FROM HOSTILE TO HOLY | JUSTIN HILL

Wow,

church, you can you can take a seat. I I

feel wrong interrupting that worship,

man, because

that was awesome. Um,

guys, what a what a gift it is to know

that the Lord is in this place this

morning. Amen. Am I the Lord is here?

Um, if if we've never had the chance to

meet before, my name is Justin Hill and

I have the privilege and honor of

leading Wake, which is the student

ministry of Key Church. And so, uh, and

in particular, uh, I bring the word of

God every Sunday night to your high

school students. And because of the N

Yeah. Woo. Um, I see some of y'all. I

see you back all the way in the back.

That fits. Yeah. What's up, Emma? Um,

but because of the the nature of my

position and the time of year that it

is, I just want to take a moment in our

gathering today and throughout the

morning at all the gatherings. Uh, if

you are, and y'all are going to hate

this, and some of you aren't going to do

it, but at the 8:15, they did it. So,

don't be a loser. Uh, if you are a high

school senior, you just graduated, we

want to be a church that doesn't just

talk about the next generation. And then

like honestly I'm a believer that what

we typically call the next generation is

the current generation um of the church,

if we wait until the next gen becomes

the current gen, we're already behind.

And so I just want to say if you are a

high school graduate, if you're a

senior, you have graduated high school

this year, I want you to stand up. Stand

up and stay standing.

Stand up and stay standing. I see. All

right. All right. All right. Stay

standing.

All right.

Stay standing. And I can tell how much

y'all hate this right now. Um, which is

why I'm having fun with this. But, um,

what I want us to do, church, is look

around you. There is, uh, one of these

graduates standing around you somewhere

nearby. And in a moment, I want us to

just extend a hand towards whoever it

might be that's around you. And what

we're going to do is we're going to pray

over them because I I think too often we

talk about, oh Lord, I hope the young

people come to you, Lord, I hope they

stay with you. Like we want to be a

church where we we pray that over them

together this morning. And so if you're

just going to extend a hand to whoever

it might be nearest to you.

And Father, we just pray. We pray over

each and every young man and woman that

is standing up in this place right now.

Father, as they uh they they have

reached an incredible milestone in their

life, an amazing achievement, and we

want to celebrate that for them. But

Lord, we also want to we want to walk

with them as they step into a new

chapter of life. Father, we pray that

your spirit, your presence would be

something that is not confined to this

place or to a specific group of people

or a specific time in their life, but

instead whatever it might be that you

have for them in the future, wherever

they might go, whatever they might do,

would your presence go with them? Would

they know that you are with them,

Father? Lord, would you build up and

around them a community of like-minded

believers of other young men and women

who love you?

Lord, may you just help us as a church

be able to walk with them, be able to

encourage them, support them, challenge

them,

and whether it's just a few minutes down

the road or on the other side of the

world, wherever they might go, Father,

would you be able to when they come back

home, understand that this place that we

are here for them, that this would be a

place where they can let the guards

down, where they can be honest, where

they can have mentorship and disciplehip

and community.

Father, we praise you for what it is

you're going to do through their lives

that are around us right now, Lord, that

the the future of the church, the right

now of the church is standing up in

front of us. And so, Father, we pray all

of these things, all of the blessings

over their lives, Lord.

May they walk in that assurance because

of how good we know you to be. That

you're not a God who's just in the

moment with them, but you are already in

their future. You have numbered their

steps.

You know the plans that you have for

them.

And because you are a good father,

you are in those plans right now. So,

Father, we praise you for them. We thank

you. It is in your name I pray Jesus.

Amen.

>> Y'all can take a seat. Y'all loved that

so much. I'm sure.

And I just want to selfless selfless

plug. Um I also just want to say those

of you that are standing all the way

through down to sixth grade. So, middle

schoolers, high schoolers, tonight is

our end of year party for Wake. It is

our our last kind of get together. We're

going to celebrate uh high school

seniors. We're going to celebrate and

honor y'all, but we're also just going

to have a fun time. Uh because the Lord

loves this place. If you don't want to

know that God's moving, know this. We

have Chick-fil-A on a Sunday here. Okay.

So, um

I I've already had people like, "How did

you do that?" And I'm like, "God, when

you're favored, you're favored." Um, and

uh, if you're like, "Hey, I graduated 3

years ago. Is that close enough?" No,

that's weird. Don't do it. All right, we

have to background check people. Um, but

yeah, we're going to have an incredible

time tonight. And so, just open

invitation 7:00 for all of you middle

and high school students. But we have a

lot to go through and I've already eaten

to sometimes today. So, uh, we're going

to be looking today at Colossians

Colossians 1:21

chapter 1 verse 21 all the way through

to chapter 2:3.

All right. And as we look at that, as

you flip or scroll there, I want to just

kind of center and set our context of

what it is we're about to read because

even though we're going to look at this

in somewhat of is uh isolation, we need

to remember that this is not isolated

material. It it is flowing directly out

of what we went through last week, which

is one of the greatest most exalted

christoologgical passages in the entire

New Testament. Colossians 1:15-20.

Colossians 1:15–20

All right. Pastor Luke preached on it

last week. If you didn't get a chance to

to listen or watch that, I encourage you

jump on YouTube or Facebook or wherever

else on Spotify and listen, watch.

Incredible passage, incredible word. Um,

but the Apostle Paul essentially has

spent the last six verses leading up to

verse 21 presenting Christ as these

things. Presenting Christ as the image

of the invisible God, as the creator of

all things, that Jesus is the sustainer

of all things. He is the head of the

church, the firstborn from the dead,

supreme over everything, the fullness of

God incarnate, the reconciler of all

things through the blood of the cross.

He is using language in such a way that

we cannot arrive at the end of that and

not have an idea of who Christ is. We

have no excuse that we we we can't step

in and be like, "This is buddy Jesus.

This is not buddy Jesus. This is not

motivational Jesus or self-help Jesus or

life coach Jesus. This is the Christ who

created all things. All right. This is

the Christ who sustains all things. The

Christ before whom every atom of the

universe obeys. All right. The Christ in

whom all the fullness of God dwells

bodily. So now that we understand that

what we are about to read should smack

us in the mouth a bit because Paul is

about to tell us that that humanity that

we looked at that Christ

and we became hostile towards him and we

were enemies. So with that fun setup,

are you ready for the word? All right,

starting in verse 21, it says, "And you

were once alienated and hostile in your

minds because of your evil actions.

But now," two incredible words, but now

he has reconciled you by his physical

body through his death to present you

holy, faultless, and blameless before

him. If indeed you remain grounded and

steadfast in the faith and are not

shifted away from the hope of the gospel

that you heard, this gospel has been

proclaimed in all creation under heaven.

And I, Paul, have become a servant of

it. Now I rejoice in my sufferings for

you, and I am completing in my flesh

what is lacking in Christ's afflictions

for his body, that is the church. I have

become its servant according to God's

administration that was given to me for

you to make God's message fully known.

The mystery hidden for ages and

generations, but now revealed to his

saints. God wanted to make known among

the Gentiles the glorious wealth of this

mystery, which is Christ in you, the

hope of glory. We proclaim him, warning

and teaching everyone with all wisdom,

so that we may present everyone mature

in Christ. I labor for this, striving

with his strength that works powerfully

in me. For I want you to know how great

a struggle I have for you. For those in

Leodysia and for all who have not seen

me in person, I want their hearts to be

encouraged and joined together in love

so that they may have all the riches of

assured understanding and have the

knowledge of God's mystery, Christ. All

the treasures of wisdom and knowledge

are hidden in him.

What a passage.

And so church, I I want to start by if

you've been at Key Church for any amount

of time, at some point you have probably

heard myself, Pastor Luke, someone bring

up the man, the myth, the legend, CS

Lewis. At some point CS Lewis, uh was a

great author and thinker. Uh he is

author of a lot of amazing works. My my

personal favorites are Mere

Christianity, the Screw Tape Letters,

and his reflections on the Psalms. But

what he is probably most known for is

the book series The Chronicles of

Narnia. All right. And The Chronicles of

Narnia has one book in particular that

is the most popular, and it is The Lion,

the Witch, and the Wardrobe. And some of

y'all right now are like, "There are

books. I only saw the movie." Yes.

Yes. U The Lion, the Witch, and the

Wardrobe. And so, for those that might

be unfamiliar with the story, spoiler

alert, it's basically the gospel. Okay.

Um it's the gospel, but instead of

Jesus, there's a lion uh named Alan. All

right? And and Alan is what CS would

call a supposition of Christ. So uh

Alan's not a metaphor for Jesus. He is

literally a a supposition of Christ,

which means CS literally sat down and

said, "Let's suppose Jesus were a lion.

What would that be like?" And that's

where we get Alan. So as we dive into

the story, we see that there are four

siblings, one of whom's named Edmund.

And Edmund doesn't just make a little

mistake. Edmund doesn't just have a a

little mess up. Edmund ends up on

purpose betraying his entire family. He

sides with the villain of the story, the

White Witch. He lies to his loved ones.

He manipulates people, turns people

against uh uh he he turns against people

who love him. And the thing that makes

Edmund's story so powerful is it's not

just that he messed up and he sinned.

It's about who he did it against.

He betrayed his brother and his sisters,

the people that were actively trying to

rescue him. And eventually, Edmund

realizes something that's terrifying,

and it is that his betrayal carries a

price with it.

We see the white witch invoke what C.

Lewis would call the deep magic, and

that it is that justice demands payment

for treason, that a traitor belongs to

the witch, and therefore blood is

required. And in one of the most

powerful moments in the story, Alan

steps forward and the innocent one, this

innocent king offers himself in place of

the guilty one, in place of the one who

was actively his enemy throughout the

story. Alan steps in and dies for the

traitor, not just some random person,

but someone who was actively his enemy.

And as you read or watch Alan get mocked

and shaved and beaten and humiliated the

entire time, you think to yourself, he

this he does not deserve this. This is

not supposed to be him. Edmmond was the

one who deserved this. Edmond was the

one who betrayed his family and sided

with the enemy and and fell victim to

that temptation. And what? It's not

supposed to be Alen. It's supposed to be

Edmund.

But Alan willingly takes his place. And

the reason why that story can hit so

deeply is because deep down we we know

the truth about it. We know that

betrayal deserves judgment and that

rebellion carries consequences and that

guilt creates a debt. And what

Colossians is confronting with us today

is something even more staggering than

the story of Narnia. Because in case you

haven't put the pieces together

yourself, we are Edmund.

We are Edmund. Except we're not hostile

towards a fictional Lion King. Our

hostility was against the God who made

everything, including us. And then we

see in verse 21, you were once alienated

and hostile in your minds because of

your evil actions.

Church, that that is scripture

diagnosing our humanity apart from

Christ.

The diagnosis is not uh we are

spiritually wounded people who just need

some encouragement.

The diagnosis is not we are uh somewhat

you know like morally neutral people who

just need some guidance.

The diagnosis is that we were alienated

hostile enemies of God. And let's be

real with each other this morning. Most

of us don't naturally think about sin

that way. At least not our sin that way.

Okay? We we like to shrink it. We like

to soften it. We like to rename it and

reframe it and try to do anything we can

to make ourselves feel better about it.

Some of y'all aren't buying it. All

right, let's let's let's look at some

things then. We like to do things like

we like to call pride. I'm just so

self-confident, you know. I just I have

a lot of self-confidence.

Or um you know, our l my lust is really

it's my struggle. You know, it's my you

know, it's my struggle.

Our greed we like to reframe as ambition

which he I know wouldn't exist in

Windermir but hypothetically speaking

we talk about gossip and we say that's

just my way to process things

is to talk about other people's problems

and issues in lives and we talk about

living in disobedience but we actually

we we call it living my truth

and while we do that scripture says that

our sin is fundamentally causing mic

rebellion against the perfect and holy

God.

And I need us to understand that Paul is

talking here not to the worst of the

worst like pagan warlords of the time.

All right? He he's not speaking to the

Gangghaskhans and Aolf Hitlers of

history. He is talking to ordinary

people.

And when we understand he's just talking

to ordinary people, that means that

hostility towards God does not look

violent and extreme. But sometimes

instead hostility towards God wears

really nice church clothes and comes to

the 10:00 gathering

or maybe the 8:15.

Sometimes hostility to God says, "I want

God to be near enough to bless me, but

like don't don't be close enough to

where you start confronting me." Or, "I

I want forgiveness, but I I'm not ready

to fully surrender." or I I'm willing to

accept the salvation that I believe

Jesus brings. But the holiness that I

know I'm supposed to like aspire to,

that's a little much.

And that is all still hostility. And

this matters for us because you cannot

fully understand the glory of what it

means to be reconciled to God until we

understand the horror of our alienation

from him. We cannot marvel at his grace

if we think our sin is something that is

small.

The cross, church. The cross was ne not

necessary because humanity had some

flaws.

The cross was necessary because humanity

was dead in our sin and hostile towards

God. But then Paul gives us the two most

hopeful words of transition in the

entire New Testament. He says, "But now,

but now he has reconciled you by his

physical body through his death." And I

want to move past that too quickly. I

want us us to sit in the beauty of that

reassurance that this passage is saying

the God we rebelled against is who moved

towards us.

Do you notice how Paul said that? He

said that he has reconciled you. Not you

reconciled yourself.

Not you spiritually invol evolved or you

climbed your way back to God, but that

God was the one who initiated the

reconciliation.

God moved first.

That word reconciled, if you don't know

what it means, it's an incredibly rich

word. And it it means that there is

peace after having hostility, that there

is a restored relationship. This is not

just God saying, "Fine, I'll tolerate

these sinners."

This is God restoring enemies back into

fellowship with himself.

And Paul is intentional here too by

saying by his physical body and we'll

probably get into this some next week I

believe. But he brings this up. This

matters because there were false

teachers in in Colossia at the time that

were beginning to try and diminish the

physical nature of Jesus.

Uh there's this early agenosticism that

had crept in to the culture and it was

essentially this teaching that physical

matter was something that was beneath

God. that the spiritual was was was good

and the physical was evil. And so

salvation was just escaping the physical

world and and they they wanted the

spirituality of Christ, but they didn't

necessarily want the incarnation of

Christ. And Paul is saying, "No,

this was a real body that bled, real

hands that were pierced, real thorns

that cut into a real forehead, and real

blood that hit the dirt beneath a real

cross."

And so the point I I'm I'm r bringing

this up for is because do not buy the

lie that Christianity is some sort of

spiritually abstract thing.

It's not. It is rooted in a historical

event that is the crucifixion and

resurrection of Jesus Christ.

And we need to also understand and

recognize that reconciliation came

through death. It did not come through

good vibes or inspiration or positive

thinking or self-discovery. It came

through death. Death on the cross. That

the cross is not something that is

decorative.

It is substitutionary. Jesus died in the

place of his enemies.

Y'all understand how wild that is? That

the scandal of our faith

is that the offended God is also the

saving God.

And the goal of that reconciliation,

Paul tells us in the latter half of

verse 22, the goal of that

reconciliation is to present you holy,

faultless, and blameless before him. So

to present you holy, that means to

present you set apart for God.

And faultless and blameless, you have no

spot, no blemish, no accusation on you

in the courtroom of heaven.

One verse earlier, these are the people

described as hostile enemies of God,

but now being presented spotless,

blameless, holy.

How?

Let me tell you what it's not. It's not

because they're impressive. It's not

because they became religious enough or

because uh they they earned some level

of righteousness, but because Christ's

righteousness had completely covered

them.

church. There there are some in here

right now and you are attempting to

stand before God holding your own

record,

your own morality. Look at my church

attendance. Look at my good behavior and

reputation and and how I, you know, I I

I share Bible stories on Instagram.

The gospel says, "Your only hope, our

only hope before a holy God is Christ."

That's it. That is our hope.

And then in verse 23, Paul says, 'If

indeed you remain grounded and steadfast

in the faith and are not shifted away

from the hope of the gospel that you

heard, this gospel has been proclaimed

in all creation under heaven and I,

Paul, have become a servant of it.

So that language about remaining

grounded and steadfast and not shifted,

sometimes people can twist that into

thinking that Paul's talking about what

what you're doing, you're you're earning

your salvation. He is not talking about

salvation by works, but he is teaching

that genuine faith will persevere.

That real faith stays rooted in Christ.

The language here is literally supposed

to invoke this imagery of being

deeprooted and grounded and immovable.

And he's bringing that up because again,

there were false teachers trying to pull

the Colossians away from the belief that

Jesus alone was enough.

These false teachers are trying to tell

them, "Jesus is good, but you need

more." You got you got to add some stuff

in there. Like Jesus is good, but

there's some other spiritual experiences

you need to have and and there's some

secret knowledge and some mystical

insights and other religious systems

that you can maybe plug Jesus into. And

again, this is a spirit that is very

much alive and well today. Satan is

great at PR. You know that like he runs

the same few plays and he just

repackages them.

>> Nothing is new under the sun.

Culture constantly telling us Christ is

not enough. So we like to run everywhere

else looking for meaning.

And if I if I call anything out here in

the next few seconds, just know like

it's the it's the book. All right? It's

the book. It's like don't get mad at me.

Take it up with the Lord. But we we like

to run to places like, you know, Christ

might not be enough for me. So, let me

lean on, you know, like, okay, like I'll

pray God help me with this, but also

like I I'm gonna manifest this for

myself,

which like how arrogant and also lame of

a God could we be? Let me manifest

self-help spirituality. Lord, let me I I

I you know, I got Jesus, but also like

how can I make me a better me? Or I have

Jesus, but also like let me fill in the

blanks with my political ideology

because my my candidate is in Jesus, you

know, or my identity, yes, is in Christ,

but also my sexual identity is really at

the core of who I am. power. I have

Christ, yes, but also like there's all

of the success and and the platforms

that I have and that I want to have and

so many other things that promise

fullness and leave us empty.

And so, church, if you hear nothing,

hear this. You do not outgrow the

gospel. You do not outgrow the gospel.

The crucifixion and resurrection, the

gospel of Jesus is not Christianity 101.

It is the entire thing. the the whole

thing.

I have been victim to buying into that

lie. By the way, I just want to like

self self-own and repent of that in

front of y'all. Like the number of times

I have found myself being like, "Oh,

another message about like the

crucifixion and resurre that's it.

That's the point."

One of the greatest dangers to the

modern church and modern Christians is

that many people will start with Jesus

then slowly drift towards some form of

self-centered spirituality where we can

use our Christian words but Christ is no

longer central anymore.

And Paul says, "Do not move from the

hope of the gospel because there is

nowhere better to go. There is nowhere

better to go." And then we see Paul kind

of take a a bit of a left turn in verse

24 and he brings up this idea of his

suffering. He says, 'I rejoice in my

sufferings for you. I am completing in

my flesh what is lacking in Christ's

afflictions for his body, that is the

church. And this right here is probably

one of the more uncomfortable and

confrontational verses specifically for

American Christianity. Okay? Because

Paul is connecting joy and suffering in

the same sentence. Not comfort and joy,

we love that at Christmas.

not success and joy,

but suffering and joy. He's he's doing

this because Paul understood something

that we can so easily and often forget

that the gospel advances through

sacrifice. The gospel advances through

sacrifice.

And then he says something really weird.

He says that he is filling up in my

flesh what is lacking in Christ's

afflictions. Lacking in Christ Whoa.

Paul's

a radical guys. No, we need to make sure

we understand what that Paul is saying

not that Christ's death was

insufficient. He's not saying that the

cross fully accomplished salvation.

Jesus said it is finished, not it's

almost finished. So, what does Paul mean

here? He means that Christ's people

continue to suffer as the gospel

advances.

That's what he's talking about. That

those two things are not mutually

exclusive, even though we like to treat

them like they are. The people of God

suffer, the gospel advances.

We can so easily fall victim to the

negative of the world and all of a

sudden we're like, well, I guess the

kingdom of God is just gone now and we

lose. I don't know if you know this,

like our God doesn't lose. Do we are we

aware of that? Like Paul is writing to

the the church where in the same century

many of them in the greatest empire

known to man, the Roman Empire will get

turned into torches to light the

courtyard for Nero. And the Roman Empire

is gone.

Christianity continued to advance across

the world. And we can see that over and

over and over again throughout history.

Even now, our brothers and sisters all

around the world suffering, real

suffering.

And the gospel is advancing.

Christ still identifies with his church

so deeply that the suffering of his

people is connected to him. If you're

familiar at all with Acts chapter 9,

Acts 9 · chapter mention

when the risen Christ confronts this

very same Paul when he was still going

by Saul and attempting to murder and

persecute and jail Christians on his way

to Damascus, he meets Saul and says,

"Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting

me?"

Notice Jesus is not saying, you know, my

people or or my church, but me. We need

to understand that ministry,

it costs something.

We need to understand that following

Jesus costs something that real

Christianity is not something that we

can casually do. And if you are casual

about it, it might not be real

Christianity

because honestly many many modern

especially western believers believe

that you know we we want a Christianity

that costs us nothing.

I mean gosh

time change happens and it's like well

we'll see who comes to church today. You

know that hour of sleep, you know, man,

the persecution's real.

No sacrifice, no discomfort, no

holiness, no surrender, no death to

self.

But Jesus, he never called us as his

people to admire him. He never called us

to look up to him. He never called us to

read his words and talk about how

awesome he is. He called us to die with

him, death to self.

And Paul says in verse 25, I've become

its servant. meaning the church's

servant, not a celebrity or an

influencer. He is the servant of the

church. And he says that he labors to

make the word of God fully known. And

church, that is all of our tasks. The

task of ministry is to proclaim Christ

fully. And if you are a follower of

Christ, you're a minister.

It is not just something that is on the

shoulders of people who wear the titles

of pastor or priest or or preacher. It

it is all of us. Our task, our only task

is to preach Christ. And then we get to

just an amazing moment in verse 27. So

in verse 26

says that the gospel has been this

mystery hidden for ages and generations,

but now has been revealed to us his

saints that God wants to make it known

to the Gentiles,

which is

Christ in you, the hope of glory.

church that should take our breath away.

This is not about the ideas about Jesus.

This isn't about a religious system

built around Jesus. This is Christ in

you. Union with Jesus. The Christian

life is not behavior modification

through your best human effort. It is

the living Christ dwelling in his people

through the Holy Spirit because Christ

is in us. Paul tells us that glory is

coming. Glory is coming. Which means the

current brokenness that we find

ourselves in is not the end of the

story. Again, this goes back to our God

doesn't lose.

Whatever suffering you find yourself

going through, that's not the end.

Whatever weakness you are struggling

with, that is not the end. Whatever sin

you are battling with, that is not the

end. Glory is coming.

And then Paul says in verse 28 that we

proclaim him.

Are y'all noticing the trend?

Him. It is all about Christ,

not you, not me. It's not about us.

It's not about what we want. It is not

about our happiness. We are not the main

character of the Bible.

It is about Christ, his supremacy, his

sufficiency, his glory. And so

therefore, we proclaim him.

We don't proclaim, "Look what I've

done." We don't even proclaim how great

our church is, how great this pastor is.

We proclaim Christ, his glory,

not just his principles.

We don't just proclaim his life advice

or all the fun little inspirational

quotes you can fit on a coffee mug or in

a biography, but Christ himself.

If Jesus is not central, this is no

longer Christianity.

we've stepped into something else, but

it's not Christianity if Christ is not

at the center. And then he says, we do

this warning and teaching everyone with

all wisdom, which we need to notice that

both of those are necessary, warning and

teaching, both truth and exhortation

because true love warns.

a preacher who will never warn their

people about sin or about judgment or or

about destruction. Like that that's not

a love that's biblical. Let me just tell

you, if you grew up in a church and

never heard about sin, they were not

loving you biblically. They were not

teaching you biblically.

That's what scripture would call the

tickling of your ears, but that's for

another message. And Paul says that the

ultimate goal is to present everyone

mature in Christ.

mature. That means whole. That means

complete, fully formed in Jesus. Not

shallow Christians that get tossed

around by the culture.

Church, that means, and this is the hard

truth of this, and I I prayed over this,

and I pray you hear the heart in this.

That means that for some of you, it is

time to grow up.

It is time to grow up. God's goal is not

merely that you would believe in Jesus.

It is that you would believe in Jesus

and become like Jesus.

And again, a great tragedy of the modern

church is that many people have been

Christians for years and you never grew

up.

supposed to be eating steak and potatoes

and you're still sitting on juice boxes

and formula.

Ruled by emotions, dominated by gossip,

controlled by your lust, spiritually

lazy, biblically illiterate, offended by

every hard truth, unable to handle any

sort of correction or confrontation,

still needing to be constantly engaged

and entertained if I want to engage with

God. And Paul says, "That is not

maturity. You're a baby

now. There's not supposed to be

perfection in the Christian life, but

there is supposed to be progression. You

should know Christ more deeply than you

did years ago. You should hate sin more

now than you did years ago. You should

love holiness more now than you used to.

You should be more stable or more

prayerful and more self-controlled now

than you used to be.

And some of us have confused our church

attendance with spiritual maturity. And

that is not the same thing.

>> You can sit in here every single week

for years and you could you can be 50

years my elder and never missed a Sunday

and still be a spiritual baby.

Because maturity is not measured by how

long you have attended church. Maturity

is measured by how deeply Christ has

formed you. And so the goal is mature

people in Christ, not cultural

Christians or shallow consumers or

people who we know the worship lyrics

but can't endure an ounce of suffering

or people who can be hyped up one week

and then we're spiritually dead the next

week but believers who are so deeply

rooted in Christ that we remain faithful

no matter what the world does around us.

Then we see in verse 29 he says I labor

for the striving with his strength. And

I love the balance Paul works in there

of saying like I am working hard. I am

striving. I am agonizing but not in my

own power in his strength.

I mean again if you follow Christ the

Christian life is exhausting if it

depends on you.

Like the Apostle Paul the author of most

of the New Testament is sitting here

like I can't do this on my own. How

arrogant do we have to be to be like nah

I got this.

And then as we step into the first few

verses of chapter 2, we see him say, "I

want you to know how greatly I am

struggling for you." Again, struggle.

Paul is fighting spiritually for these

believers. And what is he fighting for?

What does he want for them? He tells us

in verse two, "I want their hearts to be

encouraged and joined together in love."

Church, isolation is so dangerous.

One of Satan's greatest strategies is

the isolated Christian.

It is one of the great lies from the

pits of hell. That's the only place it

could have come from that says your

faith is something private and personal

between you and God. It's nowhere in the

book.

It's supposed to be public. It is

supposed to be communal. It's supposed

to be shared.

Disconnected believers become vulnerable

believers.

And Paul wants a church and Christ wants

a bride that is knitted together in

truth and in love.

And then he says, 'I want them all to

have all the riches of full assurance.

That full assurance. He wants you to

have full assurance. Not a shallow

confidence, but a deeply rooted

certainty in Christ. And where is that

found? How in the world can you find

that type of assurance? He says in verse

two, in the knowledge of God's mystery,

Christ

is the mystery revealed. That there is

not any secret enlightenment. There is

no hidden spirituality. There is no

elite religious experience that you can

hope or get or curate for yourself. It

is all about Christ.

And then we conclude this time together

today in verse three where Paul says in

him are hidden all the treasures of

wisdom and knowledge. Paul's entire

point here is that everything you are

searching for.

That person you you are in here and you

are looking for you don't even know what

you're looking for. Everything you are

searching for is found in Jesus. All of

your meaning, all of your purpose, all

of your identity, all wisdom, all truth,

all hope, all peace, all salvation, it

is all in Christ. The world keeps

promising hidden treasures somewhere

beyond Christ. And Paul says there is

nothing beyond him because all the

treasure is in him.

>> There's nothing else.

>> And so, church, after all of this, the

question sitting before each and every

one of us is this. What are you doing

with Jesus? What are you doing with

Jesus? Because Paul has made it

overwhelmingly clear to all of us in

this passage that apart from Christ,

we're alienated from God, hostile in our

minds, enemies by our actions. But

through the death of Jesus,

reconciliation became possible. Peace

with God is possible, forgiveness is

possible, transformation is possible,

maturity is possible, hope is possible.

Why?

Because Christ is enough.

Not because Christ plus your

performance.

This is the best news.

We have nothing to do. It is Christ.

Not Christ plus our effort. Not Christ

plus how good your image is. Christ

alone. That's it.

And so maybe today the Holy Spirit is

exposing something in you right now.

First, you're realizing that your sin is

not small, and you have spent years

minimizing what God actually clearly

calls rebellion.

Maybe today you realize you've been

playing church without ever actually

surrendering to Christ.

You know the Christian lingo and the

worship songs and how to look religious,

but underneath it all, you have still

been living essentially as your own God.

And today and always, the invitation of

the gospel is not clean yourself up

first. Praise God. The invitation of the

gospel is come to Christ. Come to

Christ.

And the same Jesus that you and I sinned

against is the Jesus that stretched his

hands out for you and I.

The same one.

And so for some of you, you need to stop

pretending and genuinely surrender to

Jesus. not not an emotional moment, not

a temporary decision, not something that

you do to like look good for the people

around you, but complete surrender.

For others, maybe you're you're a

believer, but the spirit of God has been

convicting you throughout all of this.

You you've realized, I I've grown a

little spiritually stagnant.

I've become comfortable in my walk. I'm

I'm more immature than I'm supposed to

be.

Maybe you realize you're I'm casual with

my sin. I've been distant in my prayer

life. I've been called towards this idea

of holiness and being made to be more

like Christ.

And today the invitation is repentance.

Not because God hates you. We think go

repentance is some evil mean thing. It's

because God loves you too much to leave

you shallow.

Paul said the goal was to present people

mature in Christ. And that means some of

us need to stop playing games and grow

up spiritually.

Stop treating sin casually and

compartmentalizing and hiding and

resisting conviction.

And so in a moment when we step back

into worship, the altar is going to be

open. And I want you to hear this.

There's nothing divine or, you know,

special about the like the carpet up

here. You know, it's not like the Holy

Spirit only exists within 5t from the

platform or anything like that. He can

meet you in your chair just as much as

he can meet you here.

But there is something about sometimes

your body needs to respond to what God's

doing in your heart. There needs to be

physical action behind what's happening

spiritually. And so some of you maybe

you need to come down and receive

prayer. I you need someone to pray with

you, pray for you, pray alongside you,

pray over you. Some of you you need to

repent. There are things that you need

to lay down before the Lord.

Some of you need need to lay sin down.

Some of you need to stop carrying your

shame alone.

Some of you need to just fully surrender

your life to Christ for the first time.

And so let's pray for that together.

Father, I pray

first for each and every one of us from

the youngest to oldest.

The person who's been coming to church

their whole life and has been following

you for years versus the person this is

their first time stepping into church

and hearing about Jesus maybe ever.

Lord, would you help all of us

understand Jesus? You are enough,

Jesus. You are everything.

And so, in particular, for those that

have not put their faith in Christ

before, if you're someone that you're

for the first time realizing my sin, my

rebellion against God, it is not

something that's small. It's not just a

little thing. And I've been trying to

handle that on my own and just be a

better version of me. And I keep trying

and failing. Let me just tell you the

good news of the gospel is that God

moved first. You do not need to clean

yourself up to come to him. He expected.

He knew he he knew every sin that I

would commit that you would commit and

he went to the cross anyways.

And the good news isn't that he just

went to the cross, but that he rose

again. And so if you're someone for the

first time saying, "I I acknowledge my

sin before a holy God.

I recognize Christ for being who he said

he was, dying a death I deserve, being

raised back to life three days later.

And I want the freedom that comes with

that. I want the freedom that comes with

that forgiveness and following him. If

that's you, with every head bowed and

eye closed, just so I know who I'm

praying for and praying with, can you

just put your hand up so I can pray for

you? Pray with you. There are hands up.

Praise God. There is salvation in the

room today.

Jesus, I thank you for the boldness to

Even just putting a hand up, I know

sometimes can be terrifying, but God,

you did not create us to have private

relationship with you,

but instead you called us to publicly

acknowledge you. And so, Lord, I pray

that you would meet each and every young

man and woman,

oldest to youngest that I see putting

their hand up all over the room right

now. Lord,

Holy Spirit, would you fill them?

Would you change them? would you change

us? And God, I pray for everyone else in

this room, every single one of us, Lord.

Whatever things we might be carrying

with us, whatever areas of our life, we

realize that we've minimized our sin or

maybe we've minimized you.

Anywhere where we see that you are not

the center of everything anymore. God,

would you help us recognize that? Shine

a light on that. Expose that for us.

And Lord, may you put those thoughts and

th those those feelings into action.

Would you mobilize feet to come and lay

that down at the altar to pray alongside

one another to pray for one another.

And may whatever we lay down at the

altar,

just like a real altar, may it stay on

that altar because we killed it down

there.

Jesus, I thank you for your word. I

thank you. Jesus, I thank you that

you're enough.

We thank you. We ask you for all of

this. It is in your name I pray. Amen.