I love that picture of a thousand generations uniting together to praise our God. It's beautiful. So this week, we continue in our rooted study. We'll be examining Paul's letter to the Colossians. Last week, we looked at the Christ hymn, which comes from Colossians 1, 15 to 23. And in it, we saw that Christ has sovereignty. over creation and over the church, that he is the creator of all things. He is the sustainer of all things, and he is before all things. And best of all, he is the reconciler of all things. He is restoring and renewing creation. And as a part of that creation, restoration and reconciliation is available to us through faith in Christ. But entrance into the family of God through faith is not the end of the story, just as the wedding day is not the end of a relationship, it is the beginning of something new. And this morning we're going to be looking at the topic of calling. We'll be starting with a look at Paul's calling. We'll talk about his calling in its context, and then we will move into the meat of Paul's argument today, namely that God has a calling for you, for your life, and that calling, the purpose of calling, is the building up of the family of faith. So last week we talked a little bit about Paul's backstory, that he was a Pharisee, that he was one of the early persecutors of Jesus' first followers. When Stephen became the first person to die for their faith in Jesus at the end of Acts 7, it is at the feet of Paul that the crowd lays their cloaks. In other words, he was the leader of the violent mob. Things escalate from there to the point that the early church flees from Jerusalem, and Paul, filled with religious fervor, he seeks to bring those who fled back to Jerusalem that they might stand trial for the crime of believing that Jesus was the Messiah. But as he rides to the city of Damascus, a journey of about 150 miles, something remarkable happens. The risen Jesus confronts Paul, and this is what we find in Acts 9, starting in verse 3. Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, which is the name of Paul, why are you persecuting me? And he said, who are you, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do. Now the men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice, but seeing no one. So Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were open, he saw nothing. So they led him by the hand, and they brought him into Damascus. And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank. Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias, and the Lord said to him in a vision, Ananias. And he said, here I am, Lord. And the Lord said to him, rise and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man from Tarsus named Saul. For behold, he is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight. But Ananias said, Lord, I've heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name. But the Lord said to him, go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. for I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name. So Ananias departed and entered the house, and laying his hands on him, he said, Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight, and then he rose and was baptized. and taking food, he was strengthened. Paul thought that he understood his purpose. He was, in God's name, going to bring these religious radicals who had departed from the faith that he knew, and instead, God changed Paul's plans. He changed the course of his life, and by the time that Paul died, he actually had become the author of about half of the New Testament. But what I want to focus here. is on Paul's, what I want to focus on here in Paul's conversion story is God's proclamation that Paul is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. God has specifically chosen Paul for the purpose of the proclamation of the gospel and the flourishing of the early church came about in large part because of the ministry of Paul. He was called to take the message of Jesus and carry it to the ends of the earth. But like we saw in Acts 9, part of Paul's calling included the cost of obedience. God tells Ananias, I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name. As we've already talked about in the book of Colossians, Paul is writing from prison. He writes from a jail cell. Paul's suffering, it goes beyond just imprisonment. In 2 Corinthians 11, a letter that he wrote to the church of Corinth, Paul describes some of what he endured. But whatever anyone else dares to boast of, I am speaking as a fool. I also dare to boast of that. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they offspring of Abraham? So am I. Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one, Paul says. I'm talking like a madman with far greater laborers, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings and often near death. Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the 40 lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. A night and a day I was adrift at sea on frequent journeys in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers, in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure, and apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak? And I am not weak. Who is made to fall? And I am not indignant. If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. He continues in chapter 12. But he, God, said to me, my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities, for when I am weak, then I am strong. Paul begins our passage from Colossians this morning by saying, now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake. And in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is the church. Paul says that his suffering is not meaningless. Rather, he is able to rejoice in his hardship because it is for a purpose. It is for the Colossians, and more than that, it is for the whole body of Jesus, the church. I do not believe that Paul is somehow saying that Jesus didn't suffer enough here, that's not what he is saying, that his afflictions were not enough to achieve their goals, but rather what I think that Paul is saying is that if someone has to suffer for the sake of Christ's church, let it be me. I can rejoice in those afflictions because it is a part of my mission, it is a part of my calling. He goes into this very idea in verse 25. Continuing from verse 24, for the sake of his body that is the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you to make the word of God fully known. So why is Paul a minister of the gospel, a minister to the church? It is according to the stewardship from God. Now the word for stewardship here, oikonomia, comes from two words, oikos, which means house, and nomos, which means law. So oikonomia then referred to the management, the oversight, the administration of one's household. It's actually where the word economy comes from. So Paul is saying here that he became a minister to God's church according to God's management, his administration of his household, his calling in Paul's life. And the goal of that stewardship was to make the word of God fully known. So Paul's mission, his ministry, the reason behind his suffering, the why that he did everything was in order to make the word of God fully known. That was his calling. And by the power of God, it was something that I think that he did an incredibly good job at. Paul even acknowledges his own success that he has already achieved in that regard. He says, as we saw in verse 25, I became a minister to make the word of God fully known, and then continuing in verse 26, the mystery hidden for ages and generations, but now revealed to the saints. 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, the hope of glory. God did not begin his saving work with the birth of Jesus. Now there are some who would like to break salvation history into periods, the period of Israel and then the period of the church, but that isn't what Paul does. He says that there has been a mystery that has been hidden for ages and generations. It is what Israel's history has been building towards. The whole united metanarrative of what God has been doing since creation has been leading to this moment. Israel had been looking forward to the restoration of God, and God is now revealing the mystery of his solution, his salvation. And what is the revelation? It's Jesus. The glory of the mystery is Christ himself. in you. And it isn't just a story for Israel, even though it is a part of Israel's story, but God has now revealed himself, not just to Israel, but to the Gentiles. He has made himself known to those who were once far away from God. As someone with no Jewish blood, this is good news for me. And it is good news for you. We have access to God through Jesus Christ. This is one of the things that the Thursday Morning Adult Bible Study actually got to talk about this past Thursday. It was a lot of fun. In Romans 1.16, Paul writes, I'm not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and to the Greek. The same mystery, the same good news is for both the people of Israel and for the Gentiles. And God has now made known the riches of the glory of this mystery. And it is Christ in you. The hope of glory. Our hope in the present and our hope in the future is Jesus himself. So far we have seen Paul discussing his calling, right? The suffering which he has been called to endure for the sake of the church and for the spread of the gospel. But now Paul expands his message. He shifts from talking about himself to talking about us. Notice what we've already said. He says, I rejoice in my sufferings. I became a minister according to the stewardship of God. But now for the first time he changes to we. He says, him, that's Jesus, we proclaim. Warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom that we may present everyone mature in Christ. It is him we proclaim. We have a part to play in the stewardship of God, and just as Paul has been talking about his calling, so too each of us is invited to participate in the process of proclaiming Christ. One of my seminary professors, a guy named Joey Dodson, would always talk about the idea that we are called, each of us, to the caller. We are called to the caller, to the one who calls. And who is the caller? It's Christ himself. Our first calling is to Jesus. And in that way, each of us has a unique calling. It is unique because only you are placed within your family, your neighborhood, your workplace, your school. You have a unique personality and set of skills and God gifts each of us spiritually in order to use our unique makeup for his purposes and his glory. We are called to the caller, and then we are equipped for service. And what is our goal? Let's see what Paul says. He says, him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom that we may present everyone mature in Christ. The goal is spiritual maturity. This process of spiritual maturity is called discipleship. It is the way that we begin to look like Jesus in our actions, in our intentions, in our intimacy that we experience with God. We are to use Paul's words in Roman eight, that we are to be conformed to the image of the Son. During our studies on the Sermon on the Mount and Jesus's I am statements, we talked a great deal about bearing fruit. This fruit is the result of a life connected to Christ. When we abide in Him, we bear fruit. The fruit of our character, also called the fruit of the Spirit, and the fruit of good deeds or godly action. These are a part of the process of discipleship. We put our faith into Jesus. We begin to imitate his character and his actions, and then ultimately we replicate that same process that we have been walking through in the lives of others. This is what spiritual maturity looks like, and Paul is telling us that we each have a part to play in this process as well. He continues in verse 29. For this, this process of spiritual maturity, I toil. struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me. We are invited to struggle for others. When we are given a calling, we don't do it in our own strength, or rather we're not supposed to, but we're meant to do it in God's strength, his energy that he works powerfully within me. But it is for the sake of others. It is selfless rather than selfish. To see that this is Paul's heart, This is how he begins chapter two. I do not want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ. In him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Our goal in proclaiming Christ, our seeking out the spiritual maturity of others, is that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love. If we are not encouraging the hearts of those we are discipling, those we are teaching, those we are serving, we're doing it wrong. But the encouragement of heart, This unity, being knit together in love, is what allows those that we serve, it allows them to reach the full riches of assurance, of understanding, and the knowledge of God's mystery. the full assurance of our understanding and faith, the knowledge of God's mystery, who is Jesus. These come through encouragement and through being knit together in love. And once again, we see Paul return to the idea of God's mystery. Who is the mystery? It's Jesus. But then he adds that in him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. How do we access wisdom and knowledge? We know Jesus. We learn from him. We imitate his character. Do you guys remember the WWJD bracelets from the 90s? How many of you guys had one of those? I definitely did. So that idea didn't start in the 90s. It actually goes back to the 1400s, which is kind of wild. So there was a book that was written by a guy named Thomas Akempis, and he wrote a book called Imitatio Christi, which means the imitation of Christ. And it was all about this idea, what would Jesus do? And then we copy him, we imitate him. How do we access wisdom and knowledge? We imitate Jesus, we know him, and then we do what he did. Paul concludes our section this morning by saying, I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ. Paul is saying, stand firm. Hold fast. Don't let go of your understanding of Christ. There may be days when you have questions and doubts, and that's okay. Stay strong, don't turn away. He says, you are not alone, I am with you in spirit, I am praying for you, and I rejoice in your success. And I love that. So what are our takeaways this morning? First, God has a calling for you. You are precious, you are unique, and you are specially situated to serve God in a way that nobody else could. You are first and foremost called to Christ, he is the caller. We saw last week he's the creator of all things, and in him all things hold together. He is sovereign, he is before all things, he is the master of the universe, and yet he has called you to himself. You matter to God, and you have a calling. You are called and gifted to serve. You have a special place where your unique makeup is needed. I can't do what you can do. The elders and the staff, we can't do what you can do. And I would love to help you figure out where you are being called. Sometimes that might be to an official ministry capacity, such as a pastor or a missionary. And man, I would love to have a conversation with you and to encourage you if you feel that you are being called to that kind of ministry. But for many of us, probably most of us, God has different callings for us, and that's okay. I know some people who are called to serve in their workplaces. I know others who are called to serve in the world through medical work, through counseling, through compassion and justice work. And for others, you may be called to serve in the local church. And that could be here, or it could be somewhere else where God sends you, and that's great. But you have a calling, just like Paul did, and your calling is needed. You matter to God, and you matter to those you are called to serve. Our second takeaway is that our callings are for the sake of building up the church. It is for spiritual maturity that we serve. Now this is twofold. It is for our spiritual maturity that we serve. We become more like Christ as we emulate him, as we imitate him, but it is also for the spiritual maturity of others. We serve them that they can know, can experience, can be brought into the redemptive hope of Jesus. We've been given access to the revealed mystery of God. And who is it? It's Jesus. And sharing it, in sharing it, we are able to grow people into spiritual maturity. But along with that, we are able to encourage their hearts. their hearts become healed. And we're able to knit them together in love, both by showing them a pathway to the heart of God and by bringing them into this ragtag body that is the church. Part of this process means that we need to adopt them, to invite them, to incorporate them into the things that we are doing as a body. It cannot be look like us or you're not welcome. Instead, it needs to be you are a part of God's family, and so you are more than welcome. You are wanted. We want you here with us. You are knit together in love. Our final takeaway this morning is to stay strong. Stand firm. Paul's writing from prison. He talks about his struggle and his toil for the sake of the Colossian church. There are times when trying to live out our faith is hard. And it can feel like it would be much easier to not think about or not worry about all this faith stuff. Paul encourages the Colossians and us this morning to stand firm, to hold fast to Christ. Paul says that even though he was physically separated from the Colossians, his heart was with them. He says, I am with you in spirit and I rejoice to see your success and faith in Jesus. And just as the Colossians needed Paul's encouragement, we need each other's encouragement for the days when following Jesus is hard. And so I want to say to you this morning, I am here for you. I want to be an encouragement to you, wherever you are in your faith journey, whether you are against the idea of faith, or you are new to faith, or whether you have been walking with God for decades. So wherever you are, You are not alone in this journey, and I want to make myself available to you. So please, please reach out to me if that is something that you need. If you need encouragement, if you want somebody to celebrate with you in your successes, please reach out to me. If there's ever any way that I can come alongside you, please don't hesitate to reach out to me. My contact info is in the bulletin. Please, please let me know if there's anything I can do to support you. We need each other also. We need people in our lives to encourage us and to support us. And I know that in my life, I need that. And so I have worked hard to build a team. a network of people that I meet with regularly for guidance and for wisdom and for counsel and for godly insight. And we need each other in this process. This is not just something that pastors do. We need encouragement for each other. It's something that we can and should be doing for each other. So stand firm in your faith and do it in the context of relationships. So as we go forth from here this morning, I invite you to ask yourself, what is Christ calling me to? How can I use my unique gifts and my passions to serve him and to encourage others? And how do we do this together? How do we knit our hearts together in love as we pursue maturity in Christ? Let's pray. Lord, we thank you that you have called us to yourself, that you have given us a purpose and a home in your kingdom. Help us to recognize our unique callings and empower us through your spirit to serve you and others faithfully. Knit us together in love as a community that we may build each other up and be a light to the world. In every step, may we look to Christ, who is our strength, our hope, and our example. And it is in Jesus' name that we pray, amen.