Covenant reading is taken from the book of Zechariah, the second to the last of the old covenant books, just before the book of Malachi. We want to read from the second chapter. So will you please find your place, the book of Zechariah, the second chapter. And when you've found your place, if you are able, please stand as we show our respect to God, the reading of his word as he speaks to us. Zechariah chapter two. And we'll read the entire chapter. When our Lord was speaking to his disciples, he said, be careful how you hear. And we are hearing the word of Christ now as we read his words. So let us hear his words again. Be careful how you hear. Then I lifted up my eyes and looked, and behold, there was a man with a measuring line in his hand. So I said, where are you going? And he said to me, to measure Jerusalem, to see how wide it is and how long it is. And behold, the angel who was speaking with me was going out and another angel was coming out to meet him and said to him, run, speak to that young man saying, Jerusalem will be inhabited without walls because the multitude of men and cattle within it. Her eye, declares the Lord, will be a wall of fire around her, and I will be the glory in her midst. Ho there, flee from the land of the north, declares the Lord, for I have dispersed you as the four winds of the heavens, declares the Lord. Ho, Zion, escape. You are living with the daughter of Babylon. For thus says the Lord of hosts. After the glory he has sent me against the nations which plunder you, for he who touches you touches the apple of his eye. For behold, I will wave my hand over them so that they will plunder for their slaves. They will be plunder for their slaves. Then you will know the Lord of hosts has sent me. Sing for joy and be glad, O daughter of Zion, for behold, I am coming, and I will dwell in your midst, declares the Lord. And many nations will join themselves to the Lord in that day, and will become my people. Then I will dwell in your midst, and you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. And the Lord will possess Judah as his portion in the Holy Land, and will again choose Jerusalem. Be silent, all flesh, before the Lord, for He has aroused from His holy habitation." New Covenant reading is from the book of Colossians, the first chapter. Again, we'll begin reading with the 21st verse and read through the end of the chapter. And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet he has now reconciled you in his fleshly body through death in order to present you before him holy and blameless and beyond reproach. If indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made a minister. Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of his body, which is the church, in filling up that which is lacking in Christ's afflictions. Of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God, That is the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages 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. 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. Thus far, the reading of God's holy word. All flesh is as grass, the grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God abides forever. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Please be seated. There's a joy in our work when we see the labor of our hands actually producing fruit. And that fruitfulness and that efficiency makes it a lot easier for us to work and to labor. When things are not going as well as we would like to see them, it makes it much more difficult, doesn't it? I was thinking this morning, trying to think of an example, and the man that came to mind, read his biography a number of years ago, is John Payton, a missionary to Vanuatu, which when John Payton went there, was a land that was inhabited by cannibals. And when he went there, he met with nothing but hardship. His wife was expecting. They landed at Vanuatu, and she gave birth. Her child died. Shortly thereafter, she died. And he had to bury her, and he actually had to sit on her grave to keep her body from being dug up and eaten by the cannibals. Hard. And it didn't get a whole lot easier after that. Didn't get easier at all. I'm sure John Payton must have been saying, Lord, what are you doing? Why am I here? His life was threatened. On numerous occasions, he recounts escaping with his life and God's providence and all those things. And yet, after a lifetime of investing himself there in Vanuatu, God brought fruit, but what kept him going? What kept him going? Well, it wasn't what he saw with his eyes, was it? Well, the Apostle Paul here writes from a prison, a Roman prison, and we saw a window into the heart of the Apostle Paul as he says, you know, I'm rejoicing. in these afflictions, and there were a lot of reasons for that, as we looked at last time. He wasn't bitter about the afflictions, but he recognized the value of the afflictions to himself, that it was working a far greater weight of glory. He recognized the fruit of those afflictions in the progress of the gospel, as we see in the book of Philippians, that he was able to bear witness to the guards between whom he was chained 24-7. And he even writes at the end of Philippians, those of Caesar's household greet you, rejoicing in the progress of the gospel. And he was grateful for the sake of the church, that there was something about his enduring those afflictions that he was willing to engage because it lessened the afflictions of the church. And in that way, he was participating with Christ in his afflictions. And so he recognized the benefit to the bride of Christ. Well, my life of the Apostle Paul then You must observe the love of Christ for you as well because he was reflecting these things that Christ endured those afflictions for your sake and The gospel is proclaimed because of Christ's suffering and because of the Apostles suffering and and we have this treasure and so this morning we want to consider the convictions that enabled Paul to endure what he endured and Hopefully, we'll be able to apply that to us as well, that we can endure afflictions. But certainly, it has to do with those who are called to gospel ministry. What was it that kept the Apostle Paul going? Well, I think in verses 25 through 27, we see these things. First, in verse 25, of this church, I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God. Paul had a conviction of calling. And if you think about the life of the Apostle Paul, Paul's calling was unique. The other apostles certainly were called directly by the Lord Jesus Christ and we can see it with Peter and John and with Luke and all those as he met with them and they heard his voice and he said, come, follow me. Well, the Apostle Paul, many years, some years after the death of the Lord Jesus Christ was on the road to Damascus, but he also met with the Lord Jesus Christ. And no doubt that meeting with the Lord Jesus was burned upon his heart and upon his conscience. And you can tell that in the book of Acts, I believe it's three times the apostle Paul recounts his conversion and his call to the work of the ministry. It was part of his ministry when he was afflicted that he would recount what Christ had done for him and the calling that he had. And so we can see that Paul had a deep conviction of his calling that was burned on his conscience. And we see that that calling was not rooted in ambition. The Apostle Paul makes a big deal about this, particularly in the book of Galatians, but virtually every place he says, I was made a minister. I didn't do it myself. I didn't seek it out. It wasn't something, it was the farthest thing from my mind on the road to Damascus, but Christ met me. and called me. He didn't put himself forward as a candidate. Paul's calling was not rooted in ambition. It was not a calling to the honor of the office, although there is an honor in that. And don't get me wrong, if a man aspires to the office of an elder, it's a good thing to which he aspires. I don't think the Apostle Paul is contradicting himself here. He's simply saying that It wasn't something that he sought out. And we need God's calling to office. And I will say this, that if a man who is in gospel ministry is not called to it, he will not last very long, because you'll meet with great discouragement along the way. But it was a calling to suffering service. It wasn't a call to honor. It was a call to suffering service. Hear the Lord's words to Ananias. For the Lord said to him, go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for my sake. Now there's a calling, isn't it? Hey, have I got a job for you? You're going to be miserable. with suffering and affliction your entire life. And there are going to be all kinds of disappointments along the way. How would you like that? Isn't that something to aspire to? No. But that was what the Apostle Paul was called to. And you can see that if we read last week about all the things that the Apostle Paul endured. And at the end of it all, he said, in addition to all these outward sufferings, I have the care and concern for the churches. And you can hear it in his last letters as he laments the apostasy of those who had been close to him. Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world. Yeah. Disappointments just like you. And the Apostle Paul, recognizing this in the book of 1 Corinthians says, we have become the scum of the world, the dregs of all things until now. You can tell this was not honor that he sought because he didn't get it. But Paul's calling came directly from God and God still calls men. in the same way the apostles were called, but he still calls men by the word of the spirit and the confirmation of the church of God, recognizing the gifts and abilities. And those are the callings that he gives. And I would just encourage some of you young men that are thinking about going forward and ask yourself if God is calling you to gospel ministry. We need men, generations, grow old and we depart, but God raises up and we're to pray that. And I just challenge some of you young men who love the Lord, is God calling you to gospel ministry? And just to apply it to you all, because not everybody is called to gospel ministry, but you have a calling from God as well. When God called you out of darkness into light, He called you as Christians, and no matter where you are, you're to live, as he's told the Colossian believers, as he prays for them, they might walk worthy of the calling that God had given to them. That's your calling, whatever it might be. In the home as a mother, caring for children, a husband, as a father, you have a calling in your work. Whatever it be, be convinced that God has called you to do that, to pursue it for the glory of God. He had a deep conviction of calling. Yet a keen awareness of his stewardship. Notice he says, again, in verse 25, of this church, I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit. He had a stewardship. Now, what's a stewardship? We have a pretty good idea of what that is. A steward is a servant who is entrusted with another's resources. And so we can see examples of this in all of scripture. But we see it here in the text as well. He says, I've received this stewardship for you. And so that stewardship can be partial. or entire. In other words, what I'm saying here is a steward could be given a certain segment of a household or of the owner's possessions, just a segment, or he could be given control over the entire thing. For instance, in Luke 12 verses 42 through 44. The Lord said, to give them their rations at the proper time. You see, this steward in the household was one who was given basically oversight of the food of the household, and he committed the food of the household and provisions for that household to him, and he was to distribute that food to the members of the household. That was a partial stewardship. But then he goes on, blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you that he will put him in charge of all of his possessions. You can see there's a partial stewardship that God had given to him. But he says, if you're doing well in that and you're a faithful steward in handling that portion, I'll give you more authority, all of the household. So a steward is a servant who's entrusted with another's resources. So he's given authority for the management of those resources, whether it's an institution or whether it's a family. For instance, with a family, we read of Abraham Abraham's servant in Genesis 23 too, Abraham said to his servant, the oldest of his household who had charge of all that he owned. You see, we kind of fly by that, don't we? But Abraham had given the authority of all of his possession to this steward to manage and to care for. We can think of Joseph, also another example in Genesis 41, Pharaoh said, you shall be over my house. And according to your command, all my people shall do homage. Only in the throne, I will be greater than you. And Pharaoh said to Joseph, see, I have set you over all the land of Egypt. Then Pharaoh took off his signet ring from his hand and put it on Joseph's hand and clothed him in garments of fine linen and put the gold necklace around his neck. He had him ride in his second chariot And they proclaimed before him, bow the knee. And he set him over all the land of Egypt. Well, Joseph was not the pharaoh, but he administered everything that belonged to pharaoh. The apostle Paul says, I have this stewardship given to me. I have been given a stewardship from God, for which I am responsible to manage. And he's given responsibility to guard the resources as well, not only to manage them, but to guard them as well. And as I was thinking about this, I was thinking about Ezra. We came through the book of Ezra some time ago, and the gifts for Jerusalem were collected, and they were going to travel long distance by foot, subject to robbers and all manner of things. And yet he committed it to some faithful men And in Ezra 8 and verse 29, he said, So he gave them all the gifts from and the gifts that were collected from the people of God. And he said, here it is. It's all counted out. And when you get to Jerusalem, it's going to be counted out again. There's going to be an accounting for what's being given to you. So a steward is one who's responsible to manage and to guard. And that stewardship we see here is the gospel, as we see. The Apostle Paul had a keen awareness of this stewardship of the gospel, that he was to manage it and he was to guard it, to keep it from corruption. And we won't get to that today, but later on in the book of Colossians, as in so many of the New Covenant letters, the gospel was under assault subtly and yet very really. And the Apostle Paul wants them to know that this stewardship which had been entrusted to him, he must guard and they must guard as well. And you have this gospel as well. And a steward affirms that he's not the owner of the resources, that he will be called to account. We have the parable of the talents. And the one steward who buried it at the end was rebuked because he didn't use the stewardship that had been given to him. He wasn't the owner. And we aren't the owners of What we have either. What do you have that has not been given to you? The Apostle Paul asks the Corinthian believers. You have a stewardship, whatever it may be, but certainly you have the stewardship of this gospel which has been given to you. gospel of the Lord Jesus. We prayed this morning that we would be kept, that the gospel would be kept, and we need to pray for the pulpit committee and the congregation as we look for another man who will build upon the foundation and take the congregation forward, but one who will administer and guard that which has been entrusted to him. And a steward then uses the resources according to the owner's design, not his own design. That's something that we all wrestle with. Everything that we have has been given to us as a stewardship from God. And so the resources are not to be used for the benefit of the steward alone, although the steward certainly does benefit from those things. The Apostle Paul benefited from the gospel that he had. The Apostle Paul benefited from the calling that he had as he was supported by many in the congregation. But it wasn't just for his benefit alone. the sources were to be used for the benefit of the owner and his family. And so the stewardship was to be used for the glory of God. And as you see it here, the focus, I think, of Colossians is the Apostle Paul recognized it was to be used for the benefit of the church, the people of God. Even as the Lord Jesus Christ was given a stewardship to keep and preserve, to purchase a people, and to preserve them and keep them. And so he did the will of his father. He says, I have kept them in your name. And he will present every one that has been given to him faultless on the last day because he's the faithful steward. Because he used all of the resources that were given to him for his father and for the church, and he gave himself up for them. Paul kept going because he had a deep conviction of calling and a keen awareness of his stewardship. And with that, he also had an accurate assessment of the value of this stewardship. Notice what he said, I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit. And that's where we get this idea that it was not for himself alone, but this stewardship was given to him, not for himself, but for the church at large. bestowed upon me for your benefit, that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God, that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but now has 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, and then this is the key phrase, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Again, there's a lot of things in that sentence that we see here. But if the Apostle Paul considered the stewardship, that which had been given to him to administer and to guard, it was the mystery of the gospel. And in particular, he describes it in this way, Christ in you, the hope of glory. So there are several things that the Apostle Paul sees in this assessment of this stewardship which God had given to him, where he assessed the value of the stewardship. And again, it comes to us, we have been blessed with the preaching of the gospel. We often take it for granted because we're so used to hearing it week by week, day in and day out. If we read the scriptures, I don't think that we recognize the value of the gospel that's been given to us, that we despise it, or at least we take it for granted. But what about the value of the content of the stewardship? What is it that was given? Well, it was the gospel, the gospel of Christ in you, the hope of glory. In Ephesians 3.17, he puts it a different way, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And remember, the book of Colossians sets before us the supremacy of Christ in all things. The gospel is the message of Christ. It's about Christ himself and his person. And so as the apostle Paul contemplates the content of the stewardship, the content of the gospel, he focused upon the incomparable value of the indwelling presence of Christ by his Holy Spirit. One of the great promises of the Old Covenant was the Spirit of God. Now, it was not that the Spirit of God was absent in the Old Covenant, for we know that there is no such thing as conversion apart from the work of the Holy Spirit. And there were those who were brought out of darkness to light in the Old Covenant, those who were believers. Abraham was the believer. It wasn't because somehow he did this on his own. It was necessary that he must be regenerated by the power of the Holy Spirit for any to believe. We read this morning, or we spoke this morning, about faith being the gift of God. No man believes. We're in darkness, but God gives us this regenerated heart to believe. But the promise was not full until the coming of Christ. Lord Jesus, in leaving his disciples, talks about the gift that he would send. Jesus, in his physical presence, was going to be taken away. He had guarded and kept the apostles, the disciples. He had shepherded the sheep with his personal presence. But now, no longer would he be present for that. But he says, but I'm not going to leave you defenseless. I'm not going to leave you without comfort. I'm going to send you the Holy Spirit. Christ could only minister in bodily form to those who are about him. But he says, it's expedient for me to go away. Now the spirit will come, and I will dwell in your hearts through faith by your spirit. And so the Apostle Paul speaks about this by the preaching of the gospel. Christ, by his spirit, comes to dwell within the hearts of believers. Christ in you, the hope of glory. God makes his dwelling with us. Remember the promise to the old covenant people. One of the key covenant promises given to him, given to the old covenant people was, I will dwell in your midst. And of course, the Ark of the Covenant was the symbol of that, that God in the Ark of the Covenant and its locality dwelt beneath the cherubim, and God dwelt in the midst of his people. And through Zechariah, those people who were dispersed in Medo-Persia and now were going to return, he says, I'm going to bring you back to Jerusalem. But it's not going to be a walled city anymore. I'm going to be in your midst. I'll be your protector. And it will be so large and great it couldn't be contained within walls, but all be the wall of fire around you. I will be dwelling in your midst. That's the promise that is given to you and me, Christ dwelling with us and in us. So the incomparable value of the indwelling presence of Christ by his spirit. And remind you again that Christ resides in the church as the new, where he manifests his name. Again, in Ephesians 2, verses 21 and 22, in Christ, the whole building being fitted together is growing into a holy temple in the Lord in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the spirit. Again, I want you to apprehend this maybe with new eyes and a fresh appreciation what happens with us as the people of God, particularly as we assemble, that Christ comes and meets with us even now. By his word, he speaks to us in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, which we'll enjoy tonight. He feeds us and nourishes us, that he abides in us. And he makes his dwelling place among his people so that where two or three are gathered together in his name, there he is. We don't apprehend that with our senses, do we? But Jesus is here with us now. What a treasure. What a treasure that God has given to the church as a whole, that he dwells with his people. but not only with the people corporately, but he resides in each believer by his spirit. John 14, 16, and 17 says, I will ask the father, this is Jesus before his ascension, and he will give you another helper that he may be with you forever. That is the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it does not see him or know him, but you know him because he abides with you and will be in you. a new manifestation of the Spirit, the abiding presence of God so that, do you not know that your bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit? It's a mystery. the incomparable value of the indwelling presence of Christ, the incomparable value of the hope that comes from Christ's presence. You have spiritual life in the present. So the Apostle Paul can say in Galatians 2.20, I've been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me." Again, Christ's presence, he lives in us. And the life that we now live, we live by faith in the Son of God who loves us and gives himself up for us. And it is by him that we are enabled to walk. In him we live and move and have our being. He's the one who creates faith and enables us to persevere. And it's because of Christ in the Apostle Paul that he could endure the afflictions with joy. 1 John 5.12, he who has the Son has life in the present. And you have eternal life, not just in the present, but you have eternal life in the future. If Christ is in you, Romans 8, 10, and 12, if Christ is in you, there again, that indwelling presence of Christ by his spirit, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. And then listen to this. But if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit. who dwells in you." So the Apostle Paul could write again from that prison, I don't know which is better, to depart and be with Christ, which is far better, or to remain here with you. Why could he say that? Because the Spirit of Christ dwelling with him held out the hope of eternal life, the incomparable value of hope in Christ's presence. So the value, the content of the stewardship and the value of the duration of the stewardship as well. Those stewardships that we have in life and everything that we have has been given to us, the material as well as the immaterial, but all of these things The material, in particular, will pass away. They have a use for this life. We ought not to despise them. They've been given to us, but our lifetime is brief. And we can spend all of our time and energy investing ourselves in those things which will pass away. But this treasure, this stewardship which have been given to the Apostle Paul, the stewardship of the gospel of Christ in us, the hope of glory, is not only beneficial for life, but for eternity. You know, you can think about this as you think about your possessions. Those things which increase in value over time are more precious to us than the things which break. Children don't understand that. They get their toys for a birthday or Christmas or something else and you can pick them up and usually they aren't very well made and they quickly fall apart. They certainly seem to be very important at the time to the child And then you would give them something of value. When our grandchildren were born, Bunny and I just made it a practice on their, at Christmas time after their birth, we went out and we got them silver medallions to put on the Christmas tree. Now, first of all, they were small. usually no more than one year of age, sometimes much younger than that. And I'm certain that when they got those out, they were not particularly thrilled with the silver Christmas tree ornament. But they'd been increasing in value. And brothers and sisters, the stewardship of the gospel which had been given to us, Christ in us, The hope of glory may be something that doesn't thrill us when we're immature Christians, but as we grow toward death, it becomes more and more valuable, doesn't it? It becomes more and more valuable. But it's always, you see, it's always had the value. And I want you to recognize it as the Apostle Paul did it. That's one of the things that kept him going was this value that it's not just for time, although it certainly is that we're kept from this world and all the miseries of this life. They don't have any lasting effect on us, but even more so on the great day and the value of the privilege of the stewardship. The Apostle Paul tells us, to me was given this stewardship, bestowed on me for your behalf. And not only that, it's been manifested to his saints, to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of his glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, Christ in you, the hope of glory. You can say, well, yes, it's preached everywhere. Everybody has it. Yes, but you're the ones that have received it. We tend to take it for granted that because we have received this by faith that somehow it's inexpensive, because the gospel is free. Christ is free. And sometimes we don't value it. Well, it's free to you. We were reading in worship last night. We've been reading segments, small segments, from Thomas Boston as he takes us through the Westminster Shorter Catechism. But he was talking about the value of the gospel, and the value of Christ, and the application of that to it, the value of justification by grace through faith. And he was saying how valuable it is, because the preaching of the gospel is there for everyone. It seems to be free, but he went on to say, We all need to understand how costly and precious that is. That many who do not value the gospel despise it and heap up damnation to themselves. That which we take for granted, we tend to think that it's just there, but the fact that we have received it by the work of the Spirit, that's a great privilege. A lot is being said about privilege in our culture, and I want to bring it home again. Yes, you are privileged, and it has nothing to do with the color of your skin. It has everything to do with Christ in you, the hope of glory, because God made it known to you by renewing your hearts to embrace the gospel once we're all delivered to the saints. Do you have any idea how valuable that is? And what it costs? Free to you. But you have no idea. Again, going back to Thomas Boston, I was struck by this. I'd never really thought about it that deeply. But he was talking, people seem to think that pardon for sin is something that's easy. And then he went on to explain some of that. Isn't it interesting, he said, that God could create the vast universe by speaking a word. Let there be, and it was. But God could not deliver your soul from hell by saying, let it be. It took much more than that. It took the incarnation, life, death, resurrection, and ascension of the Son of God to redeem lost sinners. Do you understand the value, then, of this, the privilege that has been given to us? It took the Spirit of God to reveal to us what Christ has done. Many hear it, and maybe you're here today, and you're thinking, oh, this is just old hat. I don't need this. I want you to see anew, and I want you to understand what is being proclaimed to you today. It's Christ in you, the hope of glory, and you despise it. It's your eternal damnation. This is something that Ephesians 3 and verse 5 tells us, and Peter tells us. This is something into which angels are amazed at. Can you imagine those who have dwelt with the Lord from the very beginning in his very presence. And they look down and see what God is doing through the preaching of the gospel. And they say, wow, that's amazing. And we sit here and we say, oh, ho, hum. It was bestowed and given to Paul, and it was manifested to God's family. You received it and embraced it because God willed and desired you to receive it. and embrace it, you indeed are privileged. To you, it has been given to know these things. And that kept the Apostle Paul going. The value of the gospel that he had in an earthen vessel, that he recognized how valuable it was to him, and because of his love for the church. And finally, a clear recognition of the duty of his stewardship. Because of all of these things, he tells us in verse 27, to whom God willed to make it known what is the riches of glory, the mystery of the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Actually, I skipped past it, but he tells us that he wanted to carry out, it's back in verse 25, God bestowed on me for your benefit that I might fully carry out the preaching of the Word of God. Why is this stewardship given? Because there was a duty associated with it to fulfill the Word of God. And then he goes on, verses 27 and 28, to enlarge upon that. Paul recognized the duty to preach the Word of God, to make it known, to proclaim Christ. He preached the Word of God because he recognized the value of it. He preached only the Word of God, and he preached all the Word of God. And so you have the Apostle Paul in his farewell address to the Ephesian elders telling them, I didn't hold back anything that was necessary for you. I did everything that I could to present Christ to you, proclaiming the whole counsel of God, only the Word of God. and all the Word of God. And I'll just say this, again, just by way of application to the search committee and the congregation, make certain you find a man who is devoted to that, to preach only the Word of God and to preach all the Word of God. That's the stewardship that is given to ministers of the gospel. And Paul recognized his duty to protect Why is he writing all of this? Because there were threats to the Colossian believers, and there are threats to us as well. He'll do so in the rest of the letter, but he is putting all of these things in front of us that he might manifest the authority that he had to address the Colossian believers, and he sets it before us. that he was one who was made a minister, didn't seek it out himself, that he was one who was given a stewardship, and he had the responsibility to manage that, to distribute it to the people of God, to distribute it far and wide, and to guard it, and to protect it, to proclaim it. And he wants them and us to hear what he's doing. So what does Paul's motivation have to do with you and me? You might say, I'm not an apostle. And it's true that the Apostle Paul speaks in one sense, in a unique sense. And certainly, we could say that these words apply to those who are elders, teaching and ruling elders in the Church, that we do need a sense of calling. an awareness of stewardship and the value of the stewardship and the duties associated with it. We need those things. But this, again, commends gospel ministry. We're to give careful attention to Paul's word. It's God's call, and it's being given to you today and every day of the word. is preached. He calls you to believe the message, Christ in you, the hope of glory. And he calls you to serve your God. I asked earlier, is God calling some of you young men to gospel ministry? Consider it. Consider it. The Spirit of God may be speaking to you today, and consider it. Even if God isn't calling you to that, he's calling you to a godly life, to aspire to the qualities of an elder. That you might be the Christian that you ought to be, that you can serve him on whatever your calling is. And serve him in your calling, do all that you do for the glory of God. Reveals the value of the gospel. It's been given to you to hear, to understand, and believe in Christ alone. He promises to be with you in life, death, and eternity. And ask yourself the question, what will you do without him on the day of judgment? What will you do without Christ? You may not think that he's worth much now. And if that's your thinking, you Don't think that he'll be worth much in eternity either. But you will find out that he is. So I plead with you. I plead with you, understand what is being preached to you. Don't despise the mystery of the gospel. Trust in the Lord Jesus today. And remember, what will be sweeter on the day of judgment than Christ in you, the hope of glory? What will be sweeter than that? And it commends the Church to you for your affection and service. The Apostle Paul knew all of these things about the Gospel. Remember, it was given to him for the sake of his people. And he said, the Church's worship is worth it. The Church is worth it all, because Christ loved his Church and gave himself up. And that's what you are. You are worth it to the Lord Jesus Christ and the church ought to be worth it to you as well to keep going. And so all these convictions, whatever your calling may be, you have a calling. Recognize what it is, identify what the calling is, and remember that the gospel underlies all of these things. Christ in you, the hope of the gospel, and that will keep you going. when everything else goes away. Let's pray together. Father, we do thank you for your mercies to us this day. And we confess that we have faint appreciation for the gospel and faint appreciation for Christ. And I recognize that my words have failed to do justice to what is presented before us. We certainly fall far short of the Apostle Paul's apprehension of these things, but though we may see through a glass darkly now, we pray that you will use these words by your spirit to give us a clearer recognition of that which you have given to us in the gospel, that we will value it, cherish it, and proclaim it. Lord, make us aware of those opportunities that we have, even in this coming week, to make Christ known, Christ in us, the hope of glory. that we might not keep it to ourselves, but that we might proclaim it, that others might join with us by the power of your spirit to be made those who are privileged to be in Christ and Christ in us. We pray these things in Jesus' name, amen.