Colossians 1:24-2:5

Last week we talked about the supremecy of Christ in our faith. Why Christ is idespensible from our faith. In other words we cannot call ourselves Christians or followers of Christ without beliving that Christ is the Son of God, lived a perfect life, died on the cross in our place, and rose again defeating the penalty of death so that we could trust our lives to Him and have eternal life. Tonight we are going to look at the what now. Now that you have trusted your life to Christ, what now? What does the Christian life look like?

What Paul does in these next verses is to outline what he has been through, what he is doing, and what he hopes to be done in the future for Christ.

Tonight I want you to see that the Christian life has three distinct aspects.

Suffering

Evangelism

Discipleship

God

Colossians 1:24–26 ESV

24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, 25 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, 26 the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints.

Colossians 1:24-

I want to debunk this myth about Christianity right here and now with you. There is this assumption that if you come to Christ, that when you do you will live a sinless, and comfortable life, free from worry and pain. This is just wrong. Jesus doesn’t promise a perfect life, but he does promise you something better than this life could ever offer, which is eternal life with Him.

In fact as we see Paul write, he is saying he is suffering for Christ! His life in Christ was full of pain and suffering. And Paul even says he rejoices in the sufferings because he wants God to be fully known! He doesn;t have his eyes focused on the trouble he currently is having, but on the eternal hope he has in Christ.

But our Christian life isn’t all about suffering, it also includes sharing our faith with others.

Colossians 1:26–2:5 ESV

26 the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. 27 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. 28 Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. 29 For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me. 1 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, 2 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, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 4 I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. 5 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.

Colossians 1:26

Paul specifically states that we proclaim Christ to not just Jews but to Gentiles. Christ’s sacrifice on the cross is not just for us, but it is for everyone. Not just people like us, but for everyone, for the murderer, to your teachers in school. It is up to us to proclaim this truth to them. The Christian life is marked with Evangelism, or sharing our with with those who don’t know Christ. Look at verse 28.

Not only are we to proclaim the truth of Christ, but we are to help them become mature Christians. This is just a fancy way of saying we are to disciple them.

Paul’s says this is the reason he suffers. It’s to proclaim Christ, and make them mature in Christ!

The reason we don’t

Conclusion

So what? Why is this important to know.

How are you doing in terms of proclaiming Christ? Who was the last person you shared you faith with?

How are you helping others become more mature in their faith? Are you being made mature in your faith or are you stuck at the beginning? Have you gotten baptized as a symbol of your faith? Have you started reading the Bible?

If we do not become mature in our faith, we are apt to believe lies that sound good. Look at chapter 2 verse 1-5. Paul doesn’t want them falling away from their faith because of false teachers have good arguments. Paul wants the church at Collosae to be able to stand firm in their faith. Ask yourself this question, are you nervous to defend your faith because you think someone else can defeat it with an argument? If we have the truth, and it is as powerful as it proclaims, then there is no argument that can defeat it. Hey it has held up pretty good over 2000 years so far. Not to shabby.

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