Work In Christ

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Good morning, church.

If you got a Bible, go ahead and open that to Colossians chapter 1.

Colossians 1 · chapter mention

And we are continuing our rooted series.

Today is work in Christ.

So, Pastor, but it's Sunday.

I'm off.

Well, we're going to define work two ways in this scripture through suffering and serving.

And so turn your Bibles to Colossians chapter 1.

Colossians 1 · chapter mention

It's been a good week.

Well, we're going to jump right in this morning.

Colossians chapter 1, and uh look down there at verse 24, and the first thing we'll look at as far as work with the two defining terms, suffer and serve.

Colossians 1 · chapter mention

Number one this morning is suffering for the cause of Christ.

And I want to read verse 24 of Colossians 1.

And it says, 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.

There was a fellow driving in Texas, and a New Yorker collided with a truck that was carrying a horse.

A few months later, he tried to go to a lawyer and to collect damages for his suffering.

He said, How can you now claim to have all these injuries?

Well, after the fact, and according to the police report at the time, you said you were not hurt.

And he said this.

I was lying on the road, bloody and suffering, and I heard someone say the horse had broken its leg.

Next thing I know, this Texas Ranger came up and shot the horse.

Then he turns to me with a scowl on his face and he says, Are you okay?

Are you suffering?

You know, suffering is not a popular term.

Nor is work sometimes.

Not a popular thought.

People do all they can to avoid suffering.

If you ask people about the way that they're going to pass from this life to the next, off you will hear, I don't care as long as I don't suffer.

It's perplexing that we're told in Matthew, blessed, happy are those who are persecuted.

What does that mean?

Because we sure don't like suffering.

The Nicene Council met fourth century A.D.

It was a pivotal church meeting for the foundation of the furtherance of Christianity, and in that meeting there were 318 delegates.

The estimate of those delegates, listen to this, 300 and 6 out of 318 had lost an eye, had lost a hand, or limped on a leg, lamed by torture for their Christian faith.

Suffering for Jesus Christ, this side of heaven, Scripture says is a blessing.

To understand that, let's get some help from Paul this morning in Colossians.

Let me pray.

Father, we love you and we thank you for the opportunity we have to understand your word better today.

Thank you for every person that is in a seat in this building, your house.

Lord, your word says it's better to be a doorkeeper here than a CEO any place.

Lord, we're thankful to be in your house.

Now we ask, Lord, for a double portion of your spirit to fall on us.

God, if we come in here and we don't get moved by Jesus Christ, then we have had another tradition, another habit.

And God, we don't need that.

We need to meet with you.

So God, I pray you bless and help us understand what it means to work in Christ this morning.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Letter A this morning is this exalting the source for our suffering.

Exalting the source.

I want you to go back to verse 15 through 18 and let's read there.

Look at what it says.

We're talking about the source.

Paul goes back and he talks about why he would go on to suffer.

Verse 15 says, He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation, for by him all things were created that are in earth.

Highlight that, circle that, underline that, if that's your way with your Bible, that's important information.

That he, through Jesus Christ, all things were created.

Visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created through him and for him.

And he is before all things, and in him all things consist.

And he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he may have preeminence.

I want you to understand some things that I said as we get rooted, we're going to get deeper.

So I'm going to unpack a few theological terms this morning.

If you like that, write it down.

If you don't, this would be a good time for you to take a small nap.

But here we go.

Okay?

Verse 19, it says, for it pleased the Father that in him, Jesus, all the fullness should dwell.

Okay.

This is a picture of what we call the Trinity.

Okay?

The Trinity.

Jesus exists in a Trinity.

Okay?

Jesus is God.

Okay?

The Holy Spirit is God.

The Father is God.

Jesus is called the Imago Deo, which is Jesus is God, the image of God.

Hullinger said it this way: He is the visible representation and manifestation of God the Father.

If you don't believe in the Trinity of God today, we are not on the same page.

Okay?

McFarland said this about it.

The Trinity, although it's beyond human reason, is not unreasonable.

So I tried my best to think this week.

How can we give an idea of what the Trinity is like?

And the Lord gave me a vision of Ella playing piano.

Okay?

So how can we understand the Trinity, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, that are three distinct things that work together as one essence, one thing.

So, Ella, if you would play for us three keys, could you do C, E, and G key?

Would you do that?

Are you all on heard that, right?

Three keys?

They all sound different, correct?

You do it one more time.

We want to make sure these are different keys.

Do it again.

Everybody got that, right?

That all sounded different.

But when she plays those three keys together, it makes what's called in music a C major chord.

Can you play them all together at once?

One thing, right?

That was one sound, am I correct?

Let's do it one more time to make sure we got that.

One sound.

Y'all give it up for Ella?

The Trinity of God is distinct in functions, but one God.

Everybody understand that?

One God, Jesus Christ, God.

This is vital to all we confess.

And so I want everybody to understand, as Scripture brings it up, that's not the whole point of this text, but it came through in that scripture.

I want you to understand that Jesus was with God at the beginning of creation, and he was a part of all that was created.

And so we see the Trinity.

Many accuse Christianity, here's a big word if you like it, of polytheism because we talk about the Trinity.

Meaning we believe in many gods.

Okay?

We don't believe in many gods.

We believe in three distinct uh personalities that form one God.

From the very beginning, in Deuteronomy 6.4, it says, Hero Israel, the Lord our God is one God.

Okay?

So we believe in one God.

That word is monotheistic.

That means one God.

Belief that there is one God, monotheistic.

And that is what we believe.

And it's important that we understand that because what people believe about Jesus Christ and about his being or not being God will determine if you're following proper or improper doctrine.

It will determine the course of many cults what they believe about Jesus Christ.

And so we believe in this one God.

Well, why does that matter today, Pastor?

Well, it matters because of this Colossian heresy that we're going to unpack, and that atheism has hovered at 4% for decades.

That's the belief that there is no God, which is ridiculous.

To say I believe that there is no God is to admit that there is something that I don't believe in, which would be God.

Okay?

So, anyhow, atheism says that there is no God, 4% for decades.

Let me tell you, among millennials and Gen Z right now, that number has risen to 20%.

Do we think that it's important for everybody in the room to understand that Jesus is God?

Absolutely.

Because if there is room for Jesus not being God, then there is room for an extinction of God altogether.

It's vital to all that we believe.

Paul is so blunt here because he was willing to put his life on the line to fight against the evil teaching of a non-divine Jesus.

Against Jesus was a good man.

He fought against that.

Jesus was a good rabbi.

He fought against that, or Jesus was just a good prophet.

I want you to look at verse 16 and 17 again.

For by him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible, invisible, whether thrones, dominions, principalities, powers, all things were created through him and for him.

And he is before and in him.

All things exist.

And so Paul was contented to suffer because Jesus was his source.

He was willing to fight because everything is in and for and by and through him, it says.

Y'all hear me?

He is the source, source of what?

Everything goes back to the source.

So I was, I went down a rabbit hole this week trying to study about this source that Paul was willing to go after, and it took me to, uh, and we're gonna see a picture here, you can keep that up for a minute.

It took me, it started me here.

So I looked at my power cord and I looked at where it plugged into, and that took me to an electrical outlet.

And then I thought about that electrical outlet, and I thought, well, that's gotta have a power source somewhere.

And so I thought about where that outlet went, and I thought, that has to go somewhere through this building outside to a power line.

And I thought, well, where does that power line go?

That power line goes to a power line that goes to a power line that goes to a power line that goes to a power line that goes to a power station.

You should see a picture of a power station there.

That power station then takes power from all those places, and it comes in through a transformer and a generator that then goes into a turbine, and that turbine is then taken to an original source of fuel.

So, how does this start?

Fossil fuels or coal all through this system that goes here that plugs into my phone, and now I can look on Google for answers to how we have power.

But I thought about that coal and those fossil fuels, and I thought, where did the power come from that?

Well, guess what?

It had to come from an original source, it was created, and so all power comes from this source.

This source, it all goes back to Jesus Christ, the source of all things, all creation.

He's the source of all power.

We're made in the image of our source.

You are drawn to your source, you are homesick for your source.

If you came in here without him today, your heart has an empty hole that seeks your source.

And so everything is by him, through him, and for him.

And we give him purpose in our source and passion in our source.

And so everything that has ever been created, including you and me, is seeking to fulfill that need for our source.

And we go through a lot of lines sometimes, a lot of chains, but what we're really trying to get back to is our source.

Our belief in the Colossians in this affects various other things.

Okay.

If Jesus Christ is God, let me tell you a few things that happen.

We then have a created universe, not evolutionary.

Can I get an amen?

It's his.

If Jesus is God, then this book is completely inspired.

It's not Mother Goose, it's not a fairy tale.

No one the ark is not a pretty little story for your kids.

If this, if Jesus is God, then this book is totally inspired.

If Jesus is God, then he is the head of this church, the establishment that he created.

If Jesus is God, we are to suffer persecution and be blessed in so doing.

That's an important thought.

Because a lot of times we think about life like, how can I get through without the struggle?

But when we look at Jesus as the source, I hope that today you'll leave believing.

It's okay when I struggle if I struggle for the right things.

Paul asserts Jesus' supremacy over all things.

And he said, through all physical creation, he is the source.

I want you to look over at Ephesians chapter 4.

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

Turn there for just a moment.

Ephesians 4, 12 through 16.

I want you to see what it says.

It says, for the equipping of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all, listen to this, come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

That we, listen to this, should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the trickery of men.

What was happening in Colossians?

This very thing.

They were being deceived in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting.

But speak the truth in love, that we may grow up in all things unto him who is the head, Christ, from whom the whole body joined and knit together, by which every joint supplies according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causing growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

And so he's saying, You work in Christ, you suffer in Christ, you do all these things in Christ for the equipping we are to mature, grow deeper, get rooted so that we're not tossed around, it says, like children.

I love this illustration because at my house, I am the heavyweight champion of the world undisputed against my boys.

And I can pick them up and toss them into a bed real easy.

And I love it.

And I'm gonna miss it when this stage comes and goes, but I know this.

At Dunsmore, 1058, I am the champ.

The champ is here, folks.

Okay, right here.

And so I can understand when he says, if we don't grow up and understand this Jesus being God, the supremacy, the source, then when we suffer, we're gonna be like tossed to and fro like a child.

It's gonna throw us off all over the place.

And when something happens that we don't like, persecution, if we're not rooted in Jesus Christ and this understanding of who He is, we might just leave the faith.

We might just leave the church.

We just might get tossed around like a very light child.

Lack of rooting does this, immaturity does this.

By the way, just because you're older and been a Christian for a while, does not make you mature.

It takes a depth of living this life out.

Some people, though, I do understand this from living enough life.

Some people, by age alone, because of maturation, aren't gonna do certain things.

Right?

If I got this rooted enough in me, if I've lived enough, maybe I'm just not gonna do certain things.

Some of y'all are like this.

There's certain things you're not gonna do.

Some people here today like, I'm not getting in an ocean.

I've lived enough life and I don't want to do it.

Okay, I'm gonna tell you, I'm just gonna confess today, I'm not eating tuna.

If it stinks before it gets in this mouth, I might not eat it.

I've lived long enough to know I don't like that.

Okay?

I've matured to understand that.

But he says there in Ephesians 4.60, we're all the body.

And we're led by the supreme.

Here's the word, the head of the church he uses.

The word is kephala.

Kephilah, and that is the husband of the church, the cornerstone of the church.

And I know some men here just bucked up, like, yeah, that's right.

The husband of the church.

I like that, Pastor.

Go on.

Well, I will.

I was thinking this week.

You that like the term husband, I was thinking, Heather as a good husband, Heather, I told you, she makes me watch some musicals.

And one of the early ones that I watched was called Fiddler on the Roof.

Any of y'all watch this?

Okay, it's long, but it's it, listen, there's a I'm gonna I'ma admit it, there's some funny parts to this movie.

Let me explain one.

Okay.

This husband comes, his name is Tevia, and his wife is Golda.

And Golda sees Tevya coming.

He had just got done working, he wanted to go see something.

And she says, Tevya, let's go home.

It's time for dinner.

And he says, Woman, I want to see Model's machine.

And she says, No, let's go home.

Dinner is waiting.

And he says, I want to see her new machine, woman.

Do not make me angry, because when I get angry, flies do not even dare to fly.

And she says, Oh, I'm very afraid.

After dinner, I'll just go faint.

And he says, I am the head of the family, I'm the head of this house.

I want to see model's new machine, so I will see his machine.

And he springs open this door, he looks in and he says, We will go home now, just as I said.

Like he really got his way there.

Well, I thought about that.

We think about this husbandry sometimes, and I need you to understand scripturally, it's all in Team Jesus.

He is the head of the body, he is the head of the church.

And our marriage is now leaning into that source, that power.

And if the body suffers, the body suffers for the source.

At CCW, we have a pastor, a council, a serve team, connect groups, leaders equipped, but we are all part of one body serving the same source.

Jesus alone, he was source as creator.

Well, not only as creator, but he is also the source at the cross.

We went over some of this last week, but we'll read through.

Look at verse 19 through 22.

For it pleased the Father that in him all the fullness should dwell, and by him, here it is, to reconcile all things to himself, whether things on earth, things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of his cross, and you who were once alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now he has reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and blameless and above reproach in his sight.

Jesus Christ, not only as creator, is the source, but at the cross.

And what it says here is that he reveals the Father through the cross and redeems us through the cross.

And because Jesus Christ is the source at the cross, we all have a destiny.

There's a destiny for the saved, there's a destiny for the sinner, and there's a destiny for Satan one day because of Jesus being the source.

Well, that takes us this morning to letter B.

I want you to look at letter B is evaluating suffering.

We looked at the source, but how about evaluating suffering?

Perhaps most significant in Paul's personal testimony is that he exhibits genuine love for people and the people he's writing his letters to.

And if you think about this letter, Paul is writing, as he's imprisoned wrongly, to a church at Colossae evaluating this testimony of suffering.

The voice of experience gives way to the writing.

And so when I was thinking through that, my wife can tell you about a scar.

Not just verbally tell you about a scar, but if you look on her arm, she has a big scar that goes.

From here to here, from a knife wound.

I know what y'all thinking.

Heather was in a gang.

Dang, she's cold-blooded.

No.

Her brother chased her around in their kitchen and he got her when they were young.

It's crazy, right?

And she has a scar to prove.

I have a crooked nose.

I have a spot right here on my eye that had stitches, and you can look close enough and see the wear from that fight.

For 30 years, I've been telling people something that I know for a fact.

I know what a fight feels like.

Not everybody does.

I know what a broken nose feels like.

I know what a busted up eye is like.

I know what blood all over my face is like.

So, Paul, as he's evaluating suffering, I think Paul kind of understands.

I want you to look at 2 Corinthians for a second.

So when Paul talks about evaluating suffering, I think Paul has a leg to stand on.

Look at 2 Corinthians 11, starting in verse 23.

He says, in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prison more frequently, in deaths often.

From the Jews, five times I received forty stripes minus one.

Three times I was beaten with rods.

Once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked.

A night and a day I have been in the deep, in the journeys often, in perils of waters, and perils of robbers, and perils of my own countrymen, and perils of the Gentiles, and perils in the city, and perils in the wilderness, and perils in the sea, and perils among false brethren, in weariness and toil, and sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, and fastings often, in cold and nakedness, besides the other things what comes upon me daily, my deep concern for all the churches, who is weak, and I am not weak, who is made to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation.

If I must boast, I will boast in the things which concern my infirmity.

The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed forever, knows that I'm not lying.

And Paul says, I've been through it.

I have the scars.

I have experienced all of these things.

I have suffered.

And you know what he brings it back to?

I have suffered for one thing.

Christianity, we say and we believe, is the greatest decision a person can make.

It impacts this life and the next life.

But I want to tell you this morning, it does not negate a problem.

We live in a fallen world, and it does not negate our problems.

As the world waxes, it can worsen.

So how, Pastor, do we do the next point?

Letter C.

How do we embrace and endure suffering?

Doesn't sound like something anybody's gonna go sign up at Infocentral for.

But yet the Bible says you're blessed, you're happy.

There's some people here that have been through cancer, and I don't take any of that lightly.

There's some people here who have lost someone.

There's some people here who have been through real depression, and it hurts and it stings.

And suffering, I understand, comes in all forms.

Verse 24, Paul said, I now rejoice in my sufferings.

Well, how is that?

James said this, James 1.12, blessed, happy is the man who perseveres under trial, having stood, the Lord has promised him a crown of life.

Somebody who I really respect went through a very, very difficult time, and I would not even begin to go through all that happened, but I was talking to this person and I was saying, I don't know how you've just been able to get through.

And they said to me, I came to the realization that this side of heaven, pain, is an opportunity for me to worship God that I'm not gonna get on the other side of heaven.

And I thought, hold on, wait a second.

Calculating.

I said, okay.

Because the Bible says when I go to heaven, there's no more tears, there's no more pain, there's no more trouble.

But this side of heaven, I've got an opportunity to do something for God that James just said, bless is the man that perseveres through.

He goes through the trial and on the other side.

And so what I came to understand is we get to worship God in a different way here on earth that we don't get in heaven by going through pain and suffering.

And I'm gonna talk about what pain and suffering does for the Christian in a few moments.

But as we go through it, some of you are in it.

And you had a week.

I had some people that I prayed with and talked to, and you had a week, and I know that it was like, God, is there, you know, can is there anything else?

Because this has been plenty.

And some of you have been through that and you walk through that and you went, man, God, this suffering is so much.

And then we hear somebody like James says, and and here's not only this life, but he says, if you persevere through, listen to this.

He says, one day in heaven, I don't know when the ceremony occurs, but there's a time where we get to lay down a crown at Jesus' feet for the way that we live this life.

And he says, Blessed are those that persevere through, and one day we'll have a crown to lay down at his feet for the suffering we did.

And so in this life we worship him differently, and at least one time in heaven, we'll get to give God a gift because of suffering.

Don't miss the weight of what that means for us.

An opportunity to lay down a crown.

The Bible says this that gold is purified through fire.

It is in the crucible of life that the melting and chiseling of impurities for us takes place.

God is making and defining and giving definition to you and me as Christians.

The other day, Weston sat, we were unloading the dishwasher.

You know when the dishwasher is just done, everything's really hot?

Weston gets a hot cup and sits it on my back.

Right?

He sits it on my back, and I turn around slowly, look at him, and he says, How?

How does that not bother you?

And I said, Weston, I've lived 32 more years than you.

I have a different means of understanding pain.

I can tolerate pain differently.

It doesn't affect me like it does you.

Hear me, church.

One of the ways that I know that I've grown spiritually in my life is when something goes wrong and I have not lost my mind.

Y'all with me?

There's some people I talked to this week, they had hot water heaters go out.

There's some people I talked to this week, their car broke down.

Some people I talked to this week that had schedules changed that weren't what they thought they were.

And how you respond to suffering shows some things about your character, some things about your growth, something I know about myself.

If the washer goes out this week, I'm not gonna lose it.

Like in my 20s.

And I thought, what are we gonna do?

We're gonna have dirty clothes.

We're gonna take these clothes to somebody else.

What are we gonna do, Heather?

You see, I've learned that pain is an opportunity.

And I even come to now, if something goes wrong with a car, I see this sounds crazy.

I go, well, that's awesome.

Because now I fix that.

I know that's not gonna go wrong.

That one's good for a little while, right?

The human experience is flawed, church.

But John 16, 33, on the other side of it, he promises us tribulation on the front part, and that's not a good part.

We said, in this life you'll have tribulation.

But he says, but be of good cheer.

I have overcome the world.

He's saying, This is temporary.

This is temporary.

We're getting to it.

It's temporary.

Stay with me.

James said this.

Oh, James.

James liked to run his mouth about this.

James said, consider it pure joy when you face trials and testings.

Faith works, patience, and patience, maturity.

And we're talking about getting in depth, but this one right here makes me want to slap James.

Consider a pure joy.

If I call you and I'm suffering and you say, Woo! That's awesome.

You're gonna tempt my hand.

Consider it pure.

Come on, James.

Talking about.

Verse 25 in Colossians, he says, 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.

He says, I suffered for a cause, and I serve for a cause.

Point two this morning is this serving for the cause of Christ.

He says there, according to the stewardship from God.

This was given to me.

I am a steward.

I am using this for God.

I am serving for Him.

Service is this definition of service, humbly putting the needs of others in place of high regard.

Are you a servant?

Matthew 20, 28.

Jesus said, The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve.

I remember early on as a youth pastor, this lady in her mid-40s, in regard to the nursery ministry, with a garbage statement.

And that's how I still feel about this garbage statement.

She said to me, Pastor Rick, I have done my time.

I ain't signing up.

Garbage is that statement.

I've also never forgotten the precious prayer warriors at Calvary Baptist Church.

90-year-old Dorothy Sturgis, who never crossed my path and would not pray a prayer over me.

Mary Blanton, who could barely walk, and would look me in the eye and say, Pastor, you're doing such a good job.

And she'd pray over me.

And I remember these people, the greatest funeral meals anyone ever had.

Maxine Raider and the two opals.

Now their bodies physically showed the results of a life.

Physical wear.

But those serving faces were some of the most beautiful faces I'd ever seen in my life.

Those ladies showed me more of Jesus Christ than most ever will.

And I hope one day when people will compare me to people that it won't be to John Piper or John MacArthur, but that they would say Pastor Rick prayed like Mary Blanton, like Dorothy Sturges, like Iris Grimes and Christy Wilson.

I pray that people will say about Pastor Rick that he worked like Maxine and the Opals and Miss Pam Amons.

I hope that they say Rick cared like Heather.

I hope that when people think about me, they think about a great servant.

I hope they say something like, You never knew when he was there, but you sure missed him when he wasn't.

You never more like Jesus than when you serve.

But why?

Why would Paul give his life to this?

Look at verse 26 and 27.

He says, why to the Colossians?

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.

Letter A this morning is this.

Chronicles of Narnia is a great mystery.

It takes you on an adventure in the mystery of Narnia.

Lucy Pevensey meets the fawn, Mr.

Tumnus.

And as they meet, he says, This is the land of Narnia.

And you have come from the wild woods of the west.

He says, It's winter in Narnia and has been ever so long.

Lucy says, I have come from the wardrobe in the spare room.

It's summer there.

To the fawn, this is a great mystery.

He says, daughter of Eve, from Spadoom, where summer is eternal in the bright city of wardrobe, will you come and have tea with me?

And it sets the stage for a great mystery.

Hold your thought there.

There's something deeply mysterious about Christian preaching in terms of content and communication.

If this is not true, for centuries people have lined up to hear about it.

Are you with me?

For all the people that want to doubt it and talk about it and get rid of it, for centuries people have lined up in places all over this country and all over the globe to hear about it.

And it's been a sellout, this book, over and over and over again.

There's a mystery, and the mystery for the Colossians is that before Jesus Christ was born, there was a coming Messiah for these people, an unknown, and for them it was of who and when and what and how.

And Paul said, I preach this mystery because it was hidden, and what he said here, but now it's been revealed.

The mystery has been shown to us, and we've seen it.

So how does Paul verify such a weighty remark?

How can Paul verify that this is true?

Well, 1 Corinthians 15, 8, he says, when he gives a list, we talked about this the other week, he gives a list of people that have seen Jesus Christ in the flesh, and he says in 1 Corinthians 15.8, and last of all, he was seen by me.

And we don't see anywhere in Scripture an encounter where we can come up with that Jesus and Christ were together, except on Damascus Road.

Now I don't know what that looked like.

It talks about the heavens open, and I don't know if Jesus in the flesh came, but this is what I do know.

Paul was on the road of Damascus to go and persecute Christians.

He was going to kill Christians.

You talk about a mystery.

Dateline has nothing on what happened.

What happened to Paul?

Going to murder Christians.

And then something struck.

What changed a Christian murderer?

Well, seeing and hearing love incarnate.

We know this.

I don't know about the encounter, but a bright light from heaven shone.

His eyes turned to scales.

And all of a sudden, because of the voice that called out to him, he says, Lord, what shall I do for you?

And immediately, someone who was walking this past, ready to kill Christians, heard, experienced love incarnate, and he said, I'm done with that.

From there forward, his life was brand new.

It never went back to that.

It's a mystery.

What happened?

Well, he experienced real and true love.

It's interesting.

I want you to look at 1 Corinthians chapter 9.

1 Corinthians 9 · chapter mention

Turn over there for a second.

What Paul says about his new life.

9, 19 through 23.

For the mystery of the gospel.

This gospel enraptured this man's heart so much that his walk, his life, everything changed.

And this is what he said after this.

For though I am a free man, free from all men, I have made myself a servant.

What are we talking about?

Serving for a cause.

To all that I might win the more.

And to the Jews, I'm become as a Jew, that I might win Jews.

To those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might win those under the law.

To those who are without the law, as without the law.

To the weak, I'm become as weak, that I might win the weak.

I become all things to all men that by all means some might be saved.

Now that I do for the gospel's sake.

Paul says it's for this mystery of the gospel.

It is for this gospel that I serve, that I'll give my life, that I'll take suffering, that I'll take persecution.

It is for this gospel that I serve.

If you look back in Narnia, Lucy has a brother named Edmund who enters the land.

He's enchanted by the evil witch and her offer of Turkish delight, which is comparative to an apple in the garden.

And Edmund can't get his mind off this offer of Turkish delight, and so he follows it and in so doing takes part in the witch's evil plan.

As they adventure, the family goes in with one thing in mind.

They have got to save their brother Edmund.

Rotten as Edmund is, they go through the land of Narnia and they find the great mystery found in the hope that is Aslan, the great lion.

Aslan is the hope.

Aslan is met with the evil witch.

The evil witch thrust through him with her dagger on the altar, taking Aslan's life, it would seem.

But Aslan, she didn't know, lived a perfect life, one without sin.

And because Aslan lived a life without sin, he can expunge even the debt of Rodden Edmund.

The mystery revealed, church, is that Jesus Christ's death on the cross has expunged our sin.

Paul is fighting for people to understand this great sacrifice that the Messiah has come.

He is God, He is fighting for the truth of that mystery.

And I have a question.

Are you fighting for the truth of that mystery?

The gospel.

Paul said, I'll go through anything.

I'll change everything for the gospel, the mystery of this gospel that can change people.

Not only for the mystery of the gospel, but letter B this morning for the maturity of believers.

Look at verse 28 and 29.

Says this.

Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man mature in Christ Jesus.

And to this end I labor, striving according to his working, which works in me mightily.

That word there, maturing, is this.

The Greek word is telios.

Telios, and that means fully mature and complete.

Paul says, I will suffer so that other Christians, not only so that the gospel can be heard, but that other Christians can be matured, so that this thing can continue.

I will suffer, I'll fight for the cause, I'll sit here in prison writing to you, I'll do anything for the cause that Christians also, first that they would hear and become Christian, but then that you and I would mature.

Telios.

The Hebrew writer said in Hebrews 5:14, but strong meat belongeth to them who are full of age.

Hebrews 5:14

Same word.

Telios, them who are mature.

Again, you don't have to be older to be mature, but you have to be eaten.

Y'all with me?

To be growing.

You have to be eaten the meat to be growing.

You don't have to be older, but you do have to be doing something daily to grow.

Ain't nobody here gonna get on a workout plan and work for two days and grow a whole lot.

Y'all hearing me?

You have to be eaten, you have to do the work to mature.

We're called to suffer and to serve not only for the mystery of the gospel, that's so that your brothers and sisters in Christ would have the chance to grow.

Your growth causes other people to grow.

Well, what do you mean, Pastor?

Well, let me give a few examples.

This is little, we can go deep with this, but mature people will serve in the nursery, unlike my 40 year old lady friend who had done her time.

They'll serve in the nursery out of maturity and help a new mom who then can hear the word.

Of God, and then maybe she can mature.

When you have matured, you'll go on a security call once in a while for the church.

When you have matured, you'll take the time and make a meal for somebody who's just had a baby, or somebody who's been in the hospital, or just because your friend's been busy.

And your maturity will allow them time with their family.

Maybe time in the word of God that that young mother never gets because the baby is always crying.

They can't go to the bathroom by themselves, and then they got to cook a meal, and there's nothing, no time.

And so by our maturity, we help somebody.

And when you go to a connect group and you can help somebody understand the word.

When we give money, you help somebody who has a need.

When we go on a mission trip and serve whoever in the name of Jesus, he said, whoever gives to the least of these, it's like they're given right to me.

Someone said to me recently, there are people who are just not going to do some of those things that are opportunities at CCW.

Why?

There are people who just aren't going to do those things.

Okay, well, I want you to do this.

Look around.

There are 325 opportunities all around you.

Go ahead, take a look.

Look left and look right.

You got a chance to serve.

Now we may not have the ministry that you like, but there's a chance all around you.

And if you don't like these 325, there's 231,000 people in Shelby County.

There's an opportunity to serve.

82% of that 231,000 is unchurched.

Don't you think serving somebody in the name of Jesus will make an impact so that they can mature?

Why?

How do I do this?

How do I keep the pace, Pastor?

2 Corinthians 3.18 said this, but we with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, listen, through that transformation, through that cutting, through that work, through that trial, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit.

What does that mean?

As we mature, as we go through, as we persevere, it says, we're being glorified, we're becoming more and more like Jesus Christ.

Romans 8, 17, he said this: if children were then heirs and heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.

If indeed, listen, we suffer with him that we also may be glorified together.

Hear this.

Some of y'all went through some stuff this week.

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to compare it with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

What does that mean, Pastor?

The sufferings, it's not worthy.

He's saying, Paul said, what I'm going through here is nothing in comparison to what one day I'm going to experience when I've been glorified.

What do you mean, glorified, Pastor?

I'm glad you asked.

Glorification.

He said in Colossians 1, is the ultimate perfection of believers.

That's going to happen.

Yes, one day that's going to happen.

He said in Colossians that Christ in us is the hope of glory.

Glorification is that one day, because of the seal of the Holy Spirit and God the Father, the mark of Jesus Christ on us, Paul says, I serve for that reason.

And he said, I'm serving.

And I've learned how to suffer and serve to be glorified.

Means to people on this earth, I'm looking more and more like Jesus Christ and less and less like me.

Glorification means I'm suffering and I'm serving, and I'm looking less and less like this flesh that needs to fill up on stuff and possessions and all that I gotta have for me.

And I'm looking more and more like someone who's giving and not taking and who gives and gives.

And all I could come up when I thought about this, how many of y'all are grandparents in here?

And I love grandparents.

Look at y'all.

When I watch grandparents, I'm serious about this too.

When I watch grandparents playing with kids, I get tired.

I'm serious.

And I know they can drop them back off and be done.

But grandparents, they got this knack to give all their attention to this child.

And I watch them and I'm a little jealous.

Like, I don't want to be a grandparent, don't get me wrong.

I'm 30 years from there.

But okay, I am jealous in this.

It seems like for their grandchild, they've got this energy that nobody has.

They'll be swinging a child, they'll go to the park and they will play at the park for hours.

And I'm like, if I take my kid to the park, I'm about seven minutes.

I'm a seven-miniter.

Are we done?

Because I've done this.

And I know you're having fun, but that's enough fun for the day.

Grandparents swing, swing, they'll play.

Here's what God, I think, was giving me in thought.

Because it makes me tired just thinking all the little things that little kids need.

I believe that a grandparent has lived enough and matured enough to see that maybe they're one step closer to glory and they must invest a little bit deeper.

They'll get a little more tired.

They'll go to bed a little more exhausted.

They'll live with an ache and a pain so that they can say, I have done all that I can do.

I've worked all that I can work, I've invested all that I can invest, I've suffered all that I can.

I've served with the hope that one day I look less like me and more like Jesus to my grandbabies.

Rooted people are okay with work, they're okay with suffering, and they're okay with serving because of the cause.

God brought this video to my attention several years ago, and I was thinking about how do we kind of bring this to a close, and it's it's a little lengthy, a couple of minutes, but I want you to see what I think God's trying to do in us.

We're excited you joined us for today's message.

Our heart is to connect with others in our community to grow with one another and build a bigger kingdom.

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Thank you again for joining us on the CCW podcast.

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