Sermons

Colossians: A Letter from Jail

Christ in You, the Hope of Glory

Colossians 1:24 – 2:5

 

Let’s turn to Colossians 1.  If you need a Bible, please raise your hand and one of the ushers will bring a Bible to you.  Colossians 1 is on page 983 in the Bibles we are passing out.

In last week’s passage, Paul urged us not to shift from the hope of the gospel.  And now in this week’s passage, he talks more about the hope of the gospel: what is the hope of the gospel?  How do we experience it?  And how will it transform us? 

Let’s start by noticing how Paul summarizes the gospel.  Look at what Paul says in vv.24-27.  Paul doesn’t use the word gospel, he uses the word “mystery,” which is another word for the gospel.  So look at what he says –

24         Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church [we’ll come back to this verse later…]

25         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,

26         the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints.

27         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.

In v.25 Paul says that his mission is to make the word of God fully known.  And then in v.26 he says this message as a mystery – because during previous generations, during the Old Testament time, it was not as clear as it is with the coming of Christ.  And then in v.27 he explains what this full message of the word is, what this mystery is: it’s Christ in you, the hope of glory.  The main point of the gospel is that you can have Jesus Christ living inside you spiritually, giving you such an experience of His glory that you are filled with the hope of beholding His glory forever.

See, the gospel is about our sinfulness, and Jesus’ death on the Cross, and how we can be forgiven.  But the point of all of that is that we get Jesus – we get to have the living, resurrected Jesus living inside us.  And this is not just something that we believe has happened; this is something we feel and experience.  We feel it as the “hope of glory.”
Now let’s take those words one at a time. 

First, it’s glory.  When you repent of your sins and trust yourself entirely to Jesus, Jesus comes and lives inside of you by His Spirit.  And because Jesus is glorious, what you sense and feel is His glory.  You get a foretaste of what it will mean to behold Jesus face to face in heaven. 

Imagine what it would feel like to behold Jesus who is fully God, who has always been, who has infinite power, who created everything.  That’s glory, and you can have a foretaste of that now, as Jesus comes to live in you.

Imagine what it would feel like to behold Jesus who as God is perfect in love, justice, wrath, righteousness, wisdom, faithfulness.  That’s glory, and you can have a foretaste of that now, as Jesus comes to live in you.

Imagine what it would feel like to behold Jesus who was willing to become a man, be born as a baby, be beaten and scourged and nailed to a Cross, and all of this to be punished in your place for your sins so you could be forgiven  That’s glory, and you can have a foretaste of that now, as Jesus comes to live in you.

And this foretaste of glory fills you with hope.  In the Bible hope is not wishful thinking; it’s a rock-solid certainty that infinite joy awaits you.  And when Jesus comes to live inside you, and you feel a foretaste of His glory, you are filled with hope. 

Because you taste His actual glory, you know by experience that He is real, and you know by experience that He is all-satisfying.  And you are filled with hope – because you know the day is coming when in heaven you will experience, not just a foretaste of His glory, but the full measure, the all-satisfying measure, of His glory.

Now unfortunately, many Christians today have settled for a version of Christianity that is less than what the Bible describes.  Their version of Christianity is just believing the right things and doing the right things.  But there’s no experience of Jesus.  There’s no Christ in you the hope of glory.

It’s like God has given you the most amazing Christmas present.  And there it sits under the Christmas tree.  But you don’t open it.

So I want to tell you that the normal Christian life means having Jesus Christ living in you, satisfying your heart with a foretaste of His glory, and filling your heart with the hope of His glory.  So how do we experience this?  By praying and asking Jesus for more, by meditating on Jesus as He is revealed in God’s Word, by worshiping Jesus with songs that are full of truth about Him, by taking every heartache and worry and fear to Him in prayer, by talking about Jesus together.

So here Paul wants the Colossians believers, and us as well, to understand that the gospel means that through Jesus’ death on the Cross, we can have Jesus living inside us, filling us with the hope of His glory.

But now Paul also wants them and us to understand how Jesus’ glory transforms our lives.  Now there’s lots of ways this will transform our lives, but in this passage Paul focuses on one: we will long to have others come to know Jesus and grow in knowing Jesus. 

Now before we look at where Paul says this, doesn’t that make sense?  When you hear a great song on the radio, what will you say when you bump into your friend?  “You’ve got to hear this song!”  When you read a great book, what will you say when you call your friend?  “You’ve got to read this book!”  That’s how it works.

When you experience a great joy, you long for others to have that joy.  And when we experience Jesus Christ living in us, satisfying us with His glory, filling us with hope in His glory, we will long to have others come to know Jesus and grow in knowing Jesus. 

And that’s what Paul says – look at v.28 – and notice how Paul repeats the word “everyone” --

Him [Jesus] we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.

When you have Christ living in you, filling you with hope in His glory, you will long for everyone to have Christ living in them.  You will long for your neighbors to have Christ living in them.  You will long for those at work to have Christ living in them.  You will long for all your friends having Christ living in them.

And Jesus is so glorious, and he fills us with such satisfaction and hope, that we will want this really, really badly – so badly that we will do whatever it takes to help other people come to know Jesus.  You can see that in v.29 –

For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.

Paul so longs for others to have Jesus living in them, that he toils and struggles to travel to people and tell people about Jesus.

Now let me just throw in a suggestion at this point.  I think the best way we can help people in our culture come to know Jesus, is by building friendships with them so they can see Jesus in us lives and our home groups as well as hear about Jesus in our words. 

And so if Paul was living here in San Jose, I think Paul would have toiled and struggled to build relationships with neighbors, friends, workers, to show Jesus to them and to share Jesus with them.  And that’s what Paul would tell us to do as well.

So think about this.  Over the past week, have you longed and toiled and struggled to help people come to know Jesus?  What could you do this week to help people come to know Jesus?

But not only did Paul long to have others come to know Jesus.  Paul also longed to have other believers go deeper in knowing Jesus.  You can see that in vv.1-5 of ch.2 --

1 For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, ² that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ, ³ in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. ⁴ I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. ⁵ For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ.

So Paul also longs and struggled for believers to grow in knowing Jesus.

Think about this in terms of your husband, or wife, or kids, or home group.  When you experience Christ in you, the hope of glory, you will long that those in your home group experience Christ in them, the hope of glory.   So just as Paul says in v.1 – you will gladly struggle, toil, labor to help them.  You will pray for them, call them, encourage them, speak truth to them – so they can experience more and more of Jesus satisfying their hearts with His glory.

So let me ask this.  Over the past week, have you longed and toiled and struggled so that your wife or husband or kids or those in your home group have grown in knowing Jesus?  And what could you do this week to help them grow in knowing Jesus?

But as soon as we start to pursue this – we will face some level of suffering.  We don’t ever seek out suffering.  But we will inevitably face some level of suffering.

We might suffer tiredness, as we go to home group after a long day at work, or stay up late encouraging a fellow-believer.  We might suffer rejection, if someone at work blows us off when they learn we love Jesus.  We might suffer financial loss, going without some luxury so you can give to missions or to the poor, or missing a promotion because someone learned we love Jesus.  And it’s not happening in our country, but in Central Asia, where Raj and Scout live, believers risk loss of jobs, beatings, and prison if they attend home groups and tell others about Jesus.

So as soon as you start to toil and struggle to help people come to know Jesus, you will face some level of suffering.  And in v.24 Paul explains to the Colossian believers how Jesus’ glory gives us joy in suffering.  Look at what Paul says –

Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church…

Paul rejoiced in his sufferings.  Why?  It’s what he says at the end of v.24 – “in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church.”

So Paul rejoices because his sufferings make up for some lack in Jesus’ sufferings.  Now what does that mean?  How can Jesus’ sufferings lack?  Well, they don’t lack salvation – that’s clear form what Paul said in vv.19-22 about what God accomplished through the Cross.

But some commentators said that in a sense Jesus sufferings lack demonstration – tangible, personal demonstrations of Jesus’ worth.  The suffering of believers for Jesus’ sake shows people that Jesus is more precious than anything.  And because we love Jesus’ glory, we rejoice in sufferings that display Jesus’ glory.

And so when we have Christ in us the hope of glory, we will not let the possibility of suffering make us hold back from helping others come to know Jesus or grow in knowing Jesus.  Rather, when we do suffer we will rejoice, because suffering for Christ’s sake will help others see the very glory of Jesus we want them to know.

So if we have to go without rest to help people grow in Christ, we rejoice in our lack of rest, because our lack of rest for Christ’s sake shows that Jesus is more satisfying to us than rest.  If we lose a friendship because we tell people about Jesus, we rejoice in that loss, because our willingness to lose a friendship for Christ’s sake shows that Jesus is more satisfying to us than friendships.  If we suffer financial loss to help people come to know Christ, we rejoice in that loss, because our willingness to go without money or luxuries for Christ’s sake shows that Jesus is more satisfying than money and luxuries.

What people in San Jose need to see is men and women who so deeply experience Jesus’ worth that they are willing to suffer to display His worth, and who, when they do suffer, rejoice because they love to display His worth. 

Let me tell you the story of Joseph, a Masai warrior in Africa.  I’ve used this story before, but I want to use it again, because it is such a powerful illustration of this.

[Let the Nations be Glad, pp.95-96.]

Why would Joseph go back again and again to tell them about Jesus?  It’s because he knew Christ; he had Christ in him, the hope of glory; and this made him long to see them know Christ as the hope of glory.

That’s what we need more than anything else.  We need to experience Christ in us, the hope of glory.  So

Pray for God to give you a greater experience of Christ. 

Turn from known sin, and set your heart on Christ. 

Carve out chunks of time to behold Jesus in the Word.

Weed out of your life those things that weaken your experience of Christ.

Fill your life with those things that strengthen your experience of Christ.

And then long and toil and struggle to help others come to know Christ and go deeper in Christ.

And when sufferings come, rejoice, because your sufferings display the worth of Christ.