Well, good morning. We’ll get started.
Very often we have a song to get started with. I think Josh said something like the theme was so confusing, we couldn’t come up with a song. He didn’t. He didn’t say that.
If you turn with me to Colossians 2, we’ll just look at verses 1 through 3. Many of you may not be familiar with these verses, and some of you may be. But this is Colossians 2:1-3, from Paul’s letter to the Colossians.
For I would have you know what combat I have for you,
and those in Laodicea,
and as many as have not seen my face in the flesh;
to the end that their hearts may be encouraged,
being united together in love,
and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding,
to the full knowledge of the mystery of God,
in which are hid all the treasures of wisdom and of knowledge.
Let’s just take a moment to pray.
Lord, again, we come to You alone. We say again, You alone have the words of eternal life. Unless You speak to us and make clear what the Spirit has recorded in this Word, we will not be helped. But Lord, if You illumine, enlighten, and speak to us by the Spirit of God this morning, we will be helped, because Your words are spirit and life.
We know that the letter kills, but Your Word gives life. So we commit to You these few verses we’ve read. We pray, breathe upon it. Make it real, and help us to see the thing that is in Your heart. For we ask this in the precious name of the Lord Jesus. Amen.
Now, these three verses are not a very long text, but it is a very full word. You know, the book of Colossians—or the letter to the Colossians—that one word, fullness, can summarize that whole book.
You know some of the verses: all the fullness of the Godhead bodily dwelleth in our Lord, and we are complete in Him. All the fullness of the Godhead was pleased to dwell in Him. This is the sense of this book. It is a very short text, but a very full word.
What I want us to look at today in these three verses is Paul: the man and his ministry. Yes, that is the title: Paul: the man and his ministry.
Now, we could take months. We could begin a new series, if we wanted to, on Paul: the man and his ministry, but I’m going to resist doing that. I would like to focus, in a little way, on these three verses and see what was in the heart of the apostle Paul; see what this man was like regarding the Colossians; and see what his focus and ministry were.
You need to know something, first of all, about what was happening in Colossae. What was the atmosphere? The very central nature of Christianity was being challenged, and serious error was being brought in that would have changed forever the nature of Christianity.
On one hand, there was asceticism—angels and all these things; an ascetic lifestyle, denying yourself in a wrong way. But on the other hand, there was a very insidious doctrine that came in. We all know a little bit about it. It is called Gnosticism.
Gnosticism, the very name, means a higher knowledge. What was being brought into the church was some higher knowledge, some greater understanding; and that greater understanding diminished the Person and work of our Lord Jesus. It took away from His centrality and supremacy.
This mysticism taught that if you could gain this higher knowledge, you would then be complete. So that is a little of the background.
We want to see today who this man was and what was the focus of his ministry. Now, I’m going to do something that is very hard for me. I’m going to resist a long introduction. I know Jerry finds that entertaining, and probably impossible, but I will.
I believe the principles that we see in the apostle Paul are universal principles. They are not just for the apostle Paul. God is looking for men today—women today—who have some of the same sense, sensing, or burden that the apostle Paul had. God is looking for those who have an end, an aim, and a focus like he had in the ministry.
So, with that ever-so-brief introduction, we’ll begin to look at this first part, which is the man. He says in Colossians 2:1:
For I would have you know what combat I have for you,
and those in Laodicea,
and as many as have not seen my face in the flesh.
What he wanted them to know was that, in the circumstances they were facing, he was doing spiritual battle for them. Their interest was at his heart. This man was moved and motivated to fight for them spiritually because he had a sense that, with the error being introduced, it would change the whole course of things.
So he said, “I want you to know one thing: I’m in conflict for you. I’m willing to do battle for you. I’m willing to fight for you.” This is what we see in the man.
Now, I wonder today if we find people like that—people willing to do battle for the church, willing to stand in the gap for the church, willing to wrestle. That is the sense: those Greek games where they wrestled. We are in conflict that all that God had in His heart would come to pass.
You know, I think this is rare. He was one who cared for the things of God. He was one who was concerned for the things of God and for the testimony of Jesus. He was one willing to go into combat for the things of God and everything that withstood them.
I believe, in a sense, that is what God is after: one who has His concerns; one who cares about the things of God and wants to see things different; one who is willing to stand in the gap and pour themselves out so that what He is after can be realized.
I said it was rare. It is rare to find those who care—really care. It is rare to find those who have God’s concerns at heart. It is rare to find those willing to pour themselves out. It is rare to find those who will do battle for the testimony of Jesus.
You know, we use an expression: “He is a rare bird.” It’s not always a compliment. I believe I’ve heard it said about me numerous times. But here indeed is one that is rare. This is the man God is looking for.
When I had this sense of how rare this was—how odd this was, how unusual this was—I picked up one of the books on my shelf. It was by Dr. Roy L. Laurin. You may not have heard of him, but Billy Graham paid him this compliment. He said, “I have read every one of Dr. Laurin’s books.” That is high praise from a rare man.
Dr. Laurin said this: “How few there are who are like Paul. We are perpetually concerned with ourselves.” Paul was different.
I thought about this thing of rare. What is the rarest element in the universe? Now, I would say this is rare: to find a man after God’s own heart is rare. But I was looking it up, and there is an element, a naturally occurring radioactive element, that is rare—rare by any standard. It is francium.
They say there are only thirty grams occurring in the earth at one time. Can you imagine how rare that is? I did a calculation, because engineers are wont to do calculations. Singers sing; we calculate.
I found out that thirty grams is 1.06 ounces. Now, if I offered you 1.06 ounces, you might think I was rather stingy. That is rare.
Oh, God is looking for that rare one who will have His care, who will be concerned with His concerns, and who will do combat against things that are trying to diminish the testimony of Jesus. To me, that is the apostle Paul.
Oh, that there would be some like that today: one who has His concern. Often we are concerned with our concerns. One who cares deeply about the state of things and longs that they would be different; one who is willing to be in conflict, in combat, for what God wants. This is that rare man, the apostle Paul.
If you’ll turn with me to Philippians 2, this is a verse some of you may be familiar with. Philippians 2:17:
But if also I am poured out as a libation
on the sacrifice and administration of your faith,
I rejoice,
and rejoice in common with you all.
Now, I don’t know if everyone here knows what a libation is, but it simply means a drink offering. So I’ll put it this way: “But if also I am poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and administration of your faith, I rejoice.”
This is the rare quality of that man: he was willing to be poured out as a drink offering. Now, can you imagine? Most of us are not willing to be poured down. Most of us do not want even to be inconvenienced.
But here is the rare quality God is after: one who is willing to be poured down, a drink offering, on the sacrifice of their faith. This is what he was.
I looked up a drink offering in Numbers 28:7. It says:
And the drink offering thereof shall be the fourth part of a hin for the one lamb:
in the holy place shalt thou cause the strong wine to be poured unto the Lord for a drink offering.
Now, I have a lot more trouble with that than a gram, I’ll tell you. I’m not sure what a hin is. A fourth part of a hin—I suspect it’s not great. I suspect it’s a little rare.
But, brothers and sisters, this is exactly what Paul had in his mind when he said, “I would have you know what combat I have for you.” He was poured out in the sanctuary unto the Lord. That was the rare quality that God was looking for in him.
When we begin to share these kinds of things, we think, “Well, gee, that’s so far beyond where I am. That’s on such a different level, and it may be. It is on a different plane, and that’s impossible for me. It’s one thing for the great apostle Paul, but what about me? I’m just a little brother in the assembly. What can I do? No one knows who I even am.”
But you remember the Lord Jesus, when He talked about that woman—that unnamed woman—who brought that costly alabaster flask of oil. You remember that story. I think most of us know that story. It is in Matthew 26:6-13.
She took that costly oil, that nard, and poured it out upon the Lord’s head. The disciples were indignant. They said, “For what end is this waste?” Or, I think the Authorized Version puts it, “Why this waste?” You could have taken this costly oil and sold it and given it to the poor. That is far more practical.
But the Lord said a remarkable thing about her. He said, in Matthew 26:10:
Why trouble ye the woman?
for she hath wrought a good work upon Me.
And then, in verse 12:
For in that she poured this ointment upon My body,
she did it to prepare Me for burial.
Listen to what He said—extraordinary:
Wheresoever this glad tidings shall be preached in the whole world,
that also which this woman hath done shall be spoken of
for a memorial of her.
Brothers and sisters, that gives me hope. The Lord did not say that about the apostle Peter’s confession. After Peter made that extraordinary confession in Matthew 16, the Lord did not say, “Wheresoever this gospel is preached in the whole world, let it be said what Peter has just proclaimed.” He did not say that.
But of this little, unknown, unnamed woman, He said, “Wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, let it be said of her, as a memorial to her, what she has done.”
What the Lord seems to be after in man or woman, in great or in small, seems to me to be the same thing. He wants those who are willing to be poured out for Him.
I do not think we will ever be an apostle Paul. I am confident I won’t. But you can be poured out. That is the rare quality exhibited in the apostle Paul.
We used to use a word years ago. The word was utter. We would often pray, “Lord, make us utter for You. Give us an utter heart and a single eye.”
Every word came from our dear brother Sparks. All you have to do is go to the Sparks website, do a search, type in the word utter, and you will see how consumed that dear man was with this word. He spoke often of utterness.
To him, I do not believe I am putting words in his mouth, but to him the rare quality that we need, as a servant of God, great or small, is this spirit of utterness. It will make a difference, and it is one thing we can all do.
I think that is what the apostle Paul must have meant when he said, “I would have you know what combat I have for you”—how utter I have been, poured out like a drink offering upon your sacrifice. There will be those who say, “Why this waste?” But this I know: this is what God is after.
That, I believe, speaks of the man. You know, we have a phrase we say: “It is worth fighting for.” Well, I’m an old fighter, so I like words like that. The apostle Paul apparently liked words like that. He talked about combat, fighting, and not boxing the air.
This man was willing to do battle, willing to fight for the church. He was willing to do combat. It was worth fighting for.
Brothers and sisters, is the church worth fighting for, for you? That is the rare quality. That was the difference. The apostle Paul said, “I’m in conflict for you. You are worth fighting for.”
This thing that is in God’s heart is worth fighting for. Now, there are not a lot of things very often that are worth fighting for. We will fight at the drop of a hat—especially Christians. You think cat fights are bad; look at Christian fights.
But there is a right spirit, right combat, a rare quality. It seems to me to be important when we look at the life of the apostle Paul.
He went on to say, “What combat I have for you, and those in Laodicea.” It was not too long after that we read the letter in Revelation about Laodicea. We would have given up a long time ago. God never gives up. Neither did the apostle Paul.
Then he said the strangest thing: “And for those who have never seen my face.” Think of it. We can be burdened for those we are close to. We can be burdened for those we know. We can be burdened for those who are familiar. But it is a rare quality to find one who is burdened for those who have never seen his face.
This is God’s burden.
You know, we pray on Wednesday. I believe those times are important because one thing the apostle Paul did was wrestle in prayer.
Yes, he was in prison. This is one of the prison letters. He was in that rented house in Rome. He was a prisoner. He was chained. He was free to receive people, but he was a prisoner. He wrestled in that prison for Colossae. He wrestled in that prison for Laodicea. He wrestled in that prison for those who had never seen his face.
We have been trying to learn this principle on Wednesday night in prayer. Are we burdened only for those things we are familiar with, those we are close to? Can we only pray for the things that touch us personally?
It is a rare burden for one who can do combat for those who have never seen his face. May the Lord give us something of that big burden, something of that heart.
It seems to me, in men and women, great or small, this is the rare quality He is looking for. Paul had such a love for the church. It makes me wonder. I often think, “Lord, do I really love Your church, or can I do without it?”
Every one of Paul’s letters, except for one, was written to a church. Even that one personal letter, Philemon, if you read verse 2 of the introduction, was also written to “the church that meets in your house.”
His burden, his focus, was always that the house of God would be what the Lord wanted. May the Lord give us this rare quality. I believe this is the man. This is what distinguishes him. This is what sets him apart. This is what God is after.
Now let us look at the second part: his ministry. Go back to Colossians 2. We will read verses 2 and 3:
To the end that their hearts may be encouraged,
being united together in love,
and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding,
to the full knowledge of the mystery of God,
in which are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
It seems to me that his end, his aim, the reason he was in conflict, and the focus of his ministry was at least in this explanation a fourfold aim.
This is what his aim was. This is what his end was. Just as we see the qualities in the apostle Paul that God is looking for in men and women, I think we see the qualities that God is looking for in true spiritual ministry in these four things.
There is much we could say. We could go all through his epistles and draw from many other places, talking about the qualities, the end, the aim, and the focus of ministry. But at least in these four, it seems to me to be a very full picture.
The first thing is this: “To the end that their hearts may be encouraged.” He was encouraging them to press on toward the goal of the on-high calling in Christ Jesus, as it says in Philippians.
The end of ministry is not to discourage. The end of ministry is to encourage—to the end that their hearts would be encouraged.
I have actually heard this said—not of me, at least. Maybe people are too kind to say it. But I have heard people say, “Every time that brother speaks, I am discouraged.” As I said, maybe you are thinking it but have not said it.
But the end of the ministry, the focus of the ministry, the aim of the ministry for the church of the living God and the testimony of Jesus, is that their hearts might be encouraged.
Praise the Lord for that. That is the first thing he brings up. How we need encouragement to press on. This life, this Christian life, is not easy to begin with. It is a marathon race. It is full of difficulties. The Lord said, “In the world, you will have tribulation.” How we need encouragement.
I was drawn to 2 Corinthians 1:3:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Father of compassions,
and the God of all encouragement.
Listen to that word: “the God of all encouragement.” That is His name.
I know some of you like the Authorized Version, and I do too, as a matter of fact. It says, “the God of all comfort,” but Brother Darby said here that he was not exactly comfortable with comfort. The difference is only slight, but he would rather see it be encouragement, because it has the sense of being cheered on in the race right to the end.
It is sufficient encouragement to press on, to obtain the prize, to reach the goal.
I remember just three years ago, I started running again after years. Now, I am talking years, if that is not enough emphasis. I ran the Monument Avenue 10K, and I have done it for three years. This year, I thought I would die.
There were voices in the crowd—little voices. They said, “You can make it. Keep going. Don’t give up. You’re doing well. Run. Don’t stop.”
How those voices of cheer made me go to the end. I had my slowest time. It was an ugly sight. I remember they send you the video just to punish you. It is the worst example of a runner you will ever see.
My partner said he left it all on the field. But Justin, my son, joined in the race halfway through. He was an illegal—jumped in right at the midway point—and he cheered me on to the end. He never left my side.
He said, “Dad, pick it up.” I said, “Justin, if I pick it up, I’m going to die.” But it was just that voice: “Press on. Don’t give up. Don’t stop.”
That is the sense. He is the God of all encouragement. Notice the word: all encouragement, not some encouragement. We are able to give some encouragement once in a while. This is the God of all encouragement.
Look at 2 Corinthians 1:4: “Who encourages us in all our tribulation.” Notice the continuing emphasis: “Who encourages us in all our tribulation.” Every tribulation, whatever it is, there is encouragement that we can make it to the end—not sometimes, but always, in all our tribulation.
As a matter of fact, when you read verses 3 through 7, you see the word encouraged, encouragement, ten times. Now, the word ten is the biblical number for trial, the biblical number for testing, if you will. In all our tribulation, the God of all encouragement is right there.
This is what true ministry, I believe, in the end does.
You know, 2 Corinthians is Paul’s spiritual autobiography. If there was ever one who went through suffering, tribulation, and difficulty, it was the apostle Paul.
In 2 Corinthians 11:23-28, Paul speaks of labours exceedingly abundant, stripes to excess, prisons exceedingly abundant, deaths often, five times receiving forty stripes save one, scourging, stoning, shipwreck, perils of rivers, robbers, his own race, the nations, the city, the desert, the sea, false brethren, hunger, thirst, cold, nakedness, and the burden of all the churches.
Then he says, “Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is stumbled, and I burn not?” In other words, we often hear people say, “Boy, I am burned out.” But the testimony of the apostle Paul is, “I burn not.”
If it is needful for me to boast, I will boast in the things which concern my infirmity. Why could he do this? How could he do this? This is an extraordinary list.
You remember when he was saved in Acts 9:16, the word that was given to Ananias was, “This is a special vessel.” Put it in the present context: this is a rare vessel. “For I will show him how great things he must suffer for My name’s sake.”
I know when I start there, people think, “Oh boy, here comes the bleak part.” But it is the God of all encouragement who met this one in the darkest of circumstances, in the most extreme tribulation, exceedingly abundant.
Do you not think for a moment that He cannot meet you in every circumstance? This is the worst-case scenario. The clear illustration is: if God can meet this one and turn him into the vessel He wants, surely He can meet us. To me, that is the clear message.
Hebrews 6:18 says:
By two unchangeable things,
in which it is impossible for God to lie,
we might have strong encouragement.
Brothers and sisters, not only is He the God of all encouragement, not only is He able to encourage us in all our tribulation so that we can encourage others with the encouragement we have received ourselves from God, but He gives us strong encouragement. It is impossible for Him to lie.
Now, you know it is possible for us to lie. I do not know if you get that hidden message in the text. Sometimes in our encouragement, we do not always tell the truth. We might say, “Honey, you look beautiful in that dress.” Now, I have never lied. I just want to go on record about that.
Or we might have weak encouragement instead of strong encouragement. How often you hear someone say, “Well, it could be worse.” Don’t you love that? Things are crumbling all around. The house is falling down. The dog has been run over. The car is broken. You got laid off last Friday, and somebody says, “Brother, it could be worse.”
What weak encouragement. But God, who cannot lie, gives us strong encouragement.
Think of Romans 8:31:
If God be for us,
who can be against us?
Think of that strong encouragement. Or Romans 8:28:
We know that all things work together for good
to those who love God,
to those who are called according to His purpose.
All things work together for good. What strong encouragement.
Or think of Romans 8:35:
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
tribulation, or distress, or persecution,
or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?
And verse 38:
For I am persuaded,
that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,
nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature,
shall be able to separate us from the love of God,
which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
That is strong encouragement. Nothing can separate.
Are you persuaded? Paul said, “For I am persuaded.” You remember King Agrippa, when Paul was speaking to him. King Agrippa said, “Almost thou persuadest me.” I think that is like most of us believers. We are almost persuaded.
But the difference in the quality of Paul’s ministry, and of this man, was that he could say, “For I am persuaded.” This is strong.
One of my favourite verses is Philippians 1:6:
Having confidence of this very thing,
that He who hath begun in you a good work
will complete it unto the day of Jesus Christ.
What stronger encouragement could you want than that? Not only has He begun the work, but He will complete the work. God did not get into this when He saved you and say, “Boy, that’s a project I did not want to take on. Let’s go to the next one. Next.”
He who has begun in you a good work will complete it unto the day of Jesus Christ.
To the end that their hearts would be encouraged. Even at the end of Matthew’s Gospel, when the Lord said, “Lo, I am with you all the days, even to the completion of the age”—that is strong encouragement.
If He said, “I am with you on the good days. I’ll be right there. Bad days are a different story,” that would be different. But He says, “I am with you all the days, even to the completion of the age.”
But not only was this the focus of the ministry of the apostle Paul. There was another thing in his heart. He says, “Being united together in love.”
The King James Version, which I like, says, “Being knit together in love.” Or it has the sense of being built together. That was the focus of his ministry for the church: that they would really be built together, united together, compact together.
The emphasis here is being united together. The atmosphere is in love. But be sure, the emphasis is being united together.
Because Paul was dealing with error, there is an insidious teaching that has come into the church. Now, I do not know if any of you know what the word insidious means. I am sure some of you do. Good grief, if an engineer does, you are bound to.
Insidious means proceeding in a gradual way, subtle, with harmful effect.
Creeping into the church has been this idea that you do not need to be built together. You do not need to meet together. You do not need to gather. There is no emphasis on being together.
There is this idea that you can have a casual relationship, that you can have a loose association, and that is sufficient. You can go when you want, only when you want, or not if you want.
But believe me, brothers and sisters, that was not the focus of the apostle’s ministry. He said, “Being united together.” That was his burden.
It reminds me of Ephesians 2:20-22:
Being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets,
Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone;
in Whom all the building fitted together
increases to a holy temple in the Lord;
in Whom ye also are built together
for a habitation of God in the Spirit.
As I was thinking about this—being united together, fitted together, built together—I was thinking that much of my professional focus has been forensic engineering. That just means I look at messy old buildings that have many problems. That, by the way, is not unlike the church.
What I have almost always found is that the cause of the damage is when those vital pieces become unconnected. That is always the issue. And always the solution is to get those vital pieces reconnected, properly adjoined, united together, in a way that they can be built up as a holy habitation to God.
I hope you understand this burden. This is the emphasis: being united together.
1 Peter 2:5 says:
Ye also, as living stones,
are being built up a spiritual house,
a holy priesthood,
to offer up spiritual sacrifices,
acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
This is what we are to be: built together. It has the sense of togetherness. It has that vital sense that we cannot live without one another, that we must be joined to one another, and that we must be in frequent and living contact with one another.
There is a danger here, because I know every time I begin to share on this, or one of the other brothers begins to share on this, you hear, “More meetings.” But that is not what we are talking about.
There is that vital link and connection where we are built together, united together, fitted together; where we care for one another, grow together, and cannot live without one another.
That is what propelled the early church to meet every day. They did not just say, “Oh, nine o’clock meeting. Got to be at the nine o’clock meeting.” They longed to be together, to encourage one another in the Lord.
It was not just a meeting concept. They had a real life with the Lord. If you do not have a real individual life with the Lord, a real individual communion with the Lord, you do not have anything to bring into the assembly.
Brothers and sisters, I believe that is precisely why these messages on spiritual exercise are so important: being united together.
And you will notice it says, “in love.” This is vital. This is the atmosphere where real building takes place.
Ephesians 4:16 speaks of being fitted together and connected. It talks about the body building itself up. Brothers and sisters, how we need that spirit to be in our midst.
There is a companion verse to John 3:16. You all know, “For God so loved the world that He gave His Son.” But there is a companion verse in 1 John 3:16 that tells how God gave Himself, and that we ought to love one another. Two vital things.
That was the focus of his ministry. I often explain it like this: in 1 Corinthians 12, there is the teaching on the body of Christ. In 1 Corinthians 14, there is the functioning or expression of the body of Christ.
In 1 Corinthians 14, if you do the math, right in between 12 and 14 is 1 Corinthians 13. There is that chapter on love. It is the secret: being united together in love. It is the atmosphere where real building takes place.
No wonder the Lord said, “A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another.” Then He went on to say this extraordinary thing in John 13:35:
By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples,
if ye have love one to another.
Love is the key. It is love that binds us together. It is the paste that holds us together. Without that paste, that glue, that cement, we will fall apart.
I have a pet peeve. The brothers tease me about this all the time. It is for those who cannot distinguish the difference between concrete and cement. It drives me literally crazy when people say, “Look at this nice cement floor,” when they should have said concrete. It is a mission in life to straighten out the world.
There are those who say, “Look at that cement truck going.” I grit my teeth, just like Nathaniel, who is teasing.
Concrete—this is quite a diversion, but you will get the illustration in a moment—is made up of gravel, sand, water, and cement. You got it? Just like cake is made up of flour. You never say, “Dear, that was a wonderful flour you made for me.” It is an ingredient.
But it is an essential ingredient, because without cement, you would just have a wet pile of rocks and sand. That is all you would have—not connected together, not joined together.
But when you introduce this single element of cement, the oldest building material known to man, you get the most beautiful mixture of building material that you can do so much with.
We need that binding cement, or there will not be any uniting together. Brothers and sisters, may we guard the love of God among us.
Sometimes at home, I am going to admit this, we say, “You know, I do not really love that brother or sister.” But may we pray, “Lord, give us Your love, that we really can be united, built together.”
This, I think, is a key.
A new commandment I give you,
that ye love one another.
Then he says, as his third point, “Unto all the riches of the full assurance of understanding.”
Paul’s end and focus in his ministry was that their understanding would increase. You will notice in this book there is an emphasis on understanding and wisdom.
Brothers and sisters, this is not just doctrine. This is understanding, if you will take my definition and seek out the Lord whether it is true, enhanced by revelation. That is the difference.
We can accumulate knowledge, line upon line and precept upon precept, without ever coming into understanding. But what Paul’s burden was, and the focus of his ministry, was that their understanding would increase.
For their understanding to increase, you need the spirit of wisdom and revelation. That is why, when Paul prayed for the church at Ephesus, he said, “I pray for you that you would have the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of Him.”
You need revelation. This word, full knowledge, is epignosis. It means full knowledge. You cannot have full knowledge, and therefore have full assurance, without the spirit of revelation.
That is what we need. May we often pray, “Lord, give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation.”
Often we would say, “Oh, if I only had more of the Spirit. Greater fullness of the Spirit would answer everything. If we only knew the Holy Spirit better, that would be the answer.” But that happens to be contrary to the Word of God.
Look at 1 Corinthians 14:14-15:
For if I pray with a tongue,
my spirit prayeth,
but my understanding is unfruitful.
What is it then?
I will pray with the spirit,
but I will pray also with the understanding.
Brothers and sisters, how we need understanding. Listen to Paul’s own testimony in 1 Corinthians 14:18-19:
I thank God, I speak with tongues more than ye all:
howbeit in the assembly
I had rather speak five words with my understanding,
that I might instruct others also,
than ten thousand words in a tongue.
That is how important the full assurance of understanding is.
That is what he did. He tried to help their understanding. He prayed for revelation, and that they would increase not just in knowledge but in understanding, and therefore have full assurance. I believe that was a focus of his ministry.
Then, finally, in that last verse, he says:
To the full knowledge of the mystery of God,
in which are hid all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge.
This was the end of the end for him. Remember how he started: “To the end.” This is the focus of my ministry. But in the end of the end, the focus of his ministry was that they might understand the mystery.
Brothers and sisters, this is no secret in this passage: what the mystery of God is, and what was contested in the Colossian letter, was the supremacy of the Lord Jesus.
The mystery of God is not a thing. The mystery of God is a Person. It is the Lord Jesus. In Him are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
This is what we need to see: the mystery of God. Now, mysteries in the Bible are plural. As a matter of fact, an interesting thing: mystery or mysteries occurs only in the New Testament, translated in English—never in the Old Testament.
In other words, in the Old Testament everything was hidden in shadows and types. But when we come to the New Testament, the mysteries of God are revealed. He is pleased to reveal His mystery.
A lot of us like to keep secrets, but God is willing to reveal to us His deepest secrets, His greatest mystery. That was the focus of the ministry of the apostle Paul.
In Ephesians 1, we discover that the mystery of God in the first chapter is Christ—everything in Christ. We understand in Ephesians 1 that the mystery of God, hidden from the ages, is that everything would be summed up in Christ. That is the mystery of God.
Then, when we come to Ephesians 3:4-5 and 9-10, we understand the mystery of the Christ. It is a different mystery, and the mystery of the Christ is the church.
But above everything is the mystery of God. Then you could talk about the mystery of the kingdom of God. Then you could talk about the mystery of the rapture: “Behold, I show you a mystery.”
Every mystery is under that single and most important mystery. That will keep us from error. When Christ has the preeminence, when He has the first place, when He is above all, when He is our focus, and everything is rightly related to this mystery of God, then we will be kept.
I struggled with how to illustrate this, because I do not have enough time. I thought about those Russian nesting dolls. You are familiar with those Russian ugly little things—forgive me if you are Russian. They are these bland little wood-shaped things.
There is the big doll, and you take off that big doll, and you have an identical doll inside the doll. Then you take out that doll, and you have another smaller doll inside that doll. Then you take out that doll, and you have another doll just like it inside that doll, until you get to the end of the dolls.
Well, this is the secret: the mystery of God in Christ. Everything is contained. It is the whole shebang, as we say, in the mystery of God, which is Christ, in Whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
There is the mystery of the Christ, which is the church. In that is another great mystery: the mystery of Christ in us. It says in Colossians, “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
How can we live the Christian life? It is the mystery of Christ in you, the hope of glory. Then the mystery of the kingdom of God. Some people, their whole emphasis is the kingdom of God.
All these mysteries are subject to, under, and contained within the mystery of God. How our Lord Jesus needs to have His place.
In Gnosticism, knowledge was the key. In the mystery of God, Christ is the key. There is no rival.
What we need in the focus of our ministry is to see God’s mystery in Christ. That will be fruitful ministry.
Well, I do not know if that makes sense. I hope something—at least an impression—hits you of Paul’s burden; of the man of God; of his conflict, his labour, his care, his concern, his combat. I hope at least it will tweak you enough to say, “I want to be like that. Lord, make me.”
What God is after is that rare quality.
Then his ministry: how he loved God’s purpose, how he gave himself to that purpose, how he laboured over that purpose, and how his end was that their hearts would be encouraged; that they would be united together, not apart, in love; that they would have the full assurance of understanding; and that they would know the full knowledge of the mystery of God, in Whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Let’s pray.
Lord, there is something beautiful in these verses, maybe we are not able to explain. But we are thankful. There is a drawing of our heart toward You.
Lord, we seek nothing great for ourselves, but we want to be the kind of men and women that You are after. We want that rare quality, at least to some degree, to be found in us.
And Lord, we want to spend our life ministering with that focus that the apostle had. It is a life worth living. Make this our end and our aim, just as it was for the apostle Paul.
Freshly, Lord, we offer ourselves to You, that Your will would be done in us and the testimony of Jesus would be strengthened in our generation.
Amen.