“Preach the Word” - Lessons from Colossians

John Wycliffe, who has been described as the Morning Star of the Reformation once said,

“The highest service that men may attain on earth is to preach the Word of God. For this cause Jesus Christ left other works and occupied himself mostly in preaching and thus did his apostles; for this God loved them.”

When Peter delivered his first sermon at Pentecost his text was taken from the Old Testament prophet Joel.

“In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people, your sons and daughters will prophesy . . . Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those last days, and they will prophesy.” Acts 2:17-18

Prophecy is proclaiming the Word of God to others. This is one of the consequences of being given the Holy Spirit. It is not just the professional church leaders but all Christians who are to be engaged in this activity. Gospel proclamation is the task of us all Christians. Yet today many Christians are reticent about getting involved in this task. They may think, “This is not my gift.” The truth is that this is a major reason why all Christians have been given the Holy Spirit. We do not become Christians and then decide if we feel called to share the faith, no, we have been called to be Christians in order that we should share the faith!

C.S.Lewis, in a remarkable sermon called ‘The Weight of Glory’ said,

“If we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the gospels, it would seem our Lord finds our desires not too strong but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who goes on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday by the sea. We are too easily pleased.”

We all seek happiness but we are much too easily pleased. The highest pleasure we will enjoy is to live in close harmony with our Lord and Saviour, longing to fulfil his every will.

A headmaster, at his school Speech Day, said to his pupils,

“The purpose of life is to discover the purpose of life and then to make that the purpose of your life.”

The Purpose of Life

The apostle Paul discovered the secret of life and then devoted his life to this. He wrote to the Colossian church whose servant he was, to explain what the purpose in life is. He knew this was a mystery for many.

25 I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness—

26 the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people.

27 To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

28 He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ.

29 To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me.

2 1 I want you to know how hard I am contending for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally.

2 My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ,

3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Colossians 1:25-2:3

This is a remarkable passage. In a world that was divided by ethnic, religious and social groupings, Paul had discovered that the answer to the greatest problems in the world is the person Jesus, the Christ. Notice how Christ is the focus of this section. Christ had reconciled Paul with God as well as with the Jews’ deep seated enemies, the Gentiles. As a result Paul recognised that both Jews and Gentiles needed to recognise the significance of Jesus. It is only in submission to Christ that all people can be united. Sharing this message and persuading people about its truth was costly to Paul but he felt sharing the news to be so worthwhile.

Dr Helen Roseveare spent twenty years as a medical missionary in Zaire. In 1964 a civil war began and she suffered badly from rebel attacks for over the next five years. She was raped and on one occasion was about to be executed. On one occasion a seventeen year old lad, who stood up for her, was almost kicked to death. Yet she persevered. God gave her an experience of His presence, saying to her,

“Twenty years ago you asked me for the privilege of being a missionary, the privilege of being identified with me. These are not your sufferings, they are my sufferings.”

For Helen being identified with Christ made the suffering easier. In a similar way Paul rejoiced in being identified with Christ and his mission.

Note from verse 25 that for Paul to share Christ meant to teach people the Word of God. This means to teach people about the Word of God, the Lord Jesus (John 1:1), by teaching them the Word of God, the Bible. Churches that fail to see the priority of Bible teaching inevitably result in that church drifting away from Christ. Teaching the Bible will involve teaching about the priority of sharing the gospel with others.

To do this will be hard work. Verse 29 emphasises this unpopular idea. We will have to put ourselves out to fulfil the task.

“To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me.” Colossians 1:29

The Greek work used here is agonizmai, from which we derive our word ‘agonise’ Being a Christian is not a ‘walk in the park’ Paul wrote similarly in another letter.

“Surely you remember, brothers and sisters, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you.” 1 Thessalonians 2:9

The great American preacher D.L.Moody simply prayed at bed-time as he flopped into bed,

“Lord, I’m tired.”

The Bible teacher G. Campbell-Morgan kept a newspaper clipping for over 20 years that was titled,

“Sheer hard work.”

He wrote,

“What is true of the minister is true of every man who bears the name of Christ. We have not begun to touch the great business of salvation when we have sung, ‘Rescue the perishing, care for the dying’. We have not entered into the business of evangelizing the city or the world until we have put our own lives into the business, our own immediate physical endeavour, inspired by spiritual devotion”’

Who has this Priority?

Is this business of sharing the gospel the priority of the few, the evangelists, the preachers and the enthusiasts? Later sections in the letter to the Colossians make it clear that living for the reputation of Christ is the priority of all of us Christians. Who is the ‘you’ in the following passage?

1 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.

4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Colossians 3:1-4

Surely it is to the ‘saints’ or all God’s faithful people in Colossae. These are the people to whom the letter was first sent,

“To God’s holy people in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ.” Colossians 1:2

This commission to be wholeheartedly Christ centred is for all Christians, all of us who have been raised with Christ. We are to start thinking with our Lord’s priorities. He is to be our life. This is not just for ‘super-saints’ but for all of us Christians.

What are the secrets of success?

When most of us come to realise that we have been given this responsibility we quickly see our own inadequacies for the task. We don’t seem able to make opportunities as others can, we fail to take up opportunities that are obvious and then we feel unprepared to answer questions and point people winsomely to how they can move forwards. Paul had these very same feelings and recognised that these problems face all Christians. Consequently he wrote towards the end of this letter the following,

2 Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.

3 And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains.

4 Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should.

5 Be wise in the way you act towards outsiders; make the most of every opportunity.

6 Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. Colossians 4:1-6

Thus section is is two halves, the first (verses 2-4) is about how we should speak with God and the second (verses 5-6) is about how we should speak with non-Christians. Paul, like us, felt inadequate for the task, but he reminds his readers that this is essentially our Lord’s task and that to be successful in it we need to involve him. Too many Christians hold the faith, but forget that he has called us to be fruitful for him. A reference for a preacher that he is ‘faithful’ can be a veiled way of saying that although they hold to Christian doctrine they are not very effective in helping others.

Prayer is not a casual activity – it requires devotion. It is hard work. How many minutes a day do we spend in prayer? Am I devoted to talking with my Lord about how to fulfil his commission effectively?

Verse 2 is significant. Paul assumes that the Christians in Colossae are praying to be effective in their own ministry, here he asks that they also pray that his ministry will be effective.

Verse 5 emphasises that the way Christians relate to the non-Christians we meet will affect the effectiveness of our ministry. We must all be wise in the way we talk so that what we say is appreciated by our hearers. Even here there is an inference that the need to share the gospel is a high priority,

“ . . ; make the most of every opportunity.” Colossians 1:5

Too often we think after the opportunity has flown by,

“I wish I had said this. I wish I had invited them to that.”

One way to avoid missing opportunities is to be devoted to prayer so that we have the mind of Christ, we think like him.

An African woman became a Christian. She was so thrilled and full of gratitude that she determined to do something for her new Lord. The problems she faced were considerable in that she was blind, uneducated and was over 70 years old. She went to a missionary with a French Bible she owned and asked the missionary to underline John 3:16 in red. The missionary was unsure why she wanted this done but obliged her. She later saw the blind lady go and sit outside the local boy’s school. As two boys passed her she asked them if they could read French. Proudly they assured her that they could.

“Please could you read the verse underlined in red to me.”

Then she asked them,

“Do you understand this?”

“Not really,” came the reply.

The blind lady then explained, as best she could, the Christian good news. This continued year after year.

Many years later the missionary said that she knew of 24 young men who had become pastors as a result of the blind lady’s work.

She had the understanding, the determination and the perseverance to ensure that her Lord was glorified by her life.

BVP

Sept 2018