Opening – The Heart of the Gospel

Just think about it. We were just praising God, declaring him. And that same God took on flesh so that we could be reconciled to him. Guys, I know that you have heard that message, many of you your whole life, and it sounds like background noise. There is no other message that you must know, that you must believe. There’s nothing more important than knowing that truth, knowing this God and trusting him.

So this is our first message back at Student Week. Last time we broke for discussion groups and had a good time in those. This week we’re going to do what we will do almost every week at Student Ministries. We’ll have a lesson time and Q&A time where you’re hearing from God’s word, and then you’re going to go to discussion groups to talk about it.

Why Are We Here?

The first message that I wanted to share with you is: why are we here? We’re going to be spending time in Colossians chapter 1. I want you to open there and have your brains on. To help your brains be on, remember pens and pencils are very helpful for that. We have note sheets for you with outlines and fill in the blanks. I hope that you fill in the blanks. At least fill in the blanks, but engage your brain. It’s been a long day. Turn your brain on. Read with me. Listen carefully for the next 20 or 30 minutes.

I want to ask you, why did you come here? Answer that question for real in your head. Why did you come here tonight? And look around at all these adults, the leaders who don’t have to be here. Some of you maybe are here just because your parents told you. Some of you might be here because your friends are here. Some of you might be here because you really want to know who God is. You might be a mix, but look at the adults who are here.

Why are they here? I think that the passage we’re going to read is Paul saying his purpose as an apostle, and it’s going to align very closely with what these leaders are aiming at. And what they’re aiming at is what you ought to aim at, students.

What Does It Mean to Aim?

So now let me not only ask why are you here tonight, but what is your life aiming at? That’s the title of this passage: aiming at maturity in Christ. That was Paul’s aim for those he preached to. What’s your aim?

But what does the word aim mean? Think—what sports do you aim in? What are some sports where you aim? Darts? What else? Soccer. Football. Baseball. Archery is a great one. Basketball. All of these things you take aim.

So think of when you’re close to something. When you’re close to something, your aim doesn’t matter as much, right? If you’re doing a layup, it doesn’t take much aim to get it, but your aim still has to be close. Darts has to be really precise—your aim has to be right on to at least hit the bullseye, if not the board. Think of a field goal kick. Have any of you tried to kick a field goal? It looks really easy. I’ve tried. It’s crazy hard. And the further away you get, the harder it is because just missing by just a little bit, you are way off course.

Hunting is the same way. Have you ever driven a boat? I know my kids have. We have a little boat and it’s hard when you’re driving the boat. You’re constantly making course corrections, right? Because you’re going in a direction that seems like you’re going straight and before you know it, you’ve drifted just a little bit. You need to keep your eyes on what you’re aiming at or you’re going to run into the shore. You’re going to go some direction that you weren’t intending to go.

We talked about this at summer camp. You remember the walk of faith. Look where you’re going. What’s next? Think. I see it. Look, think, step. And you’re looking where you’re going. You’re thinking what would please the Lord. You’re taking the next step in that direction. And if you’re not looking and you’re not thinking, your steps are going to veer off course really quickly.

So whether you’re playing a sport or aiming, you’ve got to look at what you’re aiming at. Make sure that you’re lined up. If you’re driving, you’ve got to look where you’re going. And all that much more in Christian life, we need to know what we’re aiming at.

Aiming at Maturity in Christ

And I suggest that we aim in our lives at the same thing that God is aiming at in the lives of those who trust in him. I’ll just give you the answer. It’s in the title. It is maturity in Christ. And that word maturity in English might not sound very much like what the word in Greek is. It’s more like completeness—a complete maturity.

The picture would be like a sculpture or a painting where it starts sort of having a form of what it’s going to turn into. But as a sculptor is making a sculpture into the final form, it gets pieces chipped off and it starts to look more and more like what it’s supposed to be. And then finally the sculptor stands back and says, “Yep, that’s exactly what I was aiming for.”

Sometimes at the beginning, have you ever seen a sculpture start or sometimes you watch an artist start a picture and you can’t quite figure out what it’s going to turn into? But the artist has an idea in mind and is aiming at that. If he’s just making random swipes on the painting or making random chips on the block of marble, the sculpture won’t end up being the form it was aiming to be. The picture won’t become the painting that it was designed to be.

And Christians—and many of you aren’t Christians—but if you are a Christian here, you’re saying, “I want what God wants for me.” It’s a completeness, a maturity in Christ. God is aiming at that. And you too want to aim at that. And that is why these leaders are here to help you get there. We’re going to learn how we can get there by opening up this passage.

Paul’s Ministry – Proclaiming Christ

So now look down at Colossians 1:28-29. We’re going to hear Paul talk about his ministry. I want you to look for that maturity word. That maturity word is the complete word, the thing like the sculpture. And look at what Paul is doing.

“Him”—that’s Christ, Jesus, the holy one—”we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom that we may present everyone mature or complete in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all of his energy that he powerfully works within me.”

Paul says, I’m aiming at one thing in my ministry. It’s so that I can present my hearers mature in Christ. So that is what Paul is aiming at. He gets there by proclaiming Christ. And that’s point one.

Paul says “we”—and that’s those who preach with him. In this case, it’s Paul. And you can learn from the beginning of the book that Timothy is with him. I think it would include all those who preach Christ or all those who are declaring the gospel message. What are they doing? They proclaim Christ.

You see, that’s the way that the verse opens. But what does the word proclaim mean? Who has thoughts? What are some things that get proclaimed? Good news, messages that everyone needs to hear, right? The idea—you have like a town crier. Now we put things that need to get proclaimed in announcements, proclamations that we all need to know.

You hear your phone go off, right? Everybody’s phone beeps at the same time. Warning, there’s a dust storm coming, right? Or there’s something that everybody needs to know. All over, your TV show gets interrupted, and we’re going to proclaim some news that you need to hear. It’s a message that everybody needs to hear. That’s one of the kinds of things that gets proclaimed. It’s not a secret message, but it’s a proclamation.

And Paul says that we proclaim not information but we proclaim a person. We proclaim Christ.

When you come to church and you’re hearing a sermon and you’re in discussion groups and you’re hearing your teacher wanting you to understand something, your leader wanting you to understand something, you’re listening to a lesson. And when you’re reading the Bible, you’re reading Paul. You’re not merely getting information. He didn’t say, “I’m proclaiming something about Christ, a message that you need to hear and understand,” but “I’m proclaiming a person whom you need to know, be rightly related to.”

Think about that. When you come to church, it might not feel like that. It feels like especially if you’re in school all week—especially as you get older and your school starts lecturing—you hear people stand up and talk to you all week, telling you something, teaching you something. Church might sound a little bit like that, right? You go to Sunday school, you hear a lesson, hear some information you need to know. You go to the main church, hear Bradley or one of the other pastors preach another message giving you information that you need to know. Then you come to student ministries and you hear Jacob stand up here and talk about more information you need to know.

That’s not the main thing going on. We’re standing up here and saying you need to know Christ. To know Christ, you have to know who he is. And right before this in this book, there is just one of the best descriptions in all of God’s word about who Christ is. There’s information there about who Christ is. He’s the image of the invisible God. Think about that—this person is God in the flesh.

By him all things were created. This person created all things in heaven, on the earth, the things you see, the things you don’t see. All things were created through him. And he was before all things. He existed before them. He created them. And in Jesus, the image of God, all the fullness of God is pleased to dwell in that one, Jesus.

It says in verse 19, look up at verse 19 of chapter one, “In him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. And through him God reconciled to himself all things by the blood of his cross.”

We proclaim Jesus. And we proclaim to you that Jesus is God and he’s God in the flesh and he died so that you can be in right relationship with God. And you hear that right? How many of you have heard that message? Every single one of you have heard that message.

Knowing that message doesn’t let you know Christ. Believing that that message is true doesn’t make you know Christ. Having parents who believe that message doesn’t bring you in right relationship with Christ. Going to church, being able to explain this message doesn’t put you in right relationship with Christ. What must you do to be in right relationship with Christ?

You have to trust this message. You have to trust Jesus. Say, “I want you, Jesus. Will you take my sins away? Will you make me holy?”

Warning and Teaching with All Wisdom

We proclaim Christ. And not only do we proclaim Christ—Paul did this and I’m doing it—this is what you’re going to get at church. We’re warning everyone. We’re teaching everyone with all wisdom. You see, when we’re warning you, we might not always talk about Jesus. But when your teacher is telling you, when your discussion leader or your parents or me or your friend is saying, “Please listen. You’re going down a path that leads to destruction.” That’s a warning. That’s an admonishment that you need to hear because if you don’t listen, you’re going to miss Christ. You’re going to face Christ as judge, not as brother, not as savior.

So that’s why you’re here. You came here to hear good news, to hear a warning. Maybe be admonished from your sins. Sometimes it hurts to be admonished. Somebody comes and says, “Hey, you’re doing the wrong thing. Stop that. Stop living for yourself. You’re being a fool.” Why are we telling you that? Because you have to know Christ. And that’s why you’re coming here is so that you could know these things.

Why would he teach me? Why was Paul teaching these things? It’s so that his hearers could know Christ. And he does it with all wisdom. Just a few verses later, Paul declares that all wisdom and knowledge is in Christ. This book is really all about Christ. And if you wanted to, this is a really short, easy book to read. Colossians front to back. It’s about Jesus. So good.

And he says, “I want you to know how great a struggle,” this is in chapter 2, “I have for all those who have not seen me face to face.” Why was he struggling? It was so that their hearts could be encouraged, knit together in love, so that they could reach full assurance and understanding and knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ.

That’s a big mouthful. What does that mean? Just listen to this next part. “In Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” So if you want to be wise, which you should, the Bible says wisdom is worth it. We’ve heard this over and over. Wisdom calls in the streets. Listen to me. If you don’t get wisdom, you will get instruction. But you’re going to have wisdom. You’re going to have understanding. If this is true, and it is, you can’t get those things. You can’t be wise and you can’t have understanding—which is what warning and teaching is getting you toward, right? You can’t get those things without Jesus, without Christ.

What you don’t do in the Christian life—and maybe you’ve heard this—”I just need to ask Jesus into my heart. I just need to ask for forgiveness and then I’m good. Then I’m not going to hell. I’m going to go to heaven and I can do whatever I want.” That’s not the Christian message. The Christian message is turn away from everything that you were, everything that you were born into. Turn away from that and turn to Christ.

That’s what I read earlier in verse 21. For Christians, “You who were alienated and hostile in mind”—every one of us were born not right with Christ. Every single one of us was born this way. And many of you, maybe most of you, I don’t know, are still alienated. That means separated from Jesus. Separated from Christ. You’re hearing about him. You’re hostile to him. You’re separate from him.

But what did he do? Look at verse 21. If you have faith, he has now reconciled you in his body of flesh by his death. He’s made it so you were alienated. You were separated. That’s what alienated means. And what does reconcile mean? Brought together. Right? You were separated from Christ. Alienated. And when he died, he died so that you and I who are hostile could be reconciled to Christ and made right with him in his body of flesh by his death.

When Christ died, your sin, if you believe in him, was put on him and his righteousness put on you. Why? Look at the next part of verse 22. Chapter 1, verse 22. In order to what? What’s the word? In order to—say it out loud, you see it. Verse 22 of chapter one. You were alienated, reconciled in order to present—in order to present you holy and blameless before him.

Let’s look at the next verse. What did Paul do? Paul proclaimed and warned and taught with all wisdom so that he could present his hearers mature in Christ. You see that just a few verses earlier he was saying Jesus died so that he could present to himself all Christians holy and blameless, not just forgiven but holy and blameless. And Paul says, “Hey, that’s my goal, too. I’m going to preach Christ so that I can take everyone, all my hearers, and say, ‘These are the ones that you entrusted to me.’ I preached in a way. I taught in a way so that I can take them and I can say, ‘Here they are. They’re complete. They’re mature.'”

And it wasn’t Paul who accomplished it. It was God using Paul’s teaching, God using God’s word preached to bring Paul’s hearers to maturity.

The Goal: Maturity in Christ

So staff, as you proclaim Christ, as you admonish, as you teach with all wisdom and you have been teaching the kids in your room, your goal is so that you could say I didn’t just entertain them. I didn’t make them feel good, but I gave them the warning. I gave them the message that they needed to hear that you might use, Holy Spirit, to mature them. When you see this last part, mature them in Christ—Christ is the focus. And the end of all of this is that you must be in Christ.

The only way—I’ve said this over and over again—the only way to be in Christ is to no longer live for yourself, to trust him. That is the aim of every one of our messages. Not merely—if you were to read the emails that I send your parents, I say every week the purpose why we are here at student ministries is to evangelize your students so that those who are not in Christ would come to him, but to also come alongside your parents and disciple you.

See, God’s goal wasn’t merely, hey, get you in Christ. Just save them. Get rid of their sins. But get rid of their sins and then grow you up. We learned about that this morning from Bret, right? This slow progressive increase in godliness. God provides the faith, you work diligently by the power that he is working in you.

So the point is what you learn here, what you learn at church, it’s not meant to just go in your mind, not meant to just go on your notebook, it’s meant to change your life.

And Paul’s words that he’s talking about here, his proclamation, his warning, his teaching, inspired by God is recorded in scripture. Not just his, but all of the biblical writers. And you and I have the privilege that we can read those on our own every day. The goal of Paul is he wrote these letters inspired by God. The goal of all the biblical writers because it’s God’s goal. This is why Jesus died to make you mature in Christ is so that you would mature and that’s why you have to read God’s word.

I will never tire of telling you this and not only reading it but being changed by it. What do you remember between the path of reading and being changed? There’s a miracle there, right? If you’re going to read God’s word, you remember the acronym—what has to happen. You have to not only read it, but you have to understand it. What comes next? You have to not only understand it, but believe it because believing it doesn’t just mean that you know it up here, but it has to translate to your life. So, what’s next? Apply. You don’t obey to earn salvation, but you obey in faith, trusting God.

Which is why every time you sit down, every time you open up the Bible, you say, “God, I want to be mature in Christ. You have teaching for me here. You have admonishment for me here. You have information I need to know about you. Will you form me into the person who you saved me to be? Will you do a miracle?” That’s why you say, “God, help me pay attention. Make me listen to this. Make me understand it. Make me believe it. Make me obey it.”

That’s the acronym. I’m getting a little bit ahead of myself. We’re going to talk about this as we continue on about what God’s word is. But I do want you to remember what we called you to last year. You’re reading the Bible every day. Some of you might still be on that reading plan. If you are, your bookmarks are coming to the end and we’ll have new ones for you. Or in your binder, you have maybe another part of the Bible that you could read this year.

And we have those note sheets in the back. Can you lift up the Bible inserts? These Bible inserts, they are not just meant to sit on the back table. Although most of you, it seems like as the year went on, many of you stopped picking those up. And that’s okay. Some of you said, “Hey, I don’t need them anymore. I have the questions memorized. I’m writing them in my journal. I’m talking about them with my family.” Some of you may have forgotten or just didn’t believe that you should do them then and now you do.

But every day, every day when you hear a sermon you should ask yourself the question: what did I learn? What did this say? When you go home you should be able to tell your parents what did Jacob teach me about God? What did I learn about God? What did I learn about Christ? We know that God’s word is proclaimed and Christ is proclaimed in God’s word. I learned about God. And what’s the last question? How must this change me?

I saw a lot of you. Good job. So, if some of you are new, I know there’s a lot of people new. If you don’t have a binder, if you want a reading plan, you want those places where you can keep your notes, we have a bunch in the back. If you just lost yours or it’s at home, try to find it because we don’t have unlimited. For sixth graders, can you before you leave, go get a binder from the back table. And each week, I’d encourage you to pick up the note sheets in the back. Have places to write answers to those questions when you’re listening to sermons, when you’re reading God’s word.

Working Hard by Christ’s Power

And finally—so the point is we proclaim Christ so that we can present you mature in Christ. We work hard, staff. This is for us—we work hard by Christ’s power. Sometimes this is tiring. And Paul says, “For this I toil, struggling with all of his energy that he powerfully works within me.”

These are words that almost seem overkill if they weren’t for Paul. And it puts a perspective for us. So I can do this. I can do this even when it’s hard. Struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.

Christian, it doesn’t matter if you’re a staff member or a sixth grader. When you do good works, you are working not by your own power, but by Christ’s power. That’s a lot of power. That shouldn’t just be, okay, well, I’m working and Christ is working in me, too. No, this should make you have confidence to be like, I can do hard things. I can proclaim Christ to a room of people. Some of you don’t care. Some of you are hearing my words and I’m pleading with you. I’m looking at you. I’m saying your eternity, your soul depends on this. Will you listen?

You can do it. I can do this again next week when relationships are hard, life is hard, there’s trials, there’s hardship. Paul got beat up over and over again and rejected by his countrymen, ultimately killed for this message. He didn’t stop toiling. In Acts 20 it says he goes from house to house admonishing with tears.

Leaders, go to Colossians 4 with us. I want to encourage you with the kind of toil that’s also hard work but different. Look at Epaphras, verse 12 of chapter 4. You can be encouraged by this. “Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Jesus Christ greets you.” What does he do? He’s not there with the Colossians, but he’s struggling on your behalf in prayers. For what purpose? So that you may stand mature. Same word. Some people proclaim, some people pray so that you may be mature in Christ. You can toil in prayer.

Christians Teaching One Another

Colossians 3—this is in Colossians 3:16. We’re going to end with this because this is what we do in discussion groups. If you’re a Christian, this is what you should aim at. This is what you should want when Christians come together with Christians.

He says, “Let the word of Christ”—right, the word that proclaimed Christ—”let that dwell in you richly.” Christ’s word will not dwell in you if you don’t read it. If you’re not reading Christ’s word, it can’t dwell in you. Let his word dwell in you richly. Why? Look at this verse. This is—look for the same things that we just saw in Paul’s preaching. Paul didn’t have a unique ministry. He had a unique calling as an apostle, but his proclaiming, his teaching with all wisdom so he could present the church mature in Christ. That’s what all of us do every time we’re together.

Look at this 3:16. The command for all Christians. “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another.” This teaching, admonishing, this isn’t just the pastor’s job. This isn’t just the apostle’s job and the leader’s job. This is the Christian’s job. “Teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom.”

It’s one of the things that we do when we’re singing, “singing psalms, hymns, spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” And that’s what we do when we’re together. That’s what you should do when you see each other. I can’t wait to come to church and see my friends. Why? So that God might use me to help them mature in Christ. And maybe so that God could use them to help me mature in Christ. So who do we talk about when we’re together? Christ. Speaking the word. We have to have his word dwelling in us to share with each other.

So let’s go do that now. Break for discussion groups please.