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Preacher: Pastor David Ball
Scripture: Colossians 4:7-18
In the closing words of Paul’s letter to the Colossians, he reminds us that the Christian life is a life on a mission with Jesus. On a mission, we need comforting, encouraging, and loving relationships. We are called by God to live in the world and not separate from it, and the church is not a country club for the elite but rather a mission outpost for sinners. When we fail to live our lives on mission, we fail to be the church and experience the fullness of a life with Christ.
Transcript
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Well for those who are visiting with us uh we are actually at the end of uh of the series that we have been walking through together of Paul’s letter to the Colossians during this uh season of epiphany uh the season of epiphany is all about the mission of the church that’s Christ proclaimed to the the Gentiles uh and so the book of Colossians uh has reflected that and that Paul’s concerned for the Gospel Mission of the church and in doing that he’s uh he’s May gone to Great pains to to write in this book in this letter uh to the church in colosi about the supremacy of Jesus Christ that Jesus is supreme over all eternity he’s Supreme Over All of creation he’s Supreme over all of the Power of this world and he’s Supreme and head over the church that Jesus as Supreme is our savior and not only is he our savior he is our sanctifier by the work of his holy spirit in our lives he’s the one as Paul proclaimed he is at work rooting us building us up in him and strengthening Us in faith it’s the work that he’s doing in us and that means that he is sufficient in every way way over our lives and because he is sufficient in every way over our lives it means that we are secure in every way in him we have nothing to fear we are free from all insecurity that was the major issue that Paul was speaking into the the colossian the Colossians lives they were people who were insecure and so when uh this group of gnostics we’ve talked about them a lot during the series and you can go back and listen if you want to know more about gnosticism this group of gnostics who had come into the the church and were proclaiming a different gospel altoe Paul was worried that this these folks were going to in their insecurity we’re going to be led astray we’re going to be led astray into this heretical word that would draw them away from the gospel and draw them actually more into themselves and their own sinful nature but in Christ Christ Paul proclaims to the Colossians and to us we’re free from all insecurity that would either make us in Mission timid or on the other hand arrogant because that’s what insecurity does and I’ve talked about that over and over again when we’re when we’re insecure we’re either timid and shy and scared to to be on Gospel Mission and to share Christ with others uh in our lives or we become overly arrogant and prideful instead being so insecure that we need everyone to to think that we’re right all the time and that we know everything and in the process we just push people away because nobody likes to know it all and so e in insecurity we may we go to either of those extremes but in Christ we’re free we’re secure in him in every way which means we are free to be humbly bold humbly bold for the work of the gospel and that’s what the season of epiphany is all about it’s about Christ in the world going into the world proclaiming the good news to the Gentiles so living life in the fullness of Christ which is what the title of this whole series has been the fullness of Christ is a life that is on Mission in fact a life or a church that’s not that’s not on mission is failing to live into the fullness of what it means to live in Christ it’s missing the boat we’re called to continue on mission to continue to work the work that Jesus began reaching those who were lost in darkness he’s entrusted it to us as the church as his body at work in the world continuing the mission and here at the end of Paul’s letter I think we get uh some lessons in continuing on Mission you know the end of Paul’s letters are always hard to preach uh because you know I like to you know I like to go verse by verse and kind of dissect it and preach that way um but the final greetings you know they’re just a bunch of names and they seem so disjointed and by the way studying any of the names is fun and is incredibly enriching because it tells us a lot about the the early Believers and their relationships with Christ but you know that’s not what uh this sermon is about and so I’m going to just try to take some things at a higher level from this um from these last words of Paul that tells us uh specifically about what it means to be the church and to live on mission to be fully a missional church and a missional people as we’re called to be these things are Apparent from this last part of Paul’s letter one that on Mission we desperately need relationship on Mission we defin defin desperately need relationship and number two on Mission we’re called to be in the world we’re called to be in the world it may seem obvious but it’s not and we’ll talk about that more in a minute and finally if we’re to be on Mission we have to realize that the church is not a country club but it’s a mission Outpost yes that’s what we’re called to be so I want to look at these for just a a few minutes uh together this morning that first one that on Mission we need relationship we need relationship Paul names five nine individuals here uh at the end of this uh this P of his letter individuals who were all essential to the mission you know I think we can kind of get get confused or think that you know Paul was this Lone Wolf of a missionary who was just a mountain of a man who accomplished all these things on his own and in his own power he was just a force to be reckoned with right I think we can get that picture and then because we have that kind of picture we tend to think well I’m not Paul you know I can’t do all that but what Paul’s giving us here about the early churches a and here in ksai and really for all the churches is a much different picture there are so many people who are essential to the Gospel Mission so many relationships that are necessary he mentioned so many these nine different people and all of them were essential all playing their different and various roles in the mission of the church and some of them were especially dear to Paul and you can tell he especially had close personal relationship with them taus or tikus I can’t remember how you’re supposed to say it aristas and Luke we know those were people that were with him through a lot of major life events this was the band of brothers that were that were with him through thick and thin talk about the riots and uh and Ephesus they were there they were with him uh they were Shipwrecked with Paul some of them uh they went through that whole journey and experience all of those things with him and so these people mean a lot to him even Mark the cousin of Barnabas was there that he mentions in this right you remember who uh if you remember your your acts you remember that uh it was Mark that was the reason for Paul and barnabas’ breakup uh the reason they had to split was because they disagreed on how how to handle mark remember Mark had uh hadn’t been loyal and had ran run off and and Paul didn’t think that he was reliable and they could take him anymore and Barnabas wanted to be gracious and uh and keep him along and Paul they couldn’t agree on it and so they split up well it’s good to know here that that Mark and uh and Paul were reconciled and Paul’s even now received him and seems to trust him again in the ministry there’s been reconciliation but notice how Paul speaks of many of them he talks about them as beloved faithful fellow servants he calls them comforters and encouragers it’s painting a picture that I think that we all too often neglect in the church and in the mission that we’re called to and that is that relationships matter we’re not called to do this alone in fact none of us can Paul couldn’t none of us can do this alone we need each other we need folks to to love and to be loved by it’s part of what it means to be human we need faithful and trustworthy friends in our lives to support us we need fellow servants meaning we need co- laborers we’re not called to do it alone we need each other to support each other we need comforters the mission’s hard living life on mission is hard it’s full of disappointment it’s full of struggle it’s full of uh of of persecution in different ways it’s full of rejection and we can become discouraged we need comforters along the road who can Comfort us in our own sorrow and discouragement we need encouragers we need those to lift us up those to give us courage when those disappointments have become so heavy that we just want to give up right we just want to give it up now this is consistent with Paul’s saying here and what he’s demonstrating in this end of this letter with with all of the biblical narrative with what God has called us to we we’re created in the image of God aren’t we we’re created in the image of God that’s the Holy Trinity do we see God himself in perfect relationship and loving relationship all within himself Father Son and Holy Spirit and the first thing that God and all of creation said wasn’t good it’s not good for man to be alone now he was specifically obviously talking about that uh and in the course of marriage and partnership in that way but it goes beyond that even if we’re not called to to to marriage we’re still called to relationships we need them it’s not good for us to be alone God declared because it’s not a reflection of who he is because he’s not alone Jesus modeled it calling the 12 12 specifically to him and even within that taking the three Peter James and John even to even closer relationship that he needed them when Jesus was at his most perilous time in the Garden of Gethsemane did he say hey guys I got to do this alone he didn’t even say it then he said I need you we all come will you watch and will you wait with me in this time now they didn’t do it very well uh but that’s another story we’ll get to that in Lent in Holy Week but Jesus himself modeled our need for relationship on mission where we can’t do it alone and Paul models it for us here you know in an increasingly individualistic World we’re actually called to be counter to that we’re called more and more and deeper and deeper into relationship ships with fellow co- laborers for the Gospel Mission that we’re called to the second thing that I see from this is that on Mission we’re called to be in the world you know we’ve talked about the gnostics and just a a little bit of a reminder of that uh because I think that’s where this plays into is that the gnostics believed that the world was evil everything that was made of matter was evil and only the spirit was good and therefore they had a rejection complet completely uh of the physical world and so as such they tended to isolate themselves and they had this idea of asceticism that you had to be apart from the world because it would just corrupt you and it would just draw you away from the the spirit and the good things and the temptation as Christians is to see the world is evil is and to separate ourselves from it so that we can remain pure and holy and not be infected by all those uh evil people right so that when Jesus comes we’ll be ready because we’ll have kept ourselves pure and clean you know that was the whole idea of medieval monasticism you know that’s where the all the monasteries and all those things were built but this idea of we need to separate ourselves from the world and stay pure and holy and therefore we can intercede on behalf of all the other people and dead people as well that’s getting too deep into it um but the English Reformation was all about correcting this wrong gospel perspective or it was a wrong biblical perspective and bringing a true gospel perspective to the church anglicanism sought to correct the eror and to bring people out of the monasteries and realize no we’re called to serve God in the world in the world the whole idea of Anglican daily prayer daily and midday morning and midday and evening and complant is to mirror the monastic life of time of prayer but to do it in the world as those who were on Mission the biblical view of the world is that it’s good it’s the world that God created and declared to be good but through our fallenness sin and evil have entered in but God even in the midst of the Fallen World so loves the world that he sent his one and only son into the world to redeem us and God so loves the world that he continues to send us into the world as followers of Christ that we might continue the Gospel Mission of proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ and our temptation is to remove oursel from
it maybe not by joining monastic orders although some of you may like to do that uh but instead isolating ourselves from every secular space or abandoning it or walking away from it or staying away from it avoiding people avoiding relationships with unbelievers because we’re afraid of what might do to us you know this has been a Temptation since the beginning this is why Paul even called out Peter Peter who did know the gospel and had been restored by Jesus he still wasn’t perfect and his temptation was still to see Gentiles or those from the outside as being uh as being unclean being dirty and that if he entered into their home that he himself would be made dirty and impure and Unholy he himself failed at that time to see the supremacy of Christ and that he was made holy and blameless by the sufficient work of Christ alone for him and therefore he was free to be in the world and to love other people and to help proclaim the good news to the Gentiles because Jesus is supreme the message of Colossians we’re made holy and pure by him and him alone and we’re free therefore to live on Mission as Paul said by prayer and in wisdom when it comes to Outsiders that we may take advantage of the moment the god-appointed moments that come in people’s lives as we interact with them in the world speaking words of Grace to them words of kindness that we might know how to speak to them that’s what Paul encouraged us finally the message we see from this final letter of of this final passage of Paul’s letter to the Colossians is that the church is not a country club it’s a mission Outpost you know Paul’s concern for the Colossians and their insecurity was again if they are timid either being timid or arrogant he took great uh care to proclaim the sufficient sufficiency of Christ for them the danger therefore for the church is is that in our insecurity we put up walls of separation between us and the rest of the world like a country club there’s nothing wrong with joining a country club I’m not fussing at country clubs um but think about the the general nature of a country club right by its very nature the country club is uh uh is as is designed as much to keep the wrong people out it is as it is to keep the right people in right I mean it is that’s why that’s why it exists um the church exists we often can have the perspective and the more insecure I think that we are the more we have this perspective that the church exists to serve my own needs my own wants and my own desires and to put a wall up from anybody outside who might threaten me in any way but St Augustine said the church is not a hotel for Saints it’s a hospital for Saints Sinners and djer Bon hoofer said the church doesn’t exist for itself but for the sake of the world and how can we exist for the sake of the world if we’re not willing to be in it we the church Paul is reminding us are a missionary Outpost that’s who we are and we’ve been welcomed in by Christ to his missional family to be a part of the greater mission that he’s called us to and when we fail in that we fail to be the body of Christ at all and we fail to live into the fullness of what it means to be in Christ and his sufficiency friends the missional church which we’re called to be Comforts it’s comforting encouraging and loving relationships that are rooted in God’s grace it’s a church that is filled with the joy for the world and for people that God loves and came to save and it’s focused with a Hope on reaching those who were lost in the darkness of sin friends may we live into the fullness of Christ as a church and as a people as we live on mission for him amen
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