Missional Community
Colossians 4:1-18
Transcript
All right, well, again, I'm glad you guys are with us for tonight because we're actually coming to the close of our summer-long series, Colossians. It's all about Jesus. And it has just been so good for us to walk through this as a church family. And if you're adding up, we've covered Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3. And so tonight we're actually going to be looking at all of Chapter 4. So if you've got your Bibles, go ahead and grab them.
We've got much ground to cover tonight. If you don't have a Bible, if you just look kind of in between the seats, we've got some of our blue and white Bibles for you. If you don't have a Bible, we'd love for you to have that one. Take that one. That's our gift to you. And church family, if you know someone who doesn't have a Bible and you'd like to take one to them, please, that's what those are for as well.
Okay, so again, we've got much ground to cover tonight. But it has been so good, so good for us to walk through this letter as a church family over the summer. Wouldn't you guys agree? It's been good just for us to study this because Paul is writing this letter to a relatively young church and a relatively healthy church. And so it's been great to walk through because he's legitimately pointing them to the fact that it's all about Jesus and how that plays out in their personal faith and in their relationships. And so for us as a young, healthy church, we've been able to look at that and see how can we continue to grow and continue to move forward.
And we've gotten to grow in a couple of different ways. First of all, we've been able to grow in our understanding of the gospel. So if you think back over the last, over the first chapter and the second chapter, we see beautiful language where Paul basically makes us drink from a fire hydrant in terms of trying to understand about Jesus. He's going to use beautiful language like Jesus is the image of the invisible God. He's the creator of all things. He's the son of God.
He's going to talk about what Jesus does, that he reconciles all things to himself, making peace by the blood of his cross. And in light of that, the gospel being who Jesus is and what he's done, what does that mean for us? Paul's going to write and say that we were a people who were alienated, hostile in mind, doing evil deeds. We're incapable of fixing that relationship on our own. But based off of what Jesus has done on our behalf, it's going to use language like redeemed, transferred into the kingdom of his beloved son, qualified, forgiven.
And so we've been able to walk through that and grow in our understanding of the gospel. And over the last four weeks, what we've done is we've transitioned a little bit. And we've moved from this vertical idea of focusing on Jesus. And in light of that, in light of who we are, we've transitioned and started to look at, okay, in light of that, how am I supposed to live? So in light of who I am in Jesus, how am I supposed to live?
And basically we've seen the way that our faith impacts relationships. Paul's going to say things like seek things that are above, put to death sinful practices. He's going to talk about the things that we should put on, characteristics, marks of a Christian should be that we love one another, that we forgive one another, we bear with one another, patience with one another, that we should be open and honest with one another. We should encourage each other with the word of God. We should let the word of God dwell richly in us. And this past week, what we looked at is how the gospel impacts some of our most important relationships.
We talked about husbands and wives. We talked about parents and children. And we talked about masters and bond servants, whereas the way we looked at it, we looked at employers and employees. And so what we're going to see in chapter four is that Paul ends this letter with a resounding call. And what we're going to see is that churches that are focused on the gospel and are living that out in community, the natural outflow of that is going to be mission. And that's what we're going to be talking about tonight.
We're going to be talking about mission. And so I'm really excited about it. We've got a lot of ground to cover. And so before we jump into the scripture, I'd like to pray for us. You guys join me. Let's pray.
God, thank you for inviting us into what you're doing. Thank you for bringing us into a relationship with you, for bringing us into a church family, into a community of believers. God, my prayer is tonight that you would teach us what it looks like to be a part of your mission, to live on mission. In Jesus' name, amen. Okay, so if you've got your Bibles, we're going to be in Colossians chapter four, beginning in verse two. And if you've got the blue and white ones, it's actually going to be page 639.
Here we go, 4-2. Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. At the same time, pray also for us that God may open to us a door for the word to declare the mystery of Christ on account of which I am in prison, that I may make it clear which is how I ought to speak. Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person. And again, we're going to start with the first couple of verses, so read it with me again.
Verse two, verse two and three. Once again, continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. At the same time, pray also for us that God may open to us a door for the word to declare the mystery of Christ on account of which I am in prison. I love this. I really do. All throughout the letter that Paul is writing to the church at Colossae, he is talking about prayer.
From the very beginning to the very end, he's encouraging them in what it looks like to pray. And he's encouraging them to be steadfast in prayer, and he's saying, pray for us. Now remember, Paul's currently in prison, and his prayer is not, Lord, help me get out of jail. What is he praying? Look at it again. He says, pray also for us that God may open to us a door for the word to declare the mystery of Christ, to declare the gospel to those that are in.
I love that. Chapters one and two, we're going to use language where Paul says things like, I struggle and I labor in prayer. We're going to see that even later in this chapter. And every time I get there, it just strikes me. And I have to stop and think, man, when was the last time I struggled and labored for something in prayer? What about you?
And that just strikes me as odd, because I know that Paul and Epaphras and others that we're going to see later are in jail. And I'd be praying to get out of jail, but they're not. And the reason that they're not is they've realized that they get to still be part of the mission right where they are. They're not praying to get out of jail. They're praying that they would make the most of the opportunity that they have in jail to share the gospel. Because Paul, Epaphras, and some of these guys realize something that's hugely important for us as a church.
And I want us to grasp this. What we see in Matthew 16, Jesus says that he's going to build his church. And then he gives his mission to his church. And we're going to see that Jesus is going to send his Holy Spirit on the church to bring about repentance, to bring about change. And I'm going to use that word a lot tonight, so I want to make sure we unpack it. Repentance is realizing that we have sin.
It's confessing our sin, believing that Jesus can forgive it, and turning away from it. That is active repentance. So the Holy Spirit bringing about repentance. Paul realizes that he gets to be a part of the mission still. And he's asking for opportunities because he realizes that it's not about him. It's not his job to save people.
He just gets to be obedient. That's why he's praying for opportunities. And so Paul is pouring himself out for the gospel and for the mission. And since mission is what we're looking at tonight, I want us to have a good working definition of mission. I want us to really understand what it means. So think about it like this.
Paul is going to say in Colossians that it's all about Jesus. Everything. All of life is all about Jesus. It's all about the gospel. It's all about the Son of God who stepped out of heaven, who died on the cross for our sins, who was risen from the grave and gives his mission to his church. It's going to be all about the gospel.
And he gives the mission. Here's the mission. We see it in Matthew 28. He says, go and make disciples. So it's cool.
He looks at his disciples and he goes, go and make more. Go and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. So what we see is the mission is the people of God sharing the gospel in relationship with each other to make more disciples. It's relational. It's relational. It's disciples living in relationship with each other in community, going out and making more disciples.
So with that in mind, let's keep moving. Check out verse 4. And I'll tag it with a little bit of 3. That God may open to us a door for the word to declare the mystery of Christ on account of which I am in prison, that I may make it clear which is how I ought to speak. Okay. So what we're talking about is making disciples.
We're talking about sharing our faith, sharing the gospel. And for some reason, when we start talking about this in church, all of us begin to get anxious. Our heart rate begins to raise. We just get nervous. I don't know about you guys. It's just one of those things.
When I start thinking about telling somebody about Jesus or sharing my faith, I just get nervous sometimes. Because it's hard. And our culture says be tolerant. And I want to share my faith. And what we see here is that Paul is saying that he wants to declare the mystery of Christ. And in verse 4, his prayer, he's asking them to pray that he would make it clear which is how he ought to speak.
And so for us as we're moving forward, as we're talking about how do we actually share the gospel with people, I want to give us just a few quick things. And if you're a note taker, you're going to want to jot these down. A few quick things that we can think about that will help encourage us in terms of sharing the gospel. The first thing is this. Paul asks for prayer that he would make it clear. So we get to do the same.
So when you're thinking about sharing the gospel, Paul asks that he would be able to make it clear, which is how he ought to speak. And he's talking about the mystery of Christ. And so what he's talking about there is the gospel. He's talking about the gospel of Christ that he would be able to make it clear. So part of our prayer as Christians is asking God, help me to grow in the gospel so that when I have opportunities to share it, that I will be able to make it clear.
This is why we talk about our community groups all the time. Because that's actually where we get to grow in how we share the gospel, how we speak the gospel to each other. Think about your community groups. When somebody has a prayer, we're going to encourage them with the gospel. When somebody's struggling with a sin issue, we're going to point them to what's true in the gospel. When people are making life decisions, we're not just going to give them wisdom or advice.
We're going to give them the gospel. So in our community groups, we get to grow in the first stage of sharing our faith, which is knowing, knowing the gospel, growing in it. So the second thing is this. We're going to mess this up. We're going to mess this up. There are going to be times when you're intentionally building a relationship with somebody, and you go to start telling them about Jesus, and you're going to get about two minutes in.
It's going to be great, and then a dog's going to start barking, and then your 12-year-old cousin with braces is going to walk over, and it's just going to, like, dissipate in front of you to the ground in a pile of ashes. And it's just going to be, oh, okay, well, that was good. Even in those circumstances, when it doesn't go the way you want it to go, you get to grow in your understanding of the gospel, that it's not about you. It's about the fact that Jesus does the work, and as you think about it, it's not over. You get to go back and have another conversation with that person. You get to try again.
The gospel is true for you. Third thing is the gospel is true for you. On all accounts, the gospel is true. It's Jesus that builds his church, and it's the Holy Spirit that brings about repentance. We're just, whoa, yes, resounding. We're just called to be obedient.
So realize that we get to grow in our understanding of the gospel. There's going to be times that we mess that up, but ultimately, we're just called to be obedient. And one of the most encouraging things for us is that as we begin to grow in our understanding of the gospel, the Holy Spirit will begin to use that and teach us what to say in conversations. Now, that's not always going to be this warm, hair-tingling experience where the Holy Spirit just takes over. It's not always going to be like that. Sometimes, yes.
Sometimes, no. Now, I'll give you a couple examples. I remember walking into work, and the first person I came in contact with, I just asked them how they were doing. And five minutes later, they have tears rolling down their face, and I just walked over, and I just shut the door. And we kept talking, and we talked for probably 30 minutes. And I got to, he talked about his family and about his job, and I just encouraged him.
I told him what was true for him in the gospel. I had been praying for this opportunity for months. I got to pray with him. It was unbelievable. And I walked out, and I can't tell you. I can't tell you what I said.
I cannot tell you parts of that whole conversation because the Holy Spirit just took over. It was amazing. On the other side, around that same time, I was having a conversation with a guy, and he was talking about his girlfriend and how, well, it wasn't his girlfriend. They were talking, as the kids say. They were talking, and she wasn't returning his phone calls, and he was texting her all the time. At the same time, he was getting passed over for promotions at work.
And the whole time he's talking, I'm sitting there praying, God, help me encourage him in the gospel. Give me the words to say. And we literally got to the end of the conversation, and he's looking at me, and I'm like, yeah, yeah, man, that stinks. That stinks. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
I'll pray for you. That's all I had. That's all I had. I got to the end of that conversation, and that's all I had was I'll pray for you. And I did. And I got to come back and have more conversations.
But the pressure's off. The pressure's off for us as believers because we get to live our normal, everyday lives asking for opportunities and watching Jesus do work. What Paul teaches us here is as we ask for open doors that we can speak the gospel into, that we would speak it clearly, he's going to start doing work. We just get to be obedient. And he's going to turn a little bit. Look with me in verse 5.
So there's going to be a little bit of a change. He says, walk in wisdom towards outsiders, making the best use of the time. Walk in wisdom towards outsiders, making the best use of the time. What is the best use of our time? What is it? One of the best ways we can think about this is what was the best use of Jesus' time?
Jesus spent time with people. All people. And Jesus didn't sit around waiting for people to come to him. He went out to them. He went to the lonely, to the rejected, to the hurting, to those that were sick. And at the same time, he went to those that were religious, those that were wealthy, those that were popular.
And Jesus, as he walked through normal everyday life, he took the opportunity to pour into others. Normal everyday life, he did the extraordinary. Walking. Fishing. Sharing meals. Having conversations.
And that's what he's calling us to do. That's what it looks like, church, for us to make disciples, is to use our normal, ordinary, everyday lives that he's given us with the gospel being of first importance. And letting that impact our conversations, our relationships, our activities. And I want us to catch the beauty of this. That's ordinary, but not insignificant. Ordinary, but not insignificant.
And as we begin to pray for open doors, asking for the Holy Spirit to work, no day will ever be small. Think about that. No conversation will ever be a waste of time. No family meal will ever be a drudgery. No day at work will ever be just a day at work. Everything has meaning.
Everything has purpose. And so this is actually a really good gauge for us as Christians to see how we're walking in wisdom towards outsiders is, how are you spending your time? I want you to think back on this last week. This is the easiest way to do it. Think back over your last week. I'm going to keep talking to this.
Start thinking back. In our day and age, we have more time than any generation on the face of the earth has ever had. With the advancement in technology, we've got microwaves and fast food restaurants and dishwashers. We've just got more time to do things, which means two things. One, we can waste more time. All right?
So we've got more time to waste. And the second thing is, with all these advancements in technology, we've got more to distract us. So a really good diagnostic for us as Christians is, how are we spending our time specifically towards outsiders, towards those who don't know Jesus? How are we doing there? Because what we start to think is, did I go out? Man, I didn't go walk.
Okay. No. Think normal, everyday life. Normal, everyday life. How are you walking in wisdom towards outsiders? How are you making the best use of your time?
Think about your family. This is kind of what we talked about last week. Husbands and wives, are you making the best use of your time? Are you spending time together? Are you pouring into each other? Are you encouraging each other in the gospel?
Parents and children, are you spending time together? Are you spending more time staring at the TV than you are staring at each other's faces? It's a good gauge. It's a good gauge for us, especially for those of you who have family members who don't know Jesus. How are you leveraging your time so that you can be around them in normal, everyday life? Loving them, serving them, helping them, encouraging them.
What about at work? This is a big one for us. Think about work. Think about this last week. You at work. How well did you work when your boss was around versus when your boss wasn't around?
How about this? When you finished your tasks at work, did you just do your own thing or did you look to go help somebody else? When you were on break at work, did you sit and look at Facebook for 30 minutes? Or did you have a conversation with people that were in the break room? Who's having a tough time at work that you know about and just needs some encouragement? Who's lonely, isolated, just needs somebody to love them?
That's what it means to make disciples. It's to live like the gospel is true in every relationship, in every conversation, in every action. No action, nothing that we ever do is without meaning. And it's everything. This is your waitress. This is the lady at the bank when you go to deposit your check.
It's everywhere. It's every circumstance. Let me let you guys in on me a little bit. I'm not standing up here saying I'm perfect at this. Not. It's hard.
And you guys know me. I think you know me well enough that I love people. I do. I love you guys. If you don't know it, I'll hug you afterwards. But I do.
I genuinely love people. But I'm slightly introverted. I know. You wouldn't know it. But being around people drains me big time.
It just sucks the life out of me. It just makes me really, really tired. And so there are days when I wake up and I'm excited about spending time with people. And every person I meet, every conversation, I just want to encourage them. I want to point them towards the gospel. And then there are days that I wake up and I just want it to be about me.
I don't want to answer my phone when people call. And so this is hard. This is something that we've got to learn and grow in and realize that we get to be a part of Jesus' mission of saving the world in our normal, everyday lives. Like I said, I'm not perfect at this, but let me give you a couple of good stories. Over the last two weeks, excuse me, not two weeks. Over the last two years, I've had the opportunity to work at Dick's Sporting Goods.
And it's been incredible. So much I have learned there. And I'll give you a couple of stories. I remember walking into the break room one night and there was a girl on the phone. She was talking to her grandma and she was visibly upset. They were arguing, you could tell.
She hung up the phone. And I just, I remember what I was having to eat that night. I was having spaghetti. That's important. I would remember that detail. And I asked her, I said, you okay?
Everything okay? She goes, well, my grandma and my whole family, everybody's putting all this pressure on me to get married because I'm the last of my sisters to get married. And I mean, I've got a boyfriend. I guess he's my boyfriend. He cheats on me all the time. And if he just wise up, he could be my, she just went off.
And she just went on. And I finally stopped. I said, hey, can I encourage you for a second? She's like, you know, she was just letting it go. I said, can I encourage you for a second? I said, your boyfriend sounds like a jerk.
I said, I'm really sorry. I said, I'm really sorry that your family's putting this weird pressure on you. But let me tell you what's true for you. You have a father in heaven who loves you very much. So much so that he sent his son, Jesus, to die on a cross to forgive you of your sin, to bring you into a relationship because he loves you and because he pursues you.
And your identity and your value don't have to be wrapped up in some guy. It can be in him. Tears just welled up in her eyes. Thank you. You're welcome. Hope you break up your boyfriend.
He's a jerk. That was great. It was just a really cool opportunity. Here's another one. When somebody new shows up at work, you have a full license to play the 20-question game daily for a month at least. So this guy named David Hoewaler shows up at Dick's Sporting Goods.
And he's a recent graduate from Clemson University. And so I knew he was great, obviously. And so I just took that chance to build a relationship. I started asking him questions. We figured out that we had a lot in common, that we had a lot of the same interests. We started hanging out outside of work.
I invited David and his wife to come hang out with the first community group of Mill City Church. When it came time to multiply, David and his wife came with our group and started meeting in our house. It came time to multiply that group again. And the guy who was going to be leading the group was in the military and was going to have to do some training. And he was going to have to go overseas. And so David stepped up.
David said, I'll lead. And so we trained him as an apprentice. David started leading a group. In the spring of this year, David did an internship with our church where he got to be a part of our teaching team. And he got to learn more and be over kind of what happens on Sunday in terms of sound and music and videos. We got to the end of that semester and he wanted to keep doing everything that he was doing.
David just took a job this week and we asked him, David, what do you need to pull back on? He said, nothing. He said, I'll keep working my job. I want to keep doing the things that I'm doing. That guy's a leader in our church. And it started with a conversation of, when did you graduate from Clinton?
Normal, ordinary life. And eternity's impacted by that. But it's not just work. Don't think work. Katie and I lived in an apartment when we first moved here. And the last weekend we were there, they threw a pool party.
So it's like, oh, great. Now that we're leaving, you're throwing a party. It's like, bye, guys. There, Katie struck up a conversation with a lady. And they were about our age. And so we invited them to come hang out with us.
They came and had a meal at our house. We invited them to start hanging out with our community group. And five months later, Daniel Gillen became a Christian and was baptized. The Gillens were so pumped up about what was going on, they invited their friends, the C's. The C's started coming. And two months later, DJ met Jesus.
And DJ's going to be baptized in the fall. Started with a conversation by a pool over a hot dog. Normal, everyday life. Ordinary, but not insignificant. We begin praying for open doors and we get to see what God does. We start looking at every conversation, every relationship as an opportunity to encourage people in the gospel.
And we get to watch the Holy Spirit begin to change people. When Jesus calls us to go and to make disciples, this is what he's talking about. Everyday mission. No second of any day is ever a waste of time when it's lived to the glory of Jesus to see his mission go forward. Verse 6. May your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.
The speech of a Christian should be generous and gracious. Not complaining. Not whining. Not cutting. Not cursing. But the speech of a Christian should be gracious.
And it should be seasoned with salt. It should be seasoned with the richness of the gospel. That for us as Christians, the gospel should be our native tongue. The gospel should be the lens through which we start to look at the world. How we start to analyze everything. So that when somebody comes to me and asks me for marriage advice, I can't help but tell them about Jesus.
Because I'm called to love my wife as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her. When somebody comes to me and wants to talk about finances and how I handle my money, I get to tell them that Jesus gave everything for me. And so nothing that I have belongs to me. I have everything that I need in Jesus. So I'm going to handle my money a little bit differently.
When somebody comes to me talking about trials and struggles, I get to point them to a Savior who suffered for them on their behalf. Seasoned with salt. Not open the salt shaker and dump it out. Okay, so you don't have to walk around with your Bible at work being like, Oh, you look down. Can I encourage you? And just seasoned.
Seasoned with salt. Asking for opportunities that you would make it clear. That's what it says. So that you may know how you want to answer each person. Seasoned with salt. The gospel impacts everything that we do.
And salt's cool. The fact that he uses this is interesting. Salt brings out flavor. It preserves. Salt can also irritate. So don't be that characteristic of salt.
But what's cool about salt is it doesn't necessarily have a flavor in and of itself. But if you take salt and you put it on five different types of food, it's going to bring out the flavor in different ways in all five of those different foods. It's going to bring out five different types of flavors. And so when he says be seasoned with salt, he's saying be you changed by the gospel. You. You in love with Jesus.
Your personality. So some of you in the room are introverts, even more introverted than me. And you're freaking out right now. You're like, oh, he's talking about people. And I just, I want to go sit in the corner and read a book. No, no, no.
Be, be you in love with Jesus. You have been uniquely and wonderfully designed by Jesus to make disciples just the way you are. So you get to pray and look for those opportunities as well, just like all of us. See, church, that's the mission. People that have been changed by the gospel, that are living that out in community, begin praying for opportunities. They begin looking at their lives, looking for every day, every second opportunities that they can encourage someone.
Speak the truth of the gospel to them. That's what mission looks like. Get this. Disciples begin to live like the gospel's true, letting it impact their relationships. They begin inviting their friends into community. Their friends meet Jesus.
Their friends become disciples of Jesus. We're back here. Those people begin to make more disciples. It's cycles of disciples. We go make disciple after disciple after disciple. That's what the mission of the church is.
It's to go and to make disciples. So let's keep going. Look at verse 7. We're going to walk through this kind of quickly, and I'm going to try to highlight who all these people are, because there's a lot of different names in here. But what we're going to see is a lot of different names, a lot of different people, and what that means for the mission of Jesus.
Tychicus will tell you all about my activities. He is a beloved brother and faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord. I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are and that he may encourage your hearts. Okay, so Tychicus, the first time we're going to see him is actually in Acts chapter 20. We see him in Acts chapter 20. Paul picks him up in Asia Minor, and now he's with Paul in Rome, and he gets the honor of delivering the letter, just like the video showed, to Ephesus, to Colossae, and to a person.
And he gets to deliver the letter to Philemon. So he's a part of the mission. It continues. Verse 9, And with him Onesimus, our faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. Now, from the video, Onesimus was a runaway slave. Onesimus ran away from Philemon, and he's found himself in Rome.
And then Rome, he hears the gospel, and he becomes a Christian, faithful brother. And Paul is now entrusting to him also the letters. Go back to Ephesus, to Colossae, and to Philemon. So you can see this playing out, right? Onesimus is walking with the letters. Okay, all right.
Ephesus, Colossae, Philemon. That one wasn't so comfortable for him. But Paul sends him back. So a runaway slave gets to be a part of the mission. Keeps going. Verse 10, Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, greets you.
Aristarchus. We see that Paul picks him up in Acts 17 in Thessalonica, and that he's with him in Rome. It continues on. Mark, the cousin of Barnabas, concerning whom you have received instructions. If he comes to you, welcome him. Mark got to be a part of one of the first missionary journeys.
And during the journey, Mark leaves. Mark leaves in the middle of the journey. And so Paul and Mark are actually at odds. And what we see here is years later that they've been reconciled because the gospel is true. And now they're together in Rome. A prison is a pretty good place to get over your differences, right?
So Mark is a part of the mission too. And Jesus, who is called Justice. All we know about him is the next part. These are the only men of the circumcision among my fellow workers for the kingdom of God, and they have been a comfort to me. All we know is that he was a Jew who converted to Christianity. He became a follower of Jesus.
That's all we know. And now it starts talking about people who didn't have a Jewish background. They were Gentiles. Epaphras. We know this guy. Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you, always struggling on your behalf in his prayers, that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God.
For I bear him witness that he has worked hard for you and for those in Laodicea and Herapolis. So this is Epaphras. Epaphras who planted the church of Colossae and is now in prison with Paul in Rome. And again, we get to see that struggling. He's struggling for them on their behalf in his prayers. I love that.
Luke, the beloved physician, greets you. We see him pick up. He's picked up in Acts. I think it's Acts 18. Luke. Dr.
Luke. Namesake of the Gospel of Luke. Author of the book, The Acts of the Apostles. And Demas. All we know about Demas is that he's with them now and later we're going to see Paul and Luke together and Demas isn't there anymore. It's gotten hard and Demas has left.
It says, I think he chased after worldly things. Give my greetings to the brothers at Laodicea, another church that's in the area, and to Nympha and the church in her house. Nympha got to host her church family in her home. How cool is that? And when this letter has been read among you, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans. And see that you also read the letter from Laodicea.
All these names, all these people, what we get to see is that the mission is big. That we get to go and to make disciples, but it's a team sport. It's fishermen. It's slaves. It's men. It's women.
It's all of us working together. It's a bunch of people that have been changed by Jesus and joined together in his mission. And it's not a super special team. It's a bunch of people that have been changed by Jesus and invited in. It's a team sport. We all get to make disciples as a part of a team because the mission's big.
Continues on. I'll read 16 again and keep going. And when this letter has been read among you, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans. And see that you also read the letter from Laodicea. And say to Archippus, see that you fulfill the ministry that you have received in the Lord. I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand.
Remember my chains. Grace be with you. One of the major things that we've talked about all throughout Colossians is that anytime you see the word you, it's actually kind of the Greek translation of y'all. So Paul's writing this to the church. And so they would have understood this not just as individuals, but as a collective, as a body of believers. And this is one of the only times in the letter where it's the singular version of you.
Look at it. Verse 17. And Paul writes for them to tell this guy, Archippus, see that you fulfill the ministry that you received in the Lord. Archippus, this random guy who is not a major character in this story at all, has a specific ministry that he's been given in the Lord just for him and for him alone. He has a personal ministry as a part of the team. And I want us to realize tonight that just like Archippus had a specific ministry in the Lord just for him, Jesus has a specific ministry for each one of us as a part of the team.
That he has uniquely and creatively designed each one of us to be right where we are doing the things that we're doing with the gifts and abilities that we have for the gospel so that we can go out and make disciples. And in doing so, we grow in our relationship with him. You see, the epic, grand narrative of the history of the world has been given to us. Jesus promises to build his church and to send his Holy Spirit to bring about repentance in people that the church can move forward and make disciples. And 2,000 years later, we're still doing the same thing. It gets better.
I've read the end of the book. Jesus comes back to get his church. We ain't going nowhere. We're not going anywhere. The mission is big and it's going to continue until Jesus comes back. That's a big promise because you've been invited into a mission where the victory has already been won.
And that's huge for us. So this epic, grand narrative of saving the world is accomplished in the ordinary. In the ordinary, but not insignificant. Every one of us has a mission. Every one of us as part of the mission of Mill City Church has a role. Let me help you see it.
I want you to ask yourself these questions. This is how you start seeing it. What are the gifts and abilities that you have? What are you passionate about? Where has the Lord placed you currently in this stage of your life? Where do you work?
Where do you go to school? Who is your family? What are the names of your neighbors? What are the worst areas in our city? You see, each one of us has a part in the ministry. Don't miss this.
Jesus calls us to make disciples. And the way that we do that is we begin praying for open doors with our family and our friends, with the people that we serve so that Jesus would build his church. The Holy Spirit would bring people to repentance. And the gospel would move forward. And what we see in the narrative, in the letter of Colossians, is that Paul is going to say that people that have been changed by Jesus, living that out in the context of community, led by the Holy Spirit, the mission is going to move forward. And every one of us has a different Job and a different role.
Each person has a role as a part of the team. And this means that we've got to constantly remind ourselves that the church is people. The church is not a building. The church is not an activity. It's not a club or an organization. It's a group of people that have been rescued by Jesus, transferred from death to life.
The church is people. And the church is God's chosen vessel to take the gospel to the ends of the earth, and there is no plan B. We are the mission. We get to take the mission forward. In the 1940s, around the time of World War II, there was a ship that was commissioned to be built. It was the SS United States.
And it was supposed to be the biggest and baddest ship on the ocean. It was a troop carrier. The SS United States was built to carry 15,000 soldiers at 51 miles per hour and make it to any destination in the world in less than 10 days. That means she was faster than any ship on the ocean at the time. But see, by the time it was finished in 1952, World War II had ended.
And in the 17 years of service that the SS United States had, it was only put on standby one time, and that was during the Cuban Missile Crisis. And so at the end of 17 years, a ship that had been designed to carry troops into battle was retired and was converted into a luxury liner. The SS United States, which could carry 15,000 people, had its barracks converted to state rooms that could carry 2,000. It became a luxury liner for presidents and for heads of states and for celebrities who wanted to make it across the ocean in style. Mess halls were converted into four restaurants, three bars, two movie theaters.
The deck was kept open, but they put in a heated swimming pool. They installed 19 elevators. And people that rode on the SS United States got the luxury of being on the first air-conditioned ship on the ocean. The SS United States was designed to be a troop carrier and was converted into a luxury liner. You see, the faces of soldiers that are preparing for battle and their conversations are much different on a troop carrier than they are sitting by a pool eating bonbons. The allocation of resources on a troop carrier are different than that of the opulent wealth of a luxury liner.
The troop carrier is going to go as fast as it can because it's got an urgent mission where the luxury liner just takes its time. It just goes at its own pace. And what Paul is going to consistently say throughout this letter, he's pointing to the church at Colossae that Jesus is the image of the invisible God, that all things were created by Him and for Him, that He spoke creation into existence, including us, humankind, and we rebelled. We decided we wanted to be like God, and we broke the relationship. We brought sin into the world, a relationship that we were incapable of fixing, that the Old Testament sacrificial system and the laws were a mere shadow of the atonement and the reconciliation that needed to be done.
But God promised that He would rescue, that He would redeem, that He would save, that He would accomplish salvation for His glory, and Jesus steps into history. Conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of a virgin, Jesus lived a perfect, sinless life. He trained up His disciples. He did miracles. He taught. He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and I'm going to give my life as a ransom for many.
And Jesus goes to the cross. And on the cross, the wrath of God is poured out on Jesus so that we could be forgiven of our sins, so that we could be offered redemption. And Jesus dies, and they place Him in a tomb. And three days later, Jesus walks out victorious, showing that He conquered sin, death, Satan, and hell. And He hung around with His disciples for 40 days. And He told them, I'm giving you the mission.
Go and make disciples until the end of the age. And I'm ascending into heaven, but one day I'm coming back. But don't worry, I'm going to send my Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit descends on 120 ragtag believers, and the gospel moves forward. The believers go from 120 to 3,000. The gospel begins to move from Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria to the ends of the earth.
And now Paul and Epaphras are in prison. And 2,000 years later, the mission is still moving forward. The church is a troop carrier, not a luxury liner. We have been designed for mission. We have been invited into the mission of Jesus. The ministry of the church is not designed to be a blessing to the body just as a means of itself.
But we're to be the agent through which Jesus works by His Holy Spirit to save the world. We're the mission. And so as Paul comes to the end of this letter, he's shown them that the gospel is the most beautiful thing in the world, and changed by it as people who are living in community. We get to use our ordinary, everyday lives on mission as we make disciples. That people who have been changed by the gospel and choose to live that out in community will change the world on mission. Mill City Church is a gospel-centered community that has been called into the greatest mission the world has ever seen.
Mill City Church is you and you and you and you, y'all, us. And we've been called into it. The band's going to come back up. This summer's been great for us. We've grown. We've been able to grow in health and what it looks like to be healthy.
And when I say healthy, I mean we've grown in our understanding of the gospel. We've begun confessing and repenting of sin. We've grown in what it looks like to live in relationship with each other and community. And we are at one of the most beautiful places in our church history that is a people that have grown to understand the gospel and are living that out in community. It's time to go all in. The church is a troop carrier and we've been designed for mission.
And I just want to tell you a little bit about our future. Here's where we're going. That because of those things, we get to, over the next couple of months, we're going to be focusing on mission. Next Sunday will actually be our last Sunday here at FBC West Columbia. And then we're moving our gatherings to Glen Forest School. And the reason we're doing it is we're doing it for mission.
We've got the opportunity to go into a school that is underloved, underappreciated, underfunded, that has very little volunteers. And we get to go in. We get to go from a place that's free to where we're actually going to pay to use the space because it's going to help the school. We're going to go from a church to a school. We're going to get to serve them. We're going to adopt them.
We're going to be moving our gathering time from the evening to the morning for mission. We're leveraging ourselves for mission because what we're saying is we want our church family to get up and to worship together on Sunday mornings and then to use the rest of the day to live normal, everyday life with people on mission in the afternoons and evenings. So that means that to see the mission of Jesus go forward, you might have to invite people over to your house to watch the Broncos play. It may be that you need to go play a round of golf. Or invite your neighbors over for a cookout. That's what it looks like to live on mission.
We're going to get into that neighborhood. We're going to get into the neighborhoods around Glen Forest. Not only that, the teaching of our church is going to be very missional over the next couple of months. Dawn of the church is Acts 1 and 2. It's the beginning of the mission. And then the Sunday in between, we're going to be throwing a party.
We're going to be inviting people from the surrounding neighborhoods. And we're going to be inviting our friends. Then on September 7th, we're launching Kingdom Come. It's a series where we look at how the kingdom of God moves forward in the lives of people. Our community groups are going to be focusing on a who. We're going to be focusing on areas like West Hill, like Glen Forest School, USC, and Midlands Tech.
And all along the way, we're going to continue to see our church family make disciples and bring people into community. We're going to continue to see group leaders trained and groups multiplied out. We're going to see our church continue to grow. And then we're going to multiply more churches. We're going to continue to have an impact in the city because we want to see marriages mended. We want to see children and parents relating to each other the right way.
We want to see darkness driven back in our city. And so in a second, we're going to sing. We're going to sing and pray that God would give us the courage that we need to step up and to step out. The mission's big and we've been invited in. And so I'm going to ask you that as you sing, pray for courage. Pray that God would lead us.
Jesus has called us into a mission that he's already won. And we need everybody to get on board the truth carrier. It's time to go all in. And it's time for each one of us to fulfill the ministry that Jesus has given to us. Let's pray.
God, we are humbled by the fact that you would call us in. That we would get the opportunity to be a part of your mission of saving the world. In normal, everyday life. God, when it's about the mission, when it's all about Jesus, we put our preferences to the side. We put our wants and desires to the side. And we chase after you with everything.
Because the gospel's true. Or teach us what it looks like to live on mission. In Jesus' name, amen. Let's stand as we respond and sing. That we, when we yap. If we love others.
Amen. Amen.