Preeminent in Our Calling

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Well, when each of my kids was born, there was a lot of hard work and preparation that went into getting each of them home, getting them home. Of course, there was the actual hard work of childbirth, which had nothing to do with me. My wife and her doctor did all the hard work there.

My job was just to watch and not faint. Then there was the work of learning to meet their particular needs so that we could take them home. Each child was different.

And even though the basic feeding and diapering were the same, there was a learning curve with each of them involved that required some real effort every time. Three of the four spent time in the NICU, anywhere from seven to 36 days. And we had to learn all about medications and hoses and wires, things like that.

And even with Charlie, who was the odd man out in a lot of ways, the odd man out who got to come home straight away when we did, there was a lot of work learning how to feed this baby who didn’t want to eat. Now, that was hard because I can’t relate to that problem at all. I’m not wanting to eat.

And after we had done all this hard work and preparation to get things ready for them, there came a day for each of them when they got to go home. And when that big day, on each of those big days, once the celebration had died down and the older siblings had gone to bed, all the relatives had gone home, we’d find ourselves sitting there in our home, just us and the baby. And we invariably think, okay, what now?

What do we do now? Of course, we know what actually comes next, actually taking care of the baby, right? It was time to move from the theory into the practice.

And all of our learning and our preparation would be useless if we then didn’t go and do something with it. And our journey through Colossians chapter 1, through the first chapter here, is a little bit like that experience. We’ve done the hard work of studying and understanding what this chapter teaches about the preeminence of Christ. But now that we’ve come to the end of this study, it’s natural for us to think, okay, what now?

So what? Having learned all this information about the preeminence of Christ, what are we supposed to do with it? How does it make a difference for you on Monday morning?

But the fact that Jesus reigns supreme over the universe, and that his importance eclipses and surpasses everything else in it, that fact should absolutely change the way you and I live daily. It should make a difference daily in our lives. See, if we truly understand the preeminence of Jesus, we’ll see that he deserves the preeminent place in our lives.

It’s what he deserves. And those who’ve trusted him as their Lord and Savior, let me back up, those who’ve trusted him as Savior need to realize that he’s also Lord. We belong to him.

We belong to him, and he’s placed a calling on each of our lives as Christians. So if you’re a believer in Christ this morning, you belong to him rather than to yourself. First Corinthians tells us, you are not your own, for you were bought at a price.

He bought us. And that price that was paid was the blood of Jesus. Acts 20 tells us that we were purchased with his own blood.

Now, as a result, folks, we have the privilege, not an obligation, not a punishment, not a drudgery, but the privilege of being subject to the call of Jesus Christ on our lives. We have the privilege of being subject to the call of Jesus Christ on our lives. And when we see him for who he is, our love for him should lead obedience to his call to take precedence over everything else.

This week I heard a podcast where they were discussing what this submission means for believers in Christ. And Dr. Jason Allen, who’s the president of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, one of our Southern Baptist seminaries, he said this, We surrender our rights to self-determination, we surrender our sense of self-entitlement, and we surrender the great W questions. Where we go, what we do, the message we preach, the people we serve, who we reach, We yield our lives to the Lord’s leadership.

And he’s right in that. He’s right to say that. For believers, it’s not enough just to understand that he calls us.

Obedience requires that we give him a blank check when it comes to our lives and let him fill out the check however he wants. And Paul was a great example of this. If you’re not already there, would you go with me, please, to Colossians chapter 1.

As I’ve been saying all through this, you’ll find it toward the end of your Bible, about three quarters of the way through, right after Ephesians and Philippians, right before 1st and 2nd Thessalonians, Colossians chapter 1. We’ll start in Colossians chapter 1, looking at the last few verses this morning, and we’ll follow the thought to where it ends in the first few verses of chapter 2. And starting at Colossians 1.

24, it says, Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I am completing in my flesh what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for his body, that is the church. I have become its servant according to God’s commission that was given to me for you to make the word of God fully known. The mystery hidden for ages and generations, but now revealed to his saints.

God wanted to make known among the Gentiles the glorious wealth of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. We proclaim him, warning and teaching everyone with all wisdom so that we may present everyone mature in Christ. I labor for this, striving with his strength that works powerfully in me. For I want you to know how greatly I am struggling for you, for those in Laodicea and for all who have not seen me in person.

I want their hearts to be encouraged and joined together in love so that they may have all the riches of complete understanding and have the knowledge of God’s mystery, Christ. In him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Now in this passage, Paul was talking about his willingness to submit to Jesus Christ’s calling on his life, even though it meant he would struggle and he would suffer. His motivation for getting up in the morning was to obey this calling.

Now he didn’t tell the Colossians that to brag or to say that he was somehow unique. He told them that so he could provide an example. See, Paul understood that Jesus didn’t just call the apostles to follow him.

He doesn’t limit his calling to a small group of super spiritual Christians. I need you to hear me on that. He doesn’t limit his calling to a small group of super spiritual Christians.

He calls every born-again believer into active service, and it’s the privilege of every born-again believer to submit to that calling. It’s our privilege to submit to his calling. So Paul’s story is given for the benefit of other believers so that we can see what this submission looks like.

And in submission to the calling of Christ on his life, Paul said he was willing to do anything for Jesus. Now, a lot of us are willing to do some things for Jesus, but we’ll stop short of saying anything. We’ll stop short of agreeing to anything.

It’s easy to be agreeable when he leads us toward convenient or enjoyable things. But Paul was willing to serve even when it meant suffering. Even when it meant suffering, he was willing to serve.

He was willing even to rejoice in his sufferings because nothing mattered more to the apostle Paul than Jesus. And so he told us in verse 24, now I rejoice in my sufferings for you. See, his calling to serve Christ resulted in his ministering to churches like the one at Colossae.

And his ministry to them, that ministry resulted in suffering. And yet he rejoiced. Why?

Because he delighted not in his circumstances, but in serving Jesus. That’s where he found his joy, was in serving Jesus. So in verse 24, he added, I am completing in my flesh what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for his body, that is the church.

Honestly, this is a very confusing piece of scripture on the first reading. I wrestled with this verse a lot this week to make sure that I could explain to you correctly what God’s word is saying. So let’s look at it.

When Paul said his suffering was completing what was lacking in Christ’s sufferings, it doesn’t mean that Paul somehow suffered for our sins to finish the work of salvation. Jesus’ suffering on the cross was enough for that. It was absolutely enough.

On the cross, Jesus himself said, it is finished. And the word he used there, his word there, tetelestai, is an accounting term that told us our sin debt has been paid in full. There was nothing left to pay.

And the book of Hebrews says, every priest stands day after day ministering and offering the same sacrifices time after time, which can never take away sins. But this man, after offering one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God. That means that in a single act of self-sacrifice, Jesus accomplished what all of man’s religious efforts never could.

So looking at those verses, we can immediately rule out the idea that somehow Jesus’ suffering wasn’t enough, that Jesus wasn’t enough. And so Paul had to suffer to complete our salvation. We can rule that out.

Instead, what he’s talking about here. He expressed his willingness to suffer if that was the price of ministering to the church at Colossae. He was that committed that if that was the price of ministry, he was willing to suffer.

That was what he meant when he said his suffering was for the church. But when he mentioned something lacking from Christ’s sufferings, what he meant was that the world was incapable of inflicting on Christ all of the afflictions that it wanted him to suffer. So I like the way John MacArthur explained this verse.

He said, there are many in the world who still resent Jesus Christ and would persecute his name today. It’s true. The world would love nothing more than to lash out at Jesus.

But MacArthur added these afflictions were lashed out at Jesus, but Jesus wasn’t around, so they got Paul. All right? When Paul wrote this, he meant that the hateful world couldn’t persecute and afflict Jesus the way it wanted to in his physical absence.

So they lashed out at his instead. And Paul, here’s the important part, Paul considered it an honor. He considered it an honor to be so identified with Christ that he could suffer for the sake of his master.

He considered it an honor to be so identified with Christ that when people wanted to get at Christ, they’d come at him. See, if it meant serving Jesus, if it meant serving Jesus, Paul was glad to suffer on behalf of Jesus and for the sake of the people he ministered to. Now think about that.

In a moment of intense suffering, how many of us could honestly say we felt privileged to suffer? I’m just going to be honest and say I’m not there. But Paul could only do that because Jesus had given him a radically different perspective on life.

All right, to Paul there was nothing more important than Christ. Remember we’ve been talking about the preeminence of Christ. To him there was nothing more important than Christ, so Paul’s priority was fulfilling his calling in Christ. There’s nothing that matters more than Jesus, so there’s nothing more important than me doing what he says. And in verses 25 through 27, they tell us what his calling was. Paul wrote, I have become its servant according to God’s commission that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, the mystery hidden for ages and generations, but now revealed to his saints.

God wanted to make known among the Gentiles the glorious wealth of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. So Paul’s calling as a believer was to proclaim God’s word so that others could know Jesus Christ and his salvation. We see that explained repeatedly through that text.

When he described the word of God as a newly revealed mystery here, he was talking about the gospel. That was the newly revealed mystery. Throughout the Old Testament, God revealed the coming of the Messiah through pictures and prophecies and promises.

But the exact details of God’s plans remained a mystery until everything had been fulfilled. It was necessary. The world had to misunderstand and reject Jesus so that he could be crucified for our sins.

God’s plan had to remain a mystery. That was God’s plan. And for so long, God’s plan to save mankind by sending his son to be the perfect sacrifice for sin, The exact details of that plan had remained a mystery.

But after the gospel was out in the open, after those plans had been fulfilled and the gospel was out in the open, Paul was called now to shout it from the rooftops. He was called to proclaim God’s word so that others could know Jesus Christ and his salvation. We need to understand that this calling was not unique to Paul.

This calling applies to every believer in Jesus Christ. That’s why Paul wrote to the church at Corinth, telling them, we are ambassadors for Christ since God is making his appeal through us. We plead on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. It wasn’t just Paul’s calling, proclaiming God’s word so that others can know Jesus Christ and his salvation.

It wasn’t Paul’s calling because he was an apostle. It was his calling because he was a Christian, just like it was the calling for the church at Corinth. And as believers today, we share in the same calling that Paul had.

Now, the particular ways that God leads us to carry out that calling, it can look very different from person to person, but it’s the same calling. Now, for Paul, it involved traveling around the entire eastern Mediterranean region. For me, it means pastoring a church in Seminole, Oklahoma.

Not quite the same ministry that Paul had, but the same calling. For some people in our congregation, it means working with children. God bless Sharon and what she’s doing in that room right now.

For some people in our congregation, it means leading others in worship. For some, it means meeting the needs of the less fortunate. For some, it means working through a business or civic involvement.

For some, it even means using arts and crafts to open doors to share the gospel with other people. Folks, there are at least as many individual ministries as there are individual believers. At least that many.

But we all minister out of the same calling to proclaim God’s word so that others can know Jesus Christ and his salvation. It’s our calling. And Paul pursued this calling of helping others to know Jesus and his salvation.

As he pursued this calling, their knowledge of Jesus Christ was never meant to end with salvation. See, Paul sought to help them grow closer to Jesus after salvation. He wanted to disciple them.

Ultimately, we want people to trust Christ as their Savior, to follow Christ as their Lord, and to become more like Jesus Christ as the Spirit works within them. See, the end goal for each person doesn’t stop at salvation. The end goal for each person is spiritual maturity in Jesus Christ. And Paul explained that in verse 28.

It says, We proclaim him, warning and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ. See, his aim wasn’t just to tell people about Jesus. That’s a worthwhile goal. But it wasn’t just to tell people about Jesus. He worked hard to see people trust Christ and follow Christ and become more like Christ. And he didn’t care what it cost him.

He didn’t care how inconvenient it might have been or how much suffering and struggle was involved. He kept his eyes right on that goal. And if his pain resulted in people trusting Christ, following Christ, and becoming more like Christ, then it was worth it. Nothing else mattered.

And he explained this in verse 29 and into verse 1 of the next chapter. He wrote, I labor for this, striving with his strength that works powerfully in me. For I want you to know how greatly I am struggling for you, for those in Laodicea, and for all who have not seen me in person.

His ministry was difficult. Anytime you’re trying to make a real difference in people’s lives. There will be difficulty.

And as his ministry became more significant, his challenges became more daunting. Paul faced threats. He faced beatings.

He even prison. Nevertheless, he endured. He kept going and he continued the work of the ministry with everything he had.

He said he labored for those people. He worked hard for them. But the difficulty of ministry was beyond what even the great apostle Paul could handle.

It required the strength of God to fulfill the calling of God. Serving him faithfully requires that we rely on his strength. That’s why Paul said he was striving with the strength of Jesus Christ. See, Paul wasn’t a useful servant because of his power and his talent.

He was a useful servant because he surrendered himself to Jesus’s purposes, and he saw Jesus’s strength work powerfully in him. It wasn’t because Paul was so wonderful. It was because Jesus was at work in him.

He couldn’t accomplish God’s will on his own. He couldn’t. First of all, he just wasn’t strong enough, as none of us are.

And second of all, he couldn’t even see the things that God had planned for his ministry, just as we can’t see everything on the horizon that God has planned for us in ministry. He had no idea how his service to God was going to be used. He told the Colossians that he was engaged in this struggle for their benefit, for the Laodiceans, and for other people he had never even met.

See, Paul didn’t know all the people who would come to Christ or all the lives that God would touch through his ministry. He couldn’t see God’s entire plan, but he continued to serve Jesus anyway. He cared enough about people he didn’t even know.

He cared enough about people he didn’t even know that he was willing to suffer if it meant they would have the opportunity to know Christ. What kind of person does that? It’s a person who loves Jesus and lets the power of Christ and the love of Christ work through it. So he wrote in verses 2 and 3, I want their hearts to be encouraged and joined together in love so that they may have all the riches of complete understanding and have the knowledge of God’s mystery, Christ. In him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Now the people he knew in the churches, his acquaintances, even the people he didn’t know, his desire for them all was the same. That they would know Jesus, and as a result that they would trust Jesus, follow Jesus, and become more like Jesus. By the way, that’s discipleship right there.

Throughout this passage, Paul is our example to follow. The Bible gives him to us as an example to follow, though not necessarily for the reason we might initially think. Paul was not holding himself up here to the Colossians as an example to glorify himself.

You see, Paul was not holding himself up as an example to tell them or to tell us just to try harder and just be more committed. The message here is not be like Paul because Paul was a great man. That’s what we might see in our first reading.

That’s easy to come to. It’s easy to apply, but it’s not exactly right. The message is not be like Paul because Paul was a great man.

The message of God’s word here is serve Jesus like Paul because Jesus is worth serving. You see the difference? We’ve spent six weeks studying this chapter on the preeminence of Christ. And as we come to the end of this study, the last thing I want for you to is for you just to walk out of here thinking, well, that was an interesting series.

I learned some new information. Or maybe you don’t think it was an interesting series at all. Sorry.

But the last thing I want is for you to walk out of here and say, oh, that was interesting. I learned something new. But to walk out of here without it making any kind of difference in your life.

But I also don’t want you to walk out of here thinking, well, I just need to try harder. I just need to be like Paul. If you walk out of here thinking, if I just try harder, God will love me more.

If I try harder, I’ll be a better Christian. You’ve missed what this was about. Instead, we need to walk out of this study not thinking, I need to try harder.

I need to be like Paul. we need to walk out of this study thinking, isn’t Jesus incredible? Right?

He’s our creator. Some of the things we’ve seen throughout this chapter, he’s our creator. He participated with the Father in creating everything that was created.

We see that he’s the focus of the Father’s plans for us. He is the fulfillment of thousands of years of promises and prophecies. He’s the Savior who came to earth to die for our sins and to rise again.

He’s the head of the church who purchased us with his own blood that he shed on the cross. He’s the one who brings us peace with God, who reconciles us and brings us into the Father’s family. He’s the one who transforms us from being hell-bound sinners to holy, faultless, and blameless children of God.

He’s incredible. And submitting to the call of Jesus on our lives is not about grudgingly agreeing to do what he wants and just trying to do harder. I’m just going to grip my teeth and bear it and try to do better.

Submitting our lives to His calling is what happens when we fall so in love with Jesus. And when we stand in so much amazement of what He’s done and who He is that we realize He’s the only one, He’s the only thing in this world worth serving. It’s not about saying, I’ve just got to do better.

It’s about falling in love with Jesus. Paul wasn’t driven to serve Jesus merely by a sense of obligation. Now, we see in this chapter, he talked about how incredible Jesus is and how there’s nothing more important to him, to Paul, than giving everyone he could the opportunity to know Jesus.

That’s why Paul served, because he was amazed by Jesus. So if you’re a believer and you find yourself struggling to submit to his will and do the things that Jesus has called you to do. If you find yourself struggling with obedience, the answer is not merely to try harder.

The answer is not necessarily to beat yourself into submission. The answer is to remember who Jesus is. The answer is to let yourself stand amazed in his presence.

The answer is to fall more deeply in love with Jesus and to bring your heart to the realization that nothing matters more than him. And if we, like Paul, can get to a place where our hearts are overwhelmed by and motivated by our love for Jesus, then living out our calling in Him to proclaim the Word of God so that others can know Jesus Christ and His salvation, it’ll become almost second nature to us. We need to understand this morning, we are privileged to serve Him because He is worth serving.

And if you’ve never trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior this morning, the rest of us share in Paul’s desire for you to know Him and His salvation. today. We share in Paul’s desire for you to know him.

There’s no one more incredible than Jesus. There’s no one who’s ever loved you more than Jesus. And there’s no one who’s ever done more than Jesus to prove his love for you.

You see, Jesus lived a perfect sinless life so that he could be the ultimate sacrifice for your sins. And he died on the cross to pay for your sins in full. And he rose again three days later, demonstrating his victory over death and hell and the grave.

so you could never pay for your sins. You could never earn peace with God or eternal life with Him in heaven. But Jesus died in your place on the cross and paid for your sins in full so that He could bring you forgiveness, peace with God, and a home in heaven.

This morning, forget about trying to earn your salvation. Forget about just trying harder and striving to be better. Instead, acknowledge your sin to God.

Believe that Jesus died and rose again your one and only Savior and ask God’s forgiveness. The fact that Jesus died to purchase your salvation is so incredible. Jesus is so amazing and so wonderful and today if you will trust in him as your one and only Savior and ask God’s forgiveness the incredible salvation that he offers will be yours.