Encouragement for your Ministry

--- Welcome to week 4 of Finding Stability. It's our women's Bible study through the book of Colossians. Today we're going to cover chapters 1 verses 24 through chapter 2 verse 7. And I think I decided to finally title this, Encouragement for Your Ministry. And that's because the majority of these 13 verses that we wrote, Paul was expressing things about ministry, his attitude in ministry, and his ambition in ministry, which was to see them come to maturity. So maturity comes primarily from knowledge. We've been talking about knowledge and wisdom. Knowledge is the is the possession of important information. Knowledge is very important for a platform of truth. But you might know the saying, people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. So knowledge isn't the end-all. And I think this was the heart of Paul in this passage, was expressing to them how much he cared for them. So ministry, this is what we're talking about. Ministry isn't easy. Ministry can be fulfilling. Ministry can be rewarding. Ministry can be productive. Ministry can be worthwhile. But it can also be a calling. But it is not easy. There's no place in the Bible that tells us that ministry is easy. And so I hope we're going to find inspiration, encouragement for our own ministry. Let's get started on verse 24, which says,

Both last week and this week, Paul emphasized in this letter that he was a minister of the gospel. He became a minister, not for his own sake, not what he could get out of it, but he said he became a minister for the sake of the body of Christ. He became a minister because God had, as the NIV says, commissioned him. As the NLT says, given him a responsibility. Or as we read in the ESV, because of the stewardship from God. It wasn't his idea. It was from God. And he became a minister, he says, to fill up what was lacking in Christ's afflictions. Wow, that's kind of a weird sentence. To fill up what was lacking in Christ's afflictions? Because we can't imagine any kind of a lack. Let's go to the NLT and see what that translation says for us. It says, to participate in the sufferings of Christ that continue for his body, the church. Paul was continuing the hard work, the suffering, the affliction of the gospel after Christ was no longer on the earth, but when the need for ministry was still on the earth. So he was filling up. And it's the same today. There's still need for ministry today. Here we are, all of us, we're reading our Bibles. Our Bibles are open, we're reading our Bibles. Non-believers don't read their Bibles. Non-believers read us. And so there's a need for ministry. So we also have the opportunity to participate in ministry, and as the NLT says, to participate in the sufferings of Christ that continue for his body, the church. So by the end of this lesson, I hope that we'll be able to apply a few things that we learned about ministry that Paul shared to our own lives. But for now, let's keep going. We're kind of in the middle of the sentence, verse 26, to make known the, to make the Word of God fully known.

What a beautiful phrase. Before we get to it, I want to remind us that we're only a few decades past what we call Old Testament days. All right, this letter was written in 60 AD, couldn't have even been three decades that have passed now since what we term the Old Testament days. And so the mystery that Paul is referring to here is the church. God's Spirit going out into the whole world. He's used that phrase, whole world, a couple of times now. The inclusion of the Gentiles, the merging of Jews and Gentiles into this new body of which he is the head. This is a mystery, as he said, concealed for ages and generations, but now revealed to them. Now they were beginning to understand what we call the body of Christ. This is no longer a mystery, this is a reality. And so he summarized this mystery with those seven words, Christ in you, the hope of glory. Oh, I just love that. We want to grab this, we want to add it to our platform of truth, because this speaks of intimacy that we, so we add this to what we've been learning about the truth of God, this intimacy. God has chosen to merge his own spirit with our spirit, individually, corporately, to make the body of Christ. And so this unity that we have brings blessings into our life, this participation with Christ. And so we rejoice in the participation of the fruit of the Spirit, because we can share in the character of Christ, and we can lean in him to display the fruits of the Spirit. We rejoice in the participation of the gifts of the Spirit, because the Bible says he gives to all gifts that are useful in the body. And then we rejoice in the participation of the sufferings of Christ. No, not so much. We never think of that, do we? But it's a reality with Christ in you, the hope of glory is also participating. Jesus told his disciples, the world is gonna hate me, the world is gonna hate you. The world is gonna persecute me, the world is gonna persecute you. It is a part of the package. And so it's not usually what we think of when we think of rejoicing in ministry, but it is part of ministry. And ministry isn't easy, but it is worthwhile. Let's keep going, verse 28.

We'll go right into chapter 2, verse 1.

The goal of ministry is maturity in Christ. The path of ministry is toil, struggle. It is work. And those are all, in the Greek, they're athletic terms. And they speak of the work that's involved in any kind of, like a contest of strength, or a race, or something like that. A marathon, for example. The struggle that is involved in that. It's not easy, but people tell me it's worthwhile. I have no idea about that. They say that a marathon is worthwhile, but it requires this sort of struggle. So why is ministry so hard? Why is your ministry so hard? Why does it have to be so hard? Well, it comes down to two things. People and the broken world. If there wasn't people, it wouldn't be so hard. And if this world wasn't broken because of sin, it also wouldn't be so hard. Oh, but then it would be heaven, and there's no need for ministry there. So I want us to think about those things. People. There's two groups of people that we minister to and around. The first group is non-Christians. People without the Spirit of God. And we've learned, because Paul told us that without the Spirit of God, we are naturally hostile toward God. We resist God in order to play God. And so the Spirit of God needs to penetrate that resistance. And so ministry moves forward with struggle and with toil so that the Spirit of God can penetrate that resistance. There's another group of people that we minister to and around, and that is Christians. It might be our own family, our own children, our friends, whatever. But even with Christians, there is still pride and hostility because of our sinful nature. And so the Spirit of God still needs to penetrate that resistance. And so there is a need for so ministry moves forward with struggle and with toil. But then also in our lives, we're just in this broken world. We live in a fallen world where things don't work quite right. Things are broken. makes all things difficult for us. And this was my challenge this week. There was one day when my particular ministry just became, have you ever had one of those days? It was just like trying to jog through mud. It was just everything was one step forward and two steps back. And I found myself driving downtown for some reason. And I'm thinking to myself, someone should be buying me an iced coffee right now. Like, I am working so hard. I deserve something. And I seriously, I had this thought. I am not, I did not make that up. And I'm sitting there thinking, wait, what is our Bible study lesson? Isn't it talking about toil and struggle? Isn't that what I'm to expect? And then I felt so small and so stupid because my little toil got so big. I mean, in the grand scope of bad things going on in the world, this was like a 0.01% problem that I was facing today. And yet, I was resisting the effort that needed to be put in in that moment for what God has given me to do. And I bet you've done it too. That's why I can say it to you is because I think I'm among friends in that. But when we toil and when we struggle, we need to remember that our success does not depend on our own effort. And that's why I love verse 29, how Paul says, I work, we work with all of his energy that he powerfully works within me. And so when we come to those points where we're just, it's hard, like, Lord, what do we do? That's the verse we lean on. Say, oh, that's right. Perhaps I have gotten in a routine of doing this with my energy. And now I just need to pause right now and say, I'm going to move forward in the ministry you've given me to do today in this hour with the energy that you provide that works so powerfully in me. So I stop and I yield to the Lord. Because see, if I'm in the driver's seat, if I'm moving forward, then it's all me. But if I stop and I yield and I say, would you go forward of me, oh, all the difference. The letter to the Ephesians was written about the same time as the letter that we're studying. In Ephesians 3.20, Paul says,

I love it. So Paul mentioned in the passage that we're studying, he mentioned how he applied God's energy. And if we're careful, we can see what he was doing. Besides the prayer that he was putting up for them, he mentioned three things in which he applied God's energy. And they are proclaiming, teaching, and warning. Paul was faithful to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. He laid down a platform of truth in his teaching. And we're about ready to come to the part where he's going to begin warning. And we, too, should proclaim the gospel with our lives. Sometimes it requires words, and sometimes it is without words, leading an honorable life that point people to the Lord. We should also uphold the platform of truth that we find in the gospel with what we say, with our teaching. And teaching can be formal or informal. You can be upholding the gospel of truth in a formal setting, in a classroom, whatever you're doing. But also those thousands upon thousands of informal opportunities where we actually teach what it is that we believe. Perhaps we're mentoring someone younger, or we have children, or we have nieces, or we have whatever it is, and we are upholding that platform of truth. And then we shouldn't shy away from warning. That was the third thing that he said, warning about the destructive and the destabilizing ideas and philosophies that are in our world. We should not shy away from those things. So verse 2, Paul goes on to talk about the spiritual maturity.

The phrases that you underlined in pink speak to the benefits that we receive in Christ. And those benefits grow and increase with spiritual maturity. Maturity is an individual thing. We mature at our own pace. But it's also a community thing. It's also something that is part of the body of Christ. And that's why I love his phrase, knit together in love. That is a community concept. When I was a young woman, like not even 20, and I was in college, I was already married, and I wanted to be a home ec teacher, and I wanted to do, and I loved all the crafts, all the handwork, all the knitting and the crocheting and all those sorts of things. And I have no idea where that girl went. I can't find her anywhere. She disappeared from the face of the earth. But I do know a little about knitting. And even if you don't knit or crochet, you also know that the concept of knitting something, you take just that single yarn, and you're continually somehow making loops and pulling them together so that they hold together. And so your project grows to maturity. As you labor and toil with this project, it grows and turns into slippers or a scarf or a sweater or afghan, whatever you're doing. It becomes useful for the purpose that you created it. Christians also need to be connected together in that way, knit together in love. And then we become useful. We receive the benefits of that. The community connection promotes a health and a protection and a maturity. And those whose hearts need encouragement find it. Those who need a sense of belonging feel it. Those who need to be grounded in a platform of truth are instructed. Those who worry about their salvation are assured. Those who need a place to serve find usefulness. And those who need to be warned about the deceptions and the delusions are advised. What I've just described is the church. This is the body of Christ. Knit together in love. Because we all not only have different gifts, but we have different needs. I gave you a list of needs. And those needs are ministered to within the body of Christ. So maturity isn't just me alone. It's all of us together as well. Little side note I just have to share on Colossians chapter 2. In the 90s, when I was in the middle of having babies and raising my family, of course, I was studying from the NIV. And I do just love, I just want to show you this verse in the NIV. Because this became my mothering verse in the 90s. Because it starts with my purpose that gripped my heart, that made it personal to me. My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding that they may know Christ. And I share that, first of all, for mamas that might be here or listening, that this is a great positioning statement, purpose statement for what you are doing in your home. But also to share that sometimes the word of God just becomes alive in our hearts. And God shows us a verse and it's like, that's for me. And then we grab onto it. And anyway, we're going to move on to verse 4.

This verse is a little appetizer for next week's lesson when we actually do get into warnings. So I just love the variety that we see in the translations. Let's look at all the different translations of this verse. We just read that no one would delude you with plausible arguments, lest anyone deceive you with persuasive words, beguile you with enticing words, deceive you with fine-sounding arguments, or to prevent you from being led astray by someone or other's attractive arguments. Now, some of their current dangers in that moment when the letter was written to them included false teaching. It included pride-stroking legalism. Do this. That makes people feel really good when they check off the boxes. And it also included these spiritually attractive mystical ideas that also stroked their ego in terms of secret knowledge that they possessed to bring them to another level. Those were their current dangers. What are our current dangers? Well, we have a whole list. It depends on your age and where you are and what you are exposed to. But we also have current dangers. And so we see in this letter, two areas of focus emerge that provide us protection against the delusions, the deceptions. And what I want to say, what I saw this week in these two areas of focus were theology and community. These two things, if done right, will help protect us from the deceptions, from the delusions. Theology, for our theology to be shaped by the knowledge of Christ. And Paul had said in verse 28, in him, or him we proclaim the truth of Christ. There is safety in the knowledge of Christ. So theology is important, and community is important for their reality to be lived out in the body of Christ. Paul talked about knit together in love, in the body of Christ. There's safety in numbers, safety in the body. So these two things help with the deceptions, delusions, theology of Jesus and community in the body. Theology and community would go a long way for the Colossians toward their finding stability, and that would promote their firmness of faith. And still today, theology and community goes a long way for us to find our stability and to promote firmness of faith. Let's finish up with these last two verses. The word therefore prepares us for a good summary.

And we're given two metaphors there to consider, our life like a journey, walking on a solid path, and our life like a tree that grows ever larger and sturdier. And what's interesting is I was thinking to myself, you know, that's talked about in other places in scripture. But I didn't realize that actually they're both brought up in the very first Psalm. So I want to show you in Psalm 1, look at this. We see both of those metaphors again.

And so this is the goal of finding stability, that we walk in him, and that we find level paths for our feet, and that we're rooted and built up like a tree that draws its water, draws its nutrients from the stream that it's nearby. Neither of those things happen by accident in life. Neither of those things will happen by accident. Those things are intentional things. They speak of applying the wisdom that we see, and then we apply it intentionally. I want to close by revisiting what I said was our main theme this week, and that's encouragement for your ministry. So let's make it personal. What has God placed in your lane? What is your ministry from the Lord right now? And do you find that you are primarily ministering among or to non-Christians or Christians? Are you primarily ministering to babies or children or an unbelieving or difficult husband? Are you ministering to grateful people or ungrateful people? You know, if we had 50 women here, we'd have 50 different expressions of ministry. But all these things that God puts in our path, they are ministry. And it's not easy, but it is worthwhile. So I want us to remember just three concepts from these verses, OK? The first concept is ministry isn't easy. Don't expect someone to show up with an iced coffee when you are tired and weary. It's probably not going to happen. Maybe once, but ministry isn't easy. It is toil, and it is struggle for all the reasons that we listed today. We shouldn't expect it to be easy. Second point we learned, ministry is worthwhile. When we are weary or we have that mental health moment, we can pause and remember that what we are doing today is in identification with Christ's sufferings. We are filling up. He's not here anymore. We are filling up as a representative in his body of what is still lacking. We are continuing the ministry. We are identifying. It is a blessing. And last thing is that ministry, this is, to me, the most important thing, ministry is fueled by the Lord. Whatever your ministry is, whatever difficulty you have, whatever trial, whatever toil you have, just remember that picture of, nope, I got to get out of the driver's seat. I have to yield. I have to let the Lord drive this life. Let the Lord drive this ministry. Paul says, I labor with all his energy, which works so powerfully in me. And it works powerfully in me. It works powerfully in you, too. Father, thank you for these verses that really teach us a lot, even about what we're doing in our lives. Lord, I thank you for the reminder that we don't fly solo in this world, that we are intended to be knit together. We are intended to give and take from one another, to serve and to be ministered to by one another. And there is safety in this, Lord. Lord, I thank you most of all for this reminder that when we feel the weight of whatever we're doing, whatever we believe our ministry to be, when we grow weary, Lord, we can just stop and turn to you and say, Lord, your power works through me. And that is what I need in this moment, to do what you've set before me to do. And so I give you permission to work through me right now. In Jesus' name, amen. ---