Introduction

1. Address book

   1. Email to update contact info – good move before sending out a yearly newsletter

   2. 800-1300 people!

   3. I can't manage that many relationships! But there's a special place in my heart for many of those people. It made me ponder the words of last night's song—"Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind?" Beyond that, it made me think about where I should focus my priorities, goals, and efforts in the coming year.

2. In the last few weeks many of us sent out newsletters, visited relatives, exchanged gifts, and celebrated Christmas, and now it's time to think about doing taxes and maybe losing a few pounds. : ) We look back on the past year, and forward to the next.

3. This time of year gives us an opportunity to reevaluate our priorities, goals, activities. Family, friends, job, health, our relationship with the Lord. It's time to ask ourselves the question: "What is most important to me, and am I doing it?"

4. And sometimes we make New Year's Resolutions. "This year I'm going to lose 20 pounds." "This year I'm going to spend more time with my family."

5. I am going to ask you today to make 2 New Year's Resolutions. First, "This year I'm going to be more committed to Jesus Christ." Second, "This year I'm going to be more committed to Christ's church."

6. In our passage today Paul lays out before us the commitments and priorities that gripped his heart and were the driving forces in his life. He did this to give us the right pattern for our lives, and to encourage us to follow it. He encourages us to follow the pattern of his life, as it follows the pattern of the gospel, in 1:23 and 2:6-7

   1. Colossians 1:23 "if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister."

      1. Paul then goes on to explain his own commitments as a minister or "servant" of the gospel, and concludes with these words in 2:6-7:

   2. Colossians 2:6-7 "6 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving."

      1. "So walk in him." "Just as you were taught" by me, just as you learned the truth of Jesus Christ, just as you saw the pattern of my life as a servant of His gospel, "so walk in him."

7. Here Paul speaks about his own commitments because they could well have been in question. The Colossians could have been thinking,

   1. "We've never met you, and now you're in jail. Are you truly committed to our welfare, and is Christ truly sufficient for you? Look, Paul, if you're not committed to Christ and His church, why should we be? These local philosophers sound a whole lot more interesting right now."

   2. It's as if the Colossians were listening to the secular ideas on the radio, the TV, in their books, in their schools, and saying to themselves, "These ideas are more convincing than Paul is right now! And this lifestyle is a whole lot more attractive."

   3. Today we are sorely tempted to try out the lifestyle of MTV, the OC, Desperate Housewives—pick your poison!—but if you have received Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord you will forsake these things to follow Him, "if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard."

8. And so you need to be encouraged to grow in your commitment to Christ and His church. That's why Paul tells us what drives him. We're going to look at 10 commitments he implies we ought to make, 10 resolutions, and I want you to commit to doing just one of these this year. Just one. I guarantee you it will revolutionize your life. By definition. If by relying on God's grace you follow through on just one of these 10 resolutions, it will revolutionize your life.

9. Please write these down if you are able, and at the end of the sermon, or later this afternoon, I challenge you to pick one of these and do it this year.

Body

1. I will rejoice to suffer for the church 24

   1. Colossians 1:24 "Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake,"

   2. Why should we rejoice to suffer for the church? 2 reasons:

      1. Because Christ suffered for me

         • "and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions"

         • Illustration: Tom Anderlik

           • "What made this young man willing to do that for me?"

      2. Because our suffering will benefit the church

         • "for the sake of his body, that is, the church"

         • Problem: Harold Camping is calling for people to leave the church and not to be involved in it at all.

           • Because he thinks God no longer saves people through the church. I think his reasons for saying this are faulty, but I won't deal with his reasoning at the moment. I want to deal with its results. Its results are that people are deserting Christ's church.

           • But the church is Christ's body. It is not His physical body, but the place where He lives, where He is at work, where He is the Head. Now if Christ were physically present in His physical body somewhere on earth, you would want to go to where He was, to see Him, to interact with Him, to serve Him, to receive His teaching, His mercy, His strength over sin. But now that He has ascended to heaven, He is present in this world by His Spirit in His church! Do you not want to go where He is? Throughout the New Testament the church is the central place in which God applies the blessings of salvation to the hearts and lives of His people, and that centrality cannot be denied! The church is where Christ is. It is His body, in which He dwells. And if it means anything to you that Christ suffered in His body on your behalf, you will long to give up your flesh completely for the sake of His body, the church.

   3. "I will rejoice to suffer for the church."

2. I will serve the church with the gifts God has given me 25

   1. Second, "I will serve the church with the gifts God has given me." Paul says that is what he did:

      1. Colossians 1:25 "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,"

   2. Paul became a "minister," a word which also means "servant" here in the Greek. Paul was serving the church.

   3. He was serving the church "according to the stewardship from God that was given to" him for us. Specifically, God gave Paul gifts in evangelism, preaching, teaching, and exhorting, and called Paul to preach the gospel.

   4. Paul says that each one of us has been given a gift in Eph. 4:7: "grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift." 1 Pet. 4:10-11 divides up the gifts into speaking gifts and acting gifts. You might have more of the one than the other; either way you have been given a gift, and ought to use it, as Peter says there: "As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace." Will you do this?

   5. "I will serve the church with the gifts God has given me."

3. I will grow in my knowledge of the Gospel 26

   1. Third, "I will grow in my knowledge of the Gospel."

      1. Colossians 1:26 "the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints."

   2. Paul says his job was "to make the word of God fully known," and that the gospel was not fully known in past ages and generations, but now is "revealed" to the saints. Because the gospel has been revealed to us, we have a responsibility to know it, and to learn it better.

   3. Personal. As Christians we must read, and study, and meditate on God's word. You can do that in daily personal devotions, or by reading good Christian literature from our church library. Ask me for a book recommendation and I'll give you one.

   4. Family. We need to talk about God's word with the members of our families. You can do that in daily family devotions. Ligonier Ministries puts out a great devotional guide called TableTalk which many of us use; if you don't have a copy talk with me, Pastor Landis, or one of the elders and we'll get you a copy.

   5. Church. We need to study and discuss God's word with other members of the church. You can do that in our growth groups. Now I know for a fact that the fellowship and mutual ministry that occurs in the growth groups will help you to grow in your faith; if you're not currently part of a growth group, consider joining one.

   6. We need to grow in our knowledge of the gospel. Will you commit to this resolution? "I will grow in my knowledge of the Gospel."

4. I will further the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ 27

   1. Fourth, "I will further the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ." This resolution is woven throughout vv. 26-28. V. 27 says,

      1. Colossians 1:27 "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."

   2. The gospel is in fact great news that needs to be spread to the lost. The "Gentiles" in v. 27 were the unsaved people to whom the gospel was coming through Paul's ministry, and so for us today they stand for all who are unsaved, whether Jew or Gentile. And it's among them—the currently unsaved—that the riches and glory and hope of the gospel is "great." God intends to save many in this world who are still lost in their sins, and you have this blessing of salvation within you to share. You have "Christ in you, the hope of glory." Will you share Him with the hopeless, the lost, the suffering, the dying around you? You can do this by witnessing to your friends, giving money or time to our diaconal work, joining the Outreach Ministry Team, praying for and supporting our denomination's missionaries. And for some of you younger folks who haven't yet decided what you're going to do when you grow up, perhaps God will call you to become a pastor or missionary yourself.

   3. I encourage you to commit to this resolution: "I will further the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ."

5. I will pursue every member's sanctification 28

   1. Fifth, "I will pursue every member's sanctification." Paul says,

      1. Colossians 1:28 "Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ."

   2. Paul's goal in proclaiming Christ was to see Christ transform the lives of His people, to make them more and more holy in their day to day lives. So Paul would warn everyone of the dangers of unbelief, of the dangers of an ungodly lifestyle, and teach everyone in the details of faith and obedience. The result would be they would grow more spiritually mature, and on the day of judgment, will stand before God perfectly mature, and be "presentable" in His eyes.

   3. Like Paul, we need to pursue every member's sanctification. Now this doesn't mean you should immediately go tell Mrs. so and so everything you don't like about her. Or even one thing you don't like about her. : ) You need to speak a word in season, only what serves for edification, what gives grace to the hearer. And we need to remove the log from our own eye first. But given these parameters of propriety, we nevertheless must warn everyone of the dangers they face, and teach everyone the wisdom they need for life. And even if your gifts are not in warning or teaching, we must further everyone's spiritual maturity. We must not cause them to stumble, or seek to tear them down, but we must support them, encourage them, even inspire them to live a godly life.

   4. Will you commit to this resolution? "I will pursue every member's sanctification."

6. I will work hard at this in God's strength 29

   1. Sixth, "I will work hard at this in God's strength." Paul says in v. 29,

      1. Colossians 1:29 "For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me."

   2. Amazingly, God's sovereignty does not mean we can sit back and let Him do all the work. No, God's sovereignty means He works within us with an incredible, awesome power that becomes our strength when we actively toil and struggle at serving Him. Serving Him is toil, and struggle. It's not easy. But it is done with all of His awesome power.

   3. This is really a great encouragement for us to work as hard as we can at serving God. We have at our disposal a limitless supply of His energy, powerful enough to conquer every temptation we face, every obstacle to doing what is right, every thought and every action the Devil uses against us. "Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world."

      1. Illustration: Not enough time in my life, but actually, not enough life in my time

   4. I know it's not really fair to ask you to make this resolution your own, because if you choose this one, you have to do all the other 9 as well. : P You'll have no excuse. But more seriously, there's really no other resolution in this list that comes with a greater guarantee of success. Literally all of God's power is in you, because Christ is in you. You know what? That makes me want to face a temptation, and win! It really does.

   5. Will you commit to doing just this—to work hard at anything—it doesn't matter what, really—but to work hard at it in God's strength? I tell you, God will revolutionize your life.

7. I will pray for the members of the church 1

   1. Seventh, "I will pray for the members of the church." The power we exercise is God's power, and so we must ask Him to work powerfully in His people, and we even need to pray in His strength in order to pray that prayer. Paul says,

      1. Colossians 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. Struggle

      1. Alludes to the aforementioned "struggling" in v. 29.

         • First, in prayer

           • Colossians 4:12 "Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you, always struggling on your behalf in his prayers, that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God."

         • Also, in joint commitment to the other's ministry and welfare

           • Romans 15:30-31 "30 I appeal to you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf, 31 that I may be delivered from the unbelievers in Judea, and that my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints."

         • Hendricksen, 94: "Striving involved earnest prayers..., listening to God, careful planning, letter-writing, giving direction...to the missionary program, bidding defiance to Satan, official gospel-proclamation..., personal witness-bearing, and living an exemplary Christian life even in the midst of great pressure and affliction."

   3. Will you commit to this resolution? "I will pray for the members of the church."

8. I will pray for their spiritual maturity: for their encouragement, love, understanding, and knowledge of Christ 2-3

   1. Eighth, "I will pray for their spiritual maturity." There are many things we can pray for, but at the heart of our prayers we must pray for our brothers' spiritual maturity. Paul struggled in prayer and ministry to this end, in vv. 2-3:

      1. Colossians 2:2 "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,"

      2. Colossians 2:3 "in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."

   2. Paul sought 4 things in his prayer and ministry:

      1. Encouragement. that their hearts may be encouraged

      2. Love. that they would be knit together in love

      3. Understanding. that they would reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding

      4. Knowledge of Christ. that they would have the knowledge of Christ.

   3. If you pray for God to work these aspects of spiritual maturity in your brothers, you'll begin to actively struggle to see this maturity develop in them as well.

   4. Will you commit to this resolution? "I will pray for their spiritual maturity."

9. I will not be led away from Christ 4

   1. Ninth, "I will not be led away from Christ." Paul just said he wants us to have the knowledge of Christ, and then he elaborates on who Christ is—He is the one in whom alone "are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." You remember that in Colosse there were false teachers that claimed to be able to explain the basic principles of the world, and how to use them to one's best advantage. This isn't so different from the way that every discipline taught at a college seeks to explain the whole universe as if it only has to do with that discipline. For physics, everything is physical. For history, everything is historical. For business, everything is business. For sociology, everything is social. And for interdisciplinary studies, everything is interdisciplinary. : ) Now a given secular discipline is not necessarily wrong at every point, but insofar as it is according to the traditions of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ, it will cheat you, and take you captive. Insofar as a discipline does not acknowledge Christ as its Lord, as the one in whom all knowledge finds its foundation and norm, and from whom alone all true knowledge comes, that discipline is a danger to you. The crux of the issue is this—you need to actively discern and decide in your mind whether an idea or a lifestyle presented to you at school, at work, on the radio, on the Internet, decide whether it seeks to lead you away from Christ or not. If and when it seeks to lead you away from Him, replace Him, replace His truth, His blessings, you stick with Him. "In Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." Paul says in 2:4,

      1. Colossians 2:4 "I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments."

   2. If we do not follow Christ our Head, but follow the teaching of someone who does not draw their life from Him, then we will to one extent or another depart from Christ, and depart from His church. Paul warns against this in Col. 2:18-19, saying

      1. Colossians 2:18-19 "18 Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, 19 and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God."

   3. Now I tell you, if someone's teaching tears you away from the nourishment of the body of Christ, from being knit together in your heart and life with the other members of the body, from growing together with the body of Christ, that person is not following the Head of the church, and it will put you on a path that leads to your spiritual ruin. You need Jesus Christ. Let no one cheat you of Him.

   4. Will you commit to this resolution? "I will not be led away from Christ."

10. I will rejoice in the church's unity and faithfulness 5

    1. Tenth, "I will rejoice in the church's unity and faithfulness." If we love Christ we will love His church. Paul says in v. 5,

       1. Colossians 2:5 "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."

    2. If you are a Christian you should rejoice to see other Christians growing faithful and steadfast in their faith in Christ. You should rejoice to see this not only in your home church, but in the other churches of your presbytery and denomination, and even in other denominations, and throughout the world. You should be "with them in spirit, rejoicing to see [their] good order and the firmness of [their] faith in Christ." We must be committed to the unity of the church universal, and seek to see that unity expressed outwardly wherever there is "good order and firmness of...faith in Christ." Now we feisty Presbyterians sometimes have been known to call our church splits "revivals." But let us not be known as those who "rend Christ's body for the sake of the church." Because the church is Christ's body, wherever and whenever you find "good order and firmness of faith in Christ." Let us be those who love Christ's church as our very own flesh and blood, as those who rejoice in and seek to promote the good order and firmness of faith in Christ's body throughout the world.

    3. Let us be ones who say this year, "I will rejoice in the church's unity and faithfulness."

Conclusion

1. Paul concludes this section with his summary exhortation in vv. 6-7:

   1. Colossians 2:6-7 "6 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving."

2. So walk in Him. I urge you to make it a priority this year to be more committed to Jesus Christ, and to be more committed to Christ's church. Will you pick one of Paul's resolutions and make it your own this year?

   1. I will rejoice to suffer for the church v. 24

   2. I will serve the church with the gifts God has given me v. 25

   3. I will grow in my knowledge of the gospel v. 26

   4. I will further the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ v. 27

   5. I will pursue every member's sanctification v. 28

   6. I will work hard at this in God's strength v. 29

   7. I will pray for the members of the church v. 1

   8. I will pray for their spiritual maturity vv. 2-3

   9. I will not be led away from Christ v. 4

   10. I will rejoice in the church's unity and faithfulness v. 5