Your Mission

Colossians 1:1-2

Col-006

This morning we look at the book of Colossians 1:1-2. Our subject is "The Salutation." This is segment number six.

Saved to serve

In this verse, the apostle Paul is pointing out that salvation is entirely the work of God apart from human good works, and it is given as a free grace gift to those who trust in Jesus Christ to save them. That's all there's to it. Salvation is entirely the work of God. It is a gift that is secured apart from any human doing or merit, and it is given on the basis of faith – trusting Christ to take that individual to heaven. This to you is a very simple statement because you know it well. Ephesians 2:8-9: "And the grace principal enunciates for salvation." But you should realize that the overwhelming religious world that surrounds you does not know this principle, and those who know it don't believe it.

This word "workmanship" is a very significant word. It looks like this in the Greek Bible: P O I E M A, "poiéma" (poy'-ay-mah). Now you can see that that is related to the English word "poem." That's exactly what it is. We get the English word "poem" from that word "poiéma." The Greek language declares a work of art or a masterpiece, and here implying a divine product. We are His workmanship, and then the Spirit of God uses a very significant word. You are a work of divine art. You are a work of the divine craftsman. You are a masterpiece as a result of an act of God. This is in direct contrast to another word for "work" in the Greek Bible, which is the word "ergon" (er'-gon), E R G O N. Ergon is the word which is used up in Ephesians 2:9, the verse before the 10th verse: "Not as a result of works, that no one should boast."

The word "works" there is different from "workmanship." The works of verse 9 are what any human being can do. You can have water baptism; you can go to the Lord's Supper; you can give money; you can live a moral life; you can do kindness to the people who are poor and indigent; and, so on. All of these good works come under the word "ergon." It is not a divine act. It is something that human beings can do, and human beings can act good. But the Bible tells us that that good is all tainted by the sin nature which resides in us, so that it is evil in the sight of God. But the work that takes us to heaven is a masterpiece of the work of God. It is a poem that God has created, and He has made us a work of art, but He saves us.

Believers are God's workmanship because they have been created. Paul says "in Christ Jesus," which only God can do. We are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus. We are trophies of grace. Now the purpose of this creation of God is that the saved soul will do divine good works in God's service for good works created in Christ Jesus. For good works and God's workmanship of a saved soul are not achieved by good works, but it is to result in good works, and that's a great difference. While our works do not produce salvation, God's workmanship, which does produce salvation, is now to be followed with our good works.

In the book of Titus 2:14, we have this pointed out: "Who gave Himself for," referring to Jesus, "that He might redeem us from every law; esteem and purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good works."

The plaque that says "to serve" is exactly on track. That is the purpose for which we were created as a work of art in our salvation by God. Furthermore, Titus 3:8 says, "This is a trustworthy statement. And concerning these things, I want you to speak confidently so that those who have believed God may be careful to engage in good deeds." These things are good and profitable for men. That is what our lifestyle should be all about. So, Ephesians 2:10: "For we are His workmanship, a divine work of art created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared." And that phrase, "which God prepared" refers back to the good works which God prepared for every Christian's life mission. Now that becomes very sobering. Every human being comes into the world with the potential to be saved, and those who believe are saved. At the moment of their salvation, they have given to them one of the nine spiritual gifts abilities for Christian service in some special capacity. Plus, all of their natural abilities are sanctified under the gift of ministering. This person at that point in time is given a mission in life. This is why you keep breathing, and when you stop breathing, your mission has been completed; or else there is no further purpose for you to be alive – no further opportunity given to you to serve and fulfill your mission. But as long as you're alive and kicking, the mission is not fulfilled. God has prepared these previously prepared good works, forming the mission of the believer. "Before" means in advance of one's salvation. This is part of the decree of God, and it is therefore non-optional. We are His workmanship, an artistic creation created in Christ Jesus because only God can create salvation for the purpose of performing good works, which specifically God has prepared before our salvation, in eternity past, that we should walk in them.

The purpose of the prepared and advanced works is not to work in them or to live in them. It is to find them as your way of life. It is not to work in them as if you are some temporary visiting outsider, but you are to walk and live in them as your way of life. Now that becomes very sobering. Right now there should be a lot of red flags and some intimidation and conviction arising in some hearts, both who hear now and those who will hear subsequently on tapes, because it is not common for Christians to live under the vision of walking as their lifestyle in the mission that God has ordained for them from eternity past. We Christians are not called to perform a work for God, but we are in fact called to allow God to perform His work through us. Philippians 2:13, "For it is God who is it working you both to will and to work for His good pleasure."

Your Mission

Now, when you spend hours on end accumulating money, that is a big chunk of your energy in life that is gone. There's basking in positions of prestige and power in leading organizations that takes a lot of time and energy to be leading an organization, organizations which the unbelievers could lead just as well and maybe better. But the organizations that Christians should be leading, which only they can lead, we snub God, and we get big kicks. We get our jollies out of leading these organizations for Christian purposes, of course. Christians fill their lives with pursuing educational and skill goals that demands an enormous amount of concentration. Christians fill their lives with engaging athletic routines, fun and frolic, they love it. They'll skip anything in the work of God for athletics. And when they finish, they're so worn out, they don't have time for their mission.

They're the hobby enthusiasts. Anytime anybody has a hobby, if you've ever had a hobby, it takes a lot of time. And it takes a certain decision to say, "Boy, do I love to fly." That's a great hobby. I can relate to that. And yet you have to say I can't do that the way I'd like to do that because it overrides my mission. And there is the round of social and recreational engagements. Boy, is that exciting. This round of social and recreational engagements that Christians fill their lives with. There are the endless entertainment activities. Just walk into a Blockbuster video store, and the world is at your hand. No experience can be denied you, good or bad. I notice that when we walk into Blockbusters, we start speaking in quiet voices. We're hushed by the magnificence of the world that is before us there, and it's going to take us a long time to go through all those tapes. There is the developing and surrounding of ourselves with creature comforts and beauty. Beauty for us to live in, creature comfort for us to live in and to die in. And then we like to keep in touch with the garment industry, having the latest fashion, being in style, knowing where the designer clothes are, and we take a great deal of satisfaction of selecting designer clothing. That takes a lot of time. And I can understand that I appreciate designer clothing. Every item of clothing I have now on is a piece of designer clothing that has been designed by somebody, and I wouldn't think of wearing anything that hasn't been designed by somebody. We have such satisfaction in that.

Well, the result and you can multiply this, is that Christians can in no way walk in Christian service which is ordained for them by God. Because they have no time and no energy if these things are preoccupying their lives. Now, I'm not telling you that any of these things are wrong in themselves, so don't push beyond what I said. I am telling you that as Paul says, all things must be done with temperance. They must be done with the perspective of "If I do this, how much is this going to cut out for me to fulfill my mission?" That's what I'm saying. And when you pile up these things, I guarantee you your name's not going to be in summer camp staff, and your name's not going to be in Vacation Bible School, and your name's not going to be on that list for teaching Sunday school or leading a training union group.

And your name is not going to be on that worksheet for making this campus represent the quality of the God we serve. You are overwhelmed, and one place we're not going to see your face is in prayer meeting. And what a robbery that is to your children. Parents who can't get to prayer meetings, so this child is robbed of that exhilarating, ennobling experience of dignifying praying to God. Now if you can't do it, that's between you and the Lord. But if you can do it, that's also between you and the Lord. Christians cannot stuff their lives and then say, "Yes, I'm saved to serve." Now if you've got that on the wall of your home, that little plaque and you are far from fulfilling it, tear it down. Don't insult yourself, your family, and your God. Local church ministries are abandoned for the good life rationalized as the will of God always, instead of pursuing the hardships and privations of soldiering for Jesus Christ.

John Mark

Out of the clear blue, John decides he wants to go back to his mother, to that good life, to that wealthy home, to the surroundings that he had as he grew up he was sick and tired of the harshness and the burden and the demands of Christian missionary work. And so in the midst of the battle, here's a soldier who says, I'm leaving, and John goes AWOL, absent without leave. God did not dismiss him from that mission. He had been called to that mission and he had properly responded to it, but now his life became filled with other things that were attracted to him. And so he deserted the team, he went away without permission. In Acts 15:37, we read as Paul "and Barnabas were planning their second missionary journey and Barnabas was desires of taking John called Mark along with them", he wanted to take his cousin Mark with him on the second journey, the one who was AWOL on the first.

But Paul kept insisting that they should not take him along who had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work. And there arose such a sharp disagreement that they separated from one another, and Barnabas took mark with him and sail away to Cypress. But Paul chose Silas and departed being committed by the Lord to the grace being committed by the brethren to the grace of the Lord. The two men decided to split company. We never hear much again about Barnabas, but we do hear again about John Mark. He did finally come back, get himself straight again. But Paul said nothing doing. I don't go out into spiritual combat with a soldier that I cannot trust is going to stay with me when the going gets tough. And I can guarantee you that that's true in spiritual combat always. The people we want on our team are the gutsy type who are going to be there when the going gets tough. As well as when the parades are being held and the bands are playing, and the flags are waving.

Demas

But then Paul comes to the end of his life, the second imprisonment. This time the persecution of the Christians has so intensified, and God has spoken to Paul and says, Paul, this time I'm not going to free you this time. Nero is going to convict you this time you will die, you will be executed. And so he writes this last letter to his young associate Timothy who will have to take over the work. And in II Timothy 4:9-10, Paul says, and let's begin at verse nine. Paul says, Timothy, make every effort to come to me soon. Paul is about to face execution. Timothy who is a son and child, Paul says, I want you here Timothy, come as quickly as you can. And then he gives the reason in verse 10, "For Demas having loved this present world, this present evil age has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica."

So Demas, one of the valued and trusted members of Paul's missionary team who was with him and the imprisonment in Rome, saw what this great leader of Christ was undergoing with this burden of imprisonment upon him. He's there helping Paul, but suddenly Demas is also looking around the metroplex. He's in the big apple country here so to speak. Like we speak of New York. Rome was where it was at, and he is looking at all the things that perhaps he'd never seen before. All the good life things that were available. And pretty soon Demas came less frequently to the prison cell to visit Paul and then deserted completely to enjoy the lifestyle of the Roman pagan society. He had no time for Christ now, instead of exhausting himself in his mission, his divine mission, he exhausted himself in the system of Satan's world.

Paul sad and disappointed observation while under the pressures of imprisonment that Demas so loved the present evil age, he deserted Paul in the Bible must wrench at our hearts even as we read it today. Demas rejected the principle of saved to serve. In contrast to all this as our role model certainly is the apostle Paul himself. Paul learned of his life mission at Damascus upon the occasion of his conversion. From that time on, he never looked back and he never deviated from it by preoccupation with all the world's appeals. The apostle Paul did not fill his life with so many things that he could hardly think about going to church, let alone to have a service in the local ministries. Paul declared his personal subjection to the principle of saved to serve in Colossians 3:1-2. If then Paul says, "You have been raised up with Christ" and you have been as Christians positionally raised to new life.

Keep seeking the things above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. That was Paul's expression of the little plaque saved to serve. Seeking the things above means life directed by the purposes of God in heaven. It means centering one's life on the person of the Lord in heaven, centering our lives on the moral code of Jesus Christ and on his mission for us. Paul commands concentrating one's life on eternal matters and not on temporal things. Now either Paul's nuts or he knows what he's talking about. Concentrate your life on eternal matters, not on all these temporal things that will fill your life to the limit. And will drain your energy to the maximum. The temporal is a temporary possession, but the eternal is forever. That's what Paul is trying to point out. He puts it this way in the book of II Corinthians 4:18. "While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. How hard it is to get Christians to look at the unseen, to look beyond this life, to whether they'll have a poverty struck eternity in heaven or an enriched eternity."

Paul died. He faced the judgment seat of Christ with the satisfaction of knowing that he had fulfilled his mission of saved to serve. In the book of II Timothy 4:6-7, Paul says, "For I'm ready, I am already being poured out as a drink offering. This is one of the Old Testament offerings to God, a drink which would be poured out upon the altar". Paul says, I'm being made a sacrifice for God. I'm already being poured out. My life is being poured out as a drink offering and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight. I have finished the count, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith. That's it folks. I have fought the good fight. I was true to sound doctrine. I have finished the course. I fulfilled my mission. I have kept the faith. I never deviated from the truth of the word. Now if you can say that and check out, you're going out as a magnificent person. And when you stand before the judge in the seat of Christ, you'll be so happy that that's how you focused your life. Paul served in his divine mission in Christ Jesus, and he never wasted his life.

I Corinthians 9:26-27, Paul says, "Therefore I run in such a way as not without aim. I box in such a way as not beating the air, but I buffet my body and make it my slave. Less possibly after I have preached to others I myself should be disqualified." Paul says, one of the things that concerns me a lot is that I'm going around here preaching to people what is the right way of life. How they should focus their attention, what their sense of value should be, how they should invest their life in eternity. And he says, It is a great concern to me that I practice what I preach unless I find myself at the judgment seat of Christ and I hang my head in shame when it is discovered that all the things, I was telling other people to do, I didn't do myself.

My own life was not focused on my mission. And please remember as in the military today so in spiritual warfare the mission comes first. No matter what else you have to do in a combat situation, you never compromise the mission. And as long as you're able to execute it, that's where you push. And in Christian service, the mission has to come first because all these other things will readily overwhelm you. So, what are we saying? We're saying that your gradual preoccupation with success in this light at the expense of failure in heaven should be reversed. Get over your love affair with this world system of Satan and all of its attractive trivia's and appeals that it has. Get room in your life to serve God as his saved one to the limit of your capacity. And don't forget that as time goes by, your capacity is going to get less. Why would you waste the time of the fullness of your youth when you can have so much capacity to invest in the service of God and wait until you've come up in the years, when the frailties of age begin to creep up on you and there are the limitations of what you can do? Then you will look back and wish you had done more when you were fully capable.

What I'm saying is let the world leagues do all the good stuff that Satan tempts us to do. If you Christians do not serve in the ministry of God, who will, and I assure you that God will take care of you. Don't live like a common immoral, arrogant, clod, scraping around in the dirt of this world's ambitions and thinking you are something. Just don't live like a commoner, live like the member of the royal family that you are. In other words, get a life and some of you have not done that. Get a life what you think you have as a life. You're going to look back and wonder where your sense was at the time, how you could have missed this simple principle saved to serve. We have the comfort from the Word of God that our father observes all that we do in his service and that he will never forget our labors of love. And so I leave you at least concluding verses II Corinthians 5:10, "Therefore also we have as our ambition whether at home or absent that is whether dead or alive, to be pleasing to him for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad." That's a principle of rewards or loss of rewards.

And to that we may add Hebrews 6:10, "For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward his name in having ministered and instilled ministering to the saints." Thank you, teachers of Berean Christian Academy, for the fact you minister to our little saints. Thank your Youth Club Leaders for the fact you minister to our youth. Thank you, Sunday school teachers, and training union leaders, because you, week-in and week-out, minister to our youth. Thank you, Summer Camp staff, for ministering to our youth. Thank you, Vacation Bible School teachers, who have chosen to minister to our youth, because the fundamental principle behind the plaque "Saved to Serve," please remember, is that Christian service means not doing something else. It's just as simple as that. Christian service means not doing something else.

The Apostle Paul, we have seen writes to the Christians here in Colossae as a man who knows what it is to invest his life for eternity and who is very much concerned to use his capacities to fulfill his mission. His primary mission is to teach sound doctrine. When he gets word through Epaphras that false gnostic philosophical ideas are creeping into the church at Colossae, he sits down and writes this book to them, the book of Colossians, Paul's apostolic authority demands their positive response to his corrections. When you had the gift of an Apostle, you had the authority to tell Christians what was right, and they were obliged to obey you. Paul bears apostolic authority by the sovereign will of God and he serves in his divine mission as must we all with our spiritual gifts to our particular callings. In Colossians 1:1, Paul has introduced himself with his apostolic authority. "Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God."

Timothy

Then he introduces an associate very dear, very close to him, the young man Timothy, a faithful servant of Jesus Christ. A man who through all the centuries has been honored as an example of what it means to fulfill your divine mission. Timothy was a native of Lystra and Iconium in Asia. He was the son of a Jewish mother and a Greek father. He was trained in the Old Testament scriptures by his mother Eunice and by his grandmother Lois. In the book of II Timothy 1:5, Paul says, "For I am mindful of your sincere faith that is genuine faith that first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice. And now I'm sure that it is in you as well." And then in II Timothy 3:15, Paul says, "And that from your childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus."

What an honorable thing to say concerning his mother and grandmother that they reared this boy from his earliest moments with the knowledge of the Word of God. And those of you who have been reared in Christian homes where you have had access to the Word of God and the full-blown impact of ministry such as you have Berean church, you are honored, you are selected. Most kids don't have that. And because of that their rests upon you a responsibility that I assure you, you will answer to God for what you did with the heritage that was given to you of the knowledge of the Word of God. And certainly, this should be the example of every parent. This should be the pursuit of every parent to see that your children not only are taught the Word of God, not only by us here at church, but by you at the home and that you practice what you believe.

Don't tell me to practice what I preach. When you don't practice what you believe. And if prayer is important, then be a praying person and show your child that you are a praying person and you join the believers as they did in the earliest days of the Christian church to pray. If the Word of God, the moral code of God is true, then that is what you must obey. You do not turn your nose up at the principles of biblical morality. You're not going to get away with it. I've already taught you for several weeks that you do not change reality by creating a reality of your own that does not exist. Timothy understood that principle. His biblical background from his mother and grandmother helped him to understand what reality was. He didn't live life on the basis of Satan's world system, which is nothing but unreality, and which in time will hurt you. You'll be ashamed of it, you'll look back upon it, you'll grieve over it. And especially since you understand the principles of grace.

I was at a social event recently sitting with a husband, his wife, couple of children, and the meal that was served on this occasion, the food platter came around and this man who is a Christian and a dedicated Christian, serious Christian looked down and saw three items of meat. And he said, "What is this?" And I said, "Well that looks like pork, that's duck, and that's sausage." And he said, "Well we still live by the Old Testament laws." And so he gave the nod to the rest of the family, "Don't eat any of this." They couldn't eat the port. I don't blame him for that. That's still good idea not to do that. Boy did it look delicious and couldn't eat the sausage because somebody might have snuck some pork in that they should have put a signed beef sausage only. And the duck, I don't know why he objected to the duck, but he felt that was an unclean food too. So, they had some of the dumplings, couldn't use the gravy because that might have some pork fat in it. Few vegetables. And it made me feel guilty as I enjoyed the duck there. I sat in all of my grace, had a couple of dumplings, lots of the gravy, and this poor man wanting to serve God, wanting to do what is right. And he lives with a system of instruction that has pointed him in entirely the wrong way.

You will be glad to know that I acted in my normal, sweet, restrained self, but it was all I could do not to ask him, when do you go to church? Because he goes to church on Sunday. And I would've said, doesn't that bother you as a man who lives by the Old Testament law that you don't go to church on Saturday because one of the 10 commandments is thou shall keep the Sabbath day Holy. But I didn't do that. And yet it would've been a service perhaps to him to see how inconsistent and illogical and certainly unbiblical he is because you can carry that on to quite an extent when you want to live under the law system, Christ has given us freedom. He has given us the freedom of grace. Are you going to violate it? Are you going to use it to abuse him? Are you going to use it to say, I thank you for the freedom and the prosperity and I guarantee those who live by principles of doctrine. Even if you're a pagan, you will be blessed by God for it because right is reality. And are you going to say, now I just too busy to fulfill my mission because you have prospered me so much. This young man, Timothy knew that the Word of God was true, and he acted accordingly. He was saved probably on Paul's first missionary journey when Paul came to his town. We have that in Acts 14:8-20. :But when Paul returned on this second journey a year or two later to Lira, Timothy was a Christian, Acts 16:1 tells us, and Paul himself was impressed when he met this young man."

He could see that this was a person of quality. He had been taught the Word of God, he had been taught the Old Testament of scriptures and he had responded to the grace to the extent that he had known it. And when Paul came the first time he probably was saved, his mother and grandmother were probably saved. Now they enter the marvelous realm of the freedoms of grace. You do all things with temperance; you have freedoms from all the restrictions of the Old Testament system, and you have the freedom to do what is right according to the principles of doctrine and the moral code of God.

In Acts 16:2-3, he said, "Timothy was well spoken of by the brethren who were enlister in Iconium. Paul wanted this man to go with him and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those parts. But they all knew that his father was a Greek." The father, a pagan who had died a pagan had not permitted this ritual that his mother knew was required. Paul says, I'm going to remove this hindrance to the Jews because when you and I go on, you join my team as a missionary, we go to the synagogue and we're going to talk to the Jews first. And they're going to find that you are not an opponent of the mosaic law, but that you are a voice informing them the Christ fulfills all the demands of that law and that you no longer have to worry about trying to be good, to be blessed, or that you should now be good because you have been blessed by your freedoms in Christ. And so, Paul took this man Timothy into his group. Timothy proved to be a competent, the voted worker with Paul.

Paul highly esteemed him and he considered him his own son in Philippians 2:19-22 and II Timothy 1:2, Paul refers to him as my son and my child. Paul apparently had no children and Timothy became very close to him as the son he never had. Timothy we were told had a sincere faith, meaning he was genuine. He was not a hypocrite. Isn't it awful when you find some young person reared with the knowledge of the Word of God and he's a hypocritical character who pretends to be part of the community of God and yet he acts and lives in violation of the principles of the Word of God? Timothy was sincere, he was genuine, and Timothy acted as a spiritual troublemaker for Paul in the churches were told in I Corinthians 4:17, Corinthian church was a terrible church, many sinful things.

Timothy was sent as a troubleshooter, representing the apostle to straighten that out. There's one thing, however about Timothy, he was not a pushy guy and sometimes that can because a problem. He seemed to have a non-aggressive temperament and for that reason he needed encouragement. When Paul wrote his last letter, II Timothy 1:5-16, we had this indicated because he calls his attention to the fact that he has had a wonderful background in his instruction and that God in verse seven has not given us a spirit of timid but a power and love and of discipline. In II Timothy 1:16. Therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me his prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God.

And Paul goes through here and says, Stand by me. Stand by the Lord. Don't be intimidated just because of your youth. Then in verse 13 he says, "Return, retain the standard of sound words, which you have heard from me in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus." And Paul tells Timothy that the Spirit of God is going to guard him and that he is to treasure that which has been entrusted to him. So, Paul encourages Timothy that he is right, and you must be encouraged when you know that you are right. You have the Word of God, and you are right. So don't be intimidated by the world system. And when they make fun of you as I experience and they give you a light back of the hand treatment, you're still right and your heart must go out to those who think that they're in the know when they're not the old Gnostic problem.

Timothy is plagued with apparently with some physical illnesses. So in I Timothy 5:23 Paul says, "Don't only drink water but drink for your purpose some alcoholic wine." and I think this must be alcoholic because his point was this is for your stomach's sake, it's a medicinal use. Timothy was a non-drinker, and of course he was that very wisely because he was to be an example and he was to have his mind straight as he spoke to people, and as he dealt with people, but he had a physical problem. And Paul says this might help. Paul wrote his last New Testament especial to his beloved son Timothy, and he left the missionary work for him to carry on. Timothy knew he had been saved to serve. Do you?

God our Father with great gratitude to thee that we thank thee for the Word of God for its instruction to us and for the realization that we indeed as believers have a great calling. We pray that thou will help us to be faithful to our mission.

Dr. John E. Danish, 1995

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