Genuine Gospel Ministry

Good morning, church.

Would you turn with me to the book of Colossians, chapter 1, verse 24.

Colossians 1:24

That's page 983 in the Pew Bible.

Colossians chapter 1, verse 24.

Colossians 1:24

This fall we've been studying Paul's letter to the church in Colossae,

a letter about the greatness of Christ and the all-sufficiency of who he is

and what he's done.

And you'll remember if you've been with us the last few weeks that Paul

had never met this church before, but we find that he greatly cared about them.

And he's going to describe his ministry in the text before us in order to encourage them.

So we're picking up in chapter 1, verse 24, and we're going to read,

I'll read through chapter 2, verse 5.

This is Paul to the Colossians.

Now, I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I'm 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.

For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and

for all who have not seen me face to face, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together

in love to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's

mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments, for though I am

absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness

of your faith in Christ.

Let's pray together.

God, we ask that you would help us this morning as we come to this passage from your word.

Lord, help us to hear what your spirit is saying to us, your church.

Lord, give us minds that understand.

Lord, we pray that you would give us hearts that receive what it is you are speaking to

us today.

God, thank you that you have spoken to us supremely in your Son.

Lord, he indeed is the image of you, the invisible God, and we thank you for the gift of your Son

to us.

Lord, would he be exalted as we attend to this passage this morning.

We pray in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Well, it's been said that the best way to identify a counterfeit is by studying the real thing.

Whether it's currency or the artwork of an old master, it's best to spend your time learning

what makes the real thing the real thing.

Then you can spot whatever imitations happen to come along.

And apparently, when it comes to money, I've been told, it's not all that difficult.

There are certain things that you can look for, the security thread, the watermark, the color

shifting ink.

These things make spotting the real thing fairly doable.

Of course, it's helpful to know what a fake looks like too, to compare them side by side.

But on the whole, if you can know the real thing and what to look for, you can avoid being

taken in by the counterfeits.

That's some of what Paul is up to in this paragraph.

He's showing us what true gospel ministry looks like.

In order that, he says, no one may delude you with plausible arguments, which is chapter 2, verse 4.

Isaiah 2:4

Now, it seems that many of the spiritual options in the ancient world seemed plausible to the

Colossians.

And there were teachers and there were gurus with seeming authority and wisdom and skill who really

seemed to know what they were talking about.

And maybe they had a following, seemingly to prove it.

But you see, for Paul to be taken in by these alternate spiritual options was sort of like

having a wallet full of counterfeit money without even realizing it.

You may feel rich.

Your wallet is seemingly full of cash.

But when you finally get to the bank and they run your money through that machine, you realize

that it's not worth a thing and that you're actually broke.

The same is true for us.

Imagine going through life thinking that you're spiritually wealthy, only to find that whatever

you've been believing in and trusting in has been a counterfeit all along.

Imagine coming to the end of your days and realizing that you're bankrupt.

Or to change the metaphors for a moment, imagine to find that what you thought was real medicine

was only a placebo.

And those benefits that you felt, only a placebo effect, masking the fact that the real problem,

the real sickness remained untouched, as dangerous and as cancerous as ever.

So then it's important that we grasp what real biblical ministry looks like.

Counterfeits abound today as then and our spiritual lives are at stake.

We don't want to be deluded, as Paul says, by teachers or ministries or movements that have the

appearance of plausibility but are empty in the end.

But we need to know what real gospel ministry looks like for another reason.

Not just so we can spot the real thing, but so that we can do the real thing.

Later in the book of Colossians in chapter 3 verse 16 we read,

What Paul is saying here is that the work of ministry, teaching and admonishing is actually

for every member of the body of Christ.

We're to do this to one another.

Some are called to be pastors and elders, yes, but ultimately our job as pastors and elders

is to equip you, the saints, for the work of ministry.

So that we can all build one another up in love, as we read in the book of Ephesians.

So then we need to know what real life giving gospel ministry looks like so that we can actually

do it, so that we can actually put it into practice.

And that's how our text this morning is so helpful.

What Paul is showing us here as we look at it are actually two broad aspects, two critical

aspects, two necessary components of real gospel ministry.

And once you learn to see them, they're pretty easy to spot.

Broadly, we'll look at the manner of true ministry, and then we also see here the message

of true gospel ministry.

So that's where we're going.

Let's look first at the manner of true ministry.

Of course, there's a lot going on in this paragraph that we just read.

We could probably do a whole seminar on the doctrine of the church out of this passage,

but when it comes to the manner of Paul's ministry, three words or three pictures jump

out.

Suffering, stewardship, and struggle.

We see suffering in verse 24.

Paul says,

Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I'm filling up what is lacking

in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is the church.

Now remember that Paul is writing this letter from a prison cell.

He is no stranger to suffering, and yet he can rejoice in that suffering because, as he

says, in my flesh I'm filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions.

Now that probably strikes you as a strange phrase at first, right?

What does Paul mean by that?

Well, there's one thing that he certainly cannot mean by that.

Paul can't mean that there's something lacking in Christ's afflictions for our atonement,

for our salvation.

Our reconciliation with God was finished once and for all through Christ's suffering on the

cross, and that lacks nothing.

The rest of Colossians will say that over and over and over again in a dozen different

ways, that what Christ has done is completely and utterly abundantly sufficient for us.

So what is Paul talking about here?

Rather than talking about Christ's afflictions for our atonement, for our redemption, he's

talking about the ongoing afflictions that Christ experiences because of his ongoing union

with his church.

When the church suffers in this age, Christ himself suffers.

Do you remember Paul's Damascus Road conversion?

When Jesus appeared to Paul the persecutor, he didn't say, Paul, why are you persecuting

my church?

Jesus said, Paul, why are you persecuting me?

Identifying himself completely with his body on earth.

The church is, as it says here in verse 24, the body of Christ, inseparably united with

Christ the head.

And the road to glory for the church, just like Christ our head, the road to glory, the

road to the crown of eternal life is by way of the cross.

Over and over again, the New Testament is very clear that the church will experience affliction

in this age.

We will experience Christ's afflictions, as Paul says here.

That is, we will experience afflictions for Christ.

We will experience afflictions like Christ.

We will experience our afflictions with Christ.

Why is that the case?

Why does the church experience such hostility from the world at times?

Because the church, as Christ's body, friends, is the birth of the new creation in the midst

of the old.

In the midst of the old humanity, in the old fallen way of doing things, the church is God's

new thing in the midst of the old.

And that makes the church a bit like an organ transplant.

The healthy organ is there to heal the body, to give it life and hope.

But as we know, sometimes the old body doesn't recognize this new thing and actually attacks

it as a threat.

It's a bit like that with the church, the new humanity in the midst of the old.

And what Paul is saying here is that he, in his vocation as an apostle, is willing to step

out on behalf of the church and to undergo these Christ-like afflictions to fill up what's

remaining of the Christ's ongoing walk along the way of the cross.

He's willing to step out on behalf of the church and to suffer Christ-like afflictions

for their sake.

And the overtones of this passage are even, in some sense, in their place so that they

don't have to.

So, this becomes then our first window into the manner of real gospel ministry.

Real, true ministry is willing to gladly suffer hardship and loss or even persecution for the

sake of the church, Christ's body.

True ministers of the gospel are willing to stand in front, taking the blow of ridicule

or hatred or even violence so that the rest of the body might be spared.

We see that over and over in Paul's ministry, and Paul here is in prison.

Just like many pastors and church leaders and ministers after him would, in the history

of the church, also suffer and also land in prison and also face persecution, drawing the

heat and the animosity of the world's hatred onto itself so that the churches might be spared.

In other words, if the church is Christ's body, real, true ministry doesn't lord itself

over the body.

Rather, it lays itself down for the sake of the body.

Sadly, many ministries today exist to make a minister great.

But that is not the way of Christ.

Real ministry, true, genuine ministry is just the opposite, a willingness and love even to

suffer for those to whom we minister.

So, there's our first window into the manner of genuine ministry.

We see the second in verse 25.

It's not just suffering, it's stewardship.

If the theme of suffering is connected to the metaphor of the church's Christ's body,

then this idea of stewardship brings with it the metaphor of the church as God's household.

Now, an ancient household was a bit different than ours.

It included not just the immediate family, but also at times the extended family, and also

the servants and the workers who labored as part of the family estate.

The household was sort of a big organization, almost a mini business running.

And within the large household, the head of the house would often appoint someone called

a steward.

And the steward's job was to make sure that the food and other resources of the household

were being distributed and managed wisely and fairly on behalf of the rest of the people

who made up the household.

The steward wasn't there to act on his own wishes or plans, but to carry out the wishes

and plans of the head of the house.

So, you can see now the kind of picture that Paul is painting in verse 25.

He says, I became a minister of the church according to the stewardship from God that

was given to me for you to make the Word of God fully known.

See the picture he's painting here?

God is sort of the head of this household, the church, and Paul's been appointed as a steward

under God's authority to make sure that the Word of God is being distributed to all in

the house.

So, this means that the manner of real ministry is not just one of glad, self-giving love for

the church, but it's also one of faithful teaching and exposition and unfolding and distribution

of God's Word.

Real ministry is not just expounding our own opinions or theories.

Real ministry is a stewardship of the Word of God.

What God has stored up in the treasuries of His Word, the Gospel, and preserved in the Bible

is what we, like good stewards, want to bring out at the right time in the right way so that

the household can be fed and cared for.

So, then if the manner of real ministry is a stewardship, then biblical teaching becomes,

in many ways, the central activity.

And in His devotion to teaching the Bible as God's stewards, real ministry will be appropriately

humble.

After all, we are simply servants working on behalf of the head of the house.

This message doesn't ultimately come from us, but from Him.

So, there's nothing for us, as we minister as a church, to get sort of self-inflated about.

This isn't about our own wisdom or our own rescue.

It's not our own wisdom or our own rescue that we proclaim.

It's God's wisdom, and it's God's rescue.

And so, we're humble, exalting God and not exalting self.

But in addition to being humble, real ministry as stewardship will also, at the same time,

be appropriately bold.

After all, we're not doing this on our own authority.

We are acting in the name of another.

It is God's Word that we teach and we hold out.

True ministry need not be sheepish or afraid.

It need not be blown and tossed by whatever popular ideas might be trending at the time.

As stewards of the Word, we can be humble and we can be bold.

So, those are the first two windows into the manner of real gospel ministry.

Paul's suffering shows us that true ministry is about self-giving love for God's church.

And Paul's stewardship shows us that ministry is about faithful exposition of God's Word.

And the third and last thing we see here is that there is struggle.

Look at chapter 2, verse 1.

I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face.

Now, the word struggle here is actually an athletic term.

It's a term from the world of sports.

It carries with it an idea of striving for a goal or contending for the crown of victory.

And what makes struggling different than the suffering that we talked about earlier?

Well, suffering, sort of as part of a body, has to do with bearing external attack.

But struggling, like an athlete on a team, has to do with internal desire, with drive.

This is not the first time Paul will use athletic imagery to describe the work of ministry in 1 Corinthians.

And in 2 Timothy, he does the same thing.

Paul will say in those passages that competing like an athlete, training hard, maintaining self-discipline, striving for the crown of victory.

All of these have something to teach us about real ministry.

Here in Colossians, the idea of the struggle of ministry is connected to helping fellow believers reach what he calls maturity in Christ.

Chapter 2, verse 2 describes that maturity that Paul is struggling to bring about in this way.

It says, we should be encouraged in heart.

And we should be united in love.

And we should be fully assured in our understanding.

This is what Paul strives and struggles like an athlete to see happen in Colossae.

And in other cities he hasn't even visited yet, like Laodicea as well.

Struggling, striving, training, working like an athlete, no doubt in prayer for these churches.

No doubt in his correspondence and in his writing to them, as we see here in Colossians.

And no doubt in his training and in his sending of ministers to these cities.

Men like Epaphras that we looked at a few weeks ago who brought the gospel to Colossians.

In all these ways, Paul is struggling and striving for these churches he hasn't even met yet.

So the manner of real ministry, how can we spot real genuine gospel ministry when we see it?

Well, the manner of it is not just self-giving love, not just faithful stewarding of God's word and preaching and teaching,

but also this metaphor would suggest downright hard work.

Verse 29 uses the word of toil.

But lest we get weary just thinking about that,

we see that this toil and this struggle happens, as he says in verse 29,

with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.

As we labor hard, God's power is at work, energizing us for the task.

And this means two things.

On the one hand, genuine ministry is not lazy or complacent.

But on the other hand, neither is it frantic and always on the verge of burning out.

Genuine ministry is not sort of a sitting around, letting go and letting God,

nor is it sort of sitting around thinking that everything depends on us at the end of the day,

and we get completely stressed out.

See, the balance Paul is striking here.

We toil, we struggle, but we do so with his power and with his energy.

I think naturally, dispositionally, we tend to tip one way or the other.

Can you spot which side you tend to sort of stumble into?

Are you prone to laziness, or are you proning to burning out?

Or do you sort of swing back and forth between the two when you sort of sense that you're getting lazy,

and then you speed over this way and start burning out,

and then you're like, well, I got to pull back,

and then you start, you know, getting all lazy again and binging on Netflix for 48 hours

and catching up on all your shows?

How do we get off the hamster wheel?

How does one go about struggling with all his energy,

as opposed to floundering with all of our energy?

I think the first thing to say here is that this empowerment happens

in the act of working itself.

There's no good waiting around until you, quote-unquote, feel energized,

because God's power meets us in the doing.

The next thing to say is that prayer is vital here.

In a couple weeks, we're going to look at Colossians chapter 3, verses 1 through 4,

Colossians 3:1–4

where Paul tells us to set our minds on things above,

that is, on Christ ascended to the Father's right hand.

And the setting of the mind on Christ in prayer throughout the day,

remembering where our real identity lies,

remembering our real glory in the midst of the world,

that is one of the things that will empower us to labor with all his energy.

So here are three aspects, three windows into the manner of real gospel ministry.

So friends, maybe it's worth asking, I wonder,

do you perhaps have a desire to be a minister in Christ's church?

Not just an elder or a pastor, but some other kind of ministry.

Well, we see here that genuine ministry means

to love the body,

and to steward the word,

and to work hard with all his energy.

And again, remember,

this isn't just for pastors and elders,

or campus ministers, or small group leaders.

Every member of Christ's body

is a minister.

As we've been walking through these three elements,

I'm sure it's been tempting to think,

man, Pastor Nick's preaching one long sermon

about himself up there.

What in the world? Get over it, dude.

But no, this is for us, church.

We are called to ministry.

This is a model for us all

to love the church,

and to steward his word,

and to work hard with his energy.

God has given you a sphere of ministry

that no one else has.

It's there that he's calling you to serve.

You have opportunities to minister God's word,

and to see his kingdom advance in places,

and in relationships that I will never encounter.

That Pastor Greg, or Pastor Matt,

or any of the other elders will ever encounter.

This ministry, this call to ministry,

is for us all.

And this window of real gospel ministry,

these aspects, this manner of gospel ministry,

it's a good grid for spotting the genuine

from the counterfeit.

And we have to be charitable here, I think,

but it's worth asking at times,

as we consider maybe joining a particular ministry,

or being fed by a particular ministry,

or encountering friends who are engaged

with a particular ministry or teaching.

Task along the lines of self-giving love,

is this ministry, a loving ministry?

And does it ever speak of suffering

as part of Christian experience?

Paul's very clear here that suffering

is a pretty normal event in the church life.

Or does this ministry only promise health

and wealth and worldly prosperity?

Do the ministers lord their authority over the flock,

making themselves greater?

Do they lay their lives down for the sheep?

Or along the lines of ministry as stewardship,

we could ask,

what about this ministry's fidelity

to the Word of God?

Is the teaching of the Bible

central to its life and health?

Are there certain aspects of God's Word

that seem to be conspicuously absent?

Are certain hard passages or ethical demands

being twisted or ignored or explained away?

Are other books or other sources of authority

seen as equal in authority

or greater authority than the Bible?

Like the Book of Mormon

or the Watchtower for Jehovah's Witnesses.

Lastly, does a ministry struggle with all His energy,

with all God's energy?

Is there, on the one hand,

a bold vision for the growth of the kingdom?

Is our very real human responsibility

taken seriously to obey the great commandment

and to fulfill the great commission?

And at the same time,

is there a prevailing sense of joy and peace

that at the end of the day,

God is in control

and His sovereign purpose will prevail?

And does that joy and peace and confidence

in God's sovereignty

flow out in a rich dependence on God

expressed in prayer?

That's the manner of real gospel ministry.

Now, I confess, if we step back,

all of this might sound,

on the surface, a bit dour.

I mean, suffering, stewarding, and struggling.

On the surface, that is a downer

of a job description, right?

Right?

And yet, Paul does it with joy,

as he says in the opening of our passage.

And at the end,

this whole passage is sort of bookended

by joy.

How can that be?

Well, that brings us to the second big thing

we see about real gospel ministry.

We've seen the manner of real ministry,

and now we come to the message

of genuine gospel ministry.

Look with me again at verse 25.

Paul says,

I became a minister,

I became a minister of the church,

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.

Then 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.

The message of real gospel ministry

is what Paul calls here

the mystery of God.

Now you see what Paul means

by the word mystery in verse 26, right?

For Paul, God's mystery

is not something incomprehensible about God

that we'll never figure out

with our finite intellect.

That's how we use the term mystery sometimes, right?

No, for Paul, God's mystery

is what was once hidden,

but now revealed.

In other words,

God's mystery is the long-awaited unveiling

of God's redemptive purpose

that he's been planning all along,

and now it's finally being unfurled

for all to see

in all its surprising wonder.

I've been thinking about

how to sort of capture this idea

of mystery, biblical mystery,

and in some sense,

I think surprise is almost a good word.

There's been an anticipation for it,

and now it's here.

In some sense,

we couldn't have predicted

how it was all going to play out,

but now that it's been revealed,

it makes sense of everything.

God's open secret for the world

of his great redemptive plan,

God's mystery.

What is that mystery?

Paul says in verse 27,

it's Christ in you,

the hope of glory.

This once hidden,

but now revealed,

saving plan of God,

this is the message

of real gospel ministry.

Christ in you,

the hope of glory.

Let's meditate briefly

on each part of this message.

Let's pull it apart

and soak on it

for just a little bit together.

First,

Paul's telling us

that our message

is Christ.

It's easy to think

of Christianity

as simply a system

of rules

or religious practices

or a worldview

or an intellectual tradition,

but Christianity,

friends,

is ultimately Christ,

a person.

Verse 28 says,

Him we proclaim.

The message

is Jesus.

Jesus.

When we tell people

what God is like,

what do we have to do

as Christians?

We have to proclaim Jesus

because He is the image

of the invisible God.

When we tell people

what God has done

as Christians,

we have to proclaim Jesus

because He is the one

who has finished

the work of redemption.

He has reconciled us

to the Father

through His cross.

And when we tell people

what God's goal

or what God's desire

or what God's future

is for us,

we have to proclaim Christ.

The rest of verse 28 reads,

Him we proclaim,

warning everyone,

teaching everyone

with all wisdom

that we may present

everyone mature in Christ.

This is what completion

looks like.

This is what finality

and fulfillment

looks like.

Maturity.

it looks like Jesus.

In Christ,

chapter 2,

verse 3 says,

are hidden

all the treasures

of wisdom

and knowledge.

Anything you could

want to know,

anything you could

want to be,

anything that would

make sense

of our existence

is stored up

to be withdrawn

from the person

of Jesus.

Our goal,

our ultimate joy

and future

is Christ

Himself.

In other words,

friends,

the Lord Jesus Christ

is not a means

to some other end.

He is not a way

to get something else

that's better

or more lasting.

Jesus is the end.

He is the point.

He is the goal.

In Him are all

the treasures

of wisdom and knowledge.

Knowing Him

is eternal life

and boundless joy.

And this is what

Jesus Himself taught.

Engaging with the

religious elites

of His day,

Jesus said in John 5,

He says,

you know,

you guys are searching

the Scriptures

because you think

that in them

you have eternal life

and yet it's they

that bear witness

about me.

Yet you refuse

to come to me

that you may have life.

You see what Jesus

is saying there?

He's saying that

the whole point

of the Old Testament

is Him.

You're searching

the Scriptures

trying to find

eternal life

and you're missing

the fact

that it's all about me.

I'm the fulfillment

of God's saving plan.

I'm the rest

that you've been longing for.

I'm the peace

that you've been hoping for.

I'm the protection

you've been seeking.

I'm the cleanness

that you've been trying

to find

and I'm the justification

that you've been slaving

so hard to get.

It's me.

It's in Him

that we find

eternal life.

This is how you can spot

the real message

of Christianity.

Ask yourself,

who is the hero

of this story?

Is it me?

Is it my performance?

Is it my moral record?

Is it my achievements?

Is it the work

that I have to do?

Is it some kind

of program out

in the world?

Or is the hero

of the story

Christ?

Is He the beginning

and the middle

and the end?

Because, friends,

the truth is

that the gospel

says that we are sinners

and we are deserving

God's just judgment,

but Christ died

so that we might live

a new life.

Christ is the hero

of the story

and His cross

is the place

of victory

where God's wrath

was satisfied

and we're reconciled

to Him

and the new creation

begins.

That is our message.

Our message

is Christ.

But here's where

things get interesting.

Even more interesting

than that,

if you can believe it.

Our message

is not just

Christ over us

as our Lord,

not just Christ for us

as our crucified

and risen Savior,

but also Christ

in us,

Christ in you.

Elsewhere,

Paul writes,

I have been crucified

with Christ.

It's no longer

I who live,

but Christ

who lives in me.

And the life

I now live

in the flesh,

I live by faith

in the Son of God

who loved me

and gave Himself

for me.

The message

of real Christianity

is at least

twofold, friends.

It is both

that we are in Christ

and so we have

a new status

before God,

we are justified,

we are forgiven,

but also that Christ

is in us

and we have

a new nature

and a new dynamic

of spiritual life

pulsing inside.

Again,

this is what Jesus

Himself taught.

In John 14,

Jesus says to His disciples,

and this probably

was so confusing

to them at the time,

He said,

when He had them

gathered for the

Last Supper,

right before He was

about to be betrayed

and go to the cross,

He's teaching them

and teaching them

and teaching them

and He says,

because I live,

you also will live.

In that day,

that is the day

after His resurrection,

you will know

that I'm in my Father

and you in me

and I in you.

Christ in you,

the living Lord,

the risen Savior,

alive in you

through His Holy Spirit.

You know,

friends,

half the battle,

spiritually speaking,

is remembering

who you are

and who lives

inside of you.

This is why Paul

is always saying things

in his letters

like he says in Romans,

consider yourself,

reckon yourself,

tell yourself,

remind yourself

that you're dead to sin

and you're alive

to God in Christ Jesus

because that's true,

that's what's true of you

and you always forget it.

remember who you are

and who lives inside of you

and live in line

with that great truth.

When the besetting sins

rear their head again,

when you despair

about how to handle

that tricky parenting issue

or that situation at work,

when you just look out

at the brokenness

of the world

and just want to give up,

remember,

the same Jesus

who has lived

and died

and risen again

for you

as Lord of the whole universe

is now alive in you,

leading you

and empowering you

and sustaining you

and granting you wisdom

to speak

when you need to speak

and to listen

when you need to listen.

Church,

you are not left

to your own devices.

You're not left

to just sort of wait

until something else happens.

Christ is in you.

If anyone is in Christ,

there,

the new creation,

Paul says

in 2 Corinthians.

And we need no longer

be slaves again

to fear,

fear of condemnation,

fear of repeating

our worst selves

over and over again.

You're God's child now.

God lives in you

and He's making you new.

Do you want to join

the adventure

of a lifetime?

Link your life

to the Lord Jesus

and find out

what happens.

But there's one more

part of this message.

It is Christ

in you,

the hope

of glory.

Later in Colossians,

Paul will say,

when Christ,

who is your life,

appears,

then you will also

appear with Him

in glory.

Now,

I get a chance

to preach that passage

in a couple weeks,

so I'm not going to steal

my own thunder.

But do you see

what he's saying?

If Christ is in you now,

then you will be

with Him then,

raised with Him

to imperishable life,

reigning with Him

in a creation made new.

And friends,

we've got to hold

these two things together,

this Christ in you

and this hope of glory.

You see,

Christ in you

now,

working,

changing,

transforming,

breaking open

this old world

with the new creation

and the hope of glory.

The very real reminder

that the best

is still yet to come

and that there is

more in store.

And you see

how it's helpful

that we have to hold

these two things together?

Because we need to know

that not every besetting sin

will simply go away

this side of Christ's return.

And not every injustice

will be put to rest

this side of Christ's return.

Now,

this doesn't stop us

from pursuing God's kingdom

and His righteousness

above all else

with all His energy

that He powerfully works in us.

But it reminds us

that in this age

we are still waiting

for the consummation

of Christ's work.

We are in the middle

of the story, friends,

not at the end.

But if Christ is in you,

then you have the hope

of glory.

You will share

in that glorious hope.

You can face the future

with confidence

no matter what

that future might hold

because you know

how the story ends.

You may not know

all the twists and turns,

all the light

and dark patches,

all the conflict

and resolutions

that are standing

between you

and the coming

of the kingdom.

But you know

the director

of this drama

of creation

and He has shown you

how the story ends.

The curtain will rise,

the King will step

onto the stage,

and when the King

of glory comes in,

creation will be set free

from its bondage

to decay,

and our hearts

will be set free

from sin,

and every knee

and every tongue

will confess

that He is Lord.

And those who have

repented and believe

will reign with Him forever.

And the one

who is directing

this drama

of creation

to its finale

lives in you,

giving you wisdom

to understand

your role to play,

giving you the grace

and the strength

and the creativity

to play it,

Christ in you,

the hope of glory.

That's our message,

and that is the message

of real,

genuine Christianity.

So friends,

do you have

the real thing?

When you look

in your spiritual wallet,

do you have

the real thing?

Or have you been

banking on something

that's an imitation,

a counterfeit?

Have you embraced

the message

of real Christianity?

Have you embraced

the living Christ Himself?

Not some moral code,

not a sort of nice

social group

to be a part of.

Have you embraced Him?

And if not,

why not?

What is it

you're waiting for?

And if you have

taken hold of Him,

then this message

comes out at us

and says,

join the real

gospel ministry.

You have been

shown the manner

and the message.

We have been shown

the marks

and the message

of this ministry.

And we need not

be deluded

or taken in

by counterfeits.

Rather,

let us continue

the work.

Friends,

what would happen

in our city

if we went forth

with this message

of hope

that we've been

talking about

and we held it

forth in this manner

of love

that we've been

describing?

What if our neighbors

saw our self-giving love

and an energized labor

that they couldn't

understand

and a joyful stewardship

of this message?

What if they heard

from us not merely

a moral code

or another religious system

or another social program

or another political project,

but a real message

of hope?

Christ in you,

the hope of glory.

In the early church,

we read in the book of Acts

that God added

to their number daily

those who were being saved.

That's the power

of the real thing.

counterfeits

eventually leave us

empty and longing

for more,

but by God's grace,

the real thing

catches fire

and spreads.

And it becomes

a movement

of hope

and joy.

That's what we see

in the early church.

The word of God

goes forth

and leaves

in its wake

joy.

It becomes

a movement

of hope

to the glory

of Christ.

May God

use us

as a church

for such

a ministry.

And may

our city

and our neighborhoods

increasingly know

these glorious riches

of Christ

in whom are hidden

all the treasures

of wisdom

and knowledge.

Friends,

may this be

the message

and the manner

that we go forth

in,

Christ in us,

the hope

of glory.

Amen?

Let's pray.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Lord Jesus,

we ask that you

would energize us

with all of your power

so that we might

run this race

set before us

with endurance.

Lord,

would you help us

to cling to the real

thing,

to cling to you,

and may our hearts

be overflowing

with such confidence

and joy

and hope in you

that we can't help

but simply

proclaim you

in our words,

in our deeds,

in our homes,

in our workplaces.

And God,

would you

gather your people

from every tribe

and tongue

and nation

in this city

and around the world.

Lord,

bring us to yourself.

Help many more

to know the hope

of glory,

Christ in you

and our city,

Father.

To the glory

of your great name

we pray.

Amen.

Well,

friends,

let's stand.

We're going to end

by singing

the song

Alive in Us,

which is

that's

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.