Suffering For The Church
Heavenly Father, we thank you for your servant, Matt and Lord. just, as he brings this message to you from your Word this morning, we just ask that you would use him as your instrument that he might m deval some of the mystery of the Word. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you very much, Ian. um Anyway, good morning everyone. Great to see you. Yep, if you've had a busy week and you're a bit tired, I'll try and be really loud so that you don't fall asleep. um And if not, Dan will just start doing this on my volume mic and that should help warm you up. Anyway, let's pray real quick before we jump in. Dear Father, we know that you have brought us to this moment. So now would you prepare our hearts, prepare our minds to receive you, Father. And I pray that all I speak would come out clearly, Father, Lord, and that we pray that all of us would be transformed, unified together, just in your truth. We pray all these things in Jesus' name, amen. All right, so brief catch up on all the stuff we've been doing at Colossians. So one. Rick gave us a great overview on everything that's going on, right? Just all the information that's going on behind the book of Colossians, where the letter's based, the who, the what, and the why. I messed that up, but anyway, you know what I'm saying. Then we jumped into, and we did a few, we talked about this train, this train we were building. I know it makes no sense if you weren't there for that sermon, but essentially all we were doing is Paul had pulled out how the Christian life is composed of all these different parts. And then the last couple of weeks, we've been assembling the train engine, if you want to call it that, which we refer to as the gospel. I say refer to as the gospel, it's just the gospel. Anyway, and so, and then he continues on from there. talks about Christ is King of all creation. He's the first one. He's the Son of God. He is everything. And we talked about how that is the ultimate truth for everything, for all creation is that Christ is meant to be at the center. of all that we do and of all that we are. The world falls apart without him in the middle. Then the week after that, we talked about how we've done the dumb thing. We've gone and placed something else at the centre, but now he has done something so that he might be put back in the centre. What we called reconciliation, bringing back together. We talked about justification, sanctification, what Christ does on the cross to bring us back to him. Great story, it was. And so we've been building this train engine, this gospel. about. And so you see, he's gone from talking about who Jesus is, who Jesus is to us, and now he turns to his role in this gospel. Paul's talking especially about himself right here. So today, I get to talk about my two favourite things, me and money. I'm kidding, it's not actually that. But anyway, but I have three things that we're going to talk about that if you see in the sermon handouts, they add the three points there. That is one, what is my job? That's not you, that's specifically me. Then the other ones, how do we get rich? These are meant to be provocative, just so you know. And why should all Christians be rich? Don't walk out yet, all right? I know that sounds, just give me a bit, I'll get there. All right. So, first question I wanna tackle. What is my job? Inevitably, surely all of you have thought at one point, So do we just pay Matt to just kind of like divvy up something on a Saturday night and then he rocks up Sunday morning and then he just takes rest of the week off? Some of you are gracious enough to know that's not the entire role. Some of you have probably thought that. I used to think that before I became a pastor, obviously. What is it that I actually do? What is my job? What is the purpose of me being here? Because there's a million things. Am I kind of like the CEO over the top, seeing everything, but not really getting too muddled in the details? Am I someone that... that's there for marriage and funerals? I someone that's there to visit the sick and the elderly? What is the point of me being here? Paul helps us to see what the point is, because my job isn't exactly the same as his, but it shares some similarities. He says, I rejoice in my suffering for your sake, for in my flesh I'm filling up what is lacking in Christ's affliction for your sake, for the sake of His body that is the church, 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. Now, helpful thing is this word, minister. It's just the Greek word for servant. um Paul is one who serves. He is serving the church. And so in the most basic sense, when someone says, oh, our church has a minister, they just mean we have a servant, basically. Oh, that's nice, isn't it? All of you guys have a home butler. Not quite. Anyway, as we will soon go on. But you see, I want to emphasize an important thing here. That Yes, I am the pastor of this church. As most of you will know, we also have three elders. Do you know the differences between a pastor and an elder? pasta gets paid. That's the only difference. I know it sucks to be an elder, doesn't it? No. It doesn't, it's a great privilege, as you can ask any of them. But the reality being, I'm just another elder. The only thing that is different is that I am simply supported to be able to labor in the job of being an elder, to do it full time, specifically in the area of teaching. And because this is what Paul gets at when he said, I've been given this stewardship to make the word of God fully known. That was his full time thing. You know, there were times where he still did work because he didn't want to any kind of hindrance in the way between him and a church. But when he was supported, his full-time gig, making the Word of God fully known. but he puts it a very interesting way as well what his job is in verse 24. Now, rejoice in my sufferings for my sake because in my flesh I'm filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body that is the church. Now, this is naturally a verse that when you would run into you just like, ugh, something sounds a bit wrong about that. How can it be filling up like when Jesus said on the cross, it is finished? How can then Paul say, and well, I'm doing the work that Jesus forgot about. What's going on there? plainly, if we're faithful to the passage, we know there's obviously just something that we're missing and understanding. So what is going on? What is he filling up? Because we know this. When Jesus suffered, it was sufficient. All of you have been forgiven for every sin, always and forever. So what is Paul doing that Christ didn't? There is one thing we see it, it was for all the apostles to do and then also the whole church after that. The apostles suffered for this reason. He said in John 17, 14, "'For I have given them your word and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.'" Why did Jesus give His word, His message to the apostles? So that they could spread it, so that they could make it go out. So what was the one thing lacking when Christ died that people didn't know about it? So you see, what is going in here? When he's saying, am suffering so that I'm going fill up what is lacking, the reality is, see how he said in that passage there, John 17, 14 says, the world will hate them because they have my word, because they have my message. So they are suffering because they are not, they're not saving the church, but they are saving it by spreading the message that does save it. So. Jesus suffers to save us, the apostles suffer to spread the salvation. And so that is, so the role that, well Paul's role is to suffer for the hope that the gospel would spread, better yet that it would mature in the lives of the churches. And so, inevitably leads to the fact that this is also a role of the church and also a role of elders. Now, you're probably wondering, how do the elders suffer? What's really making it so hard? You can go and ask them. They'll have a laundry list for you. Not because of the church, by the way, just because it's hard sometimes. Anyway. Now the important thing to understand how the leadership suffers, how elders suffer, is to focus not on the suffering itself, because it comes in a million different forms, depending on your context and time, your born, all kinds of things, but rather on the goal. What is the goal? Read from verse 28 with me. Him, actually, sorry, we'll read all from 26 down to 28. So, is what He has revealed the word fully known, the mystery hidden for ages, generations, but now revealed to His saints. 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, Him we proclaim, warning everyone, teaching everyone with all wisdom, and this is the goal, this is the thing, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. So you see, this is the end goal. Like when you wonder like, you know, what does Matt do? What do the elders like, what? Okay, yes, they may like, I know they do different things here and there that I've seen, but what is the ultimate goal that hopefully they should be focusing on? That each and every person in this church would be presented mature in Christ. What does that mean? It just means we wanna see you guys grow. We wanna see you guys know more of Jesus. That's why when I'm freed up for full-time work, what do I spend my time doing? Teaching. That doesn't just mean up here, up the front, it could be one-on-one, could be Bible studies. It's simply counselling people with the truth of the Gospel. That is what we do. And so, how does this come around to the suffering? understand that that is our ultimate goal as elders. As a pastor, I would happily suffer everything if I could just see more of Jesus in you. That's why I'm here, no other reason. That should be the thing that I do each and every day. And hopefully it would be an imitation then of what all of us would be doing for each other. you see, because that is the most precious thing. When I talked, how we talked about another week, said Jesus Christ is the centre of our lives. My job, the elder's job, is to help you and to encourage you that that would stay that way, because inevitably we are always going to be distracted from that fact. So, how do we do this? He says it in verse 28. He says there, Him we proclaim, Jesus. That's the gospel. We share the gospel by warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom. I know it sounds really simple, but that's basically it. We warn as in we tell you that there are things out there that will seek to take you away because remember, Jesus wasn't always the center of your life. There are things that are trying to make it so it goes back that way so He's not the center. And so we are warning and telling you that those things are out there. And then we are teaching you what those things are. Better yet, teaching you positively, what does it look like to love Jesus and for Him to love you? What does it look like to be in relationship with Him? What is it to know His salvation? And so, as a pastor, there are two things I need to know. If you've ever wondered, why does Matt come in here and have morning tea with us? Why does he... Sorry if I haven't done that yet. I will do it at some point if you haven't had dinner with us yet. Anyway, why do that? It just seemed like a casual conversation. But you see, there are two things specifically that I need to know to be preaching up here every Sunday. Obviously, need to know my Bible. That's plain. but I also need to know you. Because what's the point if I know this really well, but I can't actually apply it to you guys? If I don't know what's going on in your lives, I can just say all the ideas I want, they may have absolutely nothing to do with you. So if you wondered why I'm there at Morning Tea, it's not just for the free food, all right? I am there so that I can actually do my job better, so that I know what your struggles are, so that I know what your joys are, because then... I can, we as elders can do our job better. And so, it's understanding this, as elders, what is our thing? Yes, our job is to present you mature in Christ and to suffer the loss of anything for the sake of that. That is why we've been put in the place we are. That's why I'm here. That is why what Paul says, he says, I count everything as rubbish. If I would just know Jesus, and so now his job is to share it, so now he's desperate, I would count everything as rubbish so that you might know him too. That is all. I want you to know. And so now comes the joy for you all. I have suffering that is appointed for me for your sake. So do the elders. So do each and every one of you as well. Understand that to become a part of this family means that you have to suffer a little bit for the sake of that family. That coming into this, being a part of this doesn't mean it's just all about us. You come into a... If you've ever been a part of the family, you know it's suffering sometimes. If you ever have brothers and sisters, come on. You know what that is like. And so coming into this room, but there is a great joy in knowing this. I'm giving you the warning beforehand, get ready, you will suffer if you don't already know it. But there is a great and glorious plan that you suffering for what sake? For the sake of the church. Just as I seek to suffer so that you might know more of Jesus, understand that in all your suffering, The church is learning and knowing more about Jesus. You do not need to know how necessarily, but there are things that you will go through, you will not understand, but people are being built up by what you are going through. Now, if you think, well, that's nice for them, sorry, it isn't all about you. Sometimes, yes, we are benefiting from, but understand there's benefit for others, that should be an encouragement, but understand it will not be easy, but it is part of God's plan. Now... on to our second point, the one we're all excited about, of course, how do we get rich? Now, to break this sad, the bad news, I'm not talking about material wealth. I'm really sorry. I know, finally we thought, maybe there was a key. I'm not here to tell you about that. Maybe God will bless you with money. That's not a problem. He does with some people, but that is not what you're talking about here. But I bring this up because we see the word riches mentioned in our passage here. You see in verse 27, then you say, them God has chosen to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery. And then he also mentions it in verse two of chapter two. Sorry, I'm just finding it. To reach all the riches of full assurance and understanding of the knowledge of God's mystery. So, he wants us to be rich in a mystery. What is this mystery? Now, understand one thing. Mystery, don't think scooby-doo, all right? It's not about finding the clues so you can figure it out. It's somewhat similar but a little bit different. The difference? You're not gonna figure this mystery out on your own. Understand, through the Old Testament, In the books before the gospels, before Jesus was born, there are all these hints pointing that God was building some plan. He was going to do something amazing, but... how mysteries worked in Jesus' time is that it wasn't that you would find the clues and figure it out. It was that someone would come along and reveal that thing which was hidden. So as in, you need someone to show you who showed us Jesus. And so the mystery is, he says it in verse 27, which is Christ in you. So, I'm gonna ask you this question. What would make you feel truly rich? Janet? No, I'm sorry, you don't have to answer the question. That's all right. You just looked a bit sleepy, so I figured, no. What would make you feel truly rich? Would it be that someone just comes along, you had some aunt all the way back when, who, you know, she's three times removed or something like that, but for some reason she put her in a will and you get 50 million bucks. Oh, that would solve all of the world's problems. Oh, wouldn't that be great? Maybe it's, maybe it's, you get this golden ticket in a chocolate bar and you become the president of the United States of America. Oh, wouldn't that be great? All the power, all everything you need. What if it was a phone handed to you that had connections to every rich and famous person in the world? So you could call them up and they had to answer your call. Wouldn't that just be amazing? All problems solved. Yet, unfortunately, it wouldn't solve all our problems. Because we know there are people who seem to have all the money, all the fame, all the power in the world, and yet what do they spend all their time doing? Trying to get more of it. Because it's never enough. You never get to the end. It never... truly satisfies. So what is true riches? It is Christ in you, which is meaning you have a relationship with Jesus. You have a relationship with God. Why is this true riches? You realize now suddenly you've got a phone with one contact on it, but it's literally to the guy who has all power, who has all supply, who has all control, everything. You don't need any more contacts than that. You have that one, and so to know that you have Him is to be truly rich. You can suffer the loss of everything, you can lose it all, doesn't matter, because you've got the guy who's got everything. Nothing is about having his everything, but you have Him. And so you see, this is part of why communion is so precious. Because it's a reminder, right, you're eating this bread and this wine, which represents, right, His body and His blood spilt on the cross. Because we talked about last week that His cross unites us to Him. reconciled to Him. But as a reminder, as you eat Him, sounds a bit weird, but you do eat Jesus in a way, you become one with Him again, you're united to Him. And so you see, you can't have a closer relationship than that, than literally eating someone. I know it sounds weird, right? But it's because you are literally, He's there in you. It doesn't get closer. To paint the vividness, He knows everything about you. There is nothing no part of you that he does not know. And that is a beautiful thing. Most importantly, because then he goes on, is Christ in us? He is the hope of glory. You see, the reality is no amount of connections, no amount of power, no amount of money can purchase our way out of death, can purchase our way into glory. That's what we call heaven. So the only way to get to a place where there is eternal life, where there is no longer no pain, no suffering, those things that we want all the money and the power for, The only way to get there is through Jesus. And so you see, that is true riches. It is to have a relationship with Him. It doesn't matter if you literally lose everything else. You are truly rich, richer than the richest man in the world if you have Him. And so, we ought to be like this man in a parable that Jesus told, Matthew 13, 44, about the kingdom of heaven. He said, the kingdom of heaven, you can almost put a relationship with God. is like a treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy, he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. So you see, this man had possessions, he had things, but yet he has found this treasure, which he would happily sell everything for. He'd just throw it. I don't care if he throw it in the bin, just give me that field so I can go and dig up that treasure and have it for myself. Because if I have that treasure, I have everything. And so you see, then this parallels back to what Paul is desperate for, what I am desperate for, that you would see how precious this treasure is. That's literally my job every Sunday. Do you see how good he is? Do you see better yet how he makes life meaningful? How he actually gives us hope in every circumstance? And so we go on to our third question. Why should we be rich? Why should we have him as our true treasure? Paul goes on chapter two, he says, for I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for all those that lay at a sea and for all those who have not seen me face to face, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love to reach all the riches of full assurance and understanding. knowledge of God's mystery which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." You see, now later, see you, don't focus on that too much, we'll talk about it in later weeks, they were just really close to Colossi in terms of city-wise. Anyway, what we have there is he is struggling to see them be encouraged and to be knit together, as in they're unified, they're together, they're a family, you can't tear them apart. Because all of it would lead to them having a full assurance, in simple English, of who Jesus is and what He did. Because, see, that is the true riches. True riches is knowing Jesus because, as He goes on in verse three, all wisdom and all knowledge are hidden in Him. Now, how does this apply to us? How does this come into our lives? Very simply, understand that there are any part of our lives If there is anything that is going on that Jesus is not a part of, see how he's talking about wisdom there? To have anything going on without Jesus in the midst of it is foolish and idiotic. It is stupidity to do anything without Him. Paul gives us an example in verse nine. After he tells him how he's desperate to see Christ in him, says, for this I toil, struggling with all his energy, that being Jesus, that he powerfully works within me. See, Paul has this wish list for the church. He's like, I want you to understand this and I want you to understand that and I want you to have this and that and just all these things. I want you to do this and that. But he understands. Have any of you ever tried to make your child do something you wanted them to do? Good luck. That's one person. That's not even an adult. What hope would Paul have of changing our old church? He has this desire that these people would change, that they would grow. But what hope does he have? He's just one man. He cannot strive with all his talents, with all his plans, it will do nothing. So who does he strive with? He strives with God's strength because God is the one that can actually affect change. He understands who He is, which is His weak and helpless and He understands who His King is, that He has all power. He is all powerful. So He relies upon Him. How does he rely upon his strength? What does that look like? Is acknowledging the simple truth that God is King. Understand this fact, God is King of everyone's lives, whether they like it or not, He created us. The reality is we just kind of rebel, it doesn't change the fact He's King. And so the foolish thing to do is ignore this truth. What does that look like? It looks like a prayerless life. Because you see, what are we saying when we don't pray? I don't need God in this. That is simply the fundamental truth. So what does it look like to rely upon Him? What does it look like to have Jesus at the center? To do that, to have Him be your true riches, it is to pray. Because see, in a simple prayer, Lord, go before me into this, into that. You are saying, I'm inviting you into this. It doesn't mean you've got to pray for three hours at the start of the day. Hey, if you want to, go nuts. But it is simply inviting Him into every aspect of our lives. Praying for things specifically saying, God, I don't know what to do with this. God, I don't even know if I'm gonna be able to do this. Just go before me and make it happen. So you're inviting Him in, you're making Him king of that situation of your life, of the aspects of your life, of everything. That is why He calls us to pray unceasingly. That doesn't mean you're literally just sitting there never stopping praying, but it just means during the day, little prayers, offer them up to Him. Lord, come with me into this, come with me into that. And so you see when things, when we're really struggling, when we're really not seeing how God does it work, more often it's a result of this from James 4.2. do not have because you do not ask. I know there's more in there, but it comes down to a simple truth. When we think God's not doing things, God's not changing, so often it is more not because He's not working, but because we're refusing to ask Him to. We need to invite Him in and why must we invite Him in? Jesus, why must He be everything? Why must He be the centre of our lives? because it keeps us from this danger. In verse four, when He is the center of our lives, we are kept from this. I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. We'll read verse five as well. For though I am an abstinent body, yet I am with you in spirit rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ. And so, this is the thing that He desperately wants. He said, I want you to know true riches. I want you to have Jesus at the centre to know that He's the most valuable thing in this universe. Why? So that you're not deluded by plausible arguments. Some translations have convincing arguments. What we're talking here about false teachers, people who come along. Remember when I was sitting down here with the kids? said, you've got to know the real thing. You've got to know the God of the Bible because people will come along to tell us something different. And so you see, this is the thing that stands before us. For each and every one of us sitting here in these pews, there is a gospel for you, specifically tailored, curated. It's not the truth, it's a half truth, but offered up for you that is particularly, um I kind of like the sound of that God. However you had moments, there's a drought going on, works dried up and money's been a bit tight. Did you know there's a God who will pay for everything, but yet who wants us to be wealthy, who never wants us to be insecure about our financial wealth again? Oh, give me that God in a second. I remember the weeks of living off meager and for three weeks. Yeah, I will take the God who will make me wealthy. Maybe you've been sick. Maybe you've watched loved ones die. because of diseases in this world. Did you know there is a God who heals all diseases? Oh man, I like the sound of Him. Better yet, maybe one of the hardest things for us as Christians, we have family who aren't saved, who don't know God. Did you know there's a God who doesn't care about that? He's okay. He just wants to save everyone. If they rock up to church once a decade, they're in. Oh, I'm glad he doesn't care about sin that much. All of these are on offer and there are more out there propounded by teachers, supposed teachers. But yet these images of God, these truths don't come from the Bible. They come from our own desires. And so you see, this is the hardest thing because I want a lot of these things to be true. Why would I want to live in a world with disease? Why would I want to live in a world where people are poor? Why would I want people not to be saved? But yet I... There are no gods like that because that's not our God. There is only one God and He is the God of the Scriptures. And so it is the hardest thing because every day you must say, don't want the God who's going to give me earthly riches. I don't want the God who's going to heal my loved ones. I don't want the God who's going to save everyone I love if He so chooses not to. But instead, I choose the God of the Scriptures. That is the one. Because He is the one who gave His Son for me, who forgives me. I want that one. And so we have to choose that God every day over the God that this world offers up for us. And so, wrapping up everything in conclusion. My job is to make it so that we love Jesus, that He is the most valuable thing to us. and that you would not pursue the garbage replacements that are an offer for the gospel. That you would not trade it in for a subpar thing because those things will lead to us going down a path we do not want to go to. They lead to our death, not to our eternal life. There is only one God who can save and it is Jesus upon the cross. He does not offer a life free from suffering, free from pain, He does not promise riches, least not yet. But He has offered us everything we need. to continue through this life and better yet joy that goes beyond riches and healing. He offers salvation. And so I'm gonna, this is your choice today and I want you to choose it. Choose this God or choose another. There's only one true God. but please do what's wise. Walk with the true God as the centre of your lives, not these caricatures of who he really is. And so, ever that's an exhortation, we also need to know who he is, so it wouldn't hurt to read our Bibles as well. So, let us wrap up in prayer and then I'll invite the worship team up for a final song. Father, we are desperate to know the true you. the true you that is revealed by your spirit. We pray that your spirit will reveal Him to us now. Not the God who offers us the things of this world, but the God who offers us things that go beyond this world. Eternal life, salvation, forgiveness of our sins. Father, we don't want any God other than that God. We want that one. And so make it that we will not be deceived by the false teachers of this generation. Pray, Lord, that You would keep us, that You would protect us, that You would rid us of the lies in our minds, that You would free us up to truly love the true You. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.