Sermon: Proclaiming Christ

This morning. We're looking at Colossians 1. verses 28 through 29 will spend both this week and next week in these two verses Colossians 1.

verses 28 and

let me pray for us before we open the word of God together this morning. Let's pray.

Father we are in need. this morning you need of your work in our midst. truly we are wasting our time and there is little purpose in being here. If you're not working. and so we pray that by the power of your son and by the spirit that you would work in US You would work through us this morning. You would work through this feeble preacher and that you would work by Your Word. And that we would know that we have had your help today.

We pray all of this in the strong name of Christ Jesus. amen questions one verses 28 and 29. This is the holy inherent sufficient word of God.

him we Proclaim

warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom that we may present everyone. mature in Christ For this I toil. struggling with all his energy but she powerfully works Within Me. The grass withers and the flower Fades the word of God is forever. Thanks be to God. amen

at the beginning of the year, we do something a little different here at URC we Take a little break from our normal diet of preaching expositionally through a book of the Bible. And we do what we call our faith focus and this year. Our faith focus is what the elders have been praying and thinking through over the last year our vision for going forward here at URC. And so we are going to preach through that Vision here in January.

Last week we looked at our kind of overarching purpose our mission as a church and it is this that you are see exists. to glorify and enjoy Christ So we looked at last week that overarching mission or our purpose as a church. And as we said last week, there are three pillars of our Ministries here at you, or see how we go about glorifying and enjoying Christ and it is always been true that these three things have marked

you or see and by God's grace. We hope that it will be these three things that continue to Mark you or see as we go forward and that is proclaiming Christ. growing in Christ and advancing the mission of Christ What we will do in our Sunday evenings here in the month of January. It was we're going to take that last piece advancing the mission of Christ. And there are three things that the elders have identified that will be kind of our focus our goals for

the next three to five years as we seek to advance the mission of Christ and pastor. Kevin will tackle that first this evening, which is church planting and as we'll hear more from Devin Rossman about the church plant up in Mount Pleasant, but this morning we're looking at that first pillar. proclaiming Christ This is where all of our ministry begins here at URC proclaiming Christ proclaiming Christ was Paul's focus and Ministry it

is or focus in Ministry. And so what I want to do this morning is look at that. I just want to keep it very simple this morning. We're going to look at it under four points. the message the message and then the means The manner and the mindset so the message the means the manner and the mindset as we look at these verses together first the message. And I think about Colossians 1:28-29. I think of these it's kind of poles Life Ministry

versus he tells us in these verses what he is about in all his discourses and all of his preaching. He says there is one subject. He did not occupy himself with the latest headlines of the Roman Empire. He did not grab the attention of his hears with jokes. He did not rail against the philosophy of the Greeks and his ministry. His ministry was dominated by one single thing. He begins with it in this verse he puts it at the

very front. There is one thing. him

him He says we Proclaim. Now Paul was a scholar. He knew the Old Testament scriptures as well as anybody in his generation. He knew it better than surely anyone in this room. He could have spoken for hours and could have spoken for days in his preaching and his teaching and is proclaiming upon the levitical law and the priesthood and the Patriarchs and yet he says what he proclaimed. was him He knew John. He knew Peter he knew James the brother

of Jesus these three Monumental figures in the early church and yet what Paul proclaimed was not them. but rather he said him

who is him? What's clear if you go back up to verse 27, the immediate reference is Christ? Christ he says the same thing in other passages First Corinthians 2:2 for I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified one message. Christ and him crucified

it all begins here. It's a church. We seek to Proclaim Christ. If we are known for anything. Let it be this that we Proclaim Christ. Not our music is wonderful it is. Not the number of kids we have the what a blessing is not maybe our desire to seek diversity though. That can be a good thing. But let it be that we are known for proclaiming Christ not our building not our resources, not our creativity, but that we Proclaim Christ

it all begins here. And it begins here in our corporate worship.

But it doesn't stop there. Each of us seeks to Proclaim him as we go out into the World As We minister to one another as we minister to our neighbors as we disciple our children. We Proclaim Christ.

notice, he says him we Proclaim we as one noted New Testament scholar said he said the reversion to the plural form whom we Proclaim is typical of the way Paul catches himself every so often to ensure that the scope of what is being said is not being taken in two restricted as sins. The responsibility of evangelism and it's corollary is not his alone. in fact, just two chapters later in Colossians 3 He will say to the interior church at colisee.

He will say let the word of Christ dwell in you richly teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom. We are to Proclaim Christ if we are not doing that as a church, we are not the church. What are we doing if we're not doing that?

This is what we are to bleed. him we Proclaim him we Proclaim and why do we Proclaim him? Because we love him.

We will not Proclaim what we do not love. And we always Proclaim what we in fact do though.

whole knew the love of Christ and he knew the value of Christ. And he wanted everyone else to know and treasure Christ as he knew and treasured Christ. Love is the great Wellspring of ministry. This is why we Proclaim him here. Because we love him.

We're all naturally evangelists for what we most love.

decade ago I was invited by one of the members of our church to a father-son gathering and so I grabbed Ethan and we went to this person's house and they were all of these Fathers and Sons there may be a dozen or so and Even if I hadn't known what son belonged to which father I could have told you in that room. Because every single son was wearing the same team's ball cap that his father was wearing. How does that happen?

Well, the father bought the ball cap for his son. Well probably but don't ruin my illustration. It's because the father was an evangelist for what he loved. And so the sun began rooting for the same team that the father rooted for.

We're naturally evangelists for what? we love have you ever met someone that does CrossFit? Or the voluntarily decided to go gluten-free in their diet. They tell you. natural evangelists for what we love

love for Christ leads you and I to proclaiming Christ. We speak from the heart to the heart.

often think of this Saturday evenings when I'm Finishing up things for Sunday morning. My family's already gone to bed and it's just a quiet. study downstairs that I'm in and I often pray this and think along these lines and try and get my heart to this place before I go to bed at night and I will pray this prayer. Jason give it to them warm. Lord help me to give it to the warm. And it is on Saturday night. I want to I want to

so know the love of Christ and so be filled with the love of Christ and the experience of abiding in Christ. And from that warm knowledge of dwelling with Christ. That's how then I want to show up here on Sunday to extend Christ.

Every single one of us in this room. and all of us around this place in this world They don't know it. should be seen as the Greek said to Philip in John 12, or they approached Philip and they said sir, we would just see Christ.

It's the great need. And we're the great vehicle by which he is proclaimed.

That is our message. Is that your message to one another in conversation? Is that your message with your children when you're driving to school or your homeschoolinger? That your message. when you're With your neighbor and talking Over The Back Fence. Is it ever the message? This is how we decide what we're going to do at you are seeing what we're not going to do. There are so many good things that we could be doing so many good things.

but everything that we do from Christian explored and and ESO to the women's Doctrine study and dig or youth Ministries and our children's ministries and our growth groups and our Sunday School classes. All of it is centered upon this that we are seeking to Proclaim Christ. That all of our Gatherings all the ministry that we're doing that it's all proclaiming Christ if that's not happening in our Bible studies. If it's not happening in

our children's Wing if it's not happening in our growth groups and in our different Ministries then what do we doing?

We exist to Proclaim Christ. It's the great need of the hour.

He's the message.

It's Christ the message here. We can we go. If not shouldn't be doing.

He's the message. second the means the means people in the church often talk about the need to connect with this generation. So we are told that we need to be sociologists and cultural exegetes that we can be effective at communicating the gospel and a changing world. But it's not that complicated. It's not. God didn't call us to be sociology. He called us to be hero. Es Heralds of what he has already given to us. If we jump back to verse 25 Paul is

explaining his ministry and he says he became a minister quote according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you. He has a stewardship the minister to the people of God on behalf of God. Now, how does he accomplish that stewardship? Well, he tells us he says by making quote the word of God fully known we Proclaim Christ by the word of Christ. That's the mean

a challenge of our day is not to figure out what is palatable or acceptable as a bridge to our culture. It is simply to Proclaim what God has commanded people in every culture of every age to believe. The world changes, but our message does not change. It's the same we preach Christ. the Christ of the scriptures

that means we Proclaim him as he is. He's not a wax nose. That you and I get to mold and shaped our liking or to the liking of the world. He is who he is?

oh said in First Corinthians He said we preach Christ crucified a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles. in every age every age there seems to be movements within the church and I think people's motives are usually in the right place. But there's an movement in every age of the church. There's one in our age will be another in the age after we're just there's a attempt to just mold Christ just to make them a little more powerful.

the takeaway the off

so-called bridge the gap often well-meaning frankly stupid just stupid try and take away the offense of a crucified savior to want to avoid talking about Sin and hell and judgment. Because we're Heralds. We don't get to be creative here. Where Heralds we Proclaim what we have received nothing more nothing less. We devote ourselves to his word. We rely upon as mean

many especially over these last number of years I think in the American Evangelical Church Who fear that the church will be ravaged with persecution. I don't fear the church can be ravaged with persecution. That doesn't scare me. I fear the church. being ruined with compromise

ruined by embracing an anemic Christ of our own making

The early church rightly feared heresy more than it feared martyrdom. There will be increasing pressures upon you and I and us as a church. the back away from who Christ is the back away from what the scriptures teach just to fudge it a little bit here there. To make it a little easier we're told for. people in our culture in our day and age and the 21st century except Christ

to dare

Let's be clear. We know that the Christ of the scriptures is offensive. He offends sinners. But it's the Christ of the scriptures who offend Sinners that saves Sinner's. That's the only Christ that can save.

after saying we preach Christ crucified says a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles. He says this but to those who are called the Jews and Greeks Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. He is as Peter says the one mediator between God and Men.

can't change

don't need a new message to reach this generation. I don't need a new message to reach that campus. I want to take away all the mystery for you this morning Christ crucified as a message that has been rejected in every age and in every culture and it will be rejected in this age and it will be rejected in this culture. But here's the other part of that equation Christ crucified is a message that has been accepted in every age

and every culture and it will be accepted in this age and in this culture.

From the Roman world to the modern world from Timbuktu to New York City from the French Republic to communist China from cannibals to vegans Christ crucified saves. He saves.

Christ in Christ crucified is not an effective in any culture. nor in any time it is never inconsiderate for us to Proclaim Christ as he is presented in the scriptures. Christ and Christ crucified never needs adapting never needs to be supplemented Christ in Christ crucified was the hope of the world in the first century in Christ in Christ. Crucified will be the hope of the world in the 26th Century if Christ Terry.

same message same mean

it is Christ. And it is by the word of Christ.

third notice the manner

Paul was stirred with earnestness. He says for this I toil struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works with him. He told is a as a strong Greek word that he's employing here. It has been used in different Greek context to refer to someone that had been beaten to a bloody pulp and the physical. Exertion and weariness that they experience from being beaten. But this like toil. If it's even possible the word struggle is

even stronger than the word toil. It was often used to refer to what someone felt at the end of physical combat with weapons. He says for this I toil and struggle Paul is being worn out. in the proclaiming of Christ As he will say in another context he is pouring out his life as a drink offering for the sake of proclaiming Christ. It is costly for him. There was earnestness in doing so.

That's earnest. proclaiming of Christ

people sometimes wonder why Christians can't seem to stop sharing about the person of Christ. That's fine. You're passionate about it, but do that by yourself? Why do you have to tell other people? And try and get other people to be passionate about this Christ that your passionate about. Why is it that your preachers are so fervent and so long-winded and their sermons why can't they be a little more jolly and a little less serious?

As lives. Hang in the balance. that's what

perishing

people are perishing.

It's an earnestness to our proclaiming Christ.

Don't approach a house on fire. Do your best comedy stand-up routine? You don't see a child in the upper window of a burning house and walk away with the clear conscience thinking. Well, it's not my child. It's not really my concern.

You don't worry about infringing and trespassing upon their personal space you Rush In. And you rush into save your compelled why because that child's perishing.

No.

And others around us don't know.

And they're dying.

dying

That's when Puritan said. The hazard of Souls and lives will make dumb men speak.

There's an earnestness. Because we know what lost there is of Christ does not received.

To grow in the Christian life you tend to become Bolder and proclaiming Christ. Just telling Leah the other day was encouraged because I had seen. growth of my own Christian Life of was Confronting someone with the gospel. Is telling her about that? I said, you know 10 years ago. I would have I would have shied away and I wouldn't have done it in that context.

And I hope by God's grace that continues down the road. I look back at the Jason of today and think that man. Was a coward and not bold at all. They've grown so much more.

Person is just too precious to remain silent. Fear of that Soul being lost is worth the awkwardness. There's an earnestness.

but notice this all that toil all that striving that Paul says the expends himself in he says in verse 29 is by the power of Christ working in him. He knows that all of this labor and all of the striving and all of this toiling will achieve nothing apart from Christ. And that can be true of us as a church. Each of us can do that as individuals as we go about and we're proclaiming Christ. It can accomplish absolutely. Nothing if Christ

is not at work. but with him I can turn the world upside down as was said about the church in Acts. And that leads to our final Point our mindset. The message is Christ the means of his word and our manner is earnest and our mindset is hopeful pose hopeful in this text. He says aim is quote to present everyone mature in Christ. He's hopeful. He's laboring towards that end. And take more time on that next week. But he's hopeful.

at times when I'm preaching I've spent hours during the week trying to. craft a message that's orderly and clear and logical and helpful that I think will be effective and conveying the sense of the text to people here and spend all that time and that labor and then I get up here on a Sunday morning and feels like what I have said is not going any further than the end of this pulpit. it was like a single person has been affected.

Hasn't been a change in the room one person.

Feels like it's for nothing.

It's so important to remember that this is the spirit's work.

I need his work when I'm preparing. We both need his work as the word is proclaimed. You need his work as you're sharing the gospel as you're proclaiming Christ over your fence or with that person at work and the cubicle next to you or with your children when you're going through the homeschool day, right? How is your driving them to school and you're proclaiming Christ them. We need the work of the spirit that is true

on Sunday morning. And that is true throughout our week.

This at least for me actually makes Ministry hopeful. He says for this I toil struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works in me. You see he works. He works. And it's his work. It's not oratory. Or even compelling reason that works the work of God and our myths, it's God.

It's not the eloquence of the preacher or the Evangelist or the counselor the proclaimer or the parent that affects Souls. It's the person of God. It's his work.

Paul says about himself and second Corinthians that he did not come proclaiming the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. The people in the Corinthian Church were not impressed with them as a person. They accused him of being weak in body your weak pull when you speak to us. In fact, they said that his speech was of quote. No account. He will say in chapter 11 there of Corinthians that he indeed may be unskilled in speaking.

He confesses that to them. And yet he says God works through me. It says work.

And that actually gives us reason for hope.

If I enter the pulpit with no preparation that I'm a fool. But I'm even more of a fool if I think my preparation will work the work of God apart from God. He were his work

and so we continually bathe all of our proclaiming of Christ all of our Ministries. We bathe it in prayer asking him to work. There's a reason I pray that prayer of Illumination before we read the scripture and hear it preached. There's a reason that I'll go home later today, and I'll be praying for you. And the word that you heard read and preached this morning.

it works and that should make us hopeful I was telling our staff the other day was telling them that preaching is a weird thing. It is weird. It's weird for a lot of reasons. One of them is that I was telling them the other day that I find that often when I'm preaching. That while I'm preaching I find myself praying for different ones of you. eyes fall upon you and I think about you're hurting and your pain and I'm praying while I'm

preaching Lord comfort. that person or I'm praying for that person that like needs

rebuke that is happening in the text of that moment as my eyes fall on them, or as I fall upon you and I see you falling asleep. And yes, I see you falling asleep. I pray for you.

Pains me to think how often.

I preach without praying.

It's awful. It's foolish.

And it should pain you think how often you sit here. And you're not praying. this work You can sit here with the Bible open on your lap. and you can try and tune out all the distractions in the room. That rustling paper over there and the kid that's gotten up and going to the bathroom for the fourth time this morning. And that person over there that you have conflict with and you're hoping not to see after the service. You've gotten all that out of

your mind. And you're so attentive on what's being said and it still can all be for not if he's not working.

Which should be happening this room? Is that as I'm preaching that we're all just praying?

There's all these little prayers. They're just popping up over the place if I could see it spiritually the way I see it. Is it be like whack-a-mo. It's like oh boom there goes Danielle with the prayer and there goes John with the prayer and there goes Nick with the prayer and there goes Heidi with the prayer and they're all just kind of going up. We're little furnaces all this these prayers just rising up to heaven in the midst of this because it's his work.

And we need him working in our midst.

That grants us the greatest reason to have hope. And proclaiming Christ. Because those Sinners are hard because though you and I are horrid The Sovereign reigning King of the universe is at work.

It's a story of a seminary preaching Professor that Took a students on a field trip one day. He led them out of the classroom and he led them down the road to a cemetery that was down the road and led them out to that cemetery and he had a Pulpit set up in the cemetery and he called up the first young man and he told them all right now preach. and the student began to complain and students said it's a cemetery and they're all

dead. And the professor said yes. You have nothing to rely upon but the word and the spirit. and God this God makes dead things come alive by his word and by his spirit. works

it brings from Death to life. He brings from Darkness to light. He works. Christ is active in this world and he works by his word. And so we are hopeful he is not idle in heaven. He is not blind. He is not insensitive to the need of Sinners. He is not distant. He is not disinterested. He is working and active and accomplishing his purposes and that gives us hope as we Proclaim Christ.

the great need

friend You shared the truth with over the decades and still has not come to know Christ their soap. Your child that's wandered away from the Lord that you pray for every single night with tears There's Hope. That person that's in your workplace that truly hates and despises Christ and hates you because you love Christ. They're so. Because these active in this world. and he works powerfully as Paul says we too often become discouraged because we don't see

immediate fruit from proclaiming Christ, but that's a mistake. He's working. It may be that the word you sow today that proclamation of Christ today doesn't produce fruit and five days or five weeks or five months or five years or 15 years or 50 years.

He's working.

Charles Bridges the Church of England minister in a previous generation used to say to preachers he was training the word you so may lie underground until you do and that may be true. keep proclaiming

keep doing so as a church. And you need to keep doing so as Christian.

It's what this world needs.

You got it. If you know Christ, you know enough to share Christ.

We sow the seed. And we have a fixed hope because our Sovereign all-powerful gracious Christ is at work. He powerfully works as a church. We believe that as your pastor I believe.

You are seeing the fruit of it over 50 plus years.

And so by God's grace. We're going to keep proclaiming Christ.

No matter who thinks it's silly. No matter who thinks it needs to be adapted. We're going to keep proclaiming the crisis of the scriptures. You hold me accountable to that. And I'm going to hold you accountable to that. Need to keep proclaiming Christ.

pray

My father we are thankful.

For your son's sent into this world to live. the die upon the cross for sinners We're thankful that though. It is foolishness to the world.

It is the power of you or God unto salvation. He helped us to cling closely to Christ the Christ of the scriptures.

to be stirred and zealous to Proclaim

and never Wonder from it we pray. Christ's name amen