We'll turn to the verses in chapter 1 of Colossians, verse 24. Now, once a mystery has been revealed, it is no longer a mystery. Once a secret has been proclaimed in all creation, it can no longer be described as a secret. And Paul is writing to the church here in Colossae and apparently there were some teachers coming into the church and they were claiming that they held the key to spiritual fullness. new hidden ways. They had the secret knowledge. And if the people would just go after them, well then, they would share the mystery with them. But Paul is writing and he's saying there is no mystery, because the mystery has been revealed. and that the only means of spiritual fullness is by being filled in and by Christ, in whom the whole fullness of the deity dwells. Paul writes, and he calls the church to continue to look to Christ for fullness and nowhere else. And this morning I want us to really look at these verses in three parts. First of all, we see that Paul is proclaiming Christ. And for him, that means suffering. And for him, that means toil and exhaustion. So first of all, we'll think about that, the suffering that Paul endures for the sake of spreading the gospel. And then we'll go on and we'll see that it's true that ministers spread the gospel. It's true that God's people proclaim Christ. But we'll think about this. Who's really the driving force behind gospel proclamation? Who really is the energy behind the proclamation of Christ? And then thirdly, And mainly we'll be thinking about Christ, the mystery that has been revealed. And first of all thinking, why? Is it referred to as a mystery? And then to think about the things that Paul points out that belong to us because of what Christ has done, that we are in him and that we get our fullness by being in him. So first of all, Paul's work of proclaiming Christ, it means that he suffers and he's toiling. And he says, we read in verse 24, he says, I rejoice in my suffering for your sake, and in my flesh I'm filling up what is lacking in Christ's affliction. Paul says he's filling up what's lacking in Christ's affliction. What does that mean? And you can imagine there's been a lot of ink spilt in trying to explain what that means. But maybe we could, we would look at it and we'd say what Paul means is that he's saying that he is suffering and his suffering is in some way contributing to his salvation. Is he saying that Jesus has done most of the work for our salvation? Maybe 99% and we just have to fill up that little bit to be saved? Or that someone else on our behalf has to do the rest? It cannot possibly mean that. And the reason it can't possibly mean that, one of them is just simply to think about what Paul has already said in this letter that would totally contradict such a notion. We read it in verse 22. He, Christ, has now reconciled us in his body of flesh by his death in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him. Our standing before God as holy, blameless, above reproach is entirely and only because of what Christ has done, that he has died for us. And when Christ cried out on the cross, it is finished, what he meant was, it is finished. Christ has died for our sins, for our salvation, and we contribute absolutely nothing to our salvation. Our suffering, Paul's suffering, does not contribute to our salvation, to our standing before God as holy and blameless. We are saved by faith, and even that faith is a gift. If it doesn't mean that, if it doesn't mean that we or Paul or anyone else contributes to our salvation in our suffering, well, what does it mean? Well, I think it means this. First of all, we can think that Christ rose from the dead. He ascended into heaven. He reigns. And at the very moment of his ascension, God, who could have brought all things to an end, he could have brought about the completion of all things, the end of the world, the judgment, and taken his people to be with him in the new heavens and the new earth. But he didn't. He continues, rather, to build his church on the earth. And we live in the last times. Christ will return soon, but he has not come yet. And until he does, his people will suffer. And as he builds his church, his church will be persecuted. However, the amount of suffering and persecution that the church endures is not some arbitrary amount, not some amount that is out of his control, but there is an allotted amount of suffering for his people. And we see something of this in Revelation chapter six. And I'll read these verses to you. John is seeing a vision of glory. And he says, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. John is saying he sees there the souls of the martyrs who have laid down their life for the sake of God. And he says, they cried out with a loud voice, O sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth? Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been. The martyrs are told to rest until the number of those who must be killed, as they had been, is complete. There is a predetermined finite number of those who must lay down their life for Christ's sake. As there is with all the suffering of God's people, a predetermined amount that the church will suffer. And Paul is bearing his part of it. And so, as he suffers, this predetermined amount is reducing and reducing. And as we suffer for Christ's sake, this predetermined finite amount is reducing. You could say that Paul and those of us who suffer for the sake of Christ are contributing to that deficiency. But then, there is a question. If that's the case, if it's only referring to the affliction of the church, Why does Paul not just say, I rejoice to be filling up what's lacking in the church's affliction? He doesn't say that. He says, I fill up what is lacking in the affliction of Christ. Well, it's not just because he suffers for Christ's sake. And it's not just because Paul's suffering is a continuation of Christ's suffering, which he began and endured and his people continue to suffer But it is because Christ is so much one with his people that their suffering is his suffering. He does not observe our suffering from a distance, but he is with us in it. And we see this very clearly when Paul, who wrote this letter, was still called Saul, and whose purpose in life was to stamp out the church, who breathed out murder and hatred against it. And God stopped him in his track, and Christ spoke to him from heaven and said, did he say, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting the church? No. Did he say, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting my people? No, he said, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And Saul said, who are you, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus, who you are persecuting. As far as Christ is concerned, to persecute his people is to persecute him. And the persecution of his people stems not from a hatred of his people, but a hatred of him. And when one part of the body suffers, the whole body suffers. Why would we think that Christ the head does not? Well, how should this affect us as we think about our suffering for God's sake? Well, one way to think of it is to remember that as we suffer, in a sense, we hasten his return because this deficit, this affliction, this lack of affliction is being filled up. We contribute to that finite amount of affliction. And also, when we bear affliction for Christ's sake, he is not just by our side. He is in us. And the phrase, I feel your pain, is no glib remark when coming from the lips of Christ to his people. So Paul is suffering. But this passage is bracketed here, first of all, by him saying suffering, and then in verse 29, Paul says, I toil, struggling. Paul is toiling and struggling, he says. And the words here perhaps don't... in our translation, perhaps don't give the full force of those words. What he's saying, the word he uses here is, it's hard labor. It's not just hard labor, it's exhausting labor. It's labor which takes it all out of you. And this struggling, this toil is also the idea of contending. It's the word that would be used of somebody who is going into the arena to fight or to compete. Paul is proclaiming Christ. And he's saying it's work which is exhausting, work which is a fight, which faces obstacles and hostility, but the ministers of Christ persevere. The people of Christ persevere in the proclamation of Christ. And Paul is a great testament to this, because even a little later in the letter, what does he say? He says, remember my chains. He is actually writing this letter whilst he is imprisoned. He toils, he suffers. To do this work of gospel proclamation is work which drains. The ministers of God are poured out. It is not work that can be done half-heartedly. Sounds like an awful job. Why would anyone want to do such a job? One of suffering, exhaustion, contending, fighting, facing hostility and burdens. Well, the reason is because of what it achieves. Christ is proclaimed. His people are built up. People are added to the church, even the Gentiles, even those who once were hostile, doing evil deeds, have been brought in and are reconciled to God. God's people are presented mature, complete, perfect, and Christ is honored. So Paul suffers and toils for the sake of proclaiming the gospel. And then we think about this. The ministers proclaim the gospel. Paul preaches Christ and him crucified. But who's really doing the work of gospel proclamation? It is God. We see that in these verses. First of all, verse 25, Paul says, he says that he became a minister according to the stewardship from God. He became a minister because God appointed him into that work, that role. God appoints ministers to declare Christ. They have a job to do. They have work to do, but it is God who puts them to work. It is God who gives them the task. And not only that, it's not just that God puts his ministers to work, but we see in verse 27, speaking about revealing this mystery, in verse 27 he says, to them God chose to make known. God chose to make Christ known. God wants people to hear about Christ. God wants you to hear about Christ. The one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit are united in their zeal to proclaim Christ to you. The reason you are here this morning The reason you are here and hearing about Jesus Christ is because God chose to tell you about Christ. He wants you to know about Christ. And then we see not only is it God who appoints those to declare Christ, and it is not just that God chooses and desires that you would hear about Christ, but then back to verse 29, Paul says, well verse 28 first of all he's saying he's proclaiming Christ, and then in verse 29 he says, I toil, struggling with all his, with all God's energy, that he powerfully works in me. We've been thinking about the work of gospel proclamation, how it is exhausting, how it just takes everything out of those who proclaim the gospel. How can Paul keep going? It is because God's energy is working powerfully in him. It is not his own energy that keeps him going. It is not human energy that sustains the proclamation of the gospel throughout the whole world. It is God's energy, God's power. God gives his ministers and his people the strength, the energy to proclaim in words and action, to proclaim Christ, even in situations where they are entirely empty of their own strength and energy. And I wouldn't be at all surprised if you've seen this, maybe even experienced it in your own life. God's people utterly drained and exhausted. Everything has been taken out of them, empty, and yet God's powerful energy is at work in them. So Christ is on display. Christ is proclaimed in the way that they live, in the way that they suffer. So it is God who is the driving force behind the Gospel proclamation. His choice that you would hear about Christ. He is the one who appoints those to proclaim Christ and it is His energy. And then, moving on to think about the mystery. The mystery has been revealed. There is no longer a mystery about how to achieve spiritual fullness. It's revealed. And what has been revealed is Christ. Well, why is it called a mystery, first of all? And then we see also, as we look through these verses, that this Christ who is revealed is a Christ who is in you, in the Gentiles even, that to have Christ is to have hope of glory, and that it is the proclamation of Christ that makes us mature. So first of all, why is it referred to as a mystery? Well, long ago, and at various times God spoke to his people through the prophets. The Spirit of Christ spoke to his people through Moses, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah and so on. But Peter explains in his letter that much of what they were saying and prophesying was a mystery even to them. We read in Peter's letter that they longed to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating. Even those who prophesied longed to have a fuller understanding of what they were proclaiming. And now the Word of God has been made fully known, Paul says. He has come to make it fully known. And what was a mystery for ages and generations, even to those who first spoke or wrote the Word of God, it's now been revealed. The prophets longed to know what person the Spirit in them was indicating, and now that person has been revealed. That person is Christ. And how could they ever have imagined the prophets when they prophesied about the king who would rule forever? When they prophesied about the seed of the woman who would come and crush the head of Satan? When they prophesied about the priest who would reign forever after the order of Melchizedek? When they spoke about the one who God would call my son? when they preached about the suffering servant who would be wounded and crushed for the iniquities of his people. How could they have ever imagined that this would be realized and encapsulated in the one man, Jesus of Nazareth, born in a barn, raised in an obscure town, spending most of his life grafting in the workshop before a brief public ministry that culminates in a horrific death. What a mystery! But now the Word of God has been made fully known. The mystery is revealed. This man, this person, Jesus of Nazareth, is none other than the eternal Son of God, the Creator of the universe, who lived a holy and blameless life, as our substitute, who died for our sins, who paid the wages of our sin, whose limp, lifeless body was laid in the tomb, but who was declared with power to be the Son of God when he rose from the dead. He was vindicated, victorious, killer of death, putting sin and Satan to flight, disarming demonic rule and authority. This mystery, Christ, was the theme of the prophet's message. For ages and generations, much of their preaching remained a mystery, even to them. But now, the mystery has been revealed. Christ. And he is proclaimed. Paul has more to say about Christ, this mystery that has been revealed. He says, verse 27, to them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you. And Paul has already written of the glory of this Christ in verse 15 and onwards. He has told us that this Christ is the image of the invisible God. He is the creator of all things, the sustainer of all things. He is preeminent in all things. And where does he choose to dwell? Where does he choose to have as his home? His people, you. We do not simply have a Christ who is near. We do not simply have a Christ who is willing to stand shoulder to shoulder with us. But we have a Christ who is in us. God's great delight is to dwell in the midst of his people, to be one, united with them, like a vine is united to the branches, giving life, vigor, producing fruit, like a husband is one with his wife, in intimate union to know him and to be known by him. Like a foundation is one with the building, giving support without which it would collapse. Are you ever struck by your own insignificance? Little old me and nobody really. You ever look at the stars and think, what does man? Well, how can we think such a thing about ourselves? Or about the believer who sat next to us? because the Creator has chosen to dwell in his people, the invisible God in you. And this also unites us with one another. because he is not simply in you, and you, and you, and you are in your small corner and I am in mine. He is in you all. He is in us. And it means that we are one with his people, those dotted here, there, and everywhere in the world. It means we are one with his people, even those who are united with him in glory. And to have Christ in us is to unite us, but also to transform us. Paul says elsewhere that to have Christ in us means this, it means that I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. If we are men and women, and boys and girls who have our faith in Christ for salvation, Christ is in us, and we are new creatures, and he is leading us, and he is transforming us into the image of Christ. But who is Paul speaking to? Now, not everyone will accept and believe the gospel. Not everyone will accept the proclamation of Christ. But, notice what Paul says in verse 27. He says, God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles. And then later, in 28, he says at the beginning, Him we proclaim, Christ we proclaim, warning everyone. teaching everyone with all wisdom that we may present everyone mature in Christ. The good news of the gospel, the proclamation of Christ is for everyone, even the Gentiles. That means those who were far off, those who were outside, those who do not belong to God's people, that God has now extended the call to them. He says to those who were outside, he says, now I will be your God and you will be my people. God's purpose is to call a people for himself from every tongue, tribe and nation. He wants to have people from India and from Iraq, from Switzerland and Scotland, people from every language, every tribe, every nation. And so the application for this means that the spread of the gospel, the proclamation of Christ is to be done entirely indiscriminately. The gospel is for any individual who falls into the category of everyone. It is not simply to be held back for the spiritual elite. The gospel can be spread with utter abandon. It will never reach ears and hearts that it was not meant to. And I hope we see why this is so significant, because we are Gentiles. And if God had not chosen to reveal Christ to us, where would we be? We would be outside. we would be cut off, we would be far off. But Christ has been revealed to us. And the call to us to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved has come to us. And it means that we must not reserve the gospel for those who we think are perhaps most likely to accept it. maybe our more spiritual friends, more open to that kind of thing, or maybe just to our children. But it is the work of the church to spread the gospel throughout the whole of creation, because it is good news for everyone. And Paul also says about Christ revealed, he is in us, even the Gentiles, But he also goes on in verse 28, he says, Christ in you, the hope of glory. If you do not have Christ in you, if you are detached from Christ, what that means is that ultimately you have nothing to look forward to. Maybe in the short term, yes, you can set your hope on a good lunch, A good holiday, the birth of a child, the birth of a grandchild, a long, happy, comfortable retirement. And then? Then what? Without Christ, there is ultimately no hope. There is nothing to look forward to, only something to dread. Death and the second death. To be without Christ, to be Christ-less, is to be hopeless. But Christ is in his people. He is in you, the hope of glory. This is a confident, joyful expectation of glory. To have Christ in us is to have hope even when our lunch is bad, when our holiday is ruined, when tragedy strikes our family, when our retirement is short and uncomfortable and when death is advancing on us. Because to have Christ in us is to have the hope of glory. It is to have the guarantee of glory. It is to have the down payment of glory. It is to have the foretaste of glory. foretaste of what Christ has prepared for us as people. And when we as people are thinking right, we have to acknowledge that the best that we have ever tasted, the best that we have ever experienced in life is what we have experienced only because Christ is in us. Our most glorious experiences have been channeled to us because Christ is in us. When we have been left utterly speechless, when we have had a view of his mercy towards us, when we have been basking, a sense of basking in his overwhelming and unspeakable love. when we have been overwhelmed by the price that he paid to make us his own, when we have been dumbfounded by his unspeakable grace. These are the most glorious occasions and experiences in our life, if we are thinking right. And because Christ is in us, we have had these glorious experiences. But what do we have to look forward to? Is it more of the same? No, it's infinitely more of the same. The best you've had so far was just a taste. It was just a nibble. The most you've had so far has been a crumb. And because Christ is in his people, we have the joyful expectation of a feast of glory. Now from time to time you have a glimpse, but soon we will gaze on Christ's glory face to face. And the last thing we see about this revelation of Christ is that it's the revelation and proclamation of Christ which makes us mature. In verse 28 we read that that Christ is proclaimed in order that we may present everyone mature in Christ. And this word mature is really the word complete, perfect, full. How are we as God's people to grow, to reach maturity, completion? It is only by the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ, who he is, what he has done, what he is going to do. Now, I would guess that most of you here are aiming for spiritual completion, for spiritual maturity, for fullness. How are you going about it? Are we somehow trying desperately to keep our set of rigorous, righteous rules and think if we keep them that will take us to the next level? Are we yearning for some exciting spiritual experience that we think will have us leaping and bounding along the narrow way? And all the while, are we losing our grip of our savior, Christ, who has made peace for us by the blood of his cross, who has reconciled us to God in his body of flesh by his death? You see, it's so easy for us to look for the right thing in the wrong place. And again and again in this letter, Paul urges us not to do that, but to look for fullness where it can be found in Christ. And even in this letter alone, he says these things. He says, continue in the faith, stable and steadfast. He says, do not shift from the hope of the gospel that you heard. You don't move on from that. As you received Christ, he says, so walk in him. All of the treasure of wisdom and knowledge are found in Christ. He says be rooted and built up in Christ, established in the faith. Many subjects compete for our concentration and contemplation. If we are to reach spiritual fullness, What we need is Christ, no more, no less. And we grow to maturity through the proclamation of Christ. As you progress in the Christian life, you do not need Christ less. You do not mature by learning to stand on your own two feet so that Christ can gradually back away from you as you gain in maturity, no. The infant believer and the 88-year-old saint both need Christ, one as much as the other. They both need him desperately. What is the difference between a mature and an immature believer? It is that the mature believer has learnt to lean and depend on Christ, their Redeemer. So, there is no longer a mystery as to how to achieve spiritual fullness. The gospel is being preached. Christ is being proclaimed. Do you want a full, spiritual, Christian life? Do you want to be mature and complete? Well then, look to Jesus and look no further.