Music playing What is the primary goal of leadership? Is it to teach the Bible? To lead worship? Today on Truth for Life, Alistair Begg finds the answer in the Apostle Paul's letter to the Colossians. Using a phrase from Paul's instruction, Alistair has titled this message, Presenting Everyone Mature in Christ. He begins in Colossians chapter 1. Well, our text is simply verses 28 and 29.
Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom that we may present everyone mature in Christ, for this I toil, struggling with all his energy, that he powerfully works within me. I wonder, have you been part of a conference related to pastoral ministry, which you attended with great anticipation, but when you left, you left feeling despondent? I hope your answer to that is no, and certainly not one of the Basics conferences to which you've already come.
But it happened to me—it doesn't happen to me a lot, but it did happen to me—about fourteen or fifteen months ago. So you know that it wasn't Basics last year, which was twelve months ago. The context was straightforward. I was part of a panel of ministers, and in the Q&A session of that particular evening, the questions turned very specifically to the issue of discipleship. What is a disciple?
What does it mean to make a disciple? And so on. And the way in which the question was addressed—or rather, the way in which it was responded to by my colleagues—left me with a really empty feeling. Left me with the feeling that if I were to go by the definitions that were given in the context of these answers, if I were to accept that, then I would have to conclude, sadly but realistically humbly, that I had been missing the point for the last thirty-six years. So I left despondent.
I left thinking to myself, I have to think this issue out. If what was being said there was accurate—and it wasn't that there was anything bad or, I'm suggesting, wrong at all, I'm just saying that it didn't intersect with my own heart and mind and thinking—the difficulty, as I reflected on it afterwards, lay in an inference which ran through the discussion. And the inference, I would suggest, was this. There was the idea that it was one thing to be a Christian, and it was another thing to be a disciple. In other words, the inference was that discipleship was a kind of upper tier, a kind of stage-two dimension of Christian pilgrimage.
And as I thought about it then, and as I've thought about it now in preparation for this conference to which we've given loosely this notion of the pastor as a disciple-maker, a number of things occurred to me. First of all, that in the Acts of the Apostles, we discover that the disciples became known as Christians and not the other way around. It was the disciples that became known as Christians, not the Christians that began to be called disciples. The disciple band began as disciples. They were the disciples of Jesus.
They were the followers of Jesus. The other thing that struck me was that the noun discipleship never actually occurs in the Bible at all, and that the verb matitur, to make a disciple, occurs in the framework, essentially, of a process—a process that involves conversion, baptism, teaching, and development along the line of sanctification. So, as I thought about it, I came to the conclusion that in the New Testament, everyone converted to Jesus was a disciple. So I decided that it can't be an upper tier.
It isn't a second stage. And the danger is that when that becomes a prevalent kind of teaching, as with other kinds of second-stage, upper-tier teaching on the Christian life, it almost inevitably divides people from one another. In the New Testament, everyone converted to Jesus was a disciple, setting out on a long obedience in the same direction.
And that long obedience in following Jesus is not a hundred-meter dash, but it is actually, as we discover in our lives and in reading the Bible, a cross-country run that lasts for a lifetime. And so it is within that framework that I want to set the scene, as it were—and I hope in a way that will not be countermanded by my callings afterwards, otherwise I shall leave despondent all over again, and it will be from this conference. I recognize, in light of what I'm about to say, that the New Testament describes a number of ways in which this process takes place—between fathers and their children, between older women and younger women, between the one-another dimensions of the Christian life. For example, even here in Colossians 3, let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly as you admonish and as you teach one another. So we recognize that the congregation is involved—we're all involved, if you like—in this process.
But our focus is not there. Our focus is on the role of the pastor. And so it's for that reason that I chose, rather than wandering around, to try and anchor our thinking here in these well-known verses, but I suggest to you important verses in trying to understand this. Years ago, we took as a sort of theme for our congregation, rightly or wrongly, that our purpose as a church would be to see unbelieving people becoming the committed followers of Jesus—in other words, to see people converted, becoming disciples of Jesus. And in setting that out, we concluded that we dare not miss the place of the pulpit in achieving that goal. And essentially, what I want to say to you today, I want to encourage you today immediately to realize that in Christ, under Christ, in pastoral ministry, we have been given the strategic place in seeing men and women under the ministry of the Word of God growing to maturity. Ian Murray, when he writes concerning Lloyd-Jones and concerning some of the fundamental convictions of Lloyd-Jones, he reminds us all of how Lloyd-Jones used to say with great forcefulness, the health of the church depends on the health of the pulpit.
Now, if you believe that, then it will channel your thinking in this way. Now, we're not apostles—we all know that. We're not apostles like Paul. We have not been set apart in the way that he was set apart to apostleship. But we do exercise an apostolic ministry, in the sense that we obey apostolic precepts, and we follow apostolic patterns. And so, the deep-seated conviction whereby Paul is able to say, I was made a minister of this, I was entrusted with this responsibility, while not to be entrusted with apostleship, nevertheless, we're entrusted with pastoral responsibilities. In light of all of that, I want to address three straightforward questions, asking then, first of all, what do we do?
What do we do? And the answer is right in front of us, in the opening part of the verse. Him we proclaim. Him we proclaim.
We proclaim Jesus. Now, clearly what Paul is doing here is distinguishing between what he and Epaphras and Timothy were doing in comparison to some of these pseudo-teachers who were mulling around in this Colossian context. They had all kinds of ideas. They were purveyors of a hollow and a deceptive philosophy.
They were full of concepts and various constructs that they offered to the people, suggesting to them the way of fullness and so on. And of course, Paul has very carefully explained that in Jesus all the fullness of God has dwelled in bodily form, and you are then complete in him. And your identity in Christ is secure. And so, unlike these characters, he and his colleagues are proclaiming Jesus. For if your Bible is open and you look on to verse 3, it is in Jesus that there is hidden all the treasures of wisdom and of knowledge. So what do we do? We proclaim Christ. You say, well, we came all this way here just to be reminded of that?
Yes! There's a reason why it's called basics. It sounds so commonplace, doesn't it? It's just so straightforward.
In fact, it is so straightforward that we may fail to take proper notice of it. We proclaim Christ. Let's move on. No, hold on a minute. Check with your wife if you've been proclaiming Christ.
Check with your notes if you have been proclaiming Christ. I was playing golf the other day—trying to, I should say—playing at golf, and as we got ready to tee off, I heard a fellow say to the starter, "'Are there four tees or five tees on each hole?' to which the starter replied, "'Well, let me put it like this.'"
As soon as he said that, I said, "'I don't want to hear from this character. What do you mean, let me put it like this?'" It was a straightforward question.
Are there four tees or are there five tees? How else are you planning on putting it? You've got to be careful with the person who says, "'We proclaim Christ.' Well, let me put it like this."
This is how we put it—plainly. Now, in seeking to do this, we have to ensure that all of our teaching of the Bible presents the Person of Christ. Presents the Person of Christ. Not an imagined Christ, but the Christ of Scripture. The Christ here of verses 15–20. The preeminent Christ, the Lord of glory. The Christ of 1 Corinthians 15. The Christ who has been crucified and buried and who has risen, who is the ascended Lord of glory. The Christ that Peter preaches in Acts chapter 4, the one in whom is salvation, and as a result there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name. There is only one qualified to save, namely Jesus.
We proclaim this Jesus. It's not always easy, is it? As it turned out—this is not a story about golf, but it just is here and still in my mind—but I got paired up with another couple of fellows. They were both called Chris, which was good, because I have difficulty with people's names. So I had both of their names immediately. It was terrific. And there was Big Chris and Little Chris.
That's how I remember them. Well, at one point, Big Chris said to me, you know, so, what do you do? I said, well, I'm a minister. He said, what kind of a minister?
I said, not a very good one. He said… I said, my wife told me that, but… I said, are you a Protestant? I said, yes, I'm a Protestant. He said, well, I'm a Catholic. I said, okay, that's fine. He said, you know, I was a good Catholic for a while, and then I went off to university, and I decided that I was troubled by things. I was troubled by the thought that we might be right and other people might be wrong. And he said, but I went to a Dominican priest, and the Dominican priest told me, he said, no, you're not right, and everybody's wrong.
Everybody's right. And Chris number one said to me, and I felt so much better about that. It just felt so good. And then there's that pregnant pause, and I have to decide.
Am I going in now, or am I staying out? Am I going to proclaim him, or am I going to say, Let's keep going, the people behind us are catching us? So I went in, and I suggested to him that we do not have that option open to us and so on.
And our conversation tailed off pretty quickly. If I had simply said, Yes, isn't it a wonderful thing? And we can all identify with those aspirations and so on.
But no, we can't. No, because, you see, to proclaim him, to proclaim Jesus, to back up into verse 25, is to make the Word of God fully known. Of which I became a minister, according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you to do what? To make the Word of God fully known. It isn't possible for us to see the people of God becoming fully mature without us making the Word of God fully known. And it's important for us to reinforce these things, especially in an opening session like this—that right teaching of the Bible always leads us to Jesus. A correct teaching of the Bible will cause us always to show the other truths of the Bible in relationship to the saving truth in Jesus. And part of our skill in counseling with our friends and our loved ones is to be able to take them from where they are and show them through the Scriptures what it means to be in Christ, united to him, and how all the dimensions of their Christian pilgrimage are ultimately tied to his saving work.
Our people will not know Christ better without knowing the Scriptures better. And it is for that reason that many of us have committed for a long time to make expository preaching of the Bible the staple diet of our congregation—to say that we will try, by the enabling of the Spirit of God, to allow the Word of God to be set forward, that we will try and do it systematically, within limits, we will do it consecutively, we will try and allow the text to order our sermon and guide our application, and we will do it, hopefully, with a humble heart. Now, just to stick with this phrase for a moment, him we proclaim—him we proclaim—when that is actually our focus, it will serve as a safeguard against at least a couple of things. One, it will serve as a safeguard against preaching ourselves. Preaching ourselves.
For many of us, there's far too much of the first person in our talks. I wonder, do you have those old commentaries by Albert Barnes, where he has a purple passage—I won't read it all, it's too long—but he waxes eloquent on the whole idea of preaching ourselves. Ministers may be said to preach themselves in the following ways when their preaching has a primary reference to the advancement of their own reputation. So when we preach and the thought in our mind is, Do they like me? Or do they realize how erudite I am, or whatever it might be, when we aim at exalting any notion of our own authority or of our own influence? Or when we proclaim our own opinions rather than Christ? Or when we put ourselves forward and speak too much of ourselves? In one word, really, we preach ourselves when self is primary and the gospel is secondary. Now, to keep in mind that notion, I am here to proclaim you, Lord Jesus, as a safeguard against ourselves. It's also a safeguard against us getting involved in emphases that make us unhelpfully distinctive, because it appears we have particular axes to grind. Ian Murray, wonderfully helpful when he writes, The preaching of Christ crucified to the unconverted requires the presentation of his person, the cost of his substitution for sinners, and the immensity of the divine love for sinners.
It does not require explanations on the extent of the atonement. On a lighter level, and I saw a large van here with Friendship Baptist Church, I thought, What a nice name for a Baptist church. Then I thought, That's almost an oxymoron in some places. And then I confessed that within the next ten yards. I did.
Yeah. Because, I mean, I jokingly say here that, you know, we've long given up that song, I'm so glad you're part of the family of God. We just sing now, I'm surprised that you're part of the family of God. But I was about to mention a Baptist thing, so that's what came to mind.
So at a lighter level, you remember the story of G. Campbell Morgan from Westminster Chapel? He used to tell the story of a Baptist preacher who had a fixation with baptism, and he referred to it constantly. And so, one morning, he announced his text, Genesis 3.9, Adam, where are you? And then he said, We shall follow three lines.
Number one, where Adam was. Number two, how he was to be saved from where he was. And thirdly and finally, a few words about baptism.
It's so commonplace, it's so straightforward, we might miss it. Him we proclaim. Let me suggest to us that the best reputation we can have is a faithfulness to Scripture rather than even to a doctrinal position.
The best reputation we can have is faithfulness to Scripture rather than even to a doctrinal position. You remember Spurgeon's opening sermon at the Metropolitan Tabernacle when he had followed the immense ministry of Gil, who was known for his theological erudition. And as Spurgeon stood to address his congregation for the first time, remember, the essence of his quote was this, If I am asked, What is my creed? I reply, It is Jesus Christ. It is Jesus Christ.
You're listening to Truth for Life. Today's message from Alistair Begg is found in Colossians chapter 1, verses 28 and 29. Alistair has titled the message, Presenting Everyone Mature in Christ. You heard Alistair mention some of the great pioneers of our faith, people like Martin Lloyd-Jones, G. Campbell Morgan, and Charles Spurgeon. These pastors insisted on keeping Christ at the center of their preaching.
They avoided the temptation to let their personalities get in the way. In a similar manner, the Puritans paved the way for pastors and church leaders in our generation to do the same thing. It's the reason Alistair often quotes from their writings and talks about their insistence on giving God glory. The story of the Puritans is told in a magnificent new documentary that we would love to send you.
It's called Puritan, All Life to the Glory of God. It's actually on two DVDs. One contains the main documentary, and then there is a special features disc.
There's even a link provided within the DVD packaging in the event you prefer to stream the documentary online. The Apostle Paul tells us that we should do everything to the glory of God, and you could argue that no group of Christians took that command more seriously than the Puritans. This documentary includes stunning cinematography, captivating conversations with pastors and scholars.
It will help you understand the Puritans, who they were, what they believed, and how their legacy continues to this day. Ask for your copy of the DVD set called Puritan when you give a donation today to support the ministry of Truth for Life. Call 888-588-7884 or visit us online at truthforlife.org. If you'd like to write to us to request your copy of the DVD and to send your donation, write to Truth for Life at post office box 398000 Cleveland, Ohio 44139. Over the weekend, keep in mind you're invited to complement the teaching you receive at your local church by watching Alistair teach the Bible from the pulpit at Parkside Church whenever the service is streamed live. To check Alistair's teaching schedule for this Sunday, go to truthforlife.org slash live. I'm Bob Lapine for Alistair Begg and all of us at Truth for Life. Hope you have a refreshing and relaxing weekend and hope you can join us again Monday as we continue the pastors study series. Today's program was furnished by Truth for Life where the Learning is for Living.
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