A Daily Walk

Guest (Male): Keeping the focus on Jesus. Next on a daily walk.

John Randall: Folks, can I tell you that any church, any ministry that drifts away from preaching about and focusing on Jesus is missing the point. It's about Jesus. In the volume of the book, it's written about Jesus. If someone gets up and preaches and at some point you don't hear the name Jesus, something's wrong. There's no greater name. There's no more wonderful name than the name of Jesus. And we need to be proclaiming Jesus and pointing people to Jesus and telling people about Jesus and saying the name Jesus.

Guest (Male): Well, the world as we know it today is full of turmoil and suffering. It would be easy for us to complain, argue, and even question why. And many are. But today on a daily walk, we'd like to encourage you to make the choice to rejoice just as the Apostle Paul did in the midst of suffering. Pastor John Randall provides some reasons for doing so as he returns to his study of Colossians.

John Randall: Great to be back with you tonight. Colossians chapter 1 if you look down with me being ending at verse 24 tonight. I now rejoice in my sufferings for you and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ for the sake of his body, which is the church of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God, which was given to me for you to fulfill the word of God, the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to his saints. Father, speak to us tonight from your word in Jesus name.

Amen. When the Apostle Paul was under house arrest in Rome, he wrote what are known as his prison epistles. These letters included the letter to the Ephesians, to the Philippians, to Philemon, and this letter to the Colossians. And this was undoubtedly a difficult season for the apostle. We know that he was greatly concerned for the churches that he had planted. And now that he was incarcerated, he could no longer visit them and encourage them. And another concern that Paul had was the false teachers that had now come upon these churches like vultures on a carcass.

They were seeking to lead the people astray away from the message of the gospel. And in the midst of his concerns, Paul did what he could by way of prayer and of correspondence. He wrote powerful letters that were filled with important truth that would confront and unmask the lies of the false teachers. And we pick up in verse 24 this evening and I am immediately struck by the words of the apostle in light of the fact that he is writing from prison that he says, I now rejoice in my suffering. Following his conversion on the Damascus Road, Paul sat in a house for several days waiting for further instructions from the Lord.

And the Lord had spoken to his servant Ananias to go and to pray over Paul. And Ananias was reluctant because before he was Paul the Apostle, he was Saul of Tarsus, a great enemy of the church. He persecuted God's people. And so Ananias was hesitant and even argued with God. But then the Lord said in Acts chapter 9 verse 15, the Lord said to him, go, for he is a chosen vessel of mine to bear my name before Gentiles, before kings, and the children of Israel. And then in verse 16, the Lord said this, I will show him how many things he will suffer for my sake.

In other words, Paul was told right up front that with the ministry he would be involved with, there would be suffering attached to it. But even though he knew it in advance, it doesn't necessarily make it easy to endure when you're in the midst of it. But again, Paul says to the Colossians here that he was rejoicing. Paul rejoiced that he was counted worthy to suffer for the name of Christ. To rejoice in the midst of suffering is in our natural response. For most of us, we question in the midst of our suffering or we complain in the midst of our suffering.

Yet Paul declares that he was rejoicing and he had suffered many things. Do you recall when he wrote to the Philippians, another one of his epistles from prison? Actually, the theme of that epistle was joy. But in writing to the Philippians, he said to them in chapter 3 verse 8, he said, I count all things lost for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things. And I count them as rubbish that I may gain Christ. And probably his most transparent letter that he had ever written concerning his life, concerning his ministry, concerning what he encountered.

Second Corinthians, Paul says, and he gives a list of the things of what it was that he endured for the cause of Christ. And in Second Corinthians 11, this is what he said. He said, are they ministers of Christ? He said, I speak as a fool. I am more in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prison more frequently, in deaths often. From the Jews five times I received 40 stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. A night and the day I have been in the deep.

In journeys often, in perils of water, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, perils in the sea, perils among false brethren, in weariness, in toil, in sleeplessness, in hunger and thirst, in fasting often, in cold and nakedness, besides the other things. Oh, there's more. Besides the other things which come upon me daily, my deep concern for the churches. In the midst of all that he endured and everything he encountered, Paul could still say to the Colossians, I now rejoice in my suffering.

And my response to that is how. How is that possible? You remember James declared in James chapter 1 of his epistle, he said, my brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. I believe the way that we are able to rejoice in the midst of hardship or suffering is first of all, you make the decision to rejoice. I have to decide to rejoice. No one's going to force me to rejoice in the Lord. No one's going to twist my arm to rejoice in the Lord.

It is a choice that I have to make. The Bible says, rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice. It's a decision. I have to choose to rejoice. Do you recall in the Old Testament when the prophet Habakkuk had received some very discouraging news about what was going to happen to the nation of Israel. Their enemies were going to come in. And Habakkuk was so troubled by this. He said, Lord, I know we're bad, but they're worse. How could you Why would you allow them to come and attack us? I mean, we're your people and they're idolaters.

And yes, we've strayed from you, but but Lord, it doesn't seem right. It doesn't seem fair. And he And he he he goes up into his tower. He said, I'm going to wait and then I'm going to answer. I'm going to wait for you to tell me what's going on with all of this. And as Habakkuk works through this process with the Lord of of the suffering that was coming and and what he was about to experience, this was his response at the end. He said in Habakkuk chapter 3 and mark this and make note of it.

He said this, though the fig tree may not blossom nor the fruit be on the vines, though the labor of the olive may fail and the fields they yield no food, though the flock may be cut off from the fold, though there be no herd in the stalls. Notice what he says. Yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength. He will make my feet like deer's feet and he will make me walk on my high hills. He said, this is there's no fruit.

There's no evidence. I don't see anything happening. But I'm going to choose to rejoice anyway. I am going to choose to trust God. I'm going to choose to praise God. Even though everything surrounding the prophet looked bleak, though the evidence of the goodness of God seemed untraceable in the midst of his pain and his suffering, he made a choice to rejoice. And that choice, friends, to rejoice in the midst of hardship, let me tell you something. It's based upon the sufficiency and the faithfulness of God's promises that are found in his word. The promises of God point to who God is in his character and in his nature.

And the promises that we cling to declare how God feels about us and reminds us of his ultimate intended end and purpose for us, which is as we even sang tonight, it's for good. And I believe that this is why the Apostle Paul could say in Romans chapter 8 verse 18, I consider the sufferings of this present time, they're not worthy to be compared with the glory which will be revealed in us. You see, Paul had a knowledge of something, a promise of something in the future, something good. And so he said, you know what?

I I don't even what I'm going through right now, what I'm enduring, when I compare it to what is coming, I realize there is no comparison. And thus this also solidifies my decision to rejoice. I choose to rejoice because I know something about God. I know something about the promises of God. I know something about the character of God. Here in Colossians, Paul lists for us some of the reasons why he was rejoicing in the midst of his suffering. I want to highlight them for you. He says in verse 24 that he knew that his present sufferings were for the sake of others.

Notice verse 24 again. I rejoice in my suffering for you and I fill up in my flesh what's lacking in the afflictions of Christ for the sake of his body, which is the church. The suffering that Paul was experiencing was not because of something he had done wrong or some sin that he had committed in his life, but because he had done what was right. It was because of his willingness to obey God rather than men. He was suffering because of his defense of the gospel. He was suffering because he was identifying with Jesus. And therefore he could say to the church, I rejoice in my suffering because in one sense I'm suffering for you.

I'm suffering for you. I'm suffering for the church. And And Paul's suffering could never add to the suffering of Christ. But Paul's suffering did identify him with the suffering of Christ. These afflictions of Christ he was feeling that in himself he was identifying with Jesus. And so he could say to the church, I'm I'm rejoicing in my suffering because I'm standing for the cause of Christ. I'm in prison right now because I wanted to bring you the gospel. I'm in prison right now enduring this because I'm standing for a cause. I am standing for the gospel.

It's one thing to suffer for doing something wrong. It's quite something else to suffer for doing what's right. You remember in Second Corinthians 1 5 Paul said, for as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ. The sufferings they're abounding, but also the comfort and the consolation is equal to the suffering. Whatever God allows us to suffer through, he provides the strength and the comfort to make it through. Paul could rejoice in his suffering because he was suffering on behalf of the church. But also Paul was suffering because of the message that he preached.

You'll notice in verse 25 he said, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God, which was given to me for you to fulfill the word of God, the mystery which has been hidden from the ages and from generations, but has now been revealed to his saints. To them God will to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. The message and the ministry that Paul was given, he considered it to be a stewardship from God. The word stewardship that is used here is a word that describes the role of a household manager.

It was the responsibility of the household manager to faithfully care for all that belonged to the master of the household. It wasn't his. It was entrusted to him. It was a stewardship. And as a steward, he was to be faithful with what belonged to the master, to take care of it, to watch over it. And he would be rewarded accordingly. Paul saw this this message of the gospel of grace, this mystery that had been hidden for so long that had now been revealed. God had entrusted something precious and priceless in his hands. And he said, I I I'm a steward of this.

And because he was a steward of this message, he suffered. You know, we all have been given a stewardship from the Lord. Each of us has been given a life that God desires us to use for his glory. Jesus spoke in his teachings and his parables about stewards, those who were faithful with what they had been given and those who were unfaithful. You remember at one point he said that there was a master who entrusted different monetary wealth into each person's hands, three people specifically. And then he said, I'm going away and I'm going to come back.

He gave them something, a stewardship, a responsibility. Two of them invested it, had something to show for it. One did not invest it. He buried it and he was held accountable for what he did not do. The others were rewarded for what they did. The fact is all of us are given a stewardship, which you've been given maybe different from me, but God's not going to hold me accountable for what he's given you. He's going to hold you accountable and he's going to hold me accountable for wherever he's trusted entrusted to us. The question is are we being good stewards of what we've been given?

The stewardship that we have think everything we have is on loan. It's not ours really. Everything we have it's all his. What am I doing with what I've been given? How am I using what's been entrusted to me? This message that Paul was given, I want you to notice here. He says it twice. It was referred to as a mystery. It was a mystery, he said, that was hidden for ages, for generations, but had now been revealed. And with this revelation, he had both the privilege and the responsibility to pass it on to others. Now included in this mystery that was hidden in the Old Testament was this, that both Jews and Gentiles would become unified as one body, one church in Jesus Christ.

That was a complete mystery. Even after the church began, you remember in the book of Acts, the Lord said, I want you to take the gospel into the whole world. And they just pretty much hung out in Jerusalem. And everybody who was getting saved primarily they were Jews. It was Jewish congregations. I mean, the thought of taking the message to Gentiles that can I mean, they're they're not even the chosen people. Messiah is Jewish. We're Jewish. Why would we do that? What did God allow to happen? Persecution came. And when persecution came, the gospel went everywhere.

And then Gentiles started getting saved. And even the Jews who were born again were struggling with, hey, are they supposed to get saved like we are? You remember Peter went down to the home of Cornelius and he met with Cornelius who was a Gentile and he opened his mouth and started speaking to Cornelius. And Cornelius was filled with the spirit. His whole family got saved. They all got baptized. All got baptized with the Holy Spirit as well. And Gentiles and Peter came back and the Jews said, where where you been? I was with some Gentiles.

What were we doing down there? I ate with them. You ate with Gentiles? He goes, let me explain. They received the Holy Spirit the same way we did. And suddenly the church was finding out that this message of the gospel, this mystery that was hidden, suddenly Gentiles were to be part of the body of Christ. And so they were to be one body, not separate. And again, as the church was formulating and coming together early on, there were problems because Gentiles were completely different from the Jews in what they ate, how they lived, etc. They even had to have a a meeting in Acts 15 in the Jerusalem Council to decide what was acceptable and what wasn't acceptable among Gentiles because Jews thought, well, if they're really going to be saved, they got to become Jews.

But they realized that wasn't necessary. This mystery had now been revealed. The grace of God extended to them. And so when Paul preached this message, a former Pharisee, now an apostle to the Gentiles, when he preached this message, this mystery of Jews and Gentiles being one body, listen, that got him into so much trouble. He was persecuted. He was falsely accused. They said he's he's let go of the law. He's no longer Jewish. He's a I mean, they just And they beat him wherever he went as he said. He listed it for us. Everything that he went through was a direct result of the message that he preached.

The message that he preached is what got him into trouble. The gospel revealed not only the Jews, but also Gentiles could now experience all the benefits of being children of God. They were now included in the glory and the riches of God's grace. They had received redemption, reconciliation, forgiveness of sins. Christ lived in them by the spirit filling them with inner hope. And this was absolutely revolutionary. And not only would the Gentiles have difficulty believing the message, but as I said, the Jews would have a hard time believing and even reject it. And so as Paul preached this message, he didn't water it down.

He told them there there's neither Jew nor nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female. They're all one in Christ. Boy, that that just set off a fire everywhere he went. And he suffered because of the message. You think, well, maybe we tone it down a little bit, Paul. You don't need to be so bold with the message. Why don't you just water it down a little bit? Maybe you wouldn't get so many beatings. Paul was unwilling to do that. And the message that we preach, the true gospel message, it can be offensive because the truth of the gospel is everybody's a sinner.

Everybody's fallen short of the glory of God. Everybody needs a savior. Everybody's violated God's law. Everybody's under the judgment and the wrath of God apart from receiving Christ. That's not a popular message. And so there are other message, social gospel kinds of messages and other things that are presented that aren't accurate. And they give people sadly a false sense of security, a false hope. They couldn't even explain what the gospel is if they were asked. But Paul was willing to preach a message of the gospel, a mystery that had been revealed. And because of it, he suffered.

And there are many today who are suffering greatly for believing in and preaching and proclaiming the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Regardless of the response, Paul was committed to faithfully delivering this message. And that is why in verse 28 I want you to see the theme of this message that he preached. He said, and I love this. He said in verse 28, him we preach. Him we preach. It's a reference to Jesus. Him we preach, warning every man, teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.

And to this end I labor striving according to his working which works in me mightily. I want you to notice first of all that the message that Paul preached it's centered upon the person of Jesus. Him we preach. In writing to the Corinthians, Paul said in First Corinthians chapter 2 in verse 1, he said, and I, brethren, when I came to you, I didn't come with excellence of speech or of wisdom. Declaring to you the testimony of God, I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. Corinth was so fond of philosophy.

They were so enamored by orators and theatrics stimulated by presentations. Paul said, I didn't bring any of that. What I did is I brought Jesus Christ and him crucified. That's the message that I preached to you. And this is what I was determined to preach to you. Folks, can I tell you that any church, any ministry that drifts away from preaching about and focusing on Jesus is missing the point. It's about Jesus. In the volume of the book, it's written about Jesus. If someone gets up and preaches and at some point you don't hear the name Jesus, something's wrong.

There's no greater name. There's no more wonderful name than the name of Jesus. And we need to be proclaiming Jesus and pointing people to Jesus and telling people about Jesus and saying the name Jesus.

Guest (Male): Yes, the message we preach and the lives we live are to be all about Jesus. As we draw today's edition of a daily walk with Pastor John Randall to a close, I have just a few things to tell you about that you may be interested in. What you heard today is one part of a series of studies based in Colossians. You can hear it again at a dailywalk.org, oneplace.com or wherever you get your podcasts. Now this month we picked out a super cool adult tea that says, pray for the USA. Something we should do not only on and around the Fourth of July, but all year long.

We're making it available to our a daily walk listeners for the cost of $13. You can call us for the ordering details at 877-242-0828. Again, our phone number is 877-242-0828 or requested online at a dailywalk.org. We are thankful for your support, especially during these summer months. If you've been encouraged and blessed by the teaching of the word and want to help us deliver the good news all across the nation and the world, stop by a dailywalk.org or call 877-242-0828. Well, that's all the time we have for today, but come back next time when Pastor John Randall will again open and study the book of Colossians with us and we'll continue through the Bible.

This program is brought to you by Calvary South OC and made possible through your generous support.