Colossians Study – Session 5
CrossPointe Community Church – Denton,
TX
February 10, 2013 - Larry Reynolds,
Teacher
II.
The Ministry of Paul (1:24—2:7)
- At the end of Colossians 1:23, at
which we looked last week, Paul described himself as a “minister”...that
word literally means “servant” and the Bible teaches that every
Christian is a minister, a servant of Christ and others...and in the verses
that follow from 1:24 all the way down to 2:8, Paul describes in detail how he
goes about the task of ministering or serving...
The thesis statement of this
section, in my opinion, is the first part of v.25 where Paul writes, “Of
this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship of God bestowed
on me for your benefit…”
“I was made…” – Reminiscent of 1:1 where Paul said he was “…an
apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God…”
“minister” – diakonos –
Means servant. Paul viewed himself as a
servant of the body, the church. He
understood that the church did not exist for him, but he for the church.
“according to the stewardship of God…” – oikonomia – Our word economy comes from this word. Means manager, as in manager of a
household. Paul was responsible to God
for his ministry.
This larger passage describes
Paul’s ministry. Tells us four things
about his ministry.
1.
It is a ministry of suffering (24)
“now” –
It would be easy to overlook that little word, but there’s important truth
behind it...sometimes that word is used merely in a transitional since to move
us from one thought to another...like when we say, “Now listen to what I’m
about to say...”...and sometime the word is used to denote time...like we
say, “I’m going to leave now”...in this verse used in the sense of
denoting time....at this precise moment I rejoice...that’s significant because
at the moment in which Paul wrote these words he was in prison...and to make
matters worse, was there on a bogus charge...and what he is saying is, “Even
at a time like this my life is characterized by joy...”
“in my sufferings” - He didn’t rejoice because he was suffering.
But, he was able to rejoice in the midst of suffering.
“for your sake” – At the time of this writing Paul was in prison because of his work
with Gentiles like the people of Colossae
“I do my share … in filling up what is lacking in
Christ’s afflictions” – That is a
difficult phrase to interpret. Some
interpret that phrase to mean that the redemptive suffering of Christ on the
cross was not enough to accomplish our salvation...we too must suffer to be
saved...two things make that interpretation suspect—
--it contradicts the broader biblical
teaching about Christ’s redemptive suffering...
--the word translated “afflictions” is
not used anywhere in the Bible to refer to redemptive suffering...
I think what Paul means by this statement that as he
serves and as he suffers for the sake of gospel, Jesus is with him in a special
way...as Paul suffers, Jesus is alongside suffering with him...that’s one of
the first lessons Jesus taught Paul when he asked him on the road to Damascus, “Saul,
Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” (Acts 9:4)
2. It is a ministry of preaching (25-29)
If you
will look carefully at these verses, you’ll see that Paul says several specific
things about our message...for example, he describes our message as—
--”the word of God” in v.25...that
phrase can mean two things...it can mean the message which comes from God...that
is, the source of the message is God, Himself...it is not something of human
origin...or it can mean the message which is about God...that is, the focus
of the message, the subject of the message is God and His plan for our
lives...in relation to the good news about Jesus, both of those meanings are
accurate...the gospel comes from God and it is about God...
--a ”mystery” in v.26...in our language
the word mystery carries the idea of something we don’t understand...however,
that’s not how Paul uses the word...in Paul’s vocabulary, “mystery” means
a secret which has been revealed...the false teachers infecting the church at
Colossae claimed to have secret knowledge about spiritual things known only to
them... Paul says the greatest secret of all is no longer hidden...it is the
fact that it’s possible for everyone, Jew and Gentile alike, to have a personal
relationship with God through a faith commitment to Jesus...in a nutshell, the “mystery”
to which Paul refers is “Christ in you” as v.27 puts it...
--“we
proclaim Him” - That simple statement really says it all...the thing
the world should be hearing from us the good news of the birth, life,
teachings, ministry, death, resurrection, and saving power of Jesus... the word
translated “proclaim” in this passage means to declare
publicly a truth or happening...and we declare truth, not just with our
words but with our lives...our attitude toward others...our general
demeanor...our disposition will have much more impact on those who come into
contact with us than our words...
“every man” – Notice the repetitive use of the phrase “every
man” This was a radical concept in the first century world...
·
Most people with
a Jewish heritage would never agree that God cared about and had use for every
person...to their way of thinking, non-Jewish people, were unimportant to
God... they could not bring themselves to believe that God would care about
saving Gentiles...that attitude was prevalent even among many of the early
Christians...when Peter and Paul first began to share the gospel with
non-Jewish people, their doing so was a source of great conflict in the early
church...
·
The false
teachers who had infiltrated the church at Colossae would certainly never agree
that God cared about and had use for every person...to their way of thinking,
not every person was capable of understanding real spiritual truth...spiritual
truth was reserved for the special, chosen few...
As one writer put it: “The fact is that the only
thing in this world which is for every person is Christ. It is not every person who can be a
thinker. There are gifts which are not
granted to every person. Not every
person can master every craft or even every game. There are those who are color blind and to
whom the loveliness of art means nothing.
There are those who are tone deaf and to whom the glory of music does
not exist. Not every person can be a
writer or a student or a preacher or a singer or a speaker. Even human love at its highest is not granted
to all people. The one thing which is
for every person is Jesus Christ. There
are gifts a person will never possess.
There are privileges a person will never enjoy. There are heights of this world’s attainment
which a person will never scale. But to
every person there is open the good news of the gospel, and the love of God in
Christ Jesus our Lord, and the transforming power which can bring holiness into
life.” [Barclay]
3.
It is a ministry of intercession (2:1-5) - When we read these verses in a moment you will notice
that the word prayer is not used in this text...the paragraph begins with Paul
saying, “For I want you to know how great a struggle I have on your
behalf...”...since Paul wrote these words while in prison, chained to a
Roman guard, his ministry on behalf of the Colossians was limited to a ministry
of prayer...and it is interesting that Paul used the word “struggle”
to describe this ministry of prayer...it is the word “agon” from which
our word agony comes...the word carries the idea of strenuous activity or
difficult work...in effect Paul says “I want you to know that I am so
concerned about your spiritual welfare and I care for you so much that I
agonize over you in prayer...”...now look at Colossians 2:1-5 to see what
Paul asks of God on their behalf...
It is interesting what Paul did not ask of God
on behalf of the church at Colossae
--there is
no mention in this prayer of Paul interceding for their material
prosperity...that was not Paul’s main concern for them...
--there
is no mention of their physical health...that was not Paul’s main concern for
them...
Paul’s main concern for the Colossians is expressed in
v.4 in the phrase “...that no one may delude you with persuasive
argument...”...”persuasive argument” was a legal
term used to describe the words of a lawyer who was trying to make wrong appear
right and right appear wrong…in other words, Paul was concerned that some
smooth talking false teachers not lead them astray from the basic truths of the
gospel...
So that they would not be led away by false teachers,
Paul continually asked of God three things on their behalf…
a. “…that their hearts may be encouraged…” - Word translated “encouraged” is “parakaleo”...literally
it means “to call alongside”...because a person can be called alongside
another for many reasons, the word has a wide range of meanings...among them
are entreating, exhorting, appealing, comforting, and strengthening...seems to
me the idea of strengthening best fits the context of what was happening in
Colossae...they were being besieged by false teachers...and they needed
strength to stand against them... William Barclay cites an example of the use
of parakaleo in classical Greek: “There was a Greek regiment which
had lost heart and was utterly dejected.
The general sent a leader to talk to it to such a purpose that courage
was reborn and a body of dispirited men became fit again for heroic action. That is what parakaleo means here. It is Paul’s prayer that the Church may be
filled with that courage which can cope with any situation.” [Barclay,
p.129] Paul prayed that their “hearts”
be encouraged or strengthened...in our vocabulary we use the word “heart”
either literally to refer to the organ in our body which pumps the blood or
figuratively to refer to our feelings or emotions... when we say someone broke
my heart we are saying that person hurt my emotions/feelings...however, in
Bible “heart” does not generally refer to the seat of emotions...it
refers to the seat of thinking or intellect...often used as synonym for the
mind...So when Paul prays that their “hearts may be encouraged”
he is saying “I pray that you minds be strengthened...”...and that is
precisely what the Colossians needed and that is precisely what we need to keep
from getting thrown off course...
b. That they would be “…knit together in love…”
- Don’t let that word “knit” mislead
you...in our language “knit” is sort of a delicate word... whenever my
grandmother Reynolds would sit down, she would always have in her hands
knitting needles and in her lap some garment which she was making...and that
fragile, delicate image is the image the word “knit” tends to
bring to my mind. However, there is
nothing fragile about the word Paul uses here.
In first century this word was a medical term, used to describe the
mending of broken bones. I’ve read that
when a broken bone heals properly that the place of fusion becomes stronger
than the surrounding bone. And what Paul
is saying here is that Christians should be so bound together, so close to each
other, that nothing or no-one can drive a wedge between them.
c.
That they would have “...a
true knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ Himself...” - I like
the way The Living Bible paraphrases the last part of v.2 and v.3...listen to
what it says: “...that you will have the rich experience of knowing
Christ with real certainty and clear understanding. For God’s secret plan, now at last made
known, is Christ himself. In him lie
hidden all the mighty, untapped treasures of wisdom and knowledge. [TLB] The secrets of
God are not hidden away in the so-called secret books of the Gnostics. They are hidden in Christ and are available
to all who come to Him.
Verse 5 describes Paul’s desire for them.
“good
discipline” – Military term denoting orderliness…
“stability” – A solid front…not weak…caving in at first sign of
pressure…
4.
It is ministry of exhortation (6-7) – Basically in these verses Paul encourages his
readers to do three things:
a. To Remember
their initial commitment to Christ…”As
you therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord…” points to something that
happened in past time...something which they have already done...there was a
definite point in time in the past when they made a decision about who Jesus is
and accepted Him into their lives...they received/accepted Him into their lives
as—
--”Christ”
- Christ is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word Messiah...they received Him
as the Anointed One, the Promised One, the One God promised to send ages before
through the prophets of the OT...
--”Jesus”
- That name is a reminder of His earthly mission as Savior...the name literally
means “salvation is from Jehovah” ...to say “Jesus saves” is
almost redundant because “Jesus” means “savior”...
--”Lord”
- That title is a reminder of His deity...as Paul says a little later in this
chapter, “For in Him all the fullness of Deity [God] dwells in bodily
form...”
Paul instructs them and he instructs us to look back
and remember our initial commitment to Christ...
b. To
continue to grow and mature in the faith…”…so
walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built-up in Him,
established in your faith…” The verb “rooted”
is in the perfect tense carrying the idea of a completed action in past
time. It happened once and for all. The verbs “walk…built-up
…established…” are in the present tense indicating continuing action…
Warren Wiersbe points out that behind each of those verbs is a special picture
of the Christian life...
--”Walk” pictures
the Christian life as a pilgrimage in process...it is a journey which begins
with our conversion and continues until we get to heaven and perhaps even
beyond...this is one of Paul’s favorite ways of describing the Christian
life...
--”Built-up”
pictures the Christian life as a building under construction...the foundation
is laid at the time of conversion but on that foundation a structure is being
built...the building continues until we get to heaven and perhaps even
beyond...
--”Established”
pictures the Christian life as a school...the word translated “established”
carries the idea of “being strengthened through learning”...Christians
are continually being taught by God’s Spirit and God’s Word, and the teaching
continues until we get to heaven and perhaps even beyond...
c. To abound
in thanksgiving … “overflowing
with gratitude…” ...that is, a spirit of thanksgiving should
bubble out of our lives...thanksgiving is a major theme of Colossians...at
least six times in the four chapters of this letter Paul stresses the importance
of having a grateful heart...And there is a good reason for that...those who
lack a deep sense of gratitude to God and especially vulnerable to being led
astray... as one writer put it: “Those who bubble over with gratitude for
what God has already done are not easy prey to anxiety and doubt. They have no need or desire to look for
fulfillment elsewhere and cannot be taken in by false promises or shaken by
bigoted detractors.” [Garland
Colossians
2:6-7 – “And now just as you trusted Christ to save you, trust him, too, for
each day’s problems; live in vital union with him. Let your roots grow down into him and draw up
nourishment from him. See that you go on
growing in the Lord, and become strong and vigorous in the truth you were
taught. Let your lives overflow with joy
and thanksgiving for all he has done.” [TLB]
What does the brief description of Paul’s ministry in Colossians
1:24-2:7 say to you about what we should be doing as God’s people in our world?
