Presenting Every Man Perfect, Part 1
Colossians 1:28–29
© Mike Riccardi
Introduction
Well, it is a joy to be back with you here on Sunday evenings, and to return to our study through Paul’s letter to the Colossians. And I remind you that the central focus of the Book of Colossians is the supremacy and sufficiency of Jesus Christ in and above all things. And the reason for that, of course, is because those very truths were under attack by false teachers in the Lycus River Valley, who were peddling a heretical version of so-called Christianity to the churches of Hierapolis, and Laodicea, and Colossae.
Their heresy, as we’ve said, was a mix of Jewish ceremonialism and pagan mysticism. They denied the true and full deity of Jesus, consonant with their view of God which was more in line with schools of Greek philosophy than the Scriptures. That same philosophy also taught that matter wasn’t inherently evil, and so they denied Christ’s true humanity as well. And lurking behind both was a denial of the sufficiency of Christ for salvation—both as the ground of our justification and as the power of our sanctification. Old-Covenant-like ceremonies and mystical, angelic visions were necessary both for salvation and growth in holiness.
And so over and against all of that, the Apostle Paul writes to vindicate the supremacy and sufficiency of Jesus for all of life, and to urge the Colossians—as well as the churches in the neighboring cities—to stand on the Gospel they received from Epaphras, to be assured that they are in Christ through faith in Him alone, and to pay no mind to these false teachers who were troubling them.
And after thanksgiving to God and prayers for them in verses 3 to 14, Paul launches, in verses 15 to 20, into what is perhaps the greatest hymn of praise to the supremacy of Christ in all the New Testament. He celebrates Jesus as God of very God; the eternal Creator and Sustainer of all things; and the one for whom everything exists; the head of the church, the resurrected founder of resurrected humanity, who is God incarnate, the only atonement for sinners.
In verses 21 to 23, he then applies these universal truths to the Colossians in particular—that they who had become the enemies of Holy God because of their sin have been reconciled to Him through the work of Christ on the cross. And he calls them to stand firm in the faith of the Gospel they had received, because it is by that Gospel that Christ will present them before God on the last day, “holy and blameless and beyond reproach.”
And at the end of verse 23, he mentions that he “was made a minister” of this glorious Gospel of reconciliation, and starting in verse 24, and continuing really all the way down to chapter 2 verse 5, he turns to discuss the ministry the Lord has bestowed upon him, along with the sufferings and afflictions and struggles that characterize that ministry, and why those difficulties are not a cause for his despondency or despair, but why they are a cause for his rejoicing.
And he gives three reasons. First, his sufferings are for the benefit of Christ’s church. Verse 24 speaks of “my sufferings for your sake.” If Paul could magnify the worth and glory and loveliness of Christ by showing His people that knowing Him—even and especially in the fellowship of His sufferings—is worth losing comforts, and freedom, and maybe even life itself—if He could show them Christ is so satisfying that He is worth losing all things for, then they would behold the glory of Jesus in Paul’s sufferings, and thereby be sanctified more into His image, and strengthened to endure their own trials until the end.
Then, secondly, Paul can rejoice in his sufferings because of the fellowship he enjoys with Christ in suffering for Christ. He speaks of “filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions”—which does not mean that there was anything deficient in the sufferings of Christ to accomplish our redemption, but rather that the afflictions of Christ are no longer present in this world to be observed by those to whom they are proclaimed. Those hearing the Gospel can’t physically see the depths to which the love of Christ has gone to rescue them. And so He has sent His disciples to embody His sufferings to the world in our suffering for the Gospel’s sake. And the result is a unique communion and sweet fellowship with Christ in suffering for the same cause of righteousness and Gospel ministry that He suffered for.
And then, the third reason Paul gives for rejoicing in his sufferings is because of the character of Christ’s stewardship. He was “made a minister, according to the stewardship from God,” he says in verse 25. He is a servant, and so he expects to be treated like a servant—like one who exists to meet the needs of others. But then, this mention of his stewardship launches him into a digression on the Christian ministry—the ministry that we are all called to as faithful followers of Christ Jesus, ministers in the household of faith.
Its nature, we’ve said, is one of service, of lowliness—of existing to meet the needs of others. The giver of this ministry is God, verse 27: “Of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me.” The beneficiaries of this ministry are the people of God, as we’ve said: “bestowed on me for your benefit.” The purpose of the ministry is, verse 25, “so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God”—that the Word of God would be faithfully preached in its fullness to everyone to whom the Lord sends us or brings into our path. And then, in verses 26 and 27, he summarizes the message of the ministry—what Paul calls, “the mystery which has been hidden from the pastages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints, to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
That is the message of our ministry! We who were once unclean, separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, are now brought so near that God Himself dwells in us! We are made the very temple of the living God. And if He dwells in you—the One who said, “I will never leave you; I will never forsake you”—you can be sure that the Father will receive you into glory with all the eagerness and joy with which He receives His own beloved Son.
And that brings us to our passage this evening, where Paul continues to crystallize the sum and substance of Christian ministry. And this is relevant for every one of us, because what it means to be faithful to Jesus, what it means to be a member of your local church, is to be called into ministry to one another, and to the unbelieving world around you. First Peter 2:9 calls us “a royal priesthood”—a kingdom of priests, who minister the blessings of God’s salvation to others by sacrificially serving our brothers and sisters in the body of Christ, and proclaiming the Gospel of those blessings to the lost, who stand in need of the Savior. You are all called to ministry!
And therefore, your philosophy of ministry—your understanding of what ministry is and how it is to be accomplished—ought to be the same as Paul’s philosophy of ministry. And there is perhaps no other text where Paul so explicitly identifies his philosophy of ministry than in these two pregnant and power-packed verses at the end of Colossians chapter 1. Paul writes, “We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.”
The animating principle behind all of Paul’s endurance in ministry even in the midst of the most burdensome afflictions: is discipleship—the making and maturing of disciples of Jesus. He wants to see every Christian made complete in Christ—every Christian brought to perfect maturity and complete conformity to Christlikeness.
And in these verses, we find five elements of Christian discipleship—five elements of Christian discipleship that will equip us to faithfully engage in the work of the Lord’s Great Commission to make disciples of all the nations. And we’ll work through two of those five elements tonight, and the final three next Sunday evening.
I. The Scheme of Discipleship (v. 28c–29a)
The first element of discipleship that I’ll highlight from this text, going a little out of order, is the one I’ve already briefly commented on. And that is, number one, the scheme of discipleship—or the purpose. We see this in the last part of verse 28 into the first part of verse 29. Look with me again: “We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. For this purpose also I labor… .” “So that”; “for this purpose.” Presenting every man complete in Christ was the driving purpose in all of Paul’s ministerial labors.
Back in verse 22, Paul speaks of the reconciliation Christ accomplished on the cross, but he also speaks of the ultimate end of that reconciliation. He says, “He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach.” You see, Christ has not saved us so He could leave us in the state we were in when He saved us. He has justified us so that He can sanctify us, and eventually glorify us in His presence! And the purpose for which the Lord has reconciled His people is the very same purpose for which the Lord’s servants labor in ministry: that all Christ’s people would be presented before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach—that every man would be presented complete in Christ.
You say, “That’s a lofty goal! Perfection? Sounds impossible!” Well, yes. This goal of complete sanctification is never attained in this life. But it is most certainly pursued in this life. Paul says that very thing of his own fight for holiness in Philippians 3:12. He says, “Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect” (same word as in Colossians 1:28). Paul says, “I’ve not yet reached completion in Christ.” And if there was ever anyone we could expect to be the kind of “complete” that you can be before glorification, it’d be the Apostle Paul. But he says, “I haven’t obtained that.” “But I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.” And then he repeats himself: “Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” This was all-consuming in Paul’s life. He knew he would never be perfected before he went to heaven. But that thought didn’t at all hinder him from the most aggressive pursuit of completeness in Christ,
Paul wanted more than anything “to become conformed to the image of” Christ, he called it, in Romans 8:29. Or, as he said in 2 Corinthians 3:18, “being transformed into the same image” as “the glory of the Lord.” Paul relentlessly pursued this increasing transformation into the likeness of Jesus.
And not only does he press after it in his own life, he aches for it in the lives of Christ’s people. He tells the Ephesians that this is why Christ has given them the gifts of the Spirit! Ephesians 4:12: “For the equipping of the saints for the work of [ministry], 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,”—there’s that word teleios again—to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.” In Galatians 4:19, he says, “I am in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you.”
Do you see how this consumed him? Paul wasn’t content to get “decisions for Christ” and move on to his next evangelistic campaign. He wasn’t satisfied with making mere converts. The passion of his life was to see those who had been brought to faith in Christ strengthened in their faith in Christ, to see them brought to maturity; to see them grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, 2 Peter 3:18. This wasn’t, “Ok, you believed. You’re in. I’m on to the next project.” No, his heart pulsed for the sanctification and complete maturity of Christ’s Bride. He wasn’t satisfied with entry-level maturity!
And friends, we must ask ourselves as well: Does your heart beat with Paul’s heart? Do you long for your own sanctification, and for the sanctification of the church? Do you know anything of the anguish of childbirth because you long to see Christ fully formed in your own soul, and in the souls of your brothers and sisters? Do you know anything of that daily pressure of intense concern, 2 Corinthians 11:28, that feels the pain of spiritual weakness in the body of Christ as your own weakness, as if it was your responsibility? Paul says: that’s what the entire Christian life is about!
Even in just the next few sentences in Colossians, starting in chapter 2 verse 1, Paul says, “For I want you to know how great a struggle I have on your behalf, until you attain to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God’s mystery, Christ Himself, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” That’s what Paul wants for his people. And that’s what your elders want for you. We don’t want you satisfied with entry-level understanding. We want you plumbing the depths of the mystery of God, digging deep into Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And by God’s grace, we have a great struggle on your behalf until you attain to all the wealth of knowledge—all the treasures of wisdom—that are in Christ, because that is where true joy and lasting satisfaction are found.
Do you know anything of that great struggle, first for yourselves, but also for your brothers and sisters? Do you devote your time to investing in the Bride of Christ in this place? to training her, to equipping her, to strengthening her to battle temptation, to put off sin and to press on in practical righteousness? If so, you will have a passion for discipleship. Not just for coming to Grace Church, but for being a part of Grace Church—for living life alongside one another, for helping one other follow Jesus more faithfully, committed to obeying all that He has commanded us. That’s discipleship.
And it’s precisely what Jesus has called us to as His people, as servants of His Church. “For this purpose we labor and strive”: “so that we may present every man complete in Christ.”
II. The Substance of Discipleship (v. 28a)
So how does Paul do that? We’ve seen that the scheme of discipleship is the sanctification and maturity of the church—to present every man perfect in Christ. And we’ve seen how that mission has totally consumed Paul’s life and ministry. But how did Paul go about pursuing this great passion of his life?
We find the answer in verse 28, bringing us to the second element of Christian discipleship that we find in this text. We’ve seen first, the scheme, and now we come, number two, to the substance of discipleship. Look with me again at verse 28: “We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ.” What do we do “so that” we may present every man complete in Christ? We proclaim Him! We preach Christ!
There is a seemingly infinite number of responsibilities in the ministry of the church! The Sunday gathering, the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, worship through song; preaching, prayer, counseling; children’s ministry, evangelism, giving to meet one another’s needs. But when Paul sums up the entirety of his multi-faceted ministry of laboring for the sanctification of the saints so that he can present every one of them perfect in Christ, the sine qua non, the irreducible minimum, the thing you must retain though you lose everything else is: “We proclaim Him”! The very substance of Christian discipleship is, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1:23: “We preach Christ crucified.”
Now, why is that so? Because it’s as we proclaim the person and work of Christ from the Scriptures that Christ’s glory is revealed to us. And it’s as we behold the glory of the Lord with the eyes of faith, 2 Corinthians 3:18, that we are transformed, sanctified, built up, matured, into that same image of Christlikeness. The beauty of Jesus so satisfies the soul that it quenches our natural thirst for happiness and satisfaction, and so we don’t need to seek satisfaction in sinful pleasures. We have all the glory we can stand in the sight of Christ by faith! And so it becomes a delight to forsake sin and to obey all that God commands us. Christ Himself is the superior pleasure.
And so the question is: Where is the transforming glory of the person and work of Christ displayed? Where do I go to see Him, en route to being presented perfect? Answer: to the Scriptures—to the inspired, infallible, inerrant Word wherein God has revealed His Son to us, wherein the beauty and glory of His person and work are proclaimed to us. The sanctifying glory of the Living Word, Jesus, is mediated through sanctifying power of the written Word, the Scriptures. And so, at the very heart of all the discipleship that takes place in our church—whether discipleship from the pulpit, or in Bible study, or in counseling, or in the living room—the heart of all discipleship is the proclamation of Christ to one another.
And so, friends, when you spend time with each other, don’t just waste time together. Proclaim Christ to one another! “What have you been studying recently? What aspect of the Lord’s character has He been making plain to you? What truth are you treasuring? What promise are you finding sweet, lately?” Encourage me! Show me my Savior! That’sdiscipleship. Our conversations should be riddled with the proclamation of Christ to one another.
You say, “What specifically?” Well, you could start with all of the glorious truth that Paul has taught the Colossians already. We proclaim Him, verse 15, who is “the image of the invisible God”—the perfect imprint of the Father’s nature. This is to say that He is fully and truly God Himself; the possessor of all the attributes and prerogatives of God; the embodiment of the fullness of the glory of God; distinct from the Father and the Holy Spirit, but subsisting from all eternity in the identical divine essence.
We proclaim Him, who is “the firstborn of all creation.” “Firstborn” was a title of supremacy and rank. And so Paul means that this Christ is the highest of the kings of the earth—the supreme and sovereign ruler over all creation. We proclaim Him who is the Creator. Verse 16: “For by Him all things were created.” Everything that has come into being owes its existence to the eternal Word—the eternal image of God—who never came into being. We proclaim Him who is the telos of the cosmos—the end goal of all things. “All things,” he says at the end of verse 16, “were created,” not only “by Him,” but also “for Him”—to put His glory on display, to reveal the beauty of His perfections, to cause us to delight in His character and worship His name.
We proclaim Him who is the eternal I AM, verse 17: the One who is “before all things,” who never had a beginning, but just always was. We proclaim Him who is the sustainer of all things: “In Him all things hold together.” He maintains the existence of everything that exists! The universe doesn’t implode—the planets don’t fall from their orbit—because Jesus of Nazareth “upholds all things by the word of His power.”
We proclaim Him, who is the head of the church, verse 18, the author and founder of a new, resurrected humanity, who, by His own conquering death, resurrection, and ascension into heaven, has triumphed as the One who has “first place in everything.” We proclaim Him as the incarnate God, the One in whom all the divine fullness dwells bodily—the embodiment of God’s presence among men, the eternal majesty of God wedded to the frailty and indignity of humanity. Two natures, without confusion or division, united in One person. We proclaim Him who is Himself the miracle of all miracles!
And we proclaim Him, verse 20, as the One through whom the Father makes atonement for the sins of His people, that, “through the blood of His cross,” God will restore the entire cosmos to a state of peace. We proclaim Him who is not only the God-Man, but the Mediator between God and Man—God become Man in order to fulfill the law man broke, and to pay the penalty for man’s sin by His substitutionary death. And we proclaim Him who is returning soon to gather His church to Himself, to destroy all wickedness, to rule the earth in righteousness, and to dwell forever with His redeemed and purified Bride in glory, love, and joy! O, dear friends: We proclaim Him!
And how pleasant it is to have our minds preoccupied with such a glorious Person as Jesus Christ. I ask you: what subject is more enjoyable to speak about than Him? What topic is more worthy of your attention than He is? What theme is more satisfying, or more fruitful, than the One fairer than the fairest of ten thousand, the One in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, in whose presence is fullness of joy, in whose right hand are pleasures forevermore? Proclaim this Jesus to one another, friends! Display Christ to one another by speaking of Him and celebrating Him together! Let Him be the marrow and substance of your life together in the church!
A. Teaching Every Man (v. 28a)
But you’ll notice that the sentence doesn’t end with “We proclaim Him.” Paul expounds further on what it means to proclaim Christ. Look at verse 28: “We proclaim Him”—How, Paul? What do we do? “…admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ.” The substance of discipleship—the proclamation of Christ—is carried out through the ministry of teaching and the ministry of admonition.
And though Paul mentions admonishing first, I’m going to go a bit out of order again and address teaching first—just because it fits so well with what we’ve just worked through. If we are going to faithfully proclaim Christ to one another, we have to be taught about who He is and what He has done, as well as what He has called us to as His followers. And that means, teaching is absolutely indispensable to being a faithful disciple. In fact, the Greek word that gets translated “disciple” is mathetes, which means learner. A disciple of Christ is a student of Christ—one who comes to Him, takes His yoke upon him and learns from Him (cf. Matt 11:28–30).
And so there are distinct academic and pedagogical overtones at the very core of the Christian life. Discipleship is a fundamentally intellectual endeavor, where the followers of Jesus are taught the truth of God revealed in the Word of God: the content of the Scriptures, the great doctrines of the faith, the history of theology, and the practical keys to mortifying indwelling sin, battling temptation, and pressing on in personal holiness.
Now, as soon as I say that, there are people who balk at the notion that maturity and growth in the Christian life could have anything to do with head knowledge. There is a rampant anti-intellectualism that absolutely plagues the evangelical church: an aversion to deep and focused thinking. In keeping with our culture of instant gratification, many professing Christians want every spiritual lesson to be microwaveable: served up, ready-made, in easily digestible portions. They confuse biblical simplicity with being simplistic. If every thought in the Christian life is not immediately accessible, then it must be corrupted by “human reason” and therefore unbiblical.
But this attitude is just contrary to the entirety of biblical teaching. Scripture actually commands us to think deeply. In 2 Timothy 2:7, Paul says, “Consider what I say,” or the ESV: “Think over what I say,” or the NIV: “Reflect on what I say,” “for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.” The Lord gives understanding not when sermons are 25 minutes long and full of personal stories and anecdotes; not when theology books are reduced to a middle school reading level; not when Bible teaching is presented with state-of-the-art multimedia. The Lord gives understanding when you consider, think over, and reflect on the Scripture that Paul has written.
This kind of reflective, considerate, meditative thinking is a patient deliberation and evaluation that allows one sufficient time and seriousness to come to grips with a certain reality. And it’s commanded of every Christian. Jesus says the greatest commandment in the Law is, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind,” Matthew 22:37. And so we must reject that anemic, counterfeit of Christianity that disdains deep study and dedicated thinking. “Gird up the loins of your mind,” 1 Peter 1:13. “Retain the pattern of sound words,” 2 Timothy 1:13. Proclaiming Christ means teaching every man.
And being a disciple of Christ means being committed to learning the great truths and doctrines of the faith. The inspiration, infallibility, and inerrancy of the Bible; the nature and character of God; His attributes as well as His works in creation, providence, and redemption; the nature and character of Christ, along the lines of what I mentioned earlier; the person and work of the Holy Spirit; the Triunity of God; the doctrines of man, sin, and salvation; the nature, government, and ordinances of the church; and the doctrine of the future.
The whole of the Christian life has as its ultimate aim the glory and praise and worship of God in Christ. And you can’t worship what you don’t know. The joyful, eager, willing obedience to Christ to which we are called can only be produced by a heart that loves Christ. And that kind of love and devotion to Christ can only be produced by an accurate knowledgeof His truth. And so we must be taught!
But as truly intellectual as all that is, it cannot be merely intellectual. We also must be taught to love the truth we know. We cannot be content with a merely notional knowledge that doesn’t affect our hearts. We can’t be satisfied with only seeing God’s glory; we must rejoice in Him and delight in Him. We cannot merely analyze and assess; we must admire and adore. More than mere students, we must be worshipers. We want mind and heart, light and heat, truth and love.
And then, we must also teach one another to practice the truth—to teach each other to obey all that Christ commanded, so that our lives are driven and shaped by the truth we know and love. I’ve said this before, but theology not practiced is theology aborted. The whole purpose of theology—of disciplined study, of thinking deeply—is to have the truth mold your affections, to have your affections inform your will, and to have your will spur you on to love and good deeds, so that you practice the truth you know; so that you worship Jesus with a life He is worthy of.
What does Jesus say as He closes His sermon on the mount? “Everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them,” is like a wise man who builds his house on the rock. But “everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.” And the storm comes, and great is the fall of that house. Both groups hear His words. Only one group becomes doers of His words, and that makes all the difference between them.
B. Admonishing Every Man (v. 28a)
And where there is not the faithful practice of the truth, born out of knowledge and love for the truth, there is to be faithful admonition. Back to verse 28: “We proclaim Him, admonishing every man … so that we may present every man complete in Christ.”
The Greek term is noutheteo—which comes from the word nous, which means “mind,” and tithemi, which means “to put” or “to place.” So noutheteo literally means to put someone in mind of something. One commentator defined it as “setting the mind of someone in proper order” (O’Brien, 88). It means to bring correction, to rebuke, even to warn someone of the consequences of foolish conduct or wrong thinking. And that means that fundamental to Christian ministry—fundamental to living life as disciples of Jesus in the community of the church—is that when someone’s thinking or behavior is out of step with the truth, other disciples will admonish that person. They will bring correction. They will warn each other of the consequences of errant doctrine or sinful conduct. And they are not fanatics, or fundamentalists, or Pharisees for doing so.
Why? Because if we are to have any hope of presenting every man complete in Christ—of helping one another make progress in sanctification and Christian maturity—we have to know how to deal with sin in the church. Sin in the body of Christ is like spiritual cancer. If left untreated, it infects the whole body until it destroys all spiritual life. It was John Owen who wrote the famous line, “Be killing sin, or sin will be killing you.” And so we need each other to help us see the sin that we too easily excuse in ourselves, so that we can put it to death, and be made fit to be in the presence of our Holy God.
And because Paul’s great passion was to present every Christian perfect in Christ, he engaged in this ministry of admonition. Turn briefly to Acts chapter 20. In this passage, Paul speaks of his ministry to the Ephesian church, whom he loved and served for three years. And in that farewell address, he says, verse 20, “You yourselves know…how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly and from house to house.” Verse 26: “Therefore, I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men. For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God.” And then, verse 31: “Night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonisheach one with tears.” Paul says, “If there was one thing that has characterized my ministry among you, it’s that I didn’t hold back any admonition that would be profitable to you, even if it was difficult for you to receive.” He says he admonished each one daily for three years. Paul refused to let the fear of man hinder him from actually benefiting his brethren by admonishing them.
You say, “Night and day for three years? They must have been glad to see him go!” But the opposite was true! Look at verse 36: “When he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all. And they began to weep aloud and embraced Paul, and repeatedly kissed him, grieving especially over the word which he had spoken, that they would not see his face again.” That is heartwarming affection, for someone who corrected them every day for three years! The result of Paul’s tireless ministry of rebuke and admonition was genuine, loving fellowship.
You see, these brothers knew that Paul was benefiting them by proclaiming Christ to them, even and especially in his rebukes, and confrontations, and warnings. And this love, manifested in his ministry of night-and-day admonition, produced in them great and overwhelming love for him. Why? Because he helped them see their Savior more clearly. Sin clouds your vision of Christ. And so the one who serves us best and loves us most is the one who helps us see the most of Christ. My most treasured friends are those who are faithful to bring me correction, who regularly offer loving, biblical admonition when I need it, so that I would not be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin, and so that I can love and serve my Savior more faithfully.
We need to lay hold of this kind of blessing. We cannot afford to forfeit the blessings that result from a ministry of faithful admonition in the local church. And therefore, we need to recalibrate our thinking concerning the giving and receiving of correction. If someone in this church loves you well enough to bring you correction, don’t bristle at it. Don’t be offended by it. Don’t arrogantly dismiss it as, “Well, he is just an overbearing, judgmental busybody!” or “She’s just a holier-than-thou Pharisee!” No, when someone brings you admonition, recognize that they are doing—or at least attempting to do—what Paul says is essential to discipleship and Christian ministry. We need to cultivate the instinct to humbly receive and even invite correction from our brethren.
And on the other side: rather than fearing the offense that can be taken by the correction we might give, like Paul we ought not to “shrink back from declaring anything that is profitable” to one another. Proverbs 27:6: “Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but deceitful are the kisses of an enemy.” Enemies deceive with flattery. Let us be friends to one another, by afflicting each other with faithful wounds. Sin cuts us off from the blessings of God that flow from obedience. And love yearns for the beloved to enjoy the best of God’s blessings—which means love is willing to perform the sometimes uncomfortable task of admonishing one another. It’s easier to ignore sin in one another, to avoid resolving conflict, to write people off and end relationships. But, dear friends: that is not ministry. That is not love. It is not discipleship. It is not Christianity.
Conclusion
How can we summarize? Well, as we seek to be faithful disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ here at Grace Church, we must be animated by the same purpose the Apostle Paul was: to present every man perfect in Christ, to lay down our lives in the service of seeing Christ fully formed in one another. And to do that, we must hold fast to one irreducible minimum: “we proclaim Him.” We must faithfully proclaim Christ to our brothers and sisters. He is the substance of the Christian ministry of discipleship. The proclamation of His glorious person and saving work is what will bring every believer to perfection in Him. And proclaiming Christ means to admonish every man, and to teach every man with all wisdom.
But before you can proclaim Him, you must trust in Him. Before you can disciple others, you must be a disciple yourself. You must “come after” and “follow” Jesus in saving faith. If you’re here this evening and you don’t know this glorious Christ that we proclaim—if He is not your Master and Lord, if you are not His disciple, if you have no saving interest in the work of salvation that the eternal God became Man to accomplish—dear friend, turn from your sins and come to Him today, because He stands ready to receive all who lay hold of Him through faith alone. No work needed. Just come, admit your failure and your need, and receive Him with the empty hand of faith.
Jesus said in Luke 9:23, “If anyone wishes to come after Me”—that is, if anyone wishes to come to Me for salvation and be My disciple—“he must deny himself”—lay aside your own righteousness, lay aside your own preferences and comforts—“and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.” Dear sinner, lay down your claims to being lord of your own life. That’s the surest way to lose your life. But lay your life down at the foot of Christ’s cross, and follow Him in a life of repentant faith, a life of obedience to God and of service to His people. And in losing your life you will find that you’ve saved it, because you will gain Him. And then you can proclaim Him.