Solve That Mystery: Colossians 1.24-29 (ESV)

A good mystery is fun for us.  As a kid we love to solve mysteries.  As a child Scooby Doo was so much fun.  As an adult you realize the plot is the same every time.  Scooby and Shaggy get separated but they always figure things out.  Paul talks about a mystery we have in Colossians 1:24-29.  Paul will solve it.  In Paul’s time period people thought only a few could have knowledge of God.  You had to think the right way to connect to God.  We too struggle with whether or not we know God.  We think if things are going well we’re ok with God.  It’s when we struggle that we question God.  Paul gives us a basis for how we know God.  Struggles can make us question our relationship with God. 

Walking with Jesus is costly and worth it.

When things become costly we evaluate if they’re worth it.    Our culture evaluates suffering as bad.  In our culture we minimize suffering, but in the New Testament suffering is highlighted.  Verse 24 can take us aback. 

                    ²⁴Now 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, 

Most likely you’ve read about Paul rejoicing in suffering before.  What’s Paul actually saying?  Paul rejoices in his sufferings.   Jesus Christ suffered on the cross and as followers of Jesus we will suffer as well.  We have a hard time accepting this.  Jesus suffered on the cross.  If we follow Jesus it means we will suffer as well.  Yes, we will suffer.  We are part of Jesus’ suffering and it’s good.  Why is Paul saying this to the church at Colossae?  The church at Colossae and the church at Laodicea are closely connected. In Revelation 4 these churches are bundled together because they’re only 10 miles apart.  They’re not the same church but they’re close to each other.  It was a beautiful region, a vacation tourist area.  They were wealthy.  An earthquake hit and caused mass destruction.   Rome offered them money to rebuild but they said, “No thank you.”  They were so wealthy they rebuilt themselves; they were independent.  Laodicea did not have its own water source.  Colossae had cool mountain springs that traveled to Laodicea through aqueducts.  The water was cold in Colossae but by the time it arrived in Laodicea it was lukewarm.  The message sent to the church at Colossae is that you can miss what God is doing.  We do all we can to alleviate suffering.  The thought that suffering means something is wrong.  There’s times when where suffering is part of our own walk with God.  It produces maturity in the believer.  It’s a privilege to suffer.  God calls us to a different way of thinking.  We need to embrace this teaching.  We are called to suffer and sacrifice for the Gospel.  The Gospel going to the nations doesn’t come from the ease of life but from our suffering.  Suffering’s not that foreign to us but we don’t think about it as part of the Gospel.  Parents, you gladly sacrifice for your children.  If it means good for them you’ll do whatever it takes to make things right for your children.  Paul rejoices in suffering.  Walking with Jesus is costly but worth it.

We need the preaching of the Word.

Paul takes a detour here. 

                    ²⁵of 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, 

The last part of this verse is what preaching is: making the Word of God fully known, explaining it so we can understand who God is.  Paul’s responsibility is to preach the Word.  It’s the same for anyone who teaches.  That’s what we do when we teach: bring the Word before people so people can understand.  When Paul encountered Jesus on the road to Damascus he was told he will suffer greatly.  The Gospel increases our knowledge and helps is get unstuck and we can make sense of what’s happening in the world.  The Bible breaks through the mystery to us.  Those of you who teach the Bible help people get it.  We need continual opening of the Word of God in our lives.

The mystery is that Jesus can live in you.

If you’ve been a believer this isn’t new information for you but for those hearing it for the first time who live in a culture where you’re taught only a few people can have a relationship with God, this is new.  God wills the revelation in verse 27.  As we work through these passages, some things are not easy to understand.  I don’t just read a passage like this and immediately grasp what it means.  
                    ²⁷To 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. 

Paul isn’t trying to be complicated.  It’s deep.  In the first part God has chosen to make known.  God takes the initiative to help us understand.  “The riches of the glory of this mystery” should lead us to a place of awe.  We’ll visit this more in the next few weeks.  Jesus Christ came down for us.  God entered human history as a baby for us.  Christ in you is the hope of glory.  This language brings us back to Genesis where God said to Abraham, “I will bless you and you will be a blessing to the nations.”  God will bless Abraham and God will bless the world through Abraham.  The mystery is this: you are a child of Abraham.  The same blessing promised over Abraham is promised over you.  Most of us are not Jews.  We understand the promise of Abraham but we do not think of it as a promise to us.  You are His and He will bless the world through you.  Church, you are sacred!  You are vital to what God is doing in the world.  Jesus is the head.  We are valuable.  We hold the hope of nations within us.  The hope the world needs rests within us.  It’s simple; it’s mystical and we don’t think about it.  Sometimes we have difficulty explaining the concept of how Jesus lives within us.  We adults try to explain this to a child as Jesus is kind of inside of you.  The Bible says Jesus comes in.  We’ve had a difficult time with this passage over the last few decades. The hope of the nations is inside of you!  This is why we are not afraid: we have Jesus inside of us.  We are not worried.  We know we have Jesus in us.  We underestimate the power inside of us.

Jesus will help you grow.

We have instructions:
                    ²⁸Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. 
You have Jesus inside of you and here’s what Jesus is doing.  He’s maturing us; He is growing us up.  One day we will be presented as fully whole in Christ.  We question our faith when we sin and doubt through difficult times of suffering.  Paul is turning this around and says the reason we have hope is not determined by how we feel today.  It’s because Christ lives in us.  Instead of looking at difficulties as abnormal and damaging embrace them and ask God what He wants to do through you.  There’s a time period when God is instructing us.  This is a period of proclamation, opening God’s Word, teaching and instruction.  How do we live out this calling?  First we receive the knowledge but then wisdom is knowing what to DO with it, knowing and doing.  If it were just enough to learn and know we’d be done already.  We don’t like knowing we aren’t whole.  Times of instruction and learning are important but then God can mature us as we live out our lives, as we do things.  We think about our mistakes and struggles as departures from growing in Christ, but God uses these times to develop us.  For example, in our teen years we learn to drive.  We drive on the open road for the first time driving the speed limit.  How do we learn to drive?  First we have to learn the rules.  Is it enough to just learn the driver’s manual? No, there’s another important step: you have to get in the car and out on the road.  Sometimes you might press the brakes too hard but you learn from it and eventually you become a good driver. 

Sometimes we feel God has abandoned us.  Paul says Christ lives in you.  God is maturing you.  There will be a day when we stand before God and you’ll be amazed that in Christ God fulfills us.  Even though we have struggles God is working it out.  God’s power came in you when you gave your life to Christ.  Will you embrace the power of God in you?

Sermon Notes are taken, transcribed and posted by Jeni Martin Johnson.  Sermon by Dr. Scotty Carpenter.

Children’s Sermon by Janet Smith

I wonder if you’ve ever said, “I can’t do that!”  I bet you may not know that even adults feel that way too sometimes?  You might feel this way about something at school or about something you don’t want to do.  Sometimes we might think what God wants us to do is too hard.  For example, God might want us to love someone that’s hard to love.  Paul tells us how we can do difficult things.  Paul was beaten, shipwrecked and put in prison.  In Colossians 1:29 says, “This is why I continue to toil and struggle—because His amazing power and energy surge within me.” (The Voice)  Paul says he can feel God’s power surge within him.  God’s power and energy within us surges when we need them.  When you face something hard this week ask God to give you a surge of power and energy to do the things that might be difficult.