Truth That Changes Lives

Guest (Male): The mission of the gospel is to proclaim Christ to everyone and to present everyone perfect in Christ, verse 28. We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. Not to us, but to your name be the glory.

Thank you for joining us on Truth That Changes Lives. Pastor JP Jones is the senior pastor of Crossline Community Church in Laguna Hills, California, and a professor in biblical studies at Biola University. Today on Truth That Changes Lives, Pastor JP will be giving us a message from a series entitled All About Jesus. Let's listen as JP gives us part two of The Reconciler.

JP Jones: This past week, I did some work in our yard. I've been in a continual effort on it because over the course of the rains and some cold weather for a little bit, most of the shrubs around our lawn died. We planted them when we moved in 10 or 11 years ago, and about two-thirds of them died. So, I dug out the ones that were dead, and the ones that were still alive, I dug up and transplanted them around a fountain in our front yard.

Now, I did the work and they've been transplanted. Whether or not they will survive is yet to be seen. I’m going to try to water it and cultivate it and try to keep them healthy, but the proof will be whether they stay alive and thrive. Let's suppose rather than transplanting, I was planting those shrubs from the beginning and planting them from seeds or bulbs, whatever it is that they start with. I didn't go down to the nursery and buy a one-gallon or five-gallon plant; I actually got the seeds.

I put the seeds in the ground, cultivated it, and watered it. What is it that will let me know that the seed actually took root? I can hear you muttering. I'm assuming because you're an intelligent-looking audience that what you're saying is a plant will emerge from the ground. You can put the seed in, but whether or not the seed actually takes root, you only know when the plant emerges.

The way the Bible describes faith is in both of those terms: the seed planted and the plant that comes up. Paul, speaking to the Colossians, notes they received this gospel message, the message about Jesus, the message about the fullness being in Jesus, the message that Jesus is the hope of glory, and the message that Jesus accomplished reconciliation because we once were alienated and enemies of God, but now through the blood of his cross, we've been reconciled to God.

They have received that message. It gave them the hope that they're going to be presented holy and blameless, and the confirmation that they actually did receive it is that they're going to continue in the faith. Continuing in the faith doesn't cause them to be saved; continuing in the faith proves that they already are saved. The Bible in strongest terms says works have no bearing at all in salvation. At all. But works affirm, give evidence to, and prove that we're saved.

The point is this: the person who has really exercised transforming faith in this reconciliation of Jesus Christ is the person who is being changed by it. If you're not being changed by it, either something's wrong in your thinking and understanding and commitment to Christ, or maybe you never received Christ by faith in the first place. Do you know there are many people in the church who think, "I was baptized and I go to church, therefore I must be saved"?

Being baptized and being in a church does not make you saved any more than being in a garage makes you a car. There must be true faith in the reconciling work of Jesus Christ, and what makes it true faith is that it is transforming faith. It's not just intellectual; it changes your heart and your decisions and the course of your life. Does that mean you're perfect? No, not at all. But you are being transformed by the faith that you have in Jesus Christ.

That's the message of the gospel. Now, Paul tells us something about the messenger. He says in verse 24, "This is the gospel that I heard, that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven and of which I, Paul, have become a servant." Paul was a servant of the gospel. He uses the Greek word *diakonos*, where we get the word deacon. Because we get the word deacon from this term, we tend to think it's a special word just for the apostles, just for the ordained clergy, or just for those key mature volunteer leaders who have a title of deacon.

Actually, the word *diakonos* is used of every Christian. Did you know the moment that you receive the gospel by faith, the moment you put your faith in Jesus Christ and become a follower of Jesus Christ, you are now a servant of Jesus Christ, a *diakonos* of Jesus Christ? Paul isn't saying anything about himself that isn't true of every believer in Jesus. We're all servants. In fact, every human being is a servant. In the words of the great theologian Bob Dylan, "You're gonna have to serve somebody; it may be the devil or it may be the Lord, but you're gonna have to serve somebody."

We're all servants. We serve something. In fact, following Jesus and becoming a Christian is just transferring allegiance to which master you're serving. Jesus is now our master, and we're serving him. Paul says, "This gospel message that you received, Colossians, which has been proclaimed all over the then-known world, I've become a servant of this gospel." Paul says that God gave him a commission to preach the Word of God. Verse 25: "I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the Word of God in all its fullness."

Again, this word commission might lead us to think Paul is speaking about the fact that he was called to be an apostle, or we might think about how certain people are commissioned to gospel ministry or ordained to ministry. But that's not what this word is, nor is it what this word implies. It's the Greek word *oikonomos*. The word *oikonomos* is translated in some passages as management, trust, or stewardship. It's the word for stewardship.

Generally, in the church, if I stood up and I said I'm going to speak on stewardship this morning, what do you think I'm going to talk on? Money. That is what we think of as stewardship when really that's only one topic of what the Bible addresses regarding us being stewards. We are to be stewards of our money, our time, our resources, and our spiritual gifts. Stewardship is really a question of discipleship and lordship. But there are certain things that we are to steward, and one of those things is the gospel.

Paul says that God had given him a stewardship of the gospel. He was a servant of the gospel, and God had given him a stewardship of the gospel. In fact, he uses the same kind of language over in 1 Corinthians chapter nine when he says, "For if I preach the gospel of my own will, I have a reward; but if not of my own will, I have a stewardship entrusted to me." In other words, Paul says if I just wake up in the morning and I'm all excited about Jesus and I go tell people about Jesus, I have a certain reward that's related to that.

On the other hand, if I wake up in the morning and I just don't feel like following God that day, but I choose to do it anyway because I'm a disciple, and I meet somebody and I really don't feel like talking to them about Jesus, but I do it anyway because I'm a disciple, it's a stewardship. I do it because I'm a faithful steward, not just because I always feel like doing it. If you have not yet understood that dimension of your Christian life, then you're living your Christian life like a two-year-old, because two-year-olds just want to do what they want to do.

Part of maturity is understanding at times we have a responsibility to behave a certain way not just because we feel like it, but because it's the right thing to do. As Christians, we need to realize we live the Christian life not just because of how we feel, but because there's a right thing to do. Jesus is our master and we're following our master. Paul relates this to sharing the gospel. It's a stewardship. He's been given the gospel as a stewardship, and just like every follower of Jesus is a servant of Jesus, every Christian has been given the gospel as a stewardship.

The concept behind a stewardship is this: something belongs to somebody else, they give it on loan to you to take care of, and then they're going to ask what you did with it. God has given every follower of Jesus Christ the gospel. Are we going to take it and bury it under a bushel, or are we going to do as Jesus said and let our light shine before men so that others see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven? It's a stewardship. It's a privilege to live it out and give it away.

Messengers of Jesus Christ are just followers of Jesus Christ who have been reconciled to God and they understand that's a message they can give away to others. In fact, that's exactly what Paul says in 2 Corinthians chapter five. He says if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old things have passed away, behold, all things have become new. God has reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and he has given to us the word of reconciliation.

We are ambassadors for Christ, and we beseech you on behalf of God, be reconciled. Every believer in Jesus Christ is a minister of reconciliation. Every believer in Jesus Christ has the privilege of being an ambassador for Jesus Christ. Paul is very honest, though, and he tells us that being a messenger of the gospel is costly. You're not going to get any bait-and-switch message in this church. I'm saying that kind of tongue-in-cheek, but I'm saying that very honestly.

If you're here and you're a seeker, you will not hear at Crossline, "Oh, it's all wonderful and just come to Jesus and your life will be all better," because it might get all worse. But you'll be saved and go to heaven. You won't hear, "Oh, if you just trust God with everything, you'll just have instant peace and everything will be awesome." Sometimes life sucks. But we can have joy that's transcendent not because all the circumstances worked out, but because our life is aligned properly with a holy God and we're experiencing his love and grace and power in our lives. That doesn't mean it's not hard sometimes—extremely hard.

Paul's very honest about that. He says in this passage about the gospel and about its reconciling power and about his call to be a messenger, "Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you." Who was the one doing the suffering for them? Paul and Epaphras, the apostolic band. "And I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regards to Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, which is the church." Don't forget the fact that Paul's writing this from a Roman prison cell. He's in prison.

He got thrown in prison because he believed in Jesus and spoke up for Jesus and wouldn't stop speaking up for Jesus. He was suffering. He is saying that there is a measure of suffering that we share in as Christ's followers. We share in Christ's afflictions. But when you compare this with many of the passages that Paul writes about this, there's a joy that transcends circumstantial happiness. There's the hope of glory in heaven, the experience of Christ's death and resurrection, the perfecting of our character, and the certainty that God is using even suffering to accomplish holy purposes. Because of all of that, he says he rejoices.

Not that he was a masochist, but in the midst of the suffering that maybe I would choose not to have but God has brought into my life, I rejoice. Part of being a messenger, which is really just part of being a Christian, is some suffering. Then Paul says one more thing about being a messenger. Being a messenger of the gospel requires hard work and Holy Spirit power. Hard work and Holy Spirit power.

He says in verse 29, "To this end, I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me." This is one of those great verses where every word has a word picture behind it. When he says, "To this end, I labor," it's the Greek word *kopiao*, which means hard work, toil, labor that results in exhaustion. "To this end, I labor, struggling." This is the Greek word *agonizomai*, where we get the word agony. I labor and I'm struggling.

One of the cool things about this word *agonizomai* is it's based off the word *agon*. The *agon* was the track where the Greeks did all of their athletic competition. My daughter is running track for her high school team, and she had her first track meet last week. It was cool to see all the events that were going on. They're doing high jump and pole vault and shot put, they're running sprints, and then they put the hurdles up. All this activity was the *agon*, and *agonizomai* meant to train in the *agon*. It was hard work, but it was like exercise towards a purpose: physical fitness.

Paul says being a messenger of the gospel of Jesus Christ is hard work and it's training. It's exercise. But then he says, "I labor according to his power, which mightily works in me." He uses the word *energeian*, which means operating strength. It's God's operating strength in us, which is actually operating because he uses *energeian* and then *energoumenon*, which means it's operating strength which is really operating. It's a play on words according to his power, *dunamis*.

Paul is saying that he is laboring and working to live for Christ and to be a witness for Christ, but it's really God's power working in him, not just theoretically, but actually working. Let me just do a straw poll. How many people here have at one point in your life driven a car? All right. Picture this. You get in a car, you get your seatbelt on, you adjust your mirrors, you turn the car on, you put it in drive, and then you just sit there and grab the steering wheel and go, "Go!"

Nothing happens. So, you grab even tighter and go, "Go!" It wouldn't matter how hard you gripped that wheel, how much energy you released, or how much willpower you used to want the thing to move; it wouldn't go. But with just a slight pressure of your foot on the accelerator pedal, all of a sudden, the car's going to take off. What you understand is the real power source for moving the car forward is the combustible engine underneath the hood.

But you still have to push on the accelerator. You could muscle up all kinds of willpower and it's not going to make that car go or go any faster than the horsepower that it has, because the real power for the car is the engine. But you have your part: you have to push on the accelerator. In the Christian life, there's God's part and there's our part. We have to push on the accelerator. That's Paul saying, "I work hard, I labor, but it's a labor with God's strength, God's power, a labor of trust, it's the Holy Spirit working in me and through me."

Being an effective witness for Jesus Christ is not about gutting it out and forcing people to believe. It's being in step with the Holy Spirit and radiating the life of Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit and speaking the truth as the Holy Spirit gives you opportunity and making the gospel clear as the Holy Spirit works in you and through you. That's why Paul says you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and even the remotest parts of the earth. That's why it says in Acts 4:31 that when the church gathered together and prayed, they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness.

So, there's the message and the messenger and, real quickly, the mission. The mission of the gospel is to proclaim Christ to everyone and to present everyone perfect in Christ. Verse 28 says we proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. "Everyone" is repeated three times in the Greek text because the gospel is to be offered to the whole world. It's to be presented to the whole world.

Jesus said in Mark 16 to go preach the gospel to all creation. Jesus said in Matthew 28 to go make disciples of all the nations. Acts 1:8 says Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the remotest parts of the earth. We're to share the gospel of Jesus with everyone everywhere, and it involves proclaiming Christ, admonishing people about Christ, and teaching people about Christ so that you might present everyone perfect in Christ. It's the Greek word *teleios*, which is translated in some Bible translations as perfect, some as complete, and some as mature.

That's the way it's used in Hebrews chapter five when it says milk is for babies, but solid food is for the mature, who have their senses trained to know the difference between good and evil. That's the way it's used in Ephesians chapter four, talking about the church, that he gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, some to be pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints to do the work of the ministry till we all attain to the unity of the faith, knowledge of the Son of God, and we become like a mature man. I think that's the way he's using it here. It's perfect in the sense of spiritual maturity, spiritual completeness.

Paul's goal was to preach the gospel to everyone and disciple everyone so that everyone could become spiritually mature. That ought to be our goal. That ought to be the goal of this church, the goal of every individual believer in Jesus, and the goal of the collective body of Christ. You see, it's world discipleship, the Great Commission, not just my spiritual maturity. If you make your spiritual maturity and transformation the ultimate mission, you will be shortsighted and become narcissistic and selfish.

If you make the growth of this church, reaching this community for Christ, the mission, we will become shortsighted and narcissistic as a church. What's the only way to be healthy? See the goal for what it is: it's the world. It's reaching the world for Christ, preaching the gospel to the whole world, making disciples all over the world. It's the ongoing work of teaching people God's word so that we with absolute confidence could say that we've done everything to present everyone mature. Everyone here is still in that process. Some of us here, our next step for maturity is that we need to cross a line and give our lives to Jesus. We need to believe the message. Some of us need to start being messengers. All of us need to grow towards Christ. There's the message, the messenger, and the mission.

Guest (Male): What a great message for all of us today. Pastor JP provides us with great insight. That is why we'd like to make it available to you on CD. Just get in touch and mention today's date. We'll send it your way for just five dollars. Or if you'd like to support this ministry, you can write us at Truth That Changes Lives, 23331 Moulton Parkway, Laguna Hills, California 92653, or give us a call at 949-916-0250. For your gift of 25 dollars or more, we will send you a signed copy of JP's new book, *Facing Goliath*.

Please join us every Sunday at 9:00 or 11:00 AM at Crossline Church in Laguna Hills. The address is 23331 Moulton Parkway, Laguna Hills, California 92653. Or check us out on the web at crosslinechurch.com. We're going to get the address and phone number again in a moment, but before we do that, Pastor JP, do you have any insight from today's message?

JP Jones: Thanks, Pastor Greg. We're in this study of Colossians and we're looking at how Jesus is everything; it's all about Jesus. In Colossians chapter one, as Paul comes to the conclusion of this chapter, he talks about this great truth of Christ's reconciliation. We've discovered that there is the message, the messenger, and the mission. The message is the gospel of Jesus Christ, reconciliation through Jesus Christ. The messenger is every believer in Christ, every person who's been made new in Christ because they believe the gospel. The mission is to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world and to present every person complete in Christ.

Today, if you have never given your life to Jesus Christ, you need to believe the message. You need to cross the line and trust Jesus Christ as the Lord and Savior of your life. If you have believed in Jesus Christ and you know that you're a believer, then you're a messenger. You've been called by God to be a witness of Christ and to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with others. The mission is that Christ's church, that is every believer in Christ around the world, would be committed to reaching the whole world for Christ and seeing people become mature in Christ. God wants us who know Jesus to tell those who don't know Jesus how they can know Jesus.

That's our mission. We are to seek to present people complete in Jesus Christ. So, ask God, who are the people in my world who don't know the Lord? My neighbors, my friends, my co-workers, my family members—the people in my sphere of influence that I can love for Christ's sake, serve for Christ's sake, and share this great message of reconciliation and salvation in Jesus Christ. God calls us who know him to be messengers sent on mission to present people as mature in Jesus Christ. That is the greatest calling possible. The greatest thing is to know Christ and to make Christ known. Today, will you ask Jesus to open your eyes to the people in your world that you can be a messenger of salvation to? Let's pray.

Father, thank you that you have given us the gospel of reconciliation, and salvation is only in Jesus Christ. May we be stewards of salvation by giving away the gospel to everyone, living a contagious life, praying for people's salvation, and committing to sharing the message of the gospel with every person so that, like Paul, we could be those who seek to present every person complete and mature in Christ. And we pray for that in Jesus' name, Amen.

Guest (Male): We want to help you in your relationship with Christ. Please get in touch with us at Truth That Changes Lives, 23331 Moulton Parkway, Laguna Hills, California 92653, or call us at 949-916-0250. On the internet, you will find us at crosslinechurch.com. We hope to see you at one of our services every Sunday at our new campus in Laguna Hills. For more information and directions, please go to crosslinechurch.com. Please join us next time on Truth That Changes Lives.