Ministry:
Goals, Obstacles, Virtues. Colossians 1:28
The
section from Colossians 1:25 through 2:5 is really one of the most personal
sections in all of Paul’s epistles. There are others that are similar to this
but in each of these they express something of the apostle’s own heart’s desire
for those to whom he ministers in these various congregations. In this passage
we see the apostle expressing his heart’s desire and the goal and objective
that he sees that God has given him as an apostle. We also see something of the
thinking that should characterize anyone operating in a ministry, not just as
an apostle, or just a pastor, or just an evangelist; there are principles here
that apply to every one of us in terms of that spiritual gift that God has
given us. God has placed each one of us within the body of Christ with the
responsibility to be a well-equipped servant or minister within the body of
Christ.
At the end of Colossians chapter one Paul states his goal.
The more clearly and precisely we define our goals and objectives the easier it
is for us to make sure that we hit the target. If we have an ambiguous or
nebulous goal or objective that can’t be qualified or evaluated then we are
never really sure if we hit the mark or accomplish the task. Paul makes it
clear in verse 28 that there is a specific end or goal for his ministry. And
this would apply to pastors as well as any of those leadership gifts mentioned
in Ephesians chapter four. Colossians
1:28 NASB “We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every
man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ.” That
is his statement of his end game. It was to present everyone mature in Christ.
It is to this end that he labors.
Colossians 1:29
NASB “For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His
power, which mightily works within me.” The word “labor” is the Greek word kapiao, which means to work hard, to
work strenuously until the task is accomplished. It is a sad reality that one
of the professions in the world that probably is peopled by some of the laziest
and most irresponsible individuals is the pastorate. Most pastors are not that
way but sadly there are exceptions. And this is also true on the mission field.
This is not true of probably 80 or 90 per cent of those who are missionaries or
pastors. They work hard and many pastors also work in secondary jobs because
they don’t have congregations large enough to support them. There are those out
there who use the opportunity and the fact that they are not under any constant
observation by anyone and are willing to fleece the sheep rather than encourage
the sheep, but those are the exceptions. Those who wish to be biblical
understand that it is a never-ending job. There are always thing that could
have been done, should have been done, didn’t quite have enough time to do, and
that is one of the reasons it is important for men to go through seminary.
Then we have a present middle
participle telling us how Paul is labouring, so it is a participle of means: by
“striving according to His power…” The “His” there relates to God. “…which
mightily works within me.” The
participle, agonizomai as the root
means to strive or to struggle, to strain, to work hard, to exert one’s self,
to do everything possible to accomplish the task. So there is a recognition
that there is work involved. It is not always easy; there are always obstacles
to overcome in many different shapes and sizes.
We have to think in terms
of the end result. The issue isn’t striving and struggling, the issue is doing
what we can to reach the goal. And what is that goal? The goal is clearly
stated in Ephesians 4:11-13 NASB “And He gave some {as} apostles,
and some {as} prophets, and some {as} evangelists, and some {as} pastors and
teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the
building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the
faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure
of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.”
“for the equipping of the
saints for the work of service [ministry]” can be likened to a coach. The coach
doesn’t get out on the field and play the game, he is the one who trains and
equips the players. The players many times can exceed the coach in terms of
their own talents, abilities and skills, but the coach is the man who has the
ability to train, to motivate, to equip the players so that they can reach
their full potential to accomplish their task.
“until we all attain to the
unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God…” This is a unity
that is not at the expense of doctrine. We are not going to just join hands and
rejoice that we are all Christians and just have a commonality. There is one
faith, one body of doctrine for teaching, for instruction, a set of beliefs
that we have as believers. Outside of that is operating on non-Christian ideas.
This was important in the Colossian context because they were under pressure
from various religious ideas and philosophies from their culture to not hold to
their distinctiveness. There is a lot of similarity today in our culture. There
is so much pressure upon Christians today to compromise, to go along with, not
to make these lines of distinction between the beliefs of biblical orthodox
Christianity and that which is outside of the framework of biblical truth.
There is a unity of the faith and a knowledge of the Son of God. There is
absolute truth that is non-negotiable.
It is the pastor’s role to
teach the truth of Scripture and this is how we reach the end, which is
expressed by the Greek word teleios,
expressed in many translation as “perfect.” The word “perfect” implies
flawlessness, and that is not what the Greek word means at all. It really has
the idea of reaching a determined or defined end, reaching a goal, and so it
has more to do with maturity than it does flawlessness or sinless perfection.
So the goal of the pastor is to equip saints, to do ministry, and the way to
become equipped to do that ministry is in our spiritual life and spiritual
growth. As that takes place then as we move toward maturity we become more
effective in our area of ministry.
Working is done through
divine power. How are we to understand that? The apostle works through the
power of God which is working in him mightily. There is a mystical view out
there that thinks, for example: “I have the gift of pastor-teacher so I can
just open my Bible and know what it means.” That is ludicrous, absurd. There is
study involved. The Holy Spirit doesn’t just inform the pastor of what the Word
means. The Holy Spirit works in and through the natural abilities, spiritual
gifts, and the hard work of the pastor who studies the Word. And we have to
factor spiritual growth into the process. What Paul is simply stating here is
that ultimately anything that is good and right and true that comes out of his
ministry is not the result of his effort, it is the result of God who is
working in him.
The word “wisdom” was
introduced in verse 28 and is going to be picked up again in Colossians 2:2
where we also have the words “understanding” and knowledge.” We need to
summarize. First of all, we see that God defines the goal—spiritual
maturity for everyone in the congregation. That is what the pastor’s goal is:
to equip. He can’t make a person mature, he can only provide the opportunity,
the teaching, the tools. A person has to exercise his volition to learn the
Word and to apply is so that God the Holy Spirit working through that can bring
him to maturity. But that is the objective of the pastoral ministry. We may ask
how we measure that. It is an interesting question. There is no way to really
quantify or measure it. But in 1 Corinthians 4:1-4 Paul uses the same
vocabulary, stewardship and the mysteries of Christ: “What is required of a
steward is that he be found faithful.” A faithful pastor is one who is faithful
to God in his study of the Word and is faithful to his congregation in doing
all that he can within his spiritual gift to enable the congregation to grow and
reach maturity. So the measuring stick for the pastor is that he is faithful,
and we can tell that by how a pastor teaches and what he teaches. Secondly,
maturity begins with understanding and knowledge of biblical truth. That is,
understanding what the Bible teaches in terms of how we are to think and how we
are to live. It is not just some magical thing but it is learning all that
Scripture teaches about what we are to think and how we are to live.
We have three words that come
together. The first is “understanding,” a word we find more in the Old
Testament than in the New. The Old Testament Hebrew word is bin, which
has to do with discernment between that which is human viewpoint and that which
is divine viewpoint. So it is a biblical concept often related to how we put
things together. When we are faced with a set of circumstances what goes on in
our heads is that we immediately have to interpret that set of circumstances,
and we put it is some sort of framework of thought so that it has some sort of
meaning or understanding to us so that we can then take a certain course of
action. That is what this word means in terms mof understanding. Biblically it
is used of human viewpoint as well as divine viewpoint. Proverbs 3:5 NASB
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart And do not lean on your own
understanding.” There it is clear that our own understanding is a framework of
thought that is based on our finite experience or human viewpoint thought
versus God’s way of thinking. So understanding relates to a framework of
thought that is biblical. Knowledge, on the other hand, is information plus
that framework of thought. Knowledge has to be incorporated within a framework.
That is why we spend so much time dealing with everything within a biblical
framework so that we can put the big picture together, and then the pieces of
information that we have fit within that overall biblical framework. Then we
have the word “wisdom” based on the Hebrew word chokmah which isn’t the Greek idea of
abstract wisdom—which is philosophical in nature—but in the Hebrew
mind it is very practical application; it is the ability to make something that
is beautiful and attractive. When Bezalel and Oholiab, the Jewish artisans who
were crafting the furniture for the tabernacle, are given the Holy Spirit the
Holy Spirit gave them skill (chokmah). It is not doctrinal wisdom there as we might think of it
but it shows us what the core meaning of the word is. It is the skill at their
craftsmanship, taking their natural talents of working with gold, silver and
wood and giving them an enhancement to do it in such a way that brought about a
remarkably artistic product.
We live in an age today
that people have forgotten a basic principle: that information isn’t knowledge.
People think that because they have so much information they have knowledge,
but they don’t; they just have data. Knowledge combines a framework of
understanding with the information. Information isn’t knowledge and knowledge
isn’t wisdom. Wisdom only comes through a lot of detailed study.
Colossians 2:1 NASB
“For I want you to know how great a struggle I have on your behalf and for
those who are at Laodicea, and for all those who have not personally seen my
face.” Obviously Paul had a lot of people who were reading his letters and
corresponding with him he had never met. Here he uses a word related to the
verb used in 1:29, “striving,” agonizomai.
Here he uses the noun form, agon,
related to the English word “agony.” It has the idea of contention, it was a
word that was used for any sort of contest or tough competition in a sports
contest. It was something where you had to work hard in order to gain the
victory or success. Paul had this great struggle, great conflict. It is not
easy being an apostle; it is not easy being a pastor. There are two places in 2
Corinthians where he is defending his apostleship to the Corinthians and he
reminds them of what he has gone through for them and for all those in the
church.
2 Corinthians 6:4-10 NASB
“but in everything commending ourselves as servants of God, in much endurance,
in afflictions, in hardships, in distresses, in beatings, in imprisonments, in
tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in hunger, in purity [hagnos—related to sanctification,
so by growing spiritually], in knowledge [studying the Word], in patience
[patient endurance], in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in genuine love, in the
word of truth, in the power of God; by the weapons of righteousness for the
right hand and the left, by glory and dishonor, by evil report and good report;
{regarded} as deceivers and yet true; as unknown yet well-known, as dying yet
behold, we live; as punished yet not put to death, as sorrowful yet always
rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing yet possessing all
things.” He is expressing the fact that there are these two opposing responses
to his ministry. For any pastor there are those who accept him and those who
reject him, and there is the need to endure all of that: praise as well as the
condemnation.
In chapter eleven he gives
us another list of things he has gone through and here he is countering the
charges related to some false apostles. 2 Corinthians 11:23 NASB
“Are they servants of Christ? [No, they are not]—I speak as if
insane—I more so [am a minister of Christ]; in far more labors, in far
more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death. [24]
Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine {lashes.} [25] Three times I
was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night
and a day I have spent in the deep. [26] {I have been} on
frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from
{my} countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the
wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren; [27]
{I have been} in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger
and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. [28]
Apart from {such} external things, there is the daily pressure on me {of}
concern for all the churches.”
So when Paul states this
and we look at what he says, for example, in Colossians 1:29 this is what he is
talking about. He wants those in Colosse to know this great struggle he has, it
wasn’t easy for him to carry out the ministry. And the purpose for this is that
it was for encouragement. Colossians 2:2 NASB “that their hearts may
be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and {attaining} to all the
wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, {resulting} in a
true knowledge of God’s mystery, {that is,} Christ {Himself,}.”
Being united [“knit”]
together in love is a process, and that comes as a result of spiritual growth
and the study of God’s Word. Paul is saying we have to be strengthened through
spiritual growth. It involves growth in love toward one another and growth in
understanding and living in light of all of the riches that Jesus Christ has
provided for us. The only way we are going to know that is through
understanding and studying God’s Word. The idea of the riches of Christ is
found in a number of New Testament passages: Romans 11:33 NASB “Oh,
the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How
unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!”
But we have these riches in
Christ. Ephesians 1:18 NASB “{I pray that} the eyes of your heart
may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what
are the riches of the glory of His inheritance [our rewards] in the saints.”
Ephesians 2:7 NASB
“so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace
in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”
Ephesians 3:8 NASB
“To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the
Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ.” The riches of Christ has to do
with our spiritual growth and our spiritual life so that as we attain to all
the riches that is a term for our spiritual growth to attain through
understanding all that we have in Christ, all that we are in Christ, and living
on the basis of that. That is described, then, as the mystery of God. It is not
something that is hidden, it is this new revelation that God has given us in
Christ about Himself. No one has seen God at any time but the Son explained Him
to us. It is through Christ that we come to understand God and only on the
basis of Christ and our relationship to Him can we really understand all that
He has provided for us. When we do and we live in light of that, that is when
we are beginning to reach our goal of spiritual maturity.