Turn with me, if you would, to
Colossians chapter 4. Colossians chapter 4. We are
going to finish our study in Colossians this morning. And
from what Paul says here, his final words to the Colossians,
let me give you one statement that will summarize this entire
Sunday school lesson, or Bible study as we call it. The statement is, May God never let us stray from a heart for the ministry. May God never let us stray from
having a fervent heart for the ministry of his gospel and his
people. There are times that we believers,
and I'm talking about believers, I'm not talking about those who
were here once and then they have no heart for it and they
leave and they never come back. There are times that we believers, our hearts, there are times that
our hearts stray from the ministry of God. And the ministry of God
is His gospel and His people. Sometimes our hearts stray. Everybody here knows what I'm
talking about. Sometimes that leads to our bodies
straying. Sometimes it progresses to our
bodies straying. Sometimes we forsake the assembling
of ourselves together as the manner of some is. Sometimes
our bodies stray. But sometimes we remain right
here in the pew and our hearts stray from the ministry of God. I know
that the thought of that is convicting. I know it's sobering. I know
it cuts, it convicts. It is convicting to me. I am
preaching to myself right now. I've told you before how I write
my notes. It's a mess. I don't see how
anybody could read this. But I circle things. I star things. I arrow things. I underline things. And I have me. I'm preaching
to me. I'm preaching to me. I'm preaching
to myself. And I mean that. I'm not one
step above any weakness of the flesh. People assume that the
pastors, you know, I'm not one step above any weakness of the
flesh. I am just a sinner saved by grace
like everybody else. So I need this. I really do need
this as your pastor. I need this. We all need this. We all as God's people have been
called to his ministry. We've been called to his ministry. And the Apostle Paul right here
has given us some closing words of instruction on what we desperately
need to be fervent on as members of God's congregation. And I
pray that he might bless this to our hearts. It's convicting,
but I pray you'll make it a blessing. for His glory, for our good.
Paul wrote this letter to the Colossians, and in this entire
letter, he declared God's sovereignty. And when he says God, he means
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's who he's talking about.
Look with me at chapter 1. Turn with me over to Colossians
1, verse 13. He said, who hath delivered us
from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom
of His dear Son, Christ, in whom, in Christ, we have redemption
through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins, who is the image of
the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature, For by Him
were all things created that are in heaven and that are in
earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions
or principalities or powers, all things were created by Him,
Christ, and for Him. They were created by Him and
for Him. And He is before all things,
and by Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body,
the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
that in all things He might have the preeminence. He declared
the glory and the majesty and the power and the preeminence. of the Lord Jesus Christ. Preeminence
means first. The world likes to put Him last,
but God the Father put Him first. All right goes to Him, everything
goes to Him. Verse 19 says, for it pleased
the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell. Therefore the Apostle Paul declared
the hope that we have in Him, in the Lord Jesus Christ. If
you look at verse 27, He said, to whom God would make known
what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles,
which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. What does that mean?
Why is he the hope of glory? Paul told us why in chapter two,
verse nine, he said, for in him, dwelleth all the fullness of
the Godhead bodily. If we could just enter in to
what that just said. You talk about glory and majesty. In him, in this man, dwells all
the fullness of the Godhead, Father, Son, and Spirit bodily. Amazing. Verse 10 says, and you
are complete in him. I don't ever get tired of hearing
that. While, while mankind is declaring,
well, now you're, you're not saved yet. And if you want to
be saved, this is, you're going to have to do something about
it. And you're going to have to, God said through his word, you
are complete in him, completely complete. In Him, you're a finished
product. Verse 12, chapter two, verse
12. He said, you were buried with
Him in baptism, immersion, immersion into Him. Wherein also you are
risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God, who
hath raised Him from the dead. Who did it? Who was the great
physician, the operator? God. Verse 13 says, and you being
dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened
together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses, blotting
out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was
contrary to us and took it out of the way, nailing it to his
cross. He paid the price. He finished
the work. So in chapter three, verse one,
he said, if you then be risen with Christ, seek those things
which are above where Christ sitteth on the right hand of
God, set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth,
for you are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life,
shall appear, then shall you also appear with Him in glory. Set your affection on that. Set
your thoughts and your desires on that. Just dwell on that. If you have risen with Christ,
then you dwell on what's waiting with Him. Chapter 3, verse 10
says, you have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge
after the image of him that created him, where there's neither Greek
nor Jew, circumcision or uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor
free, but Christ is all and in all. And then he went on down
and he spoke to wives, and husbands, and children, and fathers, and
servants, and masters. And he said in chapter 3 verse
23, Whatsoever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord, and
not unto men, knowing that of the Lord you shall receive the
reward of the inheritance, for you serve the Lord Christ. because of everything He did.
Because of everything He did, He said, whatever you do in response,
do it with all your might. You serve the Lord Christ. And
then He closes out His letter in chapter 4, verse 2, saying,
Continue in prayer and watch in the same with thanksgiving,
with all praying also for us, that God would open unto us a
door of utterance. to speak the mystery of Christ,
for which I am also in bonds, that I may make it manifest as
I ought to speak. Walk in wisdom toward them that
are without, redeeming the time. Let your speech be always with
grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to
answer every man. Now from verse 7 to verse 14,
this is where we pick up, verse 7. He sends greetings from different
brethren to the congregation there at Colossae. And we still
do the same thing to our brethren today. Tell them all we said
hello. I'm constantly saying that. Tell
them all we said hello. Tell all of them we said hello. It's an expression of love. and
unity and desire for fellowship in Christ. And Paul is sitting
here writing this letter and everyone who was around him at
the time and realized that he was writing a letter to the Colossians,
they all said, tell them I said hello too. Put my name in there
too. You're sending greetings to the
church at Colossae, put my name on there too. Verse seven, he
said, all my state shall Tychicus declare unto you, who is a beloved
brother and a faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord,
whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose, that he might
know your estate and comfort your hearts. with Onesimus, and
as I mention these names, I think about each one of their stories,
those that the Lord has recorded. These are precious men. Read
the story of Onesimus, Philemon, just before Hebrews, just precious. He said, I'm sending Onesimus,
a faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you, he's from
Colossae. They shall make known unto you
all things which are done here, Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner,
saluteth you. And Marcus, sister's son to Barnabas."
You know, Paul and Barnabas had a falling out over Marcus, John
Mark. Separated ways. In the end, grace
won. They reunited and he said right
here, Marcus, sister's son to Barnabas, touching whom you received
commandments. If he comes to you, receive him. And justice, this is not the
Lord Jesus Christ, this is Jesus, which is called justice, who
are of the circumcision, these are Jews, these only are my fellow
workers unto the kingdom of God, which have been a comfort unto
me. Epaphras, who is one of you,
he's from Colossae, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always
laboring fervently for you in prayers." That's precious to
me. They got together and had prayer, and every time this man,
Epaphras, prayed, he mentioned the church at Colossae. And he said, he is just always
laboring fervently for you in prayers. That you may stand perfect
and complete in all the will of God, For I bear him record
that he hath a great zeal for you and for them that are in
Laodicea and them in Hierapolis. And he said, Luke, the beloved
physician." Luke wrote the gospel according to Luke and he penned
the book of Acts. Luke, the beloved physician in
Demas, they greet you too. Now here are his closing exhortations
to this church. All right. Four of them. I said
all that to get to this. He declared the gospel. He declared
God's sovereignty. He declared God's work. He declared
their standing now in Christ. And he said, everybody salutes
you. And then he mentions four things,
and I'm just gonna give them to you, and then we'll look at
each one. Verse 15, he said, salute the
brethren. Verse 16, he said, read this
epistle. Verse 17, he said, take heed
to the ministry and fulfill it. And in verse 18, he said, remember
my bonds. Those four things describe a
fervent congregation. That's the title of this lesson. A fervent congregation. All right,
let's look at each one of these. Verse 15 says, Salute the brethren
which are in Laodicea, and salute Nemphis and the church which
is in his house. Salute the brethren. Salute the
brethren. Salute means, when you look up
that word, it translates to draw to oneself. It means bid welcome. Wish well to. Receive joyfully. It means hug. That's what it
means. Enfold in the arms. embrace. Paul said, dear congregation,
these are his last words to them. Make sure you embrace one another. Make sure you embrace one another. I think about this, this precious
congregation, we started out with some, you could just count
them on fingers. And it's growing. And I believe
so is our love. I don't ever want to lose it.
I just don't. No matter how many members the
Lord brings to this congregation, we're about to get, Lord willing,
a bigger building. If God fills it, I don't want
to lose it. Let's not go to four corners
and have four groups and, you know, this group doesn't talk
to that group because they don't ever make it to that side of
the building. Walk around the building. Every brother and sister
who confesses Christ, embrace them. Bid them welcome. You're welcome right here. Yeah,
you come on in and talk to us. Bid them welcome. In 1988, Brother
Todd Nybert was feeling called to go full time into the ministry.
And he talked to Brother Henry Mahan about it. And Henry, they
talked, but then he wrote him a letter And that letter is full
of wise counsel. And Brother Todd made copies
of that letter and he gave it to his preacher's class and he
sent it to some of us pastors. And in that letter, the number
one thing that Brother Henry was encouraging Brother Todd
to do was to establish fellowship among the brethren in Lexington. I almost just read the letter
to you. Establish fellowship. Establish
fellowship. He said, the fellowship of the
brethren is the foundation of the work. And it's the truth. If we don't have fellowship,
there's no work here. There's no ministry. We are the
ministry. The gospel is for His people. It's to His people. It calls
in, it brings in, it bids welcome His people. And He said, the
fellowship of the brethren is the foundation of the work. When
a spiritual love and a unity and an embrace exists among the
brethren, it creates a fire for the ministry. We know it does. When there is great love there,
It creates a fire for the ministry and the more coals there are
on the pile, the hotter the fire. We need each other. We need each other. Our zeal depends on each other. When I withdraw myself from my
brethren, I not only put my own fire out, I put my brethren's
fire out. You know that illustration of
the pastor who went to the brother's house who they just didn't see
him that much anymore. He just wasn't coming, he wasn't
there, and he walked in. They didn't really say anything
to each other. The man was just sitting in front of his fireplace
and the pastor scooped one coal out and set it on the hearth
and it went from red hot to black. Then he picked it up and put
it back on the pile of coals and it again went red hot. Well, that's how it is for us
and all of us. Paul said, be there for each
other, encourage one another. for the sake of the works foundation
there in Colossae. Salute the brethren. Fellowship,
fellowship, work at it. Work at it, show love. Verse
16, he said, and when this epistle is read among you, cause that
it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans, and that you
likewise read the epistle from Laodicea. Hear this word, salute
the brethren, and read this word. Hear this word, read this word,
preach this word, gather around this word. Every Wednesday night
at about 7.15, some of the men meet in my study. All that we
do in there, there's no big secret. All that we do in there is one
man will read the word and pray for us. Sometimes I may have
an announcement I need to make and if we need to talk about
something, that's fine. A lot of times, I on purpose
don't make the announcement in there because I want to come
out here and make it to everybody. All we're really doing is gathering
around the Word. It's another moment of fellowship.
Rather than everybody, and we all know this experience, rather
than everybody running in at the last minute, sitting down
to hear the preaching, and running out as soon as it's over. It's a moment for the men to
come together and just look at each other, talk to each other
before one reads and have some fellowship. You ladies are out
here looking at each other and talking to each other and having
a moment of fellowship. And then we all sit down and we all enjoy
worship. And in the process, what we're
doing is we are building and we are strengthening this bond
that the Lord has given to us. It is so precious. We will so
deeply sorrow if we ever lose it, if the Lord ever takes it
from us. He has given us a precious gift. And what Paul is telling them
is defend it, fight for it, work at it. We do not have a board
of directors meeting in my study. It's not a board of elders meeting
by God's grace. If God is kind to this congregation
and gracious to this congregation, we will never have a board of
elders here. Never. We'll fight against it. So this is the official, I'm
gonna officially let it be known right now. Any man who walks
into this building at about 710 on Wednesday night is welcome
to come into my study and listen to the reading of the word and
have some fellowship. And I would encourage every man
here, I wrote this and thought, where's everybody gonna sit?
We'll figure that out. I would encourage every man to
come have fellowship with us. All the ladies come early and
have fellowship with each other. Paul said, salute the brethren,
salute them, salute them. Gather around the reading of
this epistle. Verse 17, and say to Archippus,
take heed to the ministry which thou has received in the Lord
that thou fulfill it. Take heed means keep an eye on
it. Watch out for it. Be watchful
over it. You know, we all keep an eye
out on our homes. That looks like there's some
rot up there. I think I need to stop that. We keep an eye
out on our families. We keep an eye out on everything
about our lives. This is our life. This is our
life. This is our house. This is our
family. This is our life. Take heed means
watch out for it. Be watchful over it. Don't let
it become out of sight, out of mind. If you see there's a need, he
said, tell Archippus, fulfill it. This is our ministry. This is
our ministry. It's as much one person's ministry
as any person's ministry. Take part in it. Be concerned
about it. We've received this from the
Lord. Guard it, care for it, take heed to the ministry. And
then he said in verse 18, the salutation, by the hand of me,
Paul, remember my bonds. Paul was literally in prison,
but he was also a willing bond slave to the work of the ministry.
And he was saying, pray for me. That's what he was saying. And
I say the same thing. If you have a heart, fervency,
and a concern for this ministry, pray for me. Pray for me. In the bond of this calling to
preach and to pastor, pray for me. This is quite a responsibility. That is the understatement of
the century. Pray for me. Pray for me. I am the one who must stand up
and speak. Pray for me. Please, pray for
me. With that being said, pray for
each other. We're all in this together. As
you sit there, pray for me as I speak. and pray for each other
as you hear. Pray that a brother will receive
a blessing from the Spirit of God through His Word. I'm going
to give you some inside or inside my own heart information. It
really occurred to me that if I want to receive a blessing
as I preach to you, the best thing I can do is pray for Donnie
Bell, and Chris Cunningham, and Tom Harding, and Marvin Stoniker,
and Todd Nybert, and Don Fortner, and all these men before I stand. Lord, bless those men. Bless
them. Speak to their heart. Let them
feed on the Word. The Lord turned everything for
Job when he prayed for his friends. Ask God, you on this side, ask
God, bless them on this side. Bless him, bless them, bless
me. I would love to eat too. Speak
to me. With a fervent desire of embrace
for each other. Make much of the word of God,
reading it, hearing it, preaching it. Take great care and ownership
and responsibility. Take part in the ministry and
remember each other in prayer. And then Paul's final words to
them were in verse 18, grace be with you. Grace be with you. May God's free grace, through
the blood of Christ our Lord, be abundantly with us. Abundantly. God shed his grace on thee. Amen. Alright, you're dismissed.