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Christ in You, the Hope of Glory

Wayne Galloway
03/28/21 - Sunday Evening Worship

Christ In You, The Hope of Glory

Col. 1:27b-29

 

Introduction:

 

1.  As parents most of us have some pretty explicit goals for our children.

     a.  Spiritually—we want them to know God and to accept Jesus Christ.

     b.  Emotionally—we want them to be able to establish friendships, to be happy and well-

          adjusted, and able to get along in life.

     c.  Educationally—we want them to be bright, well-educated and knowledgeable.

     d.  Physically—we want them to play professional ball so they can provide for us in our

          old age.

 2.  We will work and sacrifice and actually make fools of ourselves pouring ourselves into the  accomplishment of these goals.

3.  Indeed the apostle Paul made himself a fool for Christ in that, in reckless abandon, he gave himself to the work of creating Christ in others.

4.  In Col. 1:27ff, after reflecting on the suffering he had experienced as a result of his preaching, he said that God had made known the riches of the glory “which,” he said, “is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

5.  In verse 28 he said, “And we proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, that we may present every man complete in Christ.  And for this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.”

6.  From this statement

     a.  I want you to

          1)  Become acquainted with the goal of the apostle Paul.

          2)  Comprehend the goal of the eldership of this congregation.

          3)  The goal of this preacher.

          4)  The objectives of every Bible class teacher, every song leader, and every member of

                this congregation.

      b.  I want you to attach yourself to this same goal, that of creating Christ in others.

      c.  I want you to admonish and teach every man.

      d.  I want you to work hard to present every man complete in Christ.

      e.  I want you to attack this work with the same reckless abandon, the same determination,

           the same deliberateness as did the apostle Paul.  I want you to recognize that the power of

           God mightily works in you.  I want you to own Paul’s purpose as your purpose.

 

Discussion:

 

I.  The goal, the purpose, the objective:  Christ in you (v. 27).

 

     A.  Paul’s objective in his labor was to create Christ in people.

           1.  He was working to transform people from the inside out, by putting Christ in them.

           2.  In Gal. 4:19 Paul spoke of his being in labor with the Galatian Christians until “Christ

                was formed in them.”

           3.  Some time ago I watched a report on T.V. about a human skeleton that had been

                discovered many years ago.  The police had tried to identify who the person was, but

                  could not.  They had even given her an anonymous name.  With new technology

                  available only in recent years scientists took casts of the skeleton and recreated

                  the woman’s fleshly appearance.  Which helped to identify who the woman was

                  after decades of anonymity.

             4.  Christ being formed in us is similar to our bone structure.  When he is formed in us

                   our identity is transformed, our physical appearance may be the same, but who we

                    spiritually is different.

              5.  When Christ is in us people will be able to see him.  Have you ever been to a school

                    function where parents and their children were assembled?  Notice the similarities

                    between the parents and the children.  Look at their eyes, their noses, their mouths,

                    their body structure.  You can see the parents in the children.

               6.  Paul’s work is to create Christ in us.

         B.  That is the work of the eldership of this church, that is the work of this preacher, the

                work of the Bible class teachers, the song leaders, every member here.

 

II.  The mechanism through which this formation occurs is identified in vs. 28:  “And we proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man.”

 

      A.  Proclaiming Christ is not a new concept.

            1.  After the death of Stephen Philip went down to Samaria and began “proclaiming

                 Christ to them” (Acts 8:5). 

                  a.  We learn something about what he was proclaiming from their response.

                        “When they believed Philip preaching the good news about the kingdom and the

                         name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, men and women alike (v. 12).

                  b.  Evidently this was the same thing they were teaching at Jerusalem for Peter

                        and John came down and supported what Philip had done.

             2.  Later when Philip encountered the Ethiopian, Luke says he “preached Jesus to him.”

                  The Ethiopian believed  in Jesus as the Son of God and the sacrifice for his sins and                        

                   he was baptized.

             3.  This indeed is what Paul taught from his conversion. 

                   a.  In Damascus he “confounded the Jews by proving that Jesus is the Christ” (Acts

                        9:22).

                   b.  Later, on his first preaching tour, when his message was rejected by the Jews, he

                        turned to the Gentiles.  He proclaimed forgiveness of sins through Jesus (13:38

                        -39) and that “through Him everyone who believes is freed from all things from

                         which they could not be freed through the Law of Moses.”

               4.  So proclaiming Christ involves communicating the fundamental information

                    necessary for initial belief and forgiveness.

         B.  But that is not all it involves.

               1.  It involves admonishing every man and teaching every man so that they may be

                    complete in Christ.

                2.  Proclaiming Christ involves on-going work even among those who have initially

                     believed.

                3.  Indeed in Gal. 4:19 Paul suggest that Christ is not formed in the Galatians.

                     Certainly he had been formed in them in the sense that they had heard and believed,

                      (Gal. 3:25-26) but there was more formation to be done.

                 4.  And so it is for each of us.  As Christ is initially proclaimed we come to believe.

                       He is beginning to be formed in us, but as we are admonished and taught he

                       continues to be formed in us.  We are a work in progress.

                  5.  Evidenced in Col. 3:1-17.

                       a.  Christ initially formed when we are raised up (v. 1).

                       b.  Renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the one who created us

                            a renewal reflected in changes in morality (5ff), relationship (11), and attitude

                             (12ff).

                   6.  There is the need for encouragement and being built up in Christ (Col. 2:1-2, 6-

                         7).

            C.  This is our goal, our objective, our purpose; to proclaim Christ, admonishing every

                  man and teaching every man.

                   1.  Vine says, “The difference between ‘admonish’ and ‘teach’ seems to be that

                         whereas ‘admonish’ has mainly in view the things that are wrong and call for

                          warning, the latter has to do chiefly with the impartation of positive truth.”

                    2.  He says that on the basis of Col. 3:16, they were to let the word of Christ

                         dwell richly in them, so that they might be able to 1) teach and admonish one

                          another, and 2) to abound in the praises of God.

                    3.  Is it any wonder that we would call upon each other to avail ourselves of

                         the opportunities for teaching and admonition that are available to us in

                         assembling (Heb. 10:24-25) so that Christ might be formed in us? 

 

III.  Our ultimate objective is “that we may present every man complete in Christ” (v. 28).

 

        A.  The goal of the eldership of this congregation is that not one person be anything less

               than complete in Christ.

                1.  Heb. 13:17 says, “Obey your leaders and submit to them; for they keep watch over

                     your souls, as those who will give an account.  Let them do this with joy and not

                     with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you.”

                2.  I don’t want to give account for not having done everything I could to present you

                     complete.  I don’t want the Lord to say “If you had taught and admonished _______

                     ___________________ more effectively they would not have been led into sin.”

                3.  Yes some will be led into sin.  See 2 Cor. 11:29.

         B.  Paul said, “God 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 that

                belongs to the fulness of Christ.  As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed

                here and there by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the

                trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love,

                we are to grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head, even Christ, from whom

                 the whole body, being fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies,

                 according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the

                 body for the building up of itself in love” (Eph. 4:11-16).

          C.  The goal of the eldership; the goal of the preacher; the goal of every Bible class

 

                   teacher;  every song leader; every member should be proclaiming Him, admonishing

                   every one and teaching everyone that every one may be complete in Christ.

 

Conclusion:

 

1.  Will you attack this work with the reckless abandon that characterized Paul?   With the same determination?  The same deliberateness?

2.  Will you allow the mighty power of God to work in you?

3.  Will you own Paul’s purpose as your purpose?