COLOSSIANS (12) Paul’s Ministry as a Servant of God (3)

​“I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness -  the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col 1:25-27)
 
Review
We’ve been talking about the book of Colossians. And for the last few weeks, we’ve focused on some important characteristics of Paul’s ministry.
 
In the last paragraph of Colossians chapter 1, Paul talked about three things related to his ministry.
 
1. Two Characteristics: Suffering and Effort (1:24, 29)
First, in verses 24 and 29, Paul mentions two things that characterize his ministry—suffering and effort.
 
Paul said, “Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions… To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me.” (Col 1:24, 29)
 
What made Paul’s ministry genuine, unlike the false teachers in the Colossian church, lay in how he suffered for the gospel of Jesus Christ and how earnestly and enthusiastically he preached the gospel throughout his entire life.
 
But there were also two things that went along with Paul’s suffering and effort. That was the joy and the energy that Christ gave him. These were what really enabled Paul to endure severe suffering and continue to proclaim the gospel to the end.
 
2. Two Ministries (1:23, 25, 28)
Last Sunday, we discussed two specific ministries Paul focused on as a servant of God.
 
Paul said,
“…This is the gospel… of which I, Paul, have become a servant… I have become its [the church’s] servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness… He [Christ] is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ.” (Col 1:23, 25, 28)
 
From this passage, Paul’s ministries can be categorized into two main areas of focus. The first was presenting the word of God in its fullness as a servant of the gospel. And the second was presenting God’s people fully mature in Christ as a servant of the church.
 
Paul said that he had become a servant for two specific things—the word of God, meaning the gospel, and the body of Jesus Christ, meaning the church. Paul’s mission was to bring fullness in these two areas. But they were not two separate ministries, but one combined ministry since proclaiming the gospel and building up God’s people are inseparable.
 
We also talked about how Paul’s ministry was different from that of false teachers in the Colossian church. In the last sermon, we discussed two aspects that distinguished Paul’s ministry.
 
1) Paul was chosen by God.
First, Paul didn’t say that he chose to be a servant of God. Rather, he said, “I have become its servant by the commission God gave me” (Col 1:25).
 
By contrast, the false teachers were not called by God. They came to the church for their own purposes.
 
2) Paul didn’t come up with his own message.
Second, Paul said that he didn’t invent the message he proclaimed, but that the message was given to him directly “by revelation from Jesus Christ.” (Gal 1:12)
 
By contrast, the new teachings that the false teachers taught in the church didn’t come from Jesus but from other sources such as “philosophy… human tradition… or the elemental spiritual forces of this world” (Col 2:8)
 
All right. That’s what we talked about thus far about Paul’s ministry. Today, I want to address one more aspect that distinguished Paul’s ministry from that of false teachers and then move on to two specific elements of the message he proclaimed.
 
3) Paul didn’t hide anything
The third characteristic that made Paul’s ministry genuine is that he didn’t hide anything about the message. He didn’t act as if he alone had special access to it. By contrast, the false teachers acted like they had special, hidden knowledge that they claimed was necessary to reach spiritual fullness.
 
They held their heads high, insisting that God had entrusted a special ministry to only a few chosen people like them. What was worse, they maintained that it was impossible to discover the ‘hidden’ treasure without their special ministry.
 
But, even though Paul also talked about the ‘mystery of God,’ he approached it differently than the false teachers. That’s the subject I want to focus on today—the mystery of Christ.
 
The Mystery of Christ
So, how was the mystery Paul talked about different from the mysteries that the false teachers claimed to know about? I would say ‘in every aspect.’ There are four things to be learned about the mystery of Christ that Paul spoke about.
 
1) The Mystery was hidden in the past
First, Paul didn’t deny that it had been hidden. If it had not been hidden but revealed to everyone, it couldn’t have been called a ‘mystery,’ because by its nature, a mystery must include a hidden secret that only a few people know about.
 
However, Paul said that it was a mystery only in the past, because the mystery of God was now revealed to everyone. He said in verse 26,
 
“The mystery has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people.” (Col 1:26)
 
That’s the first characteristic of the mystery that Paul proclaimed. It was hidden in the past but is now disclosed.
 
2) The Mystery was determined by God
The second characteristic of the mystery was that even though it was kept hidden in the past, God determined that He would reveal it when the time was right. The mystery wasn’t invented by mere human beings. God was the One who made the mystery and determined to give it to us later.
 
In 1 Corinthians, Paul called the hidden mystery of God, God’s wisdom. 1 Co 2:7 says,
 
“We declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began.” (1Co 2:7).
 
It is amazing to see when God decided to make His mystery. He destined it ‘before time began.’ One thing we know for sure is that God saw us even before He created us and has been working all along to save us.
 
God didn’t start His great plan for salvation after the first human beings committed the first sin. His plan and mystery of salvation had been there even before the world came to exist. When we think about it more deeply, we can’t help but be amazed by the greatness of His wisdom, power, and love. That’s the God we believe in.
 
3) The Mystery is Christ
Then, the question is, what is the wisdom of God or mystery of God that was now disclosed to the Lord’s people? Paul said, “This mystery… is Christ” (Col 1:27).
 
The mystery was nothing more than a name—the name of Jesus Christ. The mystery refers to the gospel of Jesus, which wasn’t just given to a few specific people, but to everyone on earth.
 
Paul also said in 1 Tm 3:16,
“Beyond all question, the mystery from which true godliness springs is great: He appeared in the flesh, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory.” (1 Tm 3:16)
 
Paul said that the mystery that God had hidden in the past now appeared in the flesh, which definitely refers to the incarnation of Jesus Christ.
 
Jesus was the mystery God had determined to give us. Even though God decided to save all people on earth through Jesus Christ, He didn’t send Him right after the first sin was committed.
 
Rather, God hid His plan, waiting for the perfect time when people would understand the meaning of the sacrifice and death Jesus would go through to wash away people’s sins.
 
And to help us understand it, God left many traces of Jesus in the Old Testament through symbols, events, and prophecies. In fact, all the books in the Old Testament are about the Messiah, Christ, to come.
 
And “when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman” (Gal 4:4), and made Him die on the cross. That was when the mystery of God was fully revealed. That was when the veil that had hidden the Most Holy Place was torn. That’s the great mystery we have learned about—the gospel of Jesus Christ that gives us new, eternal life.
 
Technically, we can’t call it a ‘mystery’ anymore because even though it was a mystery before, it has since been revealed to all people. So, unlike the special spiritual knowledge the false teachers claimed only they themselves had, the glory of the mystery Paul proclaimed lies in its inclusiveness: it includes all people on earth. Now, everyone who wants to know the secret can find it because it is clearly written in the Bible.
 
4) Paul became a servant of the mystery
That was the mystery for which Paul became a servant of God. He said in the next chapter,
 
“My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” (Col 2:2-2)
 
Paul also said in Ephesians chapter 3,
“I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power. Although I am less than the least of all the Lord’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ, and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things.” (Eph 3:7-9)
 
I think these two passages also show us the proper way to respond to the mystery of God. Even though the mystery of God was fulfilled and clearly revealed in Jesus Christ, there are still many people who haven’t heard about it yet, which means that it is still a secret to some people. Since we know about it, it’s our responsibility to share it with those who haven’t heard about it yet.
 
 
 
Imagine a man who is dying of a serious illness, and there’s no doctor who can heal him. But, let’s say you know the only doctor who knows how to cure him. Would you not tell him about the doctor?
 
If you didn’t tell him and he died, could you say that you are not responsible for his death at all? I know that sounds like an extreme example, but I don’t think it’s any different from choosing not to proclaim the name of Jesus.
 
I think that’s the responsibility we all have as Christians. All those who have accepted the gospel of Jesus Christ are responsible for delivering it to others.
 
If we don’t have any desire to do so, it means that we don’t really understand the gospel because anyone who truly believes in it will naturally feel its urgent need to be proclaimed.
 
That’s what the mystery of God is about. It is Jesus Christ and His good news of salvation that was determined by God, hidden in the Old Testament, and has now been plainly revealed in Jesus’ crucifixion.
 
 
 
We are to keep in mind that the mystery of God is about the good news of our salvation, which must be proclaimed to all people on earth. We came to have faith in Jesus because we heard about the gospel from the people around us. Therefore, we should make every effort to share the gospel with others because its message is too important to ignore.
 
The Mystery of God: Christ in you, the hope of glory
Now, going back to today’s passage, let me share one last thing about Paul’s ministry. Paul said that his ministry was to present the word of God in its fullness, which is the mystery that had been kept hidden but was now disclosed.
 
And in Colossians 1 verse 27, Paul used two phrases to describe the mystery: ‘Christ in you’ and ‘the hope of glory.’
 
The phrase ‘Christ in you’ tells us what happens when we accept the gospel—Christ starts to dwell in us and we in Him. I think that’s one of the most wonderful changes we experience through the gospel—to be united with Christ and to be conformed to his image.
 
If we truly appreciate how precious this blessing is, we won’t ask God for anything else because we’ll be fully satisfied by Jesus. When we’re filled with this blessing, we will instead ask God to give us the strength to boldly and eagerly proclaim His name.
 
Paul also called the mystery of Christ ‘the hope of glory’. The reason the false teachings sounded attractive to the Colossian church was because its members sought bigger spiritual blessings.
 
The false teachers likely said they could give them more spiritual knowledge that they needed in order to have greater faith, and that they could enjoy complete salvation on earth. By doing so, they made the members of the church confused between the blessings they had on earth and the future blessings they would receive later in the kingdom of God.
 
But true teachings of Christianity never say that we can fully receive all of God’s blessings here on earth. Rather, it says that while we live in our earthly bodies, we only ‘taste’ what we will ultimately inherit in the kingdom of God when we truly join in the resurrection of Jesus. That’s the hope we have as Christians.
 
If every hope could be perfectly fulfilled on earth, there would be nothing to hope for in the future. But the ultimate beauty of Christian life doesn’t lie in our present status, but in the future glory we’re promised to have in Christ—the kingdom of God, eternal life in heaven, resurrection, and more.
 
So, the biggest gift Jesus is giving us here on earth is hope for the future. As we talked about before, this hope is the foundation of our faith and love. We believe and love even when it requires us to suffer and sacrifice because we know great things are waiting for us.
 
Only when we combine these two phrases, ‘Christ in you’ and ‘hope of glory,’ can we have the right point of view of the gospel. The former talks about the greatest present blessing we have as believers, while the latter allows us to turn our eyes to the even greater blessings we will receive in the future.
 
I hope that we all deeply know, understand, and experience the mystery of God—Christ in us, the hope of glory—so that we can live a life worthy of the calling we received from God without being discouraged. Let’s pray.
 
Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank You for allowing us to know about the mystery You planned, determined to give us, prophesied, and eventually fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
 
Even though we can’t understand everything, we give thanks to You for everything You’ve done to save us.
 
Now Lord, we want to know the essence of the gospel more deeply. Please open our hearts and continue to disclose the secret of the gospel so that we can experience its power more strongly and boldly proclaim it to those You put around us who don’t know it yet.
 
We thank You for dwelling in us. And we thank You for giving us glorious hope for the future. Let us be firmly rooted in the heavenly blessings so that we won’t be moved by anything in the world.
 
We thank You and love You, Lord.
We pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.
 
Sharing Questions
1) According to Paul, what is the mystery of God? How was it disclosed? Have you felt a strong sense of responsibility to deliver it to others? What are some practical ways to do so?
 
2) What’s the difference between the earthly blessings we have now and the future glory we are promised to receive in heaven? What are some present blessings you’re enjoying now in Christ? What are some future blessings that you’re looking forward to? Please list some and share how they impact your mindset and lifestyle.