Colossians 1:29

The book of Colossians chapter 1, we’re going to read verses 24 to 29. Our focus is on verse 29 this morning. Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church. Whereof I am a minister according to the dispensation of God, which is given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God, even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints, to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you the hope of glory, whom we preach, warning every man and teaching every man, and all, wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ whereunto I also labor striving according to his working which worketh in me mightily. And God bless to us his sacred and holy word this morning. The stars of heaven have provided man with guidance and direction. direction down through the ages. Some stars in the distant sky have guided ships through the trackless oceans. Those who lost themselves in the labyrinths of the forest have been led out by the stars. And many a slave during the Civil War times was conducted to liberty and freedom by following the North Star. Scripture compares the Christian to a star. We read in Daniel 12.3 that they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever. Blessed are those who indeed are shining with the light of God, and they have turned people to faith in Christ and to godly. living are not preachers of the word, those who have stood as bright stars, and provided spiritual light for the lost. But even the common Christian may lead people out of spiritual darkness by themselves being stars or be like stars. Paul is speaking in our text about service. to Christ here in verse 29 by relating his own service and the power behind it. The work of the ministry in particular is spoken of here, but we can even say even the Christian life in general requires much labor. If you wish to see souls saved, if you wish to see Christians edified, that is labor-intensive work. Following Christ requires taking his yoke upon you. And that too, for the common Christian, implies labor and work. So I want to talk about labor and power in the service of Christ. Let me begin by saying this. You should realize the labor involved in service to Christ. Whereunto? I also labor striving. Paul says here in verse 29. Here are the labors of a faithful servant. The apostle Paul could truthfully assert that he labored, that he agonized. The word for striving here is agonize, oh my, where we get the word agonize in the English. When empowered by the Holy Spirit, all the apostles became ardent laborers for Christ. But Paul, as the apostle of the Gentiles, as he says in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, I labored more abundantly than they all in his efforts to spread the gospel and carry the good news all over the Roman Empire. You see him crossing the sea, traversing mountains, fording rivers, to carry the gospel to people far and wide. He is untiring in his service. And in this, certainly he provides an example for you and I. Think about how he uses the word, I spent myself, how he spent himself, and did not allow persecution, scourging, being jailed, even being stoned, to deter him from his labors for Christ. he wore himself out with the intensity of his zeal for Christ’s kingdom. Moreover, he carried the weight, he tells us, of all the churches he had established on his shoulders, the responsibility of caring for them. No need to teach them, but also to warn them about false teaching, to deal with the divisions that were among them, and to warn them of various dangers. His goal, as we saw from our text, is to present every man perfect in Christ. Friends, any advancement of the kingdom of God on this earth requires labor and striving. Spiritual work is never easy work. You know, Satan in the world are always opposing you, and your own flesh is a hindrance to you. Nothing gets accomplished if you just, take your ease and sit back and never attempt to do anything for Christ. 1st. Corinthians 1558 ends with this phrase, the last verse of the chapter. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be he steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. Let me talk about your labors for Christ. of a faithful servant, and we can see that in the ministry, what the duty is for the minister. But let’s talk about you in living the Christian life, the allegory of Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan. Does not picture Mr. Christian being carried to heaven on a royal coach where he gets the ride. The Christian life is labor intensive. There’s the hill of difficult. There’s the valley of humiliation. There’s the shadow of death, the enchanted ground, and so forth. Effort must be used all the way through the Christian life. Your soul must gird up its loins and be prepared for battle. You know, Mr. Christian has to battle the two giants, pagan and pope. And he has to face lions in the way. And he has to face false prophets. And even Apalian himself, it’s a battle. It’s a struggle. And so when he gets to the interpreter’s house, he has to put on the armor and be prepared for entrance into the battle. In order to honor Christ, as we go through this life, there is going to be a striving and agonizing, a laboring. a working on his behalf to advance his kingdom. You know, when you get to the book of Revelation, it tells us in chapter 14, when the Christians are martyred or when they die, they rest from their labors. It doesn’t say we get the rest from our labors while we’re alive. We’re always to be laboring for the cause of Christ as best we can. Scripture speaks of the Christian life as a pilgrimage, a race, a boxing match, and it all requires a high level of exertion, doesn’t it? Overcoming temptations, subduing loss, being zealous of good works is labor intensive. What do we read in 1. Timothy 612? Fight the good fight of faith. You know the word fight is agonize of mine. Strive, agonize the fight of faith, if you would. It describes the good fight of faith. Christian life. Let me make this observation as we look at this thought. You are saved to serve Jesus Christ in this life. You are not your own. You are bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are gods. Now, this means that, of course, you’re not your own master. You are, are not to live as you please and engage in any activity that you desire. You don’t have the power over yourself. The scripture indicates, whether it’s your body or your spirit, your own completely by Christ. You’re your Lord and Master. You’ve been purchased by His precious blood. Yes, you’ve been freed from Satan’s slavery, but now you are to be a servant of righteous. You’re to be the servant of Christ, as Romans chapter 6 indicates. He didn’t just set us free and say, do wherever you want. We were to serve him. You know, feminists claim absolute rights over their bodies. I tell you this, if you’re a Christian, you can’t be a feminist because your body isn’t yours. It’s Christ. In this sex-drenched society, there are those who think what I do in my own private life is my own business. No, it’s not, because you are the servant of Christ, and your body is also Christ, and you are accountable to your master. You’re to do what he commands. You know, the popular teaching of today is you can have Christ as your Savior, but you don’t have to have him as your Lord. I remind you that the right view of the Christian life is that he is your Lord and Master as well. as you’re saved. You’ve been saved to serve him. You are to be his servant. So your labors for Christ in living the Christian life. Let’s talk about your labors for Christ in serving others as well. Laboring for souls. You know, the scripture says in Matthew 937, Jesus himself, said this, the harvest is truly plenteous, but the laborers are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he will send forth laborers. into his harvest. Paul labored to see souls brought the Christ. He spread the gospel. Jesus spoke of the need for preachers to proclaim the gospel, for laborers to go out into his vineyard. Sadly, there are a few professing Christians that seem to have the spirit of Isaiah. Here I am, Lord’s and me. we have the opposite. Please don’t send me. There’s a sense in which every believer should labor to bring souls to Christ as we go through this Christian life. We are to sow the seed of the Word of God, watering it, eventually harvesting a soul, requires labor. It’s compared to farming. Can you imagine anything more difficult than farming? Farming? Farming is a hard labor. It’s hard work. And that’s what this is when we’re laboring for souls. Whether you hand out a track or a Christian booklet, whether you open the scriptures and read the scriptures to people or give a word of testimony to others about faith in Christ, it requires labor. And should we not be about our Heavenly Father’s business as we go through this life? So we’re laboring for souls. We’re laboring in the word that we might edify others. 2.15 study to show thyself approved under God a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. If you’re to speak for God, then you have to be laboring in the word. Particularly, of course, the elders of the church. Those who do the teaching and preaching certainly should do so. But isn’t this true also for the average Christian? If you go through your life, how are you going to serve if you don’t know what God’s word says? How can you speak a word of encouragement to a brother and sister in Christ if you don’t know the promises of God? Or you know the principles of God’s word that you could speak to them about? How can you be competent to counsel others if you don’t properly understand the principles regarding the Christian life? Suppose a Christian husband has lost a wife to cancer? It’s a tremendous blow to lose a loved one even if this person knows the Lord. What would you say? What word of comfort could you give them? What promise could you provide for them? Maybe you’re sending a sympathy card. Would you put a scripture reference at the bottom? Would you think about something that you could say? to encourage them? My friends, there are scriptures that we could go to, like absent from the body and be present with the Lord. And to be with Christ is far better and so forth. And she certainly enjoys all the joys and pleasures of being in the presence of the Lord, as Psalm 16 indicates. These are the kinds of things that we could talk about. But we labor in the word. We may edify others. Not only just teach them about, the things of God, but we might encourage believers. Even the best of believers. Even the pastor gets down. Even the pastor needs encouragement as well as others. Laboring in the Word. Look at chapter, or excuse me, in prayer. Look at chapter 4 verse 12. Apaphrus, remember Apaphras was the man who was evidently the pastor of the Colossian Church. He was the one who was the one who was teaching. teaching them, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, notice he emphasizes that, salute if you, always laboring fervently for you in prayers, that you may stand perfect and pleat in all the will of God. He’s laboring in prayers for you. You know, genuine prayer is hard work. And pleading with God is demanding. You know, can liken it under wrestling. Remember, Jacob wrestled with God that he could get God’s blessing. And there’s a sense in which we are in prayer we wrestle with the Lord. God doesn’t always answer immediately. We may have to plead night and day for a period of time before he answers our prayers. Look at your Savior. Look at him in the Garden of Gassimony. He’s praying so intensely. that sweat is profusely falling off his forehead. Like great drops of blood, the scripture indicates to us. And yet, he doesn’t think that praying once is sufficient. He has to go back and pray three times before he has peace about drinking the bitter cup that the father has given him to drink. Do you imagine that souls can be saved or even preserved in Christ without prayer. If we think, of course, that we can do it, then we’re missing the point. Prayer is we’re drawing upon the power of God. We’ll get to that in a moment. You should pray for one another. On a regular basis, one of the reasons we have the prayer calendar is to try to encourage us to pray and remember to pray for one another as a Christian duty. George Whitfield, the evangelist, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, says, this he said he would say to his congregation, if you perish, it shall not be for want or lack of praying for. It shall not be for want of weeping over. If you perish, it’s not that I didn’t pray for you and I didn’t even weep over you. That’s praying for someone. That’s labor intensive. I read about a Christian man who prayed for the conversion of a friend for over 20 years. Finally, God answered the prayer. and the man was saved. Christian parents often experience something like this regarding a wayward son or daughter. Sometimes you see that you’re praying for them and you’re praying for them, you’re praying for them. And later on in life, God reaches out and saves them. This happens many times. You see that happening in people’s lives. See, you realize the labor involved in service to Christ here. Whatever service we engage in, whether we’re, you know, Paul, of course, was involved in preaching, but we also, as average Christians, should recognize the labor for the kingdom is important. Secondly, you should realize the power involved in service to Christ. Now, let’s look at the second part of this first. He says, I also labor, wherefore are also labor striving according to his working, which worketh in me my life. You see here the need for the spirit’s power to work in you and through you, if you would. It’s not by might, nor by power of man, but by my spirit, set the Lord of Hall, Zachariah 4, 6. Paul realized he couldn’t do this work without being strengthened by God. It is never human strength. It is never human effort that ultimately grants success in the spiritual realm. No matter how well-educated you are, no matter how eloquent you are, no matter how godly you are, no matter how godly you are, a minister in that situation is nothing, unless the mighty. power of God rests upon it. You know, if you take a large bell up in a steeple, it may be well hung, beautifully forged, wonderfully polished, made of the best metal possible, but it’s useless unless a ringer is attached to it. It will not make a sound. And so it is with the minister. He has no voice to quicken the dead or comfort the least. living Christian without the spirit working through him. Let me put this, though, on the level of the average Christian. Let’s go beyond just the minister. We read in Philippians 213, for it is God which worketh in you both to will and the due of his good pleasure. Work out yourself. salvation, for it is God who’s working in you to enable you to work out your salvation. Jesus declared, without me, you can do nothing. It’s important that we understand that principle as we go through this Christian life. Sadly, you and I often have been convinced maybe of our own sufficiency without Christ. But we have to be convinced that we are nothing without Christ. Sometimes we think we can do it. and we have to learn, no, you can’t do it. Sometimes we’re like Samson. We’re persuaded. We can do mighty exploits without realizing how weak and vulnerable we are if the spirit of God is not upon us. Remember he got his hair cut and the spirit withdrew and then he thought, well, I’ll just shake off the Philistines like I always do. Found himself with his eyes out and grinding at the mill for the Philistines. We have to realize whatever commendable acts that we undertake to do, no matter how good those acts are to do, we are utterly incompetent to do them on our own or to be effective in helping others. Nothing. When Jesus said nothing, I think he means nothing, right? Nothing implies that the least, the small, the small. Christian activity can never be done right without God’s power resting upon us, enabling us to do it. Can you live the Christian life? Can you win souls? Can you understand the scripture? Can you pray a right without the Spirit? I read in Scripture we can’t even pray a right unless the Spirit guides us in Romans Chapter 8? A right understanding of this leads us then to follow Paul’s example and give God the credit when anything gets accomplished for the kingdom of God. He may have used me, I may be the instrument, but he’s the one that’s working. This teaching of our text is certainly an antidote against pride and self-praise, is it not? so the need for the Spirit’s power to work in you should be obvious. Now the Spirit’s power, is at work as you labor for Christ. Now you notice the way he states this, he says, I’m laboring, I’m striving, according to his working in me, of course, by his spirit. The Holy Spirit is not working separate from Paul, but working through Paul’s labors and striving. here. The Holy Spirit stimulates the Christian to labor and then prospers the effort. Paul doesn’t say, well, I’m sitting here waiting for the spirit to work. He is laboring as he’s enabled by the spirit to work. A mighty inner work stirs up Paul. The souls are called to salvation. Believers are edified and so forth. Think about this. The moment we perceive that the Spirit of God is helping us, the Spirit of God is strengthening us, the Spirit of God is enabling us, then we’re encouraged to go on and to do our best for the cause of Christ, to diligently labor. You say to yourself, my work may fail, but if the Spirit is working through me, it will not fail. What I do could fail. But if I’m doing life, but if I’m doing life, with the spirit of God working in me, it cannot fail. This is why Paul endures the many hardships and sufferings of his ministry because the spirit is working in him mightily. You may look at your small gifts and abilities and you think, what can I do for the kingdom of God? And the answer probably would be nothing. You’re asking the wrong question. Put it in the language like Paul does here in verse 29. What can God do by his mighty power through my power? efforts as feeble and as weak as they are. What can God do if he works in me mightily? That’s what we should be asking ourselves. So we must combine this confidence in the power of the spirit with earnest labor for Christ. I’m reminded of the story of Gideon in the Old Testament when he was called of God to be a judge for Israel and free Israel from the dominion of the Midianites. And Gideon complies. Oh, my Lord, where wish shall I save Israel? Behold, my family is poor in Manassah, and I am the least in my father’s house. He doesn’t think himself competent to be a commander over the Israelite soldiers or troops that he is the command, or even gathered them to lead them. I’m a nobody. I’m not even in a prominent family. No one’s going to listen to me. what does the angel the Lord say to him? The Lord is with thee, the mighty man of valor. And he doesn’t see himself as a mighty man of valor. Ah, but if the Lord is with him, he’ll be a mighty man of valor. You see the distinction here. So Gideon was only looking at himself. He wasn’t looking at it as God was looking at. God was looking at Gideon and said, with the Spirit’s power working in you, you are going to be a mighty man of valor. So God has to encourage Gideon. still pretty timid about it. He has to, you remember the episodes of the fleece, and then the dream with regard of the barley cake overturning the tents of the Midianites and so forth. That has to be used to encourage him. And then finally, they keep the Israelites from thinking that somehow, rather they were going to win the victory on their own. God says, well, your army’s too big, Gideon. We’re going to cut it down. So he got 300 men. and then, of course, relying on that promise of God, the Lord is with thee, Gideon goes forth in the night. In one hand, they have the pictures with the lamp in them, a candle or some sort. And in the other hand, they have a sword. And what did Gideon bid the men to say when they were, time came to break those. pictures and let the light shine. What were they to shout? The sword of the Lord and of Gideon. Lord’s with me. And then, of course, the great victory comes. Friends, nothing has changed. You may find yourself like Gideon and say, well, I’m really nothing. Laboring for Christ is such that we should believe that God’s Spirit will work through us. Not that we think our own efforts somehow rather going to accomplish anything, on their own. But with God’s spirit, there’s no telling what can be accomplished. This is our encouragement as believers in Christ. Whether we go through this Christian life and we just give a word of witness to someone, a neighbor or a relative or whatever the case may be, or whether we’re called to preach the gospel. or whether we’re sent as a missionary, the foreign field. It doesn’t really matter what we’re doing. If God has given us an opportunity to do something for him, if we’re doing it with the right idea, with the fact that if God will bless this effort, as I labor here, something could be accomplished for the kingdom of God. That’s our encouragement as the people of God. So Christians are to be stars in this dark world, shining. with the light of God. But realize the labor involved in serving Christ, but realize also the power involved in serving Christ. We labor, we labor seeking God’s power to work mightily in us so that something indeed is accomplished for the kingdom of God. Well, let’s close with a word of prayer.