Christ-Centered Ministry Colossians 1:24-29

Good morning and welcome to Faith Bible Church. I look around and we have several visitors and, but then we have a lot of faithful attenders, which we are very thankful for.

So we're glad to have each of you here. We have Lauren's mom. I'd hope we don't embarrass you by saying that and make sure that we, yeah, calling you out.

And then there's somebody that might look like me back on the back row. I have a brother here and his wife, Art and Connie, and they're from Des Moines, Iowa.

He pastored 30 years in Des Moines and pastored longer than that in other places, but we're thankful for him.

We miss up a few people. If they see us apart, they don't get us mixed up if we're together, but it makes it life interesting.

We have, and for others that are visiting, we want to welcome you. We hope you feel at home.

I say to those that are regular attenders, you look around and make sure that you welcome everyone that's here. And we thank the

Lord for that. We have a couple of announcements we want to mention. And I think one of the things

I want to mention is that Lori Bernstein sent out an email and asked prayer for her family because her nephew in Southern California, 23 years old, was killed in a plane crash this

Friday past. He had bought the plane just the week before in Banning, California, and it's an airport right off of Highway 10 down there.

And it's Lori's sister's son and the whole family.

The cousins are very close. They all get together. And so they're all hurting. So remember them in prayer as you think about them.

And pastor also mentioned in the fact that he was lined up to speak in another church and want to make sure that the funeral was on another day where he could make both appointments.

So pray for him, even that the Lord even works with the lining up things that are going on there.

But we also want to mention it was starting some new ministries are here in the church tonight at six o 'clock.

We're going to have a time of prayer. We'll talk about we'll probably meet in the back room. And Pastor Ilgen has said the church can't operate without prayer.

And we agree with him 100 percent. And so join us. And just for a time of prayer and to pray for each other, to pray for the work and pray that the

Lord continue to help us as a church to draw together and to also reach out.

And so remember that six o 'clock tonight and we'll have it each week. We chose

Sunday night because times before we've had in the midweek and so forth.

But a lot of times people can't get off of work to get there where Sunday night they can get there.

Also, starting the eighth of August, which is next Sunday, if I've got it straight,

Pastor Ilgen is going to start an adult Sunday school class. And I think we'll probably just meet here in the front of the church from 930 to 1030.

And so 930 to 1030. And I don't know if he's still he was talking about going through Psalms.

Are we still going through the book of Psalms? And so we look forward to a real blessing from the

Lord in that. So you come out and be faithful and back up our pastor and our church and pray that we have a time of growth even through that.

I was one other thing I want to mention. Only some of us who've been here a while would know Jack Ryan was a deacon here and went to Bible school out in Kansas City and stayed out there.

And he's up for open heart surgery. And they requested prayer for him.

Has all of the three things which some of us have gone through before. So just remember

Jack Ryan and prayer. He's always ministering for the Lord out there.

He fills in to a lot of churches pastoring. He preached even as a deacon here quite often was very good then and the

Lord led him into the ministry in that way. So remember Jack as you think about him.

We look forward to a blessing from the Lord today. And I pray that you came looking forward to a blessing from the

Lord from his word. And let's just open in a word of prayer. Our Heavenly Father and our

God we come before your throne today. We realize that in ourself we can do nothing.

We're thankful Heavenly Father for all that you have done for us. You're the giver of life both physical and spiritual and we thank you

Heavenly Father for directing us to your word. And even today as a communion

Sunday as we think of you and what you have done and how that you have paid the price for our sin

Lord. We pray that it might be a blessing as we think about this. And as we go through this week we would pray

Lord that you would just help us to remember what you have done and what you are continuing to do for each one of us.

We pray for Pastor Ilgen as he brings your word today. And we again pray that you would just give him

Liberty as he speaks. Pray that you would speak to each one of our hearts through your word and we would thank you for it.

And we pray this in Jesus name. Amen. Well, good morning and but let's sing to the

Lord our God. Scripture reading this morning is from Ephesians.

Chapter 3 verses 2 through 6 Ephesians. 3 2 through 6 if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you how that by revelation he made known to me the mystery as I briefly written already by which when you read you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men as it has now been revealed by the spirit to his holy apostles and prophets that the

Gentiles should be fellow heirs of the same body and partakers of his promise in Christ through the gospel.

May the Lord add his blessing to the reading and hearing of his holy word. Without God I failed with God I prevail.

Please turn with me to Colossians chapter 1 verses 24 through 29

Colossians chapter 1 verses 24 through 29.

I now rejoice in my sufferings for you and fill up in my flesh. What is lacking in the afflictions of Christ for the sake of his body, which is the church of which

I became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you to fulfill the word of God the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to his

Saints to them. God will to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the

Gentiles, which is Christ in you the hope of glory him we preach warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus to this and I also labor striving according to his working which works in me mightily.

This is the word of the Lord. Let us pray. Father. We come before you as your children because of what

Christ has done for us. And God has children. We totally depend on you.

That we seek you. And we need you for a Christian Ministry God.

We pray that our focus would be on proc proclaiming Christ. And not ourselves and we pray that your spirit would fill us so that we are doing this through your power not on our own strength alone in Jesus name.

Amen. A few years ago. Most major news organizations covered an account of a

Christian Minister missionary named John Allen Chow who went to an unreached

Island near India and many of them criticized him for various things.

For example, he was bringing some germs there or this is so disrespectful to bring

Western culture quote -unquote Western culture to an unreached people group.

However, I believe we all need to look up to his faith and his desire to make known the mystery of God to these unsaved people as Christians.

We believe that everyone is made in the image of God and we are made for God alone.

Now, there's a whole ethnic group that has never heard the gospel the message that will save them from something greater than any

Western germs sin. There's a whole ethnic group made in the image of God who do not know the true

God and worship false gods. Consequently John Allen Chow firm in his faith risked his life to make known the mystery of God.

This is what he said before heading out there. You guys might think I'm crazy and all this but I think it's worth it to declare

Jesus to these people. Please do not be angry at them or at God if I get killed to John the opportunity to share the gospel was worth more than his life.

He counts it as pure joy to die in order to reveal Christ rather than to live with holding such a wonderful news the mystery of God to these people today.

It is highly unlikely you would be killed for proclaiming Christ in Sacramento. However, the text tells us that sufferings for the ministry are reality to Christians.

We need not cross any oceans to see what it may look like to suffer for Christ.

A handful of Canadian pastors were arrested and fined heavily for meeting in their churches.

Because they firmly believe that the government has no authority to stop the proclamation of God's Word.

I'm not saying this could happen here. But we ought to not only expect sufferings of minutes in ministry, but to rejoice in it.

Rejoice that God could use our sufferings for Christ to grow the church.

After all the Apostle Paul went through it. Why would we be exempted?

The text today asked the question, what does Christian ministry look like?

What does the Christian ministry look like? And that leads to my main point despite the sufferings.

We faithfully proclaim Christ through God's power. Despite the sufferings.

We faithfully proclaim Christ through God's power. First, what do we expect in Christian ministry?

We suffer joyfully for the body of Christ. The first point is we suffer joyfully for the body of Christ.

After explaining the reality of reconciliation for the church, Paul shares how his ministry is going and Paul's experience is that of joy.

I now rejoice in my sufferings for you and fill up in my flesh that what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ for the sake of his body, which is the church.

The reason why Paul is rejoicing is not because he purchased his third house by the beach.

It is not because his ministry tripled in size. He rejoices because he has the privilege of suffering for the sake of the body of Christ, the church.

He rejoices that God is using his sufferings to mature the church.

Suffering for the sake of God's church allows Paul to be filled with joy to be unshakable despite the circumstances, to celebrate and delight in God's providence and faithfulness despite the pain.

He is excited for the church despite the personal loss. It is gained to him.

The second clause, however, requires more unpacking and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ.

At its face value, it almost sounds like Paul is stating that Christ's afflictions on the cross were lacking.

Could Paul possibly mean that? The answer, of course, is no.

After all, check the context of the letter to the Colossians. Paul shares the highest admiration and adoration for what

Christ has done on the cross. Christ's suffering on the cross. Check out verse 20, which is just a few verses back and by him to reconcile all things to himself by him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of his cross.

Paul boldly proclaims that it is precisely the precious blood of Jesus that allowed him to reconcile all things to himself.

How could he claim that he is filling up in his flesh? What is lacking in the afflictions of Christ?

This means the afflictions of Christ is not referring to the suffering that Jesus went through on the cross.

After all, Paul would be the last person to teach that the cross was not enough to reconcile.

What could he mean by the afflictions of Christ in the

Hebrew culture? There was this view that before the Messiah comes to restore all things, there would be the birth pangs of the

Messiah. Messiah means Christ. The birth pangs are the sufferings that God's people would experience before the

Messiah came back. In fact, Jesus told his disciples that there would be pain and suffering before the second coming.

Right? Mark 13 8 for nations will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom and there will be earthquakes in various places and there will be famines and troubles.

These are the beginnings of sorrows. With this view in mind, the afflictions of Christ means the pain that the people of God, the people of the

Messiah, people of Christ would need to go through before Christ comes back.

And Paul believed that the more he suffered himself, the less the church would have to suffer.

This is what he means to fill up in my flesh. What is lacking in the afflictions of Christ?

And a similar view of a set amount of suffering that needs to be done is found in Revelation 6 in terms of martyrdom.

Revelation 6 9 when he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and the testimony which they held and they cried with a loud voice saying, how long a

Lord, holy and true until you judge and avenger blood on those who dwell on the earth.

Then a white robe was given to each of them and it was said to them that they should rest a little longer until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who would be killed as they were was completed, was filled.

This is, of course, mysterious. But there is a notion of a set amount of suffering that must be completed before the second coming.

And Paul believed that through his sufferings, he may be able to lessen the impact on the church.

If he suffered more, maybe the church would have to suffer less. Paul's reason for rejoicing was completely for the sake of the church.

He willingly and joyfully suffered so that the church would bear a lighter load of suffering.

And why does Paul want to do that? Paul rejoices in suffering for the

Gentile church because he is commissioned to serve the body of Christ, the church.

He says it in verse 25 of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God, which was given to me for you to fulfill the word of God.

This is a similar language that was used in the previous section of how

Paul is a minister of the gospel. As much as Paul is a minister of the gospel, he serves the message.

He is also the minister of the church, the body of Christ. He was commissioned specifically by God to minister to the

Gentiles, non -Jewish people, us, the stewardship from God, which was given to me for you.

His ministry is God -ordained. He's not going on a whim or some emotional high.

Oh, I got to do this because I will feel like it. This is not just preaching the gospel everywhere.

He goes, although it includes that, but it is not exclusively that it is to make known the gospel, to make use, to, to make the word of God effectively preached, taught and working in the world.

And it is precisely because he is ministering that way.

He is facing oppositions and sufferings because he is effectively ministering in the word.

Oftentimes when ministers obey God and his plans, rather than bowing the knee to the world's agenda, they will face suffering like Paul.

First, this means there will be suffering for Christians. There will be persecution for those who seek to fulfill the word of God.

Christians, we need to expect sufferings as it is in our

DNA. Some may say there is no persecution against Christians in America.

After all, all over the world, Christians are beaten, tortured, disowned from their families and often killed for their faith.

But surely not in America. This is because we have a too narrow of a view of persecution.

Persecutions for one's faith need not to be just physical harm. It can be relational and social.

Why is it prohibited from sharing the gospel in your workplaces? Why can't students talk about Jesus in public schools?

We're not threatened with violence for sharing our faith, but socially pressured.

We're socially conditioned to go against it. Why is it that a five -year -old who has just heard about Jesus is so eager to share the gospel with everyone he meets?

But by the time he is in middle school, that excitement disappears and it is replaced with uneasiness about Jesus.

It is socially not acceptable in a relational suicide to do so.

Nowadays, Christians are scared to even claim that they go to church on Sunday mornings.

That they worship with the body of Christ every Sunday. What will they think of me?

How will they treat me differently? However, Paul tells us to consider such experience worth rejoicing.

We need to rejoice when we are rejected for the sake of the gospel. Our attitude and mindset need to change regarding the suffering for the sake of Christ.

This does not mean seek out sufferings. They'll come to you. But when they do come, the attitude has to be totally different.

Our attitude and mindset looks like this. We celebrate when your family thinks you're too weird because of Christ.

You rejoice in the fact that you are that uncle. You are that aunt who always brings up Christ in every conversation.

Praise God when you become an outsider at your workplace because you have Bible verses posted.

You're walking in the same path as the Apostle Paul and he rejoiced in the opportunities to suffer for the sake of the church.

We rejoice at the opportunity to suffer to fulfill the word of God. What does it mean to fulfill the word of God?

Christ is the mystery of God's redemptive plan. It's knowing that Christ is the mystery of God's redemptive plan.

Paul unpacks what it means to fulfill the word of God here. Verse 26 the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to his

Saints. Now, what is this mystery? In the

Old Testament, the word mystery is used to depict something that's hidden.

But can be revealed by God. This is different from the murder mystery.

We read today. The biblical mystery is not something that we solve.

That's the modern murder mystery. We solve it. It is not up to us to figure the answers out for the mystery.

The revealing of mysteries is exclusively up to God. In Daniel 2

Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon has a dream of a statue that's composed of multiple precious metals and different materials.

And he threatens to kill every wise man of Babylon. Unless this interpretation is revealed.

Now who reveals the interpretation in Daniel 2? Some of you may be tempted to say

Daniel. But here's what Daniel says. Verse 27

Daniel replied no wise man Enchanter magician or Diviner can explain to the king the mystery he will he has asked about but there is a

God in heaven who reveals mysteries. He has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in the days to come your dream and the visions that pass through your minds as you were lying in bed are these

I know some translations of the word secrets in place of mystery but both mysteries and secrets are the same word.

They're just different translations. It is purely

God's prerogative to reveal the hidden things the mysteries and we get a glimpse of this mystery in Daniel 2 the statue of many materials represent different kingdoms to come.

However, there is a stone that is not made with hands that will destroy all the kingdoms and fill the whole earth.

A stone that rules the whole world. The mystery was who is this stone?

How is he going to rule the whole earth? How is this going to come about? And during Daniel's time, it remained a mystery.

In the New Testament, the word mystery is used in Ephesians 3 which

David read to us and it unpacks how it relates to the

Gentiles more Gentiles as in the non -Jewish people the rest of the world.

First three how that by revelation he made known to me the mystery as I have briefly written already by which when you read you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ, which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men as it has now been revealed by the spirit to his

Holy Apostles and prophets that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs of the same body and partakers of his promise in Christ through the gospel.

Throughout the old whole Old Testament, the mystery has been how can the

Gentiles as in non -Jews? Be God's people.

How can the God of the Jews also be the God of the Gentiles? Here again.

Remained a mystery in the Old Testament and we have seen the glimpse of this mystery even in Genesis when

God reveals chose a glimpse of this mystery to Abraham Genesis 12 3.

I will bless those who bless you and I will curse him who curses you and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

How is God going to bless all the families of the earth through Abraham? When has that ever happened in the

Old Testament? It hasn't the closest to the global blessing through the

Abrahamic people the Jews was in the time of Solomon. And that was not even global but a heavy influence in the surrounding regions.

To the Old Testament prophets and Saints how God would bless every family of the earth remained a mystery.

That is until Christ. And Paul drumroll reveals the mystery here.

Verse 27 to them. God will to make known what are the riches of the glory of the mystery among the

Gentiles, which is Christ in you the hope of glory. How is

God going to overcome all other kingdoms in the world and reign supremely? How is

God going to include the Gentiles as his people as his children? God makes known the riches of the glory of the mystery among the

Gentiles Christ in you the hope of glory. The answer to the mystery is precisely

Christ. It is Christ who makes it possible for the

Gentiles to become God's people. It is Christ who is the stone that will crush every other kingdom and fill the earth.

When was the glory of the mystery revealed? According to the

Apostle John, he tells us in John 1 14 and the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the father full of grace and truth.

When did we behold his glory? Well right before the crucifixion

Jesus praise this prayer in John 17. Father the hour has come.

Glorify your son that your son also may glorify you. Jesus was most glorified.

When he suffered on the cross for our sin. God was glorified.

When Jesus died on the cross for our sin. It was precisely through this humiliating public execution of Christ the

Messiah that the glory of this mystery was manifested. Only through the death of the

Messiah Christ we the sinful Gentiles are forgiven.

It is through his excruciating death that took our sins. Christ is truly the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.

By taking up the sin of the world as the sacrificial lamb on the cross he purchased forgiveness and adoption for sinners like us from all over the world.

Outside of Israel. Because of Christ people who did not belong to God are made children of God.

Because of Christ the enemies of God are brought into God's flock. In the

Old Testament, it would have been unthinkable for the unclean Gentiles to worship the one true

God together with the Jews in the temple. It was divided by a wall.

The Gentiles were not allowed to worship in the temple of God lest they be killed.

That is until Christ who makes the

Gentiles pure and clean through his blood to approach

God that Christ would indwell in us. These are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the

Gentiles. God who was only worshiped by one ethnic group is now worshiped by all ethnic groups because of Christ who was glorified on the cross.

And the hints of global worship of the Lord found in the Old Testament Isaiah to Psalm 150 find their ultimate fulfillment in Christ.

The hope of glory points to his second coming when he will make all things right.

He will trample down on all the kingdoms that set themselves against his. He will be the conquering stone that Daniel prophesied.

Anything and everything that opposes this Messiah. This stone will be pulverized into dust.

When he comes he will completely do away with sin and suffering and death once and for all.

That is the hope of glory revealed in Christ. What must we do with the revealed mystery of God?

We proclaim Christ faithfully through God's strength. We proclaim

Christ faithfully through God's strength. Contrary to the modern murder mystery.

The church must never put down the mystery book after finding out who done it and what happened.

In fact, that is what the Colossian heresies heretics tried to do. They were fine with Christ.

They didn't reject Christ. They were fine with him as long as he was only the stepping stone to another thing.

Some other hidden knowledge another source of wisdom. However, Paul tells us the church never graduates from Christ.

Verse 28 him. We preach warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom.

Paul exhorts us to proclaim Christ. What does that look like?

First proclaiming Christ means warning. Everyone warning means correction.

You warn because the person is going the wrong way you warn because they're doing something wrong you warn because they have the wrong mindset or operating on the in the wrong worldviews.

And the standard of course is God's word. Christians. It is

God's word that has authority over you. Not someone who is older. It is

God's word that defines right not someone who has been a Christian for a longer time.

It is God's word that you obey not someone in a higher position. If you are corrected by a

Christian brother and you cannot find the correction in the Bible. Just politely ask where does it say such -and -such in the

Bible? If he cannot answer it, you are not bound to obey that a lot of spiritual abuse happens in the church because people assume that their pastors and elders are authoritative by their position.

Thus creating many pokes all over the local churches. Pastors and elders have no authority over you unless it is regarding scriptural matters things found in Scripture.

Hence, I will not be correcting you about which phone to buy. Which grocery stores to shop from what schools you need to go to because Scripture does not give me that kind of authority.

I reckon I could recommend what I believe is best but that is not a biblical correction and there is no requirement for you to follow it.

Christians we correct and warn according to Scripture not by some human standards.

Christians are standard is obedience to Christ not satisfaction of men.

Second proclaiming Christ means teaching every man in all wisdom.

This directly opposes the Colossian heresy which believed that there was some hidden wisdom apart from Christ.

Here Paul says proclaiming Christ is the source of all wisdom. Proclaiming Christ includes teaching every man in all wisdom not some not the most but in all.

Christ is sufficient. We need not go elsewhere for wisdom.

We go to his word we follow his steps. For both warning and teaching we see

Paul emphasizes every man which means everyone in Christian ministry.

There is no elite class for Christians who have special access to God's truth.

God reveals his truth clearly to all people through Scripture. Flee and disregard any pastors who claim they have special knowledge of God or he understands

Scripture better because he's a pastor. Maybe you went to seminary or what he's been pastoring for decades.

If you read in the Scripture that is opposite of what the pastor is saying or doing you have to disregard that pastor and remove him.

And what is the purpose of proclaiming Christ that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus to this and I also labor striving according to his working which works in me mightily.

The purpose and goal of proclaiming Christ is not the altar call the purpose and goal of proclaiming

Christ is not the conversion prayer the purpose and goal of proclaiming Christ goes beyond conversion.

But the whole Christian life. Paul states that we proclaim

Christ so that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.

Of course here Paul has in mind the second coming of Christ when we will stand before him and be presented.

People will be glorified and thus sinless perfect. Additionally the word perfect in Hebrew culture denotes wholeness completeness.

The proclamation of Christ prepares us to be complete.

Not lacking in anything. Proclaiming Christ leads us to be whole.

No inconsistencies nor hypocrisy. The goal of Christian ministry in the end includes conversion, but it does not stop there.

It is discipleship until Christ comes back. We warn and teach according to the gospel of Christ so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ Jesus.

And that is Paul's ministry as well. He strives according to God's power.

Paul is not relying on his own strength for ministry, but God is working in him mightily.

Now, this does not mean Paul is passively doing nothing. And letting

God do everything that is not found in Scripture. It's both

Paul is striving. He is actively striving. He's laboring hard and God is providing

Paul with the strength for his ministry. This is crucial for us today because how we understand

Scripture is under attack. The sufficiency of the gospel is under attack because when understanding

Scripture is attacked, the gospel is attacked. The two examples are feminist theology and liberation theology.

I'll describe them in a minute. What they have in common is that the meaning of the

Bible comes from the experience of the readers. Not the text itself.

As Christians, the meaning of the Bible comes from the text. We care about what the author meant.

Not how I want it to mean. Now, what they do, the feminist theologians, for example, this is what they do.

They claim that women can understand certain books better than men.

Such as Ruth. Because the book of Ruth has feminist, feminine, female characters for main characters like Ruth.

This means male readers cannot fully understand Ruth just because they're male. And similarly, liberation theology states that the people from the oppressed groups understand many parts of the

Bible better because there is a lot of suffering and oppression in the Bible. Thus, people who are not from the oppressed groups, which this culture claim like wealthy people or white people are not oppressed, they claim that.

They say that they cannot understand Scripture because they have never experienced oppression.

These theologians add human experience as a requirement to understanding and obeying

Scripture. However, Paul in this text refutes that.

We proclaim Christ warning everyone and teaching everyone in all wisdom.

How can we warn everyone if some are veiled from understanding because of his gender?

How can all wisdom be taught if some do not have the right experience because of the family he was born in?

No one had a choice in what color skin they were born into. Or what color what what type of oppression they were born into.

The moment we place an artificial requirement of personal experiences.

In understanding Scripture, we limit Christ's work in us.

It implicitly says that the proclamation of Christ does not work for certain people.

Just because someone was not oppressed does not mean it is impossible for her to understand.

God's truth. Just because someone is not female. It does not mean he will never understand the book of Ruth.

And this is an unpopular view to hold today. Where the culture celebrates divisions and hostilities according to genders ethnicities and social classes.

But it must not be so in the church. Discipleship cannot continue.

In that mindset. And in the end proclaiming

Christ despite the opposition and sufferings. Is fully sufficient for Christian ministry today.

Let us pray. Father, we thank you that you have protected this church.

All throughout so that we may continue to proclaim Christ warning everyone and teaching everyone in all wisdom until you come back.

God, we pray that you would maintain and protect us. Until the very end so that we may be able to present your sheep.

Perfect because of what you've done. God, we pray that we would focus on the cross all the time and not be driven away to different things just to be accepted by the world.

We pray that your spirit would fill us that we would experience your love more and more every day in Jesus name.

Amen. Let's stand for a closing hymn.