ministry. He says, Him we proclaim.

30:55Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom that we may present everyone mature in Christ. Him we proclaim. Jesus is the message. There is no other message for Paul or for us as a local church. Him we proclaim. We do not proclaim five steps to a healthier marriage. We do not proclaim three steps to a more secure financial future. Him we proclaim. We proclaim Christ. The world does not Need any more advice. The bookshelves in every bookstore in America are buckling under the weight of books filled with advice, and yet we can't even put the advice that we already know into consistent practice.

31:49We don't need more advice. We need a Savior, and Jesus is that Savior. So we proclaim Him, and we proclaim Him to present everyone mature in Christ. That's why Paul worked, and that's why we work too. Look at what He says at the very end, with all his energy. Making mature disciples takes a lot of energy, it takes a lot of time. I mean, for those of you who are parents, for those of you who work with young kids, maybe in one of our children's ministries, you know how much work is required to take this child and present him or her just as a mature person. It takes years of effort, years of patience.

32:35And so, why would we think that it would be any different when we're trying to take people who were once dead and who are now alive to the point where they are mature men and women in Christ? That's why we need all of his energy. That's why we need all the power of God. And that power comes from Christ working in us and through us as we proclaim him. Friends, this wonderful passage teaches us great truths about how we are to live our lives together as Christians in the local church, and especially as to how we are to conduct our ministry. We begin by beholding the glory of God in Christ Jesus. We move to considering the plight of man, every one of us, as sinners before him.

33:25We then behold the wonderful gospel and the good news of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection on behalf of sinners. And then and only then do we move on to the mission of the church to go forth to make mature disciples of all nations for the glory of God. It's often said that the reason that more Christians aren't more zealous for evangelism is because we don't love the lost enough. And I don't doubt that we all have a very long way to go in terms of loving the lost. Every one of us needs to grow to love non-Christians at a deeper level.

34:13But I believe that our primary problem is that over time, our love for God simply tends to grow cold. And when our love for God grows cold, it is often because we've stopped beholding. The glory of God in the person of Jesus Christ. We've lost our vision for His glory. Look on the screen at what John Cheeseman wrote. He said, Love for God is the only sufficient motive for evangelism. Self-love will give way to self-centeredness. Love for the lost will fail with those whom we cannot love and when difficulties seem insurmountable. Only a deep love for God will keep us following His way, declaring His gospel when human resources fail.

35:11So, our task is to keep this vision of the glory of God before us so that our hearts will be hot with affection for Him, and that will lead us to then carry out our mission of making mature disciples of all nations for His glory. To make mature disciples of all nations, we must proclaim Christ in the power of God. Let's pray.